News

Nearly one in five pregnant women in the UK were forced to wear a face covering during labour, according to research by a charity, despite official health guidance saying they should not be asked to do so.

Women described feeling unable to breathe, having panic attacks or even being sick during labour because they were made to wear a face covering.

The research was carried out by the charity Pregnant Then Screwed, who surveyed 936 women who gave birth during December. It found that 160 of those who went into labour were made to wear a face covering. This goes against current joint UK guidance, published in July 2020 by the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

The guidance says that women should not be asked to wear a face covering of any kind during natural labour or during caesarean births because of the risk of harm and complications.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 14 May 2021

Patients have come to avoidable harm after a large private provider failed to deliver thousands of medicine prescriptions, according to a report from the Care Quality Commission.

Healthcare at Home, which is based in Staffordshire but provides NHS-funded care and medicine supplies to patients’ homes across the country, has been rated “inadequate” and placed in special measures.

A report published today said inspectors found more than 10,000 patients missed a dose of their medicine between October and December 2020 due to problems caused by the introduction of a new information system. Reviews have found some suffered avoidable harm as a result.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 13 May 2021