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NHS 'riddled with racism' against ethnic minority doctors

The NHS is "riddled with racism", the chair of the British Medical Association's council has told the BBC.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul has spoken out in response to a survey by the BMA, shared exclusively with BBC News.

At least 75% of ethnic minority doctors experienced racism more than once in the last two years, while 17.4% said they regularly faced racism at work, the survey said.

NHS England said it takes a "zero-tolerance approach" to racism.

Racism affects patients as well as doctors' wellbeing, by stopping talented people from progressing fairly and affecting doctors' mental health, Dr Nagpaul warned.

"This is about a moral right for anyone who works for the NHS to be treated fairly," he said.

Around 40% of the NHS's 123,000 doctors are from minority backgrounds, compared to about 13.8% of the general population. But despite this diversity, doctors told the BBC that there was a toxic "us versus them" culture in NHS trusts across the UK.

They said they had faced bogus or disproportionate complaints from colleagues, racist comments from superiors, and even physical assault in the workplace. Some said they had tried to lodge complaints which were then ignored or dismissed without investigation.

One consultant, from a black African background, told the BMA that after reporting previous incidents "no action was taken... I feel uncomfortable and anxious of reprisals".

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Source: BBC News, 2 February 2022

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NHS 'putting patients at risk' by letting 335 staff, including top doctors, do their jobs from abroad thousands of miles from the UK

The NHS has been accused of putting patients' lives at risk after it allowed hundreds of staff, including senior consultants and managers, to work thousands of miles from the UK.

A Mail on Sunday investigation has discovered that NHS staff at every level are working remotely in places as far flung as Australia and Japan.

Critics last night warned that the 'unacceptable and dangerous' arrangements could threaten patient safety.

Professor Karol Sikora, a former director of the World Health Organisation cancer programme, said: "Allowing staff to work from abroad is a huge mistake that can only undermine patient safety and the efficacy of treatment."

At least 335 NHS staff from 33 trusts have been allowed to work abroad in the past two years, according to data from Freedom of Information requests.

Until last year, Constantine Fragkoulakis, 42, was employed as a consultant radiologist at Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust in Nottinghamshire. 

The trust said its radiologists "routinely interpret images and write reports away from the hospitals where they are based". 

But Mr Fragkoulakis admitted there had been "a lot of IT issues, so there was no patient care involved or clinical work'. He added: 'Essentially it was just meetings that I did."

Another consultant radiologist, Branimir Klasic, 50, is being allowed to work two weeks each month in Croatia by the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in South Wales. 

It said recruitment was "increasingly challenging" and that it was "open to exploring ways of working that ensures we can provide the skills and expertise that our patients need". 

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We are clear that ways of working, which are agreed between NHS employers and its staff, should never impact on NHS patients or services."

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Source: Daily Mail, 10 February 2024

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NHS 'hamstrung by red tape' as it takes 50 steps to release patients

Britain is hamstrung by red tape in the NHS and workers are blighted by regulation, Boris Johnson’s former cabinet secretary has said.

Lord Sedwill, who was head of the civil service for two years, said that the UK was “failing to fulfil its great potential” because of excessive regulation.

He made the comments in a foreword to a report by the Policy Exchange think-tank which also highlights examples of regulation “passing on significant costs” to customers.

Examples in the report include NHS rules instructing hospital staff to go through 50 separate steps to discharge patients, “leading to severe delays”.

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Source: The Telegraph, 23 April 2023

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NHS 'failing' patients living with HIV

The failure to address the mental-health needs of people with HIV could lead to an increase in infections, a cross-party group of MPs suggests.

People with HIV are twice as likely to experience mental-health difficulties. However, in those with depression, support raises adherence to medication by 83%. But most HIV clinics have no mental-health professionals on staff, which, the MPs say, could be reversing progress made over the past decade toward ending the epidemic in the UK.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on HIV and AIDS met with patients living with HIV at a range of hospital trusts throughout England, as well as numerous healthcare professionals.

Unless serious mental-health treatment shortfalls are addressed, the government will fail to achieve its target of zero transmissions by 2030, its report says.

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Source: BBC News, 5 March 2020

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NHS 'corrected mistakes' after son's suicide

An NHS trust has been accused of adding to the records of a man the day after he took his own life to "correct their mistakes".

The patient, a man aged 33, died under the care of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) in 2017.

The patient, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and substance misuse, had been under CPFT's care two months when he died.

He had been transferred from a neighbouring trust after moving to Ely and then been taken off a community treatment order.

His mother, Angelina Pattison, told the BBC that despite being heavily involved in her son's care, she was "shocked that they transferred him without even telling me".

A trust serious untoward incident (SUI) review acknowledged that when he was transferred no-one from CPFT had asked about whether his family had been involved in his care.

Ms Pattison said: "They didn't have any address of [my home] in his care plan and the care plan was done when he died - when they were running around to correct their mistakes, which they have done"

The BBC has separately spoken to consultant nurse and psychotherapist Des McVey, who was asked by the trust to investigate a complaint in July 2021, understood to be the one from Ms Pattison.

Mr McVey said: "I noticed that the deceased did have care plans, but they were written the day after his death and they were also evaluated the day after his death and I was concerned that this wasn't picked up by the SUI."

He said this "really alarmed me", adding: "Surprisingly, there was no care plan to address his suicidal ideation and he had... an extensive history of trying to kill himself."

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Source: BBC News, 15 June 2023

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Next government should declare NHS a national emergency, experts warn

The NHS is in such a dire state the next government should declare it a national emergency, experts are warning, as it emerged that record numbers of patients are being denied timely cancer treatment.

It is facing an “existential threat” because of years of underinvestment, serious staff shortages and the demands of the ageing population, according to a group of leading doctors and NHS leaders.

Whoever wins power after the general election will have to “relaunch” the health service and ask the public to do what they can to help save it and preserve its founding principles, they say.

The call, by a commission of experts assembled by the BMJ medical journal, comes as new figures show that since 2020 more than 200,000 people in England have not received potentially life-saving surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy within the NHS’s supposed maximum 62-day wait. Professor Pat Price, a leading NHS oncologist who helped analyse NHS cancer care data, said that the UK was facing “the deepest cancer crisis” of her 30-year career treating cancer patients. 

The acute concern about the NHS’s ability to cope with the rising tide of illness deepened last night when A&E doctors claimed that a government plan launched a year ago to relieve the strain on overcrowded emergency departments had made no difference. A&E remains in “permacrisis” while care in units is “as unsafe, or more unsafe, than at this time last year”, despite Rishi Sunak hailing his “ambitious and credible plan to fix it”.

Although 5,000 more hospital beds have been created, the “half-baked” plan has “made little real difference to the experience of patients and the working conditions of health care professionals”, said Dr Ian Higginson, the vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

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Source: Guardian, 31 January 2024

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News SAS and LE doctors need targeted support, says GMC

The UK’s rapidly growing number of specialist, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors and “locally employed” (LE) doctors need targeted and specific support to make the most of their expertise, the General Medical Council has said.

SAS and LE doctors are the fastest growing part of the medical workforce, increasing by 40% in four years, from 45 578 in 2017 to 63 740 in 2021, said the regulator.1 This was largely driven by doctors from overseas coming to work in UK hospitals.

SAS doctors are specialty and specialist grade doctors with at least four years of postgraduate training, including two in a specialty relevant to their area of work.

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Source: BMJ, 9 October 2023

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Newly qualified midwives struggle to land job - despite 'chronic' staff shortages

Newly qualified midwives are having to take up roles in other industries despite "chronic" staff shortages across the sector, according to a new survey. 

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) claims almost a third of midwifery graduates are unable to find employment and many are turning to roles in hospitality, retail, office work, and cleaning jobs as a result.

The situation has been called "troubling" by midwifery leaders, at a time when they say "maternity services are struggling with staff shortages".

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Source: Sky News 20 February 2026

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Newly installed EPR contributed to A&E death, warns coroner

A newly installed electronic patient record contributed to the “preventable” death of a 31-year-old woman in an emergency department, a trust has been warned.

Emily Harkleroad died at University Hospital of North Durham in December 2022 following “failures to provide [her] with appropriate and timely treatment” for a pulmonary embolism, a coroner has said.

The inquest into her death heard emergency clinicians had raised concerns about a newly installed electronic patient record, provided by Oracle Cerner, which they said did not have an escalation function which could clearly and quickly identify the most critical patients.

The inquest heard the new EPR, installed in October 2022, did not have a “RAG rating” system in which information on patient acuity “was easily identifiable by looking at a single page on a display screen” – as was the case with the previous IT system.

The software instead relied on symbols next to patients’ names which indicate their level of acuity when clicked on, but did “not [provide] a clear indication at first glance” of their level of acuity.

Rebecca Sutton, assistant coroner for County Durham and Darlington, said that “errors and delays” meant Ms Harkleroad did not receive the anticoagulant treatment that she needed and “which would, on a balance of probabilities, have prevented her death”.

“It is my view that, especially in times of extreme pressure on the emergency department, a quick and clear way of identifying the most critically ill patients is an important tool that could prevent future deaths.”

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Source: HSJ, 23 February 2024

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Newborns to get rapid genetic disease diagnosis

Rare genetic disorders will be diagnosed and treated in babies thanks to a project to sequence the complete DNA of 100,000 newborns.

It should spare hundreds of families in England months, or years, of anguish waiting to find out why their children are ill.

The project is the first time that whole genome sequencing (WGS) has been offered to healthy babies in the NHS. It will screen for around 200 disorders, all of them treatable.

The Newborn Genomes Programme, to begin next year, is thought to be the biggest study of its kind in the world. If successful, it could be rolled out across the country.

Owen, 9, has an extremely rare genetic condition which affects his growth and development. Called THRA-related congenital hypothyroidism, it is one of the disorders which will be included in the new genetic test.

Father, Rob Everitt, told the BBC: "I think of all the hours we spent in hospital waiting rooms, getting referred around different departments, all the tests - some of which were quite invasive - that drew a blank every time. I lost count of how many doctors and consultants we went to see and how many tests they did on him."

Mother, Sarah Everitt, says getting the diagnosis was life-changing: "It was like winning the lottery….because we knew there was a treatment pathway; we knew we could get him support and he could attend a mainstream school."

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Source: BBC News, 13 December 2022

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Newborn infection trial ‘will fail’ unless Government intervenes, experts warn

A clinical trial to test pregnant women for Group B Strep (GBS) – the most common cause of life-threatening infection in newborn babies – will fail unless the Government intervenes, experts have warned.

Some 80 hospitals are needed for the trial to go ahead but only 32 have committed to it, with a deadline for registering of September.

The trial is being funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and will look at whether testing women for Group B Strep reduces the risk of babies dying or suffering harm.

Now Dr Jane Plumb, chief executive of Group B Strep Support, who lost her son Theo to the infection, is calling on the Government and NHS England to intervene to make sure the trial goes ahead.

She said: “The reality is that unless a further 48 hospitals sign up for this trial, then it will fail.

“The Government is waiting for the results from this trial to determine whether to test pregnant women for Group B Strep.

“Yet there seems to be little acknowledgement that this trial is heading towards failure.

“We need more hospitals on board and we need to make sure that the investment in this trial is not wasted.

“This is about saving the lives of babies, and it really is now or never.”

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Source: The Independent, 20 June 2022

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Newborn baby dies after mum not woken for heart rate check

A newborn baby died after hospital staff failed to wake his mother for "potentially lifesaving observations" before his birth, an investigation has found.

Sonny Taylor was left "distressed for a significant amount of time" before a delayed emergency Caesarean at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, and died three days later from a severe brain injury caused by sepsis and lack of oxygen.

His parents Eve and Thomas said he was "badly let down when he needed help the most".

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board accepted the report's findings and apologised "unreservedly" for the failures in care.

Sonny's mother, Eve, 29, had been admitted to hospital after her waters broke at 36 weeks. Later that afternoon she was taken to the maternity ward after signs of potential infection were identified.

At 18:00 GMT, her observations and Sonny's heart rate were recorded as normal.

While Eve was asleep at 22:00, midwifery staff did not wake her to carry out further observations or listen to Sonny's heart rate, despite this being required, an internal investigation report found.

"When I awoke Sonny was not moving as much and I immediately knew something wasn't right," she said.

A registrar confirmed the foetal heart rate was abnormal, but Eve was wrongly transferred to the labour ward, causing further delay before Sonny was delivered by emergency Caesarean at 02:03.

Tests later showed Sonny "had been distressed for a significant amount of time" and should have been delivered earlier, the report said.

Investigators said that if Sonny's heart rate had been identified as abnormal earlier, "this would likely have changed the outcome".

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Source: BBC News, 27 January 2026

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New Zealand: Patient safety advocate ‘horrified’ at Government’s plans to drop Therapeutic Products Act

Scrapping the new Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will leave thousands of New Zealanders exposed to ongoing harm from dodgy medical devices, warn patient safety advocates and legal experts.

The act, which was due to come into force in 2026, would have modernised the regulation of medicines and natural health products, and made medical devices, as well as cell, gene and tissue therapies, subject to a similar regulatory regime as drugs.

The industry has backed the move, saying the new law was heavy-handed and would stop people getting access to the latest lifesaving technological advances.

However, Auckland woman Carmel Berry — who was left in constant knife-like pain from plastic mesh implanted during surgery — said she was “living proof” of the old system’s failures.

It took more than 10 years of lobbying by her and the other founders of Mesh Down Under to get authorities to take action — a decade in which hundreds of other people were injured.

She is horrified that the TPA, signed into law in only July, is on the chopping block.

Beginning work to repeal it was No 47 out of 49 points on the Government’s to-do list for its first 100 days.

“I’m horrified. After so many years of developing and rewriting the act and getting it through ... shame on them.”

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Source: New Zealand Herald,  18 February 2024

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New Zealand woman discovers surgical instrument ‘size of a dinner plate’ left in her body after operation

A woman who suffered chronic abdominal pain for 18 months after undergoing a caesarean section was found to have a surgical instrument the size of a dinner plate inside her abdomen.

The Alexis retractor, or AWR, was left inside the New Zealand mother after her baby was delivered at Auckland City Hospital in 2020.

Following initial investigations into the case, Te Whatu Ora Auckland, formerly Auckland District Health Board, claimed it had not failed to exercise reasonable skill and care towards the patient, who was in her 20s.

But on Monday, New Zealand’s Health and Disability Commissioner, Morag McDowell, found Te Whatu Ora Auckland in breach of the code of patient rights.

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Source: Guardian, 4 September 2023

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New York rejects Louisiana request to extradite doctor who prescribed abortion pills

New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, has rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite a doctor who was charged there with prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor.

'I will not be signing an extradition order that came from the governor of Louisiana,' Hochul said at a news conference in Manhattan. "Not now, not ever".

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Source: The Guardian, 14 February 2025

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New York doctor sued for prescribing abortion pills to Texas woman

A lawsuit, filed by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton on Thursday, alleges Dr Margaret Carpenter unlawfully prescribed abortion-inducing drugs to the 20-year-old, in violation of the state's laws.

While no criminal charges are involved, Mr Paxton said the woman, who was nine weeks pregnant, was taken to hospital in July with "serious complications" after taking the medication.

"In Texas, we treasure the health and lives of mothers and babies, and this is why out-of-state doctors may not illegally and dangerously prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents," he said.

Court papers note the woman received two drugs commonly used in abortions for pregnancies up to 10 weeks: mifepristone, which blocks a vital hormone in pregnancy, and misoprostol, which causes contractions, cramping and bleeding in the uterus.

The documents add the state of Texas is seeking up to $250,000 from New York's Dr Carpenter - who is also a co-founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine.

The lawsuit says the medic's "conduct violates the Texas Health and Safety Code's prohibition on prescribing abortion-inducing drugs via telemedicine". Such prescriptions are made online and over the phone.

Texas bars abortion at all stages of pregnancy, and in 2021 - before the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade, which gave a constitutional right to abortion - passed a law allowing state citizens to sue anyone who provides abortions or assists someone in undergoing the procedure.

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Source: Sky News, 15 December 2024

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New York declares ‘imminent threat’ after first death from eastern equine encephalitis in decade

New York officials announced an “imminent threat” to public health this week after a resident died from the state’s first case of mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, in nearly a decade.

The deceased individual was a resident of Ulster County, two hours north of New York City. The case, the state’s first human case since 2015, was confirmed earlier this month.

“We’ve been informed this patient has passed away from EEE, we extend our sympathies and our hearts go out to their family,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said.

Eastern equine encephalitis is a rare but severe viral disease, spread by infectious mosquitoes. Approximately 30 percent of those who contract EEE die from the disease, and survivors are often left with neurologic problems. There are no vaccines or medications to treat or prevent it.

State Health Commissioner Dr James McDonald issued the declaration to unlock state resources and help support response to the virus, including continued efforts to spray for mosquitoes through the end of November.

Governor Hochul activated multiple agencies to expand access to insect repellent at New York parks and campgrounds, and to increase public awareness of the threat by placing signs at potentially vulnerable sites.

“Keeping New Yorkers safe is my top priority,” Hochul said.

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Source: The Independent, 24 September 2024

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New York City expects biggest nurses strike as nearly 15,000 set to walk off job

Thousands of nurses are set to walk off the job at several of New York City’s largest hospitals on Monday, staging a strike amid an intense flu season.

The action comes three years after a previous strike that compelled some of the same hospitals to move patients elsewhere and reroute ambulances.

Hospital operations are expected to be disrupted at a number of major private institutions, including Mount Sinai in Manhattan, Montefiore medical center in the Bronx, and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving medical center.

Close to 15,000 nurses are participating, making it the biggest nurses strike the city has ever seen. Most union members voted last month to authorize the walkout.

Anticipating the possibility of a strike, New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, declared a state of emergency on Friday and urged hospital administrators and union leaders to reach a last-minute agreement. She warned that a strike “could jeopardize the lives of thousands of New Yorkers and patients”.

“I’m strongly encouraging everyone to stay at the table, both sides, management and the nurses, until this is resolved,” Hochul said.

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Source: The Guardian, 13 January 2026

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New York Blood Center Enterprises hit by ransomware attack

A cyber attack has forced a US non-profit blood donor centre to postpone appointments despite declaring blood shortages just one week earlier. 

New York Blood Center Enterprises announced that it had “identified suspicious activity” affecting its IT systems on on 26 January 2025.

In a statement, published on 29 January, it said: “We immediately engaged third-party cybersecurity experts to investigate and confirmed that the suspicious activity is a result of a ransomware incident.

“We took immediate steps to help contain the threat and are working diligently with these experts to restore our systems as quickly and as safely as possible. Law enforcement has been notified.”

On 1 February and 2 February 17 blood drives were cancelled as a result of the cyber attack.

The centre, which is the largest independent blood supplier in the New York City area, confirmed that although it is still accepting blood donations, “processing times may be longer than normal”.

There is no estimated timetable for fully restoring its operations.

The attack echoes the ransomware attack on NHS pathology provider Synnovis in June 2024, which led to NHS Blood and Transplant urgently calling for donations of O Positive and O Negative blood to boost stocks.

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Source: Digital Health, 3 February 2025

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New WHO Centre of Excellence for Quality of Care and Patient Safety opens in Athens

WHO/Europe and the Hellenic Republic of Greece today open a new sub-office in the country focusing on quality of care and patient safety. Acting as a centre of excellence, the sub-office will work towards achieving the highest level of well-being, health and health protection in the WHO European Region, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Speaking at its opening, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge said, “Better quality of care relies on a strong primary health care system, where most preventive activities, diagnostics, consultations and treatments occur. Let us make no mistake – the quality of care encompasses all levels of a health system, hence the need to integrate quality policies across the board.”

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Source: WHO, 15 April 2021

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New website to help patients and NHS staff to see hospital waiting times at a glance

A group of patient activists has set up a new website using official NHS data to allow patients to check the waiting times for treatments at their local hospital.

The new waiting times tool is thought to be the first automated and regularly updated website that shows hospital performance against key waiting time targets, by medical specialty such as cardiology or orthopaedics.

The service, developed by volunteers from the not-for-profit Patient Experience Library, not only shows patients how many people are waiting to be treated overall but also shows data on the median waiting time as well as how well the hospital is performing against targets over time.

Patients can also compare different hospitals and look at the performance of the NHS in England overall. Wait times for mental health services are treated separately and not included.

Miles Sibley, co-founder of the Patient Experience Library, said the website was an attempt to bring transparency to NHS England’s “impenetrable spreadsheets” which not only affected patients but also other NHS staff who told Sibley they spend hours downloading data and working out their organisations performance.

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Source: The Independent, 7 June 2021

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New volunteer programme to help older patients reduce risk of fall

A new volunteering programme is aiming to bring trained volunteers into the homes of older patients to provide one-to-one support.

The Falls Prevention Community Exercise Volunteers programme is being run by the volunteering service at Kingston Hospital NHS FT, which is funded by the volunteering organisation Helpforce and the Kingston Hospital Charity.

It hopes that this will improve the strength, balance, and mobility of elderly patients, as well as improve their overall health and well-being. This is then expected to reduce the strain on the NHS caused by falls among older patients.

Research from NICE in 2018 showed that the risk of falls in elderly patients can be reduced by as much as 54%, when they take part in exercises focused on improving strength and balance.

Bianca Larch, Community Outreach Manager at the trust, said: “We are delighted to launch this much needed volunteering service to support our patients at home.

“With volunteers supporting patients to undertake a physiotherapy prescribed exercise programme, we hope to see improved strength, mobility and balance in our patients and in turn reduce their risk of falls significantly.

“This programme can really improve the quality of life of our patients by restoring well-being and independence, especially for those waiting to access various community interventions.”

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Source: National Health Executive, 9 September 2021

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New victims of rogue surgeon blocked from using expert lawyers

New victims of rogue breast surgeon Ian Paterson are being blocked from using lawyers with experience of the scandal to bring fresh compensation claims against the private hospital where he worked, The Independent has learned.

Under the terms of a legal settlement for £37m in 2017, 40 law firms are barred from bringing any new claims against Spire Healthcare for 20 years – meaning that former patients who have learned since then that they were victims of the surgeon, who was jailed for carrying out needless surgeries on women, face having to find lawyers with no prior knowledge of the case.

When the deal was signed, it was thought that most of Paterson’s victims had been contacted by the hospital company, but an inquiry published in 2020 heavily criticised its failure to reach affected patients and accused the company of seeking to protect its reputation rather than the interests of patients.

In response, Spire Healthcare launched a mass recall of 5,500 former patients, with independent clinicians reviewing their medical records. Some are learning for the first time that they had needless surgery at the hands of the surgeon.

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Source: The Independent, 11 April 2021

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New vaccine for respiratory disease rolls out in Scotland

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Source: BBC News, 12 August 2024

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New vaccine could protect against coronaviruses which have yet to emerge

A new vaccine could be effective against coronaviruses which have yet to emerge, with hopes it could be used to battle future pandemics, research suggests.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and Caltech in the US are developing a novel approach called “proactive vaccinology”, which aims to train the body’s immune system to recognise several different coronaviruses.

The vaccine used antigens – a substance that triggers an immune response in the body – found in eight different coronaviruses, including those circulating in bats. This trains the immune system to go after the parts of the antigens that are shared across the viruses and other similar ones, including those not included in the vaccine.

“Our focus is to create a vaccine that will protect us against the next coronavirus pandemic, and have it ready before the pandemic has even started,” said Rory Hills, a graduate researcher in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Pharmacology and first author of the report.

He added: “We’ve created a vaccine that provides protection against a broad range of different coronaviruses – including ones we don’t even know about yet.”

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Source: Independent, 7 May 2024

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