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Trust boss warns region faces ‘absolute crisis’ with trusts ‘hanging on by their fingernails’

Hospital chiefs in the South West have warned the region will not avoid the extreme pressures felt by other parts of the NHS amid rapidly rising numbers of COVID-19 inpatients.

The region was the least affected area of England during the pandemic’s first wave, but the medical director of two acute trusts yesterday predicted a “tidal wave” of COVID-19 coming to the West Country.

Adrian Harris, medical director at Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust and Northern Devon Healthcare Trust (NDHT), said the region faced an “absolute crisis” and individual trusts would be “hanging on by their fingernails”.

His comments, made at NDHT’s board meeting, came on the same day HSJ revealed the South West region now has the fastest growth in COVID-19 inpatients. Although the region is England’s least densely populated, it also has the lowest hospital capacity per capita in the country.

Dr Harris said: “We hope and we pray that the lockdown has come in time for Devon. My personal view — and of my colleagues around the country — is that there’s a tidal wave of COVID-19 coming to the West Country."

“We are preparing to be hit as hard as the East of England. If we are hit as hard, we will be hanging on by our fingernails and we are planning accordingly.”

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Source: HSJ, 8 January 2021

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Fury at ‘do not resuscitate’ notices given to Covid patients with learning disabilities

People with learning disabilities have been given do not resuscitate orders during the second wave of the pandemic, in spite of widespread condemnation of the practice last year and an urgent investigation by the care watchdog.

Mencap said it had received reports in January from people with learning disabilities that they had been told they would not be resuscitated if they were taken ill with COVID-19.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said in December that inappropriate Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) notices had caused potentially avoidable deaths last year.

DNACPRs are usually made for people who are too frail to benefit from CPR, but Mencap said some seem to have been issued for people simply because they had a learning disability. The CQC is due to publish a report on the practice within weeks.

The disclosure comes as campaigners put growing pressure on ministers to reconsider a decision not to give people with learning disabilities priority for vaccinations. There is growing evidence that even those with a mild disability are more likely to die if they contract the coronavirus.

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Source: The Guardian, 13 February 2021

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Trusts struggle with growing backlog of uninvestigated incidents

The backlog of serious clinical incidents that need investigating is building up throughout the NHS, due to the impact of coronavirus and emergency service pressures.

Concerns have been raised by commissioners in some areas over the delays. Meanwhile, patients and families who have been harmed are waiting longer to see their cases resolved and the organisations involved are not learning the lessons taught by care failures as quickly as they should. 

Staff redeployment or absences due to COVID-19 are among the reasons why many investigations are being delayed. As result, trusts are attempting to recruit additional investigators to manage their backlogs.

Tina Ivanov, the trust’s director of quality governance, said: “Learning from serious incidents when they occur is an important part of our improvement culture.

“We are increasing the number of trained investigators at the trust and have brought in additional resource to help complete the outstanding investigations. The reasons for the increase in outstanding serious incidents include staff absences and clinical pressures.”

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Source: HSJ, 27 September 2021

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GPs in England failing to urgently refer patients with ‘red flag’ signs of cancer

GPs are failing to urgently refer patients with “red flag” signs of suspected cancer to a specialist, research suggests.

Six out of 10 patients in England with key symptoms indicating possible cancer did not receive an urgent referral for specialist assessment within two weeks, as recommended in clinical guidelines, according to a new study.

Nearly 4% of these patients were subsequently diagnosed with cancer within the next 12 months. The findings were published in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety.

In the study, researchers analysed records from almost 49,000 patients who consulted their GP with one of the warning signs for cancer that should warrant referral under clinical guidelines. Of the 29,045 patients not referred, 1,047 developed cancer within a year (3.6%).

Early diagnosis and prompt treatment is crucial to survival chances. Every four-week delay in cancer treatment increases the risk of death by 10%.

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Source: The Guardian, 5 October 2021

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COVID-19: Vaccines to be compulsory for frontline NHS staff in England

Frontline NHS staff in England will have to be fully vaccinated against Covid, the health secretary has announced.

A deadline is expected to be set for 1 April next year to give unvaccinated staff time to get both doses, Sajid Javid told the Commons.

Between 80,000 and 100,000 NHS workers in England were unvaccinated, said Chris Hopson, head of NHS Providers.

Thursday is the deadline for care home workers in England to get vaccinated.

The government's decision follows a consultation which began in September and considered whether both the Covid and flu jabs should be compulsory for frontline NHS and care workers. Mr Javid said the flu vaccine would not be made mandatory.

There will be exemptions for the Covid vaccine requirement for medical reasons, and for those who do not have face-to-face contact with patients in their work, he added.

In a statement to MPs, Mr Javid said: "Having considered the consultation responses, the advice of my officials and NHS leaders including the chief executive of the NHS, I have concluded that all those working in the NHS and social care will have to be vaccinated."

"We must avoid preventable harm and protect patients in the NHS, protect colleagues in the NHS and of course protect the NHS itself."

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Source: BBC News, 9 November 2021

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New patient safety chief revealed

A management coach and adviser to the Care Quality Commission has been appointed as the new ‘national guardian’ for the ’freedom to speak up’ programme.

Jayne Chidgey-Clark will take up her new role on 1 December. The national guardian’s office leads, trains and supports the network of over 700 freedom to speak up guardians in England, as well as providing “challenge and learning to the healthcare system”.

Ms Chidgey-Clark, a registered nurse, has served as a specialist adviser to the CQC since 2017. She has run her own coaching, consultancy and interim management business since 2009. She was a clincial adviser to NHS England’s new care models programme for three years until 2018 and the director of the end of life care modernisation project at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust between 2008 and 2011.

Her appointment comes after Henrietta Hughes announced in June she was stepping down from the role after five years.

Ms Chidgey-Clark, who is the third appointee to the position, said: “I feel excited and privileged to have been appointed as the new National Guardian for the NHS. I am passionate about, and committed to, making a real difference in people’s lives through the planning and delivery of the highest quality, effective care with excellent outcomes for people who use our health services, and their families.”

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Source: HSJ, 11 November 2021

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Sajid Javid plans NHS revolution modelled on academy schools

Academy-style hospitals will be set up to improve patchy NHS leadership under a shake-up planned by Sajid Javid to deal with post-pandemic waiting lists.

The health secretary is formulating the reorganisation to give well-run hospitals more freedom as well as forcing failing trusts to improve. A new class of “reform trust” will be established as Javid signals an appetite for wide-ranging changes to deal with a “huge” variation in performance across the health service.

Modelling reforms on the Blairite academies programme could lead to failing hospitals being forcibly turned into reform trusts, as happens with schools that are rated inadequate. It is possible that chains of hospitals will be run by leading NHS managers, or even outside sponsors, although this is yet to be decided.

Boris Johnson is said to want to focus on cutting NHS waiting times as part of an “operation red meat” designed to shift the focus from rows over Downing Street parties. Allies of Javid say, however, that his desire for reform long predates the prime minister’s present problems and that as the Omicron wave recedes he believes he has a “six-month window” to introduce changes before planning for next winter takes over.

His proposals raise the prospect of ministers embarking on another NHS reorganisation, even before the government’s Health and Care Bill — itself designed to reverse previous Tory reforms – becomes law.

The plans are still at an early stage but are due to feature in a white paper that will set out Javid’s plans for dealing with weak leadership and slow adoption of best practice in parts of the NHS. A Whitehall source said: “Sajid’s reform agenda is all about driving up performance across the NHS. To achieve that we are going to apply some lessons from the academies programme.”

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Source: The Times, 18 January 2022

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Health department warning over vaccine mandate for NHS staff in England

Ministers have been issued with a stark warning over mandatory Covid vaccines for NHS workers in England, with a leaked document saying growing evidence on the Omicron variant casts doubts over the new law’s “rationality” and “proportionality”.

Two jabs will become compulsory for frontline NHS staff from 1 April after MPs voted on the legislation last month.

But the document, drawn up by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) officials and seen by the Guardian, said the evidence base on which MPs voted “has changed”, creating a higher chance of objections and judicial review.

The effectiveness of only two vaccine doses against Omicron, and the lower likelihood of hospitalisations from the milder variant, are cited.

More than 70,000 NHS staff – 4.9% – could remain unvaccinated by 1 April, the document says. NHS trusts in England are preparing to start sending dismissal letters from 3 February to any member of staff who has not had their first dose by then.

Amid significant pressures on the NHS, last week groups including the Royal College of Nursing urged Sajid Javid, the health secretary, to delay the legislation, known as “vaccination as a condition of deployment” (VCOD2).

On Tuesday the Royal College of Nursing said the leaked memo should prompt ministers to call a halt to the imposition of compulsory jabs, which it called “reckless”.

“The government should now instigate a major rethink”, said Patricia Marquis, the RCN’s England director. “Mandation is not the answer and sacking valued nursing staff during a workforce crisis is reckless.”

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Source: The Guardian, 18 January 2022

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Trust CEO ‘behaved poorly’ and chair was ‘complicit’, NHS England review concludes

An NHS England review into the behaviour of high-profile senior leaders who took over a Midlands trust has concluded that the interim CEO “behaved poorly and inappropriately” while its chair was “complicit with” and failed to address problems.

NHS England had commissioned an independent probe into allegations about the behaviour of new executives, who had recently been appointed to the board of Walsall Healthcare Trust.

David Loughton and Professor Steve Field, who hold the same roles at the Royal Wolverhampton Trust, were brought in as interim chief executive and chair respectively in spring 2021.

Walsall has faced care quality concerns for some years and it was hoped the pair from neighbouring Wolverhampton would bring improvements. 

Dr McLean wrote in her review: “Leadership changes can, understandably, represent a period of anxiety for those affected but this can be minimised if changes are made in line with appropriate values and processes. 

“Whilst I conclude that the joint chair and interim CEO were motivated to act in the best interests of patients, I was saddened by much of what I heard.

”In the narratives I heard, there was a consistent lack of compassion or respect for people.”

She concluded: “The interim CEO, while motivated by the safety and care of patients, has behaved poorly and inappropriately … the joint chair has been complicit with and failed to address this behaviour.”

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Source: HSJ, 2 February 2022

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Is the CQC giving the NHS an easy ride?

The purpose of Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings has been a hotly contested question since the creation of the four category classifications in the last decade.

The original idea was to give the public a sense of how good their local hospital was, as well as providing commissioners, system managers and government with an idea of whether the local, regional or national health services they had responsibility for were getting better or worse.

The practicality of the first aim was always questionable given the public’s inability and unwillingness, in most cases, to take their custom elsewhere. The second ran into the lack of desire and/or courage on behalf of most commissioners to challenge their local provider, but it did seem to have traction at the top of the shop.

Jeremy Hunt, told HSJ, once they had been dished out across the sector, that their CQC classification now mattered much more then whether or not it had achieved foundation status or not.

Another function, whether intended or not, was that by splashing “inadequate” and unsafe care on the front pages, in the wake of the Francis report, CQC ratings fuelled a drive to put more staff on the wards (forcing the Treasury to pay for the consequent agency bills and deficits, and curtailing Simon Stevens’ transformation funds).

Whatever your take on their purpose, however, they only make sense if they accurately reflect the state of the service. And the latest data suggests that may not be the case.

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Source: HSJ, 17 March 2022

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Governance scandal trust failing to manage complaints

A trust which is facing major governance issues is failing to respond to hundreds of complaints properly, with patients and families waiting more than twice as long as the NHS target for responses to their concerns, an external review has found.

Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust, which is subject to regulatory action by NHS England, was found to be “not classifying complaints, concerns and comments accurately”, while staff had “no formal training”, meaning complaints were “not investigated appropriately”.

Last year, the trust was embroiled in a governance scandal in which NHSE investigated multiple allegations of finance and governance failings, resulting in the departure of former CEO Phil Confue.

Rachel Power, chief executive of the advocacy group Patients Association, told HSJ  patient complaints often contain “vital intelligence” on how trusts can improve services and “essential warnings about any area where things might be going wrong”.

According to the review, the backlog had stemmed from several factors. These included more work being needed on investigations that had not been thorough enough, and the relevant service teams not responding to enquiries by the complaints team.

Additionally, there was a “lack of formal monitoring and review” to ensure complaint points were reported appropriately and consistently, and an “apparent lack of accountability by local teams for complaints” triaged through the trust’s patient liaison and complaints team.

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Source: HSJ, 12 April 2022

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Staff shortages leaving women in ‘barbaric’ pain

Patient safety campaigners have said ‘too many women’ are still not being offered a general anaesthetic for a diagnostic test because of staff shortages, leaving them in severe pain.

A survey by the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopies found around 240 women – which equates to 80 per cent of respondents – who had a hysteroscopy since the start of 2021 said they were not told they could have a general anaesthetic prior to the procedure.

This suggests the situation has only improved marginally since 2019, when the campaign group first started collecting data. A spokeswoman from the campaign group called the pain being endured by women “barbaric” and said staffing shortages need to be addressed.

Guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said all pain relief options, including general anaesthetic, should be discussed.

Helen Hughes, chief executive of Patient Safety Learning, said: “We are hearing from too many women that they are not being given the full information about the procedure. It damages their trust and makes them worry about accessing future services.”

She said: “It’s distressing that despite what we know, [the guidance] is not being implemented properly. Informed consent is essential for patient safety as well as a legal requirement.”

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Source: HSJ, 7 June 2022

What is your experience of having a hysteroscopy? Share your experiences on the hub in our community forum.

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Contacting the Patient Safety Commissioner for England

Dr Henrietta Hughes was appointed as the first ever Patient Safety Commissioner for England in July. She began her role on 12 September.

Dr Hughes is an independent point of contact for patients so that patients’ voices are heard and acted upon. She will use patients’ insight to help the government and the healthcare system in England listen and respond to patients’ views and promote patient safety, specifically with regard to medicines and medical devices.

For more information on the role of the Patient Safety Commissioner see the fact sheet and the government’s response to a consultation regarding the post.

The privacy notice sets out how the Patient Safety Commissioner collects and uses personal data to fulfil the role.

Please contact the Patient Safety Commissioner at commissioner@patientsafetycommissioner.org.uk.

Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 28 September 2022

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Radar that checks people living with Parkinson’s in their own home

A miniature radar system that tracks a person as they walk around their home could be used to measure the effectiveness of treatments for Parkinson’s.

The disease, which affects about 145,000 people in the UK, is linked to the death of nerve cells in the brain that help to control movement.

With no quick diagnostic test available at present, doctors must usually review a patient’s medical history and look for symptoms that often develop only very slowly, such as muscle stiffness and tremors.

The device, about the size of a wi-fi router, is designed to give a more precise picture of how the severity of symptoms changes, both over the long term and hourly.

It sits in one room and emits radio signals that bounce off the body of a patient. Using artificial intelligence it is able to recognise and lock on to one individual. Over several months it will notice if their walking speed is becoming slower in a way that indicates that the disease is becoming worse. During a single day it can also recognise periods where a person’s strides quicken, which means that it could be used to monitor the effectiveness of new and existing drugs, even where the effects last a relatively short time.

“This really gives us the possibility to objectively measure how your mobility responds to your medication. Previously, this was nearly impossible to do because this medication effect could only be measured by having the patient keep a journal,” said Yingcheng Liu, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who is part of the team behind the device. 

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Source: The Times, 22 September 2022

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Bullying, misogyny and sexual culture at Royal College of Nursing, inquiry finds

A damning inquiry into the Royal College of Nursing, the world’s biggest nurses’ union, has exposed bullying, misogyny and a sexual culture where women are at risk of “alcohol and power-related exploitation”.

A 77-page internal report by Bruce Carr KC, leaked to the Guardian, lays bare how the RCN’s senior leadership has been “riddled with division, dysfunction and distrust” and condemns the male-dominated governing body, known as council, as “not fit for purpose”.

Grave concerns are also raised about the RCN’s annual conference, known as congress, where Carr says an “inappropriate sexual culture” warrants further urgent investigation “to identify the extent to which [it] has actually resulted in exploitation of the vulnerable”.

The eminent barrister reports that there is evidence to support the “impression” that senior individuals have been seeking to take sexual advantage of subordinates and “engaging in unwanted sexual behaviours”.

He calls on those whose conduct is cited in the report, whom he does not name, to consider their positions in the light of testimony of groping, humiliation of female staff members and a refusal of those in positions of responsibility to reflect on the letters of resignation from women on the council, who have complained of “gaslighting and microaggressions”.

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Source: The Guardian, 10 October 2022

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CQC brings in whistleblowing gurus to boost ‘independence and credibility’

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has hired two independent whistleblowing champions, Joy Warmington and Arpita Dutt, to oversee a major review of how it listens to concerns.

The CQC previously announced it had appointed Zoe Leventhal KC, of Matrix Chambers, to lead the first phase of the review, which is considering how the CQC handled protected disclosures made by Shyam Kumar, an orthopaedic surgeon at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust, and whether ethnicity “played any part in the management of those disclosures”.

On Friday it issued details of the second phase of the work, including that it had brought in two outside experts, and long-time champions of whistleblowers, to “help to ensure the independence and credibility of the review”.

This was launched amid wider concerns about how it responds to whistleblowing concerns in the service and among its own staff, including potential discrimination and also comes as the CQC itself seeks to begin a major restructure.

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Source: HSJ, 22 November 2022

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Concern voiced over 'unacceptably high level' of births by caesarean section

The rising number of women who have caesarean sections instead of natural births is causing concern for the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).

The trust, which supports women through pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood, says it does not know why the rate of caesareans is increasing.

One in four maternity services showed a caesarean rate of between 20% and 29.9%, and 2% of services had a rate of more than 30%, according to latest figures. The World Health Organization recommends that the acceptable rate is 10 to 15%.

The maternity care working party, a multi-disciplinary group set up by the NCT, said there was an urgent need to address the problem.

"A caesarean is major abdominal surgery," the working party said in a statement to a conference in London with the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

"Most women would prefer to give birth normally, provided that a normal birth is considered safe for them and their baby. It is important that health professionals' advice does not have the effect of denying them this opportunity without good reason."

The working party is calling for data to be published on caesarean section rates and for obstetricians to justify in each case that the benefits outweigh the hazards. It also wants action to be taken to prevent any inappropriate use of caesarean sections.

Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the NCT, said: "We know that in many cases caesareans are necessary for good clinical reasons. However, in our view rates have reached unacceptable levels and we want to know why."

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Source: The Guardian, 24 November 2022

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Dementia patients in England facing ‘national crisis’ in care safety

Families of people with dementia have said there is a national crisis in care safety as it emerged that more than half of residential homes reported on by inspectors this year were rated “inadequate” or requiring improvement – up from less than a third pre-pandemic.

Serious and often shocking failings uncovered in previously “good” homes in recent months include people left in bed “for months”, pain medicine not being administered, violence between residents and malnutrition – including one person who didn’t eat for a month.

In homes in England where standards have slumped from “good” to “inadequate”, residents’ dressings went unchanged for 20 days, there were “revolting” filthy carpets, “unexplained and unwitnessed wounds” and equipment was ”encrusted with dirt”, inspectors’ reports showed.

Nearly one in 10 care homes in England that offer dementia support reported on by Care Quality Commission inspectors in 2022 were given the very worst rating – more than three times the ratio in 2019, according to Guardian analysis.

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Source: 29 December 2022

 

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Sickle cell: NHS staff ‘failing to follow healthcare guidelines’

NHS staff are failing to follow guidelines for providing care to sickle cell patients - and some of the advice has been branded as “unfit for purpose”.

The NHS Race and Health Observatory commissioned research, undertaken by Public Digital, to explore the lived experience of people undergoing emergency hospital admissions for sickle cell and managing crisis episodes at home.

The Sickle cell digital discovery report: Designing better acute painful sickle cell care, found that the existence of service-wide information tailored by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has “arguably not been designed for an ambulance, A&E and emergency setting”, and states it has been proven that this guideline is “not being used and adhered to consistently”.

Moreover, healthcare professionals have warned that the National Haemoglobinopathy Register (NHR) -  a database of patients with red cell disorders - is not being readily accessed, while patients reported being treated in a way that breached prescribed instructions.

“We believe that sickle cell crisis guidelines could be improved in terms of their usability in a high-pressure emergency setting, and in terms of promoting access to them,” the report authors concluded, adding that current guidance should be adapted.

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Source: The Independent, 31 January 2023

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Draft NHSE plans seek to ‘eradicate’ police role in SIM care model

A draft NHSE statement suggests mental trusts could be asked to eradicate features of the ‘serenity integrated mentoring’ (SIM) care model from clinical practice, following a whirlwind of concerns in 2021 and an investigation by national clinical director Tim Kendall.

A core feature of SIM is to place a police officer within a healthcare team charged with supporting patients who frequently attend emergency services in crisis, and creating crisis plans.

The draft position statement produced by NHSE, which the regulator said is not its final version and is subject to changes, says SIM should not be used.

It also proposes the eradication of the following practices from any equivalent care model:

  • Police involvement in delivery of therapeutic interventions in planned, non-emergency, community mental healthcare;
  • The use of coercion, sanctions (criminal or otherwise), withholding care and otherwise punitive approaches; and
  • Discriminatory practices and attitudes towards patients who express self-harm behaviours, suicidality and/or those who are deemed “high intensity users”.

The statement, which is the first indication of NHSE’s position on the SIM model but not its final stance, also suggests Professor Kendall will be seeking assurance from trust medical directors that SIM or similar models, and the above three features of concern, are no longer used. A full policy and public statement on the model is expected by the spring.

The StopSIM coalition, whose campaigning prompted the NHSE review, said: “Unless and until the full policy is freely available to service users and the public, service users are not equipped to protect themselves against the dangers of SIM and similar approaches".

Further reading on the hub:

The High Intensity Network (HIN) approach and SIM model for mental health care and 'high intensity users' – views and discussion

StopSIM: Mental health is not a crime

 

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Whorlton Hall: Four guilty of ill-treating hospital patients

Four carers have been found guilty of ill-treating patients at a secure hospital, following a BBC Panorama investigation.

Nine former staff at Whorlton Hall, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, had faced a total of 27 charges. Five of those on trial have been cleared.

Jurors heard vulnerable patients were mocked and treated with "contempt".

Lawyers for the defendants argued their clients had been doing their best in very challenging circumstances.

The men found guilty have been bailed and will be sentenced at Teesside Crown Court in July.

Speaking after the verdicts, Christopher Atkinson, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said the four men had a "duty of care for patients who, due to significant mental health issues, were wholly dependent on their support every day of their lives".

He said it was "clear" there were times when the care provided was "not only devoid of the appropriate respect and kindness required but also crossed the line into criminal offending".

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Source: BBC News, 27 April 2023

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New artificial intelligence tool can accurately identify cancer

Doctors, scientists and researchers have built an artificial intelligence (AI) model that can accurately identify cancer in a development they say could speed up diagnosis of the disease and fast-track patients to treatment.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. It results in about 10 million deaths annually, or nearly one in six deaths, according to the World Health Organization. In many cases, however, the disease can be cured if detected early and treated swiftly.

The AI tool designed by experts at the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust, the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Imperial College London can identify whether abnormal growths found on CT scans are cancerous.

The algorithm performs more efficiently and effectively than current methods, according to a study. The findings have been published in the Lancet’s eBioMedicine journal.

“In the future, we hope it will improve early detection and potentially make cancer treatment more successful by highlighting high-risk patients and fast-tracking them to earlier intervention,” said Dr Benjamin Hunter, a clinical oncology registrar at the Royal Marsden and a clinical research fellow at Imperial.

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Source: The Guardian, 30 April 2023

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Majority of NHS trusts provide no dedicated training to prevent sexual harassment

Only one NHS trust in England provides dedicated training to prevent sexual harassment, according to research, raising concerns that the NHS is failing to adequately protect staff and patients.

According to health union figures, sexual harassment of staff is pervasive. A 2019 survey by Unison found that one in 12 NHS staff had experienced sexual harassment at work during the past year, with more than half saying the perpetrator was a co-worker. In a recent BMA survey, 91% of female doctors reported sexism, 31% had experienced unwanted physical contact and 56% unwanted verbal comments.

Yet research by the University of Cambridge, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine found that the vast majority of NHS trusts did not provide any dedicated training to prevent sexual harassment.

The report analysed data from freedom of information requests from 199 trusts in England and found that just 35 offered their workers any sort of active bystander training (ABT), while only one NHS trust had a specific module on sexual harassment.

ABT is designed to give individuals the skills to call out unacceptable behaviour, from workplace bullying to racism and sexual misconduct. It is widely used by the military, universities and Whitehall, including the Home Office.

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Source: The Guardian, 5 May 2023

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Government aims to boost NHS with thousands more doctors and nurses

Thousands more doctors and nurses will be trained in England every year as part of a government push to plug the huge workforce gaps that plague almost all NHS services.

The number of places in medical schools will rise from 7,500 to 10,000 by 2028 and could reach 15,000 by 2031 as a result of the NHS’s first long-term workforce plan.

There will also be a big expansion in training places for those who want to become nurses, with the number rising by a third to 40,000 by 2028 – matching the number of nurses the health service currently lacks.

Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, hailed the long-awaited plan as “a once in a generation opportunity to put staffing on a sustainable footing for years to come”.

Medical groups, health experts and organisations representing NHS staff welcomed the plan as ambitious but overdue. Richard Murray, chief executive of the King’s Fund thinktank, said it could be a “landmark moment” for the health service by providing it with the staff it needs to provide proper care.

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Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2023

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Surgeon damaged dozens of patients by misplacing screws in their backs

Every day Sharon Smith has to take a strong morphine tablet to dull the excruciating pain she has lived with for more than a decade. 

“I am in chronic pain every day. It’s affected our whole family and I’ve lost all my independence,” said Smith, from Leigh, Greater Manchester.

Over four years from 2009, she endured three operations on her spine at Salford Royal Hospital, which as an NHS trust was once fêted as England’s safest.

But the hospital had a dark secret: an incompetent leading surgeon who, an independent review would later find, had already “contributed” to the death of a girl in 2007.

Now a wider investigation has confirmed that dozens of other patients who went under John Bradley Williamson’s knife were harmed or received poor care.

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Source: The Times, 30 July 2023

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