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Patient safety & clinical risk - a BMA discussion paper

December 2002

Clinical risk can never be completely eradicated - for example, some degree of risk will always be inherent in the patient’s lifestyle and initial condition, in the nature of medicine and human performance in stressful conditions. But the health service will be under increasing pressure to ensure that avoidable risk is minimised. This discussion paper puts forward a new framework for doctors, managers, governments and patients to understand and manage clinical risk in a healthcare setting.

The paper suggests that the risk of errors and adverse events occurring with the health system can be divided into the following five areas:
· The risk of individual clinical incompetence or malpractice:
· The risk of systems failure:
· Risks imposed by cost constraints:
· Patients’ perception of risk:
· Risks inherent in clinical procedures:

If risk is analysed in the five categories above then patients, healthcare professionals, managers and governments will be more able to define the most effective way of managing risk generally and in relation to individual cases as well as identifying where the responsibility for different levels of risk should lie. Managing risk is most effective when it follows careful analysis of where risks occur and the factors that can affect their frequency and severity.

Please note the paper is a discussion document and does not represent BMA policy.

Click here to download the full report as a pdf file using the right hand menu.