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We need to find alternatives to 999 for care homes and falls

The NHS needs to do more to support care homes and people who have fallen with alternatives to ambulance calls and hospital admissions, the NHS England chief executive has said. 

Speaking at the Ambulance Leadership Forum, Amanda Pritchard acknowledged this winter would be a difficult one for the health service, saying: “The scale of the current and potential challenge mean that we do need to continue to look further for what else we can do… We need to pull out all the stops to make sure that they [patients] get that treatment as safely as possible and as quickly as possible.”

She added one area of focus should be making sure certain patient groups can access other – more appropriate – forms of care, rather than calling an ambulance by default and often resulting in hospital admission.

On care homes, she said: “Can we wrap around even more care for these care homes so they get to the point where they don’t need to call for help at all or, if they do, there are alternatives pathways [to the emergency department]?”

She suggested another area where responses could be made more consistent was for patients who had fallen but without serious injuries, which she said made up a “really significant part of activity”. These patients took a long time to reach and, if admitted to hospital, risked long admissions, she said.

Some areas were working to find other ways of responding to non-injury falls patients and trying to keep them away from hospital, she said.

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Source: HSJ, 6 September 2022

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Nurse says she faced hours of racist abuse

A nurse who was racially abused at work has urged Health Minister Robin Swann to take action on racism towards healthcare staff.

Beverly Simpson, a nurse for more than 25 years, said she was subjected to hours of abuse while working last weekend.

The incident at the weekend took place in a private healthcare setting, Ms Simpson told BBC Radio Foyle.

She said she was called racist slurs by a patient for several hours.

"I want to do nursing, I have always been a nurse," she said. "I never realised that I would be placed in such a vulnerable position and I actually question myself if I should walk away."

Ms Simpson said she wanted to speak publicly to make sure "any other nurse from a black or minority ethic group did not feel alone".

"There is abuse going on, it's something that is happening," she said. "I felt, for the first time in a long while, about quitting. I asked myself: 'What is the point?'

"I understand that when people are sick their defences may be down, they're more vulnerable and they may say things they shouldn't, but there was a nastiness to it."

In a statement, the Department of Health said racism was not something that any colleague in Health and Social Care (HSC) should have to endure.

"We want to send a clear message, from the very top of our health and social care system, that such behaviour is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated," the department said.

"We fully recognise and respect the hard work, commitment and dedication of HSC staff from within the BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] community."

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Source: BBC News, 6 September 2022

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PM Truss appoints new health secretary

Thérèse Coffey has been appointed as the new health and social care secretary.

Ms Coffey, previously work and pensions secretary, has been appointed to the role by the new prime minister, Liz Truss.

A close ally of Ms Truss, Ms Coffey has also been appointed as her deputy prime minister. 

The new prime minister, in her first speech in the role, said that putting “our health service on a firm footing” was one of her “three early priorities”.

She pledged to improve access and build “hospitals”. 

Ms Coffey said this evening her priorities were “ABCD”, representing “ambulances, backlogs, care, doctors and dentists”.

 

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Source: HSJ, 6 September 2022

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Truss move to cut management would ‘get in way’ of progress, says top CEO

Liz Truss’s desire to talk about cutting management in the NHS will get in the way of more important conversations about the future operating model of the health service, a respected system leader has said.

In an interview with HSJ, Rob Webster, chief executive of the West Yorkshire integrated care system, said NHS managers have been a “fundamental” part of the response to the pandemic and that they have a “good record of delivering” when backed by coherent plans.

His comments come after Ms Truss, who was confirmed as the new prime minister today, said during the Conservative Party leadership contest she was planning “fewer levels of management” in the NHS.

When asked about the comments made by Mrs Truss, as well as similar statements from health secretary Steve Barclay, Mr Webster said: “This is part of the reality of the NHS being a political issue, that you will get this sort of debate.

“And I think if you want to enter debate about the NHS being over-managed, you can look at any one of a number of independent publications that demonstrate that it’s not, from the Kings Fund, the Nuffield trust, and various others…"

Mr Webster said many patients in the NHS are still receiving good, safe and timely care, but at the same time many people are waiting too long to access services while staff have faced “incredible pressure” for an extended period.

“What we need to do is to work our way out of this,” he said. “And we can only do that with a coherent plan which is politically led nationally, politically owned locally, and led by people in the system collectively.”

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Source: HSJ, 6 September 2022

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Unfilled consultant posts pose key risk to patient safety - Irish Medical Council

Unfilled specialised medical consultant roles and an over-reliance on overworked, internationally trained graduates for non-consultant hospital doctors are among key risks to patient safety identified by the Irish Medical Council.

The council, which is the regulatory body for the medical profession, sets out the risks to healthcare for the first time in its workforce intelligence report that breaks down the make-up of the medical register and explains why doctors are leaving the health system.

More than a third of all clinically active doctors are on the general register, which is a key risk to patient safety because consultant and specialist roles are not being filled and “a considerable proportion” of non-consultant hospital doctors are required to perform the duties of consultants.

The report found that the majority of non-consultant hospital doctors are trained overseas and that the health system overly relied on these doctors who reported being “overworked, undervalued, experiencing discrimination and unable to access specialist training.”

“Aside from the individual impact on the doctors, the treatment of international medical graduates has serious implications for patient safety,” the council said.

In another risk identified by the regulatory body, more than a quarter of doctors reported working more than 48 hours a week, in breach of the European Working Time Directive.

This has further serious implications for patient safety,” the council said.

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Source: Irish Times, 1 September 2022

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Covid: Millions invited for booster jabs

Millions of people will be invited for their autumn Covid booster jab in England and Scotland, with care home residents the first to receive them.

Although infections are falling, health bosses are predicting a resurgence of Covid and flu this autumn and winter.

They are urging those eligible to protect themselves from serious illness by getting vaccines against both.

A recently approved vaccine against the Omicron variant will be used first.

However, there is not enough of Moderna's "bivalent" vaccine to protect everyone aged over 50 so health officials say people should take whichever booster they are offered. These will be the vaccines used in the spring.

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced on Saturday that it had approved a second "bivalent" coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech for people aged 12 and over.

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Source: BBC News, 4 September 2022

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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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California approves bill to punish doctors who spread false information

Trying to strike a balance between free speech and public health, California’s Legislature on Monday approved a bill that would allow regulators to punish doctors for spreading false information about Covid-19 vaccinations and treatments.

The legislation, if signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would make the state the first to try to legislate a remedy to a problem that the American Medical Association, among other medical groups and experts, says has worsened the impact of the pandemic, resulting in thousands of unnecessary hospitalisations and deaths.

The law would designate spreading false or misleading medical information to patients as “unprofessional conduct,” subject to punishment by the agency that licenses doctors, the Medical Board of California. That could include suspending or revoking a doctor’s license to practice medicine in the state.

While the legislation has raised concerns over freedom of speech, the bill’s sponsors said the extensive harm caused by false information required holding incompetent or ill-intentioned doctors accountable.

“In order for a patient to give informed consent, they have to be well informed,” said State Senator Richard Pan, a Democrat from Sacramento and a co-author of the bill. A paediatrician himself and a prominent proponent of stronger vaccination requirements, he said the law was intended to address “the most egregious cases” of deliberately misleading patients.

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Source: New York Times, 29 August 2022

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Forget the pandemic, NHS decline is ‘to blame for record waiting lists’

Record NHS waiting lists cannot be attributed to the pandemic as the health service has been “steadily declining” for a decade, a report says.

The number of people waiting for routine hospital treatment in England has almost tripled from 2.5 million in April 2012 to 6.78 million, after reaching 4.6 million in February 2020.

While Covid accelerated this trend, analysis suggests that even without the pandemic waiting lists for elective care would stand at 5.3 million.

The Quality Watch report, by the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation think tanks, says the NHS was “already stretched beyond its limits” before Covid struck.

Analysis of performance figures show waiting times for scans, A&E and cancer care have been increasing for many years amid chronic staff shortages.

This deterioration means thousands of cancer patients each month face unacceptably long waits for treatment — damaging their survival chances.

The report found waiting times for 15 key diagnostic tests, such as MRI or CT scans, had also rocketed. In April 2012 632,236 patients were on waiting lists for these tests. This backlog increased to one million by February 2020 before hitting 1.6 million this year.

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Source: The Times, 5 September 2022

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MPs to question government on failures over use of epilepsy drug in pregnancy

Senior health officials are to face questioning over why pregnant women are still being prescribed sodium valproate despite its known risks as a cause of birth defects or developmental delays.

Campaigners for families affected by the drug will also give evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee in a one-off session later this month. Alongside campaigners on sodium valproate, the Committee will also hear from campaigners from Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests and on behalf of “Sling the Mesh” campaign.

MPs will examine government progress on recommendations made in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review, which specifically looked into sodium valproate, hormone pregnancy tests and vaginal mesh. An update by Ministers on progress to implement the government’s response was due this summer.  A Minister from the Department of Health and Social Care has been invited to appear before the Committee.

The IMMDS Review’s report called for better communication to inform women of the risks of sodium valproate in pregnancy. Despite an NHS ‘valproate pregnancy prevention programme’, 247 women since April 2018 were found to have been prescribed the drug in a month in which they were pregnant, 25 as recently as April to September last year.

Health and Social Care Committee Chair Jeremy Hunt MP said:

“It is incredibly concerning to know that women of child-bearing age can still be prescribed the epilepsy drug sodium valproate despite its known risks as a cause of birth defects or developmental delays.

It has been two years since Baroness Cumberlege called for urgent action to prevent this happening. However, dozens of pregnant women were prescribed the drug last year while data published last month has shown that safety requirements were not being fully met.

We’re calling in a Minister and senior health officials as well as campaigners to address our concerns.”

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Source: UK Parliament, 2 September 2022

 

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Ministers to make it easier for foreign nurses and dentists to work in NHS

Ministers will introduce legislation as soon as parliament returns on Monday to tackle the NHS’s worsening staffing crisis by making it easier for overseas nurses and dentists to work in the UK.

The move is part of a drive by the health secretary, Steve Barclay, to increase overseas recruitment to help plug workforce gaps in health and social care.

Barclay believes thousands of extra health professionals will come as a result of new rules making it easier for medical regulators to register those who have qualified abroad. If the change proves successful it will help pave the way for more nurses and dentists coming to work in Britain from countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, the Philippines and Malaysia.

However, critics claim the policy is a stop-gap that is no substitute for ramping up the supply of homegrown staff and risks worsening the lack of health workers in other countries that are struggling with shortages of their own.

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Source: The Guardian, 5 September 2022

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‘Life threatening’ risk to clinically vulnerable after firms disconnect energy supply, warns NHS chief

A senior NHS leader has warned of a “life-threatening” situation in which clinically vulnerable people are being admitted to hospital after having their energy supplies disconnected.

Sam Allen, chief executive of North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), has written to Ofgem today to raise “serious concerns” that vulnerable people have seen their electricity or gas services disconnected as a result of non-payment.

In the letter, which the ICB has published on its website, Ms Allen said the impact of energy supplies being cut off “will be life threatening for some people” and place additional demand on already stretched health and social care services.

She wrote: “It has come to light that we are starting to see examples where clinically vulnerable people have been disconnected from their home energy supply which has then led to a hospital admission.

“This is impacting on people who live independently at home, with the support from our community health services team and are reliant on using electric devices for survival.

“An example of this is oxygen; and there will be many other examples. There is also a similar concern for clinically vulnerable people with mental health needs who may find themselves without energy supply.

“Put simply, the impact of having their energy supply terminated will be life threatening for some people as well as placing additional demands on already stretched health and social care services.”

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Source: HSJ, 5 September 2022

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NI health campaigners say 'enough is enough'

Former patients and families of those affected by some of Northern Ireland's worst health scandals have called for accountability at every level of the health service.

The collective of campaigners gathered at Stormont in protest on Saturday.

They have demanded change, saying "enough is enough".

They included those affected by systemic failures identified in neurology, urology, care homes and hyponatraemia.

Danielle O'Neill, a former patient of the neurologist Dr Michael Watt, whose practice led to Northern Ireland's largest patient recall, was among them.

"It's important for us to stand here today as a collective with all of the other scandals to show that we demand an individual duty of candour," she said.

"We demand accountability, we demand justice.

"There have been far too many health scandals in our health service."

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Source: BBC News, 4 September 2022

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NHS whistleblower Shyam Kumar wins case against regulator

A doctor who was sacked for raising patient safety concerns has won a case against England's hospital regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Orthopaedic surgeon Shyam Kumar worked part-time for the CQC as a special adviser on hospital inspections, but Manchester Employment Tribunal found that he was unfairly dismissed.

Between 2015 and his dismissal in 2019, Mr Kumar wrote to senior colleagues at the CQC with a number of serious concerns.

They included a hospital inspection, at which he claims patient safety was significantly compromised when a group of whistleblowing doctors was prevented from discussing their concerns.

Mr Kumar said, on many occasions, he reported concerns about a surgeon at his own trust, Morecambe Bay, who had carried out operations that were "inappropriate" and of an "unacceptable" quality and harmed patients.

He warned the CQC that the trust management wanted to bury it "under the carpet". The tribunal noted that his concerns were found to be justified and the surgeon eventually had conditions placed on his licence to practise.

The CQC "accepted the findings".

Mr Kumar, who has been awarded compensation, says his concerns were ignored.

"The whole energy of a few individuals in the CQC was spent on gunning me down, rather than focusing on improvement to patient safety and exerting the regulatory duties," he said.

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Source: BBC News, 5 September 2022

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New hospital showcases 'different way of working'

When the new Royal Liverpool Hospital opens its doors in October, every patient will have a single room with an en-suite bathroom.

That set-up is unusual for acute hospitals in England, but many feel it is the future for all new buildings.

"There's the privacy and dignity from the patient's point of view," says Jacqui Stamper, the hospital's associate chief nurse. "If they're in the room and talking to the doctors or the nurses, there isn't somebody just the other side of a curtain listening."

"And then there's the infection prevention side of it as well.

"It's absolutely the state of the art way of hospital care really."

The new system will require staff to work differently, so patients can be properly monitored.

Each ward has been broken up into smaller zones of between six and eight beds, and each zone has its own base where the nurses will sit.

The trust which runs the hospital is currently running workshops to get staff used to the layout.

"Nursing staff will be used to working in a bigger team than a couple of people, so it is a different way of working," Ms Stamper says.

"We're listening to our staff and their concerns and answering those to see how we can address them going forward."

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Source: BBC News, 2 September 2022

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Hospital CEOs will get ‘fair’ treatment over ambulance delays, says Barclay

Health secretary Steve Barclay says trust chief executives should be held accountable for ambulance handover delays in a ‘fair’ way that recognises factors outside their control.

Mr Barclay made a wide ranging speech at a Policy Exchange event on Thursday. However, the content of the speech was much less radical than earlier press reports in which it was suggested he would tell the NHS to “scrap targets”, “declare war on pointless pen-pushers”, and deprioritise “cancer, maternity and mental health”. 

Last month, the health secretary summoned the chief executives of six of the NHS trusts which are recording the longest waits for ambulance handovers at their emergency departments.

Mr Barclay was asked by HSJ what the consequences would be for leaders who failed to improve the situation. He said: “It’s not about blaming the chief executives, it’s about understanding what are their challenges and how do we then get clarity on that.

“Once we’ve agreed on that, then you can have performance management to hold individual chiefs to [account on] the bits that are within their control, distinct from bits that may be the ambulance trust’s or others in the system.”

He said the government and NHS England would ask what was “within the chief exec’s control” and how a trust’s performance compared to that of its peers? Trusts would be asked to “comply” with best practice or explain why they were not. The Department of Health and Social Care and NHSE would then be able to decide “what are the things where it [the trust] needs wider support?”

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Source: HSJ, 2 September 2022

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430,000 Britons have long Covid two years after infection, says ONS

An estimated 430,000 Britons were still suffering from Long Covid two years after first contracting the virus, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

One in every 32 people in the UK was estimated to have some form of Long Covid at the end of July, equivalent to 2 million people. Of those, around 1.5 million said their symptoms were adversely affecting their daily activities, while 384,000 said their ability to undertake daily activities had been “limited a lot”.

Fatigue continues to be the most common symptom reported by individuals with long Covid, with 62% reporting weakness or tiredness. More than a third, 37%, of those surveyed reported shortness of breath as one of their symptoms, while difficulty concentrating (33%) and muscle ache (31%) were the next most cited symptoms.

Kelly Fearnley, a foundation doctor at Bradford Royal Infirmary, said: “Long Covid is not only crippling the health of the nation, it is destroying the health of our economy.

“Research efforts so far have been slow and underfunded, and fail to reflect the scale and urgency of the problem.

“Not only are some people not recovering, they are deteriorating. People have not only lost their health and independence, they are losing their jobs, financial security and homes.”

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Source: The Guardian, 1 September 2022

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Why Canada's ERs are struggling to stay open

On a Thursday in mid-August, the doors of a hospital's emergency department two hours west of Toronto were shut.

A note posted on the front said the ER was closed for the day. It would reopen the following morning at 08:00, but close again for the evening. Patients who needed urgent care were asked to go to nearby hospitals - a 15- to 35-minute drive away.

It was the ninth time since April that the Huron Public Healthcare Alliance - a network of four hospitals serving around 150,000 people in western Ontario - had to temporarily close or cut back hours at one of its emergency departments.

Canada is one of the richest countries in the world. Its universal publicly funded healthcare system has been touted by progressive politicians in the US, the country's southern neighbour, who see it as a needed alternative to an American system where millions remain uninsured. 

But in recent months, Canada's system has been described by workers and hospital executives as being in a state of "crisis". That includes struggling emergency rooms.

Toronto ER physician Dr Raghu Venugopal said he has seen stretchers lining the hallways, occupied by patients suffering from ailments like a broken hip or abdominal pains.

On some days, those patients may wait anywhere from two to four days to be admitted to hospital, all while a team of two nurses tends to a total of 50 to 60 patients on the unit.

Other patients are being examined in the waiting room because the lack of staff has forced parts of the ER to close, meaning there is limited space for doctors to see them privately.

"We are in a standard-less void where anything goes, and it is shocking," Dr Venugopal said.

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Source: BBC News, 2 September 2022

 

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Australia: Research explores ways to stop painful chemo for kids

 Ongoing research underway at The University of Queensland in Australia is focusing on stopping children undergoing chemotherapy from feeling pain and other debilitating side effects.

Dr Hana Starobova from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience has been awarded a Fellowship Grant from the Children’s Hospital Foundation to continue her research to relieve children from the side effects of cancer treatments.

“Although children have a higher survival rate than adults following cancer treatments, they can still be suffering side-effects well into their adulthood,” Dr Starobova said.

“A five-year-old cancer patient could be suffering severe pain, gastrointestinal problems or difficulty walking 20 years on from treatment.

“There has been a lack of studies on children, which is an issue because they are not just small adults — they suffer from different cancers, their immune systems work differently and they have a faster metabolism, all of which affect how treatments work.

“Our aim is to treat children before the damage happens so that the side-effects are dramatically reduced or don’t occur in the first place.”

Dr Starobova is currently analysing how specific drugs could prevent a cascade of inflammation caused by chemotherapy drugs, which lead to tingling and numbness in hands and feet, and muscle pain and weakness that makes everyday tasks, like walking and doing up buttons, a challenge.

She is focusing on Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in children, with over 700 children diagnosed in Australia each year.

“We are studying the most commonly used chemotherapy treatment for children, which is a mix of drugs that are very toxic, but have to be used to treat cancer fast and stop it becoming resistant to the drugs,” Dr Starobova said.

“It’s a fine balance — too little chemotherapy and cancer won’t be killed but sometimes the side effects are so bad, patients have to stop the therapy.

“I hope that by having a treatment to reduce side-effects, it will be one less thing for these kids and their families to worry about.”

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Source: The Print, 15 August 2022

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Half of healthcare facilities globally lack basic hygiene services

Half of healthcare facilities worldwide lack basic hygiene services with water and soap or alcohol-based hand rub where patients receive care and at toilets in these facilities, according to a new report by WHO and UNICEF. Around 3.85 billion people use these facilities, putting them at greater risk of infection, including 688 million people who receive care at facilities with no hygiene services at all.

“Hygiene facilities and practices in health care settings are non-negotiable. Their improvement is essential to pandemic recovery, prevention and preparedness. Hygiene in health care facilities cannot be secured without increasing investments in basic measures, which include safe water, clean toilets, and safely managed health care waste,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health. “I encourage Member States to step up their efforts to implement their 2019 World Health Assembly commitment to strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in health care facilities, and to monitor these efforts.” 

The latest report, “Progress on WASH in health care facilities 2000–2021: special focus on WASH and infection prevention and control”, has for the first time established this global baseline on hygiene services – which assessed access at points of care as well as toilets – as more countries than ever report on critical elements of WASH services in their hospitals and other health centres. For hygiene, data are now available for 40 countries, representing 35% of the world’s population, up from 21 countries in 2020 and 14 in 2019.

The newly established global estimate reveals a clearer and more alarming picture of the state of hygiene in health care facilities. Though 68% of health care facilities had hygiene facilities at points of care, and 65% had handwashing facilities with water and soap at toilets, only 51% had both and therefore met the criteria for basic hygiene services. Furthermore, 1 in 11 (9%) of health care facilities globally have neither.

“If health care providers don’t have access to a hygiene service, patients don’t have a health care facility,” said Kelly Ann Naylor, UNICEF Director of WASH and Climate, Environment, Energy, and Disaster Risk Reduction (CEED). “Hospitals and clinics without safe water and basic hygiene and sanitation services are a potential death trap for pregnant mothers, newborns, and children. Every year, around 670,000 newborns lose their lives to sepsis. This is a travesty – even more so as their deaths are preventable.”

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Source: WHO, 30 August 2022

 

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Guidance on confirming death in infants is reviewed after court case

Guidelines for confirming death in very young babies are being reviewed amid concerns about a case in which a baby boy started to breathe after a diagnosis of brain stem death.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust applied to the High Court in June for a declaration that A, who was born in April, was dead and for authorisation to withdraw his ventilation, ancillary care, and treatment. Aged 2 months, he had sustained a profound hypoxic ischaemic brain injury after a cardiac arrest that happened shortly after he was found limp in his cot with abnormal breathing.

But before the case came to court a nurse observed him breathing spontaneously, and the trust rescinded the declaration of brain stem death. 

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Source: BMJ, 31 August 2022

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NHS vacancies in England at ‘staggering’ new high as almost 10% of posts empty

The number of posts lying vacant across the NHS in England has reached a “staggering” record high of 132,139 – almost 10% of its planned workforce.

The number at the end of June was up sharply from three months earlier when there were 105,855 vacancies, quarterly personnel figures show.

NHS leaders said the huge number of empty posts showed why the health service is in a state of deepening crisis, with patients facing long waits for almost every type of care.

The previous highest number of vacancies for full-time-equivalent staff was 111,864, recorded at the end of June 2019.

The new number represents 9.7% of the NHS’s planned staffing levels – a new high. As recently as March 2021 there were 76,082 vacancies.

Danny Mortimer, the chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “These figures paint a bleak picture. A jump in nearly 30,000 staff vacancies – equivalent to the entire staffing of a large NHS hospital – show an alarming trend across the NHS of rising levels of vacancies.”

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Source: The Guardian, 1 September 2022

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Women wait days for induced labour in troubled maternity service

A troubled acute trust has been sent a further warning notice after inspectors found severe shortages of midwives were causing dangerous delays to labour inductions.

During one day in June, the Care Quality Commission found eight high-risk women at Blackpool Victoria Hospital had waited prolonged time periods for their labour to be induced.

They said one woman had waited five days, while another who was forced to wait more than two days despite her waters having broken on the ward. Delays to labour induction can lead to serious safety risks for mothers and babies.

The hospital’s maternity services, previously rated “good” for safety, have now been rated “inadequate” in this domain. The overall rating for maternity has dropped to “requires improvement”.

The problems were caused by severe shortages of midwives at the hospital, which had struggled to bring in agency staff due to a lack of availability in the area. However, inspectors also said there was a lack of any discussion or attention to the issues within the trust, despite the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch previously highlighting concerns.

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Source: HSJ, 1 September 2022

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Failure to act on cost of living risks another health crisis

Responding to the Ofgem announcement on the energy price cap, Jo Bibby, Director of Health at the Health Foundation said:  

'Today’s announcement confirms the mounting financial pressures facing people this winter.  

'Cold, damp homes make people ill. When people are having to make a choice between heating and eating, their health is going to suffer. Many will face the stress of managing debt and, in the long run, the price will be paid in poorer health, more pressure on the NHS, and fewer people in work. 

'The cost-of-living crisis should be a spur for action for the new government – bringing forward the Health Disparities White Paper. In particular, it must deliver significant emergency support in the autumn, targeted at lower-income families who are most at risk of poorer health. Without the speed and scale of action we saw through the pandemic, there is a risk the cost-of-living crisis becomes another health crisis.'

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Source: The Health Foundation, 26 August 2022

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NHS leaders warn of service cuts as hospital energy bills soar

Hospital trusts in England face “eye-watering” rises in energy bills of £2m a month each due to the fuel price surge, with NHS leaders saying patients may face longer waiting times or even see their care “cut back” as a result.

NHS trusts are concerned they will have to make critical choices on staff levels and the services they provide in order to keep operating, with energy costs predicted to be as much as three times higher than a year ago.

The BMJ surveyed NHS trusts in England for details of their recent and predicted future energy bills and how they expected to operate this coming winter when taking into account the additional energy charges on the way. Most said they expected their energy bills to double at least.

Rory Deighton, senior acute lead at the NHS Confederation, which represents the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said: “This isn’t an abstract problem, as the gap in funding from rising inflation will either have to be made up by fewer staff being employed, longer waiting times for care, or other areas of patient care being cut back."

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Source: The Guardian, 1 September 2022

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