Jump to content
  • articles
    6,901
  • comments
    73
  • views
    4,938,325

Contributors to this article

About this News

Articles in the news

 

Trust CEOs accuse police of ‘high stakes game of chicken’

Ambulance chiefs have warned that patients are coming to harm, paramedics are being assaulted and control room staff reporting a “high stakes game of chicken” with police during the implementation of a controversial new national care model.

The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives say in a newly published letter they believe the “spirit” of national agreement on how to implement the Right Care, Right Person model is not being followed by police, raising “significant safety concerns”.

The membership body set out multiple concerns about the rollout of the model, under which the police refuse to attend mental health calls unless there is a risk to life or of serious harm.

In the letter to Commons health and social care committee chair Steve Brine, AACE chair Daren Mochrie says timescales for introducing it were often “set by the police rather than “agreed” following meaningful engagement with partners”, meaning demand was shifting before health systems had built capacity. They also flag a lack of NHS funding to meet the new asks. 

Mr Mochrie, also CEO of North West Ambulance Service Trust, described a “grey area” relating to what he called “concern for welfare” calls, which meet neither the police nor attendance services’ threshold for attendance.

“To date this is the single biggest feedback theme we have heard from ambulance services, with some control room staff describing feeling like they’re in a ‘high-stakes game of chicken’ where the police have refused to attend and told the caller to hang up, redial 999 and ask for an ambulance,” he wrote.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 20 February 2024

Read more

Trust concludes former chief ‘not fit and proper’ after sexual harassment investigation

An NHS trust has concluded that its former chief executive is not a “fit and proper person” to be on an NHS board, after investigating allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour, HSJ has learned.

HSJ understands The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt (RJAH) Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust commissioned a specialist external workplace investigation into Mark Brandreth, which considered serious allegations made about his behaviour during his time as trust chief executive between April 2016 and August 2021.

Mr Brandreth is understood to dispute the allegations as well as the investigation’s findings, and is seeking to challenge RJAH’s handling of the complaints and its process for deciding he did not meet the Fit and Proper Person Test. 

Sources with knowledge of the situation said almost 30 female RJAH staff members came forward to give information to the investigation, but it focused on 12 employees who were willing to give evidence.

HSJ has been told that as a result of the investigation, which concluded at the end of last year, the trust’s chair has informed NHSE in writing that it believes Mr Brandreth does not meet the “Fit and Proper Person Test”, implying he should be ruled out of board roles – or roles with equivalent responsibility – at English NHS organisations and adult social care providers.

However, the trust, in Shropshire, is not planning to publish its ruling and – with no professional regulation in place for health and care managers and/or board members – it is unclear how effective the conclusion will be if it is not made public. A female staff member told HSJ of her concerns that “nothing is being done”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 21 February 2024

Read more
 

Patient care hit by disrepair in NHS buildings

Disrepair in NHS buildings led to thousands of potentially-harmful incidents last year including critically ill patients being moved when rainfall came through the ceiling.

Sewage leaks, floods and failing equipment also featured in incident records obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act.

Health chiefs called on the government to nearly double its capital spending.

The government said "significant sums" had been invested to modernise the NHS.

Heath Secretary Victoria Atkins said the government accepted that some hospital buildings "are not as we would wish them to be" but added that it was for NHS chief executives to decide how to spend the money.

According to NHS data, the care of more than 2,600 acute hospital patients was disrupted last year by estates and infrastructure failure.

The NHS Confederation, which represents trusts, has published a report setting out what health care leaders want the next government to prioritise.

It has called on the government to increase capital spending on the health service from £7.7bn to £14.1bn.

Matthew Taylor, its chief executive, said: "Put simply, a lack of capital funding can leave patients at risk."

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 21 February 2024

Read more

NHS to roll out ‘Martha’s Rule’

The head of the NHS has today announced the rollout of ‘Martha’s Rule’ in hospitals across England from April, enabling patients and families to seek an urgent review if their condition deteriorates.

The patient safety initiative is set to be rolled out to at least 100 NHS sites and will give patients and their families round-the-clock access to a rapid review from an independent critical care team if they are worried about their or a loved one’s condition.

This escalation process will be available 24/7 to patients, families and NHS staff, and will be advertised throughout hospitals, making it quickly and easily accessible.

NHS chief Amanda Pritchard said the programme had the potential to “save many lives in the future” and thanked Martha’s family for their important campaigning and collaboration to help the NHS improve the care of patients experiencing acute deterioration.

Thirteen-year-old Martha Mills died from sepsis at King’s College Hospital, London, in 2021, due to a failure to escalate her to intensive care and after her family’s concerns about her deteriorating condition were not responded to promptly.

Extensive campaigning by her parents Merope and Paul, supported by the cross-party think tank Demos, has seen widespread support for a single system that allows patients or their families to trigger an urgent clinical review from a different team in the hospital if the patient’s condition is rapidly worsening and they feel they are not getting the care they need.

Merope Mills and Paul Laity, Martha’s parents, said: “We are pleased that the implementation of Martha’s Rule will begin in April. We want it to be in place as quickly and as widely as possible, to prevent what happened to our daughter from happening to other patients in hospital.

“We believe Martha’s Rule will save lives. In cases of deterioration, families and carers by the bedside can be aware of changes busy clinicians can’t; their knowledge should be recognised as a resource. We also look to Martha’s Rule to alter medical culture: to give patients a little more power, to encourage listening on the part of medical professionals, and to normalise the idea that even the grandest of doctors should welcome being challenged. We call on all NHS clinicians to back the initiative: we know that the large majority do listen, are open with patients and never complacent – but Martha’s doctors worked in a different culture, so some situations need to change.

“Our daughter was quite something: fun and determined, with a vast appetite for life and so many plans and ambitions – we’ll never know what she would have achieved with all her talents. Hers was a preventable death, but Martha’s Rule will mean that she didn’t die completely in vain.”

Read full story

Source: NHS England, 21 February 2024

Read more
 

Largest Covid vaccine study ever finds shots are linked to small increased risk of neurological, blood and heart disorders - but they are still extremely rare

Covid vaccines have been linked to small increases in heart, blood, and neurological disorders, according to the largest global study of its kind.

An international coalition of vaccine experts looked for 13 medical conditions among 99 million vaccine recipients across eight countries in order to identify higher rates of those conditions after receiving the shots.

They confirmed that the shots made by Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca are linked to significantly higher risk of five medical conditions - including a nerve-wasting condition that leaves people struggling to walk or think.

Read full story

Source: Daily Mail, 19 February 2024

Read more
 

Ida Lock: Baby's inquest delayed amid 'whistleblower' claims

An inquest into the death of a baby has been adjourned after a whistleblower claimed hospital inspectors ignored safety concerns about a NHS trust.

Ian Kemp has raised concerns the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust was "covering up" the death.

The former health watchdog inspector said he had been asked to investigate maternity care at the trust in December 2019 after the death of Ida Lock.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 19 February 2024

Read more
 

NHS end-of-life ‘pathway’ practises continue despite being banned

The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) was abolished in every hospital and hospice in the country just under a decade ago. This end-of-life-care protocol was scrapped by the Government as a “national disgrace”, in the words of Norman Lamb, then Care Services Minister, after a review by Baroness Neuberger found widespread failings and abuses.

But troubling evidence since the scrapping suggests that the practises established under the LCP are in fact still continuing today in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

Read full story

Source: Catholic Herald, 18 February 2024

Read more
 

New inquiry at Limerick hospital after a second girl dies suddenly aged 16

Another inquiry has been launched into the sudden death of a second teenage girl in the Accident and Emergency department of University Hospital Limerick three weeks ago.

The 16-year-old girl died suddenly on January 29, hours after she was rushed to UHL suffering from breathing difficulties.

The girl, a much-loved only child, died in front of her mother in what an informed source described as “deeply traumatic circumstances”.

It is the latest tragedy under review at UHL following the death of Aoife Johnston (16) from Shannon, Co Clare,

Read full story

Source: Irish Independent, 20 February 2024

Read more
 

Suicidal patient, 24, died hours after being discharged from scandal-hit hospital

A suicidal man died hours after being discharged from a scandal-hit hospital which is at the centre of a probe into the care of Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane.

Daniel Tucker was released from a mental health ward at Highbury Hospital in Nottingham last year and died shortly afterwards, having taken a toxic substance he had purchased online.

An inquest into his death last week found there were multiple failings by Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust in the lead-up to Tucker’s death, with no appropriate care plan or risk assessment in place for him before or after his discharge.

The 10-day hearing heard he had been discharged from the hospital on 22 April, despite having shared suicidal intentions with staff just days before. The jury concluded that failures by staff to ensure an appropriate plan for him contributed to his death.

It comes after health secretary Victoria Atkins ordered the Care Quality Commission to carry out an inquiry into Nottinghamshire Healthcare. The probe will look at the handling of Calocane, who had been discharged from Highbury Hospital and was a patient under the trust’s community crisis services when he stabbed three people to death in a brutal knife rampage.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 18 February 2024

Read more

Victims of failed surgery demand recall of all patients

Michelle Nolan takes morphine daily for the pain she has lived with for 14 years after botched surgery at the hands of a once renowned surgeon.

She suffered irreversible nerve damage in July 2010 when John Bradley Williamson, a former president of the British Scoliosis Society, inserted a screw that was too long into her spine at Spire Manchester Hospital.

The 49-year-old from Chadderton, near Oldham, needs crutches and lost her job as a legal secretary and later her house and marriage. “I lost everything because of him,” she said. “I thought I was the only one he had harmed.”

She was not. Families and patients operated on by Williamson over two decades at the Salford Royal Hospital, Spire Manchester Hospital and the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, have formed a support group and want a full recall of all of his patients.

They fear some could be suffering without realising they are victims of poor care.

Williamson told the coroner investigating Catherine’s death that her surgery “progressed uneventfully” and “the blood loss was perhaps a little higher than one would usually anticipate but was certainly not extreme”.

Yet days after her death, Williamson sent an internal letter to the hospital’s haematology department head Simon Jowitt describing the surgery as “difficult” and involving “a catastrophic haemorrhage”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Times, 18 February 2024

Read more
 

UK exam could be scrapped for foreign dentists

The government is considering plans to allow dentists from abroad to work without taking an exam to check their education and skills.

The proposal, which is subject to a three-month consultation, aims to address the severe shortage of NHS dentists.

It is hoped a quicker process would attract more dentists.

The British Dental Association has accused the government of avoiding the issues "forcing" dentists to quit.

The proposal forms part of the government's £200 million NHS Dental Recovery Plan for England, announced earlier this month.

Under the plan, dentists could also be paid more for NHS work, while so-called "dental vans" would be rolled out to areas with low coverage, alongside an advice programme for new parents.

There is also a proposal of £20,000 bonuses for dentists working in under-served communities, as part of an effort to increase appointment capacity by 2.5 million next year.

At present, overseas dentists are required to pass an exam before they can start work in the UK - the new idea would see the General Dental Council (GDC) granted powers to provisionally register them without a test.

Stefan Czerniawski, executive director of strategy at the GDC said: "We need to move at pace, but we need to take the time to get this right - and we will work with stakeholders across the dental sector and four nations to do so."

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 17 February 2024

Read more

Woman worried after no ADHD medicine for months

A woman said she has been unable to get her ADHD medication for months.

Hannah Huxford, 49, from Grimsby is one of thousands of patients unable to get hold of medicine to manage their symptoms due to a national shortage.

Mrs Huxford, who was diagnosed with the condition two years ago, described the situation as a "huge worry".

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it had taken action to improve the supply of medicines but added that "some challenges remain".

Mrs Huxford said the medicine made a "huge difference" and got her life back on track.

"It enables me to function and concentrate so I can be more proactive, I can be more productive," she explained.

She said she had been unable to get her usual supply since October 2023 and has to ration what she can get hold of.

"Christmas time it was just getting beyond a joke. I was going back to the pharmacy, probably two or three times in a month, just to collect the little IOUs and it was getting to the point where that, in itself, was becoming a stress," she said.

"All of a sudden, if this medication is taken away from me, I'm frightened that I will go back to not being able to cope."

James Davies, from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said the supply shortage has been caused by manufacturing problems and an increase in demand.

"There are more people who are being diagnosed with ADHD, more people seeking to access ADHD treatments. That's not just related to the UK, this is a global problem," he said.

Mr Davies said some ADHD medication has come back into stock but added "it's quite a fluid situation at the moment".

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 19 February 2024

Have you (or a loved one) ever been prescribed medication that you were then unable to get hold of at the pharmacy? 

To help us understand how these issues impact the lives of patients and families, please share your experience and insights in our community thread on the topic: 

 

You'll need to register with the hub first, its free and easy to do. 

We would also like to hear from pharmacists working in community or hospital settings, and others who have insights to share on this issue. What barriers and challenges have you seen around medication availability? Is there anything that can be done to improve wider systems or processes?

Read more

The NHS hidden waiting lists terrifying patients

Patients are facing delays stuck on hidden waiting lists that do not show up in the official figures in England, a BBC News investigation reveals.

The published waiting list stands at 7.6 million - but the true scale of the backlog is thought to be much higher.

This is because patients needing ongoing care are not automatically included in those figures - even if they face major delays.

NHS England said hospitals should be monitoring and counting such cases.

But BBC News found evidence suggesting this is not always the case.

The problem affects patients receiving ongoing care, as well as those removed from waiting lists even before starting treatment.

BBC News has spoken to patients waiting months and even years for vital treatment, such as cancer care, spinal treatment and others at risk of going blind because of deteriorating eyesight.

Hospitals are meant to return patients facing unnecessary delays to the waiting list to ensure they are counted in the backlog figures.

But of 30 NHS trusts asked by BBC News how regularly this was happening, only three could provide figures.

Karen Hyde, from Insource, a company that helps hospitals manage waiting lists, said the guidance was "commonly ignored".

"This is a huge issue. The NHS does not incentivise hospitals to keep a close eye on these patients.

"We know there are long waits for those on the waiting list. For those not on the official waiting list, it is likely to be even worse - but the figures are not published."

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 19 February 2024

Read more

Italy announces inquiry into its handling of Covid-19 pandemic

Italy will carry out an inquiry into its handling of the coronavirus pandemic in a move hailed as “a great victory” by the relatives of people killed by the virus but criticised by those who were in power at the time.

Italy was the first western country to report an outbreak and has the second highest Covid-related death toll to date in Europe, at more than 196,000. Only the UK’s death toll is higher.

The creation of a commission to examine “the government’s actions and the measures adopted by it to prevent and address the Covid-19 epidemiological emergency” was approved by the lower house of parliament after passing in the senate.

Consuelo Locati, a lawyer representing hundreds of families who brought legal proceedings against former leaders, said: “The families were the first to ask for a commission and so for us this is a great victory. The commission is important because it has the task, at least on paper, to analyse what went wrong and the errors committed so as not to repeat the massacre we all suffered.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 15 February 2024

Read more

Ethnic minorities in England have worse access to GPs

Areas across England where the highest proportion of ethnic minorities live have the poorest access to GPs, with experts attributing this disparity to an outdated model being used to determine funding.

As of October 2023, there were 34 fully qualified full-time-equivalent GPs per 100,000 patients in the areas with the highest proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to a Guardian analysis of NHS Digital and census data.

This is 29% lower than the 48 general practitioners per 100,000 people serving neighbourhoods with the highest proportion of white British people.

Although ethnic minorities tend to be younger than the white British population, minority ethnic areas still have the lowest number of GPs per person even when factors such as age, sex and health necessities are considered.

Prof Miqdad Asaria at the London School of Economics department of health policy said it was “very concerning” that ethnic minorities “have systematically poorer access to primary care which is likely to be a key driver of current and future health inequalities”.

“Primary care plays a crucial role in preventing disease, diagnosing and treating illness, and facilitating access to specialist or hospital treatment for people who need it,” he added.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian,15 February 2024

Read more

Maternity unit rated ‘inadequate’ after delayed Caesarean warning

A trust’s main maternity unit has been rated “inadequate” and given a warning notice amid concerns delayed Caesarean sections are causing harm to babies.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) told Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust to make significant improvements in how quickly it carries out emergency C-sections, the regulator said in a report today.

The trust was also told to improve risk management, governance and oversight of services at its Tunbridge Wells Hospital.

Inspectors found between April and July last year, 42% of “category 1” emergency Caesareans – defined as those posing an immediate threat to the life of the woman or foetus — at the Tunbridge Wells Hospital were delayed. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence says these should be carried out “as soon as possible and in most situations within 30 minutes of making the decision”.

The report identified “ongoing recurrent delays” to emergency Caesareans overnight, as the trusts did not have a second theatre available.

This “meant an increased risk of harm, including cases reported by the service such as babies with ‘acute foetal hypoxia’ had emerged due to delayed births”, the inspection report said.

It also criticised the trust for not responding to a high level of post-partum haemorrhages, some of which had caused “moderate” harm.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 16 February 2024

Read more

Waiting times focus ‘overshadows misconduct’, finds NHSE review

Ambulance trusts have often prioritised capacity and response times over dealing with cases of misconduct, a review of culture in the sector for NHS England has found.

The review says ambulance trusts need to “establish clear standards and procedures to address misconduct”.

The work was carried out by Siobhan Melia, who is Sussex Community Healthcare Trust CEO, and was seconded to be South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust interim chief from summer 2022 to spring last year.

Her report says bullying and harassment – including sexual harassment – are “deeply rooted” in ambulance trusts, and made worse by organisational and psychological barriers, with inconsistencies in holding offenders to account and a failure to tackle repeat offenders.

She says “cultural assessments” of three trusts by NHSE had found “competing pressures often lead to poor behaviours, with capacity prioritisation overshadowing misconduct management”, adding: “Staff shortages and limited opportunities for development mean that any work beyond direct clinical care is seen as a luxury or is rushed.

“Despite this, there is a clear link between positive organisational culture and improved patient outcomes. However, trusts often focus on meeting response time standards for urgent calls, whilst sidelining training, professional development, and research.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 15 February 2024

Read more

ICB whistleblowing process ‘not fit for purpose’

An integrated care board (ICB) has found its handling of whistleblowing “not fit for purpose”, after a complaint about safety incidents not being properly investigated.

A report by North West London ICB, obtained by HSJ, states: “The whistleblowing policy is not fit for purpose and requires immediate updating. The [Freedom to Speak Up] Guardian has been left blank and the policy does not include key components of best practice.”

It also found the “whistleblower should have been provided with a substantive response to their concerns within 28 days” but in fact waited 98 working days, “due to delays with starting the whistleblowing component of the grievance”.

The ICB reviewed its processes after a complaint from a staff member who raised concerns early last year about “a lack of, or poor, response” to reported patient safety incidents in the system, which are meant to be routinely reviewed by ICBs “prior to closure”. 

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 15 February 2024

Read more

12-hour A&E waits in winter 'becoming normalised'

The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours for a bed on a ward after being seen in A&E in England was 19 times higher this winter than it was before the pandemic, figures show.

There were nearly 100,000 12-hour waits in December and January - compared with slightly more than 5,000 in 2019-20.

A decade ago these waits were virtually unheard of - in the four winters up to 2013-14 there were fewer than 100.

The King's Fund said long delays were at risk of becoming normalised.

It said the pressures this winter had received little attention compared with last winter, despite no significant improvement in performance.

During December 2023 and January 2024, 98,300 patients waited more than 12 hours for a bed on a ward after A&E doctors took the decision to admit them.

The Northern Ireland branch of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) said the pressures were "unsurmountable" and it was having a detrimental impact on patients.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 15 February 2024

Read more
 

'Ethnic bias' delayed care before Liverpool woman's death

"Cultural and ethnic bias" delayed diagnosing and treating a pregnant black woman before her death in hospital, an investigation found.

The probe was launched when the 31-year-old Liverpool Women's Hospital patient died on 16 March, 2023.

Investigators from the national body the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations (MSNI) were called in after the woman died.

A report prepared for the hospital's board said that the MSNI had concluded that "ethnicity and health inequalities impacted on the care provided to the patient, suggesting that an unconscious cultural bias delayed the timing of diagnosis and response to her clinical deterioration".

"This was evident in discussions with staff involved in the direct care of the patient".

The hospital's response to the report also said: "The approach presented by some staff, and information gathered from staff interviews, gives the impression that cultural bias and stereotyping may sometimes go unchallenged and be perceived as culturally acceptable within the Trust."

Liverpool Riverside Labour MP Kim Johnson said it was "deeply troubling" that "the colour of a mother's skin still has a significant impact on her own and her baby's health outcomes".

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 16 February 2024

Read more

USA: Mississippi prison delayed woman’s cancer diagnosis until it was terminal, lawsuit says

A Mississippi prison denied medical treatment to an incarcerated woman with breast cancer, allowing her condition to go undiagnosed for years until it spread to other parts of her body and became terminal, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday.

Susie Balfour, 62, alleges that Mississippi department of corrections (MDOC) medical officials were aware she might have cancer as early as May 2018, but did not conduct a biopsy until November 2021, one month before she was released from prison. It was not until January 2022, after she left an MDOC facility, that a University of Mississippi Medical Center doctor diagnosed her with stage four breast cancer, according to her federal complaint.

Her lawsuit and medical records paint a picture of a prison healthcare system that deliberately delayed life-saving healthcare and for years repeatedly failed to conduct follow-up appointments that the MDOC’s contracted clinicians recommended.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 14 February 2024

Read more
 

NHS apologises after hospital doctor took own life

The doctor in charge of medical training for NHS England has apologised unreservedly to the family of a medic who took her own life.

Dr Vaish Kumar, a junior doctor, left a suicide note blaming her death entirely on the hospital where she worked, her family revealed last year.

Dr Kumar, 35, was wrongly told she needed to do a further six months of training before starting a new role.

It meant she was forced to stay at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QE) in Birmingham, where she had been belittled by colleagues, an inquest heard.

In a letter to Dr Kumar's family, seen by the BBC, NHS bosses admitted she did not need to do the extra training.

Dr Navina Evans, chief workforce and training education officer for England, told the family in the letter: "I wish to unreservedly apologise for these mistakes and for the impact they would have had.

"As an organisation we are determined to learn... not only across the Midlands but across England as a whole."

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 13 February 2024

Read more
 

Pelvic mesh compensation disappointingly low, says victim

A woman who described the time in her life after a pelvic mesh implant as "soul destroying" said proposed government compensation was "disappointingly low".

Claire Cooper, from Uckfield, is one of around 100,000 women across the UK who had transvaginal mesh implants.

England's patient safety commissioner suggested compensation could start at around £20,000.

Ms Cooper, 49, was originally given the mesh implant as a treatment for incontinence after childbirth.

However, after struggling with pain following the operation, Ms Cooper claimed doctors treated her as if she were "psychotic" and "a nuisance".

She said her experience was one of being "mocked".

"It was just soul destroying," Ms Cooper told BBC Radio Sussex. "I lost my fight because I was met at every turn with resistance so I just lost the ability to advocate for myself."

Ms Cooper eventually had surgery to remove the mesh, which she said one doctor compared to "cheese cutting wire". She is still living with chronic pain.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 15 February 2024

Further reading on the hub:

Doctors shocking comments to women harmed by mesh

 

Read more

IVF clinic investigated over possible damaged eggs

More than 100 patients who had eggs and embryos frozen at a leading clinic have been told they may have been damaged due to a fault in the freezing process.

The clinic, at Guy's Hospital in London, said it may have unwittingly used some bottles of a faulty freezing solution in September and October 2022.

But it said it did not know the liquid was defective at the time.

One patient at a second clinic, Jessop Fertility in Sheffield, has also been affected, the BBC has learned.

The fertility industry regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said it believes the faulty batch was only distributed to those two clinics.

It is believed that many of the patients affected have subsequently had cancer treatment since having their eggs or embryos frozen, which may have left them infertile. This means they now may not be able to conceive with their own eggs.

Guy's Hospital's Assisted Conception Unit is now being investigated by the HFEA, because of a delay in informing people affected.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 14 February 2024

Read more
 

Family of man who died after surgery delay calls Sussex NHS trust apology ‘hollow’

The family of a man who needlessly died after a 12-hour delay in surgery have called for changes at a troubled NHS trust as regulators expressed alarm about patient safety and waiting times.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) upgraded the surgery department at the Royal Sussex county hospital in Brighton from “inadequate” to “requires improvement” at a time when it is at the centre of a police investigation into dozens of patient deaths, allegations of negligence and cover-up.

In their report, the regulator expressed concern about already long and lengthening waiting times, repeated cancelled operations and staff shortages that could compromise safety.

The inspection report comes as the Guardian can reveal the trust apologised and settled with the family of Ralph Sims, who died aged 65 after heart surgery in April 2019 when doctors failed to act appropriately to a drop in his blood pressure.

Sims, who was a keen runner, suffered a drop in blood pressure and developed an irregular heart rhythm eight hours after surgery to replace an aortic valve at the hospital.

An internal investigation into Sims’ treatment acknowledged that hospital staff failed to “recognise the significance of the fall in blood pressure”.

University Hospitals Sussex NHS foundation trust, which runs the hospital, accepted that the father of three should have returned to surgery to identify the cause of his deterioration. Instead, medics decided that he should be observed overnight.

Due to another emergency case, an angiogram was not carried out on Sims until just before noon the following day – 12 hours after the drop in pressure. The delay caused irreversible – and avoidable – heart muscle damage, leading to his death five weeks later.

The family said: It added: “Whilst the trust has apologised to our family it feels hollow. Ralph’s death was entirely unnecessary, and despite the issues in his care, it took the trust several years to apologise.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 14 February 2024

Read more
×
×
  • Create New...