The number of pressure injuries in New Zealand's public hospitals has more than doubled since 2012, up from 163 a year to 375 a year in 2017, according to ACC figures.
Pressure injuries are caused by long periods of unrelieved pressure on the tissue between bone and an external surface - like a hospital bed. They can occur when a patient spends a long time in bed without being moved or turned.
Preventable patient injuries like this top the list of adverse events reported by District Health Boards.
Cee Payne from the NZ Nurses Organisation (NZNO) told Newshub Nation this morning that an increase in preventable patient injuries is largely because nurses' workloads are too high.
"Adverse events are linked very closely to the missed care and the care rationing that goes on in our hospitals.
"Our nurses are stressed to the hilt, they're fatigued, they're morally distressed, and they can't deliver the care they need to deliver. And international research shows that if we continue on like we are… then we're going to see a significant increase in numbers of patients having adverse events and dying."
DHBs report the second most frequent adverse event is serious harm from falls. There were 210 falls reported by DHBs in 2016/17. Of those, 77 resulted in the patient breaking a hip.
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