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Sunak ‘highly unlikely’ to meet promise to cut NHS waiting lists, warn health leaders

Rishi Sunak is “highly unlikely” to meet his promise to cut NHS waiting lists, health leaders have warned, as a “sobering” analysis suggests the backlog will rise to 8 million and won’t begin to fall until next summer.

The prime minister vowed in January that “NHS waiting lists will fall” as he outlined five pledges upon which he staked his premiership. The backlog was 7.2 million at the time. It is now 7.75 million, the highest since records began in 2007.

But a grim report published today by the Health Foundation, an independent thinktank, will pile further pressure on Sunak over the NHS. The 15-page analysis predicts that the waiting list for hospital treatment in England will continue to rise for at least 10 months and ultimately top 8 million, regardless of whether or not strikes continue.

The thinktank modelled four different scenarios and concluded that, based on current trends, NHS waiting list figures could peak by August 2024 if there was no more strike action by healthcare workers, before starting to come down. If strikes were to continue, the list could increase a further 180,000, it said.

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “This analysis all but confirms that the prime minister’s pledge to reduce the size of the waiting list is increasingly unlikely to be met.”

He added: “As the Health Foundation report rightly says, the root cause of the delays to treatment that patients are now experiencing is a decade of underinvestment in the NHS.”

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Source: The Guardian, 27 October 2023

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Performance of vital demand management service collapses

The performance of one of the NHS’s flagship strategies to reduce demand on over-stretched hospitals has collapsed, HSJ  can reveal.

Internal NHS figures show the number of processed advice and guidance requests (A&G) from GPs to hospital consultants fell by 28% between June and August, alongside a 32% fall in the number of processed cases where patients were diverted away from secondary care. This comes despite the overall number of A&G requests from GPs only falling by 5% in the same period.

A&G services allow GPs to contact hospital consultants before making a referral in order to ensure only clinically appropriate patients are referred to secondary care.

The model is described by NHS England as a ”a key part of the National Elective Care Recovery and Transformation Programme’s work.”

The data showing the fall in processed requests and diversions from secondary care came from NHSE’s specialist advice activity dashboard, which HSJ has seen.

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Source: HSJ, 26 October 2023

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Women 'angry and frustrated' over smear test review

Women affected by a review of cervical smears in the Southern Health Trust have said they are "angry, frustrated and scared" for their future.

About 17,500 patients in the trust are to have their previous smears re-checked as part of a major review of cervical screening dating back to 2008.

Some of these women will be recalled to have new smear tests carried out. But the process has not started yet and will take at least six months to complete.

Letters were sent out by the trust earlier this month to those affected.

The Southern Trust says it expects to recall around 4,000 women for a new smear test after it reviews 17,368 historic slides.

The Trust's medical director, Dr Steve Austin, told its board meeting that the review of slides was expected to start next week.

It also emerged that the number of calls from concerned women has increased with many asking for more "specialist" answers.

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Source: BBC News, 27 October 2023

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A home help for eight days after giving birth? Why Dutch maternity care is the envy of the world

To new parents processing the shock of delivery and swimming in hormones, newborns can feel like a tiny, terrifying mystery; unexploded ordinance in a crib. “We were totally unprepared,” says Odilia. Neither she or her husband had ever changed a nappy and had no idea the baby needed feeding every three hours. “If you’re a new mum or dad, you have no idea,” recalls Anouk, a new mother. “I’m a doctor,” says Zarah, another new mother, incredulously. “So, you would expect that I’d know something, and I knew some things, but you really don’t have any clue.”

The difference for these new parents, compared to the rest of us, is that they gave birth in the Netherlands. That meant help was instantly at hand in the form of the kraamzorg, or maternity carer. Everyone who gives birth in the Netherlands, regardless of their circumstances, has the legal right – covered by social insurance – to support from a maternity carer for the following week.

These trained professionals come into your home daily, usually for eight days, providing advice, reassurance and practical help. It’s a different role to midwives, who continue to monitor women and babies after the birth in the Netherlands; the maternity carer updates the midwife on the mother and baby’s health and progress as well as supporting the parents as they come to terms with their new child.

A maternity carer in the Netherlands, explains Betty de Vries of Kenniscentrum Kraamzorg, the organisation that registers maternity carers, “takes care of the woman the first week, advises her on breastfeeding and bottle feeding, hygiene, gives advice … everything to do with safe motherhood and a safe baby. She is there for the whole day most of the time so she can see how they are doing.” Her colleague, director Esther van der Zwan, adds: “It’s a lot of responsibility.” To prepare, maternity carers train for three years – a combination of academic and on-the-job placements – and have regular refresher training in everything from CPR to breastfeeding support.

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Scottish Covid Inquiry: Care home residents 'left to starve'

Some care home residents may have been "neglected and left to starve" during the pandemic, Scotland's Covid Inquiry is expected to hear.

Lawyers representing bereaved relatives said they also anticipate the inquiry will hear some people were forced into agreeing to "do not resuscitate" plans.

Shelagh McCall KC told the inquiry that evidence to be led would "point to a systemic failure of the model of care".

The public inquiry is investigating Scotland's response to the pandemic.

Ms McCall is representing Bereaved Relatives Group Skye, a group of bereaved relatives and care workers from Skye and five other health board areas of Scotland.

In her opening statement, she told the public inquiry that families wanted to know why Covid was allowed to enter care homes and "spread like wildfire" during the pandemic.

She added: "As well as revealing the suffering of individuals and their families, we anticipate the evidence in these hearings will point to a systemic failure of the model for the delivery of care in Scotland, for its regulation and inspection.

"We anticipate the inquiry will hear that people were pressured to agree to do not resuscitate notices, that people were not resuscitated even though no such notice was in place, that residents may have been neglected and left to starve and that families are not sure they were told the truth about their relative's death."

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Source: BBC News, 25 October 2023

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Lack of ownership within NHSE for struggling service is ‘complete failure of leadership’

No senior NHS England director is prepared to take responsibility for ADHD services — which are facing waits of up to a decade and severe medication shortages — HSJ has discovered. 

Despite soaring demand for assessments and widespread drug shortages recently triggering a national patient safety alert, responsibility for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder services does not sit within any NHS England directorate.

HSJ understands that none of NHSE’s mental health, learning disability, or autism programmes have been given any resources for ADHD. It is also claimed that the medical and long-term conditions teams “are not very interested” in taking responsibility, and “assumed someone else was doing it”.

A senior source, very close to the issue, told HSJ that no NHS senior director had taken “ownership” of the issue, and there was a widespread misapprehension that responsibility for ADHD services was part of the autism remit given to the mental health directorate. 

“We haven’t got the attention we need around ADHD,” said the source, “we need a [dedicated] neurodiversity programme.”

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Source: HSJ, 26 October 2023

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ADHD ‘not over-diagnosed’ despite surge in Ritalin prescriptions

Children are not being over-diagnosed with ADHD despite concerns about a spike in prescriptions of powerful stimulant drugs, a leading psychiatrist has said.

NHS statistics show 125,000 children and teenagers in England are taking drugs such as Ritalin for symptoms such as poor concentration, up by a quarter since before the Covid pandemic.

Isobel Heyman, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at Great Ormond Street Hospital and lead for child mental health at Cambridge Children’s Hospital, said that on the whole ADHD remained “under-treated” and that this was driving high levels of mental illness in young people.

Speaking to the Times Health Commission, Heyman said: “My understanding is that the increase in prescribing is largely related to increased diagnosis and increased recognition … We are still overall slightly under-treating [rather] than over-treating.

“There is a problem about over-medicalisation of ordinary distress, ordinary ebullience and over-enthusiasm in young people.”

She said the public should be reassured that ADHD diagnoses follow a “very stringent” process. However, she said private adult ADHD clinics may be less “rigorous” in providing a diagnosis.

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Source: The Times, 18 October 2023

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Parents fear spread of ‘associate’ doctors at NHS will end in more tragedies

A 30-year-old actress whose symptoms were dismissed as anxiety died of a blood clot.

Emily Chesterton believed she had seen a GP, but had in fact been seen twice by a physician associate (PA), a newer type of medical role that involves significantly less training.

Her parents, Brendan and Marion Chesterton, both 64 and retired teachers, said they have serious concerns about plans for thousands more PAs to be employed to combat staff shortages as part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

Chesterton’s calf pain and shortness of breath should have suggested a pulmonary embolism and meant she was sent to A&E. A coroner concluded this would probably have saved her life. Instead she was told to take anxiety pills. She collapsed that evening. She was taken to hospital but her heart stopped and she could not be revived.

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Source: The Times, 10 July 2023

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UK’s biggest GP chain replacing doctors with less qualified staff

The UK's biggest chain of GP practices lets less qualified staff see patients without adequate supervision, an undercover BBC Panorama investigation has found.

Operose Health is putting patients at risk by prioritising profit, says a senior GP.

The company, with almost 600,000 NHS patients, is owned by US healthcare giant Centene Corporation. 

BBC Panorama sent undercover reporter Jacqui Wakefield to work as a receptionist at one of the UK company's 51 London surgeries. 

A GP working at the practice said they were short of eight doctors. The practice manager said they hired less qualified medical staff called physician associates (PAs), because they were "cheaper" than GPs.

Physician associates were first introduced by the NHS in 2003, so that doctors could deal with more complex patient needs. PAs are healthcare professionals who have completed two years of post-graduate studies on top of a science degree, as opposed to 10 years education and training for GPs. They support GPs in the diagnosis and management of patients, but should have oversight from a doctor.

Panorama gathered evidence that PAs were not being properly supervised at the Operose practice. The PAs told the undercover reporter they saw all sorts of patients, sometimes without any clinical supervision. They said the practice treated them as equivalent to GPs.

Prof Sir Sam Everington, a senior practising GP at an unconnected partner-run practice, reviewed BBC Panorama's undercover footage and said he was concerned for patient safety.

During the undercover investigation at the London practice, administrative workers also revealed a backlog of thousands of medical test results and hospital letters on Operose computer systems. 

One worker said they were tasked with getting through 200 documents a day, deciding which were important enough to be seen by a GP or pharmacist and which would be filed to the patient's records. One member of staff, worried about making mistakes said they sometimes used Google to help them work out what to do with the documents.

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Source: BBC News, 11 June 2022

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GMC shares doctors frustration at delays to its reform

The GMC has responded to senior medical leaders’ frustration at news that the Government is again delaying long-promised plans for its reform which would ease the strain felt by doctors. 

Its chief executive said its Council shared widespread disappointment at the hold-up in changing the legislation – which was expected this year, but will not now happen until 2024-25.

Charlie Massey told Independent Practitioner Today: "Physician associates and anaesthesia associates are an important part of the health workforce and we welcome progress to bring them into regulation, which we will do within 12 months of legislation being laid by Government.

"But we are disappointed that the outdated legislation for doctors will not be replaced at the same time. 

"The current framework stops us from being responsive and flexible in how we address patient safety concerns and register doctors to join the UK workforce. That isn’t good for patients and puts unnecessary strain on doctors.

"The Government has said that it expects to deliver reforms for doctors as a priority following its work on physician associates and anaesthesia associates."

Mr Massey called for a clearer commitment on the specific timing of that work, adding that the GMC wanted to progress better regulation for both doctors and medical associate professionals (MAPs) as soon as the Department of Health and Social Care laid the necessary legislation.

"It is now the department’s decision when and how to implement these changes. When the department does implement these changes, we will be ready to start the process to put the reform changes into practice," he said.

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Source: Independent Practitioner Today, 9 August 2022

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NHS whistleblower tells tribunal he faced ‘brutal retaliatory victimisation’

A consultant obstetrician has claimed he was sacked from his hospital for raising whistleblowing concerns about patient safety over fears they would cause “reputational damage”.

Martyn Pitman told an employment tribunal in Southampton that managers dismissed his concerns and he was “subjected to brutal retaliatory victimisation” after he criticised senior midwife colleagues.

He said: “On a daily basis there was evidence of deteriorating standards of care. We were certain that the situation posed a direct threat to both patients’ safety and staff wellbeing. Concern was expressed that there was a genuine risk that we could start to see avoidable patient disasters.”

Rather than addressing these, Pitman said the trust had considered it “the path of least resistance to take out [the] whistleblower”.

Pitman was dismissed this year from his job at the Royal Hampshire County hospital (RHCH) in Winchester, where he had worked as a consultant for 20 years. He is claiming he suffered a detriment due to exercising rights under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

He said he “fought against [an] absolute barrage of completely unprofessional assaults on me” after he raised concerns about foetal monitoring problems that resulted in the death of a baby and the delivery of another with severe cerebral palsy.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 September 2023

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Primodos: Pregnancy test damages claims thrown out by judge

Claims for damages by more than 170 people who say they were affected by hormone-based pregnancy test drugs have been thrown out by a High Court judge.

The drugs, including Primodos, were given to women to test if they were pregnant from the 1950s to 1970s and alleged to have caused birth defects.

But the judge ruled there was no new evidence linking the tests with foetal harm and "no real prospect of success".

Campaigners say they are "profoundly disappointed" with the judgement.

Legal action had been brought against three drug companies - Bayer Pharma, Schering Health Care, Aventis Pharma - as well as the government in a bid for compensation. However, they argued there was no evidence of a "causal association" between the hormone pregnancy tests and the harm suffered by the claimants.

Marie Lyon, chair of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, said she was "profoundly disappointed" with the judgement.

"We do not accept the defendants' claim that our evidence did not provide sufficient scientific evidence and look forward to the additional scientific evidence, to support our original argument, which is due to be published shortly," she added.

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Source: BBC News, 28 May 2023

Further reading on the hub:

Patient Safety Spotlight interview with Marie Lyon, chair of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests

 

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Maine hospital under fire for threatening to sue family of teenager who shared patient safety concerns online

A not-for-profit health system in Maine has threatened legal action against a 15-year-old boy for shedding light on alleged patient safety issues in the paediatric ward of one of its hospitals.

Samson Cournane, a student at the University of Maine, started a petition (Patient Safety in Maine Matters) advocating for an investigation into Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center last year, claiming conditions at the hospital were unsafe.

Mr Cournane’s mother, Dr Anne Yered, had previously been fired from the hospital after reportedly voicing safety concerns to the hospital’s CEO and president in 2020.

In the petition, Mr Cournane said his mother was threatened by hospital staff after raising concerns, with one hospital manager going so far as to show up in her backyard to confront her. Dr Yered subsequently claimed she was wrongfully terminated.

Mr Cournane then began pushing for an investigation into the hospital, outlining problems in the petition, which was addressed to US Representative Jared Golden. He alleged that the medical director of the paediatric intensive care unit (ICU) — a former colleague of his mother’s — finished just one year of a three-year critical care fellowship, and implied other hospital employees may be scared to come forward with safety concerns.

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Source: The Independent, 4 September 2023

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Bottoms up: Surgeons say no to BBL (Brazilian Butt Lift) but yes to SGL (Superficial Gluteal Lipofilling)

In 2018 the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (www.baaps.org.uk)  dissuaded all its members from performing Brazilian Buttock Lift (BBL) surgery, until more data could be collated. The decision was taken due to the high death rate associated with the procedure. Now, following an extensive four-year review of clinical data, new technology and techniques, BAAPS has published its Gluteal Fat Grafting (GFG) guidelines.

Gluteal fat grafting is currently the procedure with the biggest growth rate in plastic surgery worldwide, with an increase of around 20% year-on-year). It has become the most popular means of buttock volume augmentation, overtaking gluteal augmentation with implants.  In 2020, The Aesthetic Society statistics recorded 40,320 buttock augmentation procedures, which included both fat grafting and buttock implants.

In 2015, there were reports of intraoperative mortality related to pulmonary fat emboli associated with BBL surgery and in 2018 with growing concern about the high mortality rate associated with this procedure BAAPS recommended it was not performed by its members.

The development of the present guidelines and recommendations has been stimulated by the evidence that has emerged since 2018, based on scientific review and analysis. BAAPS guidelines now recommend that Gluteal Fat Grafting is safe to perform under two key conditions:

  1. Injection into the subcutaneous plane only - there is a plethora of evidence to suggest this significantly reduces mortality related to the procedure perhaps this needs to be changed to – the evidence shows that the only deaths from the procedure have been when fat has been injected into the deeper muscle layer.
  2. Intraoperative ultrasound must be used during the placement of fat in the gluteal area to ensure that the cannula remains in the subcutaneous plane – this is the only way that surgeons can be confident they are not in the muscle layer.

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Source: BAAPS, 17 October 2022

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Complaints about non-surgical butt lifts ‘rising at alarming rate’ in UK

Complaints about non-surgical Brazilian butt lifts and breast enhancements have risen at an “alarming” rate, up from fewer than 5 to 50 in a year, an industry body has revealed.

Save Face, a national, government-approved register of accredited non-surgical treatment practitioners, is calling for the procedures to be banned, while the Local Government Association has asked Westminster to take urgent action.

Ashton Collins, the director of Save Face, said the organisation had noted an “alarming” increase in complaints about these enhancements, which she said should be banned.

Collins said: “No reputable healthcare professional would offer these treatments as they are very high risk.

“It’s a new and incredibly dangerous trend which has emerged from social media, a trend people think is a cheaper, risk-free alternative to the surgical counterparts. All the cases reported to us have been carried out by non-healthcare practitioners who have prioritised profits ahead of the safety and wellbeing of their clients.

“These treatments are incredibly risky, and we have helped people who have contracted sepsis and have had to undergo surgery to remove the filler. In 2021, we had fewer than five complaints about these treatments. That figure has increased tenfold in the past year alone and we are getting more and more complaints each week.”

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Source: The Guardian, 2 June 2023

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‘Black market’ Botox scars women for life

Practitioners with no professional medical qualifications use social media to target women and girls, an investigation by undercover Times reporters has found.

The medicines regulator has begun an investigation after undercover Times reporters found beauticians offering to inject women with “black market” Botox, putting them at risk of being disfigured for life.

Practitioners with no professional medical qualifications used social media to target women and girls, suggesting the treatments were safe and would enhance their looks. Many used products that have not gone through safety checks in Britain. Reporters confirmed that at least three practitioners advertising facial injections on social media sites were using cheap versions of Botox that are not licensed in the UK.

Campaigners say they are receiving increasing reports of disfigurements such as permanent facial scarring and large sores caused by injections with unlicensed versions of Botox, often carried out in people’s homes and at beauty salons.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it was reviewing the findings and would “take appropriate regulatory action where any non-compliance is identified”.

Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said the practices uncovered were “totally unacceptable” and officials were looking into whether legal changes were needed “to ensure no one is harmed”.

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Source: The Times, 2 February 2022

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Lip fillers: Call for tighter regulation after botched treatments

Lip fillers have grown increasingly popular but the industry is "like the wild west", experts warn, with many patients left in pain and embarrassed by their appearance.

As Harriet Green left a salon after getting an injection to add volume to her lips, she was reassured the excess swelling would go down. But three months later her lips were still so bloated she could not close her mouth properly.

The 22-year-old from Acle in Norfolk needed three corrective procedures - costing a total of more than £700 - to get them back to normal.

Dr Saba Raja, a GP who runs her own aesthetics clinic in Norwich, says she is increasingly having to correct treatments which have gone wrong, describing the experience as "really distressing".

"Every month I'm getting enquires from young girls who have gone to a non-medical practitioner for lip or tear trough fillers under the eye and had complications.

"They often try to contact the practitioner but due to lack of training they are unable to deal with the complications. It is becoming more and more of a problem."

Dr Raja describes the industry as "like the wild west", with people injecting patients "out of the back of their cars" and in kitchens.

"Anti-wrinkle injections (Botox) are prescription-only but the injector can be anybody who has been on a day course. Dermal filler (for the lips and face) is not even a prescription-only medication, you can buy it off any website," she says.

"A lot of non-medical practitioners are buying cheap filler online, with no idea where it has come from. We really need strict regulations and minimum training standards."

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Source: BBC News, 9 May 2023

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Cosmetic nurse leaders issue warning over Scottish regulation plans

Proposals by the Scottish Government to give a licence to unregistered professionals to carry out cosmetic procedures are “fundamentally flawed” and put lives at risk, leading nurses in the field have warned.

A consultation has been launched seeking views on plans for a new regulatory regime of non-surgical aesthetic treatments that pierce or penetrate the skin like dermal fillers or lip enhancements. Ministers want to bring non-health professionals under existing legislation allowing them to obtain a licence to perform these procedures in unregulated premises such as beauty salons and hairdressers.

The move comes after a UK-wide review carried out in 2013, by then NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, identified that little regulation existed within the cosmetic industry. Since then there has been growing concern that people are coming to physical and psychological harm from treatments gone wrong.

Leaders at the British Association of Cosmetic Nurses (BACN) told Nursing Times that they were “totally opposed” to non-medical practitioners carrying out injectable beauty procedures.

BACN Chair Sharon Bennett said holding a medical, nursing or dentistry qualification should be a “basic prerequisite” before being accepted to an aesthetics training course. SHe said BACN believed even clinically trained practitioners, including nurses, needed further training in aesthetics before working in this “specialist” area.

“[This is] because there is no educational framework, training or statutory provision to establish or task beauty therapists to detect disease, care for patients or carry out medical treatment, so to do so would breach public health safety and endanger lives.”

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Source: The Nursing Times, 20 January 2020

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Cosmetic surgeon is suspended for series of failures in patient care

A cosmetic surgeon has been suspended from the UK medical register for nine months for failures in obtaining informed consent, pressuring a patient into surgery by offering a discount, and laughing when passing on a patient’s complaint of sexual assault by another doctor.

Ashish Dutta is the nominated member for the European Society of Aesthetic Surgery on the European Commission for Standardisation of Aesthetic Surgery Services. He is also an examiner for the World Board of Cosmetic Surgery.

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Source: BMJ, 27 November 2019

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Cosmetic clinic closed by CQC amid safety concerns

A cosmetic surgery was forced to close after the health watchdog raised concerns about the safety of its practices. Smethwick's Bearwood Cosmetic Clinic's registration was cancelled by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last year.

The health watchdog's report into the practice is yet to be published, but inspectors have written to other practitioners expressing concerns. It found "unsafe practice" and a lack of appropriate training.

The letter from the CQC reveals it has inspected 65 services across the country, about two thirds of independent cosmetic surgery providers and raised concerns about 12. While some were found to be "providing a very good standard of care", there were a number of areas of concern.

Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals, wrote to providers raising particular concern regarding the use of anaesthetic during liposuction. Inspectors had seen examples of "unsafe practice", he said, and reminded providers that a trained anaesthetist should be present for procedures. The CQC also warned it had found evidence of staff not having appropriate training, a lack of attention to fundamental safety processes and infection control standards not being followed.

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Source: BBC News, 31 October 2019

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Brazilian Butt Lift can be made safer say surgeons

UK plastic surgeons have released new guidelines to try to make Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) procedures safer for people who desire a bigger bottom.

Some women have died from the operation, which involves sucking out fat from elsewhere - such as the belly - and injecting it into butt cheeks.

The British Association of Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) says the injections should not go very deep to help avoid complications such as dangerous clots.

According to the NHS, it has the highest death rate of all cosmetic procedures, and the risk of death from BBL surgery is at least 10 times higher than many other procedures.

A major concern is that the injected fat can cause a blockage in a blood vessel in the lungs - called a pulmonary embolism - which can be fatal.

This happened to Leah Cambridge, a beautician and mother of three from Leeds.

She suffered a massive pulmonary embolism during the operation at a private hospital in Turkey in 2018, a coroner found.

BAAPS president Marc Pacifico told the BBC: "Unfortunately we don't know how many people have been going for these risky BBL procedures. We have been recommending against it for a number of years after seeing quite a frightening death rate associated with it. But people have been going abroad to get it done."

"Make sure you ask if the surgeon will be using ultrasound for gluteal fat grafting. We are recommending that surgeons should only perform this with real time ultrasound guidance as the only way to ensure the procedure is performed superficially and safely."

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Source: BBC News, 10 October 2022

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Australia: National cosmetic surgery standards needed for patient safety

More than 100,000 doctors in Australia hold the right to call themselves cosmetic surgeons, without having undergone the specific training to be competent and safe.

President of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery and Medicine Dr Patrick Tansley says cosmetic surgery does not form part of the traditional medical training undertaken in Australia, due to the practice being relatively new.

“Society has moved faster than legislation has followed it,” he told Sky News Australia.

Dr Tansley said he is advocating for the introduction of a national standard to endorse this area of practice in Australia, where doctors would be placed on a public register for patients to review their accreditation.

“Once they had met those standards and then were endorsed, they could be placed on a public register, independently administered by the regulator AHPRA.

“And the public would then be able to see, with clarity and transparency, which of those doctors have been trained and accredited in cosmetic surgery.”

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Source: Sky News, 23 April 2022

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UK to bring in licensing scheme for Botox and filler procedures

People administering Botox or fillers will be required to have a licence under new laws after an “unacceptable” rise in reports of botched cosmetic procedures in the UK.

The legislation to protect against rogue practitioners will make it an offence to perform such non-surgical work without a licence after Sajid Javid said “far too many people have been left emotionally and physically scarred” when things have gone wrong.

The health secretary recognised that most of those in the aesthetics industry “follow good practice” when it comes to patient safety but said it was time to think about the harm botched cosmetic procedures can have.

“We’re doing all we can to protect patients from potential harm, but I urge anyone considering a cosmetic procedure to take the time to think about the impact on both their physical and mental health and ensure they are using a reputable, safe and qualified practitioner,” he said.

Maria Caulfield, the minister for patient safety, said the spread of images online via social media has led to a rise in demand for Botox and fillers and there had been a subsequent increase in people suffering the consequences of badly performed procedures.

She said: “While these can be administered safely, we are seeing an unacceptable rise in people being left physically and mentally scarred from poorly performed procedures.”

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Source: The Guardian, 28 February 2022

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Cosmetic surgeon struck off after botched ops

A cosmetic surgeon who did not have adequate insurance for operations that went wrong has been struck off.

Dr Arnaldo Paganelli worked privately for The Hospital Group in Birmingham. The Medical Practitioners' Tribunal Service ruled his actions constituted misconduct.

Four women took their case to the body and the tribunal heard evidence about his time at Birmingham's Dolan Park Hospital where he made regular trips from Italy to work.

Lead campaigner Dawn Knight, from Stanley, County Durham, said too much skin was removed from her eyes during an eyelift in 2012 and they became "constantly sore".

She told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme she felt relieved Dr Paganelli "cannot injure anyone else on UK soil" and called for the government to tighten regulation around cosmetic procedures to protect the public.

"The process has been long, emotional and exhausting. This situation must never be repeated. After all, when are you more vulnerable than when under aesthetic at the hands of a surgeon who has no insurance?"

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Source: BBC News, 12 August 2020

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Nine out of 10 beauty clinics breaking the law by advertising Botox

Nine in 10 beauty clinics are breaking the law by advertising Botox, new research reveals, sparking fresh concern that Britain’s booming £3.6bn cosmetic treatments industry is like the “wild west”.

Academics at University College London (UCL) found 88% clinics in London are flouting regulations intended to protect public health banning the advertising of Botox and other forms of botulinum toxin.

The disclosure prompted warnings the illegal advertisements could help persuade vulnerable people to undergo injections that could leave them feeling traumatised.

Promotion of the anti-ageing substance is illegal because it is a prescription-only medicine, which cannot be advertised under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.

A group of beauty professionals who are seeking to rid the industry of its reputation for dubious practices said the findings showed consumers were being subjected to “a tsunami of untamed and unrestricted promotional activity that presents a threat to public protection and patient safety”.

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Source: The Guardian, 14 April 2023

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