HUNDREDS of deaths every year could be linked to avoidable medication errors according to a study from the University of York.

Researchers from the university teamed up with academics at the universities of Manchester and Sheffield to review data, which revealed an estimated 237 million medication errors occur in the NHS in England every year and an estimated 712 deaths that may be due to adverse drug reactions could have been avoided.

They also found that mistakes with medication could be costing the country more than £98.5 million a year. The researchers are calling for more work to be done on preventing errors.

Professor of health economics at the University of York, Mark Sculpher, said: “Almost three in four errors would never harm patients and some may be picked up before they reach the patients, but more research is needed to understand just how many that is.”