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DIY kits may see million more cervical-cancer tests

More than one million extra women could have life-saving cervical-cancer checks if the NHS adopted do-it-yourself testing, researchers estimate.

The team at King’s College London said the results of its self-testing trial were “fantastic” and “gave power to women”.

The kits are like a Covid swab but longer and are posted to a lab for analysis.

The NHS called the findings extremely positive and is assessing whether to roll out the scheme.

There are more than 3,000 new cases of cervical cancer in the UK each year.

“Cervical cancer screening has been in decline for the last 20 years,” a senior consultant on the trial, Mairead Lyons, said.

"Many women will describe it as an uncomfortable experience [or they are] too busy, embarrassed or afraid of the physical experience of it."

NHS England screening and vaccination director Deborah Tomalin called the trial results “extremely promising”.

“The NHS will now be working with the UK National Screening Committee to consider the feasibility of rolling this out more widely across England,” she said.

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Source: BBC News, 17 July 2024

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Call for action on UK men’s health as 133,000 die early every year

More than 133,000 men die early every year in the UK, equating to 15 every hour, according to a report calling for urgent action to improve men’s health.

Two in five men are dying prematurely, before the age of 75 and often from entirely avoidable health conditions, research by the charity Movember found.

Almost two in three men – 64% – wait more than a week before visiting a doctor with symptoms, while 48% believe it is normal practice to avoid health check-ups. Less than 40% take up the offer of an NHS health check for which they are eligible.

“The report findings should serve as a wake-up call to the unacceptable state of men’s health across the UK,” said Michelle Terry, the chief executive of Movember. “For too long, men’s health has been relegated to the sidelines of broader health conversations. Men’s health doesn’t exist in a vacuum.”

The report found the health of men in the UK was worse than in many other wealthy countries, while those living in the UK’s most deprived regions are 81% more likely to die prematurely than those in the wealthiest.

William Roberts, the chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, said: “Too many men are dying too young and too many men experience poor health due to preventable conditions.

“It is critical that we address the underlying causes of poor men’s health. Men’s health affects us all and we need to see it as a critical part of a healthy nation.”

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Source: The Guardian, 17 July 2024

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Third of services rated ‘red’ for baby deaths

The proportion of trusts with maternity services “red rated” for neonatal mortality rose from around a quarter in 2021 to a third in 2022, according to the latest national audit.

The latest Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk Through Audit and Confidential Enquiries report, published on Friday, classifies trusts from red to green, according to how far above or below they are their peer group providers.

Nationally, there were increases in the neonatal mortality rate per 1,000 live births in 2022 compared with 2021, rising from 1.65 to 1.69 per 1,000 total births. Neonatal death is when a baby dies in the first 28 days of life.

Of 121 trusts, 41 (34%) were rated “red” for neonatal mortality in 2022, as their rates were over 5% higher than their peer group average. This compares with 32 trusts (26% of 123 trusts) rated “red” for neonatal mortality in 2021.

There were, however, also some areas of improvement year-on-year. The number of trusts rated “green” — with neonatal death rates more than 15% lower than the average in their peer group — increased from three in 2021 to eight in 2022, marking a significant improvement from 2020 and 2021.

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Source: HSJ, 17 July 2024

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ADHD digital test approved for NHS use in England and Wales

The NHS has been told it can start using a new digital test to speed up the diagnosis of ADHD in children and young people, which up to now could often take several years.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued draft guidance approving the use of the QbTest by psychiatrists and specialist children’s doctors. The computer-based test measures the three main characteristics of ADHD: inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.

Clinicians can use the results alongside other information they have gathered to help them diagnose, or rule out, that a young person has the condition. NICE said the test could be used when diagnosing six- to 17-year-olds in England and Wales.

Experts welcomed the move, saying the QbTest would help doctors diagnose more people within six months of them first being assessed.

Dr Jessica Eccles, the chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ neurodevelopmental special interest group, said: “People who suspect they may have ADHD often have to wait months or even years for an assessment which can prevent them from accessing timely and effective care. Any new evidence-based tools should be used to reduce these unacceptable waiting times and improve the availability of support.”

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Source: The Guardian, 16 July 2024

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Black nurse targeted with complaint after calling out alleged racism at scandal-hit watchdog

A Black nurse who tried to call out alleged racism at a scandal-hit regulator was targeted by a complaint, The Independent revealed.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which regulates more than 800,000 nurses and midwives in the UK, was heavily criticised in a review that found it had a “toxic” and “dysfunctional” culture and had failed to address racism in its ranks.

The review warned that the safety of the public as well as nursing and midwifery staff is at risk because of flawed and delayed investigations by the NMC.

It warned of widespread allegations of racism at the NMC, which senior leaders had failed to address. It also found that the body was mishandling racism complaints against nurses and midwives. Staff told reviewers that prejudice such as racism and misogyny was leading to flawed responses to complaints against nurses.

Now a Black nurse, Neomi Bennett, has revealed that she faced a complaint submitted by a senior NMC representative after she publicly called out alleged racism on the part of the regulator.

She told The Independent that being referred to her regulator for her comments while calling out racism felt like a “betrayal” and an “abuse of power”.

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Source: The Independent, 15 July 2024

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Sexual health nurse failed to disclose test results

A sexual health nurse who failed to tell patients and their partners of positive test results for sexually transmitted infections should be struck off, a professional hearing was told.

David Allen made incorrect entries and omitted information when updating patient records, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard.

Mr Allen, who worked at Wakefield Integrated Sexual Health Services, also posted abusive and inappropriate messages about colleagues online.

The NMC found his actions could have resulted in a real risk of harm to patients and had been "a flagrant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse".

The NMC panel, which met earlier in July, heard the discrepancies dated back to 2018 and involved 18 cases.

When a person has tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease, guidelines said any current or past sexual partners should be informed, which is called partner notification.

The NMC panel found that on 18 occasions, Mr Allen had failed to complete the partner notification and had falsely indicated he had done so.

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Source: BBC News, 15 July 2024

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Diabetic patient used social media to find insulin

A woman living with type 1 diabetes is calling for better communication on the supply of essential medication after she had to turn to social media for help in finding some.

Gwen Edwards, 27, from Anglesey, takes insulin and has been using Fiasp FlexTouch, a type of insulin that comes in a disposable pen.

A shortage notice about supplies of the insulin that she uses was sent to all surgeries and pharmacies in Wales in March, but Gwen said she was not made aware of this.

According to her, she normally gets a prescription two weeks before her medicine runs out, but recently it became clear that there was a problem with the stock.

"I had to go and look for insulin. One chemist told me that they had run out and that there was no stock at all, so I was a bit worried," she said.

Despite the low stock, she said she was not aware of the shortage.

"I went with the prescription to other places to look for the insulin. Five chemists later they told me that the insulin was out of stock."

Her GP practice said it could not comment on individual cases, but the health board for north Wales said local pharmacies would not "routinely contact patients directly" about shortages of medicines because most would not see any disruption.

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Source: BBC News, 15 July 2024

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Bug-spread baby deaths 'could have been prevented'

Two babies died on a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit during a bacterial outbreak which could have been prevented, the BBC has learned.

An internal investigation by Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) said lapses in hygiene practices allowed the drug-resistant bugs to spread.

Five other infants were found to have the same Klebsiella pneumoniae strain during the outbreak in November 2021. The mother of a two-week-old boy who died said she felt “betrayed” by the hospital and had begun legal action.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said it had implemented new infection control measures, brought in additional training and increased staffing levels.

A nurse who previously worked at the neonatal unit told the BBC staff faced “extremely strenuous” conditions which led to “medical mistakes”.

A patient safety incident investigation report, circulated internally in March 2022 and seen by the BBC, also said infection control practices which could have stopped the spread of Klebsiella “were not being implemented consistently” by staff in the unit.

It revealed an investigation had found staff in the neonatal unit were not “consistently” following hand hygiene guidelines at the time of the outbreak and “seemed unclear” about where and when personal protective equipment was required.

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Source: BBC News, 16 July 2024

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Hospital discharges limiting home care in England, councils say

Vulnerable people face being denied basic preventive social care at home due to a wave of rapid discharges from hospitals that is sucking up resources, council bosses have warned.

Despite cross-party support for more early care at home, town hall officials are having to allocate resources to people with more complex needs, many discharged from hospital early as part of attempts to clear NHS backlogs.

It means thousands of others were “at risk of missing out [on care] or their needs escalating”, warned the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services in England (Adass) after its annual survey of England’s 153 council social care directors.

It revealed that only 1 in 10 directors were fully confident their budgets would meet their statutory duties – down from more than a third before the Covid pandemic.

Spending aimed at preventing people’s conditions from worsening was forced down by £121m over the past year. As the complexity of cases increases, councils overspent by £586m – the highest level for at least a decade, triggering raids on dwindling council reserves.

The findings were “unsustainable and worrying” said Melanie Williams, the president of Adass and director of adult social care at Nottinghamshire county council.

“Instead of focusing on investment in hospitals and freeing up beds, the new government must shift to investing in more social care, supporting unpaid carers, and providing healthcare in our local community to prevent people reaching crisis point and ending up in hospital in the first place,” she said.

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Source: The Guardian, 16 July 2024

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Scandal of under-qualified nurses in NHS as new recruits may have missed hundreds of hours of training

The UK’s under-fire nursing regulator is being forced to investigate as a third of universities may have released trainee nurses to work in hospitals despite failing to carry out hundreds of hours of mandatory training.

The potential training failure comes after the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) allegedly ignored warnings from universities about the problem three years ago, with the regulator only now taking action.

The blunder means an unknown number of nurses may have been sent to work in hospitals without the required amount of experience, and hundreds of student nurses have already had their graduation date delayed, leaving some concerned about public safety.

Thirty out of 98 universities are now facing reviews by the NMC into how they have monitored the qualifications of student nurses and midwives.

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Source: The Independent, 14 July 2024

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Fifth of UK hospices cutting services amid funding crisis, finds report

One in five hospices in the UK are cutting services amid the worst funding crisis in two decades, a report has warned, with soaring numbers of patients being pushed back into the NHS.

Research by Hospice UK found “small and wildly varying” state funding had failed to keep pace with growing demand and rising running costs.

That means inpatient beds are being cut, staff made redundant and community services restricted, with fewer visits to dying patients in their own homes, according to the charity, which represents more than 200 hospices across the country.

Hospice UK said the sector’s finances were in their worst state in 20 years. A fifth of hospices have cut or closed their services in the last year or are planning to do so, the charity said.

Toby Porter, its chief executive, said: “Too many hospices are in crisis. The small and wildly variable amount of state funding they receive has failed to keep pace with rising costs.

“Many hospices are therefore running deficits that can only mean one thing – more cuts to essential care services, or even service closures. We’re already seeing redundancies at some major hospices.”

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Source: The Guardian, 16 July 2024

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CQC chief admits ‘we’ve lost your trust’ and announces more inspections

The Care Quality Commission’s new chief executive has admitted the regulator “got things wrong” during the rollout of its new inspection regime and announced an increase in the number of assessments it carries out.

The CQC announced a shake-up of its regulatory regime three years ago. It involved a move from a “set schedule of inspections to a more flexible, targeted approach”, called the “single assessment framework”, with greater reliance on data.

However, its rollout has been controversial with CQC’s own staff and providers flagging concerns about the new approach.

Now, Ms Terroni has said changes in how the regulator manages relationships has left many providers feeling “unsupported”, with wider technical issues preventing organisations from accessing information.

She wrote: ”I want to start with an apology. We’ve got things wrong in the implementation of our new regulatory approach. I know that the changes we’ve delivered so far are not what we promised. It’s made things more difficult than they should be. We’re not where we want to be, and we’re determined to put things right….

“Many of the issues we’re experiencing now were anticipated and flagged by providers and our own people. We didn’t listen properly or take on board these concerns, and that’s why we’re where we are now.

“Though there was significant engagement and co-production of the high-level elements of our approach, we didn’t follow that process into the detail of how we’ll assess providers. I know that, for some of you, we’ve lost your trust because of this. I’m sorry.”

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Source: HSJ, 15 July 2024

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Long delays to NHS care for children in England ‘creating forgotten generation’

Thousands of children’s lives are being blighted by shocking delays to NHS care of up to three years, according to a report that warns a “forgotten generation” will suffer long-term harm as a result.

The health service is struggling to cope with rapidly rising demand for increasingly complex and acute care needs among children and young people, the research by NHS Providers shows.

Health leaders say the crisis in England is so severe that there is now “deep concern” that lifelong, permanent harm is being caused by crippling delays to NHS care. Long waits for basic healthcare are derailing children’s development, educational attainment and mental health, they revealed.

One trust reported that waiting times for children’s autism assessments had risen from about 14 months before the Covid-19 pandemic to 38 months today. Children are also being forced to wait too long for essential speech and language therapy, hearing tests, medical treatment and surgery.

“Too many young lives are being blighted by delays to accessing vital NHS care,” said Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers. “We’re in danger of seeing a forgotten generation of young people.”

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Source: The Guardian, 15 July 2024

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'Staggering shortfall’ of NHS staff as record number of patients wait for tests

The waiting lists for diagnostic tests, including cancer scans, is at a record high in NHS England, with doctors warning of a “staggering shortfall” of clinical radiologists.

Figures published on Thursday reveal the diagnostic waiting list stands at 1,658,221 – twice what it was 10 years ago. Nearly 500,000 patients are waiting for CT scans and MRIs.

The figures show the scale of the task facing the new health secretary, Wes Streeting, who has ordered a review into the NHS. Labour pledged in its manifesto to double the number of scanners, but doctors warn there is an urgent need for more staff to operate them and read the resulting scans.

“The NHS is broken,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said in response to the figures. “Waiting lists are too high and patients have not been able to access the care they desperately need.

“The longer patients wait for tests and scans, the worse their outcomes will be. We’ve got to get patients diagnosed much earlier.”

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Source: The Guardian, 14 July 2024

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‘Likely’ supplier for ‘first of its kind’ EPR revealed

An integrated care board has named Oracle Health as the “likely” supplier of an electronic patient record that will be the first to be used across acute, mental and health services.

Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board is planning to procure a single electronic patient record for both its sole acute, Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust and mental health and community service provider Essex Partnership University Trust. 

Details of the move were revealed in the integrated care system’s “joint forward plan” for 2024-2029 which was presented to the ICB’s July board.

Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust – which was formed by a merger of three trusts – currently uses seven different EPRs, while Essex Partnership University Trust has three. The new unified EPR is expected to go live in 2026-2027.

NHS England has encouraged ICSs to “converge” their EPR system for over two years. A number of acute trusts operating within the same system have already launched plans to share the same EPR. This includes Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire and Norfolk and Waveney.

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Source: HSJ, 12 July 2024

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Hip and knee replacements on NHS four times longer than in Italy

Waiting times for hip and knee replacements are four times longer in England than Italy post-lockdown, analysis has revealed.

Patients in England are waiting an average of 128 days for hip replacements and 141 days for a new knee on the NHS, which are both up by around 50 per cent since before the pandemic.

It leaves England lagging behind other European countries, with waits that are four times longer than Italy, where hip replacements are completed in 33 days and knees within 30 days, according to analysis by the Nuffield Trust.

Sarah Reed, senior fellow at Nuffield Trust and author of the report, said countries around the world were “dealing with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, with many still struggling to bring down waiting times”.

“However, it’s striking that in England our pace of recovery has been much slower for major surgeries like hip and knee replacements, but for some minor procedures we appear to have improved more quickly than nearly everywhere else,” she said.

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Source: The Telegraph, 11 July 2024

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Girl died after missed opportunities, inquest finds

There were "missed opportunities" to treat a four-year-old girl who visited A&E and a GP in the 48 hours before her death, an inquest jury has concluded.

Makenna-Rose Thackray died on 20 December 2022 after stopping breathing and going into cardiac arrest.

She was taken to Wakefield's Pinderfields Hospital by ambulance two days earlier but went home after her family endured a fruitless six-hour wait for treatment. They visited a GP the following day and were sent home without antibiotics.

A lawyer for Makenna-Rose's family said the evidence showed the girl's death was "entirely preventable".

On 18 December Makenna-Rose had been taken to children's A&E but the inquest heard the two nurses on shift that night dealt with almost 80 children, instead of the 30 to 40 which could have been safely treated.

Earlier in proceedings, one of the nurses on shift that night, Helen Parker, described the shift as "one of the worst" and when asked if they were under-staffed, replied: "Absolutely, yes."

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Source: BBC News, 11 July 2024

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Threefold ICS variation in GP phone access revealed

Patients trying to reach their GP are almost three times as likely to fail to get through in the worst-performing integrated care systems (ICS) than the best, according to analysis of new annual figures. 

The data is from NHS England’s annual GP patient survey, which has a large sample size, and is considered one of the best measures of GP access and experience.

In Birmingham and Solihull and Black Country, 7% of patients said their calls went unanswered — significantly lower than the best-performing systems at 2%, and the national average of 4%.

Some more urban and racially diverse areas tended to do worse on key GP access measures – such as Birmingham, the Black Country, large parts of London, Greater Manchester, and Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes – although more rural patches like Northamptonshire and parts of the South West also have big problems.

NHSE said in a statement: “NHS staff have worked incredibly hard to cope with increased demand for patient care, but this survey makes it clear there is much more to do to improve patient’s satisfaction and experience in accessing primary care services.”

It will work with the government to “tackle the issues that matter most to patients” including long-term conditions, continuity of care and patient access, it added. 

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Source: HSJ, 12 July 2024

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Paralysed woman inspires mammogram robot

A woman who is paralysed from the chest down is helping scientists in York develop a robot so people with mobility issues can receive breast screening.

Jane Hudson, 53, from Harrogate, was unable to get an accurate mammogram because she could not get into the right position for the X-ray machine. She was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months later.

Scientists at the University of York have now started working on a prototype robotic arm system which will support the patient's upper body weight.

Ms Hudson said: "I've faced many difficulties and challenges in the wheelchair and you do sometimes feel like you don't get listened to, so for something positive to come out of this is great."

Ms Hudson was invited for a mammogram at York Hospital because it was accessible but she was unable to position herself correctly in the machine for an X-ray to take place.

She said: "I did feel really humiliated. It takes a lot to upset me and I did feel very upset when I left the hospital that day because I just felt this is a regular screening for any woman and yet again a disability is stopping that from happening."

A few months later Jane was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer which had spread to her lymph nodes.

"That's when I started thinking if this had been picked up earlier maybe it wouldn't have spread," she said.

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Source: BBC News, 11 July 2024

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NHS patients raising safety concerns too often ‘fobbed off’, says commissioner

NHS patients raising safety concerns are too often “gaslighted”, “fobbed off” or dismissed as “difficult women”, according to England’s patient safety commissioner, who criticised health leaders for a “relentless focus” on finance and productivity.

Dr Henrietta Hughes said patients and loved ones sounding the alarm about substandard care should be an early indicator of danger or potential harm, but far too frequently they were completely ignored. NHS trusts focusing too much on budgets meant that “the culture becomes toxic, and we’re just on the road back to the Mid Staffs scandal”, she added.

Hughes was referring to the failures at Mid Staffordshire NHS foundation trust, where hundreds of patients were neglected, dismissed or ignored between 2005 and 2009. Some were left lying in their own urine, unable to eat, drink or take essential medication.

“The patient’s anecdote is the canary in the coalmine,” she said. “It’s the thing that tells us there’s something going wrong. But too often we hear about patients who have raised concerns being gaslighted, dismissed, and fobbed off.”

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Source: The Guardian, 10 July 2024

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Some smear test scientists investigated over screening

A small number of biomedical scientists are being investigated following fitness to practise concerns relating to cervical screening in the Southern Trust, BBC News NI understands.

In October 2023, it emerged smear tests of more than 17,000 women in the trust would be re-checked as part of a review dating back to 2008.

It is understood that some of the women affected have since referred the matter to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) which investigates concerns about the practice of a professional on its register.

Stella McLoughlin from Newry, who is one of the 17,500 women affected by the re-check, said the review process has left her feeling “very afraid, fragile, and angry”.

Following news that other women in her position have referred the matter to the HCPC, she said there needs to be an investigation.

"I don't know why they're calling it a review because to me this is a scandal. This has affected so many women," she said.

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Source: BBC News, 11 July 2024

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Wes Streeting to ‘write prescription’ for NHS after independent investigation

An independent investigation will be held into the performance of the NHS, the health secretary has announced.

Writing in the Sun, Wes Streeting said the investigation would be aimed at “diagnosing the problem” so the government could “write the prescription”.

Streeting said: “It’s clear to anyone who works in or uses the NHS that it is broken. Unlike the last government, we are not looking for excuses. I am certainly not going to blame NHS staff, who bust a gut for their patients.

“This government is going to be honest about the challenges facing us, and serious about solving them.”

Streeting said the investigation would be led by the former health minister Lord Ara Darzi, who he has asked to “tell hard truths”.

Streeting said: “Honesty is the best policy, and this report will provide patients, staff and myself with a full and frank assessment of the state of the NHS, warts and all.

“The NHS has been wrecked. This investigation will be the survey, before we draw up plans to rebuild it anew, so it can be there for all of us when we need it, once again.”

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Source: The Guardian, 11 July 2024

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Eye doctors say private cataract operations have hurt the NHS

The vast majority of eye doctors believe increased outsourcing of cataract operations to private clinics in England in recent years has negatively affected their NHS departments, research has found.

Almost three-quarters of ophthalmologists surveyed said that outsourcing of cataracts to the private sector had a negative impact on their NHS eye care departments, with 54% flagging a large negative impact and 16% a small one.

The survey of 200 eye doctors by the Centre for Health and the Public Interest (CHPI), shared with the Guardian, came after Wes Streeting, the new health secretary, pledged to divert billions of pounds from hospitals to GPs to “fix the front door to the NHS” and met junior doctors on Tuesday to try to end a long-running pay dispute.

Nearly 60% of the ophthalmologists polled said outsourcing had a negative impact on NHS staffing, 62% said the same for staff training, and 46% said it harmed the ability of public eye care departments to treat patients with more complex conditions. Issues raised about staffing included the loss of consultants, nurses and optometrists to the private sector.

While eye care budgets have increased by only 15% at 43 NHS trusts over the past five years, ophthalmology spending has gone up by 52%, partly due to a surge in the number of cataract operations, research from the CHPI showed. Hundreds of thousands more NHS patients a year are having cataracts removed in England in a boom driven by private clinics but funded by taxpayers.

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Source: The Guardian, 10 July 2024

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Transfusion never events just ‘tip of iceberg’ at troubled trust

Fourteen never events recorded at University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust’s transfusion service were the “tip of an iceberg”, an external review has concluded.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) investigation, obtained by HSJ, reveals the service saw more than 150 additional “adverse events” recorded in just three months.

The review of the service’s activities between 2019 and early 2023 also concluded there had been “inaction” at senior management level on addressing the problems and that there was a lack of understanding among senior leaders about the significance of the risks posed by the service. 

The RCP report said it was unlikely the reviewed never events “comprised the totality” of transfusion errors by the service and concluded that they were in fact just the “tip of an iceberg” of the errors made by the service.

These included seven incidents of the wrong blood being stored in tubes and a patient “with childbearing potential” incorrectly transfused in accident and emergency with group O RhD positive blood. This risks the patient’s antibodies attacking a future unborn baby if the foetus is RhD positive. 

ABO-incompatible blood transfusions have a potential for significant morbidity and mortality and are “wholly preventable”, according to NHS Blood and Transplant.

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Source: HSJ, 10 July 2024

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Ambulance handover delays still harming tens of thousands each month

Tens of thousands of patients are still suffering harm from delays in ambulance handovers to emergency departments despite a concerted effort to tackle the problem, figures seen by HSJ indicate.

The data shows more hours have been lost to handover delays lasting more than 15 minutes in most of the first five months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. In May, more hours were lost than in May 2022 and May 2023. 

The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives told HSJ the problem remained severe and the government needed to act to improve it.

AACE managing director Anna Parry said it had consistently warned about the ongoing risk of handover delays.

She said: “This is why one of our key requests of the new government has been that they proactively support the ambulance sector’s aim to ensure patients universally receive high-quality, timely care and no longer experience unacceptable delays in response or handover of care, for example, at hospital emergency departments.

“This problem is not intractable. We have demonstrated that in areas where there is a strong leadership focus and true system-wide support, handovers can be managed effectively, despite the significant pressures and constraints our health and social care system is under. However, it remains vital that we see more demonstrations of excellent leadership to get to that point across the country.”

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Source: HSJ, 10 July 2024

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