SEVEN ‘serious incidents’ were reported to the trust which runs Basingstoke and Andover hospitals during May.

A report to Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s board of directors meeting revealed that four of these were at Basingstoke hospital, and the other three were at Winchester hospital.

Two of the incidents at Basingstoke hospital involved two patients who suffered a fall resulting in a fractured neck of femur - a broken hip.

This is a serious injury, especially in older people, and is likely to be life changing, and for some people life threatening. It happens when the top part of the femur (leg bone) is broken, just below the ball and socket joint.

The trust’s rate of falls per 1,000 bed days reduced in May to 6.58, with 102 falls taking place during the month.

Six of these resulted in harm, all in different ward areas and all referred for investigation. The trust adopted preventative measures on Covid-19 positive wards, whereby a nurse was stationed in each bay where there was a risk of a patient falling, to avoid the time it took to don PPE when an at-risk patient attempted to get up.

Two other patients developed a category three pressure ulcer whilst in Basingstoke hospital, which were reported as ‘serious incidents’.

Pressure ulcers usually affect people confined to a bed for a long period of time, and can lead to life-threatening complications such as blood poisoning.

They are graded from one to four, with four being the worst. A grade three category pressure ulcer would be full thickness skin loss, and there may be fat visible.

The other serious incidents at Winchester hospital involved a delayed diagnosis of cancer; an incident involving a patient who was restrained; and a fall resulting in a fractured neck of femur.

Serious incidents are reported and presented to the Trust Serious Event Review Group (SERG), with anything learned from them shared across the trust.

The report to the trust also said that there are three maternity incidents awaiting investigation reports from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch, which conducts independent investigations of patient safety concerns in NHS-funded care across England.