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Minister misled Parliament over ambulance crisis

A health minister incorrectly told the Commons yesterday “we have procured a contract” for surge support for ambulance services, despite the contract not having been awarded yet, HSJ has learned.

There are also doubts about two other points made by health minister Maria Caulfield in Parliament yesterday in a debate about the current high pressure on ambulance services.

She said: “We have procured a contract with a total value of £30m for an auxiliary ambulance service, which will provide national surge capacity if needed to support the ambulance response during periods of increased pressure. That capacity is there, should we need it.”

However, NHS England, which advertised the contract in May, confirmed to HSJ today that it “is yet to be awarded”.

Ms Caulfield was responding to an urgent question from Labour shadow health and social care secretary Wes Streeting about pressure on ambulance services and the heatwave. HSJ reported on Tuesday that all 10 major ambulance services in England were on the highest level of alert.

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Source: 14 July 2022

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Becton Dickinson ordered to pay $255k in hernia mesh trial

A jury ordered Becton, Dickinson and Co to pay $255,000 to a man who sued the company, alleging he had been injured by its hernia repair surgical mesh, according to a court filing.

The verdict in Columbus, Ohio federal court comes in the second bellwether trial in a multidistrict litigation over the company's hernia mesh products, which were sold by C.R. Bard Inc before its 2017 acquisition by Becton Dickinson. The first bellwether trial last year ended with a verdict in favour of the company.

More than 16,000 cases have been consolidated before Chief U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus in Columbus, in the third-largest pending MDL nationwide. Plaintiffs claim that the mesh products caused infections, pain, inflammation and other problems.

The verdict came in a case brought by Antonio Milanesi, who had Bard's Ventralex mesh implanted during a hernia repair in 2007, and his wife, Alicia Morz De Milanesi. They claimed that Milanesi developed an infection and bowel abscess because of the mesh, requiring a second surgery in 2017.

Like other plaintiffs in the MDL, the Milanesis say the mesh products are defectively designed because their polypropylene material degrades when in implanted in human tissue.

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Source: Reuters, 16 April 2022

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RCN research shows huge numbers of patients being treated in corridors and on trollies

More than a quarter of nursing staff in hospitals across the UK say patient care is being compromised due to treatment taking place in the wrong setting.

Investment in the nursing workforce is needed now, the Royal College of Nursing insists, as survey findings show clinical care is taking place in settings such as hospital corridors and waiting rooms rather than on wards. 

The poll of more than 20,000 nursing and midwifery staff found the situation is worst in emergency care settings where nearly two-thirds of respondents reported the problem. 

Elsewhere, more than a quarter of nursing staff who responded say patients are being treated in the wrong setting, meaning their care is being compromised and even made unsafe. 

Staff shortages are a key factor, and across health and social care settings this is causing delays to patients being discharged into the community. This leaves hospitals full, with emergency care staff having to provide care in inappropriate settings.  

One specific issue identified by respondents was extra beds being added to wards, making carrying out care more difficult, and leading to a lack of privacy for patients and their families.  

A nurse who works on an NHS adult acute ward in Scotland said patients and their relatives had complained about an extra bed being squeezed into a four-bedded bay, meaning they had no buzzer, no curtains and were not two-metre distanced. 

She added: “I feel incredibly frustrated and embarrassed. It is totally inappropriate for ward rounds, nursing procedures, COVID precautions and an extra stress on staff.” 

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Source: Royal College of Nursing, 14 July 2022

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Rehab services ‘very bizarre’ in some places, says NHSE director

NHS England’s director of community health has said a new strategy for rehabilitation care is needed, because present coverage is sometimes ‘bizarre’, with other services ‘masquerading’ as rehab.

Matthew Winn, who is also Cambridgeshire Community Services Trust CEO and senior responsible officer of the “ageing well” programme in the NHS long-term plan, made the comments in a webinar for local senior clinicians and managers in the sector.

He said there was an intention to roll out a national “intermediate care strategy”, describing it as “the essence” of providing rehabilitation and helping hospital patients to “optimise, to recover, to rehab through a skilled multiprofessional team”. They would leave hospital in a “timely pathway” and not need as much social care support afterwards.

It comes amid huge pressure to speed up hospital discharge, which often relies on rehab services.

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Source: HSJ, 14 July 2022

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MPs demand ‘urgent’ meeting with government over private clinics exploiting patients

A cross-party group of MPs and peers have written to the health secretary requesting an “urgent” meeting to discuss “unregulated” and “untested” treatments that are being offered to Long Covid patients in the UK.

It comes after The Independent uncovered a wide range of unproven and “dangerous” therapies being touted to patients, few of which have been approved for use in the NHS – or rigorously tested – for alleviating persistent coronavirus symptoms.

Patients with Long Covid are also travelling abroad to clinics in Europe to receive treatments such as “blood washing”, often at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds, according to an ITV and BMJ investigation.

In a letter to health secretary Steve Barclay, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus expressed concern that patients “desperately” awaiting treatment through the NHS are being exploited by private clinics, and urged the government to launch an investigation into the provision of unproven care.

The group wrote: “It has come to the attention of the APPG that a number of unregulated long Covid clinics are operating in the UK, offering untested and unscientific treatments to people living with long Covid.

“The evidence our parliamentary group has heard makes it clear that in some parts of the country the current NHS long Covid care pathways are unfit for purpose, with access to NHS long Covid clinics being described as a ‘postcode lottery’.”

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Source: The Independent, 14 July 2022

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NHS ‘must show patients more respect’

The NHS must be more welcoming to patients who often feel they should not bother doctors, the new patient safety commissioner for England has urged.

Dr Henrietta Hughes, who takes up the role this week, said it was vital that patients had time to ask questions, despite pressures on the health service.

Clinicians and managers need to put themselves in the shoes of their patients, she said, highlighting “highly inappropriate” interactions between doctors and patients that showed “a total lack of care and respect”.

Hughes said it was not a surprise that all the groups affected in the Cumberlege report were women. “That’s something which is a societal problem, and it’s really important that the voices of all patients, including those of women, are listened to and taken really seriously,” she said. “Because otherwise untold harm happens and it can not only extend to the individual patient themselves, but to their families, to their children, to their livelihoods. This role is a real opportunity for championing patients’ voices, and also making sure those who are in charge who are able to make the changes, listen and respond appropriately."

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Source: The Times, 14 July 2022

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US law will overrule states for abortions in cases of medical emergencies

Physicians must continue to offer abortions in cases of medical emergencies without exception, Joe Biden’s administration said on Monday, as it insisted federal law would overrule any total state bans on abortion.

In a letter to healthcare providers, the president’s health and human services secretary, Xavier Becerra, said the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) protects providers from any purported state restrictions should they be required to perform emergency abortions.

“Under the law, no matter where you live, women have the right to emergency care – including abortion care,” Becerra said. “Today, in no uncertain terms, we are reinforcing that we expect providers to continue offering these services, and that federal law preempts state abortion bans when needed for emergency care.”

Becerra said medical emergencies include ectopic pregnancies, complications arising from miscarriages, and pre-eclampsia, NBC News reported.

Becerra said in his letter to medical providers: “If a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting at an emergency department, including certain labor and delivery departments, is experiencing an emergency medical condition as defined by EMTALA, and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment.

“And when a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life and health of the pregnant person – or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition – that state law is preempted.”

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Source: The Guardian, 12 July 2022

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Nottingham maternity boss memo 'total disrespect to families'

A couple whose baby died in Nottingham say they are "furious" at a memo to hospital staff criticising media coverage of the city's maternity units.

Jack and Sarah Hawkins, whose daughter Harriet died in 2016, have led calls for an inquiry into failings.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) is at the centre of a review into failings at the city's maternity units.

After years of campaigning and an earlier review which was abandoned, experienced midwife Ms Ockenden was appointed in May.

On Tuesday it emerged Ms Wallis had sent a memo to NUH maternity staff which read: "Yesterday, (Monday 11th) Donna Ockenden met with families as part of the new independent review process.

"Some of you will no doubt have seen some of the media fall out."

"Yet again they painted a damning picture of our maternity services, leaving out of their reports the great work that has been done, the improvements that have been introduced and the passion and commitment of all of the staff."

Mr and Mrs Hawkins told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "It's not just the families and the press ganging up - there is very real concern about safety. For senior leadership to not be saying that they have a problem is beyond us."

Hospital bosses have "wholeheartedly apologised" for offence caused.

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Source: BBC News, 13 July 2022

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Heatwave pushes NHS to ‘tipping point’ as hospitals and ambulance services declare black alert

A spike in Covid absences and the extended heatwave have left NHS hospitals and ambulance services struggling to cope.

The hot weather is also driving more patients to A&E departments, and callers are being urged not to use 999 except in serious emergencies.

All 10 ambulance trusts in England are on black alert, the highest level, while health leaders warn that “ill-equipped” hospital buildings are struggling to store medicines correctly amid the abnormally high temperatures.

Martin Flaherty, managing director of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, said: “The NHS ambulance sector is under intense pressure, with all ambulance services operating at the highest level of four within their local resource escalation action plans, normally only ever reserved for major incidents or short-term periods of unusual demand.

“Severe delays in ambulance crews being able to hand over their patients at many hospital emergency departments are having a very significant impact on the ambulance sector’s ability to respond to patients as quickly as we would like to, because our crews and vehicles are stuck outside those hospitals.”

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Source: The Independent, 12 July 2022

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Long Covid patients travelling abroad for expensive and unproven treatments, investigation finds

Paul Pettinger’s trip to Cyprus came because he felt the NHS had no treatments to offer him.

Paul got Covid in the first wave in 2020. After the initial illness, he was left with extreme tiredness and 10% of the energy he once had.

“I have a very small amount of energy and when I use up my energy, I end up with headaches, brain fog and with cognitive issues. It's very hard to think. And also I can't walk very far,” he says. His life then fell apart and he lost his job. “I have been almost housebound for over two years.” he says adding: “I’ve become a burden on family and friends.”

A joint investigation between ITV News and the BMJ has found that Paul is 1 of around 120 people with Long Covid symptoms who have travelled to Cyprus for treatment. But thousands more have had the treatment in countries spending life changing sums of money.

The Long Covid Center is one of several private clinics offering this treatment - others are in Germany and Switzerland. This is Paul’s seventh session. And, he says, he notices a difference and has confidence in the process.

“After each treatment, I experienced a small improvement,” he says. “It is the only treatment out there at the time being and so far it's working.”

However, experts have raised concerns over whether such invasive and expensive therapies should be offered without sufficient evidence.

“I am worried these patients have been offered therapies which have not been assessed by modern scientific methods – well-designed clinical trials,” said Beverley Hunt, medical director of the charity Thrombosis UK. “In this situation, the treatment may or may not benefit them but, worryingly, also has the risk of harm.”

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Source: ITV News, 12 July 2022

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Hundreds of children in mental health crisis facing ‘unacceptable’ A&E waits every week

Hundreds of children suffering from mental health issues are attending A&E each day, with some waiting up to five days in emergency departments, The Independent can reveal.

Internal NHS data leaked to The Independent, shows the number of young patients waiting more than 12 hours from arrival has also more than doubled in the last year.

A national survey of senior A&E doctors by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) found in some areas children’s mental health services have worsened in the last three years, while the majority of respondents warned there were no children’s crisis services open after 5pm.

One NHS trust chief executive has warned his hospital’s A&Es have seen a “real surge” in both attendances of people with severe mental health issues and a sharp increase in long waits in recent months.

One parent, Lee Pickwell, told The Independent his daughter was admitted to paediatric wards several times and stayed days in an emergency “section 136” unit while she waited more than two months for a mental health bed.

Dr Mark Buchanan, RCEM’s lead for children’s mental health, told The Independent that despite improvements, children’s mental health services still fall short of what is needed.

Dr Buchanan said: “I’ve seen children who have been not seen by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), who been refused the referrals, despite the fact that the mum and dad were taking it in turns to sleep outside their bedroom door because they were scared that they’d run away and do some harm.”

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Source: The Independent, 13 July 2022

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Ireland: Hospital complaints include patient turned away from A&E despite risk of self-harm

More than one fifth of complaints about Irish hospitals were deemed ‘high severity' including one from a person who claimed their mother should not have died and another who alleged a patient was turned away from an A&E even though she was at risk of self-harming.

An analysis of 641 complaints about HSE hospitals between October and December 2019 by NUI Galway and the HSE separated them into high severity (22%), medium severity (56%) and low severity (also 22%).

Among those complaints highlighted as potentially linked to ‘catastrophic harm’ was this: “My mother would still be alive if this had not happened."

However the largest number were about hospital systems at 392 — including complaints about waiting lists.

“I was left on a waiting list for surgery for years,” at least one person wrote.

The analysis also found 322 complaints centred around patients’ arrival into hospitals including emergency departments (ED).

“She was turned away instead of admitted even though she was at risk of self-harming,” one person wrote.

Some 92 complaints related to staff not listening to patients, including new parents who said: "While our newborn son was on the ward they took too long to notice his difficulty breathing and transfer him to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit)."

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Source: Irish Examiner, 11 July 2022

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USA: FDA could approve over-the-counter purchase of first birth control pill

The Food and Drug Administration will consider an application for the first birth control pill to be sold without a prescription.

The application from HRA Pharma would seek to make Opill – an every day, prescription-only hormonal contraception first approved in 1973 – available over-the-counter. Such an approval from the FDA would allow people to purchase “the pill” without a prescription for the first time since oral contraceptives became widely available in the 1960s.

The application will also cast oral contraceptives into a fraught political moment in the US. The US supreme court ended federal protection for abortion rights late last month, throwing into question the future of birth control.

“This historic application marks a groundbreaking moment in contraceptive access and reproductive equity in the US,” said HRA Pharma’s chief strategic operations and innovation officer, Frédérique Welgryn. “More than 60 years ago, prescription birth control pills in the US empowered women to plan if and when they want to get pregnant.”

Making birth control available without a prescription will “help even more women and people access contraception without facing unnecessary barriers”, said Welgryn, whose company has already submitted the application.

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Source: The Guardian, 11 July 2022

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NHS Scotland deal signed for mesh removal surgery in US

The Scottish government has signed a contract to allow NHS patients to visit a US expert for mesh removal surgery.

Patients can book appointments with Dr Dionysios Veronikis in Missouri with their travel and accommodation costs paid for by the NHS.

The cost of each procedure is estimated to be £16,000 to £23,000.

Transvaginal implant use was stopped in Scotland after hundreds of women were left with painful, life-changing side effects.

NHS National Services Scotland said it would work with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and local health boards to take forward arrangements for those who wish to travel to the US for the procedure.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: "I fully understand that women want mesh removal surgery undertaken by surgeons who enjoy their full confidence and a range of measures are now in place to ensure this happens.

"I am determined to ensure that those with mesh complications get the treatment they want and need."

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Source: BBC News, 12 July 2022

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First ever Patient Safety Commissioner appointed

The Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay has today appointed Dr Henrietta Hughes OBE as the first ever Patient Safety Commissioner for England.

Adding to and enhancing existing work to improve the safety of medicines and medical devices, the appointment of a Commissioner is in response to the recommendations from Baroness Cumberlege’s review into patient safety, published in 2020.

Dr Hughes will be an independent point of contact for patients, giving a voice to their concerns to make sure they are heard. She will help the NHS and government better understand what they can do to put patients first, promote the safety of patients, and the importance of the views of patients and other members of the public.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:

"It is essential that we put patient safety first and continue to listen to and champion patients’ voices.

Dr Henrietta Hughes brings a wealth of experience with her as the first ever Patient Safety Commissioner to improve the safety of medicines and medical devices and her work will help support NHS staff as we work hard to beat the Covid backlogs."

Patient Safety Commissioner Henrietta Hughes said:

"I am humbled and honoured to be appointed as the first Patient Safety Commissioner. This vital role, recommended in First Do No Harm, will make a difference to the safety of patients in relation to medicines and medical devices.

Patients’ voices need to be at the heart of the design and delivery of healthcare. I would like to pay tribute to the incredible courage, persistence and compassion of all those who gave evidence to the report, their families and everyone who continues to campaign tirelessly for safer treatments.

I will work collaboratively with patients, the healthcare system and others so that all patients receive the information they need, all patients’ voices are heard and the system responds quickly to keep people safe."

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Source: Gov.UK, 12 July 2022

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Ambulance handover delays equivalent of 70 days

An ambulance trust lost 1,700 hours of working time in one week in April due to vehicles waiting outside a hospital.

The BBC has discovered that the figure was reached twice during April as ambulance crews waited outside Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in Gloucester to handover patients.

That equates to about 70 days worth of waiting time each week.

The trust that runs the hospital said it was facing "significant challenges" as it dealt with "unrelenting demand".

Figures show that since the end of January, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) has lost a minimum of 800 hours of working time each week due to ambulances having to wait outside Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, unable to get patients into A&E.

The national target for transferring patients from ambulances in to A&E is 15 minutes, but in some cases people had to wait up to 10 hours in ambulance queues in Gloucester.

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Source: BBC News, 12 July 2022

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GP test result confusion puts patients at risk

Patients are being put at risk because GPs wrongly assume they will actively seek their test results, a study says.

Researchers from the University of Bristol said the mismatched expectations could harm patients, with delayed diagnosis a likely result.

The study found: “Doctors expected patients to know how to access their test results. In contrast, patients were often uncertain and used guesswork to decide when and how to access their tests. Patients and doctors generally assumed that the other party would make contact, with potential implications for patient safety.”

Dr Jessica Watson, a GP and doctoral research fellow at the Centre for Academic Primary Care at the university, who led the study, said: “GPs have a medico-legal and ethical responsibility to ensure they have clear, robust systems for communicating test results.” 

Watson added: “Relying on patients to get in contact and making assumptions about their knowledge of how to do so were particular risks highlighted.”

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Source: The Times, 12 July 2022

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Efforts to curb UK monkeypox outbreak inadequate, warn experts

Monkeypox is continuing to spread in the UK, with current efforts insufficient to curb the outbreak, experts have warned as a whistleblower claimed there were serious flaws in the support given to those who think they have been exposed.

According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), there have been 1,552 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the UK related to the outbreak as of 7 July.

“[There is] no evidence that current strategies are likely to bring this to an end anytime soon,” said Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, although he noted that while total case numbers were continuing to rise, the rate of new infections may have plateaued.

The concerns came as a whistleblower working on a UKHSA monkeypox inquiries line said it had numerous issues, including offering little support for people who are not confirmed contacts of cases – i.e. somebody whose name has been provided to contact tracers by a person with monkeypox.

The Guardian has seen scripts that show even if someone calls because they are worried they may have had a contact with a confirmed case, they are told their risk is very low if they have not been formally identified as a contact. The whistleblower said that made little sense when a caller has said a sexual partner has monkeypox symptoms.

In addition, the whistleblower said call handlers were not allowed to suggest callers contact a sexual health clinic unless sexual health was brought up by the caller, They added that some clinics had turned off their phone lines.

The UKHSA has rejected the claims, saying the phone line is an additional service to provide non-clinical advice to members of the public.

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Source: The Guardian, 11 July 2022

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Hospital turns away patients as heatwave forces critical incident

Patients may be turned away at A&E in Portsmouth as the UK’s heatwave drives extreme hospital pressures.

Staffing pressures coupled with additional strain from the current heatwave have forced Portsmouth Hospitals University Foundation Trust to declare a critical incident.

The trust said it only had space in its emergency department for patients with life-threatening illnesses and critical conditions and so would be forced to redirect other patients elsewhere.

In a statement, Portsmouth Hospitals University FT said: “Our emergency department remains full with patients and we have very limited space to treat emergency patients. We are only able to treat patients with life-threatening conditions and injuries, so anyone patients who arrive at ED without a life-threatening condition or injury, will be redirected to alternative services that can help...

“Our immediate priority is to ensure there are beds available to admit our most seriously ill patients into and we are focusing on safely discharging as many patients as possible. We ask that families and loved ones support us with this and collect patients as soon as they are ready to be discharged.”

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Source: The Independent, 11 July 2022

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Doctors forced to work overnight shifts at last minute in NHS staffing crisis

Hospital doctors are being sent home from daytime shifts and told to come back and work overnight in the latest stark illustration of the NHS’s crippling staff shortage.

Medics are having to change their plans at the last minute because hospitals cannot find any others to plug gaps in the night shift medical rota and need to ensure they have enough doctors on duty.

Hospital bosses are forcing last-minute shift changes on junior doctors – trainees below the level of consultant up to the level of senior registrar – because staff sickness and the scarcity of locum medics has left them struggling to ensure patients’ safety is maintained overnight.

One trainee doctor in south-west of England told how they started their shift as planned at 8am. However, “by mid-morning the doctor that was meant to be working that night, that I would hand over to, had called in ill”.

The doctor stopped working at 11am, drove home – an hour away – and came back to work the night shift at 11pm. “By the time I returned I had already worked for three hours and driven for three hours. That’s an extra six hours on top of a busy night shift of 12.5 hours,” they said.

Dr Julia Patterson, the chief executive of EveryDoctor, said: “We are hearing of escalating problems with NHS doctors being forced to work unsafe, unfair hours."

“Patient safety is of paramount importance to all doctors, but this situation is simply not sustainable. When mistakes occur, staff are blamed. But staff are working in an unworkable system.”

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Source: The Guardian, 11 July 2022

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NHS is ‘not doing a very good job’ on children’s mental health

The NHS's approach to tackling children’s mental health is “threatening to overwhelm the social care system”, the president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services has warned.

Steve Crocker believes the NHS is “not doing a very good job” for children, describing how children are typically now waiting four months for a mental health assessment and over a year for treatment as being “simply not good enough”.

He admitted he was being “deliberately provocative” around children’s mental health at the opening of the ADCS conference yesterday, as he wants to see “more collaboration” from the new Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), which were put on a statutory footing this month.

Mr Crocker warned delegates that under the ICS reforms, there is an “ongoing risk that the needs of children are sidelined by the ongoing pressure in acute adult services”.

“The House of Lords amendment ensuring each ICS has a children’s strategic lead was a welcome development, but does it go far enough?” he asked.

Mr Crocker told LGC: “Children's mental health should be a priority for every ICS in the country. I can't imagine any reason why any ICS would not do that."

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Source: Local Government Chronicle, 8 July 2022

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Plans to build 40 new hospitals in England ‘moving at a glacial pace’

Implementation of Boris Johnson’s flagship pledge to build 40 new hospitals is “moving at a glacial pace” and is hamstrung by delays and a lack of funding, NHS bosses have warned.

Some of the construction schemes have already fallen as much as four years behind schedule, while others have been hit by massive cost increases because of difficulties in obtaining sign-off on certain points.

The new hospitals programme in England is progressing so slowly that bosses of half of the hospitals earmarked to benefit doubt whether they will ever get the money to deliver the promised rebuild, according to a report and survey of health service trust chiefs by NHS Providers.

One hospital in a rural area had to send seriously ill patients to other hospitals as much as 50 miles away and cancel cancer surgery when an inspection found that the ceiling of its intensive care unit was in danger of collapsing.

Another hospital has had to close an entire ward for the same reason, while another is plagued with sewage regularly leaking into clinical areas because of the age of the facility.

One trust chief executive said: “The whole fabric of the building is shot and we need to rebuild. The build was supposed to be completed in 2024 but [we are] now looking at 2027.”

Another boss said: “We operate 21st-century healthcare from 19th-century buildings – increasingly unsustainable.”

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Source: The Guardian, 8 July 2022

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AI will soon be everywhere in the NHS. It’s a risk for women and ethnic minorities, experts say

Artificial intelligence (AI) could lead to UK health services that disadvantage women and ethnic minorities, scientists are warning.

They are calling for biases in the systems to be rooted out before their use becomes commonplace in the NHS.

They fear that without that preparation AI could dramatically deepen existing health inequalities in our society.

A new study has found that AI models built to identify people at high risk of liver disease from blood tests are twice as likely to miss disease in women as in men.

The researchers examined the state of the art approach to AI used by hospitals worldwide and found it had a 70% success rate in predicting liver disease from blood tests.

But they uncovered a wide gender gap underneath – with 44% of cases in women missed, compared with 23% of cases among men.

“AI algorithms are increasingly used in hospitals to assist doctors diagnosing patients. Our study shows that, unless they are investigated for bias, they may only help a subset of patients, leaving other groups with worse care,” said Isabel Straw, of University College London, who led the study.

“We need to be really careful that medical AI doesn’t worsen existing inequalities.”

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Source: iNews, 9 July 2022

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Female doctors launch campaign against harassment in UK healthcare

Female doctors have launched an online campaign that they say exposes shocking gender-based discrimination, harassment and sexual assault in healthcare.

Surviving in Scrubs is an issue for all healthcare workers, say the campaign’s founders, Becky Cox and Chelcie Jewitt, who are encouraging women to share stories of harassment and abuse to “push for change and to reach the people in power”.

The campaign has called for the General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates doctors, to explicitly denounce sexist and misogynistic behaviour towards female colleagues and “treat them with respect”.

More than 40 stories have been shared on the campaign’s website, ranging from sexual harassment by patients to inappropriate remarks and sexual advances from supervisors.

The campaign is bolstered by evidence that shows 91% of female respondents had experienced sexism at work within the past two years. The findings are a result of nearly 2,500 surveyed doctors working in the NHS – the majority of whom were women – published in a 2021 report by the British Medical Association (BMA).

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Source: The Guardian, 11 July 2022

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Trust chiefs resist ‘pressure’ to treat patients in corridors

Hospital leaders say they have been pressured to deliver more ‘corridor care’ as a result of efforts to ease the ambulance handover crisis.

Due to the collapse in ambulance response times over the last year, hospitals have been told to receive patients from ambulance crews more quickly, to enable those crews to respond to new incidents in the community.

This can mean patients being kept on trolley beds in corridors, with a lack of appropriate staff to care for them.

Tracy Bullock, chief executive of University Hospitals of North Midlands, told HSJ  her trust almost eradicated “corridor care” before the pandemic.

But she added: “There have been discussions about going back to corridor care, but we have resisted that, as it brought significant patient safety and staff wellbeing issues… although these never received the same airtime as ambulance waits as they are unseen and only impact on the acutes.

“The terminology has now changed and instead of corridor care it’s ‘cohorting’, and the space is not necessarily a corridor but a designated space for ambulances to drop more patients off.”

She said this only works with enough staff, “otherwise you end up with the same safety issues that we had delivering corridor care pre-pandemic”.

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Source: HSJ, 11 July 2022

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