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Hospital chief quits in protest at ‘cover-up’ over baby deaths

An NHS hospital has been accused of posing a continuing risk to patients by “covering up” leadership failures, including not properly investigating the deaths of two babies.

Dr Max Mclean, chairman of Bradford Teaching Hospitals trust, has quit in protest at the conduct of the trust’s chief executive, Professor Mel Pickup, after no action was taken over serious concerns about her performance.

In a blistering resignation letter, Mclean said he “cannot, in good conscience, work with a CEO who has fallen so short of the standards expected of her role that there is a genuine safety risk to patients and colleagues”. He is calling for senior national NHS figures to establish new leadership at the trust, and has written to the head of NHS England to share his concerns about Pickup, who has been in post since 2019.

Mclean told The Times there were parallels with the Lucy Letby scandal, when management ignored the concerns of whistleblowers. “Patients are at risk, babies are at risk, and there could be avoidable deaths unless there is a change of leadership,” he said.

The former detective chief superintendent who has chaired the trust since 2019, raised nine serious issues about Pickup’s performance, which he said were confirmed by an independent investigation that concluded last month.

However, the trust’s board met on October 2 and decided there would be no further action against Pickup, leaving Mclean with “no option” but to resign and speak publicly.

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Source: The Times, 10 October 2023

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Rise in A&E visits for hiccups and earaches add to strain on NHS

The NHS in England is facing mounting pressure amid a surge in patients attending A&E departments with minor ailments, health bosses have said.

Emergency departments, which are designed for serious injuries and life-threatening emergencies only, are seeing an increase in people attending with sore throats, insomnia, coughs and earache.

Data analysed by the Press Association news agency also shows more people going to A&E with complaints such as hiccups, nasal congestion, backache and nausea.

Cases where sore throat was the chief complaint rose by 77% between 2021-22 and 2022-23, from 191,900 cases to 340,441. Patients going to A&E with coughs rose by 47%, from 219,388 to 322,500, while attendances for nosebleeds rose by a fifth, from 47,285 cases to 56,546.

Miriam Deakin, the director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, said: “The rise in A&E admissions is piling even more pressure on to an already stretched NHS. Persistent strain on primary care services, including GPs and dentists, means patients often resort to A&E when they cannot access timely care elsewhere.

“Minor ailments such as coughs, earache, fever, nausea and hiccups can and should be managed through more appropriate services such as pharmacies and NHS 111 online. This could ease pressure on emergency departments, whose priority is to deliver urgent care for those most in need. Boosting capacity of staff, beds and equipment in these settings would also significantly help. However, this requires proper funding and support from the government.”

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Source: The Guardian, 10 October 2023

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Cervical cancer: 17,500 women to have smear tests re-checked

About 17,500 women in Northern Ireland are to have their smear tests re-checked as part of a major review of cervical screening dating back to 2008.

Some of these women will be recalled to have new smear tests carried out, BBC News NI can reveal.

The Southern Trust said that the women affected should receive letters by post from Tuesday.

It follows a highly critical report commissioned by the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath).

It found:

  • Several cytology staff were "significantly underperforming".
  • Mechanisms to check their work were flawed.
  • Action taken by management was inadequate over many years.
  • While a majority of negative results issued by the laboratory were correct, a "significant number" of these would likely have been identified as "potentially abnormal" by other laboratories.

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Source: BBC News, 9 October 2023

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Mental healthcare in England is a national emergency, say hospital bosses

Mental healthcare in England has become “a national emergency”, with “overwhelmed” services unable to cope with a big post-Covid surge in people needing help, NHS bosses say.

Care is so stretched that thousands of people undergoing a mental health crisis are having to be admitted every year to acute hospitals, even though they are not set up to deal with them.

Hospital bosses claim mental health in England has been “forgotten” by ministers who are giving priority to tackling the record 7.7m-strong care backlog, access to GPs and ongoing NHS strikes.

“Mental health has slipped down the government’s set of priorities and patients and services are being forgotten. This is a national emergency which is now having serious consequences across the board, not least for those patients in crisis,” said Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation.

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Source: The Guardian, 9 October 2023

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Physician associates told they must not call themselves doctors

Staff without medical training who fill gaps in the NHS workforce must tell patients they are “not a doctor” when introducing themselves, under new guidance.

The advice has been issued to “physician associates” (PAs), a type of clinical role that requires less training than doctors receive, amid a row over their use in the NHS.

PAs complete a two-year postgraduate qualification, but no medical degree, and can diagnose and treat patients. They can work in A&E or GP surgeries.

NHS England has set out plans to expand the number of PAs to deal with staff shortages, with a workforce of 10,000 PAs wanted over the next decade. The plan has been met with opposition from doctors’ leaders, who say the growing use of PAs instead of fully qualified doctors is leading to missed diagnoses and deaths.

Guidance published by the Faculty of Physician Associates, a part of the Royal College of Physicians, said that PAs must not mislead patients into thinking they are doctors.

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Source: The Times, 6 October 2023

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NHS trust and ward manager appear in court charged with manslaughter of mental health patient

An NHS trust and ward manager have appeared in court charged with the manslaughter of a 22-year-old mental health patient who died in hospital in July 2015.

Alice Figueiredo was found dead at Goodmayes Hospital in east London, and an investigation into her death was opened in April 2016. 

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorised the Met Police to charge North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) with corporate manslaughter last month following a five-year investigation.

It is just the second NHS Trust to face manslaughter charges. The Trust is additionally charged with an offence under section three of the Health and Safety at Work Act in connection with mental health patient Ms Figueiredo's death.

Ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa also faces a charge of gross negligence manslaughter and an offence under section seven of the Health and Safety at Work act.

NELFT is just the second ever NHS Trust believed to have been charged with corporate manslaughter, after Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust was charged over the death of a woman who underwent an emergency Caesarean in 2015.

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Source: Mail Online, 6 October 2023

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How is the ADHD medication shortage in the UK affecting people?

ADHD patients around the UK are finding they can't get hold of medication since a national shortage was announced.

Three different medicines are affected, and the government says some supply issues could last until December.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) says "increased global demand and manufacturing issues" are behind the shortages.

Medication helps to manage symptoms, which can include difficulty concentrating and focusing, hyperactivity and impulsiveness.

Dr Saadia Arshad, a consultant psychiatrist, who specialises in diagnosing and treating people with ADHD.

She says the shortage of medication is "not a new issue, but it's a recurring one".

Dr Saadia says suddenly stopping meds can lead to patients "feeling jittery, finding it difficult to pay attention, staying focused and feeling restless".

Even though she understands the shortage can be worrying, Dr Saadia says it's important that people don't take measures into their own hands.

"These medicines can be quite potent and the response to medication for two individuals is not the same," she says.

"So please do not take any action without discussing it with your clinician."

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Source: BBC News, 6 October 2023

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Seven trusts relegated to NHSE’s poorest performers group

Seven trusts have been added to NHS England’s list of providers with the worst elective and cancer problems, putting the number of organisations in the ‘tier 1’ group back into double figures – and five leaving it, HSJ has learned.

Since last summer, NHS England has put trusts considered most “at risk” of missing recovery trajectories into “tiers” for either elective or cancer performance, or both.

The list has changed significantly for quarter three of this year, despite only a few months passing since the last rankings were revealed in August.

HSJ understands this is due to system-level agreements and some national factors, including the impact of ongoing industrial action on elective activity.

The number of trusts in the most challenged “tier 1” group for both elective and cancer performance has increased from eight to 11, with seven new providers entering this tier and five leaving.
Read full storySource: HSJ, 9 October 2023 

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Concern over severe food allergy prescriptions

Only 60% of patients who have had hospital treatment for food anaphylaxis were prescribed medicine to tackle another reaction, a study has found.

The study of some 130,000 NHS records where food allergy was mentioned showed 3,589 patients received "unplanned hospital treatment" for anaphylaxis.

Of those, only 2,152 were prescribed adrenaline auto-injectors (AAI) at least once.

Two leading allergy specialists have produced guidance to raise awareness.

Clinical scientist Dr Paul Turner from the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College London, who carried out the study, and Prof Adam Fox, consultant paediatric allergist at Evelina London Children's Hospital, said they hoped the leaflet they have produced would save lives.

It is designed to help patients, parents, families, grandparents, friends and nannies so they feel empowered and more confident when looking after a person with food allergies.

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Source: BBC News, 6 October 2023

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Trust boss accuses private provider of ‘overpromising and underdelivering’

The boss of a large acute trust has accused a private provider of ‘overpromising and underdelivering’ after significant problems emerged with a local arrangement which have piled further pressure on its waiting list.

Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust recently discovered at least 1,000 cases were being returned to the trust from independent provider Omnes Healthcare following “complications” with a pathway for ear, nose and throat patients.

CEO Matthew Hopkins told a board meeting last Thursday: “I think other parts of the country, like us, are seeing independent sector providers in some cases overpromising and underdelivering. The consequence of that is what we’ve seen in the ENT example.”

The contract is managed by Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board, which told HSJ it was “very sorry that some patients may have been waiting longer than they should have been” because of the problems.

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Source: HSJ, 6 October 2023

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Messages revealed healthcare workers were drugging patients

Two healthcare workers who exchanged vile texts while needless drugging sick people to ‘keep them quiet’ have been found guilty of ill-treating patients.

Senior nurse Catherine Hudson, 54, was found to have regularly tranquillised patients unnecessarily for her own amusement and to have an ‘easy’ shift.

While Charlotte Wilmot, 48, an assistant practitioner, wrote vile texts encouraging her to carry out the dangerous acts, with complete disregard for the consequences.

Preston Crown Court heard the pair worked on the stroke unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital and had carried out needless sedations between 2017 and 2018.

Restrictions on prescription drugs were so lax in the stroke unit that staff would help themselves and self-medicate or steal drugs to supply to others, the court heard.

Drugs such as Zopiclone, a powerful medicine used to treat insomnia, were often stolen and used to drug multiple patients.

Police launched an investigation in November 2018 after a student nurse raised concerns about the treatment of patients in the stroke unit.

A number of staff members were arrested during the course of the investigation and their mobile devices were seized.

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Source: The Independent, 6 October 2023

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NHS ombudsman calls on trust chief to withdraw ‘not accurate’ remarks

The NHS ombudsman has told a health trust chief to withdraw “not accurate” remarks about him amid an alleged attempt to play down up to 1,000 avoidable patient deaths.

Rob Behrens wrote to Stuart Richardson, the head of the Norfolk and Suffolk mental health NHS trust, over remarks he made about him to Norfolk county council’s health scrutiny committee.

The councillors on the committee were questioning Richardson over claims reported by the BBC’s Newsnight programme that his trust had “watered down” a report into what are thought to be the avoidable deaths of up to 1,000 patients.

The changes between different versions of the document toned down criticism of the trust’s leadership, a move that drew criticism from Behrens and bereaved relatives.

For example, the auditors, Grant Thornton, removed references included in the first version to the trust’s governance being “poor, … weak [and] inadequate”, after discussions with trust bosses. The trust and Grant Thornton said the changes were part of a normal factchecking process.

Referring to the changes, Behrens had told Newsnight that “the differences in the texts at key points are so huge that this is not just a bureaucratic drafting issue”.

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Source: The Guardian, 5 October 2023

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Ambulance sector vows to improve sexual safety

The ambulance sector has signed up to a consensus statement in a bid to tackle misogyny and improve sexual safety for its staff and patients.

The statement – which chief allied health professions officer for England Suzanne Rastrick launched at this week’s Ambulance Leadership Forum – commits the service to a “cultural transformation”.

Several ambulance trusts have been criticised for a culture which includes “highly sexualised banter” in recent years, with reports highlighting sexual harassment, often of younger female staff.

The statement’s guiding principles include: a focus on protecting staff from misogyny and inappropriate sexual behaviour; removing barriers to speaking up and supporting those affected; and working towards an inclusive culture where staff understand misogyny and come to work feeling “sexually safe”.

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Source: HSJ, 5 October 2023

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Doctors urged to ask patients about gambling in new NHS mental health guidance

People who seek help for mental health issues should be asked about problem gambling in the same way they are asked about drugs, smoking and alcohol, new guidance has suggested.

According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), those who visit an NHS health professional in England for depression, anxiety or thoughts about self-harm or suicide because of a possible addiction, such as alcohol or drugs, could be at a greater risk of harm from gambling.

NICE said questions should be asked about patients’ gambling habits to ensure they could cope with their thoughts and urges. In new draft guidance, it suggested patients should be encouraged to assess the severity of their gambling by using a questionnaire available on the NHS website. Those who scored eight or higher should seek support and treatment from gambling services.

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Source: The Guardian, 5 October 2023

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Women at greater risk of heart attack death due to medical sexism

Women are a third less likely to receive lifesaving treatment for heart attacks due to sexism in medicine, research shows.

Research led by the University of Leeds and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) pooled NHS data from previous studies looking at common heart conditions over the past two decades.

It investigated how care varied according to age and sex, finding that women were significantly less likely to receive treatment for heart attacks and heart failure.

Following the most severe type of heart attack — a Stemi — women were one third less likely to receive a potentially lifesaving diagnostic procedure called a coronary angiogram.

Women were significantly more likely to die after being admitted to hospital with a severe heart attack. They were also less likely to be prescribed preventative drugs that can help to protect against future heart attacks, such as statins or beta-blockers.

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate medical director at the BHF and a consultant cardiologist said: “This review adds to existing evidence showing that the odds are stacked against women when it comes to their heart care. Deep-rooted inequalities mean women are underdiagnosed, undertreated, and underserved by today’s healthcare system."

“The underrepresentation of women in research could jeopardise the effectiveness of new tests and treatment, posing a threat to women’s health in the long-term,” she added.

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Source: The Times, 5 October 2023

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Reliance on physician associates risks patient safety, doctors say

The use of non-medics in clinical roles is leading to deaths and missed diagnoses, senior doctors have warned.

Hundreds of doctors have signed an open letter to the leadership of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), urging them to take a stand over the rollout of physician associates (PAs).

PAs are a newer type of medical role that involves significantly less training than doctors receive. The NHS has used PAs since 2003 but concerns have emerged in recent months about them taking on more advanced work than is appropriate.

NHS England set out plans earlier this year to expand their numbers significantly amid ongoing staff shortages.

Now an open letter to the RCP’s council, to date signed by 46 fellows of the college and 194 other doctors, sets out concerns ranging from patient safety and liability to the fact that newly qualified PAs can earn more than newly qualified doctors.

They say: “There have been several high-profile incidents in which serious illness was missed by a PA when undertaking a role that would normally be filled by a doctor. In some cases, avoidable deaths have resulted.

“Given that some of these conditions required more advanced training than the PA had received, the implication is that rare avoidable deaths are a price society must pay for the replacement of medical staff with non-medical staff. We believe this trade-off must be debated widely not just by doctors but also by the lay public.”

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Source: The Times, 5 October 2023

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GP burnout: 'I was left feeling like a husk of a human'

The number of doctors seeking help for mental health issues has risen by more than three quarters within two years, according to figures from a specialist treatment service for NHS staff. For one GP, the relentless stress of the job led to him taking three months off work with burnout.

David Triska is no stranger to high-pressure situations. As an army medic, he served two tours of Afghanistan.

But mounting workloads at his village GP surgery left him feeling "hollowed out and spent". Simple tasks, like unlocking his car or making a meal, became a challenge - an experience he describes as leaving him feeling "like a husk of a human".

"At that extreme point, I couldn't see why I needed to be here anymore," Dr Triska said.

He is not alone. Since the year ending March 2021, there has been a 77% rise in the number of doctors seeking help for mental health issues, according to figures shared with the BBC by a confidential support service for NHS staff.

More than 5,600 doctors used the NHS Practitioner Health programme in England in 2022/23, with about a third having thought about taking their own lives.

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Source: BBC News, 5 October 2023

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Lucy Letby: Corporate manslaughter probe at Chester hospital

Police are investigating possible corporate manslaughter at the hospital where serial killer Lucy Letby worked.

The former nurse, 33, was jailed in August for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Cheshire Police said the latest investigation was in its early stages.

Lawyers representing some of the victims' families said they were "reassured" steps were being taken to consider the actions of management.

Organisations and companies can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care under The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Det Supt Simon Blackwell, of Cheshire Police, said the inquiry would focus on the indictment period of the charges for Letby from June 2015 to June 2016.

He said the investigation would consider areas "including senior leadership and decision making to determine whether any criminality has taken place".

"At this stage we are not investigating any individuals in relation to gross negligence manslaughter," he added.

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Source: BBC News, 4 October 2023

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Trusts’ row over stroke services sparks ‘significant safety’ concerns

A district general hospital has accused a major teaching trust of ‘failing to adhere to arrangements’ made around the provision of acute stroke services, sparking patient safety warnings in a local integrated care board’s (ICB) risk register.

Harrogate and District Foundation Trust’s accusation that its neighbour, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, is failing to comply with protocol around acute stroke pathways was published in West Yorkshire ICB’s risk register.

The ICB’s September risk register also said the “risk to patient safety is significant and probable if the situation remains unresolved”.

The issues centre on the provision of hyper-acute stroke unit beds, which provide the first two to three days of care for patients with newly diagnosed strokes, and what happens to patients requiring acute stroke care following their initial HASU stay.

West Yorkshire ICB said in its September’s performance report that the problem had “grown due to two recent clinical incidents,” but added “there is no quick solution to this problem”.

Harrogate has raised concerns with the ICB in recent months that “a number of patients are not receiving HASU level care at Leeds”.

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Source: HSJ, 3 October 2023

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Thousands unaware they have diabetes could be diagnosed at A&E, says study

Thousands of people unaware they have type 2 diabetes could be diagnosed and avoid serious complications if screening was introduced in emergency departments, a study suggests.

The prevalence of the disease has risen dramatically in countries of all income levels in the last three decades, according to the World Health Organization. More than 400 million people have been diagnosed, but millions more are estimated to be in the dark about the fact they have the condition.

A study that took place in an NHS trust in England suggests 10% more cases could be picked up with the use of a simple blood test. Screening could also pick up 30% more cases of pre-diabetes – a serious condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal.

The findings are being presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Hamburg, Germany.

“Early diagnosis is the best way to avoid the devastating complications of type 2 diabetes, and offers the best chance of living a long and healthy life,” said Prof Edward Jude, of Tameside and Glossop integrated care NHS foundation trust.

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Source: The Guardian, 3 October 2023

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GP mistakes led to patient suffering a stroke and going blind

Doctors missed a man’s stroke which led him to suffer another one and go temporarily blind.

The man said that the experience had changed him from ‘an outgoing social person, to a sheltered man living in fear that he is not being looked after competently’.

The 75-year-old visited his GP in Darlington complaining of dizziness, light-headedness, and a numb foot. 

He had experienced a stroke and should have been immediately sent to hospital. But doctors missed the signs, diagnosed him with a ‘dropped foot’ and requested an urgent MRI scan. However, due to an administrative error the referral wasn’t made and the scan never happened.

A month after visiting the GP, the man suffered a blinding headache and diminished vision. He saw an ophthalmologist who referred him to a specialist team.

He had suffered another stroke. He also paid for a private scan which confirmed the first stroke happened a month earlier.

Distressingly, the man lost vision in his right eye, which he was told could be permanent. Fortunately, his sight returned eight weeks later.

His daughter, who described the experience as ‘horrendous’, complained to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) about her father’s care.

The PHSO found that the initial symptoms were signs of a problem with nerve, spinal cord, or brain function. Doctors should have suspected a stroke and immediately sent him to hospital. If that had happened, the second stroke and sight loss would likely have been avoided.

Ombudsman Rob Behrens said:

“Having a stroke and then being told you could be permanently blind must have been incredibly frightening. The impact on the man, and his family who supported him through the ordeal, will have been deep and long-lasting.

“Mistakes like these need to be recognised and acted upon so that they are not repeated.”

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Source: PHSO, 4 October 2023

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NHS can’t prepare for pandemic surge due to lack of staff, NHSE warns

The NHS has too few staff to prepare for a pandemic surge, while its ageing buildings and social care’s weak ‘resilience and capacity’ would also undermine its response, NHS England has warned.

A new NHSE submission to the Covid-19 public inquiry says funding pressure from 2010 has undermined the health service’s “resilience” and that “resilience and capacity issues in social care are national issues which must be addressed from the centre”.

The document was posted unnoticed on the inquiry website last month. No current or former NHSE leaders have so far given evidence to the inquiry. It is the first time NHSE has clearly set out that understaffing and underinvestment compromised the service’s readiness to deal with the pandemic.

Referring to the NHS’s ability to create “surge capacity [with] flexible staff and equipment which can be pivoted into different roles”, it goes on: “It is only possible to train staff to work more flexibly into different roles/environments if they can be freed up to attend training and refreshers. 

“This requires ‘surplus’ staff numbers on rotas, which is not currently possible in relation to many staffing groups across the NHS.”

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Source: HSJ, 3 October 2023

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Transgender women may be banned from women's NHS wards

Transgender people may be banned from single-sex hospital wards under plans to restore "common sense" in the NHS, the health secretary says.

Speaking at the Conservative party conference, Steve Barclay announced a consultation on strengthening the protections in place for women.

NHS guidance issued in 2021 said trans people may be placed on wards according to the gender they identify as. 

The change would stop that with trans people given their own rooms and areas. But doctors have questioned whether there are the facilities available to achieve that.

And the move would have to meet the legal threshold set by the Equality Act, which allows trans people to be excluded from single-sex spaces if there is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, such as privacy or safety.

Mr Barclay said he wanted to make sure the "dignity, safety and privacy" of all patients was respected, while the rights of women are protected.

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Source: BBC News, 3 October 2023

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Strikes now endangering heart and cancer patients, NHSE warns BMA

The impact of successive doctors’ strikes is now ‘causing significant disruption and risk to patients’, including to those needing urgent heart and cancer treatment, NHS England leaders have told the BMA in their strongest warnings yet.

A letter to the union’s council chair on Tuesday evening, leaked to HSJ, said: “We are increasingly concerned that the cumulative impact of this action is causing significant disruption and risk to patients…

“We are extremely concerned that Christmas Day cover is insufficient to ensure appropriate levels of patient safety are being maintained across local health systems. This is particularly the case in the current period of industrial action, with three consecutive Christmas Day levels of service.”

Although Christmas Day includes cover for emergency care, the officials said that in practice – with demand above Christmas Day levels, and with successive days and repeated strikes – it was not protecting patients needing urgent care.

The letter, signed by NHSE leaders including chief medical officer Sir Steve Powis, and chief nurse Dame Ruth May, goes on: “Secondly, we are becoming increasingly concerned that combined periods of industrial action are impacting on our ability to manage individuals who require time-sensitive urgent treatment, for example cardiac, cancer or cardiovascular patients, or women needing urgent caesarean sections.”

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Source: HSJ, 3 October 2023

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Greenland women seek compensation over involuntary birth control

A group of 67 women from Greenland are seeking compensation from the Danish government over a campaign of involuntary birth control in the 1960s.

At least 4,500 women, some of them teenagers, were fitted with coils under a programme intended to limit birth rates among the indigenous population.

An inquiry is due to conclude in 2025, but the women, some of whom are in their 70s, want compensation now.

They are seeking 300,000 kroner (£34,880; $42,150) each.

Records from the national archives showed that, between 1966 and 1970 alone, intrauterine devices (IUDs) were fitted into the women, some as young as 13, without their knowledge or consent.

A commission set up by the Danish and Greenlandic governments to investigate the programme is not due to deliver its findings until May 2025.

"We don't want to wait for the results of the inquiry," said psychologist Naja Lyberth, who initiated the compensation claim.

"We are getting older. The oldest of us, who had IUDs inserted in the 1960s, were born in the 1940s and are approaching 80. We want to act now."

Ms Lyberth said that, in some cases, the devices fitted had been too big for the girls' bodies, causing serious health complications or even infertility, while in others the women had been unaware of the devices until they were discovered recently by gynaecologists.

She accused the Danish government of the time of wanting to control the size of Greenland's population in order to save money on welfare.

"It's already 100% clear that the government has broken the law by violating our human rights and causing us serious harm," she said.

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Source: BBC News, 3 October 2023

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