There have been more than 13,000 "death" cases in the last three years

Statistics from the NHS's self-reporting safety database revealed there have been more than 13,000 "death" cases in the last three years. The National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) was set up in 2003 to ensure the health service learns from mistakes and implements safeguards to improve patient care. Yet the latest figures show the number of "death" incidents - where a patient was either killed or a situation was potentially fatal - have increased eight per cent during the last three years to the most recent annual figure of 4,717, or around 91 every week.

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It comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock ordered a "root and branch" review of NHS food after five patient deaths were linked to a listeria outbreak. Those who died are believed to have eaten pre-packaged sandwiches and salads from the same supplier.

The NRLS sorts incidents into 15 different categories including hospital infections, faulty equipment, paperwork blunders, drug errors and treatment mistakes.

A dossier provided to the Sunday Express following a Freedom of Information request revealed 45 examples of "infrastructure" incidents during the last three years, in which patients died because the health service could not cope with the strain.

This includes reports of cases where patients died on trolleys in overcrowded hospitals and others where vital life-saving equipment was not working properly.

Medics also reported that patients died because there were not enough operating theatres, while other staff had to turn people away from wards because there were no beds.

In another case, a paramedic told how his control room sent him straight past the address of a 999 call, where the patient later died.

He wrote: "I have been left feeling quite despondent about this.

"I feel helpless that I was not able to have assisted with this patient's life support and maybe helped to achieve a different outcome."

hancockHealth Secretary Matt Hancock (Image: WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The dossier also reveals how: 

A patient who was put on the waiting list for a triple heart bypass died after waiting more than three months for surgery. Someone suffering severe stomach pains died in the back of an ambulance outside an A&E unit. The patient could not be admitted as all the beds were full. A junior doctor told how they were left to fend for themselves on a busy ward and when an emergency occurred, they called for help but the patient was dead by the time more experienced staff arrived. A woman with a varicose vein suffered a bleed which triggered a fatal heart attack. A report into her death heard that the surgical team had asked for extra theatre time to eliminate some of their patient backlog but there were no free slots available. A heart transplant patient fell out of bed and died from a cardiac arrest in a unit where medics admitted there were not enough qualified staff

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