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Woman loses seventh baby after concerns about delayed caesarean were ‘dismissed’ by doctors

A woman who suffered six miscarriages lost her seventh baby after doctors delayed her caesarean section, a report has found.

Chyril Hutchinson was admitted to hospital in February 2021 with high blood pressure when she was 37 weeks pregnant with her daughter Ceniyah Cienna Carter, and was told by doctors at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust she would need a caesarean.

But the procedure was delayed as a result of staffing pressures and because Ms Hutchinson’s blood pressure stabilised. She was then told she would have to wait another two weeks for it to be carried out.

Given her previous miscarriages, Ms Hutchinson said she pleaded for her baby to be delivered earlier, but her concerns were “dismissed” and she was sent home. Days later, a scan revealed that her baby had died.

A trust investigation into Ms Hutchinson’s care found that staff had failed to properly monitor the growth of her baby, which could have indicated the need for an earlier delivery.

The internal report, seen by The Independent, also revealed that on the day Ms Hutchinson was told she should have a casaerean, the hospital was six midwives short and the department was busy - a situation the trust said “places additional pressures and possible overload on medical staff”.

However, the report concluded that staffing levels did not affect Ms Hutchinson’s care, and it did not state whether the wider failings had led directly to her child being stillborn.

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Source: The Independent, 5 June 2022

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Woman kept in police cell for 36 hours after stillbirth due to suspicions she had ‘illegal abortion’

A woman was kept in police custody for 36 hours after having a stillbirth because of suspicions she had an abortion after the legal cut-off point, it has been claimed.

UK abortion providers, who supported the woman, denied she had flouted the legal deadline and warned the treatment she endured “should be unthinkable in a civilised society”, with “no conceivable” public interest in holding her.

They added that the woman has been under investigation for a year and a half, but still not charged with any crime.

Jonathan Lord, medical director of MSI Reproductive Choices, one of the UK’s leading abortion providers, told The Independent the woman unexpectedly delivered a stillborn foetus at home that was about 24 weeks old.

Dr Lord, the co-chair of the British Society of Abortion Care Providers, who shared the woman’s story with The Independent, said: “She was shocked to give birth due to not knowing how far along pregnant she was. She was admitted to hospital.

“Because healthcare colleagues were suspicious, and knew she had been in touch with us, an abortion provider, as she told them, they suspected her of having an illegal abortion and called the police. But she wasn’t over the limit for a legal abortion.

Dr Lord said the experience of having an “extraordinarily unexpected” stillbirth before being taken into police custody during lockdown was “traumatic” and “distressing” for the woman.

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Source: The Independent, 5 July 2022

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Woman in Scotland dies after cervical cancer screening error

A woman in Scotland has died from cervical cancer after she was excluded from the cervical cancer screening programme. 

The error meant that more than 400 women have also not been tested and it has been revealed since then, a small number of women have developed cervical cancer. 

It has also emerged that some of the women wrongly excluded from the screening programme had partial hysterectomies dating back to 1997.  

Maree Todd, the Scottish public health minister extends her condolences to the family of the woman who died. NHS boards are putting together better measures to ensure the errors do not happen again. 

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Source: The Guardian, 24 June 2021

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Woman found under coat in Nottingham A&E died days later

An investigation has been launched after a woman died days after being found unconscious underneath her coat while waiting in A&E for seven hours.

The 39-year-old woman is understood to have first attended A&E at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham on the evening of 19 January complaining of a severe headache. She was triaged and then observed by nurses three times. Her case was escalated but she was not seen by a doctor before being discovered.

When the woman was called to see a doctor, she did not respond. It was assumed that she had left A&E because she had waited so long. She was discovered and transferred to intensive care but died three days later on 22 January.

A source familiar with the hospital told LBC, which first reported the incident, that the A&E department could have up to 80 patients waiting at a single time and that wait times could be as long as 14 hours.

Dr Keith Girling, the medical director at Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust, said: “I offer my sincere condolences to the family at this difficult time. An investigation, which will involve the family, will now take place and until this has been concluded, we are unable to comment further.”

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Source: The Guardian, 10 February 2024

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Woman dies after doctors fail to properly read brain tumour scans

Despite regular MRI scans at the Royal Preston Hospital showing that the tumour was growing, May Ashford was not offered surgery until five years later.

A woman died unnecessarily after doctors failed to operate soon enough on a growing brain tumour, according to the health complaints service.

May Ashford, from Blackpool, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2010 after experiencing headaches and seizures.

Despite regular MRI scans at the Royal Preston Hospital showing that the tumour was growing, she was not offered surgery until five years later.

An investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) said the treatment was too late as medical staff had failed to monitor the scan results properly.

Medical experts said Mrs Ashford should have been operated on at least three years earlier, before the tumour had time to grow and affect the surrounding area of the brain.

She tragically died aged 71 from a stroke following surgery.

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Woman dies after being set on fire during surgery in Romania

A woman has died after being set on fire during surgery in Romania, the country’s health ministry has said, in a case that has cast a spotlight on the ailing Romanian health system.

The patient, who had pancreatic cancer, died on Sunday after suffering burns to 40% of her body when surgeons used an electric scalpel despite her being treated with an alcohol-based disinfectant.

Contact with the flammable disinfectant caused combustion and the patient “ignited like a torch”, Emanuel Ungureanu, a Romanian politician, said.

A nurse threw a bucket of water on the 66-year-old woman to prevent the fire from spreading. The health ministry said it would investigate the “unfortunate incident”, which took place on 22 December.

“The surgeons should have been aware that it is prohibited to use an alcohol-based disinfectant during surgical procedures performed with an electric scalpel,” the Deputy Minister, Horatiu Moldovan, said.

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Source: The Guardian, 30 December 2019

the hub has a number of posts on preventing surgical fires:

 

 

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Woman died on floor after waiting over five hours for ambulance in Wales

A 58-year-old woman died alone curled up in a blanket on the floor of her bedroom as she waited more than five hours for an ambulance.

Relatives of Rachel Rose Gibson believe she had a heart attack at her home in Wrexham, north Wales, only a short drive away from a hospital, but died before an ambulance reached her.

The Welsh ambulance service said that on the day Gibson died, its crews spent more than 700 hours waiting outside hospitals for patients to be admitted, which meant they could not respond quickly to people needing help.

Family members said Gibson, a grandmother of seven, called an ambulance at 4pm on 5 April as she was coughing up blood and in chronic pain. By the time an ambulance arrived at 9.30pm, she had died.

Her daughter, Nikita, 29, said: “She was lying on the floor curled up in a blanket. It haunts me to know she died alone in so much pain.

“I feel like I can’t fully grieve because I’m so angry. She only lives five minutes away from the hospital, but must have been in too much pain to get into a taxi.”

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Source: The Guardian, 22 May 2023

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Woman died in Cardiff home after waiting 'hours' for ambulance

Maria Whale, 67, has died after waiting more than two hours for an ambulance after her husband dialled 999 when she began experiencing "severe abdominal" pain.

Mr Whale has said the family have questioned whether she would have lived if the ambulance had arrived sooner, saying they had waited "four to five hours" for it to come. However, the Welsh ambulance service has said its records showed the call was placed at 02:10 BST before a paramedic arrived at 04:22 BST, with the ambulance following shortly thereafter at 04:35 BST - two hours and 25 minutes after the first call. 

"We are deeply sorry to hear about the passing of Mrs Whale and would like to extend our thoughts and deepest sympathies to her loved ones. An investigation to determine what happened started earlier this month and given this is underway we are unable to comment further at this time." Says Welsh Ambulance operations director, Lee Brooks. 

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Source: BBC News, 28 July 2021

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Woman died from sepsis 'as doctors argued for hours over which ward to treat her on'

Tina Hughes, 59, died from sepsis after doctors allegedly delayed treating the condition for 12 hours while they argued over which ward to treat her on.

Ms Hughes was rushed to A&E after developing symptoms of the life-threatening illness on September 8 last year. Despite paramedics flagging to staff they suspected sepsis, it was not mentioned on her initial assessment at Sandwell General Hospital, in West Bromwich.

A second assessment six hours later also failed to mention sepsis while medics disagreed over whether to treat her on a surgical ward or a high dependency unit.

The grandmother-of-five was eventually transferred to the acute medical unit at 3am the next morning where sepsis was finally diagnosed, but she continued to deteriorate and was admitted to intensive care four hours later and put on a ventilator.

She died the following morning.

A serious incident investigation report by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust has since found there was "a delay in explicit recognition of sepsis".

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Source: The Telegraph, 4 October 2022

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Woman died after breathing tube put in food pipe

A mother-of-one died after a breathing tube was put into her food pipe, despite staff raising concerns it was inserted incorrectly, an inquest heard.

Emma Currell, 32, had just received dialysis and was heading home to Hatfield, Hertfordshire, in an ambulance when she had a seizure. 

An anaesthetic team was called to sedate her as her tongue had swelled and she was bleeding from the mouth.

Dr Sabu Syed, who was a trainee anaesthetist, told the hearing: "I used suction to remove blood and I was able to push the tongue to the side and got a partial view."

She said she believed she inserted the tube into the trachea - the windpipe - and had asked her senior colleague Dr Prasun Mukherjee to check the position of the tube.

"Dr Mukherjee was busy doing other tasks," she added.

Technician Nicholas Healey said he flagged his concerns when there was no carbon dioxide reading on the ventilator, which was not faulty.

He said that both he and Dr Syed had raised concerns about the tube being in the wrong place.

The court heard the hospital had drawn up a guideline checklist for trachea procedures since Ms Currell's death and staff were due to have "no trace = wrong place" training on the warning signs of incorrect insertion.

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Source: BBC News, 27 February 2023

 

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Woman died after being given the wrong medication

An 87-year-old woman died after her carers gave her the wrong medication, a coroner was told.

Heather Planner, from Butler's Cross in Buckinghamshire, died at Wycombe Hospital on 1 April from a stroke. Senior coroner Crispin Butler heard three staff from Carewatch Mid Bucks had failed to spot tablets handed over by the pharmacy were for a male patient.

Mr Butler said action should be taken to prevent similar deaths.

A hearing in Beaconsfield on Thursday, where he issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report, followed an inquest in November. In the report he said he was told at the inquest that the carers from Carewatch Mid Bucks gave widow Mrs Planner the wrong medication four times a day for two and a half days. She suffered a fatal stroke because she did not receive her proper apixaban anticoagulation medication.

Mr Butler said he would send his concerns to the chief coroner and the Care Quality Commission. He said there was no procedure in place to ensure individual carers read and specifically acknowledged any medication changes.

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Source: BBC News, 27 February 2020

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Woman awarded £8m after doctors left sponge inside her during surgery

A woman has been awarded $10.5 million (£8m) in damages after medical staff left a sponge inside her body.

The sponge – which measured 18-by-18 inches and was left behind during surgery – was inside the woman's body for years before she realised.

It had been left in her body after she underwent heart surgery at a Kentucky hospital in 2011. The bypass surgery is said to have gone wrong, leaving a mess – and as nurses rushed to deal with the problems, the sponge was left inside her body. 

It was not discovered for four years, until she had a CT scan in 2015. In the meantime, the sponge had moved around the woman's body, shifting around her intestines and causing pain as it did so. She had her leg amputated and was left with gastrointestinal issues after the sponge eroded into her intestine.

The patient's lawyers said the case should be a reminder to hospitals to ensure that objects such as needles and other sharp objects, as well as sponges, are removed from patients after surgery.

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Source: The Independent, 1 January 2020

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Woman accused of faking symptoms of debilitating illness dies aged 33

A 33-year-old New Zealand woman who was accused of faking debilitating symptoms has died of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS).

Stephanie Aston became an advocate for patients' rights after doctors refused to take her EDS symptoms seriously and blamed them on mental illness. She was just 25 when those symptoms began in October 2015. At the time, she did not know she had inherited the health condition.

EDS refers to a group of inherited disorders caused by gene mutations that weaken the connective tissues. There are at least 13 different types of EDS, and the conditions range from mild to life-threatening. EDS is extremely rare.

Aston sought medical help after her symptoms—which included severe migraines, abdominal pain, joint dislocations, easy bruising, iron deficiency, fainting, tachycardia, and multiple injuries—began in 2015, per the New Zealand Herald. She was referred to Auckland Hospital, where a doctor accused her of causing her own illness.

Because of his accusations, Aston was placed on psychiatric watch. She had to undergo rectal examinations and was accused of practising self-harming behaviours. She was suspected of faking fainting spells, fevers, and coughing fits, and there were also suggestions that her mother was physically harming her.

There was no basis for the doctor’s accusations that her illness was caused by psychiatric issues, Aston told the New Zealand Herald. “There was no evaluation prior to this, no psych consultation, nothing,” she said.

She eventually complained to the Auckland District Health Board and the Health and Disability Commissioner of New Zealand. “I feel like I have had my dignity stripped and my rights seriously breached,” she said.

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Source: The Independent, 6 September 2023

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Witness at NHS inquiry intimidated by ‘deeply disturbing’ messages

A witness to an inquiry into deaths at England’s largest mental health trust has been intimidated by “cruel and calculated pressure”, with messages described by the man leading the investigation as “truly shocking”.

In a statement at the start of hearings into the quality of care at Southern Health Foundation Trust, inquiry chairman Nigel Pascoe QC said one witness had received threatening telephone calls, messages and emails, which he said were “totally unacceptable, damaging and deeply disturbing”.

Mr Pascoe said the inquiry had been told Beth Ford, whose job title at the trust is service user involvement facilitator, had been intimidated by members of the public.

Ms Ford, who has autism, was admitted to hospital for her mental health earlier this month as a result of the abuse, but has now returned home.

It’s the latest incident to hit the controversial inquiry, which has itself faced fierce criticism from the families of five patients who died between 2011 and 2015.

The families have pulled out of the inquiry and accused the investigation and NHS England of bullying them and going back on promises to properly investigate the deaths of their relatives.

Maureen Rickman, whose sister Jo Deering died in 2011, told The Independent she didn’t believe any of the main families were involved in intimidating witnesses.

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Source: The Independent, 29 March 2021

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Winter warning as 35,000 respiratory diagnoses delayed due to pandemic

Patients with respiratory disease have been overlooked during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the NHS storing up problems for the winter months, a group of experts including the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has warned.

Analysis by the 34-member Taskforce for Lung Health showed that referrals for lung conditions fell by 70% in April, with two-in-five (39%) of CCGs seeing no appointment bookings for respiratory conditions for the whole of May.

On average, the group calculated a weekly average of 3,399 lung patients missing out on urgent and routine referrals during the COVID-19 lockdown, amounting to a total of at least 34,780 people, based on NHS England data.

This was blamed in part on a general reduction in routine procedures during the pandemic, which will have affected all disease areas, but also the limitations on clinicians including GPs to carry out spirometry due to the risk of COVID-19 infection spread.

But the taskforce - which includes the RCGP and the Primary Care Respiratory Society, as well as the Royal College of Physicians and Asthma UK - is now calling on NHS England to urgently restore services to pre-pandemic levels to tackle the backlog of lung patients requiring support. It said that failure to do so risked causing the premature death of patients who require urgent diagnosis as well as overwhelming the NHS during the winter season, when respiratory symptoms worsen.

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Source: Pulse, 9 July 2020

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Winter viruses to surge alongside Covid warn medics

Since lockdown, people have not been exposed to viruses that normally circulate during the winter months, but now that restrictions are lifting, there are concerns the viruses may make a comeback. Now, leading medics have warned there will be a surge in respiratory viruses alongside Covid-19 this winter and have urged anyone experiencing symptoms to self-isolate. 

Testing for flu, Covid and respiratory viruses common in children and elderly may help doctors treat cases quickly, doctors have said. 

A report by Professor Azra Ghani, from Imperial College London found a surge in winter viruses during the summer. She has said "Whilst we expect the peak in deaths to be considerably lower than last winter, under some scenarios we could see hospital admissions rise to similar levels."

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Source: BBC News, 15 July 2021

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Winners of HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2022 revealed

More than 900 invitees converged on Manchester Central last night to find out which projects would emerge winners in the latest edition of our Patient Safety Awards.

The awards recognise and reward the hard-working teams and individuals who, in these times of austerity, pay restraints and workforce shortages, are striving to deliver improved patient care.

HSJ correspondent Annabelle Collins gave a welcome speech before comedian and writer Justin Moorhouse hosted the event, which was held at the end of the first day of the Patient Safety Congress.

Ms Collins said: “Not only are you treating more and more patients, in difficult circumstances, you’re treating them safely and innovating during a time when the health service is being told by the government to be more efficient. To do more, with less. I think this makes your work and achievements even more special.

This year, the awards were presented under four key areas:

  • Clinical and specialist excellence;
  • Enacting organisation-wide change;
  • Proactive prevention and harm avoidance; and
  • Service/system innovation.

Read about the winners

Source: HSJ, 25 October 2022

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Winners of HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2021 revealed

Last night’s HSJ Patient Safety Awards celebrated the innovative work of frontline NHS teams in a year when the challenge and necessity of keeping the public safe had never been greater.

Patient Safety Team of the Year was St Luke’s Cancer Centre and the pharmacy team from Royal Surrey Foundation Trust, who achieved ambitious change to reduce the risk of covid infections of cancer patients.

This year saw the introduction of the Improving Care for Children and Young People Initiative of the Year which was won by Humber Teaching FT and Hull CCG for their Humber Sensory Processing Hub. Website

The Patient Safety Awards celebrate the teams at the frontline pushing the boundaries of patient safety and driving cultural change to minimise risk, enhance quality of care and ultimately save lives.

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Source: HSJ, 21 September 2021

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Windrush scandal made ethnic minority people ‘fearful’ of using cancer services

Fears that their data would be shared with the Home Office following the Windrush scandal left some people from ethnic minorities afraid to access cancer services during the pandemic, an NHS England document has revealed.

The paper from the West Midlands Cancer Alliance said there was a “perception” the government was “accelerating immigration removals” and that, as a result, “individuals (particularly those affected by the Windrush scandal) are then fearful of accessing cancer treatment and may not participate in screening programmes for fear their information will be inappropriately shared with the Home Office”.

The news comes after figures released last week showed the fall-off in referral and treatment of Black-British patients for cancer during the early stages of the pandemic was sharper than for their White-British counterparts.

Referrals and first treatments for cancer dipped across the board in April last year.

However, by July, White patients were receiving 77 per cent of the treatment volumes they had done 12 months before. The figure for Black patients was 67 per cent. This 10 percentage point difference continued in August and September, as treatment volumes for White-British patients recovered to 83 and 91 per cent respectively. Parity was achieved from October to December 2020, the latest period for which data is available.

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Source: HSJ, 22 April 2021

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William Wragg acts as Parliamentary Ombudsman Office faces life without a boss

William Wragg, the Tory chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC), has belatedly intervened in the growing crisis over the failure of the Prime Minister to appoint a new Parliamentary Ombudsman to replace Rob Behrens who quits the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on 31 March 2024.

In a letter published on the committee’s website, Mr Wragg asks Sir Alex Allan, the senior non executive director on the Parliamentary and Heath Services Ombudsman board, what measures will be taken to keep the office going and what is going to happen to people who, via their MP, want to lodge a complaint to the Ombudsman. He also raises whether reports can be published and complaints investigated. 

The letter discloses that recruitment for a new Ombudsman began last October and a panel chose the winning candidate at the beginning of January. Since then the Cabinet Office and Rishi Sunak, who has to approve the appointment, have not responded. The silence from Whitehall and Downing Street means no motion can be put to Parliament appointing a new Ombudsman, who then appears before the PACAC for a pre appointment hearing. PACAC has only a couple of weeks to set up the hearing.

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Source: Westminster Confidential, 12 March 2024

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Will Jeremy Hunt foot the bill for NHS staffing? The signs aren’t promising

“There’s a gap today that no locum filled, so I am carrying both bleeps and doing the work of two people.” That recent tweet, by a children’s doctor, is one of many examples posted on social media by medics illustrating how NHS staff shortages affect them, patients, the smooth running of important services – and, sometimes, the safety of those who are receiving care.

It is a concern shared by every organisation that represents frontline staff, by regulators such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and by NHS England, the body that oversees the service. 

In January the CQC reported that an inspection it had undertaken of Colchester hospital in Essex found patients were missing out on meals because there were too few staff on duty to feed them. Some patients were wearing dirty dressings, and others did not have their call bells answered promptly, for the same reason.

In a letter to the trust that runs the hospital, it said: “All wards’ actual staffing levels and skill mix meant staff were often overstretched. All staff we spoke with expressed concern about the impact on patient care and personal wellbeing.

“Some staff we spoke to were tearful, reported feeling exhausted and concerned that they were unable to care for patients well enough to keep them safe.”

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Source: The Guardian, 26 March 2023

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Widow sues NHS over deaf husband's 'diabolical' care

A woman is taking legal action against an NHS trust over the “diabolical” and discriminatory treatment of her profoundly deaf husband, who died of cancer in May last year.

Susan Kelly, who is also deaf, is angry that her husband, Ronnie, was at no point during two hospital admissions and an outpatient appointment provided with a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter. Instead, her hearing daughter, Annie Hadfield, was asked to translate his terminal diagnosis, when he was told to “get his affairs in order” and given between two weeks and two months to live, while his wife was left outside the room. He died just over two weeks later at home.

Medical staff at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS trust also placed a “do not resuscitate” (DNR) order on Kelly, who had Alzheimer’s disease, during his first hospital admission in late April without either his consent or consulting his wife or daughter. His family found out only after their barrister obtained his hospital notes.

Susan Kelly told the Observer through an interpreter: “I didn’t know what DNR meant. I had no idea. I was really shocked. They’d never asked me anything about it. That wasn’t right, it was wrong. Ronnie wouldn’t have known what it meant.”

Annie Hadfield added: “I thought it was actually quite diabolical.”

The trust is undertaking a review to understand what happened. David Hughes, medical director, said: “We do acknowledge that we have more to do to support patients and relatives who have hearing impairments and it is an area of work we are actively looking at to make improvements.”

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Source: The Guardian, 7 March 2021

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Widow demands answers over Covid official's death

The widow of a top Scottish government official, who died after contracting Covid, believes the full details of his illness were concealed to protect the reputation of a troubled hospital.

Andrew Slorance, Scottish government's head of response and communication unit, in charge of its handling of the Covid pandemic, went into Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for cancer treatment a year ago.

His wife Louise believes he caught Covid there as well as another life-threatening infection. 

Andrew went in to the £850m flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QUEH) at the end of October 2020 for a stem cell transplant and chemotherapy as part of treatment for Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL). 

He died nearly six weeks into his stay, with the cause of his death listed as Covid pneumonia. But after requesting a copy of his medical notes, Mrs Slorance discovered her husband had also been treated for an infection caused by a fungus called aspergillus, which had not been discussed with either of them during his hospital stay.

The infection is common in the environment but can be extremely dangerous for people with weak immune systems.

Mrs Slorance questions whether it may have played a part in her husband's death, and if so, why she was not told?

She told the BBC: "I think somebody and probably a number of people have made an active decision not to inform his family of that infection, either during his admission or post-death."

Mrs Slorance believes that officials wanted to protect the hospital, which is already the subject of a public inquiry, and its reputation, "no matter what the cost".

Mrs Slorance says a full investigation should take place into incidences of aspergillus at the hospital campus.

In response, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "We are sorry that the family are unhappy with aspects of Mr Slorance's treatment, details of which were discussed with the family at the time.

"While we cannot comment on individual patients, we do not recognise the claims being made. We are confident that the appropriate care was provided. There has been a clinical review of this case and we would like to reassure the family that we have been open and honest and there has been no attempt to conceal any information from them."

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Source: BBC News, 18 November 2021

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Widespread gaps in ‘gold-standard’ eating disorders service a year on from launch

More than half of England has limited or no access to a ‘gold standard’ eating disorder programme proven to halve the need for intensive treatment, a year after NHS England funded 18 pilot projects in the wake of five women’s anorexia deaths, HSJ analysis reveals.

Last November NHSE announced it would scale up the first episode rapid intervention in eating disorders (FREED) service – a successful scheme shown to help people aged 16-25 in London – in 19 initial areas before promoting it country-wide.

The brainchild of King’s College London’s Professor Ulrike Schmidt, FREED sees teenagers and young adults living with a condition for less than three years being contacted within 48 hours of seeking help – with treatment beginning as soon as two weeks later.

Now it has emerged that just 16 of England’s mental health trusts, out of more than 54, have fully adopted the FREED service, which experts say has halved the need for intensive treatment from 12.5% to 6.5% in early pilots – saving the NHS around £4,400 per patient.

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Source: HSJ, 6 December 2021

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