National Patient Safety Alert: Patient hoists and slings (all types): risk of death and serious harm from falls (NatPSA/2026/005/MHRA)
Read and act on the official notice on GOV.UK
In plain English, for the pharmacy team
Why is this relevant to community pharmacy
This alert is about patient hoists and slings, which are used to move people safely in care settings and in some people’s own homes. It says falls from hoists or slings can cause death or serious harm. This is not a medicines alert, so it does not directly affect pharmacy stock or dispensing, but staff should be aware if they support patients or carers who use this equipment.
What needs to be done
- No direct pharmacy action is set out in this alert. The actions are for organisations that use, buy or maintain patient hoists and slings.
- Be aware that the alert says staff using hoists and slings need training, pre-use checks, compatibility checks and proper maintenance records.
- Be aware the alert says incidents and near misses should be reported through local reporting routes and the Yellow Card Scheme.
- Read and act on the official GOV.UK notice.
Pharmshark summary, checked and approved by Chris Dotchin on 2 Nov 2026. It is not the official notice: always read and act on the GOV.UK notice.
How this summary was written
An AI tool drafted it from the MHRA's own notice and nothing else. A second check compared every line with the notice. Pharmshark's clinical lead then read it against the notice, edited it where needed and approved it. If the MHRA changes the notice, this summary is taken down until it has been checked again.
The MHRA's summary
Fatal and serious harm continues to occur when patients fall from hoists or slings during transfers and repositioning. A review of recent incidents with a fatal outcome and wider surveillance data shows an average of two deaths per year since 2015.
MHRA's audience tags: Anaesthetics, Care home staff, Critical care, Emergency medicine, Neurology, Orthopaedics, Pain management palliation, Physiotherapy occupational therapy, Radiology, Rheumatology, Theatre practitioners