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Life-saving transplants delayed as coronavirus patients fill beds

Patients are missing out on potentially life-saving organ transplant surgery because hospital intensive care beds are filled by coronavirus patients, The Independent has learnt.

Major organ transplant centres in London, as well as the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, have been forced to close their doors to transplant cases because of a lack of beds, the increased risk to patients, and the need to redeploy doctors and nurses to the coronavirus front line.

The impact on organ transplant services follows hundreds of urgent cancer operations being delayed in London and across the country, as NHS trusts run out of spare beds to treat non-Covid patients. Most routine operations have also been stopped in the hardest-hit areas.

Teacher Shona McFadyen was diagnosed with liver cancer in December 2018 and needs an urgent liver transplant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. She has already waited 22 months for her surgery.

She told The Independent: “It’s not the hospital’s fault. I get that. But it just adds to the feeling of hopelessness and it feels like as patients we have been forgotten about. It is life and death for us.”

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Source: The Independent, 13 January 2021

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Life-saving selfie app tested by 8,500 people at Portsmouth hospital 'will benefit millions'

Researchers at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham carried out a study on 8,585 patients and staff using the Lifelight app. Using a selfie taken on a smartphone, and the ambient light that bounces off the skin, the app carries out calculations and tells the user the resulting rates. Among the hundreds of people who took part in the Vision-D project, 1,295 were diagnosed with previously unidentified high blood pressure during what was the largest digital physiological study in history.

Developer Xim has brought the technology’s accuracy in line with current NHS equipment. It also measures a person’s respiratory rate. Hopes are high it will win approval from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) - paving the way for it to be used by health care providers and patients.

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Source: Portsmouth News, 30 July 2019

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Life-saving cholesterol jab recommended on NHS

An expensive anti-cholesterol drug called inclisiran could soon be offered to hundreds of thousands of people in England and Wales on the NHS. The drug, which would be administered as a twice-a-year injection, costs around £2,000 per dose, could save about 30,000 lives within a decade.

"Inclisiran represents a potential game-changer in preventing thousands of people from dying prematurely from heart attacks and strokes. We're therefore pleased to be able to recommend it as a cost effective option on the NHS." Said Meindert Boysen, NICE deputy chief executive and director of the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation. 

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Source: BBC News, 01 September 2021

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Life Sciences Council Joint Statement on Medical Devices Regulatory Reform

The reform of the UK’s Medical Device regulation offers a golden opportunity to drive innovation and growth in the UK’s Life Science sector while ensuring patient safety remains at the heart of the regulatory approach. But there is an urgent need for action to ensure we do not lose this opportunity.

Senior members of the Life Sciences Council, Will Quince MP, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, Dr June Raine, CEO, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Peter Ellingworth, CEO, Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI) have today announced a new agreement to accelerate the delivery of the future UK HealthTech regulatory system.

Acknowledging the Chancellor’s priorities of stability and growth supported by regulatory reforms, and the importance of the success of the system to UK patients and the Life Science sector, they have formed an advisory group on behalf of the Life Sciences Council to drive the delivery of the ambition of the Life Sciences Vision to have a best in class regulatory system.

The advisory group has agreed that aligned proposals will be published on three priority areas:

  • international recognition
  • routes for innovation
  • system capacity.

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Source; Gov.UK, 16 December 2022

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Life expectancy in US could stall by 2050

Americans’ life expectancy is expected to stall by 2050 because of increasing obesity and drug use, researchers said this week.

Right now, the country is on an upward trajectory, but improvements are expected to slow. In 2022, life expectancy at birth was 77.5 years in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 76.4 years in 2021.

By 2035, life expectancy will increase to 79.9 years and by 80.4 years in 2050 for men and women. However, despite progress made over the past three decades, the country will drop from 80th place in life expectancy to 108th by that year, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation cautioned.

“In spite of modest increases in life expectancy overall, our models forecast health improvements slowing down due to rising rates of obesity, which is a serious risk factor to many chronic diseases and forecasted to leap to levels never before seen,” Christopher Murray, the institute’s director, said in a statement. “The rise in obesity and overweight rates in the U.S., with [the institute] forecasting over 260 million people affected by 2050, signals a public health crisis of unimaginable scale.”

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Source: The Independent, 6 December 2024

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Life expectancy in England falls to lowest level in a decade

Life expectancy in England has fallen to its lowest level since 2011, a Public Health England (PHE) report has said. Deaths were 1.4 times higher than expected between 21 March 2020 and 2 July 2021, according to the report’s findings.

The increase, largely driven by the pandemic the report said, resulted in a life expectancy decrease of 1.3 years in males, to 78.7, and a 0.9 year decrease in females, to 82.7 years - the lowest life expectancy since 2011.

Life expectancy inequality is also widening between people in the most and least deprived areas. The gap in male life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas in England is 10.3 years in 2020, which is a year higher than the 2019 level. Similarly for females, this same gap was 8.3 years in 2020, 0.6 years greater than in 2019.

The PHE report said the inequality gap reached its highest since it began recording data on deprivation linked life expectancy over two decades ago.

Its report stated: “This demonstrates that the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities in life expectancy by deprivation.

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Source: The Independent, 16 September 2021

 

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Life expectancy growth stalls across Europe as England sees sharpest decline, say researchers

Life expectancy improvement is stalling across Europe with England experiencing the biggest slowdown. Experts are blaming this on an alarming mix of poor diet, mass inactivity and soaring obesity.

The average annual growth in life expectancy across the continent fell from 0.23 years between 1990 and 2011 to 0.15 years between 2011 and 2019, according to research published in the Lancet Public Health journal. Of the 20 countries studied, every one apart from Norway saw life expectancy growth fall.

England suffered the largest decline in life expectancy improvement, with a fall in average annual improvement of 0.18 years, from 0.25 between 1990 and 2011 to 0.07 between 2011 and 2019.

The second slowdown of life expectancy growth in Europe was in Northern Ireland (reducing by 0.16 years), followed by Wales and Scotland (both falling by 0.15 years).

Sarah Price, NHS England’s director of public health, said: “This important study reinforces that prevention is the cornerstone of a healthier society, and is exactly why it will be such a key part of the 10-year health plan which we are working with [the] government on.

“The slowdown in life expectancy improvements, particularly due to cardiovascular disease and cancer, highlights the urgent need for stronger action on the root causes – poor diet, physical inactivity, and obesity.”

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Source: The Guardian, 18 February 2025

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Life expectancy gap in England ‘a growing chasm’ exacerbated by Covid

England’s richest people are living for a decade longer than the poorest, and the life expectancy gap between them has widened to “a growing chasm”, research has revealed.

The difference in expected lifespan between some of the wealthiest and poorest areas has more than doubled since the early 2000s, an analysis of official data by the King’s Fund shows.

“There is a growing chasm in health inequalities revealed by the data,” said Veena Raleigh, a fellow at the thinktank who specialises in the stark differentials in rich and poor people’s health.

“Our analysis shows that life expectancy has continued to increase in wealthier areas but has virtually stagnated in deprived areas in the north with the result that the gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest parts of the country has grown by almost two-and-a-half years over the last two decades.”

The analysis underlines the scale of the challenge facing the health secretary, Sajid Javid, who in a recent keynote speech in Blackpool on “levelling-up” in health, pledged to tackle “the disease of disparity” – dramatic differences in outcomes based on geography, ethnicity and income.R

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Source: The Guardian, 10 October 2021

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Licences granted to nearly 200 UK care providers despite labour law violations

Nearly 200 care providers have been given government licences to bring foreign nurses to the UK despite having previously violated labour laws, according to a study that highlights widespread employment problems in the social care sector.

The report by the Work Rights Centre shows 177 companies in England have been given licences to sponsor carers, even while publicly available information shows them to have violated workers’ protections in the past.

The study gives further evidence of major gaps in the government’s oversight of its foreign carer regime, under which hundreds of thousands of nurses and carers have travelled to Britain for work, only for many to experience exploitation and poor working conditions.

Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, said: “Our research finds that breaches of employment rights are endemic in the care sector. This cannot come as a surprise to the Home Office, which granted licences to companies with a history labour violations.

“For those who have been exploited, the fear of retaliation from their sponsor employer is enough to force them into silence. On top of this, working conditions are barely tolerable, with work schedules either all-consuming and exhausting, or so sparse that they do not provide enough income to make ends meet.”

The organisation also spoke to 92 different carers and found nearly two-thirds reported health and safety breaches, bullying or discrimination at work. Over half also said they were given unsustainable working hours, for example being asked to be on duty for as long as 100 hours a week despite only seeing clients for a fraction of that time.

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Source: The Guardian, 12 November 2024

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LGBT groups demand more action on monkeypox

Sexual health charities and LGBT groups are calling for the government to step up efforts to control the monkeypox outbreak in the UK.

In an open letter to Health Secretary Steven Barclay, they say that without a quicker and wider vaccine rollout, the virus could become "endemic".

There have been more than 2,600 cases of monkeypox in the UK so far, mostly among men who have sex with men.

The Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) says it is working "rapidly" to vaccinate those at risk.

The Terrence Higgins Trust, which co-wrote the letter, says the rollout needs to be speeded up across the UK to help combat "fear and anxiety" within the LGBT community.

Trust head of policy Ceri Smith told BBC News: "We need to see far better co-ordination, increased vaccine procurement, improved delivery and a cash injection to sexual health services to treat monkeypox."

The letter reads: "Without urgent action, we risk monkeypox becoming endemic in the UK. This poses a serious risk to health and will exacerbate the health inequalities already experienced by gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men.

"Vaccinating those most at risk of monkeypox must be a priority if we are to stand a chance of preventing the virus from becoming endemic in the UK."

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Source: BBC News, 5 August 2022

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LGB+ people in England and Wales ‘much’ more likely to die by suicide than straight people

LGB+ people are much more likely to die by taking their own lives, drug overdoses and alcohol-related disease than their straight counterparts, the first official figures of their kind show.

The 2021 census in England and Wales asked people aged 16 and above about their sexual orientation for the first time. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has now analysed differences in causes of mortality from March 2021 to November 2024. The ONS research uses the acronym LGB+ rather than LGBTQ+.

It found that people who identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or “other” sexual orientation had 1.3 times the risk of dying than those identifying as straight or heterosexual. The age-standardised rate of death from any cause was 982.8 for each 100,000 people for LGB+ people compared with 752.6 for each 100,000 people for straight or heterosexual people, the ONS said.

While the leading cause of death for all people was coronary heart disease, the second most common cause of death for LGB+ people was taking their own lives, accounting for 7.1% of all deaths.

Dr Emma Sharland, at the ONS, said: “This is the first time we have looked at differences in causes of death among adults by sexual orientation.

“There are some noticeable differences, with nearly three times as many drug poisoning deaths and close to twice as many alcohol-related deaths among the LGB+ group compared with the straight or heterosexual group.

“While this analysis does not explore causality, we hope this data will help inform health professionals and others working with different population groups.”

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Source: The Guardian, 13 January 2026

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Letby: manslaughter probe into Countess of Chester ‘widened’

The hospital where Lucy Letby murdered babies is now being investigated for gross negligence manslaughter as well as corporate manslaughter, police have announced.

Cheshire Constabulary has released a statement saying that its corporate manslaughter investigation into the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been “widened”.

“We will not be confirming the number of people involved or their identity"

The scope of the investigation now includes gross negligence manslaughter, which is where a death is caused by an otherwise lawful but grossly negligent “act or omission” by an individual or individuals.

The corporate manslaughter investigation, which is looking into the actions of senior leaders at the hospital trust in relation to deaths at the neonatal unit, was launched in October 2023.

This happened a few months after the conviction of 35-year-old Letby for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of six others while working as a neonatal nurse at the trust in 2015 and 2016.

Letby was later found guilty of attempting to murder a seventh baby.

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Source: Nursing Times, 14 March 2025

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Letby trust pays £1.4m damages to ex CEO

A former NHS chief executive has been awarded £1.4m in damages after suing the health service for unfair dismissal.

Dr Susan Gilby took the Countess of Chester NHS Trust to court after being suspended in December 2022.

The compensation is one of the largest payments the NHS has ever made to a former employee.

The final cost to the taxpayer - including court costs - could be around £3m after the trust refused offers to avoid the case going to court.

Gilby told the BBC she was relieved the case was over and that this "was never about the money."

The Countess of Chester NHS Trust - where Lucy Letby worked - confirmed that a settlement had been agreed.

The compensation payment comes after an employment tribunal ruled in February last year that board members at the trust had conspired to remove her from her job.

Gilby had accused the trust's chairman, Ian Haythornthwaite, of bullying and harassment. In response, Haythornthwaite, working alongside three other directors, had set up Project Countess, to force Gilby out.

Gilby, 62, said one of the trust's directors, Ros Fallon, took her to a pub on a Friday afternoon in October 2022 and told her it was "time for you to go".

"She said: 'And if you don't agree to go, we will start a process against you'. She was unable to tell me what that process would be."

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Source: BBC News, 15 January 2026

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Letby trust chair resigns after damning tribunal verdict

The chair of a foundation trust has resigned after a tribunal found he unfairly forced out its former CEO, because she raised concerns about his bullying behaviour.

Susan Gilby was CEO of the Countess of Chester Hospital Trust from 2018 until she was suspended and excluded from the premises in December 2022.

The events unfolded at a hugely consequential time for the hospital. Dr Gilby, a former intensive care consultant, joined as medical director in August 2018. But she was made acting CEO shortly after, when her predecessor Tony Chambers was forced to leave, amid a rift with paediatricians and others over the Lucy Letby case.

As she approached four years as CEO, the tribunal found Dr Gilby was the subject of a coordinated campaign instigated by chair Ian Haythornthwaite and carried out by chief people officer Nicola Price and two non-executives. The campaign was dubbed “Project Countess” and was “designed to protect the [chair] and manoeuvre [Dr Gilby] out of the trust”.

It was launched after Dr Gilby began raising concerns with directors in spring 2022 about Mr Haythornthwaite’s “confrontational and aggressive behaviour”.

The tribunal commented on Mr Haythornthwaite becoming angry with junior staff about the refurbishment of the trust offices while the “struggling organisation” faced “an erosion of public faith” in the trust against the backdrop of “a multiple murder inquiry”. This, it said, was “indicative of a chair prioritising his own self-interest above that of the trust and failing to work collaboratively with the CEO and staff”.

Mr Haythornwaite joined the trust in 2021. COCH this evening said he had ”taken the decision to step down with immediate effect”.

He said in a statement: “I have made this decision in the best interests of the trust so that the focus of the organisation can continue to be on delivering the best possible care to patients.”

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Source: HSJ, 14 February 2025

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Letby trust CEO was forced out by ‘self-interested’ chair, tribunal finds

A foundation trust CEO was unfairly forced out of her role, after whistle blowing about the bullying behaviour of its chair, a tribunal has ruled.

Susan Gilby was CEO of the Countess of Chester Hospital Trust from 2018 until she was suspended and excluded from the premises in December 2022.

The events unfolded at a hugely consequential time for the hospital. Dr Gilby, a former intensive care consultant, joined as medical director in August 2018. But she was made acting CEO shortly after, when her predecessor Tony Chambers was forced to leave, amid a rift with paediatricians and others over the Lucy Letby case.

As she approached four years as CEO, the tribunal found Dr Gilby was the subject of a coordinated campaign instigated by chair Ian Haythornthwaite and carried out by chief people officer Nicola Price and two non-executives. The campaign was dubbed “Project Countess” and was “designed to protect the [chair] and manoeuvre [Dr Gilby] out of the trust”.

It was launched after Dr Gilby began raising concerns with directors in spring 2022 about Mr Haythornthwaite’s “confrontational and aggressive behaviour”.

The tribunal commented on Mr Haythornthwaite becoming angry with junior staff about the refurbishment of the trust offices while the “struggling organisation” faced “an erosion of public faith” in the trust against the backdrop of “a multiple murder inquiry”. This, it said, was “indicative of a chair prioritising his own self-interest above that of the trust and failing to work collaboratively with the CEO and staff”.

In summer 2022, Dr Gilby raised her concerns directly with Mr Haythornthwaite, who refused suggestions of mediation, and reacted angrily, banging his desk.

In September of that year, Dr Gilby “was subjected to concerted, aggressive and unjustified verbal attacks at the private board meeting [which] were not ’shut down’ by the [chair] when he could have and should have done so” according to the tribunal.

The tribunal found “on the balance of probabilities” the chair and two NEDs “had agreed before the meeting that [Dr Gilby] would be personally criticised and held accountable for [the trust’s] financial position and steps taken to remedy it”.

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Source: HSJ, 14 February 2025

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Letby trust CEO ‘was fit and proper’, claims chair

The former chair of the Countess of Chester Hospital said its then chief executive did not meet the threshold for failing a “fit and proper person” test, despite criticism of his treatment of paediatricians and their concerns about Lucy Letby.

Sir Duncan Nichol was giving evidence to the Thirlwall Inquiry into Letby’s murder of babies on the hospital’s neonatal unit from 2015-16. He was chair from 2012-19.

He was asked about Tony Chambers — the CEO at the time — requesting paediatric consultants attend a mediation session with Letby. The doctors had raised concerns about a link between her and babies’ deaths, leading to a falling out, and as of early 2017, she had successfully raised a grievance, and was exploring a return to clinical work.

Sarah Sutherland KC, acting for a group of families of the infants, asked Sir Duncan whether Mr Chambers had sought to “coerce” the paediatricians into the mediation.

Sir Duncan, who was also the national NHS chief executive from 1989-94, said he did not believe the doctors had been forced.  

He told the inquiry hearing: “I don’t think Tony Chambers was not a ‘fit and proper person’. I think he was in the middle of a process. I don’t believe the paediatricians were coerced into mediation. I don’t fully subscribe to this point, to the level of saying Tony Chambers wasn’t a fit and proper person.”

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Source: HSJ, 2 December 2024

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Letby to seek permission for conviction appeal

Lucy Letby is to apply for permission to appeal against her convictions for the murder and attempted murder of babies in her care.

A panel of three judges at the Court of Appeal in London is due to consider the former nurse’s case later.

The 34-year-old was handed 14 whole life terms last year.

She was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder a further six at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.

Second stage

Shortly after her trial ended in August, Letby applied for leave to appeal against her convictions.

She lost the first stage of the process, in which a single judge reviewed her arguments as a paper exercise.

Letby, originally of Hereford, now has the right to a second stage, which involves renewing her application before a panel of judges at a hearing at the Court of Appeal.

Separately to the appeal, Letby is due to be re-tried on one charge of attempted murder, which the jury at her trial was unable to decide on.

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Source: BBC News, 2 April 2024

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Letby NHS trust deleted documents, tribunal told

A judge has said he was "troubled" after the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Trust deleted potentially important evidence ahead of an employment tribunal, including documents relevant to the Thirlwall Inquiry into the crimes of Lucy Letby.

Former chief executive Dr Susan Gilby is suing the trust and its chairman, Ian Haythornthwaite, claiming constructive unfair dismissal.

The tribunal was also told documents relevant to the Thirlwall Inquiry into the crimes of Letby had also been deleted from Dr Gilby's email account by her former employers - although these were later recovered.

In a ruling on a preliminary application, employment judge David Franey said the failure to preserve certain emails, messages and documents was "unexplained".

Dr Gilby was appointed medical director of the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in August 2018, a month after Letby was first arrested, and became chief executive in 2019.

She was suspended in December 2022 and gave notice of her resignation a few days later, although her contract ran until June 2023.

Dr Gilby said she had made a series of "protected disclosures" about the chairman of the board, Mr Haythornthwaite, who is named as a joint respondent in the claim.

After she accused him of inappropriate and bullying behaviour, she claimed he became "hostile" and "aggressive" and "co-ordinated" her suspension, the tribunal heard.

Both the trust and Mr Haythornthwaite deny the accusations and claim Dr Gilby's treatment was a "consequence of genuine and substantial performance concerns".

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Source: BBC News, 4 October 2024

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Letby managers: We weren’t slow to act

Former senior managers at the Countess of Chester Hospital have told the public inquiry into murders of babies that “given the information with which we were provided, we acted appropriately at the time”.

A joint written statement from the former chief executive, medical, nursing and HR directors at the Cheshire Hospital was published on Friday by the Thirwall Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of seven newborn babies between 2015 and 2016.

Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of seven counts of murder and seven of attempted murder in August 2023.

The statement set out the various steps the directors had taken after the spate of deaths came to light, including commissioning experts from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

The management team has faced criticism that it was too slow to act in response to deaths on the unit, as it pushed back on concerns raised by clinicians about Letby.

But the four directors – former chief executive Tony Chambers, medical director Ian Harvey, nursing director Alison Kelly and HR director Susan Hodkinson – argued the RCPCH team had failed to pass on concerns.

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Source: HSJ, 18 September 2024

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Letby inquiry: NHS staff want their voices heard

A group representing hundreds of clinicians has applied to contribute to the Lucy Letby inquiry, to challenge NHS culture around whistleblowing.

Their experiences of raising concerns should inform the inquiry, they say.

Letby murdered seven babies and attempted to murder another six while working at the Countess of Chester NHS trust between June 2015 and June 2016.

The public inquiry is examining how the nurse was able to murder and how the hospital handled concerns about her.

"The evidence of this group relating to how whistleblowers are treated, not just at one trust but across the UK, is of huge significance," Rachel di Clemente, of Hudgell Solicitors, acting for the clinicians, said.

The group, NHS Whistleblowers, comprising healthcare professionals across the UK, including current and former doctors, midwives and nurses, has written to Lady Justice Thirlwall's inquiry, asking for them to be formally included as core participants.

The inquiry has stated it will consider NHS culture.

And the group says "a culture detrimental to patient safety" is evident across the health service.

"NHS staff who have bravely spoken up about patient-safety concerns or unethical practices deserve to have their voices heard," Dr Matt Kneale, who co-chairs Doctors' Association UK, which is part of the group, said.

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Source: BBC News, 21 March 2024

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Letby inquiry: Former nurse director among ‘core participants’

The former nursing director at the hospital where Lucy Letby murdered seven babies will be among the 'core participants' of the Thirlwall Inquiry.

The inquiry, chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall, will investigate how Letby was able to commit the murders and attempt six others while she worked as a neonatal nurse at Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2015 and 2016.

This week, Alison Kelly, who was director of nursing and quality at the trust during the time of Letby's crimes, was announced as 1 of 10 core participants in the inquiry.

Also named were former Countess of Chester chief executive Tony Chambers, former medical director Ian Harvey and former human resources director Sue Hodkinson.

Ms Kelly and Mr Harvey were among the senior staff at the trust who were accused of failing to act when clinicians first raised concerns about Letby.

How managers responded to such concerns is one of the areas due to be investigated by the Thirlwall Inquiry.

A number of organisations are also on the list as core participants, including the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), NHS England, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Department of Health and Social Care and Countess of Chester itself.

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Source: Nursing Times, 3 January 2024

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Letby inquiry to seek rapid change to NHS services and culture despite legal delays

The public inquiry into the Lucy Letby murders will seek changes to NHS services and culture next year despite the fact that formal hearings are likely to be delayed until the autumn.

Inquiry chair Lady Justice Thirlwall will issue an update message later today. In it she will stress the inquiry will “look for necessary changes to be made to the system of neonatal care in this country in real time and at the earliest opportunity, avoiding delays in making meaningful change”.

HSJ understands Lady Thirlwall will look to agree on some changes, based on the inquiry’s evidence gathering and discussions with the sector before it begins oral hearings – which are unlikely to start for at least a year due to ongoing legal action.

Lady Thirlwall will say the legal constraints mean its early work will focus on the experience of families who were named in the cases already heard; and “on the effectiveness of NHS management, culture, governance structures and processes, as well as on the external scrutiny and professional regulation supposed to keep babies in hospital safe and well looked after”.

She said, “I want this to be a searching and active inquiry in the sense that it will look for necessary changes to be made to the system of neonatal care in this country in real time and at the earliest opportunity, avoiding delays in making meaningful change”.

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Source: HSJ, 22 November 2023

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Letby gave baby overdose two years before murders

Lucy Letby gave a baby 10 times the prescribed dose of morphine "in error" two years before her killing spree began, a public inquiry has heard.

The nurse was then unhappy at being told she could no longer administer controlled drugs at the Countess of Chester Hospital after the incident in July 2013.

The Thirlwall Inquiry, which is examining how she was able to kill and attack babies between June 2015 and June 2016, heard Letby received extra training after the incident. Yvonne Farmer, who was practice development nurse at the time, told the inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall it was a "very serious error".

The mistake was spotted quickly and the baby suffered no ill-effects, the inquiry heard. Ms Farmer said Letby was not far into her nursing career at the time, but was outside the period of supervision required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Letby, of Hereford, was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, including one she tried to kill twice, and is serving 15 whole life prison sentences.

The inquiry continues.

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Source: BBC News, 16 October 2024

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Let’s do our duty: Top nurse leads NHS staff flu jab drive

England’s most senior nurse has called on the NHS’ million-plus frontline workers to protect themselves and their patients this year by taking up their free flu jab.

Ruth May, the Chief Nursing Officer for England, is spearheading this year’s drive to ensure that as many NHS staff as possible get vaccinated against seasonal flu – meaning they are both less likely to need time off over the busy winter period, and less likely to pass on the virus to vulnerable patients.

Since September, hospitals and other healthcare settings across the country have been laying on special activities designed to highlight the importance of the flu vaccine, and celebrate those staff who choose to protect themselves and their patients. A record 70% of doctors, nurses, midwives and other NHS staff who have direct contact with patients took up the vaccine through their employer last year, with most local NHS employers achieving 75% or higher.

Ruth has been joined in writing an open letter to NHS staff by other heads of professions like the NHS National Medical Director, Professor Stephen Powis, Chief Allied Health Professions Officer, Suzanne Rastrick, Chief Midwifery Officer, Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, and Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Dr Keith Ridge. In it they urge every member of the NHS’ growing frontline workforce to work together to achieve even higher level of coverage this year.

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Source: NHS England, 25 November 2019

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Let patients choose hospital with shortest wait, says former health secretary

All patients should be able to choose the hospital with the shortest waiting times, a former health secretary has said.

Alan Milburn, the Labour health secretary under Tony Blair from 1999 to 2003, called for urgent reforms and warned that the NHS was “close to breaking point” and “in the worst state I have ever seen”.

A record 6.7 million people are now on waiting lists, with the numbers waiting in Accident and Emergency departments for at least 12 hours surging by more than a third in a month.

Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Milburn called for urgent reforms to give patients more choice and control while preventing a “tsunami” of chronic diseases fuelled by unhealthy lifestyles.

In recent months, ministers have promised that those facing the longest waits will be offered treatment further away and offered travel and accommodation costs, but only around 140 patients were booked in for such surgery by June.

Mr Milburn called for the option to be offered to all patients, urging health officials to use the NHS app as a way for people to chose the hospital with the shortest wait. So far, officials have promised to ensure that the app allows patients to check the average waiting time at their local hospital for their condition and compare it with others.

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Source: The Telegraph, 17 August 2022

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