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Children born thanks to IVF pioneer find their biological father is scientist from his lab

Questions have been raised about one of the UK’s most well-known fertility doctors after two people whose parents attended his clinic reportedly made the shock discovery that their biological father is a lab scientist who worked in the same hospital as the physician.

Patrick Steptoe, who died in 1988, was an obstetrician and gynaecologist who helped develop in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and ran a fertility clinic in Oldham Hospital, Greater Manchester.

The parents of Roz Snyder, 52, and David Gertler, 51, attended the clinic around the 1970s after struggling to conceive children.

Ms Snyder and Mr Gertler were shocked after DNA tests revealed they are half-siblings, the Telegraph reported.

The pair were recently alerted by the genealogy website Ancestry that their late fathers are not their biological ones, but that they shared a biological father in Roy Hollihead, who ran a pathology laboratory one floor above Dr Steptoe’s clinic.

The 84-year-old told Ms Snyder that Dr Steptoe “used sperm from lab staff, medical students and doctors… but no records of any were kept” and told the Telegraph that he was not sure the hospital was aware of the apparent scheme.

Northern Care Alliance, the NHS trust that now runs Oldham Hospital, said it had no records of Dr Steptoe’s clinic, according to the Telegraph.

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Source: The Independent, 23 December 2024

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ASA bans Brazilian liquid butt lift ads from six UK cosmetic treatment providers

The Advertising Standards Authority has reprimanded six cosmetic treatment providers for pressuring customers, exploiting women’s insecurities or trivialising medical risks after an investigation into adverts for liquid Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs).

The cosmetic procedure, which involves injecting fillers into the buttocks to enhance their shape and size, is unregulated in the UK and can carry significant health risks, not least from potentially life-threatening infections.

Hundreds of women have contracted infections after paying for liquid BBLs in the UK, with many requiring hospital treatment for sepsis or corrective surgery to repair tissue damage.

The ASA took action against the UK companies after its artificial intelligence-driven monitoring system flagged numerous Facebook and Instagram adverts for liquid BBLs and similar procedures.

Adverts from Beautyjenics, Bomb Doll Aesthetics, CCSkinLondonDubai, EME Aesthetics & Beauty Academy, Rejuvenate Academy, trading as Rejuvenate Clinics, and NKD Medical, trading as Dr Ducu, were found to have breached the code and the companies were told the ads must not appear again.

“Choosing to undergo a cosmetic procedure is a serious decision, so ads that trivialise this, exploit insecurities, or pressure consumers can cause real harm. We’re particularly concerned about these types of ads for liquid BBLs, given the procedure is currently unregulated and is known to be high risk,” an ASA spokesperson said.

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Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025

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‘Plug-and-play’ regtech solution enhances patient safety

With a focus on pharmaceutical supply chain regulation, Bonafi is one of the latest companies to launch within the regtech startup sector.

“Companies operating in the global pharma industry must verify that those they are buying from and selling to are authorised to handle medicinal products for human use in their own countries,” explains its founder, Katarina Antill. “At present, this verification process is manual. Companies are using screenshots as proof and relying on spreadsheets to track verification activities, which increases the risk of errors.”

“Manual processes are very labour intensive not least because companies must deal with multiple registries across multiple countries,” she says. “Most pharma manufacturers and wholesalers don’t have the resources to reverify their trading partners more than once a year, which is the current minimum legal requirement, and this too creates a potential vulnerability that can ultimately have an impact on patient safety and increase corporate risk.

 “I could see that this huge volume of manual work was a threat to patient-safety and extremely inefficient,” she adds. “Our solution gives companies much greater control over their compliance activities because they no longer have to rely on manual processes. It can also retrieve and aggregate data from multiple registers across multiple countries and has a constant monitoring and alert system, quality management dashboards, electronic signatures and workflows and will strengthen the attributes of traceability, transparency and security. It is all designed to help companies to be pro-active in their compliance activities, enabling them to go beyond compliance alone to reduce corporate risk and patient risk.”

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Source: The Irish Times, 13 February 2020

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Contact tracing app to give users COVID-19 ‘risk score’

The new version of the government’s contact tracing app will give users a ‘risk score’ based on how many people they interact with and where they live.

The news comes as the Department of Health and Social Care launches a trial for the latest model of the contact tracing app, two months after the initial version was scrapped. 

According to the DHSC, the new app will tell users whether their risk of contracting coronavirus is unknown, low or high based on how many people they are in significant contact with. They will also be told what the coronavirus risk level is in their local authority area and will be alerted if it changes.

Government guidance said the risk levels and alerts will be based on a local authority watchlist – which highlights areas that are of particular concern across the country, based on the number of coronavirus cases.

People will also be able to check into venues – such as restaurants, pubs and leisure centres – using the app by scanning a QR code. If there is then an outbreak in a venue those who have checked in via the app will be alerted and told to isolate.

The new NHS Test and Trace app trial was launched today for residents on the Isle of Wight and will expand to the London borough of Newham next week.

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Source: HSJ, 13 August 2020

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Long Covid: overlap emerges with ME – including debate over treatment

As more people suffer lasting symptoms from Covid including fatigue, ME patient advocates fear they will get bad advice,

Based on current estimates, about 10% of COVID-19 patients develop lasting symptoms, one of the most common being fatigue. The underlying mechanism is still unclear, but possible explanations include reduced oxygen supply to tissues caused by heart or lung damage, or muscle weakness from prolonged bed rest.

However, some doctors are increasingly concerned about the overlap between long Covid and another largely virus-triggered illness: “It’s extraordinary how many people have a postviral syndrome that’s very strikingly similar to myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS),” said the US’s top public health official, Dr Anthony Fauci, in July. “They just don’t get back to normal energy or normal feeling of good health.”

Like people with ME/CFS, many long-Covid patients report headaches, brain fog, sleep problems, a racing heart, joint and muscle pain and fatigue. Some also experience a relapse of fever, muscle pain and exhaustion, known as “post-exertional malaise”, if they exercise beyond their capabilities.

“There are so many similarities between long Covid and ME/CFS it leads me to believe the underlying pathology is probably the same – except that long Covid is presenting as an epidemic, whereas ME/CFS has presented in a very sporadic way, and by no means in such large numbers in such a short space of time,” said Dr William Weir, a consultant in infectious diseases with a special interest in ME.

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Source: The Guardian, 19 November 2020

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HeartWare gadget was a ticking time bomb for our daughter

At the age of 36, Nola Borcherds could hardly walk ten steps without gasping for breath. A viral infection years earlier had weakened her heart and left her with a constant wheezy chest.

Her heart was failing and she needed a new one. No transplant was available, but the next best thing was an implant called HeartWare. Unlike pacemakers, which send an electrical pulse to keep it beating regularly, the device would attach to Nola’s heart and keep her alive by taking over its function, continuously pumping blood around the body.

Brochures promised the gadget could be life changing. It was smaller, safer and more effective than others, and designed to last up to ten years, raising her chance of a transplant.

When Nola’s pump was implanted in December 2018 it made a tremendous difference.  “Two to three months after she had it fitted, she could virtually run up the stairs,” her mother, Jenny Kiddie said.

But on 21 May 2021, two and a half years after the device went in, it stopped working. Doctors at Harefield Hospital in Hillingdon, west London, were carrying out maintenance when it failed to turn back on, cutting the supply of blood to her brain.

“The hospital called and said, ‘Nola’s become very unwell. How quickly can you get here?’” her mother said. “By the time we arrived, she was already in the morgue.”

What her family believe Nola did not know, and what the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), failed to react to, was that HeartWare pumps had already been linked to hundreds of deaths globally. 

As early as 2011 some doctors switched to alternatives. Yet the UK regulator allowed them to stay on the market — and they continued to be implanted on the NHS until last year. Some patients are still living with the pieces of equipment, because surgery to remove them is so risky.

Families, medical experts and lawyers want to know why the MHRA failed to take firm action despite repeated warnings about the devices, which they believe could have contributed to patients dying. By Nola’s death last year, the health regulator had passed on at least 16 safety alerts to doctors warning of problems identified by the manufacturer. 

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Source: The Sunday Times, 23 January 2022

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BMA sets out vision for reforming ‘unsafe, underfunded’ NHS

The British Medical A has outlined its vision for an ‘unsafe’ NHS with a culture of bullying.  

According to the BMA, doctors are working in hospitals and GP Practices that are hugely understaffed, where bullying and a culture of blame is the norm and where patient care is often unsafe. These are the findings of a year-long study – ‘Caring Supportive Collaborative: Doctors Vision for Change‘ – into the state of the NHS.

The chair of the BMA Council, Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “Nine in 10 doctors tell us that staffing levels are inadequate and that they work in environments where they fear the toxic combination of ever-increasing demand for services and lack of staff capacity will lead to mistakes."

“They tell us there is a persistent culture of fear across the NHS, where blame stifles learning, contributing to the vicious cycle of low morale so staff leave and then there’s a problem of recruitment."

“This unsafe, underfunded environment is as damaging for patients as it is for doctors. Radical change is clearly needed.”

From the report comes a manifesto, which has today been sent to MPs, as well as the secretary of state for health and social care.

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Source: Practice Business, 17 September 2019

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Hospital’s critical care unit overwhelmed by coronavirus patients

A major London hospital has declared a “critical incident” due to a surge in patients with coronavirus, with one senior director in the capital calling the development “petrifying”.

In a message to staff, Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow said it has no critical care capacity left and has contacted neighbouring hospitals about transferring patients who need critical care to other sites.

The message, sent last night and seen by HSJ, said: “I am writing to let you know that we have this evening declared a ‘critical incident’ in relation to our critical care capacity at Northwick Park Hospital. This is due to an increasing number of patients with Covid-19.

“This means that we currently do not have enough space for patients requiring critical care.

“As part of our system resilience plans, we have contacted our partners in the North West London sector this evening to assist with the safe transfer of patients off of the Northwick Park site”

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Source: HSJ, 20 March 2020

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AfPP launches new clinical audit tool to enhance patient safety

The Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP), has launched the AfPP Perioperative Audit Tool; 2019 Edition, a robust audit tool that will assist both private sector and NHS theatre practitioners in creating a safer perioperative environment.

The tool comprises peer-reviewed standards and recommendations for safe perioperative practice and forms a ‘gold standard’ framework for operating theatre departments to examine service performance and identify potential improvements in patient care.

As the UK’s leading membership organization for operating theatre practitioners who put patient safety at the heart of all they do, AfPP created the tool for the theatre practitioners to review their current policies and processes to invest in the safety of their patients.

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Source: News Medical Life Sciences, 19 July 2019

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Shrewsbury hospital: ‘New and ongoing’ safety concerns revealed by NHS watchdog

Inspectors have raised “new and ongoing” patient safety concerns at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust, it has emerged.

The Care Quality Commission has issued a new warning notice to the Midlands trust after an inspection of the hospital earlier this month sparked concerns for the welfare of patients on its medical wards.

These concerns are separate from the trust’s maternity service, which, it was revealed on Tuesday, is now facing a police investigation alongside an NHS inquiry into more than 1,200 allegations of poor maternity care dating back to the 1970s.

In October, a patient at the hospital bled to death after a device used to access his bloodstream became inexplicably disconnected while he was receiving care on the renal unit.

The Health Service Journal reported the latest concerns related to the inappropriate use of bed rails and risks of patients falling from beds after several incidents. The CQC is also concerned about the trust’s use of powers to detain elderly or vulnerable patients on wards.

The concerns also include patients being at risk of abuse and learning from past incidents not being shared with staff.

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Source: The Independent, 1 July 2020

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Patients were sent back to care homes without Covid test despite bosses’ plea

Thousands of hospital patients were allowed to return to their care homes without a Covid test despite a direct plea to the government from major care providers not to allow the practice, the Observer has been told.

As the crisis began to unfold in early March 2020, providers held an emergency meeting with department of health officials in which they urged the government not to force them to accept untested residents. However, weeks later, official advice remained that tests were not mandatory and thousands of residents are thought to have returned to their homes without a negative Covid result.

The revelation will heap further pressure on the health secretary, Matt Hancock, who has admitted some care residents returned from hospital without a test. It comes after Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former senior adviser, last week accused Hancock of misleading the prime minister over the policy, during his unprecedented evidence in parliament.

Some 25,000 people were discharged to care homes between 17 March and 15 April, and there is widespread belief among social care workers and leaders that this allowed the virus to get into the homes.

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Source: The Guardian, 29 May 2021

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NHSE warns widely used EPR could pose ‘serious risks to patient safety’

NHS England has issued a national alert to all trusts providing maternity services after faults were discovered in IT software that could pose “potential serious risks to patient safety”.

According to the alert, the Euroking electronic patient record provided by Magentus Software could be displaying incorrect patient information to clinicians.

The Euroking EPR is used in the maternity departments of at least 15 trusts according to information held by HSJ.

These organisations have been asked to “consider if Euroking meets their maternity service’s needs” and to “ensure their local configuration is safe”. Trusts with different maternity EPR providers have also been asked to reassess the clinical safety of their solutions.

The potential “serious risks” relate to a fault in the Euroking EPR which allows new patient information to overwrite previously recorded information, which could lead to “incorrect management of the pregnancy and subsequent harm”.

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Source: HSJ,  8 December 2023

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Poor ventilation leaves hospitals ‘not ready’ for another covid

Just four years after the peak of the pandemic, four in five NHS acute trusts are concerned their ventilation systems may be inadequate, according to an investigation by HSJ. 

Maintaining a flow of fresh air into a room is considered an important measure to reduce the spread of airborne infections, such as coronavirus and flu. However, an analysis of trust risk registers reveals that many are operating with ageing ventilation systems which pose a risk to patient safety. 

HSJ asked all 118 acute trusts whether a lack of adequate ventilation was on their risk register. Just under 80% of the 91 who replied said yes. 

This does not mean the risk has necessarily materialised, but is significant enough – either in likelihood, potential impact, or both – to require regular review by managers.

HSJ also asked for trusts to estimate the cost of reaching full compliance with the latest ventilation standards. Twenty-six trusts responded with data which suggested the average cost per trust was around £13m.

One trust estates director contacted by HSJ said: “Based on this research, it is clear the NHS is not ready for another respiratory outbreak.” They added that ventilation was “one of the biggest risks” in managing healthcare estates and a “huge chunk” of their trust’s repair backlog. “One of the reasons these risks exist is because it is so expensive to replace.”

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Source: HSJ, 29 October 2025

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Sickle cell: NHS staff ‘failing to follow healthcare guidelines’

NHS staff are failing to follow guidelines for providing care to sickle cell patients - and some of the advice has been branded as “unfit for purpose”.

The NHS Race and Health Observatory commissioned research, undertaken by Public Digital, to explore the lived experience of people undergoing emergency hospital admissions for sickle cell and managing crisis episodes at home.

The Sickle cell digital discovery report: Designing better acute painful sickle cell care, found that the existence of service-wide information tailored by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has “arguably not been designed for an ambulance, A&E and emergency setting”, and states it has been proven that this guideline is “not being used and adhered to consistently”.

Moreover, healthcare professionals have warned that the National Haemoglobinopathy Register (NHR) -  a database of patients with red cell disorders - is not being readily accessed, while patients reported being treated in a way that breached prescribed instructions.

“We believe that sickle cell crisis guidelines could be improved in terms of their usability in a high-pressure emergency setting, and in terms of promoting access to them,” the report authors concluded, adding that current guidance should be adapted.

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Source: The Independent, 31 January 2023

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‘Impossible’ to improve delayed discharges as picture worsens

The number of patients stuck in hospitals despite being ‘medically fit’ to leave has continued to increase in recent months, leading to warnings from NHS Confederation that trusts are finding it ‘impossible’ to make progress on reducing the numbers.

Official statistics for April suggest an average of 12,589 patients per day in NHS hospitals in England – 13% of all occupied beds – did not meet the “criteria to reside”. At 31 trusts, the proportion was 20% or more.

NHS England has since told local leaders to make reducing the numbers of delayed discharges an operational priority. The issue is a key factor behind the long waits in emergency care, as ward beds are taking longer to become available to accident and emergency patients.

Rory Deighton, acute lead at NHS Confederation, said targets to reduce delayed discharges “will not be met” unless the government “invests in domiciliary care wages,” amid high numbers of vacancies in the social care sector.

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Source: HSJ, 1 June 2022

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NHS taskforce to drive improvements in young people’s hospital mental health, learning disability and autism care

NHS Chief Executive Simon Stevens has announced that a new taskforce will be set up to improve current specialist children and young people’s inpatient mental health, autism and learning disability services in England.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets out an ambitious programme to transform mental health services, autism and learning disability; with a particular focus on boosting community services and reducing the over reliance on inpatient care, with these more intensive services significantly improved and more effectively joined up with schools and councils.

The NHS Chief Executive said: “This taskforce will place a spotlight on services and care for some of the most vulnerable young people in our society, bringing together families, leading clinicians, charities, and other public bodies to help make these services as effective, safe and supportive as possible for thousands of families."

“The NHS Long Term Plan lays out a package of measures which will mean more than two million extra children and adults get the mental health care they need and while early intervention to stop ill health escalating is a priority, we are also determined to provide the strongest possible safety net for families living with the most acute conditions.”

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Source: NHS England, 10 October 2019

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The NHS staffing crisis is about the expanding knowledge gap – not just numbers

A lot has been written about the workforce crisis in health and social care. 43,000 registered nurse vacancies, a 48% drop in district nurses in eight years and not enough GPs to meet demand.

When we talk about workforce, the focus is always on numbers. There are campaigns for safe staffing ratios and government ministers like to tell us how many more nurses we have. But safety is not just about numbers. Recent workforce policy decisions have promoted a more-hands-for-less-money approach to staffing in healthcare. More lower-paid workers mean something in the equation has to give. In this case, it’s skill and expertise.

In this article in The Independent, Patient Safety Learning's Trustee Alison Leary  discusses how healthcare has failed to keep frontline expertise in clinical areas due to archaic attitudes to the value of the experienced workforce.

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Source: The Independent, 15 December 2019

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Doctors furious at NHS bosses’ TikTok video showing off gleaming offices

A video of an NHS trust’s flamboyant head office complete with a £1,000 coffee machine, sleeping pods and a “great view” has triggered fury from doctors and nurses.

Barts Health, which covers hospitals in east London as well as St Bartholomew’s in the City, shared a TikTok video of its corporate office in Canary Wharf. The video, which has since been deleted, showed a luxury coffee machine, “wellbeing rooms” on each floor, free snacks and curved computer screens.

However, doctors working at Barts reacted angrily and compared the video with their own facilities.

One junior doctor shared a photo of a cramped locker room in the same trust. They wrote on Twitter: “Bags on the floor as ‘no lockers available for juniors’. This tiny room is the entirety of the space available to get changed into mandatory uniform/scrubs – nightmare at shift changeover.” 

Another shared a picture of their “handmade rest facility” – a row of chairs with paper towels for a pillow.

The British Medical Association’s Junior Doctors Committee said it was “sobering” to see the “no expenses spared” approach in the trust’s corporate office.

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Source: The Telegraph, 11 October 2022

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American Medical Association (AMA) releases AI governance toolkit for health systems

The American Medical Association (AMA) has released new guidance for health systems looking to develop and implement artificial intelligence within their organisation.

The new Governance for Augmented Intelligence toolkit, built in collaboration with Manatt Health, is an eight-step module. It guides health systems from the initial steps of establishing executive accountability and governance structure through policy development, vendor evaluation, oversight and organisational readiness for the launch of new AI tools.

The toolkit also includes worksheets, sample forms, example AI policy documents and other resources for organisations to reference and can be completed by physicians for Continuing Medical Education credit.

“There is excitement about the transformative potential of AI to enhance diagnostic accuracy, personalize treatments, reduce administrative and documentation burden, and speed up advances in biomedical science,” the toolkit reads. “At the same time, there is concern about AI's potential to worsen bias, increase privacy risks, introduce new liability issues and offer seemingly convincing yet ultimately incorrect conclusions or recommendations that could affect patient care.

“Establishing AI governance is important to ensure AI technologies are implemented into care settings in a safe, ethical and responsible manner.”

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Source: Fierce Healthcare, 18 August 2025

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‘Restoration’ of non-covid NHS services gets under way

The government has announced that the “restoration of other NHS services” will start today on a “hospital-by-hospital” basis.

Health and social care secretary Matt Hancock in his daily ministerial coronavirus briefing announced the resumption of healthcare which has been suspended due to coronavirus will begin today. He said the initial focus would be on the most urgent services, citing cancer and mental health as examples.

They will be reintroduced on a locally decided basis, depending on the level the virus is currently impacting different areas and trusts, which varies widely, and how easily they can reintroduce the work, he said.

Mr Hancock, asked about the plan by HSJ during the briefing, indicated that a large-scale return would be enabled because the government is setting out to avoid a so-called second peak of the virus spreading, so the NHS will not need to keep tens of thousands of extra beds free in readiness. Experts and governments around the globe are concerned about the prospect of further peaks of the virus spread as they move to release distancing measures. 

Further NHS England guidance on the plan is expected later this week. 

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Source: HSJ, 27 April 2020

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Safety requirements for use of valproate ‘still not being fully met’, finds NHS audit

Only a quarter of patients on valproate, who do not have appropriate contraception, are being referred by their pharmacist to their GP or a specialist about the issue, an audit carried out by NHS England has found.

A report on the 2019/2020 Pharmacy Quality Scheme Valproate Audit — which was carried out in community pharmacies across England — published on 11 August 2022, has indicated that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA’s) safety requirements for use of valproate in women and girls of childbearing age, and trans men who are biologically able to be pregnant, are “still not being fully met”.

Since 2018, the MHRA has advised that valproate, a treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder, must not be used in anyone of childbearing potential, unless a Pregnancy Prevention Plan (PPP) is in place.

As part of a PPP, pharmacists are required to remind patients of the risks of taking sodium valproate in pregnancy and the need for highly effective contraception; ensure patients have been given the patient guide; and remind patients of the need for an annual specialist review.

However, the audit, which was conducted by 10,293 community pharmacies in England, including responses from 12,068 patients and patient representatives, found that pharmacists were not referring or signposting “a sizeable minority”, who appeared to be without appropriate contraception, back to the prescriber.

The report said that community pharmacists should refer “all people aged 12–55 who are biologically able to be pregnant and have not had their valproate medication reviewed within the last 12 months to their GP or specialist, as well as to local contraception services as appropriate”.

For patients not referred to their GP or specialist, the report said that the pharmacist should be able to confirm that the patient is fully informed, understands the risks of not using highly effective contraception and knows who to contact if their circumstances change.

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Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 12 August 2022

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Hospital boss praised by Matt Hancock told to end ‘toxic management culture’

A hospital boss championed by Matt Hancock has been told to end “a toxic management culture” after doctors were asked to provide fingerprint samples to identify a whistleblower.

The Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) has urged the chief executive of West Suffolk hospital, Steve Dunn, who Hancock described as an “outstanding leader”, to take urgent action to improve the wellbeing of senior clinicians and “thereby the safety of patients”.

In a strongly worded letter sent to Dunn in July, seen by the Guardian, the RCoA president, Prof Ravi Mahajan, reminded him that “undermining and bullying behaviour is unacceptable”.

Following a three-day review of the hospital, Prof Mahajan’s letter said senior anaesthetists had complained about a “toxic management culture that risks impairing their ability to care safely for patients”.

The incident, and other failings in patient safety, contributed to the hospital becoming the first ever to be relegated by Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors from “outstanding” to “requires improvement” in January.

A spokesman for the trust said: “Ensuring our colleagues work in a supportive, safe environment is good for our staff and means better patient care, which is why we have done extensive work this year to act on feedback about our working culture, including taking action to address the concerns raised by the Royal College of Anaesthetists.”

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Source: The Guardian, 11 September 2020

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NHS told to expect ‘huge number’ of legal challenges after pandemic

The NHS should expect a “huge number” of legal challenges relating to decisions made during the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare lawyers have warned.

The specialists said legal challenges against clinical commissioning groups and NHS providers would be inevitable, around issues such as breaches of human rights and clinical negligence claims.

Francesca Burfield, a barrister specialising in children’s health and social care, told HSJ’s Healthcheck podcast: “I think there is going to be huge number of challenges. If and when we move through this there will not only be a public enquiry, [but] I anticipate judicial reviews, civil actions in relation to negligence claims and breach[es] of human rights….”

She said criminal proceedings by the Care Quality Commission or Crown Prosecution Service would also be a possibility, around issues such as deprivation of liberty, neglect, safeguarding, and potential gross negligence manslaughter.

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Source: HSJ, 20 April 2020

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Patient safety concerns must be raised and acted on, GMC warns as it launches review of key guidance

Doctors, physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) must speak up if they spot patient safety concerns, and healthcare leaders must act when issues are raised with them, the General Medical Council (GMC) says as it launches a review of key guidance.

The GMC is seeking views on two pieces of its guidance, Raising and acting on concerns about patient safety and Leadership and management. Both pieces of guidance play crucial roles in setting positive workplace culture standards that prioritise patient safety. They make clear the regulator’s expectations on when and how concerns should be raised, as well as how those in management positions should respond.

The regulator is ensuring the guidance reflects developments across the UK’s healthcare systems, and wider social changes, while remaining clear, relevant and helpful. It will be the first significant updates since they were published in 2012.

Earlier this year results from the GMC’s annual national training survey revealed that more than one in five trainee doctors were hesitant about escalating concerns about patient care, and GMC Chief Executive Charlie Massey warned, in a speech in September, that maternity services were at risk from harmful cultures that put ‘cover-up over candour’ and ‘obfuscation over honesty’.

Professor Pushpinder Mangat, Medical Director and Director of Education and Standards at the GMC, said:

"Our guidance is there to provide support and confidence, as well as practical help, for people to speak up when necessary. But speaking up is no good in isolation. Leaders and managers have a duty to act when concerns are raised with them.

‘Whenever we update guidance, it is important we hear views from a range of respondents. Their voices and real-life experiences will be instrumental in ensuring our guidance is clear, relevant, and helpful, and reflects the needs of everyone it affects."

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Source: GMC, 3 November 2025

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