In a government report published on 22nd February 2018, researchers from the Universities of York, Sheffield and Manchester have estimated that in England 237 million medication errors occur every year. They also estimate that these errors cost £98.5 million per year, taking up 181,626 bed days, causing 712 deaths and contributing to 1708 more deaths each year.

This tragic and costly situation is most likely to occur in every country across the world so there is an international demand for improvements to be made.

In this book, the author proposes that the greater the number of errors that occur, so the number of deaths will also be greater; and vice-versa. This is a strong argument for reducing the number of any type of error. Whilst the report above looks at the whole of England, it is vital that every healthcare unit takes responsibility for its own mistakes and does not rely on other people to provide solutions. Each of these units should be watching out for signs of errors and investigating every one.

Problem Solving for Healthcare Workers is a ‘How to’ manual and shows how healthcare workers with any skill level, in any organisation anywhere in the world, can solve problems and make improvements in their workplace. This title introduces the reader to a disciplined and structured problem solving process, explaining how to keep auditable records to demonstrate that continuous improvement is being applied. This is of importance when a health care provider has been inspected and needs to make serious auditable changes.

The author, John Michael Collins, is a retired Quality Management professional and his ‘motivation to write this book arose in about 2010 when several serious instances of patient safety in the UK National Health Service appeared in the press, particularly at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. People were dying unnecessarily because of the prevailing culture of poor attitudes, low standards, and unwillingness to improve, topics I had been helping business clients with when I was employed by Price Waterhouse Management Consulting. I had a great deal of knowledge that could be shared.’

Visit the book page at: https://www.crcpress.com/9781138305823