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London will be overwhelmed by covid in a fortnight says leaked NHS England briefing

London’s hospitals are less than two weeks from being overwhelmed by covid even under the ‘best’ case scenario, according to an official briefing given to the capital’s most senior doctors this afternoon.

NHS England London medical director Vin Diwakar set out the stark analysis to the medical directors of London’s hospital trusts on a Zoom call.

The NHS England presentation, seen by HSJ , showed that even if the number of covid patients grew at the lowest rate considered likely, and measures to manage demand and increase capacity, including open the capital’s Nightingale hospital, were successful, the NHS in London would be short of nearly 2,000 general and acute and intensive care beds by 19 January.

The briefing forecasts demand for both G&A and intensive care beds, for both covid and non-covid patients, against capacity. It accounts for the impact of planned measures to mitigate demand and increase capacity.

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Source: HSJ, 6 January 2021

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London surgeons complete record week’s worth of operations in one day

Surgeons in a London hospital have performed a week’s worth of operations in a single day, pioneering a technique that could be used to help reduce the NHS backlog.

The team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital performed eight robot assisted radical prostatectomy operations in under ten hours, the highest number performed in a single day in the UK in one hospital.

High Intensity Theatre lists (HIT) focus on one procedure at a time and seek to minimise the turnaround time between operations. Using two theatres, the surgeon can go between cases without having to wait for a patient to come in. This helps to cut the significant amount of time it takes for medics to anaesthetise a patient, set up equipment in the theatre and help them to recover – a process which sometimes takes longer than the operation itself.

The team at Guy’s assembled a large team for the HIT list, which took place on 8 October. Each theatre had a team of around 1.5 times its usual size and staff were given very specific roles.

By the time the list had reached the third patient, the turnaround time between operations had dropped as low as 32 seconds. Behind the scenes, staff in the control room used Proximie software to monitor activity in the theatre in real time.

Dr Ben Challacombe, a consultant urological surgeon who performed the operations with his surgical consultant colleagues Paul Cathcart, Christian Brown, and Prokar Dasgupta, told the Standard that the success of the HIT list had given staff a “huge” morale boost.

“Everyone pulled together to do the job, it really helped to energise the team. Morale has been hit by Covid and other issues, but people feel galvanised by doing something different.”

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Source: Evening Standard, 29 October 2022

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London NHS trust cancels operations as IT system fails in heatwave

One of the NHS’s biggest hospital trusts is facing major problems after its IT system failed because of the extreme temperatures earlier this week.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ trust (GSTT) in London has had to cancel operations, postpone appointments and divert seriously ill patients to other hospitals in the capital as a result of its IT meltdown.

The situation means that doctors cannot see patients’ medical notes remotely and are having to write down the results of all examinations by hand. They are also unable to remotely access the results of diagnostic tests such as X-rays and CT and MRI scans and are instead having to call the imaging department, which is overloading the department’s telephone lines.

GSTT has declared the problem a “critical site incident”. It has apologised to patients and asked them to bring letters or other paperwork about their condition with them to their appointment to help overcome doctors’ loss of access to their medical history.

One doctor at GSTT, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “This is having a major effect. We are back to using paper and can’t see any existing electronic notes. We are needing to triage basic tests like blood tests and scans. There’s no access to results apart from over the phone, and of course the whole hospital is trying to use that line.

“Frankly, it’s a big patient safety issue and we haven’t been told how long it will take to fix. We are on divert for major specialist services such as cardiac, vascular and ECMO.”

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Source: The Guardian, 21 July 2022

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London mum 'unable to walk more than 10 minutes' after vaginal mesh sliced into her organs

A London mum says she has been left in "agony" and only able to walk 10 minutes at a time after a transvaginal mesh implant perforated her organs. Anna Collyer, 53, had a transvaginal mesh fitted in 2015 at St. Helier hospital in Sutton.

The mesh is a net-like implant and aims to give permanent support to the weakened organs and to repair damaged tissue. The mesh implants are designed to be permanent, but last April, Anna started to experience severe pain when the mesh cut into her organs leaving her "unable to live any sort of life anymore," she said.

Even when doctors partially removed the mesh last June - her symptoms persisted. Anna, who lives in Morden, told MyLondon: "I could feel something sharp inside me. The pain relief tablets were not touching it. I was in agony.

"It's got to the stage now where 10 minutes is all I can walk, because the pain is excruciating. I have pain in pelvis, groin, hips, back and shooting pains in legs. The level is horrendous. I have to lie down all the time.

The vaginal mesh procedure was once common place in the UK, with more than 92,000 women receiving one between April 2007 and March 2015 in England alone. But the treatment was “paused” and The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review was ordered by the then health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, in 2018 amid mounting safety concerns.

Women told the review team of “excruciating chronic pain feeling like razors inside their body" and felt dismissed when reporting complications including “unacceptable labelling of so many symptoms as ‘normal’ and attributable to ‘women’s problems’”, the report says.

The new review accuses medial professionals of displaying “an institutional and professional resistance” to changing practice. The report concluded that “those harmed are due not only an apology, but better care and support through specialist centres”.

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Source: MyLondon. 22 February 2022

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London inquests begin into hospital deaths of babies from contaminated feed

A mother whose premature baby died in hospital after receiving contaminated intravenous food has told her son’s inquest it was “the worst experience a parent could have”.

Yousef Al-Kharboush was nine days old when he died at St Thomas’ hospital in London on 1 June 2014 after developing sepsis from liquid food infected with bacteria called Bacillus cereus.

He was one of 19 premature babies who became infected in a major outbreak across nine hospitals in 2014.

The inquests into Yousef’s death, as well as those into two other babies who died in separate outbreaks involving contaminated feed – one-month-old Oscar Barker, who also died in June 2014, and three-month-old Aviva Otte, who died in January 2014 – began on Monday at Southwark coroner’s court.

The senior coroner, Dr Julian Morris, said his role was not to find blame but to identify the babies and how they died. The coroner revealed he was thinking of taking the unusual step of issuing a prevention of future deaths notice, a legal warning to one or more public or private bodies that they should take specific action to avoid any more deaths occurring in similar circumstances. Morris said: “The other duty I have to consider is whether to provide a prevention of future death report – that’s something I will consider as we hear the evidence over the next couple of weeks.”

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Source: The Guardian, 9 September 2024

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London hospitals set to double up patients in wards to tackle winter crisis

NHS trusts across London are set to start moving patients from A&E onto wards “irrespective” of whether there are beds available, The Independent has learned.

The new model, which involves moving patients every two hours out of A&E and onto wards called acute medical units, has prompted concerns that patients could be “double lodged” on hospital wards.

The move follows the trial of a new system by North Bristol NHS Trust last month, which said it would be moving three patients every hour from A&E onto wards in a bid to address severe ambulance handover delays.

On Thursday, health secretary Steve Barclay said that the “number one” priority for the NHS currently is tackling ambulance handover delays, with a “small” number of trusts accounting for half of all delays.

In a memo seen by The Independent, NHS clinicians in one hospital were told that London trusts would be rolling out the North Bristol model at “pace” ahead of winter. The system involves moving one patient from A&E onto a ward every two hours “irrespective of bed availability”.

Speaking to The Independent, one NHS director said the move would lead to “double lodging” patients, which means squeezing more patients into wards, and that this could be “dangerous” for patients.

However, A&E doctors told The Independent that the move should be welcomed, as it spreads the crowding and risk for patients across hospital departments rather than confining it to A&E.

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Source: The Independent, 4 September 2022

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London hospitals in ‘dangerous situation’ as staff sickness soars amid Omicron wave

London’s hospitals have been plunged into a “dangerous situation” as the Omicron wave has sent staff sickness levels soaring to around 10%, a top doctor has warned.

Dr Katherine Henderson, a consultant at a central London hospital but speaking as President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said so many doctors and nurses are having to be off that it was already having an impact on patient safety.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are seeing increasingly that our staff are testing positive and that means that they have to go off."

“Usually, staff sickness would last a couple of days but of course, if you test Covid positive, you are off for ten days.

“People need to understand that this is a dangerous situation,” she added.

“The acute problem is actually to do with staffing, with workforce. “Because there is so much in circulation, even if we are not seeing a big rise in hospitalisations yet, we are already seeing the effect on not having the staff to run shifts properly and safely."

“So we are worried about patient harm coming about because we just don’t have the staff to keep the eye on the person on the trolley who is maybe a bit agitated.”

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Source: The Evening Standard, 16 December 2021

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London hospitals cancel operations to free up staffing as critical care beds fill up

London’s hospitals are already beginning to run out of critical care beds ahead of the Christmas relaxation of rules – which is expected to increase cases further, a leaked NHS briefing has warned.

The update on the situation in the capital comes as major hospitals have already started to cancel operations for other patients in order to find enough staff to deal with the rise in patients as NHS trusts open up extra surge capacity.

More operations are expected to be cancelled in hospitals across London, with staff warned they could be redeployed at short notice.

On Wednesday, there were a total of 2,289 coronavirus patients in London hospitals, an increase of 2 per cent on the day before. But the numbers of coronavirus patients in critical care beds jumped 8.6% in a single day, increasing from 302 to 345 patients on Wednesday, while an additional 900 people who have tested positive were receiving oxygen.

Across London, there were just 49 adult critical care beds available on Wednesday. In total there were 904 beds occupied, 328 by patients with COVID-19. This meant the capital’s total critical care bed occupancy rate was almost 95%.

Although the number of patients is much lower than it was the first wave, many hospitals are still treating routine and non-Covid patients – meaning they are struggling to staff critical wards and keep other services running.

A briefing for NHS managers warned them: “A reduction of elective [routine] activity is likely to be needed in line with increasing acute activity.”

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Source: The Independent, 17 December 2020

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London hospital maternity unit criticised by regulator after mother’s death

The safety of maternity services at a major north London hospital has been criticised by the care watchdog after an inspection prompted by the death of a woman.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued the Royal Free Hospital, in Hampstead with a warning notice after inspectors identified serious safety failings in its maternity unit.

An unannounced inspection of the hospital’s maternity service took place in October, following the death of Malyun Karama, in February this year.

The 34-year-old died while giving birth to her stillborn baby. She suffered a ruptured uterus after being given an overdose of misoprostol to induce her labour.

In a report following an inquest into her death Coroner Mary Hassell said: “Abnormal observations were relayed by a midwife to a senior registrar, but the doctor failed to attend Ms Karama and instead ordered fluids. The uterine rupture would have been life threatening whatever the care rendered to Ms Karama, but if the doctor had attended immediately and had reviewed and treated appropriately, the likelihood is that Ms Karama’s life would have been saved.”

The CQC has yet to publish a full report on its inspection of the hospital but confirmed it had taken enforcement action and issued the trust with a warning notice.

The concerns relate to the trust being too slow to investigate and make changes after incidents of harm. It’s understood a panel to investigate Ms Karama’s death did not meet until June this year.

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Source: The Independent, 1 December 2020

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London hospital cuts waiting lists with innovative system

Surgeons at one London hospital are performing an entire week’s operations in a single day as part of a ground-breaking initiative that could help tackle the record waiting lists in the NHS.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has already slashed its own elective backlog in certain specialities by running monthly HIT (High Intensity Theatre) lists at weekends.

Under the innovative model, two operating theatres run side by side and as soon as one procedure is finished the next patient is already under anaesthetic and ready to be wheeled in.

Nurses are on standby to sterilise the operating theatre and instead of taking 40 minutes between cases it takes less than two, the only delay is the 30 second it takes for the anti-bacterial cleaning fluid to work.

Kariem El-Boghdadly, the consultant anaesthetist who designed the programme with his colleague Imran Ahmad, compares it to a Formula One pit stop. “They’ve got one person doing the rear right wheel, one person doing the front left wheel. It’s the same thing. The operating theatre is effectively like that.”

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Source: The Times, 10 December 2023

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London gets well over ‘fair share’ of specialised services while rural areas miss out

People in some more rural areas are missing out on specialist treatments they should be getting, while Londoners are receiving a lot more than their “fair share”, new NHS England figures suggest. 

NHS England has suggested the main cause is “systematic shortfalls in access [in] remote communities”, leaving “unmet need” for specialised services in these areas.

However other factors, including coding and reporting practices, year-to-year fluctuation, and weaknesses in the formula, are also likely to be confusing the picture, sources said.

The variation is being uncovered now because NHSE is preparing to fund many specialised services via allocations to integrated care boards. These allocations will be based on estimates of their populations’ healthcare needs, rather than NHSE negotiating payments directly with provider trusts – as it has since 2013.

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Source: HSJ, 3 January 2023

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London faces ‘ticking time bomb’ over oxygen supplies as another hospital issues warning to staff

Concerns are mounting over the number of coronavirus patients being admitted to hospitals in London as another NHS trust in the capital issued an urgent warning over its oxygen supplies.

On Tuesday afternoon, the North Middlesex University Hospital Trust warned clinicians the numbers of coronavirus patients it was treating “was putting a strain” on the oxygen system, sparking several alarms.

The trust currently has around 200 patients using oxygen with the trust consuming 2,400 litres of oxygen a minute. It normally uses around 1000 litres a minute and has a limit of 3,000 above which the system could cut out.

It is only the latest hospital to face the problem – which is caused by the sheer demand for oxygen by sick Covid patients, which is more than the hospital piping can physically deliver.

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Source: The Independent, 30 December 2020

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London dentist suspended over patient who bled to death

A dentist whose patient bled to death when she had five teeth removed has been suspended for misconduct.

Tushar Kantibhai Patel, of Purley, south London, operated on the woman, known as Patient A, despite her telling him she was taking an anti-clotting drug for a rare blood disorder.

The General Dental Council found he should have sought further advice prior to carrying out treatment.

Patient A died in July 2017 from severe bleeding from her mouth.

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Source: BBC News, 23 October 2019

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London begins major COVID-19 reconfiguration

St Bartholomew’s Hospital is to be the emergency electives centre for the London region as part of a major reorganisation to cope with the coronavirus outbreak.

Senior sources told HSJ the London tertiary hospital, which is run by Barts Health Trust, will be a “clean” site providing emergency elective care as part of the capital’s covid-19 plan.

It is understood the specialist Royal Brompton and Harefield Foundation Trust will also be taking some emergency cardiac patients.

The news follows NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens telling MPs on Tuesday that all systems were working out how best to optimise resources and some hospitals could be used to exclusively treat coronavirus patients in the coming months.

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Source: HSJ, 18 March 2020

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London Ambulance Service declares incident as 999 calls surge

The London Ambulance service declared a 'business continuity incident' on Monday after a surge in 999 calls. 

Paramedics were told the ambulance service was under extreme demand after the calls threatened to overwhelm the service. The announcement was made after more than 400 calls were made in a single hour during Monday afternoon. 

“Yesterday we saw high levels of demand for our services and used tested processes to care for our patients – this allowed some people with the least urgent care needs to be treated through alternative routes" said a London Ambulance Service spokesperson. 

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Source: The Independent, 20 July 2021

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London Ambulance lagging behind on diversity and must improve, bosses warned

The London Ambulance Service (LAS) failing on diversity and must implement specific targets for improvements, its leadership has been warned.

According to LAS data, just 20% of the workforce is from a Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic background despite almost half of the capital’s population (46.2%) being made up of non-white communities.

Of that 20%, 40.9% are in the lowest paid roles, compared to 15.9% who are in the highest wage bands, according to the LAS’ Integrated Performance report.

The LAS is in the process of developing a new strategy to help attract more diverse staff, which will be published early next year.

Research shows that ethnic minority groups suffer disproportionately higher levels of inadequate ambulance care due to a combination of issues such as a lack of cultural awareness among professionals, language and communication difficulties and a limited understanding of how the healthcare system operates for some minority groups.

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Source: The Independent, 21 February 2023

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Logan Mwangi murder: Injuries seen as accident by doctor

Hospital doctors failed to share with child protection services a list of "significant" injuries a five-year-old boy suffered 11 months before he was murdered, a case review has found.

Logan Mwangi had a broken arm and multiple bruises across his body when he was taken to A&E in August 2020. But a paediatric consultant said these injuries were accidental and did not make a child protection referral.

Logan, from Bridgend, was murdered by his mother, stepfather and a teenager.

A Child Practice Review (CPR) has looked at how different agencies were involved with Logan's family in the 17 months before his death.

Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board said it welcomed the commissioning of an independent review into how it identifies and investigates non-accidental injuries.

The report said that if the injuries had been shared with social services, appropriate action could have been taken to safeguard Logan.

Jan Pickles, the independent chair of the review panel, said it was a "a significant missed opportunity".

She added: "Had further information from health been shared it most likely, though we cannot say for sure because of hindsight bias, would have triggered a child protection assessment in line with the joint agreed guidelines, as the nature of those injuries clearly met the threshold."

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Source: BBC News, 24 November 2022

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Locum warned after dispensing error in ‘staffing crisis’ leads to patient death

A locum responsible pharmacist has been issued a warning after a patient died when he dispensed the wrong strength of oxycodone during a staffing crunch, the regulator has revealed.

Paresh Gordhanbhai Patel supplied 120mg rather than the prescribed 20mg of oxycodone hydrochloride to an “elderly” patient while working two locum shifts as responsible pharmacist at Crompton Pharmacy at Whitley House Surgery in Chelmsford.

After taking one tablet, the patient died from an “accidental” oxycodone “overdose”, the General Pharmaceutical Council’s (GPhC) fitness-to-practise (FtP) committee heard at a hearing held on 11-13 September.

Mr Patel admitted that he was “stressed and overtired” when he failed to notice a “discrepancy” between the prescribed strength of oxycodone and what he ordered and dispensed,

The regulator heard that Mr Patel was “over-conscientious” and felt compelled “at a human level” to help out at the under-staffed pharmacy, despite the fact that it was “not safe to do so”, it added.

Mr Patel admitted that his errors “amounted to misconduct” and conceded to the committee that his fitness to practise was “impaired” because he “breached one of the fundamental principles of the pharmacy profession.”

The regulator heard that Mr Patel had “immediately” admitted his mistake to the pharmacy and did so again at the coroner’s inquest, where he also publicly apologised to the patient’s family.

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Source: Chemist and Druggist, 12 October 2023

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Locked in the back of an ambulance and sexually assaulted: Female paramedics reveal 'toxic culture' of harassment

The first time she was groped at work, Freya says she was 24 years old, a newly qualified paramedic, and was cleaning out the cupboards of the ambulance station crew room.

"He came behind me without me realising. I was cleaning away, and he put his hands around my body and grabbed my breasts," said Freya, which is not her real name.

"Then he said, 'Well, I won't bother doing that again'.

"People just laughed, some didn't even look up from the TV. Like it was nothing, completely normal."

Her story mirrors that of other current and former paramedics who, in several interviews with Sky News, painted a picture of widespread sexual harassment and a toxic culture of misogyny.

The head of the College of Paramedics, Tracy Nicholls, said: "Problems exist in every [NHS] trust, across all four countries in the United Kingdom."

NHS England told Sky News that any form of sexual misconduct was "completely unacceptable" and every trust had committed to an action plan to improve sexual safety.

Laura - not her real name - is currently a paramedic for a different ambulance service.

She describes sexual harassment as "incessant" in the profession. She says students and new recruits are routinely referred to as "fresh meat", subjected to sexual comments, questions and jokes - even in front of patients - and are continually sexualised by some male colleagues.

"It's exhausting," she said. "You come to work wanting to help your patients but every day you're dealing with inappropriate behaviour and sexual comments."

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Source: Sky News, 8 February 2024

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Lockdown: Suicide fears soar in LGBT community

There has been a significant rise during lockdown in the UK in the number of LGBT people seeking suicide-prevention support.

Support group LGBT Hero reports 11,000 people have accessed its suicide-prevention web pages - up over 44% on the first three months of the year.

The government considers LGBT people to be at higher risk of suicide but no national data on LGBT suicides is kept.

In total, eight charities told BBC News they had seen an increase in LGBT people accessing their support for suicide prevention.

The LGBT Foundation has received more calls about suicide "than ever before". 

Gavin Boyd, of The Rainbow Project, based in Northern Ireland, said: "In just the last three weeks, we know of three LGBT people who have ended their lives."

And another chief executive of a charity, in the south of England, who did not want to be named in case it affected its funding, said: "We know of two young LGBT people in the past two weeks. We're under more pressure to deliver than ever before. The government has done absolutely nothing to help regional LGBT charities cope with the demand from our already struggling service users."

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Source: BBC News, 2 July 2020

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Lockdown patients ‘put off’ GP visits after warnings about restricted care

GPs’ warnings about restricted services may have put patients off seeking treatment, delaying diagnoses and worsening existing illnesses, the health and care watchdog has said.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said that millions of people had struggled to see their doctors during the pandemic, which had magnified inequalities and risked “turning fault lines into chasms”.

Between March and August 119.5 million GP appointments were made in England, down from 146.2 million last year, according to NHS Digital.

Ian Trenholm, the CQC’s chief executive, said: “The number of lost GP appointments translates into millions of people potentially . . . not getting conditions diagnosed early enough, not getting those referrals on for diagnoses like cancer and other conditions.”

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Source: The Times, 16 October 2020

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Lockdown having 'pernicious impact' on LGBT community's mental health

The coronavirus lockdown has provoked a mental health crisis among the LGBTQ community, with younger people confined with bigoted relatives the most depressed, researchers found.

A study of LGBTQ people’s experience during the pandemic, by University College London (UCL) and Sussex University, found 69% of respondents suffered depressive symptoms, rising to about 90% of those who had experienced homophobia or transphobia.

Almost 10% of people reported they felt unsafe in their homes.

The study called for more government support for LGBTQ charities, which have experienced significant rises in demand since the start of the pandemic. It warned: “Poor LGBTQ+ mental health may remain unchecked without a substantial policy commitment and funding directed to ameliorating health inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic.”

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Source: The Guardian, 5 August 2020

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Lockdown easing could see tens of thousands of excess deaths if vulnerable not protected, study suggests

Measures to ease the lockdown in the UK could lead to tens of thousands of extra deaths if vulnerable people are not sufficiently protected and health care systems are put under strain, a study has suggested.

Boris Johnson announced the first step towards normalcy — allowing unlimited exercise, one on one outdoor social meetings and a return to work for those who cannot do so at home — against a background of flattening infection numbers and fatalities caused by the virus.

However in a study published in medical journal The Lancet, research led by University College London (UCL) has warned between 37,000 and 730,000 excess deaths could take place due to the direct and indirect effects of the virus within a year.

Lead author Dr Amitava Banerjee said: “Older people, those with one or more underlying conditions and their carers are asking what easing the lockdown might mean for their health. Using data modelling on a number of different scenarios, our findings show the mortality risk for these vulnerable groups increases significantly, and could lead to thousands of avoidable deaths.”

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Source: The Independent, 13 May 2020

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Local systems must ‘comply’ with new medicines access policy

NHS England wants to standardise local drug formulary teams and operations while it develops a single national formulary over the next two years, HSJ  has learned.

The centre wants to bring more consistency to local formulary operations while it works on the SNF, one of the biggest changes to national policy in July’s 10-Year Health Plan, which was exclusively revealed by HSJ.

A formulary is a list of medicines that have been approved for use by the regulator and are considered cost and clinically effective in treating specific conditions. Currently, there are multiple local formularies overseen by prescribing committees.

The SNF will introduce a nationally managed list with the overall aim of driving “rapid and equitable adoption of clinically and cost-effective innovations”, according to a letter seen by HSJ.  NHSE sent the letter to regional and integrated care board chief pharmacists and medical directors last week.

“The SNF will be designed to help address inequity and variation in the use of approved medicines across the country. Whilst local clinicians, including pharmacists, will retain clinical autonomy, they will be encouraged to use products ranked highly in the SNF,” it explained.

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Source: HSJ, 24 October 2025

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Local health hubs at risk as community services under strain

The government's goal of moving care from hospitals into neighbourhood health hubs is at risk because community services are under too much strain, the health and care regulator says.

In its annual report, the Care Quality Commission said waiting times were too long and staffing too stretched in areas such as mental health, GP care and social care.

The regulator said there was a real risk patients would suffer because these services would not able to cope with the extra demands.

But the government said investment was being made to address the pressures.

It raised a number of concerns about the current state of community services, including:

Long waits for mental health – with a third of adult patients reporting wiats of three months or more between first assessment and treatment, plus signs that waits for children are even worse.

Continued problems accessing GP services – with only half of patients finding it easy to get through on the phone.

A dramatic drop in district nurse numbers – with 50% fewer per person over 65 than there was 14 years ago.

The struggle to get state-funded social care - with the proportion of older people getting help from councils dropping to 3.6%, compared to over 8% 20 years ago.

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Source: BBC News, 24 October 2025

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