1000 Die Every Month from Acute Kidney Injury: NHS Survey

A new study has claimed that poor patient care in hospitals was resulting in deaths of patients from acute kidney injury (AKI) that could be otherwise avoided. The research, commissioned by NHS Quality Improvement, revealed that at least 1000 patients die every month due to AKI. Patients face the kidney problem when they become dangerously dehydrated.

Experts said hospital staff should learn to make sure that patients are hydrated and especially those undergoing surgery should not be kept without water for longer than two hours. Severe dehydration makes the kidney stop function which further causes the heart, lungs and brain also to cease functioning.

According to the study, AKI causes 15,000 to 40,000 excess deaths each year. Report co-author Marion Kerr, a health economist at Insight Health Economics, said, “Every day, more than 30 people are dying needlessly. Compare that to MRSA which was killing about four people a day at its peak. Simple improvements in basic care could save the NHS £200m a year and, more importantly, save thousands of lives.”

AKI can affect even those people who had no previous history of kidney problem.

Co-author Professor Donal O’Donoghue, from Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, said, “We know that at least a thousand people a month are dying in hospital from acute kidney injury due to poor care. These deaths are avoidable. This is completely unacceptable and we can’t allow it to continue.”

A spokesman for NHS England said that such researchers played an important role in helping NHS commissioners in choosing where to target their resources.

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The findings were published in journal Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation.

Source-Medindia