Safety concerns raised by coroners
Explore concerns raised in Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) reports.
Recurring concerns bring together individual concerns from different reports that describe the same underlying safety problem.
1,669 recurring concerns
Concern
Trend
Reports
Recipients
Latest report
Unreliable recording of required observations in care and custody
83
107
19 May 2026
Unsafe emergency call handling
79
104
16 Jun 2026
Delays in ambulance-to-hospital patient handover
77
53
18 Jun 2026
Unreliable assessment of suicide and self-harm risk
77
72
27 May 2026
Failure to escalate significant clinical concerns to appropriately senior clinicians
72
93
27 May 2026
Inadequate control of pedestrian crossing risks
71
66
8 Jun 2026
Failure to communicate safety-critical care information effectively between care providers and families
70
109
1 Jun 2026
Failure of care and safety auditing to identify deficiencies
69
101
16 Jun 2026
Electronic patient records failing to make relevant clinical information available and actionable
67
89
16 Jun 2026
Insufficient psychiatric inpatient bed capacity
67
49
12 Mar 2026
Unreliable clinical Early Warning Score systems for deterioration
67
72
5 Feb 2026
Unreliable clinical handover processes
67
95
10 Jun 2026
Failure to learn from deaths through systematic review
63
92
20 May 2026
Failure to identify and address recurring safety issues through organisational learning
62
110
20 May 2026
Failure to take timely escalation action when safety thresholds are breached
62
88
16 Mar 2026
Failure to provide effective senior clinical oversight of patient care
59
66
10 Mar 2026
Insufficient ambulance service capacity for emergency calls
58
45
2 Feb 2026
Insufficient medical staffing capacity for timely patient care
57
74
4 Feb 2026
Failure to seek medical attention when a person's condition warrants it
56
88
16 Jun 2026
Unreliable resuscitation preparedness and response during cardiac arrest
56
82
26 May 2026
Failure to provide timely and adequate follow-up after discharge
55
74
23 Oct 2025
Inadequate safety controls at high-risk road junctions
55
63
11 Dec 2025
Incomplete clinical history-taking
55
76
31 Oct 2025
Unsafe management of inpatient leave and absence
55
57
1 Jun 2026
Failure to identify clinically significant medication risks
54
83
3 Jun 2026
Recurring concerns bring together reports that describe the same underlying safety problem. Open one to compare the individual concerns and original wording.
Data last updated 7 September 2026