Annual Report 2008-2009 for MedEvent

MedEvent is a national database in which reports of adverse events in specialized health services are registered. Between one and two thousand reports are registered each year in MedEvent.

There has been an increase in the number and the proportion of reports about incidents that have resulted in unnatural death. The number of reports of unnatural death has steadily increased over the last six years, from 8 per cent in 2004 to 22 per cent in 2009. This may be an indication that health services are more conscious about reporting the most serious events. It may also be a result of the increase in the number of reports from mental health services. Many reports from mental health services are reports of cases of suicide. 

In this annual report, once again we present documentation of the large variation in reporting rates from different regional health authorities and health trusts.

Twenty-one per cent of reports were from mental health services, and 79 per cent from somatic health services.

Many reports registered in 2008-2009 were about events related to births (8 per cent of all reports), use of medication (17 per cent of all reports) and falls (13 per cent of all reports).