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How East Cheshire NHS is tackling a major cancer problem

East Cheshire faces a serious issue with head and neck cancer, with missed target times and inefficient practices leading to worsening outcomes for patients.

That’s prompted officials from the NHS Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to come up with a plan of action to tackle the problem — but as Cheshire East councillors heard this week, it’s hit a snag.

Since 2014, the East Cheshire NHS Trust and Manchester Foundational Trust (MFT) have co-delivered the head and neck cancer pathway. This means that patients are seen by staff at Macclesfield Hospital for diagnostic tests — and if malignant cells are detected, then the patient will be referred on to Wythenshawe for surgery or, if sadly needed, East Cheshire’s own palliative care team for supportive care.

In a presentation to CEC’s health scrutiny committee, the CCG said just 10% of patients in the borough were seen at Macclesfield within the 62-day target time in Q3 of 2019/20 — against a desired level of 85%.

Simon Goff, chief operating officer of East Cheshire NHS Trust, told the committee: “There is no one stop service - which is where a patient gets diagnostics all on the same day. Biopsies are not always up to the standards required so patients need to have it again. This is a key weakness in the existing service.”

The lack of a ‘one stop service’ means there are no on-site pathology services — so samples are taken off-site for testing, and with biopsies needing to be analysed within 24 hours of collection, it results in 39% of all patients having to undergo the procedure again.

So what did East Cheshire do about it?

The first step was to launch a consultation, with 64 former patients out of roughly 300 eligible providing feedback to the Trust over the summer. The ‘robust’ consultation, saw patients express their desire to ‘know what is going on as soon as possible’, with the ‘issue of travel being outweighed by [the desire for] a quick diagnosis’.

Fortunately for health chiefs in Cheshire, there are ‘outstanding’ hospitals surrounding the county — with the Care Quality Commission giving top marks to hospitals in Salford, St Helens, and The Christie in Didsbury.

So with East Cheshire’s patients happy to travel a distance in order to gain a quick and accurate diagnosis, and the existing partnership with Manchester’s trust, officials are proposing moving some patients experiencing positive diagnoses and ‘bad news’ cases to MFT sites, such as The Christie or Wythenshawe Hospital.

The idea is that ‘neck lump’ patients will be immediately sent to Wythenshawe, with all other patients undergoing initial tests in Macclesfield first before being either sent home with the all clear, or referred on.

Biopsies will be done in Wythenshawe, as will ‘breaking bad news’ appointments — where patients are told of a positive cancer diagnosis.

Officials say this solution ‘would start to address some of the clinical and performance concerns’ by cutting the average diagnosis wait time from four weeks down to one, reducing the amount of appointments patients need to attend, and allowing for continuity of care throughout treatment.

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Source: Knutsford Guardian, 10 October 2020

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How dying patients in palliative care face ‘postcode lottery’ in their final days

Dying individuals across the UK are facing a "postcode lottery" in their final moments, according to a new report from MPs.

The Health and Social Care Committee has declared palliative and end-of-life care services "inadequate", highlighting the "significant pressure" under which providers are currently operating.

“It feels unthinkable that specialist care services for those who are close to passing away are somehow undervalued in the NHS.

“And yet that is the heartbreaking reality that too many frightened patients and their families, including of young children, have to encounter during some of their most trying moments, when help is most needed,” said committee chairwoman Layla Moran.

“These services are under significant pressure, with providers struggling to fund and commission the right care, and individuals entering a ‘postcode lottery’ of care in their most vulnerable moments at the end of life, the authors wrote.

“These issues are further compounded by a workforce declining in numbers, a lack of access to and use of effective data, a poorly equipped social care system, and an unsustainable funding model.”

The group has called for specific standards for how children’s palliative care should be provided; the need for 24/7 services throughout the country and a plan to strengthen the specialist workforce in the sector.

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Source: The Independent, 24 March 2026

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How doctors are exposed and vulnerable due to the current 'blame culture'

The patient lay slumped next to a pile of pills and a personally signed note reading: 'do not resuscitate me'. His breathing was agonal, his skin mottled, his pupils fixed, no pulse discernible. The attending doctor, in agreement with both paramedics and family member, decided to respect his wishes. Yet, this GP was placed under investigation for gross negligence manslaughter by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for not resuscitating the patient, setting in motion a sequence of investigations, including by the coroner and the General Medical Council (GMC), that were triggered by the statement of one policeman at the scene. 

All investigations and allegations were eventually dismissed but not until the GP had been through years of significant physical and mental stress. Still today, questions remain unanswered – in particular, concerning the actions of the police and the CPS.

Speaking under the condition of anonymity, the GP spoke to Medscape News UK, and said that now, over 7 years after that fateful home visit, she remained resolute that she made the correct clinical decisions at the time.

"It has all been very stressful for me. What was behind this case? What was driving this potential prosecution? And throughout, the patient, the family and their concerns were completely forgotten in the pursuit of so-called justice," she pointed out.

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Source: Medscape News, 9 March 2023

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How COVID-19 has disrupted efforts to care for blood cancer patients

Blood cancer patients are one of the most vulnerable groups of people at risk of COVID-19, according to research, being 57% more likely to suffer severe disease compared to other cancer patients. 

Despite the high risk these patients face, charities such as Anthony Nolan, which assist blood cancer patients with finding a stem cell match, were left out of the allocated government budget that was announced in March.

The cancellation of face-to-face fundraising and events, despite the increase in demand for services, have led their gross income to be down by an estimated £5.5m for 2021.

Henny Braund, chief executive of the charity, said people with blood cancer and blood disorders were “heavily impacted by the pandemic and everyone who needs treatment and support must be able to access it without delay”.

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Source: The Independent, 9 May 2021

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How Covid is pushing up waiting lists for cancer treatment

New figures have quantified what the pandemic has meant for cancer waiting lists—and the impact is stark. 

Official data show that 15,971 cancer patients in the UK have had to wait more than 124 days, or four months, after diagnosis for their treatment to start since 2020 as the pandemic sends waiting lists soaring. The statistics show that the number of untreated patients has more than doubled since Covid began, with one patient waiting for more than two years, according to data released following a freedom of information request from the Liberal Democrats. This is despite an NHS target for patients to receive cancer treatments within two months of an urgent referral.

Last year, 6,334 patients waited more than 124 days, compared to 2,922 in 2022, the figures show. Data was received from 69 out of 137 acute health trusts in the UK, meaning the true number of people waiting long periods for treatment is likely to be much higher. Over 1,100 cancer patients last year were left waiting more than six months to receive treatment, triple the NHS target time.

Liberal Democrat Leader, Ed Davey, said: “Every single one of these figures is a tragedy. Long delays for treatment can have a devastating impact on cancer patients and their families, and in certain cases can even cost lives."

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Source: inews, 22 April 2024

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How Covid has dealt the NHS a lasting blow

The NHS in England has more funding and staff than before the pandemic - but in many types of care, it is treating fewer patients. Why?

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says this is a puzzle with no simple explanation - but the pandemic has dealt a lasting blow to the NHS and it could be costing more to treat patients, on average, than before.

Despite higher staff sickness rates, compared with pre-pandemic levels, the NHS has available to work:

  • 8% more nurses
  • 9% more consultants
  • 15% more junior doctors.

But - not counting those filled by patients who have tested positive for Covid, even though they may be there mainly for something else - there were 5% fewer beds available in the third quarter of this year than in 2019, the IFS says.

IFS research economist Max Warner says: "The NHS is showing clear signs of strain heading into the winter and is treating fewer patients than it was pre-pandemic, across many types of care.

"The real risk, almost three years on from the start of the pandemic, is that the Covid hit to NHS performance is not time-limited.

"Going forward, we need to grapple with the possibility that the health service is just able to treat fewer patients with the same level of resources."

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "As the IFS report acknowledges, Covid had a significant impact on the NHS, and we are focused on delivering the biggest catch-up programme in health history".

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Source: BBC News, 14 December 2022

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How could watchdogs fail so spectacularly to keep care home residents and staff safe?

Care homes are the focus of the COVID-19 outbreak in England and Wales. At least 40% of all coronavirus deaths have occurred in the very places dedicated to keeping people safe in their later years.

The under-reporting of deaths, the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing available to staff, and the total focus on the NHS at the expense of the social care sector have all contributed to an estimated 22,000 deaths in care homes – places that government had originally advised were “very unlikely” to experience infection.

But how could care homes have been failed so badly, and what checks and balances should have been in place to prevent this?

Care homes in England are regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). One of its key responsibilities is to carry out inspections and visits to ensure providers meet fundamental standards of quality and safety; however, as of 16 March, the regulator stopped all routine inspections to “focus on supporting providers to deliver safe care during the pandemic”.

Had the CQC continued its inspections, it would have been in a position to challenge cases where PPE was being diverted away from care homes to the NHS, and to aid struggling homes in their battle to secure tests for staff and residents. Instead, care homes have effectively been left to fend for themselves.

On top of this, the CQC joined similar bodies in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in refusing to publish detailed data on care home deaths, arguing instead for a need to “avoid confusion” and to protect “the privacy and confidentiality of those who have died and their families”.

Families and the wider public have a right to know when and where COVID-19 outbreaks are happening, and this lack of transparency is deeply troubling.

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Source: The Guardian, 1 June 2020

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How close were hospitals to collapse in Covid?

Jim Reed, health reporter for the BBC reports on the impact of Covid at it's peak. 

"We’ve long been told that hospitals were struggling to cope during the pandemic. In January 2021, then prime minister Boris Johnson warned the NHS was “under unprecedented pressure But now many hours of testimony to the Covid inquiry this autumn is offering our clearest understanding yet of what was really going on at the height of the pandemic."

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Source: BBC Online, 28 October 2024

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How chatbots are helping doctors be more human and empathetic

Despite the drawbacks of turning to artificial intelligence in medicine, some US physicians find that ChatGPT improves their ability to communicate with patients.

Last year, Microsoft and OpenAI released the first free version of ChatGPT. Within 72 hours, doctors were using the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot.

Experts expected that ChatGPT and other A.I.-driven large language models could take over mundane tasks that eat up hours of doctors’ time and contribute to burnout, like writing appeals to health insurers or summarising patient notes. However, they found that doctors were asking ChatGPT to help them communicate with patients in a more compassionate way.

Dr Michael Pignone, the chairman of the department of internal medicine at the University of Texas at Austin, has no qualms about the help he and other doctors on his staff got from ChatGPT to communicate regularly with patients.

However, skeptics like Dr Dev Dash, who is part of the data science team at Stanford Health Care, are so far underwhelmed about the prospect of large language models like ChatGPT helping doctors. In tests performed by Dr Dash and his colleagues, they received replies that occasionally were wrong but, he said, more often were not useful or were inconsistent. If a doctor is using a chatbot to help communicate with a patient, errors could make a difficult situation worse.

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Source: New York Times, 12 June 2023

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How can we make the most of a rapidly digitalised landscape, whilst still looking after our NHS people?

Niamh McKenna, Chief Information Officer at NHS Resolution, hosted the recent digital focussed event, ‘2020: A Catalyst for Rapid NHS Digital Transformation’. Panellists from NHS England & Improvement, Health Education England, and Microsoft, looked to dissect the rapid acceleration of digitalisation in our NHS over the last twelve months, and what this means for our sector and our workforce.

The two hour event hosted over 100 attendees and live-streamed on YouTube, allowing delegates to hear about the key considerations for the impact of a new digital-first way of working.

Looking at the good and the bad from the last twelve months, the panellists shared insight into digital-first training, technology fatigue on the workforce, revolutionary digital approaches from case studies on COVID-19 wards, and much more.

One important topic associated with digital is the role of learning for our NHS workforce, and Henrietta Mbeah-Bankas, Head of Blended Learning and Digital Literacy at Health Education England, raised some interesting opportunities, challenges, and considerations around digital learning for the workforce:

“Properly defining digital literacy is one of the first vital steps for a digital transformation strategy to succeed, we can’t continue to make assumptions like ‘Millennials are digital-natives’."

“There are three groups we need to consider to properly develop an inclusive digital transformation strategy that will be effective – the digitally engaged, digitally ambivalent, and those that say, ‘I don’t do tech’. For me there’s also a fourth group, those who are actually digitally excluded. Until you understand the barriers these people have and consider how they’ll approach digital solutions, you can’t begin to create an inclusive digital strategy that will ensure everyone comes on the journey with you."

Niamh's key take-away from the event was that we need to make sure we continue to embrace rapid digital transformation, use it as a catalyst to get stuff done, improve work, improve lives, and improve patient care. We must use all this data available to us to understand the good and the not so good outcomes from the pandemic to shape initiatives for our new future.

A recording of this event is now available to watch on demand here, along with downloadable supportive resources shared by the panellists.

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Source: Health Tech Newspaper, 30 November 2020

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How a debrief programme can help traumatised NHS staff

Mike Stylianou, an operating department practioner, discusses how personal experiences led himself and a colleague to set up a debrief team for the operating theatres at Great Ormond Street hospital.

"Healthcare professionals aren’t robots. When something goes tragically wrong, our debriefing programme supports them."

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Source: The Guardian, 24 October 2019

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How 175 British children were infected with HIV

At least 175 children with the blood disorder haemophilia were infected with HIV in the 1980s, according to documents from the national archives seen by BBC News. Some of the families affected are giving evidence at a public inquiry into what has been called the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.

It was almost 36 years ago - in late October 1986 - but Linda will never forget the day she was told her son had been infected.

She had been called into a consulting room in Birmingham Children's Hospital, with 16-year-old Michael.

As a toddler, he had been diagnosed with haemophilia, a genetic disorder that stopped his blood clotting properly.

Linda assumed the meeting was to discuss moving his care to the main Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the city.

"It was so routine that my husband stayed in the car outside," she says.

"Then, all of a sudden, the doctor said, 'Of course, Michael is HIV positive,' and he came out with it like he was talking about the weather outside. My stomach just fell."

Between 1970 and 1991, 1,250 people with blood disorders were infected with HIV in the UK after taking Factor VIII - a new treatment that replaced the clotting protein missing from their blood.

About half of those infected with HIV died of an Aids-related illness before life-saving antiretroviral drugs became available.

Almost three decades later, Linda is giving evidence to the long-running public inquiry into the treatment disaster.

She will appear alongside other parents, in a special session about the experiences of families whose children were infected in the 1970s and 80s.

"I felt as though I needed to do it because I want to help get to the bottom of it," she says. "We all want to know why it was allowed to happen and to keep on happening as well."

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Source: BBC News, 6 October 2022

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Housebound people being missed for vaccination, NHS warned

People who need to receive their covid vaccinations at home are missing out because their eligibility is not being recognised by GPs, experts have warned.

There have been numerous reports of housebound people being told they are ineligible for a home visit in recent weeks, with some home care providers saying only a minority of their elderly clients have been vaccinated so far.

Chit Selvarajah, policy manager at the charity Independent Age, said: “We have heard from people who say they are housebound being told they weren’t considered as housebound and told to go to a vaccination centre as they are not eligible for a home visit."

“We don’t know how many people have been vaccinated but it’s likely to be very small numbers at the moment.”

Ruthe Isden, head of health and care influencing at Age UK, believes some older people have “slipped into being effectively housebound” over the last year, and are not yet registered as such on GP databases.

She said: “The pandemic has hit the fast forward button on ageing for a lot of people. They’ve aged a long way in a short period and seen their health really deteriorate, and often they are not going to proactively identify themselves as needing more help."

“It’s vital we are thinking systematically about reaching this group. At the moment, there seems to be considerable variation in how people are followed up.”

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Source: HSJ, 22 February 2021

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Hospitals’ ‘long-term poor culture’ called out by CQC

A major acute trust has been warned by the Care Quality Commission about a “long-term history of poor culture” in one of its departments.

Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust has received a warning notice from the Care Quality Commission over its children and young people’s services, following an inspection last November.

Chief executive Matthew Hopkins told the trust board in June that several concerns were raised by the CQC, including over “actions to improve the long-term history of poor culture and ineffective multidisciplinary team working”.

The CQC told HSJ its inspectors also identified concerns about culture, management and oversight of safety risks and a lack of learning from incidents. It said it carried out the inspection after concerns were identified through its ongoing monitoring.

A Section 29A warning notice means the CQC believes significant improvements in the quality of healthcare are required.

Nicki Abbott, the managing director for women and children, said an action plan was being developed in light of the warning notice. She said: “The issues relating to culture are known and were already being addressed”.

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Source: HSJ, 17 June 2025

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Hospitals with unsafe concrete expected to miss rebuild deadline

Work to fix hospitals built using unsafe concrete will not be completed in time to meet the government's target, a new report has warned.

Seven hospitals built using Raac, or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, were prioritised for remedial work last year, with the government setting a deadline of 2030.

The new buildings are now expected to open in 2032 and 2033 - but some are already facing pressure to meet the revised timetable, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.

In a number of hospitals, roofs are being supported by metal props and some areas have been closed as unsafe.

Meanwhile, affected health trusts face huge maintenance bills to keep their aging buildings safe.

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Source: BBC News, 16 January 2025

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Hospitals with the highest avoidable admissions

Around 15% of emergency admissions at some trusts are potentially avoidable, according to new NHS England data.

NHS England started publishing data  on the amount of non-elective hospital admissions that “may be avoidable” at the beginning of the year.

HSJ analysis of this shows the national average at 10%, but this rises to up to 15%t at some trusts in the 12 months to January 2026, the most recent month of data. 

This means around one in six patients who were urgently admitted to hospital, and spent at least a day there, could have instead been seen by ambulatory, or same-day emergency care services.

The data focuses solely on hospital admissions, which could have been treated in other care settings, rather than “avoidable” accident and emergency attendances, which HSJ has previously reported on.

The national data, which now goes back to 2021, shows the avoidable admission rate has remained relatively stable at around 10%.

Sarah Scobie, deputy director of research at the Nuffield Trust, said: “The fact we aren’t seeing a decline in the proportion of these admissions that are potentially avoidable could come as disappointing news for Department of Health and Social Care, as efforts to shift care away from acute hospitals and into the community haven’t yet translated into fewer preventable admissions.”

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Source: HSJ, 13 May 2026

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Hospitals where the poor wait much longer than the rich

Some of the NHS’s best performing trusts have a big gap between waiting times for their most and least deprived patients. 

NHS England published data for the first time this summer which breaks down waiting times for each trust and integrated care system by the index of multiple deprivation (IMD).

HSJ  has analysed the new data. At a national level, it confirms the widely accepted view that a greater share of patients who live in postcodes with the worst IMD ratings are waiting longer for elective care. The same applies to people with a Bangladeshi or Pakistani background, and some mixed ethnic backgrounds.

However, HSJ’s  analysis also reveals some trusts and systems have a much bigger gap than others when it comes to the percentage of more and less deprived people waiting more than 18 weeks.

Several of those trusts and systems with the biggest gaps serve a wealthier than average population overall, and are among the better performers nationally when it comes to treating their patients from the wealthiest areas.

Nationally, 59.2% of patients on the elective waiting list who are living in postcodes in the most deprived IMD decile (1) have been waiting within the national target time of 18 weeks. This compares to 60.9% of those living in areas earmarked as belonging to the wealthiest decile (10) – a gap of 1.7 percentage points.

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Source: HSJ, 4 September 2025

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Hospitals washing gowns at 60C to re-use PPE as stocks run low

Some hospitals are washing single-use protective gowns at 60C so they can be used several times by frontline staff because of the ongoing shortage, according to a senior NHS official.

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, also said hospitals could not rely on government promises that more personal protective equipment (PPE) was on the way – saying there was “relatively low confidence” a shipment of 400,000 gowns would arrive from Turkey on Monday.

The head of the membership organisation for NHS trusts in England said some trusts had taken to “hand-to mouth” arrangements, with one discovering that some types of gowns remained fluid-repellent if washed at high temperatures.

“There is no doubt that at the moment, we have now got trusts who have definitely got shortages of gowns,” Mr Hopson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Trust leaders are doing absolutely everything they can to try and address that problem.”

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Source: The Independent, 20 April 2020

 

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Hospitals warned end-of-life care crisis threatening treatment

A rising number of end-of-life patients in hospitals could affect the level of treatment carried out this winter, a group of regional NHS leaders have been told.

A consultant in palliative care highlighted the impending "crisis" during an online internal meeting of health leaders in Sussex, a recording of which has been heard by the BBC.

The consultant at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust described dilemmas facing hospital managers when some patients are having to be given end-of-life care in A&E corridors.

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Source: BBC, 29 December 2025

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Hospitals using out-of-date sepsis triage tools put A&E patients at risk

Some hospitals are using an out of date triaging tool for emergency patients suffering from sepsis that could leave them at risk of harm.

A warning has been issued to NHS trusts to make sure their triage tools are up to date with the latest advice after several reported incidents in accident and emergency departments.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine flagged the risk to NHS England in a letter seen by The Independent warning patients could come to harm if action wasn’t taken.

NHS England and NHS Digital has issued an alert to hospital chief executives warning of a potential safety risk.

It told members: “The latest version of the system has updated treatment priorities especially in relation to the treatment of adult and paediatric sepsis. It is therefore crucial that if your organisation uses the Manchester Triage System clinical risk management triage tool, please ensure that the most recent version is being used and where this is not the case, specific local mitigation for the risks is in place.”

It added that hospitals should ensure the latest versions of any clinical systems were being used to safeguard patient care.

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Source: The Independent, 8 April 2021

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Hospitals urged to use retired staff to cut backlog

NHS bosses in England are urging hospitals to offer staff more overtime and tempt retired employees back, to help tackle waiting lists.

A letter sent by NHS England said tackling the backlog that had grown during the pandemic would require a "number of high impact actions".

And many hospitals were already taking innovative approaches to the issue.

More than six million people are on waiting lists for treatment such as knee and hip surgery.

According to the General Medical Council, 21,000 doctors are due to retire in September.

And part of the plan would be to tempt some of those back by offering part-time opportunities to:

  • train students
  • run virtual consultations
  • help with follow-up check-ups.

Other measures recommended by NHS England are:

  • removing caps on consultant hours - in some places senior doctors are limited to 40 hours a week - to offer extra shifts where safe
  • offering more bank shifts - overtime opportunities for trust rather than agency staff
  • increasing the use of NHS reservists - members of the public who have signed up to work for the NHS for at least 30 days a year - to help run wards, feed patients and provide support for the Covid-vaccination programme
  • exploring taking simple procedures, such as cataract surgery, out of operating theatres and into other parts of the hospital.

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Source: BBC News, 5 May 2022

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Hospitals urged to offer patients more gown sizes

Hospitals are being asked to offer a wider range of gown sizes to better protect patients' dignity.

It follows the experience of a patient from Wiltshire who said she was offered a gown that was "far too small" during a hospital stay in Bristol.

Barbara Gale said it gaped at the back and made her feel "embarrassed".

The experience sparked calls for more sizing options..

An independent study conducted by the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow in 2019 asked patients across the UK for their thoughts on the issue of hospital gowns.

Consultant clinical psychologist for the NHS, Nicola Cogan, led the research and said the findings showed Ms Gale's experience was not an isolated case.

She said: "We spoke to a 1,000 patients and found over two thirds reported they struggled to get a gown on themselves and 70% reported the gown did not fit".

"It's not cost effective for the NHS, but also it shows that the gown is currently not fit for purpose."

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Source: BBC News, 13 March 2023

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Hospitals trigger emergency measures as patients wait 13 hours in the back of ambulances

An NHS trust has spent more than two weeks running on emergency measures after skyrocketing demand since mid-September, while others have kept people waiting for more than a dozen hours in the backs of ambulances.

The Independent has learnt one patient in the West Midlands spent 13 hours waiting to be handed over to staff at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust.

Gloucester Hospitals Trust declared its internal incident on 19 September and only stood it down on 5 October, while London’s Barnet Hospital took similar extraordinary action on Monday due to high demand. And at North Middlesex Hospital staff saw more than 200 patients crowd into the emergency department on Monday afternoon.

Declaring an internal incident is designed to activate measures that help hospitals deal with a sudden peak of demand and should only last for a short time.

Such pressures are being felt across the country with NHS managers seriously concerned about what the coming months will look like as temperatures dip. One said they had not seen things as bad in more than a decade.

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Source: The Independent, 13 October 2021

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Hospitals too often unsafe for Parkinson's patients, says charity

Many patients with Parkinson’s disease say they are not always given their drugs on time when in hospital, leaving some unable to walk or talk, according to the charity Parkinson's UK. Hospitals were too often unsafe for people with the disease, leaving them scared of ending up there.

Almost two in three people with Parkinson’s do not always get their medication on time while receiving inpatient care, according to the charity’s research.

Of the 700 patients questioned between May and July this year, 78% said their health had suffered as a result of poor medication management in hospital. Setbacks included tremors, anxiety and losing the ability to walk or talk.

Lloyd Tingley, the Parkinson's UK senior policy and campaigns adviser, said: “It’s clear that hospitals aren’t always the safest places for people with Parkinson’s, with many sharing with us that they’re terrified of ever having to be admitted.”

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Source: The Guardian, 8 October 2019

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