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NHS charter to stress biological sex when placing patients in wards

Transgender women should not be put on single-sex female NHS wards, the government is proposing.

The measure is part of a raft of changes to the NHS Constitution for England, the charter of rights for patients.

The proposals stress the importance of biological sex for the first time when it comes to same-sex accommodation and intimate care. In both cases, the rights are available only where possible. For example, same-sex accommodation rights, which have existed for years, can and are breached where there is a clinically urgent need to admit and treat a patient and do not extend to areas such as critical care or accident and emergency.

The guidance also means that trans men should not be housed on single-sex male wards.

Under the proposals:

  • transgender people, whose gender identity differs from their biological sex, may be provided single rooms, where appropriate
  • patients will have the right to request a person of the same biological sex delivers any intimate care

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said it was about making it clear that "sex matters." She said, "We want to make it abundantly clear that if a patient wants same-sex care, they should have access to it wherever reasonably possible. By putting this in the NHS Constitution, we're highlighting the importance of balancing the rights and needs of all patients, to make a healthcare system that is faster, simpler and fairer to all."

Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: "Rights on paper are worthless unless they are delivered in practice. "The NHS constitution already pledges that no patient will have to share an overnight ward with patients of the opposite sex, but that is not the case for too many patients."

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Source: BBC News, 30 April 2024

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NHS casualty bungles cost £400m

Accident and emergency has become the top source of negligence claims by patients. Delays, misdiagnosis and poor treatment in accident and emergency (A&E) departments are now the top cause of NHS negligence claims, overtaking orthopaedic surgery for the first time. Bungled operations on backs, bones, joints, ligaments, nerves and muscles usually lead to the most claims, but a 41-page NHS strategy document for the next 12 months reveals that emergency units have become the main source of litigation against the service.

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Source: The Times, 7 July 2019

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NHS care delays in England harmed 8,000 people and caused 112 deaths last year

Almost 8,000 people were harmed and 112 died last year as a direct result of enduring long waits for an ambulance or surgery, prompting warnings that NHS care delays are “a disaster”.

The fatalities included a man who died of a cardiac arrest after waiting 18 minutes for his 999 call to be answered by the ambulance service and was dead by the time the crew arrived.

The figures are the first time NHS England has disclosed how often doctors and nurses file a patient safety report after someone suffers harm while waiting for help.

They show that patient deaths arising directly from care delays have risen more than fivefold over the last three years, from 21 in 2019 to 112 last year, as the NHS has come under huge strain. The number of people who came to “severe harm” has also jumped from 96 to 152 during that period.

“These data are alarming and show quite clearly the human impact the crisis in the NHS is having on individual patients,” said Rachel Power, the chief executive of the Patients Association. “We have been watching a disaster unfolding across the NHS and have repeatedly warned about the threat to patient safety because of it.”

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Source: The Guardian, 27 November 2023

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NHS care backlog push at serious risk - National Audit Office

The plan to tackle long waits in hospital treatment and cancer care in England by 2025 is at serious risk, the spending watchdog says.

The National Audit Office report warned inflation and other pressures on the NHS could undermine the push. These included a lack of staff and hospital beds, which was affecting productivity, the watchdog said.

But NHS bosses said they could overcome the challenges and the health service was on track to hit its targets.

NHS England and the government have set a series of targets over the next three years.

They include:

  • returning performance on the 62-day target for cancer treatment to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023
  • ending waits of over a year and a half for planned treatment, such as knee and hip operations, by April 2023
  • ending waits of over a year for planned treatment by March 2025

The NAO report comes as the chancellor prepares to set out his tax and spending plans in his Autumn Statement on Thursday. Cuts to public spending are likely but Health Secretary Steve Barclay has strongly hinted the NHS will receive more money.

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Source: BBC News, 17 November 2022

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NHS cannula method rolled out after city success

An ultrasound service which means fewer patients need surgery has been rolled out to eight NHS units after its success in Bristol.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) said its unit in the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre used ultrasound-guided cannulation 177 times for patients or donors in an eight-month period.

A nurse uses an ultrasound machine to find a vein which cannot normally be found, it said. The procedure is used for people with illnesses including blood cancers and sickle cell disease.

Medics added it helped avoid "multiple attempts at cannulation", the need to go into theatre for central line insertions and removals and reduced patients' time in hospital.

The NHSBT said since the training began at its Bristol Therapeutic Apheresis Services (TAS) unit two years ago, it is thought more than 200 central line procedures had been avoided.

And the method has now been rolled out to eight other TAS units in England.

"Bristol is one of our busiest units and yet had the lowest rate of central line insertions thanks to this method," said Teresa Baines, Head of TAS at NHSBT.

"A lot of our patients come to us for regular treatments and so to be able to avoid multiple attempts at cannulation or being taken to surgery for line insertion (and later removal) on every visit, makes a huge difference to the quality of their care."

The NHSBT said the procedure could save patients up to half-a-day in hospital and also saves the NHS money.

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Source: BBC News, 28 May 2025

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NHS cannot be used as vaccination service every few months, jab chief warns

The national chief for the Covid vaccination programme has warned that the NHS cannot become a vaccination service every few months.

Emily Lawson also told healthcare staff in a briefing on Wednesday: “I have fed back to the Department of Health yesterday that I think realistically we don’t have the capacity to do anything else new over the next two-and-a-half weeks.

“And that when we plan for things and have the right lead-up to them, we deliver them more effectively, which in the end is very critical for public confidence.”

Her warning comes after the government announced plans on Sunday to rapidly accelerate the national Covid vaccination programme by offering all adults a booster jab by the new year.

On Monday, NHS England sent letters to hospital chiefs, GPs and local healthcare leaders setting out plans to speed up the programme, and said the first priority for primary care would be delivering vaccines.

Healthcare leaders were told they could drop non-urgent care in efforts to support the vaccine drive, however specific details on what treatments can be dropped are yet to be finalised.

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Source: The Independent, 15 December 2021

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NHS cancer standards reform to speed up diagnosis for patients

Thousands of people referred for urgent cancer checks every month are set to be diagnosed and treated sooner, as the NHS reforms its cancer standards to reflect what matters most to patients and to align with modern clinical practice.

Developed by clinical experts and supported by leading cancer charities, there will be three cancer standards, which combine all of the previous standards and cover additional patients:

  • the 28-Day Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) which means patients with suspected cancer who are referred for urgent cancer checks from a GP, screening programme or other route should be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days.
  • the 62-day referral to treatment standard which means patients who have been referred for suspected cancer from any source and go on to receive a diagnosis should start treatment within 62 days of their referral.
  • the 31-day decision to treat to treatment standard which means patients who have a cancer diagnosis, and who have had a decision made on their first or subsequent treatment, should then start that treatment within 31 days.

GPs will still refer people with suspected cancer in the same way, but the focus will rightly be on getting people diagnosed or cancer ruled out within 28 days, rather than simply getting a first appointment.

The three agreed standards will come into effect from October.

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Source: NHS England, 17 August 2023

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NHS cancer patients denied life-saving drugs due to Brexit costs, report finds

British cancer patients are being denied life-saving drugs and trials of revolutionary treatments are being derailed by the red tape and extra costs brought on by Brexit, a leaked report warns.

Soaring numbers are being diagnosed with the disease amid a growing and ageing population, improved diagnosis initiatives and wider public awareness – making global collaborations to find new medicines essential.

But five years after the UK’s exit from the EU, the most comprehensive analysis of its kind concludes that while patients across Europe are benefiting from a golden age of pioneering research and novel treatments, Britons with cancer have “lost out” thanks to rising prices and red tape.

Brexit has “damaged the practical ability” of doctors to offer NHS patients life-saving new drugs via international clinical trials, according to the 54-page report obtained by the Guardian.

In some cases, the cost of importing new cancer drugs for Britons has nearly quadrupled as a result of post-Brexit red tape. Some trials have had shipping costs alone increase to 10 times since Brexit.

The extra rules and costs have had a “significant negative impact” on UK cancer research, creating “new barriers” that are “holding back life-saving research” for Britons, the report says.

In some cases, the impact has been devastating. Children are among the NHS cancer patients whose tumours have returned or treatment has stopped working, leaving them in limbo and denied drugs that could extend or save their lives, senior doctors told the Guardian.

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Source: The Guardian, 20 April 2025

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NHS cancer gene database to identify patients at risk

A new NHS database of genes linked to cancer could enable patients and their families in England to find out whether they are at risk of developing the disease.

People will be able to have their genetic information compared to the world-first register of 120 genes known to increase the likelihood of getting cancer, NHS England has said.

Those identified as having an inherited risk will be offered routine check-ups and screening for certain cancers, including breast and prostate cancer. Patients could also be tested to see whether they would respond better to particular treatments, allowing for personalised care.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the "life-changing and life-saving" tool would fast-track screening and allow more cancers to be caught sooner.

Tens of thousands of cancer patients and those with a family history of the disease already undergo genetic testing on the NHS every year. Those known to have a higher risk profile will be added to the new register.

They will be given tailored information about what they can do to lower their chance of developing cancer or detect it early.

NHS England's national cancer director told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was "the first time any health care system has brought together all the information about all the genetic risk into a single place."

Prof Peter Johnson said it pulled together the tests patients were already offered to check their cancer susceptibility into a single register, "so that we can contact people to offer them screening and in some cases preventative treatment".

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Source: BBC News, 24 January 2026

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NHS cancer care’s ‘culture of over treatment’ is wasting time and money, report reveals

The NHS is wasting time and money due to a ‘culture of overtreatment’ in cancer care, a report has revealed.

An All-Party Parliamentary Group paper released on Tuesday on minimally invasive cancer treatments (MICTs) found only 10 per cent of cancer patients are offered non-invasive treatments.

This is despite many of these treatments being recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

And many doctors and patients remain in the dark about some of the newer treatments due to ‘a severe lack of education’ .

The APPG, which is made up of different political parties and peers, was formed to drive awareness of Minimally Invasive Cancer Therapies - proven cancer treatments that provide similar outcomes to cancer surgery but are more targeted and less invasive than traditional surgery.

Paul Sayer, founder of charity Prost8, which launched its ‘ONE in EIGHT’ campaign to help men with prostate cancer get better access to minimally invasive treatment, said: “The report has identified a culture of overtreatment even when it’s not the best or safest option.

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Source: The Independent, 29 June 2022

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NHS can’t prepare for pandemic surge due to lack of staff, NHSE warns

The NHS has too few staff to prepare for a pandemic surge, while its ageing buildings and social care’s weak ‘resilience and capacity’ would also undermine its response, NHS England has warned.

A new NHSE submission to the Covid-19 public inquiry says funding pressure from 2010 has undermined the health service’s “resilience” and that “resilience and capacity issues in social care are national issues which must be addressed from the centre”.

The document was posted unnoticed on the inquiry website last month. No current or former NHSE leaders have so far given evidence to the inquiry. It is the first time NHSE has clearly set out that understaffing and underinvestment compromised the service’s readiness to deal with the pandemic.

Referring to the NHS’s ability to create “surge capacity [with] flexible staff and equipment which can be pivoted into different roles”, it goes on: “It is only possible to train staff to work more flexibly into different roles/environments if they can be freed up to attend training and refreshers. 

“This requires ‘surplus’ staff numbers on rotas, which is not currently possible in relation to many staffing groups across the NHS.”

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Source: HSJ, 3 October 2023

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NHS calls for ban on toy neodymium magnets amid child safety fears

An online trend that involves using tiny magnets as fake tongue piercings has led the NHS to call for them to be banned amid people swallowing them.

Ingesting more than one of them can be life-threatening and cause significant damage within hours.

In England, 65 children have required urgent surgery after swallowing magnets in the last three years.

The NHS issued a patient safety alert earlier this month and is now calling for the small metal balls to be banned.

It said the "neodymium or 'super strong' rare-earth magnets are sold as toys, decorative items and fake piercings, and are becoming increasingly popular". It added that unlike traditional ones, "these 'super strong' magnets are small in volume but powerful in magnetism and easily swallowed".

The online trend sees people placing two such magnets on either side of their tongue to create the illusion that the supposed piercing is real.

But when accidentally swallowed, the small magnetic ball bearings are forced together in the intestines or bowels, squeezing the tissue so that the blood supply is cut off.

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Source: BBC News, 30 May 2021

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NHS call handlers quitting over stress amid ‘relentless exposure to trauma’

NHS call handlers are quitting amid burnout at dealing with 999 calls about suicides, stabbings and shootings and the long delays before ambulances reach patients.

The pressure is so intense that 27% of control room staff in ambulance services across Britain have left their jobs over the last three years, NHS figures show.

Many feel overwhelmed by the demands of their roles, unsupported by their employers and powerless to help patients who are facing life-or-death emergencies, according to a report by Unison, with some resigning within a year of starting the role.

Call handlers get so stressed that they took an average of 33 sick days a year each between 2021/22 and 2024/25, data obtained by the union also showed. That is far higher than the average four days taken off sick by workers in the UK overall.

A report by Unison found that call handlers’ jobs have become increasingly challenging in recent years as the demand for care, which rose during Covid, has remained consistently high since, while ambulance handover delays outside hospitals have worsened.

“These findings paint a bleak picture of the conditions faced by 999 control room staff. TV programmes about ambulance services don’t show things as they really are,” said Christina McAnea, the Unison general secretary.

Unison’s report said: “Relentless exposure to traumatic and increasingly complex incidents, verbal abuse, long shifts and low pay are contributing to stress, burnout and fatigue.

One call handler told Unison: “Some shifts are overwhelmingly traumatic, with 90% of the calls of a distressing nature. One shift, I handled three road traffic accidents and two cardiac arrests.”

“There’s a persistent pressure to remain on the phone, no matter how emotionally drained we are.”

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Source: The Guardian, 17 June 2025

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NHS budgets must double to ensure buildings are fit for care

According to analysis from the NHS Confederation, capital budgets within the NHS must double to ensure that the delivery of faster and more productive patient care can be supported.

Published yesterday, the Investing to Save: The Capital Requirement for a More Sustainable NHS in England report has outlined that a further £6.4 billion of capital funding must be committed through all three years of the next Spending Review so that the NHS’ maintenance backlog can be addressed. This will also help with the refurbishment of dilapidated buildings, the upgrading of equipment, and the increasing of staff productivity.

Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, Matthew Taylor, said:

“Some of our members have parts of their estate that are barely fit for the 19th century, let alone the 21st, so any future Secretary of State for Health and Social Care must make the physical and digital condition of the NHS a priority if the health service is to reduce backlogs and get productivity levels to where the government want them to be.

“Lack of capital across different care settings, covering digital and physical infrastructure and mental and physical health, is clearly not just leading to missed opportunities to improve productivity, but actively undermining it and causing patient safety issues. Health leaders across England have endless ideas about how capital funding could drive large productivity increases.

“Equipping staff with the right tools, and allowing them to operate in safe, modern, optimised environments will improve efficiency, meaning that an increase to the capital budget will help limit the need for growth in revenue spend, relieve pressure on wider NHS finances and services, and put the NHS on the path to longer-term financial sustainability.

“This will require a significant increase to the NHS capital budget to make up for years of under-resourcing and repeated raids on capital that has left much of the estate broken. Based on the assessment of health leaders, this will need to be an increase of £6.4 billion to take the capital budget to £14.1 billion for each year of the next spending review in order to fully address the repairs backlog and realise some of the innovative transformation projects which have previously fallen by the wayside. The next government must grasp the nettle.”

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Source: National Health Executive, 29 November 2023

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NHS breaks mixed-sex wards rules 44,000 times in a year with patients at risk of humiliation and assault

The use of mixed-sex wards has gone “through the roof” after the number of men and women being put in beds next to each other soared to nearly its highest level in a decade.

Official figures from NHS England show the government’s strict rules against doing so were broken nearly 5,000 times in February alone.

NHS leaders voiced concerns over the high number of breaches and warned that care that was “unthinkable a decade ago is at risk of becoming the new normal”.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said patients were left feeling humiliated and at risk, adding: “The use of mixed-sex wards has gone through the roof under the Tories.”

The government outlawed mixed wards in the NHS in 2010. Under the guidance, patients should not share wards overnight, share bathroom facilities or have to walk through areas occupied by patients of the opposite sex to get to the toilets.

Despite promises more than a decade ago to eliminate mixed wards, The Independent found:

  • 4,811 reported breaches in February, up from 3,789 last November
  • Nurses warning “sky-high breaches” are the tip of the iceberg
  • Evidence that patients are suffering sexual assaults while on mixed mental health wards

Under the guidance, no mental health units should have mixed wards. However, earlier this year, The Independent revealed the practice is widespread, with more than 500 sexual assaults reported across almost half of the NHS mental health hospitals in England.

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Source: Independent, 28 April 2024

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NHS bosses who silence whistleblowers to be banned from health service

NHS managers who silence whistleblowers will be banned from working in other senior health service roles, the government has announced.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is bringing forward a raft of proposals it says will ensure those who commit serious misconduct cannot simply work elsewhere in the NHS in senior management positions.

It said legislation will be put forward to parliament next year to introduce professional standards and regulation of NHS managers.

Currently, there is no regulatory framework for the tens of thousands of clinical and non-clinical NHS managers, as there is for doctors and nurses.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the reforms would "slam the door in the face of unsuitable managers".

Mr Streeting added: "I'm determined to create a culture of honesty and openness in the NHS where whistleblowers are protected, and that demands tough enforcement.

"We've got to create the conditions where staff are free to come forward and sound the alarm when things go wrong. Protecting the reputation of the NHS should never be put before protecting patient safety.

"Most NHS leaders are doing a fantastic job, but we need to stop the revolving door that allows managers sacked for misconduct or incompetence to be quietly moved to another well-paid role in another part of the NHS."

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Source: Sky News, 20 July 2025

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NHS bosses who silence whistleblowers face sack under government plans

NHS managers who silence whistleblowers or endanger patients through misconduct face being sacked and barred from working in the health service for life under radical government plans to regulate thousands of bosses for the first time.

Ministers will begin a public consultation on Tuesday seeking views on the proposals, which they say are designed to eradicate a “culture of cover-up” in the NHS. It follows a series of scandals over the last decade at trusts including Morecambe Bay, East Kent and Shrewsbury and Telford.

A statutory duty of candour making NHS managers legally accountable for responding to concerns about patient safety could also be introduced as part of the government’s plans.

Measures being considered include “statutory barring mechanisms”, similar to systems used for teachers, which could see health bosses who have been deemed to be unfit to practise appearing on a centrally held list.

Karin Smyth, a minister in the Department of Health and Social Care, said the proposals formed part of the government’s plans to end the “revolving door” that allows failing bosses to continue working in the NHS.

“To turn around our NHS we need the best and brightest managing the health service, a culture of transparency that keeps patients safe, and an end to the revolving door that allows failed managers to pick up in a new NHS organisation,” she said.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 November 2024

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NHS bosses say resident doctors’ strike will cause ‘maximum harm’

NHS bosses have accused resident doctors of seeking to cause “maximum harm” to patients by striking for six days next month over pay and jobs.

Wes Streeting has given resident – formerly junior – doctors in England until 2 April to reconsider their rejection on Wednesday of his “generous” offer to end the dispute. It would have given them £700m in extra pay over the next three years.

The British Medical Association’s decision to withdraw from talks with the government and NHS chiefs aimed at settling the long-running dispute has sparked a war of words.

Glen Burley, NHS England’s financial reset and accountability director, said during NHS England’s board meeting on Thursday that the BMA’s decision was “really disappointing for patients. I mean, this is a point where we know we’ll be at a busy stage again. So it feels like it’s trying to push maximum harm and we will try and make sure that doesn’t happen.”

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Source: The Guardian, 26 March 2026

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NHS bosses reject calls for specialist ME care

NHS bosses have rejected pleas for specialist care for people with severe myalgic encephalomyelitis despite promises from a health minister to tackle the lack of provision.

The recent inquest into the death of Maeve Boothby-O’Neill, 27, whose case exposed failings in the treatment of patients with severe ME, led to a minister’s declaration she had fallen through the cracks.

Andrew Gwynne, the minister for public health and prevention, pledged in August to boost research, improve attitudes and “better the lives of people with this debilitating disease”.

However, The Times has been told that a national service for ME patients is not on the agenda despite acknowledgement that patients are not receiving the expert care they need.

Karen Hargrave, the co-founder of #ThereForME, said that the government had made encouraging commitments to improving the care for ME and long Covid patients. However she warned that there did not seem to be a sense of urgency, even though lives were at risk.

The government has committed to publishing its ME delivery plan, the long-delayed strategy to improve treatment and understanding of ME, but not until the late winter and then it will have to be implemented. “We need action now,” Hargrave said. “Patients are being failed, but healthcare workers are being failed just as badly. They need proper structures and clear guidance to provide people with ME-safe care and save lives when needed.”

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Source: The Times, 27 September 2024

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NHS bosses must tackle mental health crisis among doctors, says BMA

The British Medical Association (BMA) is calling on employers to sign up to a wellbeing charter to improve doctors’ working lives. 

The association commissioned qualitative research to establish which factors contributed to poor mental health among doctors. Researchers conducted 30 interviews with doctors from a range of specialties and levels of seniority, as well as two online focus groups with medical students and junior doctors.

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Source: BMJ, 10 October 2019

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NHS bosses fear for patient safety during six-day junior doctor strike

NHS bosses fear patient safety could be compromised during this week’s junior doctors strikes if medics do not honour an agreement to abandon picket lines if hospitals become overwhelmed during the winter crisis.

Hospital bosses can ask the British Medical Association (BMA) to allow junior doctors to return to work to help if an emergency arises during their six-day strike starting on Wednesday.

But there is concern among health trust leaders that the doctors’ union could reject such “recall requests” – or take worryingly long to consider them – despite “highly vulnerable” hospitals having too few staff on duty to cope with a surge in patient numbers.

A spike in cases of flu, Covid and norovirus has left the NHS under intensifying strain in the first week of the new year, a period in which its winter crisis often bites.

On the eve of the 144-hour strike – the longest in NHS history – the NHS Confederation, which represents trusts, urged the BMA to ensure the “recall system” worked reliably if it was triggered.

“With the next round of junior doctors strikes coinciding with what is always an exceptionally busy week for the NHS, health leaders hope that escalation plans run smoothly and with a shared understanding that protecting patient safety is the most important priority,” Danny Mortimer, the confederation’s deputy chief executive, said.

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Source: The Guardian, 1 January 2024

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NHS bosses destroy careers of whistleblowers who stand up to protect patients’ lives

NHS managers are destroying the careers of whistleblowers who raise concerns about patient safety, a group of medics warns.

More than 50 doctors and nurses have told The Telegraph they have been targeted after raising concerns about upwards of 170 patient deaths and nearly 700 cases of poor care. One consultant described it as “the biggest scandal within our country” and said the true number of avoidable deaths was “astronomical”.

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Source: Telegraph, 18 May

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NHS bosses consider deploying field hospitals in 'call to arms'

Managers in an NHS area are considering using "field hospitals" to deal with the surge in patients.

Sarah Whiteman, chief medical director of the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board told colleagues the use of tents was a "real possibility".

In an email, she also asked colleagues to sign temporary contracts to work in emergency departments.

The board said the use of tents in hospital grounds was not imminent.

Dr Whiteman's email, obtained by The Sunday Times and seen by the BBC, began with the statement: "Call to arms".

It emphasised how busy the acute units were within her board's operational area, including Bedford, Milton Keynes and Luton and Dunstable Hospitals.

In the message, she promised staff would receive training and induction if they stepped forward to support colleagues.

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Source: BBC News, 4 January 2023

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NHS bosses advise all hospitals to review security after Liverpool blast

NHS chiefs are advising all hospitals to review their security arrangements in the wake of Sunday’s terrorist incident at Liverpool Women’s hospital, the Guardian can reveal.

NHS England is finalising new guidance to send to all 213 health trusts in England, which between them provide services at more than 500 hospital sites.

It will tell them to check that their security measures are adequate and also to ensure that their staff know what to do and how to stay safe if their hospital is targeted by terrorists.

It is being finalised and will be sent imminently to hospital bosses, who are still taking in the implications of the taxi explosion outside Europe’s largest maternity hospital.

Many hospitals have beefed up their security over the last year in response to numerous incursions by Covid deniers and anti-lockdown activists and the growing abuse of frontline staff.

But Sunday’s incident has prompted NHS England to write to all trusts urging them to take any steps needed to ensure they are protected.

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Source: The Guardian, 16 November 2021

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NHS bosses accused of ‘putting politics before patient safety’

An NHS hospital at the epicentre of the coronavirus second wave is facing the threat of action by the care watchdog as it struggles to keep patients safe, The Independent has learned.

Senior NHS bosses in the northwest region have been accused of putting politics ahead of patient safety and not doing enough to help the hospital to cope with the surge in Covid patients in recent weeks.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) warned the Liverpool University Hospitals Trust on Friday that it could face action after an inspection carried out last week in response to fears raised with the regulator. 

In a message to his colleagues on Friday, Liverpool University Hospitals (LUH) Trust medical director Tristan Cope warned the hospital had been overwhelmed by coronavirus and standards of care could no longer be maintained. He criticised NHS England and said the trust had been “abandoned” as coronavirus cases surged.

He confirmed the CQC’s intention to take action against the trust but said the regulator had failed to appreciate the pressure staff in the hospital were under.

Dr Cope, a consultant in anaesthesia and critical care, said: “LUH is now essentially overwhelmed by the demand. We cannot maintain patient flow and usual standards of care. We have put forward a proposal to further reduce elective [planned] activity, but maintaining capacity for the most urgent cases that would suffer from a two-four week delay."

“It is a very sound plan that our divisional teams have worked up. However, NHS England are prevaricating and delaying with the usual request for more detail, more data, etc. It is clear to me that the politics is outweighing the patient safety issues of the acute crisis."

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Source: The Independent, 3 November 2020

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