NHS staffing problems have been blamed by campaigners for the number of patient accidents that occur at night.
Reader’s Digest analysis of National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) data found there were 140,000 slips, falls and medical problems between 10pm and 6am in 2006-07.
Joyce Robins, of Patient Concern, told BBC News: “All too often patients, particularly the elderly, are not given the help they need at night.
“This is a time when people should be safely asleep. But when they need help with things such as going to the toilet, there is no-one there.
“They then have to try to go themselves but end up falling. And these falls can be quite serious.”
The NPSA insisted there was no evidence that patients were at a greater risk of incidents at night than during the day.
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