A number of high profile medical blunders, caused by poor hospital practices, have led both the public and the private sectors to examine means of assuring quality care for patients.

In January last year, a teenage leukaemia sufferer died after a chemotherapy drug was injected into his spine instead of his vein. Despite clear labelling on the phial and the package, it later transpired that this mistake had been made on 13 separate occasions during the past 15 years, due to the fact that two drugs, one administered into a vein, the other into the spine, were kept side by side in the same fridge.

However the errors are not necessarily medical; a report published by the Audit Commission on Friday found that urgent action was needed to improve the accuracy of patient records. Cancellations and the removal of patients from NHS waiting lists were handled incorrectly by more than 10 per cent of hospitals, while less than half followed up cancer referral letters to consultants, the study discovered. "Immediate action is required if the NHS is to meet the demands now being placed on it. Information, like the patient, will increasingly need to follow inter-disciplinary pathways," it concluded.

Nor, it seems, are the problems found only in the NHS. Earlier this year, a coroner ruled that the death of Laura Touche - nine days after giving birth to twins by caesarean at the Portland hospital - was from natural causes, "contributed to by neglect."Basic medical checks, such as regular checks of her blood pressure, were not made, leading to Mrs Touche suffering a brain haemorrhage and brain damage.

So what has been the reaction to these continued dents to public confidence in health care?

The department of health rated hospitals using a star system for the first time in September last year. Hospitals were evaluated on a wide range of issues, including waiting times, cleanliness and the number of staff vacancies. In all, 35 hospitals were given the highest possible rating of three stars, while 12 received none.

Health secretary Alan Milburn claimed the system would finally expose failing health trusts. "There has always been a convenient excuse for when there is a problem but these tables explode the myth once and for all," he said. "This is not about money, it is about management."

However, those in the public services have been increasingly looking to the private sector to certify their standards.

The leading quality standards model in the private sector was developed in the early 1990s by the European Federation for Quality Management, and is now recommended by the Cabinet Office for public services.

Companies within the private sector now offer to hospitals training programmes for their staff to allow quality assurance assessments to be made. Once these have been completed, through an internal audit, the company tests the model and, if it complies with the international standard ISO 9000, a certificate is awarded. The hospital subsequently undergoes checks every six months to ensure that the standard is maintained.

The model has proved highly popular in schools, where performance has improved.

However, despite this popularity within education, a study by the Cabinet Office two years ago found that less than a third of health authorities applied the model. When they did, it was used only in one department or aspect of the hospital, although it was found to improve clinical performance and reduce costs.

Until this model becomes more prevalent within the National Health Service, the star rating applied by the Department of Health - which has been heavily criticised by some for its simplicity - will be the only widespread test of quality assurance.