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Forcing medical staff to work during strikes could harm care, NHS Providers says

Forcing some medical staff to work through industrial action under new anti-strike laws could end up harming patient care, hospital trust leaders have said, as ministers claimed their new measures would keep public services running over Christmas.

NHS Providers, which represents hospital, mental health and ambulance trusts, said there was a significant risk it would damage relationships between staff and employers that are already very challenged, in a way that could affect patients.

In a submission to the consultation on minimum service levels in hospitals, it said: “Our key concern is that rather than strengthening services as intended, the legislation proposed would worsen relationships between employers and staff, and between trusts and local union representatives to the longer-term detriment of patient care.”

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Source: The Guardian, 17 November 2023

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For survivors of severe COVID-19, beating the virus is just the beginning

The next few months will be full of grim updates about the spread of the new coronavirus, but they will also be full of homecomings. Patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19, some having spent weeks breathing with the help of a mechanical ventilator, will set about resuming their lives.

Many will likely deal with lingering effects of the virus — and of the emergency treatments that allowed them to survive it.

“The issue we’re all going to be faced with the most in the coming months is how we’re going to help these people recover,” says Lauren Ferrante, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the Yale School of Medicine.

Hospital practices that keep patients as lucid and mobile as possible, even in the throes of their illness, could improve their long-term odds. But many intensive care unit doctors say the pandemic’s strain on hospitals and the infectious nature of the virus are making it hard to stick to some of those practices.

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Source: Science, 8 April 2020

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For many sufferers of long Covid, proving they are sick is a big part of the battle

Lyth Hishmeh kept feeling ill months after contracting coronavirus a year ago in March. He had chest pain and couldn't concentrate. At 26 years old, the former regular runner was fatigued and breathless, struggling to function properly. Yet medical professionals kept telling him he simply could not still be ill.

"They were telling me it's all in my head," he said. For Hishmeh who lives in London and many sufferers of long Covid, proving they are sick has become a big part of trying to get better.

Another Londoner, Monique Jackson, has lost count of the number of times her pain was described as 'just anxiety.' The 32-year old illustrator was repeatedly told by medical professionals to go to the accidents and emergency, only to be discharged soon after. "I felt like I was wasting people's time, that people either didn't believe me ... or the ones who were sympathetic and supportive said 'we don't know, it's a new disease and we just don't know,'" she said.

Clinics are springing up around the country for what some call a potential second pandemic: Long Covid.

Learning that they were not alone, that other people were experiencing the same issues, was a huge revelation for both Hishmeh and Jackson. This was not just in their heads. They were not imagining the pain. They really were sick.

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Source: CNN Health, 11 April 2021

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Food allergy law saving lives, say teen's parents

The parents of a teenager who died from an allergic reaction after eating a pre-packed baguette have said their daughter would be "very proud" of how a change in the law is saving lives.

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, from Fulham, west London, suffered a severe allergic reaction to sesame baked into the Pret A Manger sandwich in July 2016.

Sesame was not listed as an ingredient on the packaging, and the seeds were not visible to the naked eye.

Four years ago to the day, Natasha's Law was introduced requiring food outlets to provide a full ingredients list and allergy labelling for foods made and packaged on the premises for direct sale, following a campaign by Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse.

The couple, founders of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, said the law was making a difference.

The charity has called 1 October Natasha's Day - a time to celebrate the teenager's "legacy of change".

Her parents said in a statement: "Natasha's Law gives greater protection to the millions of people in the UK living with food allergies, allowing them to buy food and eat out with greater confidence."

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Source: BBC News, 1 October 2025

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Food allergy diagnoses in England doubled in a decade, say researchers

The number of people diagnosed with food allergies in England has more than doubled in a decade and a third of those with life-threatening reactions are not carrying adrenaline pens, research has revealed.

Experts at Imperial College London analysed GP records for 7 million people. The number of new food allergy cases increased from 76 per 100,000 people in 2008 to 160 per 100,000 people in 2018, they found. 

The highest food allergy prevalence was seen in children under the age of five, 4% of whom were affected. 

They also found that one in three patients who had previously experienced anaphylaxis – a life-threatening allergic reaction – did not have their own adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs).

The lead researcher, Dr Paul Turner, a professor of paediatric allergy at Imperial’s national heart and lung institute, said the results showed there was an “urgent need” to “better support GPs and primary care staff” to care for patients with food allergies.

“Food allergy can have a huge impact on people’s lives, and in some tragic cases, can cut lives short,” he said.

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Source: The Guardian, 28 August 2024

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Folic acid to be added to UK flour to help prevent birth defects

Folic acid is to be added to UK flour to help prevent spinal birth defects in babies, the government will announce.

Women are advised to take the B vitamin - which can guard against spina bifida in unborn babies - before and during pregnancy, but many do not. It is thought that adding folic acid to flour could prevent up to 200 birth defects a year.

Mandatory fortification - which the government ran a public consultation on in 2019 - would see everybody who ate foods such as bread getting more folic acid in their diets.

Neural tube defects, such as spina bifida (abnormal development of the spine) and anencephaly, a life-limiting condition which affects the brain, affect about 1,000 pregnancies per year in the UK. Many babies diagnosed with spina bifida survive into adulthood, but will experience life-long impairment.

Kate Steele, chief executive of Shine, a charity providing specialist support for people affected by spina bifida and hydrocephalus and which has campaigned for mandatory fortification of flour for more than 30 years, said she was "delighted" by the decision.

"In its simplest terms, the step will reduce the numbers of families who face the devastating news that their baby has anencephaly and will not survive," she said. "It will also prevent some babies being affected by spina bifida, which can result in complex physical impairments and poor health."

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Source: BBC News, 20 September 2021

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Focus will shift from trust ratings to services

Trusts leaders can expect more emphasis on inspection ratings for individual services in future — as opposed to overall organisational ratings — the chief executive of the Care Quality Commission has said.

In an interview with HSJ, Ian Trenholm discussed the future of the inspection regime, his views on prosecuting trusts, and how integrated care systems could be regulated.

Asked about the future of inspections, Mr Trenholm said he did not believe trust leaders would be satisfied with just looking at their overall rating.

He said: “My appeal to chief executives would be look at the broader suite of services that you’ve got in front of you.

“In [the] future, I think there’ll be much more emphasis on individual ratings of individual services. Exactly what the detail will look like I think remains to be seen…”

It follows questions about the accuracy of NHS acute trust ratings now, with the CQC having carried out fewer thorough inspections during the pandemic. There is now only one trust rated “inadequate”, despite huge concerns about service failings, particularly in acute care.

He said the “intention over the next few months” is to create a new CQC single assessment framework which incorporates inspection findings for health systems, as well as individual providers."

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Source: HSJ, 19 April 2022

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Focus on acutes has left mental health facing ‘significant uncertainties’ say trust leaders

A large mental health trust has highlighted a lack of additional funding for the sector, in contrast to the £8bn earmarked for acute providers to tackle elective waiting lists.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust expects demand for its services to be 20% higher than pre-covid levels, but says uncertainties around funding could “impede” progress and “wider service sustainability”.

In an interview with HSJ last week, TEWV’s chief executive Brent Kilmurray said: “Quite often, we are facing the challenge of trying to find beds and meet demand. What we’ve seen is an increase in occupancy and an increase in length of stay. And we are relating that to an increase in acuity.

“We really welcome the investment that goes into the long-term plans on the specialist services that are coming through. [But] what we want to do with our work is give greater transparency to the backlogs that have developed and some of the additional pressures.

Asked about the trust’s actions to address multiple concerns around safety and quality, Mr Kilmurray said staffing had improved in forensics, although the vacancy rate is still higher than the trust average, and that a leadership development programme is aiming to improve the culture of the organisation. He said he hopes the CQC “would see significant improvement” when they are inspected again.

He added that “a lot has changed” since the high-profile deaths of two teenagers under the care of the trust, which are subject to an ongoing inquiry

He said: “We will be able to build on the legacy of those young women in terms of the learning that we want to embed within the organisation.”

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Source: HSJ, 16 December 2022

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Flu vs Covid: Stark disparity in vaccination and deaths

In the first half of 2023, Covid-19 killed 42,670 people in the United States, while the flu killed about half that amount. Yet half as many people received the updated covid booster as those who got the flu shot — even though covid is twice as deadly as influenza.

In all, around 22% of people have received the new covid booster, while 47% of people have had a flu vaccine. Experts said much of that covid-shot resistance is due to the continued polarizing nature of the pandemic and of the covid vaccine, which has been shown to reduce the risk for Long Covid as well as serious acute viral infections and deaths.

"Public health messaging is also to blame for the lower-than-normal covid vaccine rates," said Dr Al-Aly, a global expert on Long Covid and chief of research and development at the VA Saint Louis Health Care System. "Patients need to better understand that the role of the vaccine isn't to completely prevent covid but to reduce the likelihood of hospitalisation and death, similar to that of a flu shot. By reducing the risk for severe disease, the vaccine also reduces the risk for Long Covid, a debilitating condition that's still poorly understood, has no cure, and has already caused thousands of American deaths," he said.

Botched public health messaging also allowed for misinformation to run rampant. Rare adverse events associated with the COVID vaccine have been severely overplayed and spread like wildfire on social media. "Patients need to know that like any vaccine, vaccine injury does occur, but these vaccines have a better safety profile than almost any others," Al-Aly said. "The rewards of getting the vaccine far outweigh the risks, and patients need to understand that."

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Source: Medscape, 2 May 2024

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Flu surge a challenge for NHS 'unlike any' since pandemic, Streeting says

A surge in flu cases will present the NHS with a challenge "unlike any it has seen since the pandemic", Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said.

Writing in the Times, Streeting said the NHS was in a "precarious situation", and warned that next week's planned strikes by resident doctors could be the "Jenga piece that collapses the tower".

The number of patients in hospital with influenza has risen more than 50% in the past week, with officials warning there is still no sign of it peaking yet.

In the week up to Sunday there were 2,660 flu cases a day on average in hospital, which NHS England said was the equivalent of having three hospitals full of flu patients.

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Source: BBC News, 11 December 2025

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Flu rise warning from NHS in England

There were more than 3,700 patients a day in hospital with flu last week - up from 520 a day the month before, the latest data from NHS England shows.

Of these, 267 people needed specialised care in critical care beds last week.

NHS England warns pressures on the health service continue to grow as viruses like flu re-circulate after a hiatus during the pandemic.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: "Sadly, these latest flu numbers show our fears of a 'twindemic' have been realised, with cases up seven-fold in just a month and the continued impact of Covid hitting staff hard, with related absences up almost 50% on the end of November."

He warned this was "no time to be complacent" with the risk of serious illness being "very real" and encouraged those eligible to take up their flu and Covid jabs as soon as possible.

Admissions among children under 5 have been high this flu season, as well as among older people.

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Source: BBC News, 30 December 2022

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Flu poses 'significant threat' in Wales this winter, officials warn

Flu could pose a "significant" threat this winter for the first time since the Covid pandemic, public health expert have warned.

There are concerns the flu season may start earlier and affect more people, as other respiratory viruses re-emerge following Covid restrictions.

Public Health Wales is urging adults and children who are eligible for a free flu jab to take up the offer. The announcement comes as cases of flu have already been detected in Wales.

All children between two and 16 are eligible for a free flu vaccine - although only certain groups of children over five are eligible for Covid-19 boosters.

The warning comes after Australia experienced its highest number of flu cases in five years, with its season starting early.

Experts fear Wales and the UK could see similar levels this winter.

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Source: BBC News, 27 September 2022

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Flu on the rise again after Christmas mixing, says NHS

Christmas gatherings may have caused a resurgence in flu and other winter viruses, NHS leaders say.

Figures show that the average number of patients in hospital beds in England with flu last week hit 2,924 - a rise of 9% on the previous week. This comes after two weeks of falls which prompted hope cases may have peaked.

NHS England said a combination of the vicious cold snap and winter viruses was making services "extremely busy" with hospitals reporting icy conditions have led to a rise in slips and falls and people struggling with respiratory conditions.

Concerns are also being raised about corridor care - where A&E patients are treated in make-shift areas because of a lack of beds.

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Source: BBC News, 8 January 2026

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Flu jab IT system to be ‘switched off’ weeks before vaccine programme starts

All tech support for flu and covid vaccinations will be switched off on Thursday after NHS England decided against extending its contract with its supplier in favour of developing an in-house system, according to HSJ.

NHSE last week told suppliers System C and Graphnet it would not extend the contract for the National Immunisation Management Service – just one week before the contract ends.

NIMS, provided by the two British firms in partnership with NHS South Central and West Commissioning Support Unit, has been used for the last three years to manage the vaccination programme.

Its functionalities include a single data store holding vaccination records for more than 60 million people, a call and recall service that can identify and contact groups of eligible individuals according to age and clinical priority, and reporting and analysing of vaccination activity in “near real time”.

NHSE informed System C it would not extend the contract last Thursday – five working days before it was due to expire, according to a message from System C to customers, seen by HSJ.

In its message, System C said: “This means that all functionality, including the NIMS application programming interface links to third party booking systems, all outgoing feeds and extracts, NIMS dashboards and the point of vaccination data capture application will stop working after 31 August.”

There is currently “significant usage” of the system by GPs and trusts, which means NIMS users “may need to take action to deal with the retirement of the system” – the message stated.

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Source: HSJ, 30 August 2023

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Flu hospitalisations in England soar as NHS braces for severe outbreak

Flu hospitalisations in England have jumped by more than 40 per cent in a week as the NHS braces for one of the worst outbreaks of the virus in recent years.

Analysis of NHS data by The Telegraph shows that rates are more than eight times higher than expected at this time of year.

On the current trajectory, admissions next week could pass the peak of the 2017-18 outbreak – one of the worst of the last 20 years – which led to nearly 30,000 deaths.

Flu hospitalisations are so high that they have overtaken Covid admissions for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

The rise could not come at a worse time for the NHS. It is already suffering the biggest treatment backlog in its history, which is set to be exacerbated by strikes by nurses and ambulance paramedics.

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Source: The Telegraph, 15 December 2022

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Flu deaths could hit 60,000 in worst winter for 50 years, say experts

Flu deaths could be the worst for 50 years because of lockdowns and social distancing, health chiefs have warned, as the NHS launches the biggest ever flu vaccination drive.

More than 35 million people will be offered flu jabs this winter, amid concern that prolonged restrictions on social contact have left Britain with little immunity.

Officials fear that this winter could see up to 60,000 flu deaths – the worst figure in Britain since the 1968 Hong Kong Flu pandemic – without strong uptake of vaccines.

There is also concern about the effectiveness of this year’s jabs, because the lack of flu last year made it harder for scientists to sample the virus and predict the dominant strains.

Health chiefs said the measures introduced over the past 18 months to protect the country against coronavirus would now put the public at greater risk of flu.

The NHS has already begun the rollout of flu jabs and COVID-19 boosters. Health chiefs will urge everyone eligible to take up their chance, with the launch of a major campaign today to drive take-up.

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Source: The Telegraph, 8 October 2021

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Flu could ‘bite’ as early as October, NHS leaders and scientists warn

Flu could “bite” months earlier than usual this year, NHS leaders and scientists have warned, leading to calls for millions to get their vaccination against the disease as soon as possible.

Around 20 million people in the UK, including all over-50s, will be offered a free jab this winter, as ministers fear the combination of a bad flu season, Covid and a cost of living crisis could lead to a spike in deaths.

Saffron Cordery, the interim chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents trusts in England, warned that this year flu had “come early and severely to parts of the southern hemisphere, and we’re going see it here potentially biting in October”.

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Source: The Independent (30 August 2022)

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Flu and COVID-19 at same time significantly increases risk of death

Having flu and COVID-19 together significantly increases your risk of death, say government scientists who are urging all those at risk of getting or transmitting flu to get the vaccine in the coming weeks and months.

The evidence for the double whammy is currently limited and comes mostly from a study with small numbers – 58 people – carried out in the UK during the early phase of the pandemic.

“As I understand it, it’s 43% of those with co-infection died compared with 26.9% of those who tested positive for Covid only,” said England’s deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam. These were people who had been hospitalised and had been tested for both viruses, he said, and so were very ill – but the rate of death from Covid alone in the study between January and April was similar to the known rate of Covid hospital mortality generally of around 25% or 26%.

"I think it is the relative difference in size of those rates that’s rather more important than the absolute rate,” he said. The study may have been small and they would be doing further studies this season, but the findings tallied with other work that has been done, he said.

“If you get both, you are in some serious trouble, and the people who are most likely to get both of these infections may be the very people who can least afford to in terms of their own immune system, or their risk for serious outcomes. So please protect yourself against flu, this year,” says said Prof Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England

The government has bought 30,000,000 doses of flu vaccine, which is more than ever before. They will arrive in batches, so the elderly – over 65 – and those with medical conditions will be called for immunisation first. Relatives of those who are on the shielding list will also be called up. The letters will begin to go out this week.

Because of the threat of Covid and the risk that people with flu could be infected if admitted to hospital, all those aged 50-64 will be offered flu vaccination, but not straight away. They should wait to be called by their GP.

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Source: The Guardian, 22 September 2020

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Florida is swamped by disease outbreaks as quackery replaces science

Shortly before Joseph Ladapo was sworn in as Florida’s surgeon general in 2022, the New Yorker ran a short column welcoming the vaccine-skeptic doctor to his new role, and highlighting his advocacy for the use of leeches in public health.

It was satire of course, a teasing of the Harvard-educated physician for his unorthodox medical views, which include a steadfast belief that life-saving Covid shots are the work of the devil, and that opening a window is the preferred treatment for the inhalation of toxic fumes from gas stoves.

But now, with an entirely preventable outbreak of measles spreading across Florida, medical experts are questioning if quackery really has become official health policy in the nation’s third most-populous state.

As the highly contagious disease raged in a Broward county elementary school, Ladapo, a politically appointed acolyte of Florida’s far-right governor Ron DeSantis, wrote to parents telling them it was perfectly fine for parents to continue to send in their unvaccinated children.

“The surgeon general is Ron DeSantis’s lapdog, and says whatever DeSantis wants him to say,” said Dr Robert Speth, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at south Florida’s Nova Southeastern University with more than four decades of research experience.

“His statements are more political than medical and that’s a horrible disservice to the citizens of Florida. He’s somebody whose job is to protect public health, and he’s doing the exact opposite.”

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Source: Guardian, 3 March 2024

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Florida hospitals sue Leapfrog over safety rankings

Five hospitals that are part of Palm Beach (Fla.) Health Network have filed a lawsuit against The Leapfrog Group, alleging the patient safety organization’s rankings are based on flawed methodology. 

The complaint, filed April 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, claims the rankings unfairly damage the hospitals’ reputations. 

“Leapfrog fails to fairly evaluate hospitals that do not complete its hospital survey, and rather than indicating that there is insufficient data to issue a grade to non-participating hospitals, it instead assigns a score equivalent to the ‘Worst Hospital’s Score’ on several measures,” Palm Beach Health Network said in a statement. “This flawed methodology does not accurately reflect hospitals’ performance on patient outcomes.” 

The hospitals that filed the complaint are Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach; Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach; Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center; West Boca Medical Center in Boca Raton; and St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. The complaint was filed a day before The Leapfrog Group published its latest round of hospital safety grades. Three of the hospitals that filed the complaint received an “F” grade and two earned a “D.” 

The complaint also alleges Leapfrog’s safety grades are “distorted by undisclosed financial incentives” and penalize hospitals that do not submit data for participation by assigning “artificially low ratings.” 

Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog, described the lawsuit as an attempt by hospitals to suppress critical safety information from the public.

“When we look at these hospitals’ results from CMS, we see preventable suffering and death far exceeding the national average, and even the national average is too high,” she said in a statement. “These hospitals may wish to withhold their hospitals’ Safety Grades from the community they serve, but Leapfrog intends to fully defend its expert, proven and long-standing methodology to prevent that from happening and publish Grades for all eligible hospitals, including these hospitals.”

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Source: Becker's Hospital Review

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Florida doctors can soon deny patient care based on personal, religious beliefs

A controversial new Florida bill will allow physicians to opt out of performing certain services because of "sincerely held" religious, moral, or ethical beliefs.

The bill, part of a "medical freedom" legislative package signed last week, permits healthcare providers to make conscience-based objections to providing medical care and protects them from getting sued or losing their licenses.

Critics say the new law could exacerbate health disparities and lead to discrimination against certain groups of patients, including LGBTQ+ individuals and women seeking reproductive healthcare.

Psychologists could refuse to treat someone for gender dysphoria, for example. Doctors could refuse to prescribe birth control, administer childhood vaccines, or accept patients with state insurance.

Kenneth W. Goodman, professor and director of the University of Miami's Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, told Medscape Medical News the legislation could upset a longstanding precedent.

"To deny care based on unspecified and unarticulated 'moral, ethical, or religious reasons' opens the door to neglect, abandonment, and suspicion," Goodman said. "It undermines two millennia of a cornerstone of medical ethics: take care of your patients — no matter who they are."

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Source: Medscape, 18 May 2023

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Flagship NHSE tech policy creating ‘patient safety risks’, claim analysts

Patient safety risks are being created by central demands that NHS organisations adopt the new federated data platform and “close down” existing systems, according to the body representing the service’s analysts.

In a letter to NHS England chief data and analytics officer Ming Tang, the Chief Data and Analytical Officers Network (CDAON) has stepped up earlier complaints about the FDP and its rollout, calling for a “reset” of NHSE’s approach.

The letter also questions whether the FDP is fit for purpose in achieving the government’s goal of moving care into the community. The £330m seven-year contract to deliver the FDP platform was won by US data company Palantir in 2023.

The FDP was originally launched on the basis that it could be used on a voluntary basis. However, under direction of ministers, NHSE has now moved to an “FDP-first policy”, to the alarm of many senior figures working in NHS technology.  

The letter, seen by HSJ, is signed by CDAON chair and Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board data chief Marc Farr and says: “Anecdotally we are aware of systems being directed to close down existing systems because the functionality is planned within the FDP…

“However we are not convinced that the functionality is imminent and therefore that a risk to patient safety exists – we can cite specific examples.”

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Source: HSJ, 23 April 2025

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Flagship death review programme had ‘unclear and limited’ impact

A flagship government programme to improve care for people with learning disabilities has had an ‘unclear’ and ‘limited’ impact after six years, an NHS England report has found.

A report into the national learning disability mortality review programme (LeDer) has criticised it for failing to impact improvement of services both nationally and locally.

The national LeDer programme was launched in 2015 after high profile failures by Southern Health Foundation Trust to investigate the deaths of patients with learning disabilities. Since its launch, the programme has consistently struggled to carry out the number of reviews required, with the backlog growing to 3,800 last year.

The news follows a year of increasing concern over the disproportionate death rate for those with learning disabilities during the pandemic.

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Source: HSJ, 24 March 2021

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Fix NHS staffing crisis to tackle waiting lists backlog, warn MPs

A long-term plan to fix the staffing crisis in the NHS is needed to cut record waiting lists for treatment, the government is being warned.

Currently, nearly six million people in England are waiting for routine operations and procedures - many of whom are in pain.

A report from MPs says the government needs to address staff shortages - or NHS workers will quit. 

There have been repeated warnings over the length of hospital waiting lists in England. As of September 2021, a record 5.8 million patients were waiting for surgery - such as hip or knee replacements - with 300,000 waiting more than a year compared with just 1,600 before the pandemic.

In the autumn Budget, the government announced an extra £5.9bn for the NHS in England to help clear the backlog. This was on top of another funding package in September to create an extra nine million checks, scans and operations.

But in its report published today, the Commons health and social care select committee said the health service was hugely understaffed and was facing an "unquantifiable challenge" in tackling the backlog.

Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary who now chairs the committee, said the NHS was short of 93,000 workers and there was "no sign of any plan to address this".

He described the staffing crisis as "entirely predictable", adding: "The current wave of Omicron is exacerbating the problem, but we already had a serious staffing crisis, with a burnt-out workforce."

"Far from tackling the backlog, the NHS will be able to deliver little more than day-to-day firefighting unless the government wakes up to the scale of the staffing crisis facing the NHS."

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Source: BBC News, 6 January 2022

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Fix NHS gaps or face more attacks - ex cyber chief

A leading cybersecurity expert has warned that the NHS remains vulnerable to further cyber-attacks unless it updates its computer systems.

This stark assessment comes in the wake of a major ransomware attack that has severely disrupted healthcare services across London.

Prof Ciaran Martin, the founding CEO of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), told the BBC: "I was horrified, but not completely surprised. Ransomware attacks on healthcare are a major global problem."

NHS England said it was increasing its cybersecurity resilience and had invested £338m in the past seven years addressing this issue.

But Prof Martin's warnings suggest more urgent action may be needed.

He highlighted three critical issues facing NHS cybersecurity: outdated IT systems, the need to identify vulnerable points, and the importance of basic security practices.

He warned: "In parts of the NHS estate, it's quite clear that some of the IT is out of date."

He stressed the importance of identifying "single points of failure" in the system and implementing better backups.

Prof Martin also emphasised that improving basic security measures could significantly hinder attackers, stating: "Those little things make the point of entry quite a lot harder for the thugs to get in."

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Source: BBC News, 8 July 2024

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