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NHS sends vulnerable adults to private hospital accused of abuse

Vulnerable adult patients have been sent by the NHS to a private hospital after it closed its children’s service just weeks ago following abuse allegations, The Independent can reveal.

Joyce Parker Hospital in Coventry, run by private hospital giant Cygnet Health Care, was accused by Care Quality Commission of failing to protect child patients from physical abuse by staff, following an inspection this summer.

A letter leaked to The Independent revealed inspectors saw CCTV evidence of staff “dragging” children around while restrained.

Cygnet Health Care, on which the NHS spends hundreds of millions of pounds for mental health beds, closed its children’s service in September following the allegations.

Weeks later the service reopened as a service for male adults and The Independent can reveal local NHS commissioners have already placed patients in the hospital, despite the previous abuse allegations.

Deborah Coles, chief executive for charity INQUEST, which has represented families of patients who’ve died in care, said: “This recycling of services, despite damning criticisms, is a loophole that needs to close.”

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Source: The Independent, 31 October 2024

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NHS seeks 200,000 more blood donors in England to avoid threat to safety

The NHS needs to fill a shortfall of more than 200,000 blood donors in England to avoid a threat to public safety, officials have said.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) wants to hit a target of 1 million blood donors to meet growing demand as just under 800,000 people – 2% of the population in England – kept the nation’s blood stocks afloat last year.

An amber alert was issued last year over supply of blood for hospitals in England, and NHSBT said more was needed to avoid a red alert, meaning supply is so low that there is a threat to public safety.

NHSBT’s chief executive, Dr Jo Farrar, said: “Our stocks over the past 12 months have been challenging. If we had a million regular donors, this would help keep our stocks healthy – you’d truly be one in a million.”

The service said there had been a rise in the number of people who registered to be donors in the last year, but only 24% of these had gone on to donate.

The amber alert was triggered in July 2024 after a cyber-attack on London hospitals, and blood stocks have remained low ever since, officials said.

NHSBT said there was a critical need for more donors who have the so-called universal blood type, O-negative, which is needed for treatment in emergencies.

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Source: The Guardian, 9 June 2025

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NHS secures alternative medical cement supplies after surgery delay fears

The NHS has secured two alternative suppliers of medical cement, a move set to prevent delays for patients awaiting surgery. This crucial intervention follows global supply issues that impacted the health service's main provider of bone cement.

Bone cement is vital for anchoring artificial joints and filling the space between new implants and a patient's bone. Earlier this month, experts warned that a shortage could lead to significant postponements for hip and knee replacements and other pre-planned operations.

Officials had estimated a potential six to eight-week supply gap after Heraeus Medical, the NHS's primary German-based supplier, reported a packaging fault. The new agreements aim to avert this critical disruption.

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Source: The Independent, 25 February 2026

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NHS Scotland's 'biggest crisis' in five charts

Scotland's Health Secretary Humza Yousaf says the NHS is facing the "biggest crisis" of its existence.

There's a shortage of beds, the demand for ambulances is soaring and waits in accident and emergency departments are getting longer.

On top of that, COVID-19 admissions have been rising fast as the number of infections in Scotland spiralled at the end of the summer.

BBC News share five charts illustrating the enormous pressures currently being felt by NHS Scotland.

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Source: BBC News, 23 September 2021

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NHS Scotland to improve patient safety through 'compassionate communication'

A study conducted by NHS Education for Scotland and Health Improvement Scotland found patients felt safer by having someone listen to their experiences after adverse events.

The findings were published in the BMJ and have been positively received by NHS boards across the country.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s Donna Maclean said: “The compassionate communications training has seen an unprecedented uptake across NHS boards in Scotland, with the first two cohorts currently under way and evaluation taking place also.”

Clear communication and a person-centred approach was seen as being central to helping those who have suffered from traumatic events.

Researchers found many said their faith was restored in the healthcare system if staff showed compassion and active engagement.

This approach is likely to enhance learning and lead to improvements in healthcare.

Health boards were advised that long timelines can have a negative impact on the mental health of patients and their families.

Rosanna from Glasgow, who was affected by an adverse event, said: “I believe this study and its findings are crucial to truly understanding patients and families going through adverse events.

“Not only does the study capture exactly what needs to change, but it also highlights the elements that are most important to us: an apology and assurance that lessons will be learnt is all we really want.

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Source: The National, 30 May 2022

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NHS Scotland in a perilous situation, says doctors' union

Scotland's NHS is in "a perilous situation" amid a staffing and funding crisis, according to the chairman of the doctors' union.

Dr Iain Kennedy said urgent action was needed to tackle workload pressures ahead of a potentially "terrifying" winter period.

It comes after Scotland's health secretary Humza Yousaf admitted NHS Scotland was not performing well. Mr Yousaf told BBC Scotland it would take at least five years to fix.

Dr Kennedy, who is chairman of the industry body BMA Scotland, said it was good to hear Mr Yousaf being honest about the scale of the problems, but added that "frankly we cannot wait five years" for things to improve.

He told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The NHS in Scotland is in a perilous situation and we have a particular crisis around the workforce - we simply do not have enough doctors in general practice and in hospitals.

"We need more urgent action because the pressures and the workload have really shot up."

Dr Kennedy has called on the government to publish a "heat map" showing where NHS vacancies are unfilled across Scotland.

He said: "The public need to see transparency on where the vacancies are. We think that there are probably 15% vacancies across hospital consultant posts across Scotland.

"Even the government admits to 7% and that we are at least 800 GPs short in Scotland - and I, and others, suspect we are probably well over that figure now."

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Source: BBC News, 31 October 2022

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NHS Scotland deal signed for mesh removal surgery in US

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Source: BBC News, 12 July 2022

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NHS Scotland crisis: Patients 'are not safe in Scotland's A&Es' as health secretary defends winter planning

Patient safety is at risk “every single day”, with patients in desperate need of intensive care waiting hours in Accident and Emergency departments across Scotland, the deputy chair of British Medical Association Scotland has said.

The harrowing description of the scenes in hospitals came as health secretary Humza Yousaf admitted patients were receiving care he would not want to receive himself as the NHS continues to battle intense winter pressures.

Dr Lailah Peel, deputy chair of the Scottish arm of the British Medical Association (BMA), told the BBC’s Sunday Show the crisis was “years in the making”. She blamed a creaking social care system and increased delayed discharges.

The comments come after details of a January 2021 briefing from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) and the College of Paramedics to the health secretary warned of an unacceptable situation in Scotland’s hospitals.

Reported in the Sunday Times, the briefing also specified the actions needed to avoid a similar situation during the current winter crisis, warning an increase of at least 1,000 new beds was needed as well as more doctors and nurses.

Dr Peel said it was the case patients were “absolutely” dying in hospitals in Scotland due to the ongoing crisis in the health service. "There’s no shadow of a doubt that that is happening,” she told the BBC.

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Source: The Scotsman, 8 January 2023

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NHS Scotland calls 13,000 women for smear tests after error

Thousands of women are to be called for smear tests after errors in Scotland's cervical screening programme.

In June 2021 it was discovered that several women had died from cervical cancer after being wrongly excluded from NHS Scotland's screening list.

Now a further review expects to find 13,000 patients who have had a hysterectomy will need further tests.

MSPs were told two years ago that a small number had died from cervical cancer after wrongful exclusion from the programme, and that further incorrect exclusions were possible.

The most common reason for exclusion was after a total hysterectomy, where the entire cervix has been removed, meaning there was no need for cervical screening. But some were recorded as having had this procedure where there was only a sub-total or partial hysterectomy, meaning cervical screening was still needed.

An urgent audit followed and all affected women were invited for follow-up examination. Now, a wider audit of 150,000 women who have had subtotal hysterectomies has been launched.

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Source: BBC News, 17 April 2023

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NHS Scotland Assure: New service for healthcare facilities

A new national service has been established to improve the quality and management of healthcare construction and refurbishment projects across NHS Scotland.

NHS Scotland Assure brings together experts to improve quality and support the design, construction and maintenance of major healthcare developments. This world first interdisciplinary team will include microbiologists, infection prevention and control nurses, architects, planners, and engineers.

Commissioned by the Scottish Government and established by NHS National Services Scotland, the service will work with Health Boards to ensure healthcare buildings are designed with infection prevention and control practice in mind, protecting patients and improving safety.

Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Humza Yousaf said:

“NHS Scotland Assure will support a culture of collaboration and transparency to provide the reassurance patients and their families deserve to feel safe in our hospitals. This service is unique to Scotland and is leading the way in risk and quality management across healthcare facilities.

“With services designed with patients in mind, we can make a real, positive difference to people’s lives.”

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Source: Scottish Government, 1 June 2021

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NHS scoring system used to identify patients at risk of dying based on flawed evidence, suggests study

Early warning scores are used in the NHS to identify patients in acute care whose health is deteriorating, but medics say it could actually be putting people in danger.

The rollout of an early warning system used in hospitals to identify patients at the greatest risk of dying is based on flawed evidence, according to a study published in the BMJ which suggests that much of the research supporting the rollout of NEWS was biased and overly reliant on scores that could put patients at greater risk..

Medical researchers said problems with NHS England's National Early Warning Scores (NEWS) system had emerged "frequently" in reports on avoidable deaths.

The system sees each patient given an overall score based on a number of vital signs such as heart rate, oxygen levels, blood pressure and level of consciousness. Doctors and nurses can then prioritise patients with the most urgent NEWS scores.

But some professionals have argued that the system has reduced nursing duties to a checklist of tasks rather than a process of providing overall clinical assessment.

Professor Alison Leary, a fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and chair of healthcare and workforce modelling at London South Bank University, told The Independent: “In our analysis of prevention of future death reports from coroners, early warning scores and misunderstanding around their use feature frequently".

“It's clear that some organisations use scoring systems and a more tick box approach to care as they lack the right amount of appropriately skilled staff, mostly registered nurses.”

“Early warning scores might not perform as well as expected and therefore they could have a detrimental effect on patient care,” the authors of the research conclude. “Future work should focus on following recommended approaches for developing and evaluating early warning scores, and investigating the impact and safety of using these scores in clinical practice.”

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Source: The Independent, 21 May 2020

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NHS scandal exposed as elderly patients ‘treated like animals’ on overwhelmed hospital wards

Distressed elderly patients are being “treated like animals” and left begging for care as NHS staff struggle to cope with overwhelmed wards and an ever-increasing ageing population, an investigation by The Independent has revealed.

Scores of families have come forward to share harrowing allegations of neglect as one top doctor warns that elderly people are receiving care “well below the standards they should expect” – including long waits in waiting rooms and “degrading” corridor care.

In one shocking case, a 96-year-old patient admitted to the hospital with a urinary tract infection (UTI) was allegedly left semi-naked and delirious in his hospital bed – before choking on vomit after being sedated without his family’s permission, his daughter told The Independent. Another patient, 99, was traumatised after being left in a bed next to the body of a dead woman.

The investigation was sparked by the horrific story of 73 year old Martin Wild who was left so desperate for pain medication he was forced to call 999 from his hospital bed.

It comes as analysis by the Independent shows the government was warned three times last year by coroners over the increasing risk to elderly patients’ lives amid fears they are not being “effectively safeguarded”.

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Source: The Independent, 11 March 2024

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NHS safety watchdog sends warning over charging for GP appointments

Charging for GP appointments will worsen patient safety and drive more people to A&E, the head of a national safety watchdog has warned.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth, the chief investigator for the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB), was responding to a suggestion by former health secretary Sajid Javid who said the present model of the NHS was “unsustainable”.

He said “extending the contributory principle” should be part of radical reforms to tackle growing waiting times.

But Dr Benneyworth said it would only drive more people to seek help from already overstretched services.

She said: “I don’t want to be drawn into the politics around this but I believe in free at the point of delivery NHS and my concern would be [if] we charge people that people would not come forward early for their care and that would leave people needing more urgent and emergency care, because of delayed presentations.”

Dr Benneyworth said there needed to be a bigger focus on patient safety in services outside of A&E, such as NHS 111 and out-of-hours services.

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Source: The Independent, 26 January 2023

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NHS rolls out additional support for pregnant BAME women

After new analysis showed pregnant black women were eight times more likely and Asian women four times as likely to be admitted to hospital with COVID-19, the NHS is rolling out additional support for pregnant women of a Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) background.

Given evidence of the heightened risk to BAME expectant mums, urgent action is being taken in England including increasing uptake of Vitamin D and undertaking outreach in neighbourhoods and communities in their area.

Research carried out by Oxford University has shown 55% of pregnant women admitted to hospital with coronavirus are from a BAME background, even though they represent only a quarter of the births in England and Wales.

In response, England’s most senior midwife, Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, has written to all maternity units in the country calling on them to take four specific actions to minimise avoidable COVID-19 risk for BAME women and their babies.

The steps include:

  • Increasing support of at-risk pregnant women – e.g. making sure clinicians have a lower threshold to review, admit and consider multidisciplinary escalation in women from a BAME background.
  • Reaching out and reassuring pregnant BAME women with tailored communications.
  • Ensuring hospitals discuss vitamins, supplements and nutrition in pregnancy with all women. Women low in vitamin D may be more vulnerable to coronavirus so women with darker skin or those who always cover their skin when outside may be at particular risk of vitamin D insufficiency and should consider taking a daily supplement of vitamin D all year.
  • Ensuring all providers record on maternity information systems the ethnicity of every woman, as well as other risk factors, such as living in a deprived area (postcode), co-morbidities, BMI and aged 35 years or over, to identify those most at risk of poor outcomes.

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Source: NHE, 29 June 2020

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NHS rolls out ‘Amazon-style’ app for prescriptions to free up pharmacies

Millions in England can now track NHS prescriptions via the health service’s dedicated app, receiving "Amazon-style" updates on their medication status.

This new feature aims to reduce the administrative burden on pharmacies by minimising unnecessary calls and visits, freeing up staff to focus on patient care.

NHS England estimates that approximately 45% of calls to community pharmacies are from individuals checking on their prescriptions. The app now allows patients to track their prescriptions, showing whether they are ready for collection or have been shipped for delivery.

Nearly 1,500 high street pharmacies, including Boots, have already adopted the technology. The service is expected to expand to almost 5,000 pharmacies within the next year.

Dr Vin Diwakar, clinical transformation director at NHS England, said: “We know that people want more control over how they manage their healthcare and the new prescription tracking feature in the NHS app offers exactly that.

“You will now get a near real-time update in the app that lets you know when your medicine is ready so you can avoid unnecessary trips or leaving it until the last minute to collect.

“The new Amazon-style feature will also help to tackle the administrative burden on pharmacists, so that they can spend more of their time providing health services and advice to patients rather than updates on the status of their prescriptions.”

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Source: The Independent, 23 May 2025

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NHS rollout of artificial pancreas narrows inequality in diabetes care

The rollout of a “life-changing” artificial pancreas on the NHS for people with type 1 diabetes has helped to narrow ethnic and socioeconomic inequality within access to treatment, according to figures for England and Wales.

Officially known as a hybrid closed-loop system, an artificial pancreas comprises three interconnected parts: a sensor worn on the body called a continuous glucose monitor; an algorithm either built into the pump or on a separate device such as a phone that calculates the precise dose of insulin needed; and an insulin pump that delivers the dose into the bloodstream.

For patients, the device removes much of the mental burden of managing blood sugar levels, especially around mealtimes and during the night. According to previous clinical trials, the device is more effective at managing diabetes than current diabetes technology, such as using continuous glucose monitors alone.

Previous rollouts of diabetes technology have had stark disparities in uptake regarding ethnicity and deprivation. Studies have shown that people from minority ethnic backgrounds in England are less likely to have access to continuous glucose monitors, while people from deprived backgrounds have been unable to have full use of this tech.

However, the first two years of the artificial pancreas rollout in England and Wales has been seen to reverse this trend, with only a 3% difference in uptake between people from the most and least deprived backgrounds, as well as those from minority ethnic backgrounds compared with white counterparts.

Naiha Shafiq, 27, from London, was fitted with an artificial pancreas three years ago. She said the device had been “life-changing” because she was previously in and out of hospital with diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening complication, as a result of struggling to administer her insulin injections.

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Source: The Guardian, 19 May 2026

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NHS robots and scanners ‘must be used more intensively’

Expensive scanners and surgical robots are underused and “lying fallow” at NHS hospitals, a report has said.

Analysis shows a tenfold difference in how often NHS trusts use surgical robots — cutting-edge machines used for minimally invasive surgery that cost about £1.5 million each.

There are also huge regional variations in the use of CT and MRI scanners, which help to diagnose illnesses including cancer and cost about £1 million each.

Experts urged the NHS to ensure that each machine was used to the utmost to boost productivity and tackle hospital waiting lists of 7.4 million people.

The report also warned that hospitals are failing to make full use of surgical robots, which can blitz through waiting lists by speeding up recovery times. In 2022 Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust used its surgical robot less than once a week while other NHS hospitals used theirs nine times a week.

Jonathan Eida, a researcher at the TPA, said: “Our analysis of high-value machines in the NHS further adds to the body of evidence that the health service is not in a healthy state.

“It is absolutely absurd for such expensive equipment to lie fallow, particularly given the swollen waiting lists. If Labour wants to deliver the efficient and productive health service that taxpayers are paying for, maximising the use of these machines has to be a priority.”

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Source: The Times, 16 March 2025

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NHS risks missing ‘new era’ of Alzheimer’s treatment without major reforms, experts warn

The NHS is “simply not ready” for a new era of diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s disease and is not “keeping pace with the science”, experts have warned.

New drugs and blood tests are set to transform Alzheimer’s care and diagnosis in the coming years, according to a group of 40 expert researchers.

Researchers also say medications donanemab and lecanemab, which are currently not approved for use by the NHS, slow the progression of Alzheimer’s as effectively as treatments for other conditions such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.

Writing in a series of papers published in The Lancet, they warn that without rapid reform, the potential of “major innovations” within Alzheimer’s research will not be realised.

Dr Richard Oakley, associate director of Research and Innovation at Alzheimer’s Society, said the series of papers published in The Lancet “mark the beginning of a new era in Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and treatment”.

However, he added, “The painful truth is that the NHS is simply not ready and isn’t keeping pace with the science.

“We now run the very real risk that people living with dementia will miss out on the opportunity to benefit from these big breakthroughs.

“It’s vital that the UK government keeps its eye on the ball so people with dementia aren’t left behind. We want to see better access to early diagnosis so people don’t miss out on the narrow window of eligibility to benefit from treatments which can slow Alzheimer’s disease.

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Source: The Independent, 22 September 2025

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NHS risks losing one third of Black and Asian doctors over racism, finds landmark survey

The NHS is facing a major exodus of doctors of ethnic minority backgrounds due to persistent levels of racism faced at a personal and institutional level, a ground breaking study has revealed.

Nearly one third of doctors surveyed have considered leaving the NHS or have already left within the past two years due to race discrimination, with 42 per cent of Black and 41 per cent Asian doctors in particular having considered leaving or having left.

The survey paints a picture of institutional barriers to career progression, dangerously low levels of reporting of racist incidents and a growing mental health burden on ethnic minority doctors.

With more than 2,000 responses from doctors and medical students across the UK, the BMA – a professional association representing all doctors in the UK – believes that this survey is one of the largest of its kind to document the experience of racism in the medical profession and workplace.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA chair of council, said: “The NHS was built on the principle of equality of care for patients whoever they are, but this report shows that the NHS is shamefully failing in this principle for its own doctors, with those from ethnic minorities reporting alarming levels of unfair treatment and racial inequality at work.

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Source: The Independent, 15 June 2022

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NHS risks losing GPs to ‘nonsensical’ immigration rules, Priti Patel told

Hundreds of overseas-born trainee GPs are at risk of deportation because of “nonsensical” immigration rules, the profession’s leader has warned Priti Patel.

The NHS risks losing much-needed family doctors unless visa regulations are overhauled to allow young medics to stay in Britain at the end of their GP training, Prof Martin Marshall said.

Marshall, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, has written to Patel, the home secretary, demanding that she scrap “bureaucratic” hurdles affecting would-be GPs from abroad.

He told the Guardian: “At a time when general practice is experiencing the most severe workload pressures it has ever known, it is nonsensical that the NHS is going to the expense of training hundreds of GPs each year who then face potential deportation by the Home Office because of an entirely avoidable visa issue.

“We cannot afford to lose this expertise and willingness to work in the NHS, delivering care to patients, due to red tape.”

The threat to foreign-born GP trainees has arisen because current immigration rules state that “international medical graduates” (IMGs) can be given indefinite leave to remain only after they have been in the country for five years, but GP training lasts for only three years.

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Source: The Guardian, 17 May 2022

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NHS report reveals decade of failings in care of vulnerable man

A vulnerable man detained for 10 years was failed by a system meant to care for him, an independent NHS investigation has found.

Clive Treacey, a man who lived his life in the care of NHS and social care authorities, experienced an “unacceptably poor quality of life”, and was not kept safe from harm before his death at just 47.

The findings of the independent review, The Independent and Sky News can reveal, have concluded Mr Treacey’s death was “potentially avoidable” and comes after years of his family “fought” for answers.

His family are now pursuing a second inquest into his death after the review found a pathologist report and post-mortem used by coroners did not follow guidelines, along with new CCTV footage from the night he died.

NHS England commissioned the review, under the Learning Disability Mortality Review Programme, in January 2020 – three years after Mr Treacey’s death and after his family was initially denied a review.

In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Mr Treacey’s sister, Elaine Clark said: “We have fought on because Clive deserved nothing less. He spent his entire life being incarcerated and so did we, his entire family. He didn’t matter. His voice didn’t matter. His human rights didn’t matter. His life choices didn’t matter. The system and its people believed he did not matter and nobody in it had enough ambition to do anything differently."

“Well Clive did matter. It matters what happened to him. It matters that it’s still happening to other people. And it matters that nothing seems to be changing we are one family but there are many others like us.”

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Source: The Independent, 9 December 2021

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NHS repeatedly failing in care of stroke patients, watchdog says

The NHS has repeatedly failed in its diagnosis and care of stroke patients, England’s health ombudsman has said.

According to the World Stroke Association, more than 12 million people worldwide will have their first stroke this year and 6.5 million will die as a result. Strokes are one of the UK’s biggest killers, causing about 34,000 deaths a year, and the single biggest cause of severe disability.

The NHS Fast campaign aims to raise awareness of the most common symptoms of stroke – facial drooping, arm weakness and slurred speech – and the need for prompt treatment, including transfer to a specialist stroke unit within four hours. Without it, a stroke can result in death or long-term disabilities such as paralysis, memory loss and communication problems.

Figures from the Sentinel stroke national audit programme (SSNAP), which assesses the quality of stroke care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, show that just 46.6% of patients are directly admitted to a specialist stroke unit within four hours of symptoms starting.

The ombudsman said the number of investigations it had conducted over poor stroke care, including not spotting symptoms and delays to diagnosis, rose by two-thirds in the four financial years to March 2025, from 17 to 28. The number of complaints also rose over this period from 318 to 396.

Rebecca Hilsenrath, the chief executive of England’s health ombudsman service, said these included repeated failings in diagnosis, nursing care, communication, and treatment of patients with strokes.

“Over the past four years we have seen a significant rise in the number of complaints and investigations related to people who have suffered a stroke, including typical and atypical presentations. This is particularly concerning as early diagnosis is crucial in giving patients the best opportunity for successful treatment and recovery,” she said.

“These investigations all represent instances where organisations involved have not identified a failing. It is important that the NHS operates in a learning culture and that when things go wrong clinicians recognise what has happened and put it right for those involved, as well as improve care and treatment for future patients.”

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Source: The Guardian, 1 July 2025

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NHS regulator ‘not fit for purpose’ for dismissing baby deaths scandal warnings

The healthcare regulator has been branded “not fit for purpose” after dismissing warnings of the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history, The Telegraph can reveal.

Letters seen by this newspaper show that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) told grieving parents it would not support an independent inquiry into baby deaths, just months before such an investigation was ordered.

Rhiannon Davies wrote to the watchdog in Dec 2016, alerting the regulator to 19 avoidable deaths of mothers and babies at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, as well as a string of cases where lives were put at risk.

However, the head of the CQC at the time assured Ms Davies that the culture was “changing for the positive”, rebuffing her calls for an independent inquiry.

Ms Davies had provided the watchdog with details of a string of deaths, which she and fellow bereaved parents had found from publicly available information.

The information was contained in a letter to Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary at the time, and shared with the regulator, setting out why families believed an inquiry was required.

On Tuesday night, Ms Davies said that the refusal of the CQC to back an investigation, and the false assurances given by its most senior figure, showed how it “never scratched beneath the surface” despite death after death.

Ms Davies said that she had “absolutely no faith” in its current ability to regulate and spot future scandals, saying it had “pushed back” every effort made by families to expose the failings at Shrewsbury.

“They are not fit for purpose because we cannot trust them to be doing their job properly,” she told The Telegraph.

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Source: The Telegraph, 5 April 2022

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NHS reforms risk sowing confusion and undermining safety, MPs warned

A bid for more control over the NHS by ministers risks undermining patient safety and sowing confusion over who is ultimately responsible for services, MPs have been warned.

The Commons Health Select Committee was told the proposals, set out in a new white paper published last month, lacked detail on the involvement of patients in local services and needed urgent clarification of the new powers the health secretary will have.

The plans will give ministers new powers over the independent Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB), including being able to tell it what to investigate and the power to remove protections for NHS staff who give evidence in secret.

Last week experts warned the plans for HSIB could undermine its role and have lasting consequences on efforts to encourage NHS staff to be honest about errors. Under the proposals the health secretary would be able to remove so-called “safe space” protections for evidence given by NHS workers.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, told the committee hospitals were worried about the plans.

He said: “We are very nervous about this relationship between the secretary of state and HSIB. In order for it to be an effective independent organisation, it does need to be free from the appearance of any kind of political control. There's a very high degree of nervousness about the ability to somehow switch safe space on and off. People need to know where they stand.”

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Source: The Independent, 2 March 2021

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NHS recruiting from ‘red list’ countries after Brexit loss of EU staff, says report

NHS trusts in England have increased recruitment from low-income “red list” countries to make up for the post-Brexit loss of EU staff, despite a code of practice to safeguard health services in those developing countries.

A report by the Nuffield Trust thinktank also identified shortages in vital specialist areas since Brexit, including dentistry, cardiothoracic surgery and anaesthesiology.

It found that Brexit is still causing issues with the supply of medicines in Northern Ireland despite a change in the arrangements put in place by the EU last April.

The report says that since 2021, the Northern Ireland protocol obliging EU trade rules to be followed in the region has led to a different set of medicines being available compared with the rest of the UK.

Of the 597 products specifically approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency since Brexit, “only eight were also approved for Northern Ireland under the same name and company”.

It also found that since 2021, 52 products had been granted marketing authorisation for Northern Ireland but not in Great Britain under the EU approvals system, including a painkiller from the Slovenian company Sandoz Farmacevtska Druzba designed to stop people dying from opiate overdoses.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) described the report as “deeply alarming”.

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Source: The Guardian, 7 January 2023

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