The Times sets an example with correction to cost of bed blocking claim
We factchecked a front page claim on the Times last week that bedblocking costs the NHS £6 billion a year.
Today the Times published a front page correction explaining that the £6bn figure was a ‘serious error’.
It reads:
We said in a front-page report that bed blocking costs the NHS £6 billion a year (August 12). Official estimates put the cost at about £820 million. We apologise for the serious error.
The correction is good for five reasons:
Join 72,953 people who trust us to check the facts
Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.
- Places the correction on the front page, which is good in this instance given the seriousness of the error
- Describes the error
- Gives the correct answer
- Admits it was a serious error
- Apologises for the error
We have updated our original factcheck to reflect this.
Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/otacke/