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Dr Michael Watt: Suspended neurologist offers 'sympathy' to patients

Suspended Belfast neurologist Michael Watt has offered his "sincere sympathy" to those affected by Northern Ireland's biggest patient recall.

Dr Michael Watt worked at the Royal Victoria Hospital as a neurologist diagnosing conditions like epilepsy and Parkinson's Disease. He was suspended after 3,000 patients were given recall appointments last year.

Dr Watt said he recognised the "distress these events have caused".

On Tuesday, a BBC Spotlight investigation found that he had carried out hundreds of unnecessary procedures on patients.

The programme also obtained details of a Department of Health report, as yet unpublished, that said one-in-five patients of the consultant neurologist were misdiagnosed.

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Source: BBC News, 22 November 2019

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Dr Michael Watt: Almost 20% of patients misdiagnosed

Almost 20% of patients seen by neurology consultant Dr Michael Watt were given a wrong diagnosis, a report has found.

A review of 927 of Dr Watt's high-risk patients found 181 people received a diagnosis described as "not secure", Health Minister Robin Swann said.

He was speaking as the Belfast Trust announced the recall of a further 209 neurology patients seen and discharged by Dr Watt between 1996 and 2012.

This is the third such recall.

Dr Watt was at the centre of Northern Ireland's biggest patient recall linked to his work at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.

Mr Swann said he had met patients and families affected by the recall in October last year.

"While this report is statistical in nature, it deals with individuals, their families and their experiences," he said.

"I know that many will have had their confidence in our health service shaken and I remain committed to helping restore it."

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Source: BBC News, 20 April 2021

 

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Dr Michael Watt tribunal was 'unlawful corner-cutting exercise'

A tribunal which allowed a doctor's voluntary removal from the medical register was an "unlawful corner-cutting exercise", a judge has said.

Neurologist Michael Watt was at the centre of Northern Ireland's biggest recall of patients.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) allowed him to voluntarily remove himself in 2021. It meant he would not face a public hearing about any fitness to practice issues.

More 2,500 patients who were in his care had their cases reviewed - with around one in five having their diagnosis changed.

Having already quashed the decision to grant removal, Mr Justice McAlinden delivered a scathing assessment of how the application was handled on Monday.

In Belfast's High Court, he described the process where Dr Watt's request was heard without the necessary jurisdiction as a "fiasco".

The court also heard how Dr Watt appeared to have a "get out of jail free card" where patients were denied public scrutiny of their medical care.

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Source: BBC News, 17 April 2023

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Dr Heather Steen to be removed from medical register

A senior doctor is to be removed from the medical register after she was found to have attempted to cover-up the circumstances of a young girl's death.

Paediatrics consultant Dr Heather Steen was found to be unfit to practise after an investigation into the death of nine-year-old Claire Roberts in 1996.

A medical tribunal examining the doctor's case ruled that the majority of allegations against her were true.

Claire's mother said it was "just the start of getting full justice".

"I am angry at Dr Steen for putting us through 26 years of mental torment," said Jennifer Roberts.

At the time of Claire's death, her parents were told she had a viral infection that had spread from her stomach to her brain.

But in 2018 a public inquiry determined that she had died from an overdose of fluids and medication caused by negligent care at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.

The inquiry also concluded there had been "cover up" and the girl's death had not been referred to the coroner immediately to "avoid scrutiny".

The case was then put to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), which rules on doctors' fitness to practise.

When the case reached the tribunal stage Dr Steen twice applied to be voluntarily removed from the medical register and was twice refused. Had that been successful the tribunal would have been halted as she would no longer have been a doctor.

However the tribunal continued and examined allegations that between October 1996 and May 2006 Dr Steen "knowingly and dishonestly carried out several actions to conceal the true circumstances" of Claire.

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Source: BBC News, 11 November 2022

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Dr Hardeep Singh earns prestigious John M. Eisenberg Award for lifetime work improving patient safety

Hardeep Singh, an informatics leader, patient safety advocate and innovator, and friend of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF), has been awarded the Individual Achievement Award in the 20th John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards for demonstrating exceptional leadership and scholarship in patient safety and healthcare quality through his substantive lifetime body of work.

The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum present Eisenberg Awards annually to recognise major achievements to improve patient safety and healthcare quality.

Dr Singh, chief of the Health Policy, Quality & Informatics Program in the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and professor at Baylor College of Medicine, was recognised for his pioneering career in diagnostic and health IT safety and his commitment to translating his research into pragmatic tools, strategies, and innovations for improving patient safety.

His commitment to improving patient safety began while pursuing his Master of Public Health at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2002 when he first learned the field of patient safety existed. That commitment was galvanised early in his medical career, as he found himself treating patients who had been misdiagnosed, received unsafe care, or experienced poor outcomes.

The breadth and depth of Dr Singh's research work is remarkable, but what is most notable is the extent to which he has succeeded in translating it into pragmatic strategies and innovations for improving patient safety. Dr. Singh emphasised that while the Eisenberg Award recognizes an individual for their achievements, his work in patient safety has been successful because of its multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach with psychologists, human factors engineers, social scientists, informaticians, patients, and more.

That work has led to the development of several tools to improve patient safety, including The Safer Dx Checklist, which helps organizations perform proactive self-assessment on where they stand in terms of diagnostic safety.

"As an immigrant and an international medical graduate, I have had a lifelong dream to make an impact on health care. I saw every scientific project as an opportunity to change health care. So, I made a personal commitment that my research must use a pragmatic, real-world improvement lens and challenge the status quo in quality and safety," Dr. Singh said.

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Source: Jewish Healthcare Foundation News, 31 August 2022

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Dr Camilla Kingdon to chair review of children's hearing services

The Secretary of State, Wes Streeting, has commissioned an independent review of children’s hearing services and has appointed Dr Camilla Kingdon as its independent chair.

The review will consider:

  • the NHS England response to the service failures in paediatric audiology
  • how the relevant governance arrangements between NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) could be improved and identify lessons learned
  • how NHS England’s handling of any future service failures in similar services could be improved and identify lessons learned.

In December 2021, a report was published into service issues in paediatric audiology in NHS Lothian, which focused on whether children’s hearing tests were being conducted properly and effectively followed up.

Further issues with the diagnosis of hearing issues in newborns and children were identified in other Scottish NHS trusts in 2023. Subsequent assessment of NHS audiology services in paediatric departments across England in 2023 and 2024 identified similar problems. NHS England established the Paediatric Hearing Services Improvement Programme in 2023 to address the issues and oversee remedial action.

Dr Kingdon brings extensive expertise to the review. She has been a consultant neonatologist at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital for over 20 years and until March last year she was President of RCPCH. She has an MA in Medical Careers Management and was Head of the London School of Paediatrics and Child Health for 5 years from 2014.

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Source: Gov UK, 14 April 2025

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Dr Atul Gawande updates Senators on the destruction of USAID

Earlier this month, Dr Atul Gawande briefed US Senators on the effects that the destruction of USAID is already having. Dr Gawande, until noon on 20 January 2025, ran global health for USAID.

While the Supreme Court ruled last month that the Trump administration still has to pay its bills for work already completed by USAID contractors, that was not exactly a high bar to clear—and even that decision was a narrow 5-4 ruling. Meanwhile, all of the contract terminations and personnel purges have been permitted to go through while the overall issues are litigated. Therefore, the reality is that even if the courts eventually determine that the complete gutting of USAID was not lawful, it will already be a fait accompli—that is, practically impossible to reverse.

So, what of USAID’s crucial work remains, and what has—in Elon Musk’s own words—already been ‘fed to the wood chipper’?

In testimony to members of the US Senate, Dr Gawande summarised what has already been destroyed by callous and brutal DOGE-directed terminations since January. We are only just beginning to be able to estimate the number of deaths these cuts will cause in the coming months and years, but unless something changes, it will surely amount to millions of human lives lost. A particularly depressing aspect is that these are senseless deaths (not to mention other suffering from disease and poverty), without reasonable or accurate justifications, as Dr. Gawande explicitly delineated in his presentation.

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Source: Inside Medicine, 6 April 2025

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Dozens of trusts on course to run out of gowns as PPE crisis escalates

Dozens of NHS trusts fear running out of disposable gowns this weekend if they do not receive more supplies, while national officials have issued guidance on alternatives to use in extreme circumstances, HSJ has learned. 

Several well-placed sources in procurement reported widespread concerns, more severe than so far in the COVID-19 outbreak. One had information that at least 60 trusts would run out this weekend without supplies, and that it was likely the large majority of NHS providers were affected.

One well-placed source told HSJ the situation today was “not normal even during this pandemic”. Another described the “critical” shortage as “a dire situation for everyone”.

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Source: HSJ, 17 April 2020

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Dozens of stroke units lose ‘A’ ratings

Close to 80% of stroke units are falling well short against a swathe of new standards introduced to the high-profile national audit, according to HSJ analysis.

In the latest figures from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme just one unit, at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust, achieved an ‘A’ rating.

This compared with 30 trusts rated ‘A’ in July-September 2024 data – the final results before major methodology changes.

The changes included significant new indicators – such as on thrombectomy – and increasing the performance bar on several existing measures, like those covering the standard and intensity of rehab care.

In the most recent data – October-December 2025 – of 99 routinely admitting stroke teams nationally, 22 achieved the lowest possible overall rating of ‘E’, while 57 were ranked the second lowest of ‘D’. Five received a ‘B’ and 14 a ‘C.

A substantial overhaul of the method, including introducing new measures – such as thrombectomy accesss – and raising the bar on others, for example standards and intensity of rehabilitation.

The Stroke Association is calling for the government to use its upcoming modern service framework guidance on cardiovascular disease – expected in coming weeks – to drive up rehab standards.

The charity said the new audit ratings revealed “significant gaps” in treatment standards – although it accepted the falls in ratings were “very much about recalibration” rather than declining quality.

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Source: HSJ, 20 May 2026

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Dozens of safety probes kept secret by trusts

Trusts are still keeping reports that reveal serious patient safety concerns secret, HSJ has discovered.

So-called “invited reviews” are often commissioned by trusts’ management from a medical royal college, when they are trying to deal with concerns about safety, quality or staffing in a particular service — or, in some cases, about individual doctors.

The providers are meant to publish a summary of the findings where they uncover safety or quality issues, but HSJ has established this is still routinely not happening.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, HSJ traced at least 49 reviews commissioned since April 2020. Only six had been published by the trust in a meaningful way, despite many others surfacing concerns about care.

Morecambe Bay inquiry chair Bill Kirkup told HSJ: “It is disappointing to see so many trusts continuing to treat invited reviews as confidential, despite clear recommendations. These are public services, and there should be transparency. Some detail may need to be redacted to maintain individual confidentiality, but I can see no justification for wholesale failure to disclose information that is in the public interest.”

Patient Safety Learning chief executive Helen Hughes added: “These reviews have the potential to unearth patient safety insights that are applicable far beyond the organisations they are focused on. Currently however, this learning is not shared widely in a consistent way to inform our understanding of patient safety risks and the need for improvements across the system.”

She said “privacy, personal sensitivity, and legal reasons… should not present an insurmountable barrier to extracting system-wide learning”.

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Source: HSJ, 4 February 2025

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Dozens of referrals for vulnerable mothers refused due to ‘lack of beds’

Dozens of referrals to specialist care for women with serious mental health problems during or after pregnancy are being turned down because no bed was available, data collected by HSJ reveals.

HSJ submitted freedom of information requests to 19 trusts running mother and baby units (MBUs) – which are inpatient services where women who experience serious mental health problems during or after pregnancy can stay with their child – asking for the “total number of referrals… which could not be admitted because no bed was available”. 

Although all of the 19 trusts HSJ sent freedom of information requests to responded, many said they did not hold this information. However, five – Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Foundation Trust, Essex Partnership University FT, Greater Manchester Mental Health FT, Hertfordshire Partnership University FT, and Nottinghamshire Healthcare FT – together identified 197 referrals which were rejected. Greater Manchester identified a further three which were turned down in the calendar year 2022, although it did not specify which financial year this was.

Several experts told HSJ the figures reflected a lack of capacity for mothers with serious mental health problems.

Maternal Mental Health Alliance campaign manager Karen Middleton said MBUs offered “the best outcomes” for new mothers who needed inpatient treatment".

Ms Middleton continued: “When a much-needed MBU bed isn’t available, women instead face admission to general adult psychiatric wards, separating them from their newborn babies at a crucially important time for relationship development. These wards lack appropriate facilities and expertise to support postnatal mothers with their specific physical and emotional needs.”

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Source: HSJ, 16 August 2022

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Dozens of patients seen by independent provider suffered ‘moderate or severe’ harm

Nearly 30 patients suffered severe or moderate harm due to quality issues with ultrasounds carried out by an independent provider, a review has found. 

Scans of 1,800 patients carried out by two sonographers employed by Bestcare Diagnostics were examined as part of a clinical harm review initiated by Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group in 2019.

Papers for next week’s governing body meeting of West Sussex CCG — which has absorbed Coastal West Sussex CCG — reveal the review found 29 cases of severe or moderate harm. 

According to the NHS’ National Recording and Learning System, moderate harm is that where a patient needs further treatment or procedures but the harm is short-term. Severe harm results in permanent or long-term harm. Both require NHS bodies to exercise the duty of candour.

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Source: HSJ, 6 April 2021

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Dozens of patients left conscious but unable to breathe after NHS drug errors

More than a dozen NHS patients have stopped breathing and 40 others suffered serious effects after having powerful anaesthetic drugs mistakenly “flushed” into their systems by unsuspecting NHS staff.

In one case a man has been left suffering nightmares and flashbacks after he stopped breathing on a ward when a powerful muscle relaxant used during an earlier procedure paralysed him but left him fully conscious. He only survived because a doctor was on the ward and started mechanically breathing for him.

An investigation by the safety watchdog, the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB), found there had been 58 similar incidents in England during a three-year period.

The mistakes happen when residual amounts of drugs are left in intravenous lines and cannulas and not “flushed” out after the surgery. When the IV lines are used later by other staff the residual drugs can have a debilitating effect on patients.

In a new report HSIB said flushing intravenous lines to remove powerful drugs was a “safety-critical” task but that the process for checking this had been done was not being properly carried out, posing a life-threatening risk to patients.

It said the use of a checklist by anaesthetic staff can be overlooked when doctors are busy with other tasks and they fail to engage with the process.

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Source: The Independent, 4 March 2021

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Dozens of hospitals hit dangerous bed occupancy levels

Dozens of acute trusts have operated at very high levels of bed occupancy in the past month, as they deal with a surge in non-covid patients with thousands fewer beds than normal.

At one point in May, 49 general acute trusts out of 145 — the most since before covid — operated at occupancy of 95 per cent or more in adult acute beds. Up to eight trusts at a time were operating at 99 or 100% occupancy during May, according to analysis of published data. 

NHS England, prior to covid, told trusts to keep occupancy below 92%, and others believe even this is dangerously high, although trusts do often exceed it during winter.

Trusts are seeing the largest numbers of non-covid emergency patients since at least winter 2019-20; and are also trying to return as many planned operations as possible.

They are doing so with thousands fewer beds than normal, due to measures to deal with ongoing covid patients without further outbreaks of the virus in hospital. 

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Source: HSJ, 8 June 2021

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Dozens of doctors issue ‘grave’ safety warning over plans to reform NHS cancer services

Dozens of doctors from across Greater Manchester have warned health bosses plans to reform cancer services in the city will put patients at risk and destabilise smaller hospitals.

In a letter, seen by The Independent, to the head of the devolved NHS and social care system for the city, almost 40 urological consultants called on the NHS to abandon its plans.

NHS leaders are aiming to centralise hundreds of bladder and kidney cancer operations a year at the University Hospital of South Manchester but the doctors warn this will make their roles in smaller district general hospitals harder to recruit to and leave patients who need input from urologists at a disadvantage. Ultimately they fear the reorganisation could put services at smaller hospitals such as emergency care, gynaecology, trauma and obstetrics at risk because of the role urologist play in their delivery.

The letter added: “The inevitable consequences of centralisation of complex urological cancer services on a single site will result in an inability to provide a safe sustainable comprehensive service to large areas of the city, particularly those areas which are already under resourced with regard to access to care and which have the highest levels of social deprivation."

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Source: The Independent, 12 November 2019

 

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Dozens of deaths and stillbirths at maternity units cost hospital trust £103m in damages over decade

More than £100 million has been paid out in damages by one hospital trust over 10 years after its maternity units were accused of being responsible for dozens of deaths and stillbirths, Channel 4 News has revealed.

From April 2010 to March 2021, £103,097,198 was paid out by the Mid & South Essex NHS Foundation Trust involving 176 obstetrics claims, according to NHS Resolution figures obtained by a freedom of information request.

Of those claims made against the trust, 36 related to mothers and children dying, 27 referred to stillbirths and 55 concerned babies born with brain damage or cerebral palsy.

Gabriela Pintilie died in Basildon University Hospital, which is run by the trust, in 2019 after losing six litres of blood giving birth, and a coroner said there were “serious failings” in her care.

Basildon University Hospital’s maternity unit was twice rated inadequate in 2020, following two separate inspections, with a report saying the service “did not always have enough staff to keep women safe”.

The report also criticised “longstanding poor staff culture” which had “created an ineffective team”.

In August 2020, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) issued a warning notice to the hospital as inspectors found six serious incidents occurred between March and April that year in which babies were born in a poor condition starved of oxygen and at risk of brain damage.

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Source: Channel 4 News, 14 January 2022

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Dozens more children harmed after care failures

Dozens more children have suffered harm due to failings in audiology services, HSJ can reveal.

Several trusts have newly admitted their assessment of the damage caused by a widespread failing in the services, which are meant to pick up and begin addressing hearing problems while people are young.

Reports emerged in Scotland in 2021, and last year an NHS England audit found services in England were also likely to have similar problems.

Failures include ineffective testing leading to infants’ deafness being missed for long periods and other children not being properly referred for help they needed. It was caused by failures across training, leadership, equipment, and governance.

As of last year, several English trusts had declared a total of 36 known cases of “severe” harm, defined as “permanent or long-term” damage.

Several of those providers have now declared they have found more cases of harm, while some new trusts have declared problems and harm for the first time.

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Source: HSJ, 24 September 2024

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Dozens more children ‘severely’ harmed by care failures

Dozens more children than initially thought have come to “severe” harm following failings in audiology care, HSJ can reveal.

Two more trusts have confirmed that, between them, 30 children suffered severe harm – which is defined as ”permanent or long-term harm” – after the failings.

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust said an external investigation had revealed 14 such cases, while Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust found 16 more after going through the same process.

A total of 36 confirmed or suspected severe harm cases from paediatric audiology failings across six English trusts are now known about. I

NHS England wrote to all 42 integrated care boards at the end of August, asking them to ensure the “approximately” 130 paediatric hearing services in England were running safely.

Sir David Sloman, then-chief operating officer, and Dame Sue Hill, chief science officer, said the NHSE “review of these trusts has identified root causes that have led to poor service delivery and outcomes… [which include] lack of clinical governance and oversight, poor reporting of data, poor interpretation of results, poor retention of diagnostic data, and lack of accreditation.”

The National Deaf Children’s Society called the speed of the NHS’s response “a scandal”.

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Source: HSJ, 19 September 2023

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Down's syndrome language: 'No-one meant anything hurtful"

A mother of a young boy with Down's syndrome is helping to teach people about appropriate language, after being hurt by words people often used.

Becca, from Cornwall, uses flashcards to make sure people are aware to say things like saying someone "has Down's syndrome", rather than "suffers with Down's syndrome".

The campaign is being rolled out in hospitals for midwives and other healthcare workers to use, with many in the profession talking about it on social media.

A children's clothing company has offered to run it, with her son Arthur as the model, and she has been asked to translate it into other languages.

Source: BBC News, 15 October 2020

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Doula warning issued after baby's death

The death of a baby girl has prompted a warning over the use of doulas during births after one had "negatively impacted" midwives.

Henry Charles, assistant coroner for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton, issued a prevention of future deaths report after an inquest last month into the death of Matilda Pomfret-Thomas.

Her parents had chosen to hire a doula as part of plans for a home birth, having previously experienced a traumatic hospital delivery with their first child.

Doulas are non-medical support workers who are not regulated, and are employed by some families to provide emotional and practical help during pregnancy and labour.

Their role remains controversial, with supporters saying doulas offer valuable support to women, while critics - including some medical professionals - warn they may increase risks for mothers and babies.

In this case, Matilda died on 13 November 2023 at 15 days old after suffering neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), a form of brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen before or during birth.

Mr Charles said Matilda developed HIE over a period of hours during labour at home and the presence of the doula did "negatively impact" midwives being able to provide advice to the mother and usual care.

He said meconium - a baby's first bowel movement that can indicate distress - had been detected.

Midwives attending the home birth also noted decelerations, which are drops in the baby's heart rate.

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Source: Sky News, 21 January 2026

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Doubling of average waits for critical stroke treatments

Stroke patients in England are waiting an average of almost seven hours for a specialist bed, double the wait reported before Covid.

National performance against key measures collected by the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme has nosedived, with patients in England waiting an average of almost seven hours to be admitted to a specialist unit in 2022-23, compared to three and a half hours in 2019-20.

NHS England guidance states that every patient with acute stroke should be given rapid access to a stroke unit within four hours. This time frame is considered critical, as patients can only be given clot-busting drugs, and treatments such as thrombectomy, which surgically removes a clot, within the first few hours of stroke onset.

However, this was achieved in just 40% of cases last year (2022-23), down from 61% in 2018-19.

Juliet Bouverie, CEO of the Stroke Association, urged ministers to give trusts what they needed to reverse the decline, saying: “Stroke is a medical emergency and every minute is critical.

“We are very concerned to see that, far from improving over the last year, the proportion of stroke patients being admitted to a stroke ward within the timescale for thrombolysis has continued to decline. This is putting patient recoveries at risk and strain on the rest of the health system.

“We believe that early supported discharge, when done correctly, with adequately resourced community teams, can help to alleviate capacity pressures in acute stroke units. However, this is not a silver bullet. There are longstanding workforce issues which are affecting patient flow in, through and out of stroke units and we call on DHSC to properly address these in the workforce plan.”

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Source: HSJ, 2 January 2024

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Donor organs should be allocated by need, not geography, report recommends

Donor organs should no longer go to the nearest in-need patient, an official report has recommended. 

Instead, specialised organ centres across the country will be responsible for preserving, repairing and matching an organ with the most needy individual on the transplant register, irrespective of location.

An official report commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Care and headed up by Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director for England, has recommended 12 changes to further improve donation. 

Among the recommendations – which have been backed by the Government and are expected to be implemented in the coming weeks – is equal access to organ donation services “irrespective of personal circumstances, including ethnicity, geography, socio-economic status or sex”.

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Source: The Telegraph, 21 February 2023

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Donna Ockenden urges families to come forward for Nottingham maternity review

The midwife leading a review into Nottingham's maternity services has urged families and staff to come forward with their experiences. Donna Ockenden was appointed in May to head the inquiry into the services at Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital.

It was launched after more than 100 families with experiences of maternity failings wrote to former Health Secretary Sajid Javid demanding the action. A much-criticised initial review was subsequently scrapped.

Ms Ockenden, who uncovered 200 avoidable baby deaths at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust across two decades, said the review is now open to families, NHS workers and others who wish to contribute.

"By September 1 we'll be ready to receive contact from families," she told Nottinghamshire Live. "In the mean time if there are either families or members of the NHS that want to get in touch they can use our new email. And also those who represent communities, whether that's safe communities or women's groups in Nottingham."

People can contact the review through the email [email protected], which was launched last week. Ms Ockenden said that positive steps were being made in putting in place the "building blocks" for the review, which is due to start on 1 September 2022.

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Source: Nottinghamshire Live, 17 August 2022

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Don’t rely on BMI alone when diagnosing eating disorders in children, says NHS England

A child’s body mass index should not be the key factor when deciding which under-18s get help for an eating disorder, the NHS has told health professionals.

The new guidance from NHS England to GPs and nurses follows criticism that over-reliance on BMI has led to children who have an illness such as anorexia or bulimia being misdiagnosed and missing out on care.

“Single measures such as BMI centiles should not be a barrier to children and young people accessing early and/or preventative care and support,” it says.

Other factors, such as changes in behaviour by the young person and concerns raised by their family, should help guide decision-making, according to the document. It was welcomed by Beat, an eating disorders charity, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, both of which helped draw it up.

However, eating disorders campaigner and author Hope Virgo voiced alarm about the plan.

“Whilst I have been actively campaigning for a decade to get clinicians and society to view eating disorders as more than just a BMI issue, removing BMI completely may be a dangerous step,” Virgo said.

Not only would it “dismiss the fact that in some cases BMI will show a person whose body is in a life-threatening state of survival”, she added, it would also fail to “take into account the impact of malnutrition on the brain”.

She added: “I am concerned the NHS are doing it to give them an ‘out’ in treating people. We have seen far too many people with eating disorders being marked as terminal, too ill, complex or not sick enough in the last few years.

“I think it is a slippery slope and one which will mean clinicians are not being monitored effectively on helping those with eating disorders recover.”

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Source: The Guardian, 20 January 2026

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Don’t panic when staff leave, NHSE advises managers

New NHS England guidance has advised line managers to ‘remain calm’, ‘not panic’, and ‘show kindness’ when handling staff resignations.

The Expectations of Line Managers in Relation to People Management framework, published on the NHS England website, contains guidelines on several areas for line managers, including equality, diversity and inclusion, recruiting and flexible working.

In the “managing exits” section, managers are told they are expected to:

  • “Support your colleague by showing kindness to them, respect their decision, and wish them well for the future”;
  • “Lead by example and remain calm, ie do not panic when key colleague leaves”;
  • “Use opportunity to reflect and innovate, ie should services be redesigned?”; and
  • “Be mindful that the colleague may have mixed emotions about leaving. Include them in planning any leaving event”.

Managers are also told they should “undertake an exit interview, or ask another manager if appropriate, to understand the employee’s experience of working in your organisation” and “consider skills gaps and risks of someone leaving”. 

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Source: HSJ, 9 November 2023

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