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Duty of all NHS staff in England to fight discrimination, review says

All the NHS’s 1.5m staff in England should tackle discrimination against disadvantaged groups, not just bosses and specialist diversity teams, a major review has concluded.

NHS trusts will need fewer equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) teams if action against discrimination does become “the responsibility of all”, according to the report.

The review of NHS leadership said the health service should adopt a different approach to equality issues in order to overcome the widely recognised disadvantages faced by certain groups of its own staff, which include lower pay and chances of promotion among Black and ethnic minority doctors compared with white medics and low BAME representation in senior managerial ranks.

The inquiry, undertaken by Genl Sir Gordon Messenger and Dame Linda Pollard, was commissioned last year by Sajid Javid, the health secretary.

The report concluded that: “Most critically, we advocate a step-change in the way the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion are embedded as the personal responsibility of every leader and every member of staff.

“Although good practice is by no means rare, there is widespread evidence of considerable inequity in experience and opportunity for those with protected characteristics, of which we would call out race and disability as the most starkly disadvantaged.

“The only way to tackle this effectively is to mainstream it as the responsibility of all, to demand from everyone awareness of its realities and to sanction those that don’t meet expectations.”

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Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2022

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Duncan Selbie's (PHE) Friday Message - 31 July 2020

This week, Public Health England (PHE) Chief Executive's message covers the social care sector's management of COVID-19 outbreaks and the exemplary work in Hammersmith and Fulham Council, PHE's Better Health campaign, new reports on greenspaces and global disaster risk reduction, and our studies to support musicians and artists during the pandemic.

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Dumped in A&E and left untreated for 5 days or more: Shameful plight of some of our most vulnerable patients

Doctors have sent a stark warning over the dire state of emergency care for mental health patients after half of A&Es revealed patients were waiting more than five days in hospital before getting the treatment they need.

The “truly alarming” figures, shared exclusively with The Independent, show vulnerable patients are being let down by “unacceptable delays” to their treatment, with one campaigner warning the issue has become a national emergency.

The data, collated by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), prompted a bleak verdict from top doctor Dr Adrian Boyle who said the system – which sees patients being cared for by A&E staff who are not specifically trained for their needs – was failing the most “fragile” patients.

Warning that mental health patients are being hit the hardest by long waits in A&E, Dr Boyle, the RCEM president, added: “These patients need effective and efficient care, they deserve compassionate care – crucially, they deserve better.”

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Source: The Independent, 20 November 2023

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Dublin mental health centre falls short on physical restraint code

A Dublin mental health centre has failed to comply with the code of practice on physical restraint for four consecutive years, an inspection report has found.

The 39-bed Elm Mount Unit at St Vincent’s University Hospital said the issue was now high risk. 

Two episodes were recorded by the Mental Health Commission (MHC) where the staff member responsible for leading the physical restraint did not monitor the person’s head or airway, and that this went undocumented. In another case, inspectors noted, the physical restraint was not reviewed by members of the multidisciplinary team and recorded correctly.

There was also concern regarding the administration of medicine, specifically deficits in the prescription and administration record “which could potentially lead to medication errors”.

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Source: The Irish Times, 17 December 2019

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DrugGPT: new AI tool could help doctors prescribe medicine in England

Drugs are a cornerstone of medicine, but sometimes doctors make mistakes when prescribing them and patients don’t take them properly.

A new AI tool developed at Oxford University aims to tackle both those problems. DrugGPT offers a safety net for clinicians when they prescribe medicines and gives them information that may help their patients better understand why and how to take them.

Doctors and other healthcare professionals who prescribe medicines will be able to get an instant second opinion by entering a patient’s conditions into the chatbot. Prototype versions respond with a list of recommended drugs and flag up possible adverse effects and drug-drug interactions.

“One of the great things is that it then explains why,” said Prof David Clifton, whose team at Oxford’s AI for Healthcare lab led the project.

“It will show you the guidance – the research, flowcharts and references – and why it recommends this particular drug.”

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Source: The Guardian, 31 March 2024

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Drug-resistant infections are on the rise – so why aren’t we getting any new antibiotics?

Infections that were once easy to cure with antibiotics are becoming untreatable, and a novel treatment for bacterial infection is the holy grail for teams of researchers around the world.

However, severe financial challenges have left the pipeline of new antibiotics thin and fragile – and treatments are unavailable in many of the places they are most needed. Big pharmaceutical companies have left the field in search of greater profits elsewhere, and talented researchers have opted for new jobs in more stable sectors.

The number of deaths caused by drug-resistant bacteria in 2019 was 1.27 million, and economic costs are on track to exceed $1tn (£765bn) by 2030. The death rate is highest in sub-Saharan Africa, where children under five are particularly affected.

“This is a problem which truly affects the whole world, rich and poor countries alike,” says Jeremy Knox, the head of infectious disease policy at Wellcome. “[But] the impact is definitely asymmetrical. People in low and middle-income countries are bearing a far greater burden.”

Global leaders will gather in New York this month to discuss antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the UN general assembly. They will consider how to convince researchers and companies it is worth their while to create new replacement drugs, and how to improve access to tests and treatments.

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Source: The Guardian, 16 September 2024

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Drug warnings review after some patients 'misled' over impulsive behaviour side effects

Warnings about common medications that can cause impulsive behaviours, such as sex and gambling addictions, are being officially reviewed after BBC News identified an error in drug leaflets.

Side effects of a family of drugs used to treat Parkinson's, Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) and other conditions have led to huge debts, broken marriages, criminality and suicide, our year-long investigation found. More than 350 affected people have contacted the BBC during that period.

One in six Parkinson's patients taking the drugs are affected by impulse control disorders, the clinical term for these behaviours, according to one study cited as the largest of its kind.

Yet those side effects are described as "uncommon" in leaflets for one of the drugs, suggesting they only affect fewer than one in a hundred patients.

After being alerted by the BBC, the UK's drug safety regulator said that "an error has been identified" and it would be changing that label to "common".

In response to our findings, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has also begun reviewing warnings for all eight of these medications, which are known as dopamine agonist drugs.

Boehringer Ingelheim, the developer of Pramipexole - the Parkinson's drug with impulsive behaviours listed as "uncommon" - said the regulator had approved its leaflets and that it was committed to improving patient safety.

Neither it nor the MHRA were able to say how long the error had existed for, but the BBC has discovered its inclusion in a leaflet from 2021 - meaning patients have been misled for at least five years.

The MP who heads the Health Select Committee has told us she "wants answers" from the MHRA and believes it should apologise to families for the mistake.

"I just can't even begin to imagine hearing what they've been through - abuse, financial ruin, all that you've uncovered - and then to find out that they could have been so much better forewarned," said Layla Moran.

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Source: BBC News, 28 March 2026

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Drug that can halve breast cancer risk offered to 289,000 women in England

Drug that can halve breast cancer risk offered to 289,000 women in England

Anastrozole to be made available to women who have been through the menopause and have family history of breast cancer

Almost 300,000 women at higher risk of developing breast cancer are being given access to a drug that can halve their risk in a “major step forward” in the fight against the disease.

An estimated 289,000 women in England who are at moderate or high risk of breast cancer will from Tuesday be able to take the tablet to try to prevent it from developing, NHS bosses said.

The drug, anastrozole, is being made available to women who are in greater danger because they have been through menopause and have a major family history of Britain’s commonest form of cancer. It displays “remarkable” potential to reduce the number of people who go on to develop the disease, the head of the NHS said last night.

Every year, around 56,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer – about 150 a day. While survival rates have improved, it still claims about 11,500 lives each year.

“It’s fantastic that this vital risk-reducing option could now help thousands of women and their families avoid the distress of a breast cancer diagnosis,” said Amanda Pritchard, NHSC England’s chief executive. The drug will be taken as a 1mg tablet once a day for five years.

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Source: The Guardian, 7 November 2023

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Drug shortages: 'I'm eating less and rationing pills'

Two people with cystic fibrosis have said they are having to eat less due to a shortage in a medication which helps them eat.

Charlotte Bones, 31, and Steve Horwood, 35, both take Creon to help them digest food, as the condition causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system.

But a long-term Europe-wide shortage of the medication, external is affecting how many capsules they can get hold of meaning they are also having to ration their pills.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it was "working closely with industry, the NHS and others in the supply chain" to make sure alternative products were available.

Ms Bones, from Kilburn, said the shortage had meant she had been changed to a different strength of medication.

As a result of the shortage, she said she had been having less food and reducing the number of Creon pills she took in a day to stop her from running out.

Despite contacting six or seven different pharmacies, she said none have had Creon in stock and her hospital pharmacy was not able to signpost her to anywhere with supplies.

In the interim, Ms Bones said reducing her Creon intake had led to unpleasant side-effects, including stomach aches and diarrhoea, which were "hard to juggle" alongside her job.

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Source: BBC News, 5 August 2024

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Drug shortages putting patients at risk, pharmacists warn

Patients are being put at risk of serious illness as pharmacists are unable to dispense vital medications due to drug shortages, industry leaders have warned.

At least once a day drug supply problems mean pharmacies are unable to dispense a prescription, according to a survey of 500 pharmacies by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).

Currently if a prescription is out of stock, patients need to go back to their GP to get an alternative medication. But this can delay care and increase the risk of serious illness.

That’s because the pharmacist is not permitted to make a substitution even if they have a safe alternative in stock, this is except in very limited circumstances where a Serious Shortage Protocol has been issued by the NHS.

The NPA, which represents 6,000 independent community pharmacies, is calling on the government to grant greater flexibility for pharmacists to substitute medication or strength of a drug when it is safe to do so.

The NPA says it is “madness” to send someone back to the GP and warned the current situation poses a risk to patient safety. It said it could lead to patients potentially going without vital medication, such as some types of antibiotics, presenting a serious risk to their health.

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Source: The Independent, 10 March 2025

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Drug shortages linked with medication errors, study results suggest

A French study of adverse drug reactions has a highlighted a link between drug shortages and medication error.

Data from the French Pharmacovigilance Database show that medication errors were identified in 11% of the 462 cases mentioning a drug shortage.

The researchers found that medication errors usually occurred at the administration step and involved a human factor.

“A drug shortage may lead to a replacement of the unavailable product by an alternative,” the researchers wrote. “However, this alternative may have different packaging, labelling, dosage and sometimes a different route of administration that may increase the risk of a medication error.”

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Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 11 October 2022

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Drug firms funding UK patient groups that lobby for NHS approval of medicines

Drug companies are systematically funding grassroots patient groups that lobby the NHS medicines watchdog to approve the rollout of their drugs, the Observer has revealed.

An investigation by the Observer has found that of 173 drug appraisals conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) since April 2021, 138 involved patient groups that had a financial link to the maker of the drug being assessed, or have since received funding.

Often, the financial interests were not clearly disclosed in NICE transparency documents.

Many of the groups that received the payments went on to make impassioned pleas to England’s medicines watchdog calling for treatments to be approved for diseases and illnesses including cancer, heart disease, migraine and diabetes. Others made submissions appealing NICE decisions when medicines were refused for being too expensive.

In one case, a small heart failure charity that gave evidence to a NICE committee arguing for a drug to be approved received £200,000 from the pharmaceutical company, according to the maker’s spending records.

In another case, a cancer patient group supplied evidence relating to drugs made by 10 companies – from nine of which it had received funding.

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Source: The Guardian, 22 July 2023

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Drug firms fined for fixing price of drug used by NHS cancer patients

Several drug companies have been fined £35 million for colluding to raise the cost of an anti-nausea drug used by cancer patients, taking the total fines stemming from a Times investigation to £400 million.

The price paid by the NHS for prochlorperazine 3mg dissolvable tablets rose by 700%, from £6.49 a packet to more than £51, between December 2013 and December 2017, costing the NHS an extra £5 million a year.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ruled that several companies broke the law by fixing the market and agreeing not to produce a rival version of the drug, which is used to treat nausea and dizziness and can be prescribed to patients having chemotherapy.

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: “The size of the fines reflects the seriousness of this breach. These firms conspired to stifle competition in the supply of this important medication, so that the NHS — the main buyer of the drugs — lost the opportunity for increased choice and lower prices.”

He said the CMA would not “hesitate to take action like this against any businesses that collude at the expense of the NHS”.

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Source: The Times, 3 February 2022

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Drug consumption rooms could save thousands of UK lives, study finds

Thousands of lives could be saved if safe rooms were set up in UK cities where people could be supervised while they get high, the world’s largest review of the effectiveness of drug-consumption rooms and overdose-prevention centres (OPCs) has found.

The part-government-funded study published on Thursday also found the facilities could slash the transmission of fatal diseases, as well as reduce drug litter, the pressure on ambulance callouts and the burden on hospitals.

Similar facilities already operate in France, the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Greece, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Mexico, Iceland and Colombia.

Each unit hosts from 20 to 400 users a day and is supposed to provide somewhere for people to take drugs in the presence of trained health workers who intervene if an overdose occurs.

They also mean people don’t have to rush their drug taking, can access clean needles, and get help with other health issues, from testing for hepatitis B and HIV to accessing mental-health support.

But none has yet been deployed officially in the UK, and the report warns the absence “costs lives”.

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Source: The Guardian, 11 January 2023

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Drug and alcohol treatment sees rise in deaths in England

There has been a 27% rise in people dying while in treatment for drug and alcohol addiction during the pandemic, an official report shows.

Changes to support and reduced access to healthcare during lockdowns are likely to have been factors, it says.

Between April 2020 and March 2021, 3,726 people died while in contact with drug and alcohol services - up from 2,929 the year before.

The figures, published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, for England, show a small 2% rise in the overall numbers of adults receiving help for drug and alcohol problems from 2020 to 2021.

Out of more than a quarter of a million people affected, more than half were in treatment for problems with opiates - medicines to treat pain - and a quarter with alcohol problems.

The proportion of deaths in treatment for alcohol addiction rose by 44% to 1,064 and for opiate addiction by 20% to 2,418.

UKAT, a group providing residential detox treatment, said a "concerning" number of services closed their doors to addicts during the pandemic.

"But drug and alcohol treatment is critical care intervention and cannot be simply put on pause," said Nuno Albuquerque, head of treatment for the group.

"It cannot be a coincidence that more people have subsequently lost their lives when they were in fact trying to save it."

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Source: BBC News, 25 November 2021

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Drop in overseas workers is ‘car crash’ for UK hospitals and care homes, say experts

Hospitals and care homes in the UK face “an impending car crash”, experts have warned, as research shows the number of overseas nurses and carers has collapsed.

Analysis of Home Office quarterly data reveals the number of overseas nurses granted entry to the UK has fallen by 93% over three years. Just 1,777 overseas nurses were granted entry in 2025, compared with 26,100 in 2022.

Visas for workers in the caring personal service occupations category – which includes care workers, but also nursing auxiliaries, ambulance staff and dental workers – had the steepest decline in new workers from overseas in absolute terms.

The figure fell from 107,847 workers granted entry in 2023 to just 3,178 in 2025, a 97% decline over two years. Only 23 overseas care workers were granted entry from October to December 2025.

The study, by the charity Work Rights Centre, highlights the impact of the UK’s lurch to the right on migration, which some economists fear will compound skill shortages, inflation, tax rises and problems meeting the needs of an ageing population.

Overall, the number of skilled worker visas issued has fallen for the ninth consecutive quarter to the lowest levels since 2021, as fewer migrant care workers, nurses, scientists, therapists, education professionals and tradespeople come to the UK, where visa conditions have been systematically tightened.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 February 2026

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Drive to reduce hospital waiting lists endangered by disappointing activity levels

Elective activity levels are still significantly below those achieved before the pandemic, despite the high profile and government-led drive to recover services.

HSJ has seen internal data which suggests raw elective activity levels from the start of April to mid-June have averaged around 88% of that recorded in the same period during 2019-20.

This is despite the NHS aiming to deliver activity levels of at least 110% above the pre-covid benchmark in 2022-23, in its attempt to make inroads into record elective care waiting lists.

According to senior and well-placed sources, the continued low activity levels have sparked discussions within NHSE about easing or resetting the expectations for the year.

It had been hoped that increased activity from May onwards would start to drive down the waiting list – or at least slow its growth. However, the data obtained by HSJ suggests activity levels continue to disappoint.

Sources pointed to repeated covid waves and related pressures through the spring, saying this has hampered efforts to ramp up activity. 

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Source: HSJ, 4 July 2022

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Dreaded Covid-flu twindemic cost NHS this winter

Simultaneous big waves of Covid and flu - the 'twindemic' experts warned of as people returned to 'normal' pre-pandemic mixing - cost the NHS this winter, say NHS bosses.

NHS England chief strategy officer Chris Hopson said hospital pressures in England peaked on 29 December.

The workload involved gave hospitals a "significant problem" at the turn of the year, he said. 

It was at this point that record-long waits at A&E were seen. Since then the pressures have begun to ease a little.

Speaking to MPs on the House of Commons' health committee, Mr Hopson said: "The issue was always going to be this winter was the degree to which we saw prevalence of both Covid and flu and the degree to which they combined.

"Now we're obviously not through winter yet but the really important point - that I don't think has come out enough - is both Covid and flu peaked so far on 29 December."

At the turn of the year one in eight beds were occupied by patients with either Covid or flu.

And Mr Hopson added this combined with the 12,000 beds occupied by patients medically fit to leave but unable to be discharged because of the lack of support in the community meant more than a quarter of beds were lost.

"It gives a significant problem in terms of patient flow, which then means you get the back up right the way through the system."

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Source: BBC News, 24 January 2023

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DRC offers free maternity care to cut death rate among mothers and babies

Pregnant women across the Democratic Republic of the Congo are to be offered free healthcare in an effort to cut the country’s high rates of maternal and neonatal deaths.

Women in 13 out of 26 regions in the country will, by the end of the year, be entitled to free services during pregnancy and for one month after childbirth. Babies will receive free healthcare for their first 28 days under the scheme, which the government plans to extend to the rest of DRC – although there is no timetable for that yet.

However, health workers have raised concerns that hospitals and medical centres are ill-equipped to cope with any increased demand on services. Some told the Guardian there were not enough staff, facilities or equipment to successfully introduce the $113m (£93m) programme, which is supported by the World Bank.

The rollout of the programme comes amid nationwide strikes by nurses, midwives, technicians and hospital administrative staff, who are calling for higher pay and better conditions.

Congo has one of the highest number of maternal and neonatal deaths in the world. Latest figures record the maternal morality ratio at 547 deaths for every 100,000 live births, and its neonatal rate – the number of babies dying before 28 days of life – at 27 per 1,000 live births. 

The minister of public health, Roger Kamba Mulamba, said the programme would free women from a “prison sentence”.

He said: “Mothers today get healthcare without fear when they are pregnant. Babies today do not die because they have no access to antibiotics. Mothers today do not die because they cannot afford to pay for a caesarean delivery.”

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Source: The Guardian, 6 November 2023

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Draft of NHS workforce plan calls for doubling of medical school places

Britain could double the number of doctors and nurses it trains under NHS plans to tackle a deepening staffing crisis, according to reports.

The proposal to increase the number of places in UK medical schools from 7,500 to 15,000 is contained in a draft of NHS England’s long-awaited workforce plan, which is expected to be published next month.

Labour has already announced this policy as a key element of its plans to revive the NHS. However, it could face opposition from the Treasury because of how much it would cost, according to the Times, which reported on the plan.

The NHS in England alone is short of 133,000 staff – equating to about a tenth of its workforce – including 47,000 nurses and 9,000 doctors, according to the most recent official figures.

There are also shortages of midwives, paramedics and operating theatre staff. Staff groups say routine gaps in NHS care providers’ rotas are endangering patients’ safety, increasing workload and costing the service money.

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Source: The Guardian, 22 February 2023

 

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Draft NHSE plans seek to ‘eradicate’ police role in SIM care model

A draft NHSE statement suggests mental trusts could be asked to eradicate features of the ‘serenity integrated mentoring’ (SIM) care model from clinical practice, following a whirlwind of concerns in 2021 and an investigation by national clinical director Tim Kendall.

A core feature of SIM is to place a police officer within a healthcare team charged with supporting patients who frequently attend emergency services in crisis, and creating crisis plans.

The draft position statement produced by NHSE, which the regulator said is not its final version and is subject to changes, says SIM should not be used.

It also proposes the eradication of the following practices from any equivalent care model:

  • Police involvement in delivery of therapeutic interventions in planned, non-emergency, community mental healthcare;
  • The use of coercion, sanctions (criminal or otherwise), withholding care and otherwise punitive approaches; and
  • Discriminatory practices and attitudes towards patients who express self-harm behaviours, suicidality and/or those who are deemed “high intensity users”.

The statement, which is the first indication of NHSE’s position on the SIM model but not its final stance, also suggests Professor Kendall will be seeking assurance from trust medical directors that SIM or similar models, and the above three features of concern, are no longer used. A full policy and public statement on the model is expected by the spring.

The StopSIM coalition, whose campaigning prompted the NHSE review, said: “Unless and until the full policy is freely available to service users and the public, service users are not equipped to protect themselves against the dangers of SIM and similar approaches".

Further reading on the hub:

The High Intensity Network (HIN) approach and SIM model for mental health care and 'high intensity users' – views and discussion

StopSIM: Mental health is not a crime

 

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Dr TikTok: patients diagnose chronic illnesses with anonymous commenters’ help

Malina Lee, a 31-year-old wedding baker based in San Antonio, Texas, joined TikTok during the Covid pandemic lockdowns in 2020. Like many people at the time, she was bored and began using the platform to pass the time and advertise her business. She didn’t expect a cancer diagnosis.

Four years after Lee joined the app, a commenter with the username “PickleFart” told her that her neck looked asymmetrical in a way that could suggest she had a goiter – an enlarged thyroid gland – and that she should get it checked out. The anonymous amateur clinician turned out to be right – Lee had thyroid cancer, received treatment quickly, and, less than a year later, was cancer free.

TikTok users are increasingly reporting that the app’s hyper-specific algorithm has steered them towards detecting medical problems before they were aware of them themselves. In many instances, users reported that symptoms described by other TikTokers matched their own inscrutable set of ailments, which led to diagnoses. In instances like Lee’s, human commenters were responsible for diagnoses that doctors had missed or not yet identified.

Lee is not the only user that PickleFart, whose real name is Billie Jean Tuomi, has accurately diagnosed in a comment section. By her estimate, Tuomi has commented on dozens of videos alerting content creators of potential thyroid problems – and correctly spotted serious problems in at least four cases that she knows of, including Lee’s.

Tuomi’s career as the “thyroid avenger”, as some have started to call her, is personal in its origins: she herself was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2012, and after two years of treatment was declared cancer-free. But obtaining a diagnosis and undergoing the subsequent treatment were difficult processes. She now finds herself trying to spare strangers on the internet what she went through.

“It’s something that you don’t ever stop struggling with – it’s constantly on my mind,” she said. “The earlier you get diagnosed, the easier it is to treat, so I feel like it’s important to say something if you see something.”

Craig Mittleman, director of the department of emergency services at Lawrence + Memorial hospital in Connecticut, said in the last five years of his 36-year career practicing medicine, he has seen a sharp increase in patients coming in with internet-influenced diagnoses – for better and for worse.

“In some ways, it’s allowed patients to feel empowered to ask certain questions and be more informed,” he said. “But I also find that we are often, as emergency physicians, spending a lot of time debunking information that patients present, which they’ve procured through social media.”

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Source: The Guardian, 12 April 2026

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Dr Ted Baker named as preferred candidate for Chair of HSSIB

Dr Ted Baker has been named as the government’s preferred candidate for chair of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB).

Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has today (26 August 2022) invited the Health and Social Care Committee to hold a pre-appointment scrutiny hearing with Dr Baker.

Ted Baker was Chief Inspector of Hospitals at the Care Quality Commission between 2017 and 2022. He trained as a paediatric cardiologist. He was in clinical practice for 35 years and has held a range of clinical and academic leadership roles including medical director at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

He was selected following an open public appointment process.

Following the select committee hearing, the committee will set out its views on the candidate’s suitability for the role. The Secretary of State will then consider the committee’s report before making a final decision on the appointment.

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Source: HSIB, 26 August 2022

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Dr Ted Baker announced as the new Chair of HSSIB

Dr Ted Baker has been formally appointed as the new chair of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB).

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP, made the announcement today (1 December 2022).

Dr Baker is a retired consultant paediatric cardiologist, and most recently was Chief Inspector of Hospitals at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) between 2017 and 2022.

Dr Baker says: “I am delighted to be joining such a ground-breaking organisation. I have been impressed by the quality of the work coming from the HSIB and I am excited to be joining the organisation at such an important time in its history."

Source: HSIB, 1 December 2022

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Dr Penny Kechagioglou on digitising patient reported outcome measures

Dr Penny Kechagioglou, Chief Clinical Information Officer and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, kindly shared her thoughts on digitising patient reported outcome measures in a blog for HTN.

The UK digital transformation wave is mainly characterised by the roll-out of electronic health records and is an opportunity to transform patient care by collecting and analysing patient reported outcome measures digitally.

A recent study at the European Society of Medical Oncology open journal (Modi, 2022) showed that patient reported outcome measures are predictive of cancer patient treatment response and quality of life for physical and mental parameters. The knowledge of patient reported outcomes (PRO) and experience (PRE) measures can be valuable in the monitoring of individual patient symptoms in clinic or remotely in the community and also for aggregating and interpreting population health data.

To read the full article, click here

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