Potential life-threatening mistakes at maternity units across Scotland have increased nearly 30% in the last three years.
The errors, known as adverse events, have included missing or wrong medical records, mums and babies being given wrong medication, and in some instances babies being ‘unlabelled’ leading to potential misidentification.
Freedom of information figures show that Aberdeen Maternity Hospital had the highest number of adverse events last year, with one incident recorded for every 4.5 births.
In 2011/12, Glasgow’s Princess Royal had one adverse event for every 8.5 births, and the country’s biggest maternity unit at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary recorded one adverse event for every 13 births.
The majority of incidents in Aberdeen Maternity Hospital were recorded during labour or delivery, and showed an increase on previous years.
Adverse events involving medication also showed an increase on previous years, but many other key areas including accidents and clinical assessment saw a reduction in the number of events.
Incidents happening during treatment and procedures reduced more than 50% from 2011/12, and more than 75% from 2010/11.
A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian confirmed the health board had introduced a new system for monitoring adverse incidents in 2010, and all incidents are recorded regardless of how small they may be.
She said: “From the introduction of (the system), all staff have been, and continue to be, actively encouraged and supported to use the system, to record any incident, no matter how small. Recording in this way allows supervisors to note trends and supports the investigation of matters of concern.
“The majority of entries do not involve patient harm, such as a short delay in the arrival of transport when a patient is discharged, meals being slightly delayed, and staff concerns – for example, lost property. Staff are also encouraged to report issues to avoid harm, e.g. a faulty chair or a broken lock.
“The number of (system) entries has no direct relationship with the number of births.”
The maternity hospital has come under fire recently for cleanliness standards, following a visit by the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) in August 2013.
Blood contamination was found on an operating theatre bed, body fluids were discovered on a cot sheet in the theatre and the mattress in an infant incubator was broken.
An unannounced follow-up visit by the HEI in October 2013 found evidence of improvements in cleanliness standards across the hospital.