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Human rights groups hit out at Trump expanding ‘disastrous and deadly’ abortion policy

Human rights groups and charities have hit out at the decision by Donald Trump's administration to extend the US policy that bars groups receiving foreign aid from promoting abortion — even using their own money — in what has been called a "disastrous and deadly" move.

Known as the "Mexico City policy" or by critics as the "global gag rule," the policy was reinstated by Trump when he returned to the White House last year. That followed a tradition for Republican presidents since Ronald Reagan introduced the policy in 1984. Democratic presidents have repeatedly dropped it.

In what Vice President JD Vance has called “a historic expansion of the Mexico City Policy”, the U.S. will stop funding any organization working on diversity and transgender issues abroad. Mr Vance says the change will make the policy “about three times as big as it was before... and we’re proud of it because we believe in fighting for life”.

In response, Amnesty International’s senior director for research, advocacy policy and campaigns, Erika Guevara-Rosas, said: “The expansion of the Global Gag Rule is an assault on human rights. By targeting organizations that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and recognise gender diversity, the Trump administration is deliberately deepening inequality and putting the lives of millions around the world at risk.

“The Global Gag Rule is a disastrous and deadly US policy. It strangles healthcare systems, censors information and violates the rights to health, information, and free expression... Doubling down on this policy is cruel, reckless and ideologically driven. Expanding it to international and U.S.-based organizations will impact the poorest and marginalised first and hardest," she added.

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Source: The Independent, 26 January 2026

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Hull cataract patient brings legal action over vision loss

A man claims he lost his sight in one eye after routine cataract surgery left him in "unbelievable" pain.

John Stabler, from East Yorkshire, is set to sue the maker of an artificial lens he had fitted last year and which was later recalled over safety fears.

The 63-year-old said he felt like he had been hit "with a sledgehammer" after the operation and had suffered "catastrophic" loss of income.

Manufacturer Nidek said it "profoundly regrets" any patient suffering.

Mr Stabler is one of 14 patients seeking compensation over the company's EyeCee One Preloaded lens.

He said he had suffered permanent nerve damage to his left eye after having the lens fitted at Hull and East Yorkshire Eye Hospital in October last year.

He told the BBC: "About two days after, I was getting really bad pain. It was unbelievable. It was like someone was hitting me with a sledgehammer."

NHS England issued a safety alert in January 2023 after Nidek announced a "voluntary and precautionary" global product recall of its EyeCee One and EyeCee One Crystal intraocular lenses.

UK distributor Bausch + Lomb said there has been "a limited number of reports of elevated intraocular pressure in patients".

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Source: BBC News, 19 September 2023

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Hull A&E is a 'death trap', whistleblowers warn

Whistleblowers have described the accident and emergency (A&E) department at Hull Royal Infirmary as "incredibly dangerous" and a "death trap".

The Care Quality Commission (CSC) found Hull University Teaching Hospitals required improvement overall and its A&E department was rated inadequate.

Two clinical staff members, who wished to remain anonymous, described it as a "toxic" place to work.

Speaking to the BBC, the two staff members who have worked in Hull's A&E department said they had raised concerns with senior managers and the CQC.

They said there were frequently fewer staff than needed and warned inexperienced staff, one whom had never seen a cardiac arrest, were working in areas like resuscitation, which was "incredibly dangerous".

"Nurses who aren't even signed off to give oral medication are being put in resuscitation," one said.

"It's a death trap, it is terrifying."

Despite these concerns, CQC inspectors in December and November did find the service "had enough nursing and support staff to keep patients safe".

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Source: BBC News, 28 March 2023

 

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Huge variation in referrals to flagship ‘urgent response’ service

Ground breaking new data on community services appears to show enormous variation between areas in the number of referrals for a “two-hour urgent response” being recorded. 

NHS England has published new provisional data on the performance of urgent community response services against a key NHS long-term plan target of reaching at least 70% of patients referred to them within two hours by December 2022.

It is the first time performance data has been published for community health services.

It also includes the number of referrals made which are reported as “in scope” of the target, and the total number of service contacts. There is huge variation in both referrals and contacts, not accounted for by the size of areas or population need. 

The publication of the first national performance data for community services was described as “an important moment for community providers” by Siobhan Melia, chair of the Community Network, which is part of NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation. She added it would “raise the profile of community services, and shine a light on the important work taking place in the sector”.

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Source: HSJ, 21 June 2022

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Huge rise in number of people in England’s A&Es for coughs or hiccups

Millions of people are turning to A&E departments in England for minor ailments including coughs, blocked noses and hiccups, according to data that health leaders say lays bare a failure to give patients prompt access to primary care.

Emergency wards are designed for serious injuries and life-threatening emergencies only. But many are becoming swamped with patients whose health concerns should be dealt with elsewhere, including a near tenfold increase in people seeking help for a cough.

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Source: Guardian, 31 December 2025

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Huge local variation in covid vaccination rates

Just a third of people aged 80 and over have received the covid vaccine in one part of England, compared to four out of five in the area with the highest rate, new NHS England figures have revealed. 

Gloucestershire delivered at least one dose of the vaccine to 85% of its over 80s population between 8 December and 17 January. Three other STPs — Northamptonshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and Lancashire and South Cumbria — have all delivered at least one dose to at least three-quarters of over 80s in the area.

By contrast, Suffolk and North East Essex has vaccinated just 36% of its over 80s population. A further seven of England’s 42 STP/Integrated Care Systems had vaccinated under half of their over 80s population.

The mixture of reasons for the differences are not known — it may be due to supply, delivery issues, the nature of the area, or the size of the over-80s population. NHS England has maintained that the vaccine is being used nearly as quickly as it is available each week, with supply the main constraint. NHSE decides when sites are able to open and when they have supply. 

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Source: HSJ, 21 January 2021

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Huge leap in breast cancer survival rate

The number of people who die after a breast cancer diagnosis has decreased by two-thirds since the 1990s, a study of more than half a million women in England has shown.

The research has taken ten years to complete, says Carolyn Taylor, lead author of the study and an oncologist at the University of Oxford, UK. The analysis includes the 512,447 women in England who were diagnosed with early invasive breast cancer between January 1993 and December 2015.

The results published in the BMJ found women who were diagnosed in 1993–99 had a 14.4% risk of dying within 5 years. This fell to 4.9% for women diagnosed in 2010–15.

Patient involvement was important to the study, Taylor says. The scientists appointed two patient representatives to guide their research. “They helped us in the questions to be addressed. They looked at the analyses and gave comments and suggestions throughout the study. And they helped us to interpret the results in the way that patients can understand.”

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Source: Nature, 23 June 2023

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Huge gulf in hospitals' ability to contain Covid

New analysis looking at the spread of Covid-19 in hospitals has revealed a massive gulf in ability to contain the virus during the first wave.

According to the published data, overall only 1 in 10 people actually caught the virus whilst in the hospital, however 314 UK hospitals showed that ranged from just one in 100 cases caught in hospital, to more than 1 in 4, with an estimate of between 5,700 and 11,900 people who were infected in hospital. 

Professor Calum Semple, one of the researchers from the University of Liverpool has said, "There will be tragedy behind this story, people that came into hospital with one problem, caught Covid and sadly died."

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Source: BBC News, 13 August 2021

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Huge fall in NHS Long Covid clinics, study finds

New research has revealed the number of NHS clinics for people living with Long Covid has more than halved, from a peak of 120 services in 2022 to 46 today.

Services for children and young people are also affected with 13 specialists hubs reduced to eight.

The BBC also discovered the NHS in England no longer monitored the status of Long Covid clinics and stopped doing so nearly a year ago.

Spokespeople for NHS England and the Department of Health confirmed they were no longer tracking how many Long Covid clinics were still operating.

Birmingham-based charity Long Covid Support used Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to ask hospitals about what clinics they have for patients.

Margaret O'Hara, from the group, said changes in the way clinics were funded inside the NHS had led to many services being merged or stopped altogether.

She told the BBC many parts of the NHS were "struggling to cope" and the picture for patients was one of "utter confusion".

After the initial infection with coronavirus, rather than getting better, patients are instead left dealing with any number of problems including fatigue, pain and breathing difficulties.

For many, getting any sort of diagnosis let alone treatment in a specialist NHS clinic is a long and sometimes fruitless journey, according to the support group.

In a survey of patients affected by the condition, a spokesperson for Long Covid Support said they found about half of those they talked to considered themselves disabled by the condition.

A similar number of adults surveyed also said they were not followed up by a healthcare professional and still had ongoing symptoms, despite when the NHS discharged them from treatment.

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Source: BBC News, 17 March 2025

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Huge drop in midwives’ morale amid Ockenden fallout

There has been a dramatic fall in morale among midwives across multiple measures within the NHS staff survey.

Although general morale deteriorated among most staffing groups in 2021, the results for midwives across numerous key measures have worsened to a far greater degree than average.

It comes amid the final Ockenden report into the maternity care scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust, which raised serious concerns about short staffing and people wanting to leave the profession.

The survey results, published on 31 March, suggest 52% of midwives are thinking about leaving their organisation, up 16 percentage points on the previous year. In comparison, the number of general nurses thinking of leaving was 33%, up just 5 percentage points.

Chris Graham, chief executive of healthcare charity the Picker Institute, which coordinates the staff survey, described the midwifery profession as an “outlier” in the 2021 results, in terms of how their experiences compare to other groups and how their responses have changed over time.

“Not only do midwives report worse experiences in many areas, but there is evidence of particularly sharp declines in some key measures,” Mr Graham said. “It appears likely that staffing shortages are a major factor here.”

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Source: HSJ, 13 April 2022

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Huge difference between side effects of different antidepressant drugs, study reveals

The side effects of different antidepressants have been ranked - revealing a huge difference between drugs.

Researchers looked at the impact medications had on patients in the first eight weeks of starting treatment.

It revealed individuals prescribed certain antidepressants may gain up to 2kg in weight, vary heart rate by as much as 21 beats every minute or have changes in blood pressure.

“Antidepressants are among the most widely used medicines in the world. While many people benefit from them, these drugs are not identical – some can lead to meaningful changes in weight, heart rate, and blood pressure in a relatively short period,” said senior author of the study Dr Toby Pillinger, an academic clinical lecturer at King’s IoPPN, a consultant psychiatrist.

Led by experts from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), the team analysed data from 58,534 participants across over 150 studies, comparing 30 antidepressants against a dummy drug, known as a placebo.

Researchers said that the findings, which have been published in The Lancet, should “empower” patients but urged them to speak with a medic if they have any concerns.

Study author Andrea Cipriani, professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, added: “Most clinical decisions – especially in mental health – are still made by physicians with little input from patients.

“Our results emphasise the importance of shared decision making, the collaborative process through which patients are supported by the clinicians to reach a decision about their treatment, bringing together their preferences, personal circumstances, goals, values and beliefs.

“This should be the way forward in the NHS and globally.”

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Source: The Independent, 22 October 2025

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Huge delays to access maternal mental health care in England called a scandal

NHS figures obtained by Labour reveal 11,507 women sought care but did not get any last year.

Almost 20,000 women a year living with mental health problems triggered by being pregnant or giving birth are being denied support by the NHS, the Guardian can reveal.

Furthermore, those who do receive mental health help for their trauma are having to wait up to 19 months to start treatment in some parts of England because specialist services are so overstretched.

The situation has been described as “an absolute scandal” and sparked warnings that “rationing” of such vital care could leave women who do not get it in a very vulnerable state and risk their children facing lifelong health problems and stop mothers bonding with their baby.

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Source: Guardian, 5 December 2023

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Huge cyber attack caused minimal patient harm, ICB claims

A cyber attack which crippled a region’s pathology system for three months caused only five cases of “moderate” harm and no significant harm, the NHS has claimed.

The Synnovis cyber attack in June left GPs across six boroughs in London unable to order blood tests, and more than 1,000 inpatient procedures were cancelled at two large hospital trusts.

But South East London Integrated Care Board said this week 498 incidents linked to the attack had been assessed, and all of them were judged to have done either “no harm” or “low harm” — except for five at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals, which were assessed as “moderate” harm.

The NHS’s incident response process judges “moderate” harm as where a patient “did not need immediate life-saving intervention” but needed or is likely to need other follow-up care. It is also triggered by them limiting a patient’s independence for less than six months or “affect[ing] the success of treatment, but without meeting the criteria for reduced life expectancy or accelerated disability.”

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Source: HSJ, 30 October 2024

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Huge covid death rate among vulnerable patients who have to travel to hospital

Dialysis patients who must travel to hospital are nearly four times as likely to die of covid than those aged over 80, but so far have not been prioritised for receiving vaccination, HSJ has learned. 

UK Renal Registry data shows that, from March to November 2020, 3.3% of all in-centre haemodialysis patients have died from covid (662 deaths out of a population of 20,000). This figure compares to a death rate of approximately 0.7% in all those aged over 80 and 1.8% in over 90s.

Although the government classifies dialysis patients as clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19, not all patients are able to receive dialysis at home and those receiving inpatient treatment still need to travel to dialysis clinics, either in main hospital buildings or smaller satellite clinics, three times a week.

At present the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation COVID-19 vaccine prioritisation list ranks all dialysis patients at priority level four, alongside all other shielding patients and those aged over 70. Priority one covers all care home residents and staff, while priority two covers all over 80s and frontline health workers.

The Renal Association wrote to Public Health England and JCVI over the weekend to ask for a change in vaccine prioritisation but, at the time of writing, has not received a response. 

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Source: HSJ, 9 December 2020

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HSIB's online feedback form launched

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has launched a new online feedback form so that anyone involved or interested in HSIB's healthcare safety investigations can "tell us what they think".

There are options to give feedback on national investigations in general, specific national investigations, maternity investigations and HSIB in general. 

The feedback form is available from the HSIB website

Source: HSIB, 1 August 2019

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HSIB to stop maternity investigations by 2021

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) will stop carrying out external maternity incident investigations by 2021, handing them back to the NHS, HSJ has learned.

Powers to allow HSIB to continue investigating more than 1,000 serious incidents in maternity units each year were left out of legislation which was presented to the House of Lords this week, sparking criticism from former health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The new bill gives HSIB statutory independence from the NHS alongside a range of powers, including the power to enter and seize documents and equipment that could be evidence. It also grants HSIB the power to keep information in a so-called safe space that cannot be shared, except in exceptional circumstances, with bodies like the General Medical Council.

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Source: HSJ, 18 October 219

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HSIB launches national investigation into ambulance delays

The national patient safety watchdog has launched an investigation into the “significant patient harm” caused by ambulances being forced to wait with patients outside of A&E.

The Health and Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has confirmed it intends to launch an investigation after it received several alerts expressing concerns over the issue of ambulance delays this year.

The investigation comes after The Independent revealed 160,000 patients had either died or come to harm as a result of delayed ambulance response times during 2020-21, which were being driven by delays in paramedics being able to hand over patients to hospitals.

The damning report, from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, included examples of severely ill patients not being treated properly, being forced to go to the toilet in ambulances, and being denied food and drink, as well as antibiotics and fluids.

There have been multiple reports of patients dying while waiting for ambulances or while waiting outside of A&Es on the back of ambulances.

In a statement to The Independent, HSIB said: “We recognise that handover delays pose a serious safety risk, potentially leading to significant patient harm and impacting on the wellbeing of NHS staff. We welcome the review by AACE as they have provided detailed insight and highlighted key safety concerns. HSIB has already received several referrals expressing similar concerns, which will be taken forward to a national investigation. We will work with AACE and others across the NHS to provide systemic safety learning to help address the challenges created by handover delays.”

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Source: The Independent, 2 December 2021

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HSIB launches investigation into community mental health care

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has launched an investigation into community mental health care following the death of a 56-year-old woman.

HSIB has begun examining how patients in crisis with severe mental health needs are assessed by NHS services.

The investigation came after warnings from multiple coroners over the poor assessment of suicide risk in people in mental health crisis in the last year and followed the death of Frances Wellburn, who took her own life in August 2020 while under the care of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation NHS Trust (TEWV).

Wellburn had long-term mental health problems but suffered a crisis and was admitted to hospital in September 2019.

Following discharge, she was not referred to a specialist NHS service for people experiencing psychosis because clinicians incorrectly believed she was too old for the service, according to a TEWV investigation report seen by The Independent.

Despite being assessed as a “medium risk”, Wellburn was not contacted by mental health teams for three months. In June 2020, she was admitted to an inpatient unit for three weeks, but her health deteriorated, and she later took her own life.

Separately, coroner warnings in three prevention of future deaths reports published last year found mental health staff failing to risk assess people who later took their own lives.

HSIB’s investigation will look into how patients’ risk is assessed when receiving care in the community and how services interact with families and other health services. It will also examine how mental health services consider menopause when assessing women’s mental health and referrals to early intervention psychosis services.

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Source: The Independent, 27 January 2022

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HSIB investigates oxygen issues during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) have launched a national investigation into the provision of piped oxygen gas supplies to hospitals.

During the COVID-19 pandemic there has been an increased demand for oxygen gas on hospital wards, with more patients needing oxygen therapy. Insufficient oxygen supply to seriously ill patients can have very severe consequences, including death.

The investigation is examining a major incident that took place at an acute hospital. Demands on their oxygen supply led to patients being diverted to other hospitals. In addition, patients were also transferred between clinical environments.

As part of HSIB's final investigation report, they will make safety recommendations to the appropriate national bodies in order to improve patient safety.

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Source: HSIB, 15 January 2021

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HSIB highlights impact of blood sampling errors across NHS

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) latest report highlights that mislabelling of blood samples could pose a deadly risk to patients.

National data indicates there were 792 ‘wrong blood in tube’ near misses (where the error was spotted in time and no patient suffered harm) relating to blood transfusion samples, in 2018 across England.

The reference event in the report is a case where patient details became mixed up on blood samples sent from a maternity unit. In the case of mislabelling on blood transfusion samples, the impact could be devastating. There’s the potential for serious injuries and even death. 

Dr Stephen Drage, HSIB Director of Investigations and ICU consultant, said: “Millions of blood tests are carried out across the NHS each year, from GP surgeries to large teaching hospitals. Most happen without incident but when it does go wrong it could represent a catastrophic outcome for patients, families and staff."

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Source: HSIB, 26 September 2019

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HSE tenders for €50m national electronic prescription service to reduce medication errors

The Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) is set to spend up to €50m on a new national electronic prescription service as it seeks to modernise as part of Ireland’s “broader digital health transformation”.

It has gone out to tender for the provision of this technology which it said will be rolled out in both public and private settings across the country’s healthcare system.

“Ireland’s healthcare system currently lags behind other European countries in its adoption of digital technologies,” it said.

“Its prescribing and dispensing processes are fragmented, with either Healthmail (secure email) or paper-based prescriptions being used. Healthcare providers often lack timely access to a patient’s complete medication history, leading to errors, communication gaps, and inefficiencies. Patients also have limited access to their medication information.” 

The current “healthmail” system has several limitations, according to the HSE, such as community pharmacy staff needing to locate and open patient files on the dispensing system and then transcribing details from prescriptions when they’re dispensing it.

The HSE said the new prescription service will be secure, efficient and a fully integrated digital service to transmit and store electronic prescriptions and dispensations for patients.

It will also integrate with existing and future health platforms and allow prescribers to generate prescriptions for patients electronically.

“It will enable accurate, timely access to medication information, which will enhance clinical decision-making, reduce medication errors, streamline clinical workflows, empower patients and improve overall patient care,” it said.

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Source: Irish Examiner, 25 May 2025

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HRT: Around 400,000 women to receive cheaper menopause treatment

Hundreds of thousands of women could benefit from cheaper hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as part of a scheme to cut prescription costs.

The Department of Health said that from April, women prescribed HRT as part of menopause treatment will be able to access a new scheme to enable access to a year’s worth of treatment for just under £20.

The announcement follows the publication of the government’s women’s health strategy for England last summer.

Minister for Women Maria Caulfield said: “Around three-quarters of women will experience menopause symptoms, with one-quarter experiencing severe symptoms, which can seriously impact their quality of life.

“Reducing the cost of HRT is a huge moment for improving women’s health in this country, and I am proud to be announcing this momentous step forward.

“In our Women’s Health Strategy, we made menopause a top priority – by making HRT more accessible, we’re delivering on our commitment to women.”

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Source: The Independent, 21 February 2023

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HRT should be offered as first-line treatment for menopause, says Nice

Women with menopause symptoms should be offered hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a first-line treatment, not therapy, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

Its final menopause guidelines for medics in England and Wales, published on Thursday, state that HRT is the preferred treatment for managing symptoms such as hot flushes, night sweats, depression and sleep problems, in what is seen as a climbdown from previous wording.

Controversial draft guidance published last November said women experiencing these menopausal symptoms could be offered cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) “alongside or as an alternative to” HRT.

The draft guidance provoked widespread criticism that it put CBT on a par with HRT, thereby belittling symptoms and harming women’s health.

Nice said it has responded to the feedback and rewritten the guidelines, which now say CBT should only be considered for patients on HRT who still have symptoms, or those who are unable or do not wish to take HRT.

Prof Jonathan Benger, chief medical officer and interim director of the centre for guidelines at Nice, said: “We are not suggesting that CBT is an alternative to HRT. It’s not an either/or, and we have worked through the guidelines extensively to really clarify this point.

“We are very keen to emphasise that HRT is our recommended first-line therapy for vasomotor symptoms [night sweats and hot flushes] and for [other] symptoms of menopause.”

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Source: The Guardian, 7 November 2024

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HRT medicine to be sold over the counter for first time

Previously offered as prescription only, estradiol tablets, sold under the brand name Gina10, will now be available to women over the age of 50 who have not had a period for more than a year, as part of hormone replacement therapy treatment (HRT).

Pharmacists have been offered training to identify who needs the tablets.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) made the decision as part of a strategy to make menopause treatment more accessible for women.

Estradiol tablets treat vaginal symptoms caused by a lack of oestrogen, such as dryness, soreness, itching, burning and uncomfortable sex.

The product is inserted into the vagina rather than taken by mouth.

MHRA chief healthcare quality and access officer Dr Laura Squire called the move a "landmark reclassification for millions of women in the UK".

"In reaching this decision, we have seen positive support from a wide range of people, including many women aged 50 years and above who could benefit from this decision," she said.

The MHRA hopes the move will relieve pressure on front-line NHS services and give women more freedom in choosing treatments that work for them.

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Source: BBC News, 8 September 2022

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