A new report has revealed that nearly 86,000 incidents of harm or near-misses were reported by hospitals and community-based health facilities last year.

The report by the State Claims Agency and the Health Service Executive shows there were over 6,600 medication mistakes, nearly 6,300 treatment problems and over 5,600 events covering the period around childbirth.

The SCA paid out €81m in claims because of adverse events in the health sector last year.

The figures show that while medication errors are down slightly on the previous year, treatment mistakes and peri-natal events have increased.

Among the most common events in hospitals and community health facilities are slips, trips or falls by patients or staff.

Last year, 27,541 such events were reported, representing 32% of total incidents reported.

The next most common events are violence/aggression or abuse, representing 11% of cases.

The HSE says some new categories of reporting, such as road traffic injuries involving HSE vehicles, have resulted in an overall increase in incidents compared to 2010.

HSE National Director of Quality and Patient Safety Dr Philip Crowley said the executive has issued a fresh policy to hospitals to ensure all operate a correct site surgery policy.