A sharp rise in preventable deaths and serious harm in Victoria’s hospitals, particularly in children, has prompted the creation of a new watchdog.

Victoria recorded 240 sentinel events in 2021/22, an increase of 43 per cent on the year before when 168 were recorded.

Of the 240 events, 38 involved children.

A sentinel event is an unexpected incident that results in the death or serious physical or psychological harm to a patient as a result of system and process deficiencies.

The rise has prompted the state government to create Safer Care for Kids, a family-led support service to improve the treatment of children in emergency care.

It will be an offshoot of Safer Care Victoria, which was created in 2017 and reports sentinel events annually.

This year’s report showed an increase in notified sentinel events related to patient deterioration, particularly among children, and makes three recommendations into the care of kids, which the government says it will deliver in full.

Safer Care for Kids is designed to give parents and carers an alternative pathway to raise concerns if they feel they are not being listened to.

A virtual paediatric consultation system will also be introduced, which will provide 24-hour access to specialist paediatric experts and services.

The mandated use of standardised and age-specific charts whenever a child’s vital signs are recorded will also be introduced.

Safer Care for Kids will be implemented in partnership with families who have lived experience of sentinel events involving children and in close consultation with health services across Victoria.

This year’s Sentinel Events Report documented the total number of annual sentinel events have risen to 240 in 2021-22, up from 168 the previous year.

This was an expected increase in line with the growth of reported sentinel events since Safe Care Victoria was established in 2017 – which led to an improvement in reporting and a growing culture of transparency on safety risk issues and a willingness to learn from patient harm.

– AAP