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Three trusts whose struggling maternity departments were supported and supposedly improved by a national safety programme have since fallen back into the scheme

A freedom of information request by HSJ has for the first time revealed a complete list of participants in NHS England’s maternity safety support programme, with 28 trusts involved since its inception in 2018.

London North West University Healthcare Trust, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust, and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust all entered the scheme at the start, due to pre-existing quality and safety concerns. The trusts were all subsequently removed, having been deemed to have made improvements, but have since been placed back in it following inspections by the Care Quality Commission (see table below).

HSJ asked the trusts to explain why they had re-entered the scheme, and why it had failed to deliver sustainable improvements the first time, but they declined to comment.

NHSE said in a statement: “Trusts are placed on the maternity safety support programme according to complex criteria, including local insight and external performance measures, including CQC ratings. “Following the success of the programme since its creation in 2018, its criteria was widened to strengthen its role in proactively improving safety and enabling earlier intervention where there are concerns — this has allowed support to be offered to more trusts than in previous years.” However, it would not provide further details on the new entry criteria.

Three further trusts — Barts Health, North Devon Healthcare, and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn — have previously exited the programme and not so far re-entered. Trusts such as Shrewsbury and Telford and East Kent — which have been at the centre of major maternity scandals — have been on the improvement scheme for all four years.

Peter Walsh, chief executive of the patient safety charity Action against Medical Accidents, said: “The number of NHS maternity services being found to be needing improvement is worrying. We welcome the fact that NHS England is devoting resources to support trusts to improve their maternity services, but there should be much more transparency about this.

“The criteria for needing this support should be published, and indeed should have been subject to consultation.”

Helen Hughes, chief executive of patient safety charity Patient Safety Learning, said there should be transparency about resource allocation and the criteria used to make decisions, adding: “It doesn’t appear that this information is easily accessible and in the public domain and rather begs the question, why not?” 

NHSE said trusts receiving support from the programme detail this in their board papers, although HSJ found this is not always the case. It added trusts are made aware of the rationale for inclusion on an individual basis.

NHSE and the Department of Health and Social Care last year described the maternity safety support programme as the “highest level of maternity-specific response”. They have said the programme “involves senior clinical leaders providing hands on support to provider trusts, through visits, mentoring, and leadership development”.

Full article here (paywalled)

Original source: Health Service Journal

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Chronic fatigue syndrome advice scraps exercise therapy

A health watchdog has scrapped a previous recommendation of graded exercise therapy for ME.

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a long-awaited and contentious final update to guidance on treatment.

Many patients with ME or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) say the therapy, which encourages patients to slowly increase their levels of activity, makes their condition worse.

The advice was due out in August, but NICE pulled the publication at the last minute.

At that time, NICE said the delay was necessary to allow more conversations with patient groups and professionals, so that its advice would be supported.

There are strong and varied views on how the illness should be best managed.

The updated guidance for England and Wales recommends people judge their own "energy limit" when undertaking activity of any kind, and a physical activity programme should only be considered in specific circumstances.

It warns practitioners: "Do not advise people with ME/CFS to undertake exercise that is not part of a programme overseen by an ME/CFS specialist team, such as telling them to go to the gym or exercise more, because this may worsen their symptoms."

It also clarifies advice on a talking therapy, known as CBT, stressing that it is only helpful in treating anxiety around the condition, not the illness itself.

And it emphasises the need for early and accurate diagnosis.

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Source: BBC News, 29 October 2021

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Patient harm 'almost certain' due to ambulance handover delays

Patients are being put at "catastrophic risk" of harm due to ambulance handover delays, health bosses say.

West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) has raised its risk rating for such delays to its highest level for the first time in its history. The risk rating shows the trust believes patient harm is "almost certain" due to the handover hold-ups.

Mark Docherty, director of nursing and clinical commissioning, said it was a "completely unacceptable situation".

It comes as a patient died after waiting more than five hours in the back of an ambulance in Worcestershire.

At a meeting on Wednesday, the ambulance service's board of directors heard the amount of time being lost to delays had reached previously unseen levels, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Docherty warned the situation was set to get worse over the coming months as a result of winter pressures.

"Despite everything we are doing by way of mitigation, we know that patients are coming to harm as a result of delays," he said.

"We know that there are patients that are having significant harm and indeed, through our review of learning from deaths, we know that sadly some patients are dying before we get to them."

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Source: BBC News, 28 October 2021

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Jeremy Hunt warns NHS spending ‘will unravel’ without workforce plan

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned extra funding for the NHS “will unravel quickly” without the extra doctors and nurses needed.

The health committee chair said today that the lack of any mention of workforce training budgets in the Chancellor’s speech on Wednesday was “the big gap” in news for the NHS.

Before the budget, Mr Hunt, who served as health secretary for six years and who has accepted he did not do enough to increase staffing levels in the NHS, said a workforce plan for the NHS was needed.

In the budget documents, released after the Chancellor Rishi Sunak had finished speaking, the Treasury confirmed only that it would continue to fund workforce training and repeated existing promises around 50,000 extra nurses.

But many experts including the Health Foundation and think tanks as well as NHS leaders have said what is needed is a properly costed long term workforce plan so that the NHS can train enough staff to meet future patient demand.

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Source: The Independent, 28 October 2021

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COVID-19: Trump’s “distraction” by the 2020 election led to thousands of deaths, says pandemic response adviser

Deborah Birx, who was the White House coronavirus response coordinator under President Donald Trump, has told a congressional inquiry that at least 129 000 lives could have been saved if his administration had provided adequate testing and properly communicated the gravity of the situation to the public.

But the election year “just took people’s time away and distracted them from the pandemic,” she told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. “I felt like the White House had gotten somewhat complacent through the campaign season.”

Asked if Trump did everything he should have to counter the pandemic, she said, “No. And I’ve said that to the White House. I believe I was very clear to the president in specifics of what I needed him to do.”

“If we had fully implemented the mask mandates, the reduction in indoor dining, the getting friends and family to understand the risk of gathering in private homes, and we had increased testing, then we probably could have decreased fatalities by 30-40%.” That would amount to at least 129 000 preventable covid deaths over the course of the Trump presidency, which saw roughly 429 000 reported deaths attributed to the coronavirus."

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Source: BMJ, 28 October 2021

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Children’s intensive care at near full national occupancy amid rising RSV

A senior doctor has warned that paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) are ‘as pressured as I can ever recall’ – despite the absence of cold weather, which typically leads to higher demand levels.

James Fraser, president of the Paediatric Critical Care Society, said national bed occupancy in PICUs has “often been greater than 95 per cent” over recent weeks, while several units have reported 100 per cent occupancy. He said some children have had to be transferred between regions in order to admit them to a bed.

PICUs are often under more pressure during winter, due to seasonal RSV and other viral infections.

But high demand levels have started earlier this year, which has meant severely ill children have occasionally waited longer in local hospitals before being admitted to PICUs, and have sometimes had to be transferred to another site.

Mr Fraser told HSJ: “[PICUs] are really busy, as pressured as I can ever recall them.

“Every winter PICUs are under huge pressure due to seasonal RSV bronchiolitis. This usually happens between November and February. This year we always anticipated it would be a much longer season. It’s putting a lot of pressure on our national bed base.

“What is different is we have been under this pressure earlier in the year with RSV and other viral chest infections. We have been under this pressure for a month. The pressure is both the number of patients and there are a lot of staff off having to self-isolate."

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Source: HSJ, 29 October 2021

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NHS and private hospitals told to improve after patient death

The NHS and private hospitals need to improve how they work together after the death of an NHS patient treated privately during the pandemic, a watchdog has warned.

An investigation by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) found some private hospitals took on more complex patients than they were used to, while problems with communication and confusion over responsibilities created safety risks.

It has called on the Care Quality Commission to do more to inspect how the two sectors work together and how patients are transferred between hospitals safely.

It launched an inquiry after the death of a patient, known as Rodney, aged 58, who was due to have keyhole surgery to remove part of his bowel due to cancer.

His NHS operation was cancelled and rebooked at a nearby private hospital after cancer services were transferred to the independent hospital due to COVID-19.

Rodney was asked to sign a consent form for open bowel surgery, rather than the less invasive keyhole procedure, due to guidance at the time around a "potentially increased risk of COVID-19 transmission with laparoscopic surgery", the HSIB said.

The cancerous part of his bowel was removed but eight days later his condition he deteriorated rapidly and was transferred to the local hospital so he could receive intensive care - which was not available at the private hospital.

When he arrived at the NHS hospital, a scan and more surgery showed a leak in his bowel which led to sepsis and organ failure. He died later that day.

As a result of the case, the HSIB launched a wider investigation into NHS surgical services being carried out in independent hospitals.

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Source: The Independent, 28 October 2021

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Care for allergy patients ‘inadequate’, report warns

There is a “lack” of NHS services available to people with allergies, a group of MPs has said.

Despite increasing rates of hospital admissions for severe allergic reactions – also known as anaphylaxis – allergy services “have largely been ignored”, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Allergy said.

The group warned allergies are “poorly managed” across the health service due to a “lack of training” and only a small number of allergy experts.

“This mismatch has continued despite millions of patients having significant allergic disease,” it said.

In its latest report, which is to be delivered to Government on Wednesday, MPs said there are 20 million people in the UK who are living with allergic disease, including five million whose illness is severe enough to need specialist care.

“Yet our allergy services remain inadequate, often hard to access and are failing those who need them the most,” the report adds.

The group made a series of recommendations including: devising a “national allergy plan” to address problems; expanding the specialist workforce and ensuring all GPs get training in how to deal with allergies.

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Source: ITV News, 27 October 2021

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Cancer drug developed over 20 years ago ‘could help patients living with chronic pain’

A drug developed over 20 years ago to treat cancer could help patients living with crippling pain, according to new research.

Kenpaullone switches on a gene that douses chronic inflammation, say scientists.

Experiments on mice and humans found it was remarkably successful at alleviating nerve injury and bone tumour symptoms.

The US team is hopeful clinical trials will see equally successful results in humans suffering a host of conditions.

Up to 8 million people in the UK live with chronic pain. Major causes include arthritis and spine damage.

Lead author Professor Wolfgang Liedtke said: “New drugs and other therapies against chronic pain need to be safe, i.e., the fewer side effects the better.

“It’s especially important they be non-addictive and non-sedative, while being effective against nerve injury pain and cancer pain, preferably with a minimal time to official approval."

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Source: The Independent, 27 October 2021

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Covid lab returned four positive results from 2,400 Sheffield tests

The laboratory at the centre of the Covid testing fiasco returned just four positive results out of more than 2,400 tests sent to it from one city, the Guardian has learned, raising questions about why it was not discovered sooner.

The positivity rate of just 0.2% from Sheffield tests sent to the Wolverhampton lab run by Immensa contrasts sharply with the national rate of about 5-8% at the time of the scandal.

Data released under freedom of information laws by Sheffield city council showed there were four positive results, 2,391 negative and 13 void results processed by the lab from 1 September until it was suspended in mid-October.

The disclosure also shows the scandal covers local authorities as far away from Wolverhampton as Yorkshire, with the UK Health Security Agency refusing to disclose which areas are affected beyond saying they are mostly in south-west England.

One expert suggested there should have been about 200 positive results based on prevalence figures from the time. Kit Yates, a senior lecturer in mathematics at Bath University, said the country needed to see a full list of all the walk-in/drive in centres that were affected.

“It’s all well and good notifying those people who were tested, but because of the nature of this communicable disease, this scandal now reaches well beyond those people,” he said. “The public deserve to know if their area was affected.”

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Source: The Guardian, 27 October 2021

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NHSE tells trusts to ‘immediately stop all ambulance handover delays’

  • ·        Trusts told to identify actions to “immediately stop all delays”
  • ·        Letter calls for issue to be discussed at every board meeting
  • ·        It follows concern over harm to patients from delays

Trusts and integrated care systems are being told by NHS England and Improvement to take urgent action to ”immediately stop all delays” to ambulance handovers, which will require “difficult choices”.

A letter yesterday from NHS England’s medical director, director for emergency and elective care, and its regional directors was sent to all local chief executives and chairs yesterday.

It also says they should discuss the issue of ambulance handovers at every board meeting they hold, warns that “corridor care” is “unacceptable as a solution”, and says ambulances should not be used as “additional ED cubicles”.

The move comes amid signs of large numbers of very long handover delays, and concern about the risk to patients from this and the knock-on damage to ambulance response times.

Read the full article here (paywalled)
Original source: Health Service Journal

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Liverpool NHS trust ordered to improve amid safety concerns

A Liverpool NHS trust has been rated as "requires improvement" by the health service watchdog due to concerns over care and safety.

The moves comes following inspections at Aintree University Hospital and Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

Inspectors said Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust required improvement in safety while it was classed as inadequate for leadership.

The trust said "immediate action" had been taken to address the concerns.

Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals at the Care Quality Commission, said the inspections in June and July highlighted concerns that the trust's leadership team "had a lack of oversight of what was happening on the frontline".

Mr Baker said "lengthy delays" and "poor monitoring" were putting patients at serious risk of harm, and the trust was rated as requires improvement overall.

He added: "We were particularly concerned about how long people were waiting to be admitted onto medical wards and by the absence of effective processes to prioritise patients for treatment based on their conditions.

"There weren't always the right number of staff with the right skills and training to treat people effectively or keep them safe in the trust's emergency departments and on medical wards."

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Source: BBC News, 27 October 2021

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Shrewsbury nurse struck-off after medicine error and cover-up attempt

A nurse from scandal-hit Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital ordered a pregnant woman to take medication she was allergic to.

Christine Speake, who had worked in the NHS for almost 40 years as a midwife and nurse, has been struck-off the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register after a tribunal heard she told the mother to “just take it” and then tried to cover-up her mistake after the woman suffered a reaction.

The NMC hearing was told the 11-week pregnant patient and her unborn child could have died after being prescribed the Buscopan by a junior doctor to treat severe nausea and vomiting in January 2019.

The woman – named only as 'Patient A' – was given the drug by Speake despite her allergy being included in her medical records. Speake was employed as a sister on the gynaecology ward at the Princess Royal Hospital.

When the mother questioned what she was being given, Speake, who has worked as a midwife and nurse since 1985, snapped "just take it".

The panel heard Patient A then had a violent reaction and broke out in a rash and started vomiting.

But Speake, who realised her mistake, then failed to tell her colleagues in a bid to “cover up” what she had done and later resigned, the NMC tribunal heard.

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Source: The Independent, 26 October 2021

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Nurse shortages leave people dying in pain, charity warns

People are dying at home without the correct nursing support or pain relief because of staff shortages, according to the end-of-life charity Marie Curie.

One in three nurses, responding to a survey by the charity and Nursing Standard, say a lack of staff is the main challenge providing quality care to dying people.

More than half of the nurses said they feel the standard of care has deteriorated during the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 548 nursing staff across acute and community settings in the UK completed the survey in September.

They raise concerns about the increased number of people dying at home and insufficient numbers of community nurses to support these people and their families.

One nurse who responded to the survey said: "If more [people] are dying at home then there is a huge pressure on local district nursing teams which struggle with staffing as it is."

Julie Pearce, chief nurse and executive director of quality and caring services at Marie Curie, said: "The pandemic has accelerated change across many care settings.

"More people are dying at home and staffing to support this shift isn't there.

"The data shows a hidden crisis happening behind closed doors and people dying without access to pain relief or the dignity they deserve."

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Source: The Independent, 27 October 2021

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Why women may wait decades for an ADHD diagnosis

Gender bias is leaving many women with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder undiagnosed, leading psychologists are warning.

The prevailing stereotype ADHD affects only "naughty boys" means at least tens of thousands in the UK, it is estimated, are unaware they have the condition and not receiving the help they need.

"I used to tell doctors and therapists all the time, 'You've got to make this constant noise in my head stop. I can't think. I can't sleep. I can't get any peace,' but this was always dismissed as anxiety or women's problems," Hester says.

Diagnosed with depression at 16, she spent much of her 20s unsuccessfully battling to be referred to a psychiatrist.

And she constantly felt she was not reaching her true potential.

Hester was finally diagnosed with ADHD in 2015, aged 34, and only, she says, because her husband had discovered he had the condition, a year earlier.

His diagnosis took 12 months.

"At no point did anyone say to Chris, 'This sounds like anxiety,' or 'Have some tablets,'" Hester says. "He was taken seriously."

"Whereas with me, I was on the doctor's radar from the age of 16.

"Bluntly, it took so long for me to be diagnosed because I'm a woman."

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Source: BBC News, 26 October 2021

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1-in-10 adults living with diabetes by 2030

New analysis from Diabetes UK predicts that, without significant government action, up to 5.5m people in the UK could be living with diabetes by 2030. 

The prediction is based on analysis of statistics from Public Health England and The Association of Public Health Observatories. It means that as many as 1-in-10 UK adults could be living with diabetes within a decade.  

Additional analysis carried out shows that up to 17 million people - 1-in-3 UK adults - could be at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 2030, unless there's commitment from the governments of the UK to urgently invest in diabetes care and prevention. 

It is known that there's been progress in diabetes care, such as the hundreds of thousands of people who have been supported by the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. But we need more action to stop our prediction from coming true. 

That's why Diabetes UK are calling on the UK Government to: 

  • Make more funding available to enable more people to avoid a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes through increasing access to proven preventative measures, such as the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme 
  • Support far more people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes to go into remission where possible 
  • Improve access to weight management services  
  • Ensure that everyone has the access to the care and diabetes checks they need – including tackling the backlog – as we move out of the pandemic. 

The effects of the pandemic are still being felt in diabetes care. Millions of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes haven't had vital health checks when they needed them, and thousands of diagnoses of type 2 diabetes have been delayed or missed. 

Read full article here
Original source: Diabetes UK

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UK faces medicine shortages

Many feared that the UK leaving the EU would cause shortages and limitations to the medicine supply throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Now ten months on from Brexit are we finally seeing the short fallings?

Ninety percent of the UK's medicines are imported from abroad meaning disruptions caused by the outcomes of Brexit and a lack of HGV drivers has caused a significant problem in transporting drugs into the country.

Leaked Department of Health and Social Care documents revealed two hundred and nine medicines had supply “issues” in 2019, more than half of these remained in short supply for over three months. Drugs such as hepatitis vaccines and anti-epileptic drugs, faced “extended” problems.

A document published by the NHS Nottinghamshire Shared Medicines Management Team compiled a list of shortages and disruptions to supply due to COVID.

The following 5 products had long-term manufacturing issues:

  • AstraZeneca’s Zyban (bupropion, anti-smoking drug)
  • Par’s Questran (colestyramine, a bile acid sequestrant)
  • Diamorphine (a painkiller, used for cancer patients)
  • Metoprolol (used for high blood pressure)
  • Co-Careldopa (given to people with Parkinson’s disease)

A further thirty medicines had short-term manufacturing issues, including end of life medicines such as morphine and anti-vomiting drug, levomepromazine.

NHS Scotland and NHS Wales have published lists of drugs in low supply which are available to view on their NHS websites. NHS England consider this to be ‘sensitive information’ and have not published any shortfalls.

An amendment to The Human Medicines Regulations 2019 legislation has added a ‘Serious Shortage Protocol’ (SSP). This allows for pharmacists and contractors to supply patients with a ‘reasonable and appropriate substitute’ if their prescription has an active SSP.

Currently, shortages on Fluxoetine, (anti-depressive drug) and Estradot patches, (hormonal replacement therapy) have active SSP’s according to the NHS Business Service Authority.

Original source: National Health Executive

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HEE’s new £10m critical care workforce training package set for autumn roll-out

Health Education England (HEE) has announced that its new £10 million training programme, intended to ‘boost’ the critical care workforce, will be rolled out this autumn.

According to HEE, the funds it secured earlier this year will provide nurses and Allied Health Professionals with a ‘nationally recognised pathway’ to further their careers in Adult Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

Specialist training, delivered through a ‘blended learning package’ could help to strengthen the ICU workforce across England and will offer around 10,500 nursing staff the chance to undertake courses and ‘further their careers’.

There will be a focus on flexible training – enabling participants to balance family and caring commitments, as well as taking into account those who are unable to travel, when the roll-out of the programme begins.

The learning will be delivered by higher education institutions, Critical Care Skills Networks and acute trusts, and it is expected to take participants up to 12 months to receive the standardised qualification. It’s hoped that the programme could lead staff to career opportunities such as becoming a shift leader or clinical educator, or to lead on research.

Read full article here
Original source: Leading Healthcare News

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CDC publishes rates of COVID-19 cases, deaths by vaccine brand

The agency is now showing disease incidence among unvaccinated people, as well as those who received Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna vaccines.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published information on its COVID Data Tracker about rates of cases and deaths among fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people.  In August, according to the data, unvaccinated people had a 6.1 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19, and an 11.3 times greater risk of dying from the disease.  

Interestingly, the agency also breaks out case and death rates by vaccine product. In mid-August, at the peak of the latest wave, unvaccinated people made up the greatest percentage of COVID-19 cases, at an incident rate of 736.72 cases per 100,000 people.  Johnson & Johnson had the second-highest incidence rate, at 171.92 cases per 100,000.  Pfizer had the third-highest, at 135.64.  And Moderna had the lowest rate, at 86.28 cases per 100,000 people.  

The death rate mirrored the breakdown in terms of vaccine product and frequency, although the numbers were far lower across the board.  Again, at the peak in mid-August, the death rate among unvaccinated people was 13.23 in 100,000 people.   Rates for vaccinated people were dramatically reduced, at 3.14, 1.43 and 0.73 for Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna, respectively.  

When it came to age groups, peak case rates were highest among unvaccinated 12-17 year olds, followed by unvaccinated 30- to 49-year-olds. And 30- to 49-year-olds also had the highest case incidence among vaccinated people when broken down by age group, followed by fully vaccinated 18- to 29-year-olds.   Those older than 80 had the highest death rates among both unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals.  

The COVID Data Tracker site also includes integrated county views, forecasting and hospitalizations by vaccination status.  

Read the full article here
Original source: Healthcare IT News

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Trust’s directors scapegoated psychiatrist over patient’s death, tribunal finds

A mental health trust ‘scapegoated’ a psychiatrist over the death of a patient amid systemic issues, an employment tribunal has found.

Judges called the conduct of two senior directors — one of whom is a current NHS trust medical director — into question after ruling they had colluded to scapegoat Bernadette McInerney for issues that would have damaged the trust’s reputation.

Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust was found unanimously to have unfairly sacked and victimised Dr McInerney, a former consultant forensic psychiatrist at Rampton secure hospital, in a decision published last week.

The judgement was critical of both Chris Packham, a GP at Rampton hospital, and NHFT’s then-executive medical director Julie Hankin, but it also strongly condemned the trust’s former executive director for forensic services Peter Wright. Dr Hankin is now medical director at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough FT.

Read full article here (paywalled)
Original source: Health Service Journal

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BMA urges GPs to move to 15-minute consultations and close patient list

The BMA has advised practices to immediately start offering consultations of 15 minutes or more; and apply to close their patient list, as part of the fightback against the Government’s new GP access plan.

It set out a range of measures GPs should take to protect their staff and patients and ‘prioritise’ core work amid pressure to return to pre-pandemic ways of working.

In an email bulletin sent to GPs on Friday, the BMA’s GP Committee said that practices ‘should not feel pressured to return to a traditional 10-minute treadmill of face-to-face consultations that are neither good for patients nor clinicians’.

It said: ‘Instead, they should offer patients consultations that are 15 minutes or more [and] apply to close the practice list to focus on the needs of existing patients.’

Read full article here
Original source: Pulse

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GPs think older patients cannot handle health apps on phones

Over-55s are not being recommended useful health technology as GPs presume they cannot use a smartphone, say researchers

Older patients are being excluded from beneficial health technology because “ageist” doctors presume they cannot work a smartphone, research has suggested.
Experts have accused doctors of “stereotyping” older people as being incapable of using technology and warned patient safety was being put at risk by a failure to support them in using appropriate online health tools.
 
GPs typically recommend NHS-approved health apps to about one in 10 patients aged under 35 to help them manage their conditions between appointments, such as by reminding them to take medications or monitoring their symptoms. However, doctors recommend the same apps to just one in 25 patients over 55 and one in 50 patients over 65, according to research by the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (ORCHA), which assesses apps for the health service.
The same research found 55 per cent of over-55s would be happy to try using a health app if it was recommended, while nine in 10 over-55s and eight in 10 over-65s who have used a health app felt satisfied or very satisfied with the experience.
 
The NHS Long Term Plan states that patients should have access to “digital tools” to manage their health and studies have shown NHS-approved health apps can have clinical benefits.

Older people ‘will benefit from digital products’

However, Helen Hughes, the chief executive of the charity Patient Safety Learning, suggested ageist assumptions about older people’s technological ability meant they were missing out.
 
“The data suggests that older people maybe being stereotyped, with assumptions they won’t be computer literate,” she said. “Plenty of older people are tech savvy – or at least willing to learn – and will really benefit from being able to manage their health from home, using digital products. Older patients need to be offered technology solutions with support on how best to use them, if this is needed.”
 
She warned there was also “a significant patient safety issue” with the failure to advise patients about NHS-approved apps, as it left older patients at risk of inadvertently downloading one of the thousands of unreliable health apps available.

To read the full article (paywalled), click here
Original Source: The Telegraph

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Deaths of two children spark ‘urgent’ investigations at leading trust

  • Five serious incidents, including the deaths of two children, spark “urgent” investigations at specialist trust
  • Great Ormond Street Hospital FT has linked the incidents partly to what it described as a “faulty” batch of a type of glue used to close wounds during surgery
  • Supplier says it followed the correct recall processes for the product

Five serious incidents, including the deaths of two children, have sparked ‘urgent’ investigations into the processes through which clinicians are alerted to potential safety concerns over medical products used on patients.

Great Ormond Street Hospital Foundation Trust has been investigating the incidents which happened between December 2020 and April 2021. The trust has linked the incidents partly to what it described as a “faulty” batch of a type of glue used to close wounds during surgery. The glue, called Histoacryl, is produced by B. Braun Medical Ltd, and the company issued three separate “field safety notices”, relating to different batches of the product, in March and April this year. The company has stressed that it followed the correct recall processes throughout.

According to a report to GOSH’s public board meeting on 29 September, Histoacryl has been used for the endovascular treatment of brain arteriovenous malformations for more than 30 years, but earlier this year batches of the product were identified as hardening less rapidly than expected. The trust told HSJ in a statement: “A comprehensive serious incident investigation has been carried out to determine the impact of the faulty glue on all patients treated with it.

“The investigation found that whilst the passage of glue through the intended vessel may have been contributory in some instances of harm, it was unlikely to be the sole or main factor. “Both patients who died had serious and complex medical conditions and the procedure to correct these always carries a high degree of risk which is discussed extensively with the families before any treatment takes place.”

Read full article here (paywalled)
Original source: Health Service Journal

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HealthWatch's response to the annual CQC 'State of Care' report

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published State of Care. The report, which draws on the experiences of care people have shared with Healthwatch England, has found that health and social care services face some highly concerning challenges, including:

  • A workforce drained in terms of resilience and capacity, especially in social care, where the staff vacancy rate has risen;
  • A rising number of people seeking emergency care, leading to unacceptable waiting times; and
  • Tackling the health inequalities that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated.

The report welcomes the additional funding that the Government has allocated to help the NHS and social care address their challenges. However, CQC has called for the extra investment to be used to:

  • Develop new ways of working and don’t just prop up existing approaches and plug demand in acute care; and
  • Improve the training, career development and terms and conditions of social care workers to help attract and retain more staff.

CQC has also recommended that the short-term funding - currently in place to help discharge patients who are no longer in need of hospital care but may still require care services - be extended. 

The HealthWatch response

Responding, Sir Robert Francis QC, Chair of Healthwatch England said:

“During the pandemic, people have told us about the challenges they have faced. Whether this not being able to access dental care, problems using online GP services or being discharged from the hospital without the proper support. It’s great to see this report drawing so much on the experiences people have shared with us. 

“We urge Government to act on this report. The health and care system upon which we all depend is facing a hard winter, but, as this report makes clear, the longer-term picture is also challenging.

“The steps the CQC are recommending, like extending the extra funding to help people leave hospital safely and ensuring there is enough dental capacity, will help give services the breathing space they need to get through this winter.

“However, come spring we need to grasp the opportunity to build a better NHS and social care system. A system that tackles heath inequalities head-on, ensuring that no matter who you are or where you live, you can access high-quality care that meets your needs. A system that is sustainable, is designed round the needs of people and breaks perennial cycle of winter crises.”

Original source: HealthWatch
CQC report here

Read more
 

NHS England denies claim eligible patients can’t use its Covid jab booster booking service

NHS England has said that there is no ‘widespread issue’ with the national booking system for Covid vaccinations, despite eligible patients claiming they have been unable to book their booster jabs.

It comes as Sajid Javid yesterday urged people to ‘come forward’ for their Covid vaccines if they are eligible and have not had an invite six months after their second jab, and the Government launched a new campaign to promote boosters and flu vaccines.

Daisy Cooper, liberal democrat MP for St Albans, said yesterday in the House of Commons: ‘Many of my constituents are desperate to get their third jabs and their boosters. The Minister said that if their invitation has not arrived, they can book on the national booking service or 119, but that is simply not working. 

‘When they get on to the national booking service, it says they are not eligible if they have not received an invitation letter. If they call 119, it is telling them it cannot override the system.’

Vaccines minister Maggie Throup assured Ms Cooper: ‘I will definitely look into that. If there is a problem in the system, we will get it fixed.’

But NHS England told Pulse: ‘There isn’t a widespread issue with the system not recognising people who are eligible.’

The NHS website currently says: ‘If you haven’t received an invite by 6 months and 1 week, you can try to book your appointment online without an invite.’

Patients have also taken to Twitter to complain about not being able to book Covid boosters, despite receiving invitations to do so.

Read full article here
Original source: Pulse Today

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