Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of theatre-related fires that were reported in NHS hospitals in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023.

We are informed that NHS England’s national patient safety team does not hold or collect information on the number of surgical fires which occur.

Any unexpected or unintended incident which could have or did lead to harm to one or more patients can be recorded on the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service, to support local and national learning. This would include surgical fires or burns. The data is also being made available to integrated care boards and regional teams, to facilitate their roles in safety oversight and provide improvement support.

The most serious surgical fires or burns are already subject to mandatory reporting. NHS England share all such data with the Care Quality Commission. Although recording onto LFPSE is a voluntary process, providers are encouraged to record all patient safety incidents, irrespective of the level of harm, to support local and national learning.