New report shows hundreds of misdiagnosis per year. Some could be avoided, says lægeformand.

– This is some real serious talk, as a call to action.

so says Andreas Rudkjøbing, who is the president of the medical association, on the figures in a new report from the Patienterstatningen and the Danish society for Patient safety.

the Numbers are that the 7600 patients in the past ten years has been awarded compensation in the Danish health care system for the damage caused by the misdiagnosis.

And dying each year, and about 63 patients as a result of a wrong diagnosis.

– Although of course there will always be errors in health care, so when you dive further down in the report, so it turns out that some of the errors could have been avoided – for example, if you had organized udredningsprocesserne different, says Andreas Rudkjøbing.

the Report points to several places in the process to make a diagnosis, where it can go wrong.

– It’s all about, for example, referrals, handling of test results, must and scanningsvar.

– Here is it really important to get established some patientsikre workflows, which ensures that you get followed up on blood tests and scanningsvar, and that there is good correlation between referral, assessment and feedback, says lægeformanden.

Andreas Rudkjøbing remember at the same time, it can be difficult to make a diagnosis.

– of course One must keep in mind that it is difficult to make diagnoses. It is how to constantly sticking the information together, which involves testing hypotheses about, he says.

According to Eva Benfeldt, there are specialist and have helped to write the report and reviewed a little over 200 of the cases, it is most often in the beginning of a course of treatment, that the errors being committed.

the Association of Danish Patients believe that, among other things, is a need for more time with the practitioner, as is most often the first, as the patient goes in the system.

the medical association would also like to have more time, but Andreas Rudkjøbing pointing to a lack of doctors.

– There is nothing we would rather than to have more time with patients – particularly where it becomes serious.

– But we have a shortage of practitioners and specialists, so it is difficult to create more space, without compromising other patients. The trick is to stand the severe symptoms from the symptoms are not serious, for the patients have regular contact with their gp, he says.

/ritzau/