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Cwm Taf maternity services: 'Long way to go' until safe

There is a "very long way to go" before maternity services at Cwm Taf health board can be declared safe, an independent review panel has said.

The panel was appointed after a damning review earlier this year prompted by the death of a number of babies. It also revealed it would review more than 100 extra cases between 2016 and 2018 where it believed lessons could be learnt, although not all were serious.

However, it said the health board was beginning to make improvements.

In April, a review led by the Royal College of Gynaecologists unearthed a catalogue of serious failings and highlighted many distressing examples of where mothers and babies had likely been harmed as a result of poor care. It uncovered failings at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taff, and Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.

Overall maternity services were described as "dysfunctional" and way below acceptable standards.

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Source: BBC News, 8 October 2019

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Cutting mental health waiting times ‘could save UK £1bn a year’

Ministers have been told cutting waiting times for thousands of people in Britain’s mental health crisis could help employment and save the government £1bn a year.

According to research by Lancaster University, providing access to faster treatment across England through the NHS would help to improve the health of hundreds of thousands of people while bringing economic benefits for the nation at large.

In a new study to be published in the latest edition of the respected Review of Economics and Statistics academic journal, Prof Roger Prudon found that a one-month delay in the start of mental health treatment resulted in 2% of patients losing their jobs.

Drawing on data for waiting times from the Netherlands between 2012 and 2019, Prudon said a one-month reduction could help as many as 80,000 people get access to treatment annually, which would save more than €300m (£253m) in unemployment-related costs every year.

He said the same calculation could be applied to the UK, given a comparable prevalence in mental health problems, as well as similar treatment times and cost to the economy and public finances from unemployment.

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Source: The Guardian, 21 May 2025

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Cutting hospital staff won’t help productivity, says ICB chief

The leader of an integrated care board has dismissed a “narrative” that the NHS can become more productive by cutting hospital staff numbers.

West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board CEO Rob Webster said a whole “system response” was required to improve productivity. 

Mr Webster made his comments at HSJ’s Patient Safety Congress in Manchester after being asked what his message was to organisations facing increasing demands to cut spending and staffing numbers safely.

He said: “This narrative about ‘the NHS is not productive, there’s too many staff in hospitals, [and] therefore cut staff in hospitals, you’re more productive’, it’s not true.”

After the session on Monday, he told HSJ: “Just cutting staff in hospitals will not in itself make us more productive. There needs to be a system response that improves flow and has a strong focus on safety and quality.

“We also need a much more sophisticated plan for the future, with an eye on the medium term, where our hospitals are supported by all partners to be productive and where people themselves are much better supported in communities.”

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Source: HSJ, 17 September 2024

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Cuts to world’s biggest malaria fund risk a million more deaths – including 750,000 children

Cuts to the world’s biggest funder of malaria prevention, including by the UK government, could lead to almost a million more deaths by 2030 – including 750,000 children, a report has warned.

It could also drive losses of $83 billion (£62bn) in national economies across Africa, and cost billions in extra trade with the rich countries making up the G7.

On 21 November the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which provides 59 per cent of all international malaria funds, will hold a summit with the aim of raising $18bn (£13.5bn) for the next three years. The event will be co-hosted by the UK and South Africa.

A report by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) and Malaria No More UK estimated that if the Global Fund could no longer pay for malaria prevention, only treatment, almost one million more people would die by 2030 with 750,000 of them being children under five.

In the event that the Global Fund raised 80% of what it did last time, that would still amount to more than 80,000 additional deaths.

The disease kills roughly 600,000 people a year, with the vast majority being children under five.

“We are really at a very momentous time in human history,” said Joy Phumaphi, executive secretary of AMLA and former health minister of Botswana. “There are tools that are available that can actually facilitate the elimination of malaria,” she said, including new vaccines, more effective insecticide- treated bed nets and the use of drones to kill mosquito larvae in standing water.

But, she added, “one of our biggest challenges at the moment is financing”.

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Source: The Independent, 21 October 2025

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Cuts to UK’s global vaccination funding would risk avoidable child deaths, experts warn

Any cut in UK funding to a global vaccination group would damage soft power and could make Britain less resilient to infectious diseases, as well as causing avoidable deaths among children, leading vaccine and aid experts have warned.

Scientists including Sir Andrew Pollard, who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, said a major cut in money for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) could also make the UK less able to respond to a future pandemic.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has not yet set out its future funding for Gavi, a Geneva-based public-private organisation that has vaccinated more than a billion children in developing countries.

The UK has previously been one of Gavi’s main funders, providing more than £2bn over the last four years. But with the UK aid budget cut back from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% and the focus shifting towards bilateral aid the expectation is that there will be a major reduction at Wednesday’s spending review.

Pollard, who leads the Oxford Vaccine Group, said that as well as continuing to save lives in poorer countries, there was a self-interested case for continuing with similar levels of support.

“It’s a safer place, obviously, for people who are in situations where they wouldn’t have been able to access these vaccines without the government support, but it also makes it a safe place for us, because it’s acting as part of the shield that we have against the spread of infectious diseases around the world,” he said.

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Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2025

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Cuts to investigations of killings by mental health patients ‘put people at risk’

People have been put at risk because the NHS has stopped funding the automatic investigation of all killings by mental health patients, according to psychiatrists and victims’ families. Experts who had looked into every such homicide for 20 years had to stop doing so last year after NHS England stopped paying the £100,000-a-year cost involved, the Guardian has reported.

Previously, for 26 years until last year, researchers from Manchester University had looked into the mental health history and NHS care received by the perpetrator of every such homicide to try to identify patterns and flaws which could be tackled to reduce the risk of similar attacks in the future. Their findings had led to improved care of potentially dangerous mental health patients.

“This is a risky and reckless decision.... It’s outrageous,” said Julian Hendy, the founder of Hundred Families, a charity that helps bereaved families. 

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Source: The Guardian, 17 July 2019

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Cuts to ICBs could ‘exacerbate’ patchy patient safety oversight

The article discusses concerns about proposed cuts to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in the UK and their potential impact on patient safety. ICBs are responsible for coordinating local healthcare services, but recent budget reductions could weaken their capacity to ensure effective oversight and patient safety.

Healthcare leaders express alarm that these cuts may exacerbate existing gaps in service oversight and lead to inconsistent quality of care across different regions. The article highlights that, although some improvements have been made in patient safety and local care integration, financial limitations could hinder further progress.

Experts warn that reduced resources may impair ICBs' ability to monitor performance, implement safety protocols, and respond to patient feedback, potentially putting vulnerable populations at greater risk. The article cites specific examples where local health entities have successfully tackled safety issues and improved patient outcomes, drawing attention to how vital ICBs are in facilitating such initiatives.

The article calls for comprehensive dialogue about the sustainability of funding for ICBs and the significance of ensuring strong oversight mechanisms to protect patient safety. It emphasizes the risk of fragmented care if ICBs struggle to fulfill their responsibilities due to budget cuts and urges policymakers to consider the long-term repercussions on health services and patient welfare.

In conclusion, the proposed ICB cuts pose a considerable threat to the current efforts in maintaining uniform patient safety standards and addressing the healthcare needs of diverse populations across the country, necessitating immediate attention from health authorities.

Full article here.

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Cut ‘board headcount’, ICBs told

A “blueprint” for integrated care board cost-cuts says “headcount should be reduced at board level”. 

The “model ICB blueprint” issued by NHS England says the organisations should “look to streamline boards to deliver [their] core role”. 

HSJ understands the biggest reductions in board members are expected to come from ”greater collaboration” such as shared roles, and “clustering” of integrated care board leadership in many regions – expected to involve sharing of chairs and CEOs.

Discussions about consolidation are already well underway in several regions, although NHSE understands formal mergers are likely to be delayed until at least next year.

The blueprint document indicates ICBs must also remove some board posts which are linked to functions being axed or transferred. These functions include performance management, workforce, and “digital leadership and transformation”. The guidance says ICBs should “streamline” boards “with the right roles and profiles to deliver core Model ICB functions”.

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Source: HSJ, 6 May 2025

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Cumbria hospitals must take 'rapid' action on patient safety

Two hospitals in Cumbria must take "rapid" action "to keep people safe", the health watchdog has announced.

There had been "escalating" concerns about Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.

North Cumbria Integrated Care (NCIC) has been issued with a warning.

The trust, which was already rated as requiring improvement, admitted the pace of change had been "too slow". The warning notice requires the organisation "to take action to minimise the risk of patients being exposed to harm".

During checks in August and September, inspectors found:

  • Emergency department patients "were not always receiving timely and appropriate" treatment
  • Significant delays in admitting people to wards
  • "Insufficient numbers" of qualified, competent and experienced staff

Professor Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals, said "rapid improvements" were needed.

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Source: BBC News, 27 November 2020

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Cumberlege inquiry: We must not allow this seminal report to gather dust on a shelf, Jeremy Hunt says

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned ministers not to let the Cumberlege review “gather dust on a shelf”.

The chair of the Commons Health and Social Care Committee told The Independent it was vital action was taken to implement the recommendations.

Mr Hunt, who made patient safety a key focus of his tenure as health secretary, backed the idea of an independent patient safety commissioner that would be outside the NHS and have powers to advocate for patient issues.

Mr Hunt said: “This report should be a powerful wake-up call that our healthcare system is still too closed, defensive and focused on blame rather than learning lessons. It’s truly harrowing to hear of all the women and families who live with permanent anguish because of these medicines and devices, and it has clearly taken too long for their voices to be heard.”

“The NHS is one of the safest health systems in the world, and we’re all rightly in awe of our frontline heroes. But in healthcare getting it right ‘most’ times isn’t good enough because the exceptions wreak lifelong devastation on families. So we must not allow this seminal report to gather dust on a shelf: lessons must be learnt once and for all.”

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Source: The Independent, 8 July 2020

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Cumberland Infirmary patient 'dropped' from operating table dies within weeks

A woman has died after being "dropped" on the floor during surgery on her hip, which she had broken while in hospital.

Jeannette Shields, 70, had been receiving treatment for gall stones in Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle.

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust said an investigation was under way "in relation to an incident involving a patient in one of our theatres".

Mrs Shields' husband, John, said he told the hospital he would not be "pushing this thing under the carpet".

His wife left her bed to go to the toilet by herself after getting no response to her buzzer, Mr Shields said. She felt dizzy, fell and broke her hip, he told the BBC.

Two days later she had surgery to repair it, after which the hospital called Mr Shields to say the operation had been successful but that "unfortunately they dropped her off the operating [table] after the surgery", he said.

"Then they had to use the sliding board to pick her up and rush her in and do scans on her," he said. 

"She had a great big bump on the back of her head and she just deteriorated and then she just passed away, just died.

It is not clear what happened or how Mrs Shields ended up falling from the operating table.

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Source: BBC News, 28 May 2021

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Culture progress sees NHS Highland escalation eased

NHS Highland will no longer receive extra government support in leadership, governance or culture, following improvements after the Sturrock review.

The board was initially escalated to Stage 3 of NHS performance escalation framework in 2018 following concerns of a culture of workforce bullying and harassment.

An independent report by John Sturrock QC, commissioned by the Scottish government, confirmed “fear, intimidation and inappropriate behaviour” and called for wide-ranging changes.

The Healing Process was created in response, with an independent review panel established to speak to victims of bullying and come up with recommendations for the health board to make improvements.

A total of 272 current and former NHS Highland and local health and social care partnership staff provided testimony between 2019 and March this year, with more than £2.8m paid out to those affected by bullying.

Concerns were raised by some of the first people to go through the healing process that the system was “broken” and many victims could end up “bitterly disappointed”.

The board has also established systems and processes to allow colleagues to speak up in the wake of the Sturrock Review, including an independent Guardian Service and staff training in Courageous Conversations.

NHS Highland was handed oversight of its own escalation and de-escalation, rather than a Scottish government-led oversight group, in November 2021.

Following a letter of assurance from the board chair earlier this year, the Chief Executive of NHS Scotland, Caroline Lamb, agreed to the de-escalation in September.

Independent progress tracking shows the board has delivered significantly against many actions laid out by the review but the board concluded in its final June update that ‘culture change is not yet embedded at all levels of our organisation’.

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Source: Health and Care Scotland, 2023

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Culture of impunity for NHS staff accused of sexual violence, say campaigners

There is a culture of impunity around sexual violence by healthcare staff in the NHS, with known perpetrators going unchallenged, campaigners have warned.

A report by Surviving in Scrubs, a group of female doctors campaigning against misogyny in healthcare, said staff known to be perpetrators of sexual violence, who are most often senior male doctors, are tolerated or regarded as untouchable.

The study, which analysed 174 incidents of staff-on-staff sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault anonymously self-reported to the group’s website, found those who had been abused – mainly junior female doctors – struggled to get their complaints addressed.

Some women said they faced threats of reprisals from those they were accusing. They reported feeling gaslit by colleagues who they said remained silent and, in some cases, colluded with the perpetrator.

One woman referred to a perpetrator as the “Jimmy Savile of the surgical community”, and was told by a senior female colleague that “he was known for this behaviour, that he’d got away with so much before and he was capable of ruining careers”.

Of the 209 incidents reported to Surviving in Scrubs since it launched last summer, just over 42% (89) were sexual harassment, a fifth (43) were sexual assaults, nearly 2% were rapes, and almost 37% (77) concerned sexist behaviour. Some incidents were recorded in more than one category.

Dr Becky Cox, the co-founder of Surviving in Scrubs, said a culture of sexism and sexual abuse had become normalised in the NHS.

“When you’re [a woman] coming into this profession, you see senior male consultants who are derogatory, use sexist language, and assault you. Male medical students see this behaviour and think that’s normal. Then they go up the ranks and continue to perpetrate the behaviour. It’s a never ending cycle.”

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Source: The Guardian, 21 November 2023

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Culture of bullying, harassment and discrimination in medicine still widespread in Australia

One in three trainee doctors in Australia have experienced or witnessed bullying, harassment or discrimination in the past 12 months, but just a third have reported it.

That's according to a national survey of almost 10,000 trainee doctors released today by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

The results of the survey, co-developed by the Medical Board of Australia (MBA), send a "loud message" about bullying and harassment to those in the medical profession, said MBA chair Anne Tonkin.

"It is incumbent on all of us to heed it," Dr Tonkin said. "We must do this if we are serious about improving the culture of medicine."

"Bullying, harassment and discrimination are not good for patient safety, constructive learning or the culture of medicine," Dr Tonkin continued. "We must all redouble our efforts to strengthen professional behaviour and deal effectively with unacceptable behaviour."

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Source: ABC News, 10 February 2020

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Culture of blame prevented staff admitting mistakes, report finds

A new report into maternity safety has found due to a 'culture of blame' lessons haven't been learned. 

Jeremy Hunt, chair of the Health Committee has said 1,000 more babies a year would survive if the maternity service in England was as safe as Sweden's. 

Another expert report found a high incidence of brain injuries in maternity units. A new budget has been set out to help reduce the rate of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and brain injuries by 2025. 

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Source: BBC News, 06 July 2021

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CT scan catches 70% of lung cancers at early stage, NHS study finds

Thousands of lives could be saved if people at risk of developing Britain’s deadliest cancer were screened to diagnose it before it becomes incurable, a major NHS study has found.

Giving smokers and ex-smokers a CT scan uncovers cancerous lung tumours when they are at an early enough stage so they can still be removed, rather than continuing to grow unnoticed, it shows.

Experts are demanding the government moves to bring in routine CT scanning of smokers and ex-smokers in order to cut the huge death toll from lung cancer. About 48,000 people a year are diagnosed with the disease in the UK and 35,100 die from it – 96 a day.

Lung cancer is a particularly brutal form of cancer because it is hard to detect and three out of four cases are diagnosed at stage three or four, when it is already too late to give the person potentially life-saving treatment. However, the Summit study, being run by specialists in the disease at University College London Hospital NHS trust, offers real hope that lung cancer can become a condition that is detected early.

CT scanning meant that 70% of the growths detected in people’s lungs were identified when the disease was at stage one or two – a huge increase in the usual rate of early diagnosis.

“It’s really a major breakthrough for lung cancer,” Dr Sam Janes of UCLH, the senior investigator of the trial, told the Guardian. "Lung cancer has never had anything that enabled us to detect this devastating cancer earlier and offer curative treatment to this number of lung cancer patients.”

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Source: The Guardian, 14 February 2021

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Crunch time for learning disability nursing as student numbers crash

Plummeting learning disability student nurse numbers are leaving the specialty on the “verge of collapse”, it was warned today. Fears about the future of learning disability nursing were raised during the second annual Nursing Times Workforce Summit last week.

Professor Mark Radford, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer for England and soon-to-be Chief Nurse at Health Education England, revealed that only around 260 learning disability nurses were expected to graduate this year – almost half the figure from previous years.

NHS Employers Chief Executive Danny Mortimer also outlined his fears about the learning disability nurse workforce during the panel discussion. He said: “The biggest areas of risk in nursing right now are mental health and learning disability nursing. Learning disability nursing in particular is on the verge of collapse educationally and we have do some urgent things to redress that balance.”

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Source: Nursing Times, 25 September 2019

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Crumbling hospitals putting lives at risk, say NHS chiefs

Hospital patients’ safety is being put at risk by fires, floods and crumbling, overcrowded buildings caused by a £4 billion government squeeze on capital funding, NHS bosses are warning.

Hospitals say they do not have the funding to replace outdated scanners, fix leaking roofs and boilers, or remove ligature points that suicidal patients may attempt to use to try to end their lives.

Four out of five (82%) chief executives and chief finance officers at NHS trusts in England fear the lack of capital funding poses a medium or high risk to patient safety.

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Source: Guardian, 30 August 2019

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Crumbling hospitals cause over 100 care disruptions a week, NHS figures show

Hospitals in England are being hit with disruptions to patients’ care more than 100 times every week because of fires, leaks and problems created by outdated buildings, NHS figures reveal.

There have been 27,545 “clinical service incidents” over the past five years – an average of 106 a week – data compiled by the House of Commons library shows.

They are incidents the NHS says were “caused by estates and infrastructure failure related to critical infrastructure risk” and are linked to the service’s massive backlog of maintenance, the bill for which has soared to £11.6bn. All the incidents led to “clinical services being delayed, cancelled or otherwise interfered with” for at least five patients for a minimum of 30 minutes.

That means the 27,545 incidents between 2018-19 and 2022-23 disrupted the care of at least 137,725 patients, according to an analysis of NHS data by the Commons library commissioned by Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

“These findings are shocking but sadly not surprising, given the dilapidated, and in some cases dangerous, state of so many NHS facilities,” said Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents health service trusts.

The “unacceptable impact on patients” should spur ministers into increasing the NHS’s capital budget so trusts can urgently overhaul their estates, she said.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 January 2024

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Crumbling estate impacting patient care ‘day in, day out’, NHSE boss tells MPs

NHS England’s finance boss has said patient treatment areas are being closed “all the time” due to crumbling estates, fire risks and flooding.

Julian Kelly told MPsthe health service had “examples all the time where hospitals are having to shut units, decant patients into other spaces, where we are losing theatres… which limits our capacity to treat patients”.

It comes amid the national controversy around the government’s investment into public buildings, sparked by the sudden closure of dozens of school buildings with unsafe structures known as ‘reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete’.

He said: “We have hospital teams which are managing these sort of issues day in and day out. And so we have examples of managing fire risk, flooding… a lot of this is because we know we’ve seen a big increase in backlog maintenance and we know there was a pause in investment in new hospital infrastructure.”

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Source: HSJ, 7 September 2023

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Crumbling concrete: Raac found in 18 more hospitals in England

Eighteen more hospitals in England contain potentially crumbling concrete, bring the total affected to 42, the Department of Health has confirmed.

The reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) has also been found in 214 schools and colleges in England as well as thousands of other buildings. NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, said the concrete "puts patients and staff at risk".

Full structural surveys are taking place at all newly confirmed sites. The government said it was committed to eradicating Raac from NHS buildings completely by 2035. Seven of the worst-affected hospitals will be replaced by 2030 as part of the programme to build 40 new hospitals in England, it added.

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said there had been fears that more of the material would be found following surveys of NHS buildings. "Trusts are doing everything they can, at huge cost, to keep patients safe where this concrete is found," he said.

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Source: BBC News, 21 October 2023

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Crumbling concrete: Raac found in 18 more hospitals in England

Eighteen more hospitals in England contain potentially crumbling concrete, bring the total affected to 42, the Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed.

The reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) has also been found in 214 schools and colleges in England as well as thousands of other buildings.

NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, said the concrete "puts patients and staff at risk".

Full structural surveys are taking place at all newly confirmed sites.

The government said it was committed to eradicating Raac from NHS buildings completely by 2035.

Seven of the worst-affected hospitals will be replaced by 2030 as part of the programme to build 40 new hospitals in England, it added.

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Source: BBC News, 21 October 2023

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Crucial progress to stop women and babies dying in childbirth is now in reverse

Hard-won successes in efforts to stop women and babies dying in childbirth have faced a serious setback with recent cuts to foreign aid – and the trend is now reversing in some countries, new figures show.

Significant progress in tackling preventable maternal mortality across the globe had seen the rate decline by 40% in the last two decades.

However, the latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests this progress has slowed in recent years, and recent aid cuts by the US, as well as other countries including Britain, will start to reverse those crucial gains.

With Donald Trump in particular slashing America’s foreign assistance programmes by 57%t last year, global aid fell by 23% cent in 2025 compared to 2024, and is projected to drop by a further 5.8% in 2026.

Maternal mortality is particularly acute in parts of Africa, and is already playing out in the Central African Republic, which has the second-highest rate of neonatal deaths globally, according to the UN.

Monica Ferro, head of the United Nations Population Fund’s London office, said that the work over the last 20 years had given the world “hope that finally the world would be on track to reach zero preventable maternal deaths”.

“We know that when funding is cut, services are shut down and women die. It is that simple. It may sound cruel, but it is that simple, and we have the evidence to prove it.”

“It is very disappointing. The women and girls who are losing access to services will not forgive us for promising them a world with more dignity and then failing them because funding is being withdrawn.”

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Source: The Independent, 10 May 2026

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Crucial for pinged people to self-isolate says No 10

In the past week, many people have been 'pinged' by the NHS app, informing them they have been in close contact with someone who has had the Covid-19 virus and that they should self-isolate. However, despite this advice there is no legal obligation. 

Downing street, on the other hand, have urged those who have been 'pinged' to self-isolate when sent the alert via the app. 

A spokeswoman for No 10 has said "Given the risk of having and spreading the virus when people have been in contact with someone with Covid, it is crucial people isolate when they are told to do so, either by NHS Test and Trace or by the NHS Covid app".

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Source. BBC News, 20 July 2021

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Crucial emergency care system to be scrapped by NHS England within months

An IT system that prevents 999 call-handling services from being overwhelmed is set to be withdrawn by NHS England in an effort to save money.

NHS England has confirmed it will not renew the contract for the Intelligent Routing Platform (IRP), and that the service will cease to be available within three months.

NHS England now proposes that individual ambulance trusts will be responsible for tackling delays in answering calls, as was the case before the pandemic. HSJ understands that ambulance leaders are very concerned by the decision and the speed with which it is to be implemented. 

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Source: Health Service Journal (Paywalled), 14 April 2025

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