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Ian Paterson tells inquest women ‘didn’t need to know’ about unauthorised mastectomy

The jailed breast surgeon Ian Paterson has said he did not tell women if he was going to perform an unauthorised cleavage-sparing mastectomy on them because “it was frightening and they didn’t need to or want to know”.

Giving evidence for the first time at an inquest into the deaths of 62 of his former patients, Paterson said he considered a cleavage-sparing mastectomy to be an “adaptation of a standard operation” that did not require separate consent.

After previously refusing to give evidence in the hearings, Paterson spoke on Thursday at the inquest of Elaine Turbill, who died, aged 63, in 2017 when her cancer returned after undergoing a mastectomy carried out by Paterson in 2005.

The inquest heard that at a recall clinic in 2010, it was recorded that 20% of her breast tissue had been left behind after the operation.

Speaking via video link from prison, where he is serving a 20-year sentence for multiple counts of wounding linked to unnecessary operations he carried out on patients, Paterson said he did not explain the procedure in detail to his patients.

“Most ladies know what a mastectomy is. I never went into great detail, it scares them and I don’t think they hear it, they just hear the word cancer,” he said. “This lady [Turbill] would have been taken into a separate room with a breast care nurse and would have discussed things in more detail.”

He later said: “It was frightening and [patients] didn’t need to or want to know.”

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Source: The Guardian, 31 October 2024

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I’ll reject ‘status quo’ proposals, Streeting warns officials

Wes Streeting has warned NHS England and departmental officials he will reject any proposals “that suggest sticking with the status quo, or bids for more money without reform”.

The health and social care secretary was speaking alongside NHSE chief executive Amanda Pritchard at a joint briefing of NHSE and Department of Health and Social Care staff yesterday.

They both spoke about last week’s Darzi review findings and, in comments shared with HSJ, Mr Streeting said: “I want this report taken as gospel. Our response must be: to take it on the chin, pull up our sleeves, and begin the hard work of reform.”

It would be “major surgery, not sticking plasters”, he said, and told officials he wanted “bold, radical reform proposals”, warning he would “reject anything that suggests sticking with the status quo, or bids for more money without reform”.

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Source: HSJ, 17 September 2024

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I've stopped life-saving medication says man exhausted by fight for NHS care

Tim Hull can point to many achievements during his 56 years. But it is a life Tim has decided to end. His quality of life, he says, is "very, very low". Tim has a medical condition that weakens his muscles, and his health has declined rapidly over the past two years.

It is the battles to get the health and care support he needs which have driven him to make the desperate decision, says Tim. He feels abandoned by health professionals, has been moved from one waiting list to another, has not been provided with the right equipment to help him and has been bed-bound for nearly seven months.

In February, he stopped taking the medication that prevents his kidneys from failing. They are now beginning to give up and he knows he has months, if not weeks, to live.

"I don't feel that things are going to get any better than this," he tells BBC News. "I just feel [ending my life] would be a better option than lying in bed 24 hours a day."

Tim's neurological condition is rare, however, many of the difficulties he has faced feel familiar to many.

Over the past two years, BBC News has been contacted by the families of more than 250 people with serious disabilities or illnesses about their struggles to access health and care services.

Many described the impact of very long waits for assessments, appointments, and for vital equipment that can help them cope at home.

They also highlighted the frustrations of trying to get someone to signpost the right services, being passed from department to department, and the feeling that they were only listened to when they reached a crisis.

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Source: BBC News, 30 July 2025

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I'm on six different NHS waiting lists - it's taking over my life

Amy-Jane Davies is on six NHS waiting lists and says constantly chasing for updates is taking over her life.

She's waited 21 months for gynaecological surgery, which she said will likely result in her being referred for a more specialist operation - meaning another waiting list.

Amy-Jane, who has endometriosis, is one of 43,120 on a gynaecology waiting list in Wales and one of 687,958 waiting for any type of treatment. She said her condition had affected her life in ways she "didn't imagine", from reducing her hours at work to deciding not to become a mother.

With the Senedd election in Wales on 7 May, NHS waiting times are one of the challenges facing the next Welsh government.

Amy-Jane, 30, from south Wales, was first diagnosed with endometriosis in 2018, a condition where cells similar to those in the lining of the womb grow in other parts of the body.

Her symptoms range from abdominal cramping and severe bloating to migraines, fatigue, as well as bladder and bowel problems.

"During Covid, the gynaecology waiting lists grew to eight to 10 years and at that point I knew there was just no way I could wait that long to get something done," she said.

In 2021, Amy-Jane paid £4,000 for private surgery with help from her mum and nan.

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I'm a consultant in infectious diseases. 'Long Covid' is anything but a mild illness

With the excitement of the Covid vaccine’s arrival, it may be easy to forget and ignore those of us with “long Covid”, who are struggling to reclaim our previous, pre-viral lives and continue to live with debilitating symptoms. Even when the NHS has managed the herculean task of vaccinating the nation, COVID-19 and the new mutant variants of the virus will continue to circulate, leaving more people at risk of Long Covid. Data from a King’s College London study in September suggested as many as 60,000 people in the UK could be affected, but the latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics suggest it could be much higher.

Joanna Herman is a consultant in infectious diseases. "Long Covid' is anything but a mild illness". Nine months on from having the virus, she is seriously debilitated. She explains how the new NHS clinics need to help the thousands of people with Long Covid.

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Source: The Guardian, 27 December 2020

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I worry we're killing people - ambulance dispatcher

Ambulance staff will take part in their second day of strike action this winter on Wednesday 11 January. Alongside paramedics, call-centre staff will walk out across England and Wales in the dispute over pay. These workers play a vital role, taking calls from the public and assigning ambulance crews.

An ambulance dispatcher at the North West Ambulance Service, who wishes to stay anonymous, has described working amid the extreme pressures of this winter. They said, "The thought of going in and having to manage those calls just fills me with absolute dread. I have seen people leave the ambulance service - they have had enough. We are physically and mentally exhausted."

Most frustrating, the dispatcher says, is the number of crews stuck outside hospital waiting to hand patients over to accident-and-emergency staff. In the last week of 2022, more than 40% of crews in England had waits of more than 30 minutes - it should take 15.

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Source: BBC News, 10 January 2023

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I work in an NHS Covid ward – and I feel so angry

An NHS consultant has told The Guardian "I work in an NHS Covid ward – and I feel so angry".

Providing a first hand account of their experiences working on an NHS Covid ward, the consultant, who wishes to remain anonymous, has expressed their dismay at the rise in cases, the spread of misinformation and the exhaustion felt among staff members dealing with work place stress and mental illness. 

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Source: The Guardian, 19 July 2021

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I won't back down on broken NHS claims - Streeting

Wes Streeting says he will not back down in his criticism of the NHS, after the BBC revealed there was growing unease in the service about the "broken" NHS messaging from government.

England's health secretary told the Labour Party conference that not acknowledging the problems in the NHS would result in "killing it with kindness".

His comments came after senior sources in the health service said they believe some of the claims have gone too far - and may result in patients being put off seeking help and causing lasting damage to staff morale.

In recent weeks, the government has claimed cancer is a "death sentence" because of NHS failings, while maternity services "shame" the nation.

Streeting told delegates in Liverpool: "I know the doctor's diagnosis can sometimes be hard to hear.

"But if you don't have an accurate diagnosis, you won't provide the correct prescription.

"And when you put protecting the reputation of the NHS above protecting patients, you're not helping the NHS, you're killing it with kindness.

"I won't back down. The NHS is broken, but it's not beaten, and together we will turn it around," Mr Streeting said.

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Source: BBC News, 25 September 2024

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I was in so much pain I’d faint — yet doctors ignored me for decades

“You’re just unlucky,” the doctor told me. Whichever GP I saw, wherever I was, male or female, I would be asked the same questions. Do you drink alcohol? Are you sexually active? Is your underwear too tight? If I heard another woman being relentlessly quizzed like that today, I’d probably call it victim blaming."

"... when you’re told, over and over, that it’s just bad luck and that some women suffer more than others, you believe it. You put your trust in the professionals. You don’t advocate for yourself because you don’t understand that there’s anything that needs fighting for."

Claire Cohen, 39, had spent much of her life since her mid-teens in acute pain, begging for help. Now she’s finally been diagnosed with endometriosis, she looks at how medicine is still failing to treat a condition that can have a devastating effect on one in ten women

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Source: The Times, 13 April 2023

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I was brainwashed by the NCT — and nearly died

Exhausted after three sleepless days in labour, Jane O’Hara, then 34, screamed and burst into tears when the midwives and doctors at Harrogate District Hospital told her the natural birth she wanted was not going to happen.

She ended up needing life-saving surgery and 11 pints of blood after a severe haemorrhage. Mercifully, Ivy was fine and is now a healthy 12-year-old. 

In recent weeks, the NHS has been rocked by the conclusions of an inquiry into the worst maternity disaster in its history: 201 babies and nine mothers died and another 94 babies suffered brain damage as a result of avoidable poor care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. This has been linked to a culture of promoting natural — that is, vaginal — birth and avoiding caesarean sections. 

Blame thus far has been aimed largely at the NHS — but parents have started speaking out online about what they believe has been the role of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), a leading provider of antenatal classes in Britain, in promoting vaginal births.

“I can absolutely point to key decisions that I made that were influenced by the NCT’s mantra. I was led into a position where I believed I had more control over my birth than I actually did,” says O’Hara, who is now a professor of healthcare quality and safety at the University of Leeds. She believes she was a victim of a “normal birth” ideology that was heavily promoted at the NCT classes she attended.

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Source: The Times, 10 April 2022

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I travelled to the US and paid £19,000 to have mesh implant removed

Anne Monie is one of hundreds of Scottish women to have suffered painful, life-changing side effects from mesh implants.

She was fit and healthy when she went to her doctor with anterior prolapse and mild stress incontinence in 2010. But an operation to fit transvaginal mesh left her in agony.

With nowhere to turn for help in Scotland, the 69-year-old spent £19,000 travelling to the US to get her implant removed.

Anne spoke to BBC Scotland as the Scottish Parliament looks set to pass a bill which would see her and others reimbursed for the cost of private surgery.

That may bring financial concerns to an end - but she is by no means cured. And she worries about other women still trying to go through the mesh-removal process.

Anne was offered a simple "gold standard" transvaginal mesh procedure when she first sought medical help 12 years ago.

But after the operation to fit it, she began to suffer from a range of problems and was left in chronic pain.

After years of frustration, she paid to go to Missouri to have mesh removal surgery with world-renowned expert Dr Dionysios Veronikis.

"It's a massive amount of money to be paying out, especially when you're retired. But then, what price do you put on health?"

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Source: The Guardian, 25 January 2022

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I thought I was seeing a GP – but I was misdiagnosed by a physician associate

'PAs' -  who have just two years training - are being used to treat NHS patients, but doctors are concerned about patient safety, reports Sarah Graham.

PAs, or physician associates, are a relatively new type of health professional, first introduced in the UK in 2003 and increasingly used across the NHS to provide care to patients, including at GP surgeries. They undergo two years of postgraduate training (compared with the ten years of medical training needed to become a GP).

There are now more than 3,000 PAs working in the NHS. The Government has said it wants to increase the number to 10,000 by 2037, but the scheme has become controversial following a series of reports of patients being misdiagnosed, some with fatal consequences.

As far as Dave Hay knew, he was seeing a GP. It was 2022 and he’d started having bouts of dizziness, brain fog and fatigue. “It was having an impact on my work and everyday life, so I called my local surgery to make an appointment. I saw someone who wasn’t my usual doctor, but she introduced herself as Dr Smith,” says Hay, 57, a scientist from Yorkshire. “I explained my symptoms. She didn’t do any kind of examination – didn’t check my ears or my vision – and just said, ‘look, I don’t think there’s anything seriously wrong with you, but come back if your symptoms get worse’,” he says.

Two weeks later Dave, now 57, a scientist from Yorkshire, felt worse. 

It was only later, during a chance conversation with the practice nurse, that Dave learned he hadn’t been seeing a GP at all. “I was at a routine appointment and explained what had happened,” Dave says. “The nurse asked who I’d seen and said, ‘that’s not a doctor, that’s a PA’. I had no idea what a PA was.” 

When Dave arranged an appointment with one of the named GPs, she diagnosed depression and anxiety, because of issues at work and a recent family bereavement. “She looked at my medical history and asked some much more targeted questions, pieced it all together, and recommended talking therapy and antidepressants,” Dave explains, who is now well.

However, he does feel that he was misled and waited longer for the right treatment because the PA did not explain her actual role, which they are supposed to do. 

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Source: iNews, 1 Jul7 2024

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I sat through an inquest into my toddler’s avoidable death

My son had a tummy ache. The next day he died after being discharged from a London hospital

One morning last July, my son, Finlay, had a tummy ache. We took him to the GP who suggested A&E if things didn’t improve. Later that afternoon we took him to the Whittington Hospital in north London where, over nine gruelling hours, we ticked off the increasingly familiar list of deathly NHS misery and systemic failure.

Paediatric A&E was described as “exceptionally” busy by staff. At that time the Whittington’s internal policies judged their staffing levels “unsafe”, though this wasn’t communicated to the A&E department. The conditions were filthy, we spent most of our time in the corridors where Finlay was repeatedly examined on my knee. Throughout the nine hours, no complete set of observations was ever taken, which no one seemed to notice. We asked to move to Great Ormond Street Hospital on a number of occasions but were rebuffed.

Key diagnostic resources — an ultrasound and an in-house surgical consultation — were not available. The few tests they managed were botched: an X-ray was misread, and a wildly anomalous blood test remained unexplained.

Still with no observations and no clue as to the blood test, we were discharged around 1am. When we woke up at 8am, Finny wasn’t breathing. I tried and failed to resuscitate him on his play mat. A dozen ambulance crew and police came and similarly failed. He was then taken back to the Whittington where he died.

In the face of this life-deranging calamity, the Whittington’s response was awful: cold, confused and incompetent. We had to beg for a referral for grief support. We repeatedly insisted that the Whittington could not investigate itself. This was just one piece of the wider NHS approach: sloppy correspondence with spelling mistakes and incorrect details, including our name.

Ultimately, the coroner wrote a “narrative” verdict. After putting the boot into the Whittington’s ineptitude, she concluded: “However, it is unclear whether, if all care had been delivered as it should have been, Finlay’s life would have been saved. He would have had a chance.”

At the time of writing, the coroner is still considering whether to issue another PFD notice.

Systems should be defined by what they do, not what they are supposed to achieve. The PFD system, it seems to me, exists more to document repetitive disaster than prevent it. And so, tomorrow, or next month, or next year, another family will learn that their child died in reasonably preventable circumstances, from causes already flagged by coroners, through institutional failures long documented in previous PFD reports. They will sit through the same ceremonial farrago, learning that their devastating loss was neither inevitable nor unforeseen, but recorded, bureaucratically forgotten, and condemned to repeat.

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Source: The Times, 22 June 2025

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I need 120 pills a week to deal with the agony caused by vaginal mesh

A mum-of-three left in "constant, disabling pain" after an operation says women like her should not suffer in silence.

Kerry Watson, 40, uses a walking stick and takes more than 100 tablets a week to deal with the agony caused by having a vaginal mesh implant to treat a prolapsed bladder in 2014.

She is 1 of 25 women who have received compensation following operations carried out by a single surgeon in north Wales.

The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has apologised, admitting Kerry was not fully informed of the risks and side effects or of the alternatives to the mesh surgery.

Kerry, from Kinmel Bay in Conwy county, said she woke up from the operation in pain which never went away, and got gradually worse.

"It felt like I had a needle through my back, and it was coming out my front, and I couldn't twist past it," she said.

"Your mental health is affected. You get brain fog, you're tired, you're fatigued. You can't function as a woman – and that's every day for 10 years," she said.

"I'm a mum to three boys, but I felt like I was failing. As they were getting older, I couldn't even stand to watch them play football.

The NHS announced it would pause using vaginal mesh in 2018 following patient safety concerns.

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Source: BBC News, 27 February 2026

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I love being a pharmacist, but the UK’s drug shortage makes me want to give up – and Brexit makes it worse

For the past 16 years, I have run a small community pharmacy in rural west Dorset. My business is older than me – the little yellow-brick building I own is about to turn 235. Right now, I am really concerned about it getting through the next 12 months.

In my years as a pharmacist, I have never seen things as bad as they are at the moment. We are going through a period of rampant drug shortages in England, caused by global shortages, the NHS’s insistence on paying unsustainably low prices for medicines and Brexit, among other things, and people are on the brink. Long gone are the days when customers could place a prescription order safe in the knowledge their life-saving medication would arrive the next day.

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Source: Guardian, 17 May 2024

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I had to beg doctors for help, sepsis patient says

A man said he was left "begging for help" from doctors after he suffered life-changing injuries due to sepsis caused by failures at his local hospitals.

Paul Robinson, 70, developed recurring sepsis for almost a year after being hospitalised on multiple occasions in Brighton and Worthing.

The company director from Goring, in West Sussex, said: "I've lost my freedom, confidence, business, very nearly my family home, and almost my will to live."

Mr Robinson was diagnosed with cancer in 2018.

He successfully had a lump removed from his lung. But during chemotherapy, he became unwell and was diagnosed with sepsis.

He said he went through several relapses with sepsis and was in hospital for 13 days.

"I was left for 11 months with recurring, untreated sepsis – despite begging for help," he said.

Describing his care at Worthing Hospital and Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, he said there was a breakdown in communication between nurses, doctors and departments.

He said there had been "systemic failures" and "ignored warnings" with his care.

"We asked for help 47 times, and we were ignored 47 times," he added.

"Every day I see NHS campaigns about spotting the signs of sepsis. We knew the signs, we pleaded for help, and nobody listened."

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Source: BBC News, 5 June 2025

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I had months of pain when MS drug was swapped for a cheaper one

When Jonelle Roback went into hospital for a monthly drug treatment infusion, she was shocked to find a piece of paper on her waiting room chair informing her that her medication was suddenly being switched.

Roback, 54, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2009, had been on the intravenous drug Tysabri for 13 years, which had enabled her to “live a normal life”.

But in May, as part of an NHS England drive to save money, Roback and other MS patients had their Tysabri medication changed to a “biosimilar” drug — a medicine that has been shown not to have any clinically meaningful differences from the originator drug — called Tyruko, which is cheaper.

This marked the start of a horrible ordeal, with Roback experiencing debilitating symptoms including headaches, nausea, fatigue and severe bloating.

She has since been in contact with dozens of other MS patients who have also experienced difficulties after having their medication switched, and they have expressed “urgent concerns” to the NHS about the failure to properly consult patients about their treatment.

A group of more than 30 patients, including Roback, have written to the NHS chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, and the health secretary, Wes Streeting, to raise concerns about the “forced treatment switch”.

The letter says that some patients had their drug changed without their knowledge, adding: “The lack of communication and transparency has led to serious side-effects, stress, loss of earnings, and other detrimental impacts on our lives. We have discovered that we are effectively being used as ‘guinea pigs’ for this new treatment.”

Roback said it is vital that patients are given an active voice in medication decisions, adding: “It is outrageous that there was no discussion or consultation about changing the medication, just a piece of paper left on a chair. There was nothing we could do about it."

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Source: The Times, 25 October 2024

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Hywel Dda cancels operations after 'critical pressures'

A health board has cancelled planned operations at four of its hospitals "in the interest of patient safety".

Hywel Dda University Health Board made the decision after "an extraordinary weekend" of "critical pressures". On Monday, inpatient operations were cancelled at Bronglais, Glangwili, Prince Philip and Withybush hospitals in mid and west Wales.

The health board said it had contacted the patients affected and outpatient appointments continued as normal. No decisions have been taken yet to cancel more non-emergency operations on Tuesday, it added.

Dr Philip Kloer, the health board's medical director, said the weekend saw hospitals "at a level of escalation not seen before".

"It is in the interest of patient safety that we have postponed planned operations today," he added.

Plaid Cymru's shadow minister for health, Helen Mary Jones, said the decision to cancel operations was "deeply concerning". She said that patients in Wales "deserve so much better".

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Source: BBC News, 6 January 2020

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Hysteroscopy without anaesthetic like being flayed alive

Undergoing a medical procedure without an anaesthetic felt like being "flayed alive", according to Dee Dickens.

The 53-year-old is one of many in the UK who have reported having a hysteroscopy, which is used to examine the uterus, without enough pain relief.

Clinical guidelines say patients must be given anaesthetic options before the gynaecological exam.

Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board said it was concerned by the experiences of Ms Dickens and urged her to get in touch.

Ms Dickens, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, had a hysteroscopy as an outpatient at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant after experiencing bleeding despite being menopausal.

Ms Dickens said her medical notes and past childhood sexual abuse were not considered and she was not offered a local anaesthetic prior to the procedure in October 2022.

Due to underlying health conditions, including fibromyalgia and Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS), she was reluctant to have a general anaesthetic as it would have left her "poorly for weeks" so she had the hysteroscopy on painkillers only.

"Everybody's bustling, so it's really difficult to advocate for yourself," said Ms Dickens.

When the procedure began, she said she felt extreme pain, adding: "I was very aware that I was a black woman who felt like she was being experimented on with no anaesthetic.

"They took out my coil and then they started on the biopsies and good God, that felt like being flayed alive. It was awful.

"It was like having my insides scraped out and blown up all at the same time."

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Source: BBC News, 27 November 2023

What is your experience of having a hysteroscopy? Add your story to our painful hysteroscopy hub community thread.

 

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Hyponatraemia: How documentary lifted the lid on a scandal that shocked parents to the core

In October 2004, UTV broadcast a documentary called When Hospitals Kill, which examined the deaths of Raychel Ferguson, Adam Strain and Lucy Crawford.

The programme claimed the children died from hyponatraemia because they had been given too much of the wrong type of fluid while in hospitals in Northern Ireland.

The following month, the then minister with responsibility for health in Northern Ireland, Angela Smith, announced a public inquiry into the allegations made in the UTV documentary and appointed Mr John O’Hara QC as chair of the inquiry.

Claire Roberts was then added to the remit of the inquiry after her parents viewed When Hospitals Kill and raised concerns over the circumstances of her death.

Following Claire’s death, her parents were told she had died as a result of a viral infection which spread to her brain, but they never fully understood what had happened to their only daughter.

Mr O’Hara then made a decision to also examine the death of 15-year-old Conor Mitchell.

Publishing his findings in January 2018, Mr Justice O’Hara said that four of the five deaths he had examined were preventable.

In a scathing assessment of the health service, he said that “doctors and managers cannot be relied upon to do the right thing at the right time” and that some witnesses to the inquiry “had to have the truth dragged out of them”.

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Source: Belfast Telegraph, 29 March 2022

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Hyponatraemia inquest an opportunity for the truth, mother says

The mother of a nine-year-old girl who died from hyponatraemia has said a new inquest that started today is "an opportunity for truth".

Raychel Ferguson, from Londonderry, died at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in June 2001.

Her parents, Ray and Marie Ferguson, have long campaigned to find out the truth about their daughter's death.

Hyponatraemia is an abnormally low level of sodium in blood and can occur when fluids are incorrectly administered.

Mrs Ferguson said the fact there was a second inquest "speaks to the culture of cover up that has plagued her death, involving the medical and legal professions".

An inquiry in 2018 into the deaths of five children in Northern Ireland hospitals, including Raychel, found her death was avoidable.

The 14-year-long inquiry into hyponatraemia-related deaths was heavily critical of the "self-regulating and unmonitored" health service.

In January 2022, a new inquest opened but was postponed in October after new evidence came to light.

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Source: BBC News, 2 May 2023

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Hunt: Tax will need to rise to fund health and care

Jeremy Hunt believes spending on the NHS will have to rise and that the increase should be funded through higher taxation.

Mr Hunt was speaking at an event less than 48 hours before the prime minister asked him to replace Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor.

In a discussion last Wednesday evening with HSJ editor Alastair McLellan and the audience at an event held as part of the Shoreham Literary Festival event, Mr Hunt also rejected the introduction of a social insurance model to fund the NHS and re-iterated the pressing need for the NHS to have a long-term workforce plan.

Asked by HSJ if the voices in the Conservative Party calling for a change from the NHS to a social insurance model had gained ascendancy, Mr Hunt said: “The game is not up for the NHS – absolutely not.

“We are all going to spend more on our health and care – if you’re in America you’re going to spend more through your insurance premiums – which are going to go up. If you’re in Holland and Germany you’re going to spend more through social insurance premiums. If you’re in Britain, Ireland or New Zealand you’re going to spend more through your taxes.”

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Source: HSJ, 17 October 2022

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Hunt tech adviser calls for ‘new central investment’

The NHS requires a ‘new central investment’ to achieve digital maturity and realise the potential of emerging technologies, according to the person who was commissioned by Jeremy Hunt to examine the issue in 2015.

Bob Wachter was commissioned by the then health and social care secretary in 2015, and authored the 2016 report Making IT Work, which called on all NHS trusts to achieve the “realistic target” of a good level of digital maturity by 2023.

While Professor Wachter told HSJ that there had been “reasonably good” progress, he said it was “not quite what I would have hoped for” seven years on from his report. 

He acknowledged that factors such as the pandemic and the subsequent economic situation slowed progress, but added that he was “a little bit worried” at the state of digital maturity in some areas, including interoperability and reliability of key systems such as electronic patient records.

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Source: HSJ, 1 November 2023

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Hunger-driven A&E admissions spiral amid cost-of-living crisis

Hungry patients are overwhelming NHS emergency departments at unprecedented levels, researchers claim.

Admissions to hospital Accident and Emergency (A&E) units because of hunger have more than tripled, rising by nearly 219 per cent in five years, figures suggest.

Analysis of NHS data shows a lack of food was the fastest growing cause of A&E admissions in England between 2018-19 and 2023-24, as food prices and poverty spiralled.

As the cost-of-living crisis gripped the UK, experts repeatedly warned that households were being plunged into poverty, with food bank use soaring and charities finding parents going hungry so their children could eat.

Health experts warned in 2022 that millions of people were facing a “significant humanitarian crisis”, exacerbated by rocketing fuel bills.

Paula Lingard, of the ID Band Company, which analysed the NHS data, said: “The significant rise in admissions related to lack of food is particularly concerning and may reflect growing food insecurity in England, highlighting the importance of addressing basic needs as part of our approach to public health.”

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Source: The Independent, 20 August 2025

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