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'He'll be dead by then' - fears over drug shortage

A pancreatic cancer patient says he is "living day-to-day", as he struggles to get hold of medication which keeps him out of hospital.

RAF veteran David Allen, from Marton near Gainsborough, is unable to digest food without the enzyme replacement therapy Creon.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the drug was in short supply due to "ongoing global supply problems".

Mr Allen's wife, Maureen Allen, said one local pharmacy told them it would not have Creon in stock until 2026, prompting her to reply: "He'll be dead by then."

Mr Allen has to take four high-strength capsules with every meal, and two with a snack or milky drink, which means a box of 100 lasts less than a week.

He described the current shortage as "depressing" and "quite frightening", adding "it can get fraught when your tablets start running out and you haven't got a clue where the next supply is going to come from."

Mr and Mrs Allen said they start every day by scouring the internet and phoning pharmacists within an hour's drive of their home, trying to track down Creon, or its alternatives Pancrex and Nutrizym.

Last week, Mr Allen made a two-hour round trip to collect a 19-day supply he had found in Doncaster.

Without Creon, patients can suffer pain, extreme bloating and severe diarrhoea. Ultimately, they can become severely underweight and malnourished.

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Source: BBC News, 13 August 2024

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

Are you a pharmacists working in community or hospital settings?

To help us understand how these issues impact the lives of patients and families, please share your experience and insights in our Community conversation on medication shortages.

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Cancer rates in men will increase by a whopping 84% over the next three decades, researchers say

Cancer rates in men are expected to skyrocket in the next few decades, a new study reveals.

Cancer rates in men are projected to jump by 84% from 2022 to 2050, while cancer deaths are expected to increase by 93.2% over the same time frame, according to the peer-reviewed study published in an American Cancer Society’s research journal.

This gender disparity is in part because men are exposed more often to risk factors, such as smoking and drinking alcohol, according to the study. Men are also exposed to more cancer-causing workplace hazards, such as harmful chemicals, radiation and asbestos, than women, according to the study.

The researchers also noted that there are more early-detection options for cancers that impact women, like cervical cancer.

“There are no comparable programs for male-specific cancers, such as prostate or testicular cancer,” according to the study.

The authors made several recommendations to ensure cancer deaths among men decrease moving forward.

Their recommendations include promoting early-detection programs for testicular and prostate cancers, implementing universal healthcare and passing stronger regulations to protect employees from workplace hazards.

These steps “are crucial to reducing cancer disparities and ensuring cancer equity among men globally,” according to the study.

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Source: The Independent, 13 August 2024

 

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Failures at NHS hospital that left Nottingham triple killer free

Failures by the NHS trust responsible for treating Nottingham knife killer Valdo Calocane have been laid bare by the health watchdog – but The Independent can also reveal the hospital was repeatedly warned about poor care and experienced a steep rise in patient deaths over the last decade.

An investigation into mental health services in Nottinghamshire found that deaths of vulnerable patients in the years leading up to Calocane’s release from their care more than doubled from 1,694 in 2014-15 to 4,149 in 2021-22.

Calocane, a paranoid schizophrenic, stabbed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar as they returned from a night out in June last year, before going on to kill 65-year-old Ian Coates.

A damning report into his care, published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), found the trust’s mental health unit “minimised or omitted” key details of the serious risk he posed to others.

The families of his victims said services caring for him in the lead-up to the attacks “have blood on their hands”. In response, the Department of Health has confirmed there will be a public inquiry into the failings in Calocane’s care.

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Source: The Independent, 13 August 2024

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New vaccine for respiratory disease rolls out in Scotland

A new vaccination programme aimed at protecting newborn babies and older adults against a dangerous respiratory disease is now being rolled out in Scotland.

The Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) immunisation programme begins on Monday morning, and will be offered in the other UK nations from September.

RSV is common and highly infectious. It affects the breathing system and can cause severe illness in vulnerable groups, including infants and older people. It is the leading cause of emergency respiratory admissions to hospital in infants.

In 2022-23, more than 1,500 infants under the age of one and more than 500 people aged 75 and over were hospitalised with RSV, according to Public Health Scotland.

Across the UK as a whole it results in 25-30 infant deaths each year. While for many the symptoms are mild, the infection is easily spread and 90% of children will catch it within the first two years of their lives.

The vaccine is being administered on the advice of the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Doses are being offered to women from 28 weeks into their pregnancies, to protect newborns, as well as those aged 75 and as a one-off catch up for those aged 75 to 79.

Dr Sam Ghebrehewet, head of immunisation and vaccination at Public Health Scotland, said: "RSV can be very serious for those who are more vulnerable, such as newborns, infants and older adults. If you are eligible, getting vaccinated is the best and simplest thing you can do to protect yourself or your newborn baby from RSV."

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Source: BBC News, 12 August 2024

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About 400 million people worldwide have had Long Covid, researchers say

About 400 million people worldwide have been afflicted with Long Covid, according to a new report by scientists and other researchers who have studied the condition. The team estimated that the economic cost—from factors like health care services and patients unable to return to work—is about $1 trillion worldwide each year, or about 1 percent of the global economy.

The report, published Friday in the journal Nature Medicine, is an effort to summarize the knowledge about and effects of long Covid across the globe four years after it first emerged.

It also aims to “provide a road map for policy and research priorities,” said one author, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, the chief of research and development at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis. He wrote the paper with several other leading long Covid researchers and three leaders of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative, an organization formed by long Covid patients who are also professional researchers.

Read full story (paywalled)

Read the research study, Long COVID science, research and policy

Source: New York Times, 9 August 2024

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‘Unstoppable’ sloth borne virus detected in for first time in Europe after two die in Brazil

A debilitating virus originating in sloths and spread by midges has been reported for the first time in Europe, officials have confirmed.

In June and July, 19 imported cases of the Oropouche virus were reported in Europe, according to the European Center for Disease Control. Twelve were reported in Spain, five in Italy, and two in Germany.

The disease is mainly spread by insect bites - including mosquitos - and originates in pale-throated sloths, non-human primates and birds.

There is currently no vaccine to treat the virus, which comes from the same family of diseases that includes Zika virus and Dengue Fever.

Dr Danny Altmann, a professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, told The Telegraph: “We should definitely be worried. Things are changing and may become unstoppable.”

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Source: Independent, 11 August 2024

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Doctor warned Nottingham attacker could kill

A doctor warned three years before the Nottingham attacks that Valdo Calocane's mental illness was so severe he could "end up killing someone."

This was one of a series of missed opportunities over three years that could have prevented the killings, Calocane's mother and brother told BBC Panorama in their first interview. The doctor's warning appeared in a 300-page summary of medical records the family received only after Calocane was sentenced for the killings, which they have shared with Panorama.

The chief executive of Nottinghamshire's NHS trust said he would do everything he could to stop such a tragedy happening again.

Calocane was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020 and was sectioned four times in less than two years.

In June 2023, he went on a rampage through the streets of Nottingham, killing students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both aged 19, with a knife as they returned from a night out, before stabbing to death Ian Coates, 65, near the school where he worked as a caretaker. Calocane then stole his van and crashed into three other people, inflicting serious injuries.

The warning was given by one psychiatrist while the medical team reviewed Calocane on the ward and was set down in medical records held by Nottinghamshire NHS trust.

Elias and Celeste, Calocane's brother and mother, said the mental health system was "broken" and led to a "tragedy that could have been prevented."

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Source: BBC news, 12 August 2024

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Patients for Patient Safety US to celebrate new patient safety rules on World Patient Safety Day

Press Release: 8 Aug 2024 

As World Patient Safety Day 2024 approaches on 17 September, Patients for Patient Safety US (PFPS US) commends the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for adding a game-changing new Patient Safety Structural Measure (PSSM) to the payment and policy rules for hospitals providing services under Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Starting on 1 October 2024, the PSSM asks hospital leaders to attest to whether their hospital uses recognized best practices to ensure patient safety. The attestation statements are structured under five domains: 1) Leadership Commitment to Eliminating Preventable Harm, 2) Strategic Planning & Organizational Policy, 3) Culture of Safety & Learning Systems, 4) Accountability & Transparency, and 5) Patient & Family Engagement. When fully implemented, hospital-specific results will be publicly reported by CMS, reinforcing public confidence in hospital safety and informing patient choice. 

“These best practices aren’t new, but patients don't know which ones are and which ones are not in place in the hospitals we use,” said Beth Daley Ullem, a co-founder of PFPS US. “CMS, the Joint Commission, and State licensing bodies do not know either. It’s astounding that 25 years after the To Err is Human report’s call to action, so much patient safety performance information is still hidden.”

Carole Hemmelgarn, PFPS US co-founder, added, “Inclusion of the PSSM in the Medicare Program exemplifies federal leadership on patient safety. This is a great step forward for transparency.”

In 2022, PFPS US published "Who Killed Patient Safety?" to reignite the prioritization of patient safety as a public health issue, which led to significant strides. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra established the National Action Alliance for Healthcare and Workforce Safety, CMS set a goal of "zero preventable harm," new federal rules have strengthened patient access to medical records, and President Biden’s prestigious Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology issued transformational patient safety recommendations.

“We'll celebrate these important steps on World Patient Safety Day, and encourage our leaders to continue this urgent work,” said Sue Sheridan, co-founder of PFPS US. Established by the World Health Organization, World Patient Safety Day 2024 kicks off a year of focus on Improving Diagnostic Safety. PFPS US is planning several activities in Washington, DC, from September 15-17th to recognize loved ones lost to or harmed by unsafe care and call for further action. “We must shine a light on the preventable harm related to missed, delayed or failure to communicate diagnoses, which contributes to the harm or death of up to 795,000 Americans annually,” added Sheridan.

About Patients for Patient Safety US (PFPS US) (www.pfps.us)

As part of the World Health Organization's global Patients for Patient Safety initiative, PFPS US is a patient-led nonprofit based in the United States. We are dedicated to enhancing healthcare through transparency, accountability, and active engagement of patients and families.

Media Contact: Sue Sheridan, [email protected]

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Patients miss out on new drugs as struggling NHS cuts trials

Patients are missing out on the latest drugs because the overstretched NHS is struggling to conduct groundbreaking research, the head of Britain’s biggest charitable foundation has warned.

John-Arne Rottingen, chief executive of the Wellcome Trust, which invests more than a billion pounds in UK research each year, said a fall in the number of commercial clinical trials would directly affect the care of thousands.

Rottingen said the “constrained NHS” meant drug companies “decide to go elsewhere”. He said: “This will mean patients will have less opportunity to benefit from being part of clinical research and they will have reduced opportunities to have advanced new treatments, which will have an impact on their opportunity to recover and be treated.”

He said the NHS was a key asset for research but that strength was dwindling because it was struggling to maintain its ability to run clinical trials. “We see the proportion of consultants who are academically qualified is going down, and the proportion of consultants that can do research as a part of their service to the NHS and the system is going down,” he said. “It’s a big concern for UK faculties of medicine that it’s harder to get clinical academics.”

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Source: The Times, 4 August 2024

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Mum died during 13-hour wait for an ambulance

When Jean Frickel fell ill, her family called an ambulance so she could get the crucial life-extending help she needed.

But she died before it arrived. She had waited for 13 hours.

The head of Wales' ambulance service said the number of hours lost while crews waited to hand over patients had quadrupled since 2018.

One patient in Wales waited 46 hours and 46 minutes - almost two days - for an ambulance after a fall.

Jean's case is one of 39 across England and Wales over the past two years where coroners have called for changes to the system to prevent these avoidable deaths.

A coroner ruled Jean's 13-hour wait was because ambulances were queuing to offload patients and unable to answer 999 calls.

Jean's daughter, Helen Underhill, 62, said: "It’s unforgiveable that an ambulance should be waiting outside hospital for someone to be seen, when somebody else is sitting at home, like my mum, in need.

"It’s not the doctors, it’s not the nurses, it’s not the paramedics. It’s getting the ambulances back on the road."

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Source: BBC News, 8 August 2024

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A&E in England has busiest summer ever with 4.6m visits in two months

The NHS in England has had its busiest summer ever in A&E with 4.6m attendances over the past two months, while 1.5m hospital appointments were rescheduled because of the junior doctors’ strikes, according to the latest figures.

The three busiest months for A&E staff in history have been in 2024, with 77,945 attendances a day in May, 76,469 in June and 74,459 in March.

The surge in demand came at a time when the NHS was hampered by industrial action. Junior doctors were on strike between 27 June and 2 July, which led to 61,989 acute appointments needing to be rescheduled. As a result, nearly 1.5m appointments have been affected since the start of the dispute.

Meanwhile, the overall hospital waiting list for elective care, which refers to non-urgent services such as hospital scans and diagnostics, rose again in June to 7.62m – an increase of 19,100 compared with the previous month.

Prof Stephen Powis, the NHS national medical director, said: “A&E staff are under significant pressure and the NHS is in the middle of what could be its busiest summer ever, with a total of 4.6m attendances in the last two months alone and 2024 now having seen the three busiest months for A&E on record.

“While we have seen improvements in the number of patients seen and treated within four hours in A&E, slightly faster ambulance response times and more than three-quarters of cancer patients receiving an all-clear or diagnosis in four weeks, it is clear that waits for patients across a range of services remain unacceptable and there is much more to do to deliver more timely care for those who need it."

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Source: The Guardian, 8 August 2024

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National design for ‘new hospitals’ being downsized

The national design for “new hospitals” will be reduced in size, HSJ understands, amid concerns over “unnecessary” space and cost.

The New Hospitals Programme is expected to make changes to the “Hospital 2.0” standardised design that schemes will be expected to follow.

Changes to the national design are likely to include reduced sizes for rooms and corridor areas as part of ongoing design development. It is also understood these changes will reduce costs.

The changes come amid trusts involved in the New Hospitals Programme raising concerns about the scale of the Hospital 2.0 template after the design was updated in May. They said the update would drive up the potential footprint and cost of their schemes, with the size of wards commonly cited as an issue.

The government did not comment on the expected downscaling of Hospital 2.0, but said designs continue to be “developed and refined”.

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Source: HSJ, 7 August 2024

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USA: New CMS rule incentivises safety practices and strategies

A new federal rule calls on acute care hospitals to attest to supporting patient safety with strategies and best practices in five areas:

  • Leadership commitment to eliminating preventable harm.
  • Strategic planning and organizational policy.
  • Culture of safety and learning health system.
  • Accountability and transparency
  • Patient and family engagement.

The new requirement — the Patient Safety Structural Measure (PSSM) — was published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in final form last week and is part of the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) programme.

Barbara Fain, Executive Director of the Betsy Lehman Center, notes that the new measure closely parallels the Massachusetts Roadmap. “Through financial incentives and transparency, CMS is using its platform to motivate greater hospital investment in the same approaches endorsed by the Roadmap because they are known to reduce preventable patient harm,” she says. 

With the Roadmap and continued guidance from the Massachusetts Health Care Safety and Quality Consortium, the Betsy Lehman Center is already developing resources that the state’s hospitals can use to excel in each of the measure’s five domains.

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Source: Betsy Lehman Center, 8 August 2024

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NHSE quizzing trust’s staff over serious culture and safety concerns

NHS England and commissioners are visiting a mental health trust’s services to ask its staff about concerns over safety, communication, and culture, HSJ has learned.

The unusual move for NHSE to speak directly to staff at Black Country Healthcare Foundation Trust, taking place today, comes during a long-running dispute between the provider and its medical consultant group.

NHSE’s Midlands team has been sent several letters in recent months, by anonymous groups of BCHFT staff, raising a range of serious issues.

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Source: HSJ, 31 July 2024

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CEO ‘exodus’ threatens NHS, ministers told

The NHS could face an “exodus” of chief executives within the next two years due to a retirement bulge and intense operational pressure, government pay advisers have warned.

The senior salaries review body’s latest report, published last night, said senior NHS leaders’ turnover was high, emphasising that one-third of executive directors had been appointed within the past 20 months (as of August last year).

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Source: HSJ, 30 July 2024

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Slimming jabs: 'I thought my body was shutting down'

For those with severe weight issues, semaglutide – the active ingredient in slimming drugs – can be a life-changer. Celebrity success stories have massively increased demand, but brought with it a booming black market for illegal and often life-threatening products. BBC Investigations has discovered how easy these are to buy.

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Source: BBC News, 31 July 2024

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Ditching of social care plan is a tragedy - Dilnot

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision to scrap planned changes to the care system in England has been described as a "tragedy" by Sir Andrew Dilnot, the man who authored the proposals in 2011.

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, Sir Andrew said: "We've failed another generation of families."

He said it was another example of social care "being given too little attention, being ignored, being tossed aside".

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Source: BBC News, 31 July 2024

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Amber alert issued as NHS faces critical shortage of O type blood

A perfect storm of increased demand of O type blood from hospitals following the recent cyber attack which has impacted London hospitals and reduced collections due to high levels of unfilled appointments at donor centers in town and city centers, has caused stocks of blood to drop to unprecedentedly low levels.  

NHS Blood and Transplant has written to hospitals today to issue an “Amber Alert” asking them to restrict the use of O type blood to essential cases and use substitutions where clinically safe to do so. O negative and O positive donors are asked to urgently book and fill appointments at donor centers. 

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Source: Medical Life Sciences, 29 July 2024

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NHS payouts for medical negligence claims hit new annual high of £2.8bn

The NHS paid out record sums in damages and legal costs for alleged mistakes and negligence by medical professionals last year.

In 2023/24, the cost of settling clinical negligence claims increased to £2.8bn from £2.7bn the previous year.

Half the costs were associated with poor maternity care, an annual report from the health service’s legal authority revealed.

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Source: Independent, 29 July 2024

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Stop discharging mentally ill, hospitals are ordered after killings

Hospitals have been ordered to carry out an urgent review of safety in NHS mental health services after a spate of deadly incidents.

NHS England wrote to trusts on Friday raising concerns that too many patients with severe conditions, who can pose a risk both to themselves and others, were struggling to access treatment.

Claire Murdoch, England’s mental health director, told services to stop discharging mentally unwell patients simply because they do not turn up to appointments.

Units have also been told to check for gaps in the care of people with severe mental illness, such as psychosis or paranoid schizophrenia.

According to the latest NHS guidance, issued alongside Murdoch’s letter, there have been repeated “service failures”. These include patients not getting consistent care, with staff chopping and changing, while in other cases workers have missed “red flags” such as criminal offending.

Families and carers have been ignored when they raised concerns, NHS England said.

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Source: The Times, 28 July 2024

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Junior doctors offered 22% rise in bid to settle dispute

The government has offered junior doctors a pay uplift worth around 20 per cent over two years to end their long-running industrial action.

The British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee is set to recommended the offer to members who will vote on whether to accept and end their dispute, several reports said.

HSJ understands the deal is worth a 22.3% cash terms pay increase over two years.

Reports said it included a backdated pay rise of 4.05% for 2023-24, on top of the existing deal of 8.8-10.3% depending on role or level. Then for 2024-25, the offer is for a 6% rise, and an additional one-off consolidated £1,000 payment—equating to a 7-9% rise.

If the deal is rejected by members, then industrial action could continue until at least September, when the junior doctors’ latest mandate is due to expire, days before the Labour party’s annual conference in Liverpool. The first strike was in March 2023.

The Government has not yet confirmed details of the offer, nor how it will be funded. NHS funding assumptions for 2024-25 only cover uplifts of 2%.

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Source: HSJ, 29 July 2024

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GPs capping patient numbers could have ‘catastrophic’ effect on A&E, says NHS chief

Industrial action by GPs could have a “catastrophic” impact on A&E units, the 111 telephone advice service and mental healthcare, a senior NHS leader has told the Guardian.

Family doctors who run GP surgeries across England are about to finish voting on whether to reduce the care they provide – including limiting the number of patients they see to 25 a day – in protest at the previous government increasing their budget by only 1.9% this year.

The ballot of GP partners being run by the British Medical Association (BMA) closes on Monday, with the result known soon afterwards. They are expected to vote in favour of taking industrial action – but not striking – that would start on Thursday.

The outcome of the ballot could pose another headache for Wes Streeting, the health secretary, who is holding talks with junior doctors aimed at resolving their long-running pay dispute during which they have gone on strike 11 times over the past 17 months in pursuit of a 35% rise.

In his first major policy announcement since replacing Victoria Atkins on 5 July, Streeting pledged to increase the share of the NHS budget that goes to general practice.

Referring to the prospect of industrial action by GPs, a source close to Streeting said: “This is just the latest example of the mess left by the Conservatives. We are determined to work with the profession to rebuild general practice, which is critical to making the NHS fit for the future. We will increase the proportion of resources going into primary care over time and help address the issues GPs face.”

There is huge concern across the NHS that GPs capping their patient contacts to 25 a day would cause significant disruption, with family doctors referring more patients than usual to already-overstretched hospitals as another tactic to force NHS England and ministers into a rethink. It could also extend waiting times for diagnostic tests and non-urgent hospital care, NHS chiefs fear.

“If all GPs implemented the patient cap, that could have a catastrophic effect on the entire healthcare system”, said Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation. “General practice is now supporting more patients than before the Covid pandemic, so any reduction in their activity will put more pressure on other services, including A&E.”

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Source: The Guardian, 28 July 2024

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NHS issues urgent plea after ‘perfect storm’ leaves blood supplies set to run out within hours

The NHS has issued an urgent plea for blood donors after warning national supplies are set to run out within hours.

Doctors urged people with O-type blood to donate, with national stocks of O-Negative projected to run out by Saturday. The health service said it has less than 5 days stock of all types of blood in what it described as an “unprecedented” shortage.

They called on people with the universal blood group O-negative, as well as O-positive donors, to urgently book into donor centres. 

Just 8 per cent of the population have type O-Negative but it makes up for around 16 per cent of hospital orders, according to NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).

The health service said it was facing a “perfect storm” after a cyber attack impacted London hospitals in June.

Dr Gail Miflin NHSBT’s chief medical officer said: “Three blood donations are needed every minute in hospitals to deal with emergencies, childbirth and routine treatments. Blood only has a shelf life of 35 days so the NHS needs blood all year round. There are just under 800,000 regular blood donors, 108,000 of whom are O Negative. Ultimately, we need more people to be regular blood donors and come to one of our 25 donor centres.”

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Source: Independent, 27 July 2024

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Online portals deliver scary health news before doctors can weigh in

More Americans are learning of devastating health diagnoses through their phones and computers instead of personally from their doctors because of a federal requirement that people receive immediate access to medical test and scan results, from routine bloodwork to MRIs.

This shift has sparked a debate in the medical community about whether instant information empowers patients or harms them.

The new medical landscape resulting from a bipartisan law promoting transparency has exposed fault lines in a stressed health-care system where the promises of technological advancements are undercut by the heavy workloads foisted on medical professionals.

As more people receive troubling results online at the same time as their doctors—often waiting days or weeks for treatment plans—medical associations have been pushing to give doctors more time to release records revealing cancer and other grim diagnoses so patients don’t have to bear the news alone.

The idea of medical transparency undergirding provisions in the 2016 Cures Act is broadly supported. But implementation of the regulations expanding access to medical records, which took effect in 2021, has been more divisive.

Congress has taken little interest in this issue, and federal health officials have stood by the rules, arguing that concerns will be resolved as technology improves and as medical practices adjust how they prepare patients for results.

“There is just a moral imperative here, which is for patients, this is their information. They ought to be able to access it whenever they want,” said Micky Tripathi, the national coordinator for health information technology whose office crafted the requirement for the Department of Health and Human Services. “They also pay for it. They ought to be able to get things they pay for.”

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Source: Washington Post, 26 July 2024

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‘Huge emotional toll on managers’ from employment tribunal delays

Managers and staff are suffering a “huge emotional toll”—while trusts are facing extra costs—due to very long delays to hold employment tribunals.

A lack of judicial capacity following mass cancellations during covid means waiting times for a hearing are reaching as long as 18 months from initial claim, and more hearings are being cancelled at the last minute, meaning trusts are incurring significant financial costs, lawyers said.

Minutes from a Courts and Tribunals Judiciary meeting showed, as of this spring, some regions were listing three-five day employment tribunal hearings as far as two years away (early 2026), while others were being scheduled for the second half of 2025, despite recent signs of a falling caseload.

One senior employment law source, who did not want to be named, told HSJ both the staff making claims, and their organisations/managers, were being “hugely impacted” by the delays “because they are living in some of the worst moments of their lives”.

They said: “Equally, for those against whom claims are brought, some really serious allegations of discrimination, they’ve put a huge pressure on those people. They’re living with that hanging over them. That emotional toll is huge. We’ve had people who have retired and moved overseas. Who wants to come back from there for a tribunal claim relating to issues from six years ago? It has a really significant impact.”

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Source: HSJ, 29 July 2024

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