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Harrowing stories of burned out NHS doctors bullied and broken

Dedicated to caring for the sick and vulnerable, junior ­doctors should expect to be ­supported and valued as they carry out their vital work. However, hundreds have revealed they are subjected to bullying and harassment at overstretched hospitals that have been plunged into a staffing crisis by a decade of savage health cuts.

A Mirror investigation uncovered harrowing stories of young medics being denied drinking water during gruelling shifts, working for 15 hours on their feet non-stop and of uncaring managers tearing into them for breaking down in tears over the deaths of patients.

One was even accused of “stealing” surgical scrubs she took to wear after suffering a miscarriage at work. The distraught woman finished her shift wearing blood-soaked trousers, instead of going home to rest.

Doctors are now quitting in their droves, leaving those left ­struggling to cope with a growing ­workload. The Mirror investigation reveals the reality of working for an NHS which has been subject to a record funding squeeze and is 8,000 medics short.

Health chiefs vowed to ­investigate the Mirror’s evidence from 602 ­testimonials submitted to the lobbying group Doctors Association UK.

Chairman Dr Rinesh Parmar said: “These heartbreaking stories from across the country show the extent of bullying and harassment that frontline doctors face whilst working to care for patients".

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Source: The Mirror, 12 February 2020

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Harrowing ‘systemic abuse’ at children’s hospitals revealed

Children say they were “treated like animals” and left traumatised as part of a decade of “systemic abuse” by a group of mental health hospitals, an investigation by The Independent and Sky News has found.

The Department of Health and Social Care has now launched a probe into the allegations of 22 young women who were patients in units run by The Huntercombe Group, which has run at least six children’s mental health hospitals, between 2012 and this year.

They say they suffered treatment including the use of “painful” restraints and being held down for hours by male nurses, being stopped from going outside for months and living in wards with blood-stained walls. They also allege they were given so much medication they had become “zombies” and were force-fed.

Through witness testimony, documents obtained by Freedom of Information request and leaked reports, the investigation has uncovered:

  • The CQC has received more than 700 whistleblowing and safeguarding reports, including “incidents of concern” and several “sexual safety” concerns.
  • NHS England was notified of 195 safeguarding reports between 2020 and 2021.
  • A 2018 internal report at Meadow Lodge hospital in Newton Abbot (now closed) found staff members using sexually inappropriate language in front of patients.
  • 160 reports investigated by Staffordshire police about Huntercombe Staffordshire between 2015 and 2022.
  • Between March 2021 and 2022, the CQC gave permission for 29 patients to be admitted to Maidenhead hospital after it was placed in special measures.

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Source: The Independent, 17 November 2022

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Harmless vaccine side effect could mimic cancer in mammograms

One consequence of an active immune response can be an enlarged lymph node. And, because coronavirus vaccines activate the immune system, some people have swollen nodes in the days following a vaccine.

These are harmless if uncomfortable side effects – but they can be misleading when scanned by a radiologist, including during a mammogram.

After vaccination, a swollen lymph node may appear as a lump in the armpit. These glands are hotbeds of immune activity, filtering pathogens and storing germ-fighting cells. If you’ve had a sore throat or a cold, there’s a chance you’ve felt a swollen node in your neck. The post-vaccine node may be palpable, too.

Any swelling should resolve within days, and if it does, it isn’t a cause for concern. However, should it persist for multiple weeks, then it’s not a bad idea to notify your doctor.

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Source: The Independent, 21 March 2021

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Harm to patients ‘normalised’ as ‘burned-out’ paramedics work without breaks, care watchdog warns

Harm to patients has become “normalised” as burned-out paramedics are working without breaks, the national care watchdog has warned.

Concerns over the pressures on staff at South East Coast Ambulance Service have been raised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Senior staff told the CQC that patients were being adversely affected by ambulance delays but it was now being seen as “part of the culture”.

The CQC found pressures on staff within the South East Coast Ambulance Service, such as long waits outside of the emergency department, had led to low morale and staff feeling they were not valued.

It said: “Staff described feeling frustrated and burnout and that senior leaders did not understand or respond to the challenges or concerns they raised. Some local senior managers described that harm to patients, caused by delays in reaching them, had become normalised as a culture.”

“At times there were many outstanding category 3 [urgent] patients awaiting an ambulance or assessment by a paramedic practitioner. At busy times, these patients waited for extended lengths of time for crews and callbacks. Therefore, this group of patients were at risk of deterioration whilst they were waiting for a response.”

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Source: The Independent, 26 October 2022

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Harm to AstraZeneca jab’s reputation ‘probably killed thousands’

Scientists and politicians “probably killed hundreds of thousands of people” by damaging the reputation of the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to an Oxford scientist who worked on the jab.

Prof John Bell said: “They have damaged the reputation of the vaccine in a way that echoes around the rest of the world.”

“I think bad behaviour from scientists and from politicians has probably killed hundreds of thousands of people – and that they cannot be proud of that,” he told a BBC Two documentary

When the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab was rolled out in the UK government advisers recommended under-40s should be offered an alternative due to a link to very rare blood clots.

Fears over the links to blood clots also led other countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, Iceland and Thailand, to pause their use of the vaccine.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has also not played a significant role in the booster programme. The BBC reported it accounted for only 48,000 of the more than 37m booster doses given in the UK.

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Source: Guardian, 7 February 2022

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Harlow hospital suspends gas and air over nitrous oxide levels

A hospital has stopped using gas and air in its maternity unit to "protect our midwifery and medical team".

The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, said the decision followed tests on nitrous oxide levels.

It said it would temporarily suspend the use of Entonox while additional safety equipment was installed.

Giuseppe Labriola, director of midwifery, said: "There is no risk to mothers, birthing people, their partners and babies."

Other hospitals have previously temporarily suspended the use of gas and air in recent months including Basildon and Ipswich.

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Source: BBC News, 22 January 2023

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Hancock’s performance to be given a ‘CQC-style’ rating

The parliamentary committee led by Jeremy Hunt will subject health ministers to a “CQC style ratings system”, as part of a new way of scrutinising the Department of Health and Social Care.

The Health and Social Care Select Committee has set out plans for a new ratings system to “offer independent and objective evaluation of ministerial pledges”. This will mean the government is held to account by an evaluation process similar to that used across the NHS and social care system which gives not just an absolute score but key pointers as to how to improve that score next time round.

“We hope it will focus attention on areas such as cancer, mental health and patient safety where a number of vital commitments have been made,” says Jeremy Hunt, committee chair and former health secretary.

In his six year tenure as health secretary, Mr Hunt styled himself as a champion of patient safety, while his successor, Matt Hancock, has been criticised for appearing to jettison this agenda.

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Source: HSJ, 5 August 2020

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Hancock: Staff should be free to speak out over coronavirus concerns

NHS staff should “feel free” to speak out about problems like protective equipment shortages, Matt Hancock has said, despite many having been warned not to do so.

The health and social care secretary told the daily coronavirus briefing on 21 April that it’s “totally normal” for NHS staff to raise concerns about personal protective equipment shortages in their areas and said “transparency is important”.

HSJ has heard from multiple senior local NHS leaders that they have been given strong warnings not to communicate externally about the COVID-19 response, with national officials seeking to closely grip information given to the media.

There have been several reports of healthcare professionals having been “gagged” by hospitals and NHS bodies, with some reports of threats of disciplinary action if they raise concerns on social media or speak to journalists. 

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Source: HSJ, 21 April 2020

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Hancock: ICSs to be rated on safety, integration and leadership

Safety and quality, as well as integration and leadership, will be a “core focus” for the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) ratings of integrated care systems (ICS), health secretary Matt Hancock has indicated.

In a letter to health and social care committee chair Jeremy Hunt, Mr Hancock said the Department of Health and Social Care is working with the CQC and NHS England to develop “detailed proposals” on how ICSs will be regulated. The CQC is due to be given “new powers” to rate ICSs under the government’s proposed health and social care bill.

The confirmation that the CQC’s ratings of ICSs will include a focus on safety and quality comes days after former health secretary Mr Hunt warned the NHS could take a “big step back” if ICSs are not rated on these domains.

In the letter published today, Mr Hancock said: “I see these new powers for the CQC as an excellent opportunity not only to inform the public about the quality of health and care in their area, but also as a way to review progress against our aspirations for delivering better, more joined up care across integrated care systems.

“I note your recommendation that quality and safety of care should be a core domain of the CQC reviews and would like to assure you that, alongside integration and leadership, quality and safety will be a core focus when rating integrated care systems."

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Source: HSJ, 25 May 2021

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Hancock will face difficult questions over his power grab to stop ‘NHSE games’

The NHS bill due to land in Parliament before the summer break will be the first for nearly 10 years, so will address various overdue changes and is certain to be significant.

The bill’s thrust has become clear from the draft of the government’s white paper leaked on Friday, though some important details might change before a final version is published in the next few weeks. Many of the white paper proposals are what NHS England has been asking for in formal proposals over the last 18 months, and reflect the direction the NHS has been moving slowly but inexorably towards for several years.

NHSE’s central aim of clearing up the NHS landscape by turning integrated care systems into statutory agencies, but without overdoing the central specification of how they will work, is largely intact. Clinical commissioning groups are reconstituted as ICSs, a move unpopular with some but accepted by most. There is a formal role for local authorities planned in the shape of “partnership councils”. This creates a little extra bureaucracy but does not give them real power in the NHS. NHSE and ICSs are given a bit more sway over foundation trusts, but probably not enough to set off a huge row with NHS Providers.

The leaked version of the white paper also includes proposals which NHSE will not be happy about, including giving the health secretary a sweeping “general power to direct NHS England on its functions”, another to transfer functions between all arm’s length bodies and even abolish them, and ability to intervene at any stage in NHS service reconfigurations.

If pursued, these risk bringing even more toxic politics back into the NHS, both in the process of putting through the legislation itself, and beyond that, in the day to day running of the service.

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Source: HSJ, 6 February 2021

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Hancock rejects GP vote to remove home visits from contracts

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has ruled out scrapping home visits by GPs, describing the idea as “a complete non-starter”.

Doctors argued that they were no longer able to provide home visits as part of their core work and voted at a conference on Friday to remove them from their NHS contract. Under the proposals GPs would negotiate a separate service for urgent visits to patients. However, the health secretary said he was strongly opposed to the plans and insisted that they would not come to fruition.

“The idea that people shouldn’t be able, when they need it, to have a home visit from a GP is a complete non-starter and it won’t succeed in their negotiations,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He admitted that most home visits were done by nurses but said that on some occasions a GP was needed.

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Source: The Independent, 24 November 2019

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Hancock ignored call to test all NHS staff, Covid inquiry hears

The government ignored an early warning by two Nobel prize-winning scientists that all healthcare workers should be routinely tested for coronavirus in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has heard.

The advice came in a strongly-worded letter sent in April 2020 by the chief executive of the Francis Crick Institute, Sir Paul Nurse, and its research director, Sir Peter Ratcliffe, to the then health secretary Matt Hancock.

NHS and care home staff were not offered Covid tests until November 2020 in England, unless they had symptoms of the disease.

Matt Hancock is due to appear at the inquiry next week, along with other health ministers from the four nations of the UK.

Giving evidence, Sir Paul, who won the Nobel prize for medicine in 2001, said it was "disturbing" that he did not receive a response to his concerns until July 2020.

"For the secretary of state to ignore a letter from two Nobel laureates in physiology or medicine for three months is a little surprising, I would say," he told the inquiry.

"Rather than acknowledge they couldn't do it, because that would have indicated a mistake in their overall strategy, they remained silent."

It was likely that the decision not to routinely test NHS and care home staff led to an increase in infections and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic, he added.

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Source: BBC News, 15 May 2025

Further reading on the hub:

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Hancock hopes NHSX will "transform technology use" across healthcare

Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has said he hopes NHSX will "provide the leadership to transform the use of digital technology" across the health service. Speaking exclusively to Digital Health News at the launch of NHSX in London on 3 July, Matt Hancock added that he ultimately hopes NHSX “will save clinician’s time and patient’s lives”.

NHSX, which will oversee technology across health and social care, was confirmed by Digital Health News in February 2019 and brings together teams from the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement.

Source: Digital Health News, 4 July 2019

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Hancock extends emergency patient data sharing rules

Matt Hancock has extended four national data sharing orders which allow GPs and NHS organisations to share confidential patient information, as part of the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The data sharing instructions were initially put in place in March when the pandemic broke out in earnest, and they were due to expire at the end of September.

Under the arrangement GPs, NHS providers, NHS Digital, NHS England/Improvement, local authorities and the UK Biobank can share information about patients’ treatment and medical history - if doing so would help their response to COVID-19.

The data sharing instructions have now been extended until 31 March next year. 

According to the Department of Health and Social Care’s update which notified organisations of the extension, NHS entities can share information for reasons such as helping to support the NHS Test and Trace service, identifying further patients at risk of COVID-19, and understanding information about patient access to health and adult social care services.

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Source: HSJ, 20 August 2020

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Hancock calls for routine flu testing as part of major diagnostics expansion

Matt Hancock has called for British people to routinely get tested for the flu, saying covid diagnostic capacity should be kept and used for “everything” once the pandemic dies down.

Speaking at the Commons health and social care committee this morning, the health and social care secretary said the nation “must hold on to” the mass diagnostic capacity it has created for coronavirus.

Going further, he called for a change in culture to one of “if in doubt, you get a test”, and for a long-term expansion of diagnostics.

Mr Hancock said: “Why in Britain do we think it’s acceptable to solider on when you have flu symptoms or a runny nose, and go in [to work] and make everyone ill?

“If you have flu-like symptoms you should have a test for it and find out what is wrong with you and stay at home. We are peculiar outliers in soldiering on and going to work and that… culture, that should change.”

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Source: HSJ, 24 November 2020

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Hancock and Hunt failed to prepare UK for pandemic, Covid inquiry finds

The former health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock have been criticised for their failure to better prepare the UK for the pandemic, in a damning first report from the Covid inquiry that calls for an overhaul in how the government prepares for civil emergencies.

Hunt, who was the health secretary from 2012-18, and Hancock, who took over until 2021, were named by the chair to the inquiry, Heather Hallett, for failing to rectify flaws in contingency planning before the pandemic, which claimed more than 230,000 lives in the UK.

The government had focused largely on the threat of an influenza outbreak despite the fact that coronaviruses in Asia and the Middle East in the preceding years meant “another coronavirus outbreak at a pandemic scale was foreseeable”. Lady Hallett said that to overlook that was “a fundamental error”.

“It was not a black swan event,” Hallett said in a 240-page report. It concluded: “The processes, planning and policy of the civil contingency structures within the UK government and devolved administrations and civil services failed their citizens. Ministers and officials were guilty of ‘groupthink’ that led to a false consensus that the UK was well prepared for a pandemic. Never again can a disease be allowed to lead to so many deaths and so much suffering.”

In what families bereaved by Covid welcomed as a “hard-hitting, clear-sighted and damning analysis of how and why the UK found itself to be fatally underprepared”, Hallett said “preparedness and resilience for a whole-system emergency must be treated in much the same way as we treat a threat from a hostile state”.

The arrival of another pandemic – “potentially one that is even more transmissible and lethal” – was a question of when, not if, she said, and “unless we are better prepared” it would bring “immense suffering and huge financial cost and the most vulnerable in society will suffer most”.

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Source: Guardian, 18 July 2024

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Halt patient access to medical records if there are safety concerns, BMA tells GPs

General practices should delay rolling out the accelerated citizens’ access programme, due to go live on 1 November, if they have concerns over safety, the BMA has said.

In guidance published on 25 October the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee said that while many practices would be able to implement the scheme before the deadline some would need more time to prepare, to ensure that they can roll it out in line with the Data Protection Act and safeguarding measures.

The access scheme, led by NHS England, will automatically give patients the ability to see any new entries to their GP medical record through the NHS App.

As part of safeguarding practices it will require GPs to review each record to identify any safety concerns related to providing patient access, such as in cases of domestic violence or coercive relationships. Where there are safeguarding concerns, practices can prevent patients from having automatic access by adding a specific SNOMED code to the patient’s record before 1 November 2022.

David Wrigley, deputy chair of the BMA’s GP Committee for England, said, “We have a duty of care to speak up when patient safety is at risk, which is why we encourage practices even slightly unsure about whether they can deliver this programme before the start of November, to refer to our guidance. Our patients are at the heart of what we do, and we will always act in their best interests.”

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Source: BMJ, 26 October 2022

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Half trust’s staff told CQC they had ‘no confidence’ in its leaders

More than half of a trust’s staff told the Care Quality Commission (CQC) they did not have confidence in its executive leadership, with just 16% saying they did, the regulator has reported.

The CQC surveyed staff as part of its inspection of East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust.

Eighty-four per cent either said they disagreed with the statement “I have confidence in the executive team”, or neither agreed nor disagreed. That leaves just 16% who said they did have confidence.

Some said they felt “traumatised”, “devalued” or “damaged” by a recent restructuring programme at the trust, which has been grappling major care quality and performance problems for several years.

The CQC also revealed in a report today that it issued a warning notice to the trust after inspections at its two main sites in July. They ordered immediate improvements in its emergency departments, medical care and children and young people’s services.

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Source: HSJ, 20 December 2023

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Half of unexpected deaths in Belgian hospitals are due to shortage of staff

Half of the unexpected deaths in Belgian hospitals are due to a shortage of nurses, according to a study by the University of Antwerp.

Researchers from the University of Antwerp show the link between the number of nurses in hospitals and the death of the patients they care for, based on data from 34,567 patients’ medical records in four Flemish, one Walloon and two Brussels hospitals. The records showed that, on average, three out of every thousand patients in the hospital died ‘unexpectedly’. A death is considered as unexpected when a patient suddenly dies during active treatment, with no care plan for the end of their life having been started.

“We know from previous research that part of these unexpected deaths can be avoided, which is always heartbreaking for the family as well as the staff,” said Filip Haegdorens, a researcher at the university. “As a sector, we must do everything we can to prevent this,” he added.

The average nurse in Belgium is responsible for 9.7 patients at a time. For 89% of all departments, the number of nurses per hospital department was too low to be able to ensure good quality care. “Compared to, for example, Australian hospitals, where legal minimums exist, our Belgian figures could be improved,” said Haegdorens.

The study also shows a link between the training level of nurses and the number of unexpected deaths in the hospital. “In some hospital services, we found that more nurses with a high level of education would reduce the risk of unexpected deaths,” Haegdorens added.

Read research paper

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Source: The Brussels Times, 4 December 2019

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Half of UK public fear family would not be well looked after in care homes

Trust in care homes has slumped, leaving half of the British public lacking confidence that friends or family would be well looked after.

Nationwide polling for the Guardian revealed 9 out of 10 older people believe there are not enough care staff, and half have lost confidence in the standard of care homes since the start of the pandemic.

The survey conducted by Ipsos this month follows a doubling in public dissatisfaction in the NHS and exposes deepening fears about the fitness of a social care sector that had its weaknesses exposed by Covid-19, which claimed 36,000 lives in care homes in England alone.

The Relatives and Residents Association (RRA) said the polling tallied with calls to its helpline about the “harm and anguish caused by poor care and frustration at the inconsistency in standards”.

“We must weed out the poor providers and invest in skills – care workers must become our most valued workers, not the least,” said Helen Wildbore, the RRA’s chief executive. “Tomorrow, any one of us could need them.”

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Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2023

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Half of UK health workers suffering stress because of Covid-19

Half of health workers are suffering mental health problems such as stress and trauma as a result of dealing with COVID-19, new research reveals.

The pandemic is having a “severe impact” on the mental wellbeing of NHS personnel as well as agency staff, GPs and dentists, with rates of anxiety and burnout also running far higher than usual.

New YouGov polling for the IPPR thinktank found that 50% of 996 healthcare workers questioned across the UK said their mental health had deteriorated since the virus began taking its toll.

That emerged as the biggest impact on staff, just ahead of worries about their family’s safety because of a lack of testing and protective equipment for NHS workers (49%) and concern about their ability to ensure that patients receive high-quality care when the NHS is so busy (43%).

As many as 71% of younger health professionals, who are likely to be inexperienced and early in their careers, said their mental health had deteriorated. More women were affected than men.

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Source: The Guardian, 23 April 2020

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Half of UK adults ‘don’t contact GP within six months of finding cancer symptom’

Half of UK adults with a possible cancer symptom do not contact their GP within six months, despite spotting changes to their body, research suggests.

A YouGov poll of 2,468 people for Cancer Research UK found that just 48% of those who had experienced a red flag symptom – including coughing up blood, unexplained weight loss and a new or unusual lump – contacted their GP within half a year.

Not telling a doctor about unusual health changes or possible cancer symptoms reduces the chances of an early cancer diagnosis, leading to potentially devastating outcomes.

Cancer Research UK’s chief executive Michelle Mitchell said: “Spotting cancer early is vital if more people are to survive, and the first step in that process is getting help for a possible cancer symptom.

“It’s really worrying to see such a large gap in accessing services between the UK’s most and least deprived groups.

“Earlier this year, the Government announced among its top priorities were improving early diagnosis of cancer and tackling health disparities.

“Cancer must remain a top priority and with the upcoming Health Disparities White Paper and 10-Year Plan for England, the new Health and Social Care Secretary has a huge opportunity to transform cancer survival with a clear and strong plan that works for all.”

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Source: The Independent, 10 August 2022

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Half of nursing students in England have considered quitting, survey finds

Almost half of nursing students in England have considered quitting before they graduate amid the worst workforce crisis in NHS history, according to the largest survey of its kind.

Applicant numbers have fallen significantly since the end of a grant to support nursing students in 2017. Now a report by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), seen by the Guardian, suggests that as many as 46% of those enrolled – about 32,000 students – could walk away.

The cost of living was the top reason for students considering an early exit, with seven in 10 (70%) citing “financial difficulties” as a factor. Nursing students have to pay university fees of more than £9,000 a year.

“I wasted so much time and put my sweat, blood and tears into something that is burning me out before I start and isn’t even paying enough. It makes me sad for myself that this is the profession I chose.”

Nearly six in 10 respondents (58%) said witnessing low morale and burnout among qualified nurses had also prompted them to consider ditching their nursing degree.

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Source: The Guardian, 3 July 2024

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Half of men with eating disorders don’t get any help: 8 warning signs somebody needs support

Over half of men with an eating disorder have never had any treatment, according to new research.

Despite typically being linked with females, males account for a quarter of all eating disorder cases – and many are not getting any support, the eating disorder charity Beat is highlighting

“Eating disorders affect 1.25 million people in the UK, and we estimate one in four of those are men,” says Tom Quinn, Beat’s director of external affairs – speaking to mark this year’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week (February 27 – March 5).

“We surveyed men across the UK about their experiences of an eating disorder and, alarmingly, we discovered over half have never had treatment for their eating disorder, and one in three have never tried to get treatment in the first place.

“There’s a harmful misconception that eating disorders are female illnesses, which creates a great deal of shame and can entrench harmful behaviours for men who are unwell,” Quinn adds.

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Source: The Independent, 27 February 2023

Further reading on the hub: Top picks: Eight resources on eating disorders

 

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Half of ICSs lack plan against ‘constantly evolving’ cyber attacks

At least half of integrated care systems (ICS) lack plans for responding to cyberattacks, at a time of increasing cyber risks, HSJ can reveal.

The findings also come at a time when the threat posed by cyber attackers is “constantly evolving”, and in the wake of a recent high-profile attack on a supplier to several trusts. 

In August 2021, NHS England published a framework – What Good Looks Like – to set out what ICSs and member organisations must achieve to be considered digitally mature.

Requirements included that all ICSs should have a system-wide plan for “maintaining robust cybersecurity” with “centralised capabilities to provide support across all organisations”.

However, 20 ICSs have told HSJ they do not yet have such a cybersecurity strategy or plan in place. Nine ICSs said they did, while the remaining 13 ICSs did not respond.

This is despite the NHS being subjected to a growing number of cyber attacks. In 2020-21, NHS Digital reported the health service had been targeted roughly 21 million times on a monthly basis, which marked an increase since before the pandemic. Most of these are malicious emails containing malware and are automatically blocked by cyber defence and monitoring systems. 

However, in August, a dozen mental health trusts and several NHS 111 and urgent care providers were badly affected by a cyber attack on one of their IT suppliers, Advanced. Several trusts have not yet regained full access to their electronic patient record three months on from the attack.

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Source: HSJ, 11 November 2022

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