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Codeine linctus to be reclassified to a prescription-only medicine because of risk of abuse and addiction

Codeine linctus, an oral solution or syrup licensed to treat dry cough in adults, is to be reclassified to a prescription-only medicine due to the risk of abuse, dependency and overdose, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has announced.

Codeine linctus is an opioid medicine which has previously been available to buy in pharmacies under the supervision of a pharmacist but will now only be available on prescription following an assessment by a healthcare professional.

Since 2019, there have been increasing reports in the media of codeine linctus being misused as an ingredient in a recreational drink, commonly referred to as ‘Purple Drank’.

The decision to reclassify the medicine has been made following a consultation with independent experts, healthcare professionals and patients. 992 responses were received.

The consultation was launched by the MHRA after Yellow Card reports indicated instances of the medicine being abused, rather than for its intended use as a cough suppressant.

Dr Alison Cave, MHRA Chief Safety Officer, said: "Patient safety is our top priority. Codeine linctus is an effective medicine for long term dry cough, but as it is an opioid, its misuse and abuse can have major health consequences."

Alternative non-prescription cough medicines are available for short-term coughs to sooth an irritated throat, including honey and lemon mixtures and cough suppressants.

Patients are urged to speak to a pharmacist for advice and not to buy codeine linctus from an unregistered website as it could be dangerous.

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Source: MHRA, 20 February 2024

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CNN: More than 1 in 3 surgical patients has complications, study finds, and many are the result of medical errors

Despite decades of calls for more attention to patient safety in hospitals, people undergoing surgery still have high rates of complications and medical errors, a new study finds.

More than a third of patients admitted to the hospital for surgery have adverse events related to their care, and at least 1 in 5 of these complications is the result of medical errors, the researchers found.

Studies delving into adverse events and medical errors in hospital settings are few and far between, and each has slightly different methods, so their results aren’t always an apples-to-apples comparison. But the latest study, which was published Thursday in the BMJ, fits into a pattern of evidence going back decades, suggesting that hospitals haven’t made much progress on patient safety.

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Source: CNN, 15 November 2024

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Clutching morphine and sheltering in a bus stop: the NHS patients sent from hospital to the street

Gripping a bag of morphine handed to him by hospital staff, Antonio sheltered at a bus stop, cold and shivering, as he tried to work out what to do.

It was three days after undergoing gruelling surgery to remove his testicular cancer and the 36-year-old had been discharged from NHS care with nowhere to go.

He was clutching a referral letter for the council’s housing team, given to him by hospital staff. When he arrived at the council office, he explained he had been homeless for the past few months – but was told they could not house him.

“They asked me: ‘If you are in so much pain and trouble, why did they send you here?’ and I didn’t know what to say,” Antonio, whose name has been changed, tells The Independent. He was given a piece of paper with a phone number on it and told to call the next day.

It was now late in the afternoon and the Salvation Army’s homeless day centre, where he would usually go for help, was closed. He had no option but to turn around and ready himself for a night on the streets.

Antonio’s story is, tragically, not unique. He is one of thousands of people across England who have been discharged from NHS hospitals into homelessness in recent years, many while still battling serious health conditions.

Data obtained by The Independent, in collaboration with the Salvation Army, shows at least 4,200 people were discharged from wards to “no fixed abode” in 2022/23.

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Source: The Independent, 17 March 2024

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Cluster of never events has sparked ‘great deal of soul searching’ says trust CEO

An acute trust’s record of eight never events in the last six months has raised concerns that quality standards have slipped since it was taken out of special measures.

The never events occurred at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust. They included three wrong site surgeries within the same speciality and an extremely rare incident in which a 30cm (15 inch) wire was left in a cardiology patient.

Kate Shields, chief executive of the trust, said the incidents have led to a “great deal of soul searching”.

Prior to the incidents the trust had gone 13 months without recording a never event, and Ms Shield acknowledged that pressure created by the pandemic was likely to have been a contributing factor behind the cluster of never events.

She stressed that none of the patients affected had suffered physical harm.

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Source: HSJ, 12 November 2020

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Cluster of baby death inquiries as bereaved parents demand answers

Lawyers and charities tell of mothers told to ‘labour at home as long as they can’, dangerously few midwives and ‘lies’ during natal care.

As Rozelle Bosch approached her due date she had every reason to expect a healthy baby. Neither she, her husband nor the midwives knew that the child was in the breech position at 30 weeks.

When her waters broke a fortnight early, Bosch and her husband, Eckhardt, both first-time parents, had been reassured by NHS Lanarkshire that all was well and that the mother was “low risk”. They were sent home from Wishaw hospital and told to monitor conditions until the pregnancy became “active”.

Shortly before 11pm on 1 July 2021, her husband called an ambulance saying that Bosch was in labour and was giving birth. 

Bosch was in an upstairs bedroom on her knees and paramedics noted that “the baby was pink”. They soon asked the control room for a doctor or midwife to attend but none were available. By the time the ambulance took the family to hospital, the baby had turned blue.

Within two days, baby Mirabelle had died. She had become trapped with only her feet and calves delivered while the couple were still at home. A post-mortem has found that Mirabelle suffered oxygen deprivation to the brain from “head entrapment” during delivery.

Last month, her father explained to a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) at Glasgow sheriff court: “We were told Rozelle was healthy and Mirabelle was healthy. I think this was a lie and the consequences have me standing here today.”

The way that the tragedy unfolded is striking, not just because of the devastating consequences, but because it is not an entirely isolated case.

The same FAI is examining the deaths of two other newborns, Ellie McCormick and Leo Lamont, who also died in NHS Lanarkshire less than a month apart in 2019. Experts say it is rare for the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service to group investigations in this way.

Darren Deery, the McCormicks’ lawyer and a medical negligence specialist with Drummond Miller, said he had noticed a “considerable increase” in parents contacting the law firm in the past three years.

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Source: The Times, 11 February 2024

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Closures and soaring waiting lists: crunch time for social care services

Social care services across England are “rapidly deteriorating”, with waiting lists soaring and councils struggling with care home closures, social services chiefs have warned.

Long-term waiting lists have almost quadrupled and 1.5m hours of necessary home care were not delivered in the three months to November, amid a deepening staffing crisis going into winter.

“Red lights are flashing right across our dashboard,” said Stephen Chandler, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass), which ran a survey of 85 councils. “Older and disabled people are suffering.”

A survey of care workers by the trade union Unison also found that staff shortages meant people were “dying without dignity” and in some cases there were not enough staff to sit with people in their final hours. A third of those surveyed said staffing levels were “dangerously low”.

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Source: The Guardian, 29 November 2021

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Closing baby unit considered over safety concerns

Health inspectors considered shutting down a maternity unit earlier this year over safety concerns.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) instead called for "immediate improvements" following a visit to the William Harvey hospital in Ashford, Kent.

Helen Gittos, whose newborn daughter died in the care of the East Kent Hospitals Trust, said there were "fundamental" problems at the trust.

The inspection of East Kent's William Harvey hospital laid bare multiple instances of inadequate practices at the unit, including staff failing to wash their hands after each patient, and life-saving equipment not being in the right place.

Days after the visit, the watchdog raised safety concerns and threatened the trust with enforcement action to ensure patients are protected.

Ms Gittos, whose baby Harriet was born at the East Kent trust's Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in 2014 and died eight days later, said: "When my daughter Harriet was born, the then head of midwifery was so concerned about safety that she thought that the William Harvey in particular should be closed down."

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Here we are, almost nine years later, in a similar kind of situation. What has been happening has not worked.

"I keep being surprised at how possible it is to keep being shocked about all of this, but I am shocked, that under so much scrutiny, and with so much external help, it's still the case that so much is not right.

"The problems that are revealed are so fundamental that we have to do things differently."

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Source: BBC News, 26 May 2023

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Close to 1m NHS appointments lost to strikes

The number of appointments and treatments postponed by strike action in the NHS in England is nearing one million.

The 48-hour walkout by consultants in England last week saw more than 45,000 appointments being cancelled.

It brings the total number of postponed hospital appointments since industrial action began in the NHS in December to 885,000.

Once mental health and community bookings are included, it tops 944,000.

The true total is likely to be even higher, as services have stopped scheduling appointments on strike days and these will not be included in the figures released by NHS England.

Alongside consultants, junior doctors, nurses, physios, ambulance workers and radiographers have also walked out at various stages.

NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: "Industrial action continues to have a huge impact on the NHS, and on the lives of patients and their families. This strike took place into a bank holiday weekend, when NHS activity is generally lighter, but many services have for some time avoided scheduling any planned appointments for strike days in order to prioritise emergencies. This means the true impact of this action will be even higher, and as we move into September, the extraordinary cumulative effect of more than nine months of disruption poses a huge challenge for the health service, as staff work tirelessly to tackle the backlog."

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Source: BBC News, 29 August 2023

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Close contacts of monkeypox cases ‘left in the dark’ as experts call for greater support

Close contacts of people infected with monkeypox have criticised health officials for a lack of communication and support while they have to isolate.

Public health experts and scientists have said the government needs to offer financial support to people forced to self-isolate for 21 days, as it emerged that one local council has already stepped in to provide sick pay for an infected man who could not work from home and was told he would not be paid.

With cases of monkeypox on the rise in the UK – 106 were infections detected as of Friday – it’s thought hundreds of people have been told to self-isolate since the beginning of May.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it was providing daily calls for infected individuals and close contacts to offer support.

However, one man from Leicester, whose housemate contracted monkeypox after visiting Gran Canaria pride festival, described UKHSA’s handling of his case as a “farce”, saying he has waited days for instruction from officials.

“They couldn’t provide any meaningful or helpful information and nothing about housemates or close contacts,” the housemate told The Independent.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has meanwhile said countries should take quick steps to contain the spread of monkeypox and share data about their vaccine stockpiles.

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Source: The Independent, 29 May 2022

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Clinicians’ concerns have held-up outpatient reform, says Mackey

NHS England’s outpatients’ recovery efforts have been stymied by a lack of funding and because “we’ve struggled to get the clinical community uniformly behind it”, Sir Jim Mackey has told MPs.

The NHSE chief executive told a Public Accounts Committee evidence session that national leaders all accepted “we have to do more on outpatients” and revealed that a new outpatient recovery plan was being finalised for next year.

Asked if outpatients should have been more of a focus of NHS resources, Sir Jim said: “Yeah. I think the programme probably was under-resourced at the time.”

He added: “But I think the material issue throughout has been clinical engagement, and we’ve struggled throughout to get the clinical community uniformly behind it. So, once we’ve achieved that, the thing will get resolved.”

He continued: “The big concern that’s prevented us from going really hard at it is the concern about missing clinical risk. So, if we do really sweeping changes without really strong clinical engagement, that [could mean] a patient should have been seen in a follow-up setting and wasn’t and comes to harm. None of us wants that.

“We all agree outpatients is the big untapped thing for us to go at that can be dealt with without a lot of resource, but it’s very complicated.”

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Source: HSJ, 11 September 2025

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Clinicians who raised patient safety risks claim Berkshire NHS trust deleted email evidence

Two clinicians who say they lost their jobs at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust after raising patient safety concerns claim the trust’s legal team brought a five-figure costs threat against them to prevent witnesses from giving evidence in a tribunal.

The threat of costs liability, intended to bring the case to a halt, was made halfway through the hearing – less than 48 hours before witnesses for the trust were due to give evidence.

One of the claims put forward at the tribunal hearing was that the trust had destroyed crucial evidence by deleting the email account of a former staff member.

The clinicians – Samir Lalitcumar and Ahmed Ghedri – brought allegations of poor practice against current and former staff at the trust. Berkshire NHS trust claimed their allegations, including claims that the trust had deleted email evidence, were “without merit”.

A fortnight into the tribunal hearing, both out-of-work medics were threatened with costs liability, known as a “drop-hands offer”, totalling more than £300,000, had they opted to proceed with their case and lost.

Lalitcumar and Ghedri had brought claims of whistleblowing detriment against their former employer, Berkshire Healthcare Trust. They say they were “victimised” and unfairly dismissed as a result of having blown the whistle on dangerous care within the trust’s geriatrics services – potentially affecting upwards of 2,000 patients.

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Source: Computer Weekly, 7 December 2022

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Clinicians warn of ‘serious’ safety risk at crowded teaching hospital

Staff at a teaching hospital which has struggled with emergency care pressure this winter have warned that patient safety is being compromised as crowding is becoming “normalised”.

A letter sent by a group of clinical staff at Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust to the trust board calls for immediate action to tackle concerns.

It says: “The normalisation of crowding, the lack of effective flow management and the lack of effective escalation policies and procedures are resulting in patient safety, dignity and comfort being repeatedly and seriously compromised.”

Details of the letter were shared with HSJ but it is unclear how many and which staff it is signed by.

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Source: HSJ, 23 December 2020

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Clinically vulnerable Covid patients denied access to life-saving antivirals

Clinically vulnerable people infected with Covid are being denied access to potentially life-saving antiviral medicine, patients, health officials and charities say.

Around 1.3 million people with underlying health conditions in England have been identified by the NHS as at-risk and sent letters explaining they will be assessed for antiviral treatment if infected with Covid.

The NHS said “tens of thousands of the most vulnerable patients” have received the medication to date, but told The Independent it was “aware of some local issues” in which clinically vulnerable people have struggled to access the antivirals. It comes at a time of record-breaking infection levels.

Patients seeking the treatment, which suppresses an infection to prevent disease escalation and hospitalisation, have reported being turned away by GPs and hospital doctors, while others say they’ve been “pushed from pillar to post” in an attempt to access the medication.

An NHS manager told The Independent that only 15% of eligible patients cared for by Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group received antiviral medication in February.

Anthony Nolan, the blood cancer charity, and Kidney Care UK both said they had received reports that Covid Medicine Delivery Units (CMDUs), which are responsible for ensuring antiviral medication reaches patients, were overwhelmed and struggling to provide treatment.

“Weekends are a particular problem and it causes a lot of stress,” said Fiona Loud, a policy director a Kidney Care UK. “We have had reports from people in different parts of the country.”

Paxlovid, molnupiravir and remdesivir are available via the NHS as antiviral medicine. All three have been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of hospitalisation among infected vulnerable patients. Antibody treatment, administered intravenously, is also available.

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Source: The Independent, 4 April 2022

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Climate of fear putting patients at risk, say doctors

Whistleblowers at one of England's worst performing hospital trusts have said a climate of fear among staff is putting patients at risk.

Former and current clinicians at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Trust allege they were punished by management for raising safety concerns, a BBC Newsnight investigation found. One insider said the trust was "a bit like the mafia."

The trust said it took "patient safety very seriously." It said it had a "high reporting culture of incidents" to ensure accountability and learning.

Staff concerns included a dangerous shortage of nurses and a lack of communication leading to some haematology patients dying without receiving treatment, an investigation by BBC Newsnight and BBC West Midlands found.

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Source: BBC News, 2 December 2022

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Climate crisis will amplify the UK’s existing health inequalities

The health inequalities between different ethnicities, neighbourhoods and social classes are already stark, with millions of women in the most deprived areas in England dying almost eight years earlier than those from wealthier areas.

But according to the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) report, these disparities will worsen as the impact the climate crisis has on health is disproportionately negative to the most disadvantaged groups.

These particular groups include people with disabilities, homeless people and people living in local authorities with high levels of deprivation.

Sir Michael Marmot, the director of the Institute of Health Equity and the author of the landmark Marmot review into health inequalities in 2010, said that climate breakdown can make health inequalities worse.

Prof Lea Berrang Ford, the head of the Centre for Climate and Health Security at the UKHSA, made it clear that the negative health effects of climate breakdown will not be distributed equally across the UK, social determinants or generations.

The report said that children and young people will experience increasingly severe weather into their retirement, with effects persisting or increasing for their children.

Ford said: “The distribution of the impacts of climate change do not just differ across geographic regions, but also across different socio-demographic groups.

“Climate change is well recognised as likely to exacerbate existing health inequalities, and across a range of health impacts the most vulnerable groups are adults over 65 years old, children and those with pre-existing medical conditions.”

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Source: The Guardian, 11 December 2023

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Cleveland-based University Hospitals' spin on virtual nursing

Many virtual nursing models involve separate teams where nurses work as either a bedside nurse or a virtual nurse. But Cleveland-based University Hospitals in the USA is taking a different approach. 

In May, the health system introduced a model in which nurses can work a hybrid schedule, with several days spent at the bedside and the remainder of their schedule at a remote care hub as a virtual nurse. The model is in place across five hospital units, with 23 staff nurses on these units working some of their weekly shifts at the remote hub in an administrative building, health system leaders told Becker's. 

"We have hardwired all patient rooms in five hospital units with the technology for remote nursing," Michelle Hereford, MSHA, RN, FACHE, chief nurse executive at University Hospitals and the Ethel Morikis Endowed Chair in Nursing Leadership, told Becker's. "Each day, a nurse from each of the five units works in the remote hub in collaboration with their home units and each other." 

The approach has been a way to deliver on nurses' flexibility demands and allow members of the same team to continue working together. When working a remote shift, nurses are often caring for the same patients with whom they established a connection during a bedside shift at the hospital, making patients more comfortable when a nurse dials in virtually. 

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Source: Becker's, 30 July 2024

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Clearing NHS Covid backlog in Wales could take seven years

It may take seven years to get NHS Wales waiting lists of 700,000 back to 2020 levels, Wales' auditor general has said.

The number of patients waiting for non-urgent treatment has doubled since February 2020, just prior to the Covid pandemic.

They include Patient Michael Assender, 74, who has spent two years on a waiting list with severe back pain. After struggling with his back, Mr Assender, from Cwmbran, Torfaen, paid £1,500 for a private scan, which revealed he had two slipped discs.

"At the moment I'm coping pretty well, taking pills for the pain and trying to stay active," he said. "But something that took me half hour before now takes an hour."

Mr Assender said he knew others waiting for surgery who had become depressed and considered taking their lives, adding: "A lot of people out there are in a constant pain and I do pity them."

"It's a dire situation really."

The Welsh government said it had a plan to deal with backlogs.

But Wales' Auditor General Adrian Crompton said: "Just as the NHS rose to the challenge of the pandemic, it will need to rise to the challenge of tackling a waiting list which has grown to huge proportions."

"Concerted action is going to be needed on many different fronts, and some long-standing challenges will need to be overcome."

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Source: BBC News, 31 May 2022

 

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Clean hands for all

Today is Global Handwashing Day, a global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.

hub content on handwashing:

WHO: Guidance on engaging patients and patient organisations in hand hygiene initiatives

Safety and Health Practitioner: Tips for hand hygiene 

Hand washing dance - this is how we do it

What initiatives are in your hospital to ensure "clean hands for all"? Share your tips on the hub.

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Clapping NHS like a ‘national religion’ is dangerous, health watchdog warns

Clapping the NHS during the pandemic may have had “dangerous” consequences by insulating it from criticism, the health ombudsman has suggested.

Rebecca Hilsenrath warned against treating the health service as a “national religion” as she called on its leaders to radically overhaul the culture and listen to those it fails.

She also accused the NHS of “doubly traumatising” those who had lost loved ones by refusing to even acknowledge the harm caused.

Ms Hilsenrath’s office has submitted evidence to an investigation of the NHS, led by Prof Lord Darzi, which is due to be published next month.

It shows a near 50 per cent rise in complaints about the NHS to the ombudsman – the highest authority for unresolved grievances – since 2020/21.

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Source: Telegraph, 17 August 2024

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Clapped-out kit, long delays, too few beds and staff: NHS enters 2021 in a sorry state

Think 2020 has been awful for the NHS? Next year is shaping up to be far worse – and most of the huge hole it’s in was dug long before Covid. The virus has merely finished off the job.

The health service does not have the beds, staff or equipment to recover the ground it lost during the first two waves of the coronavirus pandemic, but the government is blocking desperately needed improvements, and another round of organisational upheaval is on its way.

Roughly one in 11 clinical posts are vacant, and it would hardly be a surprise to see many staff rush for the retirement door once the worst of the pandemic is behind us. The NHS can’t solve the problem without long-term certainty over funding for staff.

Around 140,000 patients in England have been waiting more than a year for surgeries such as a hip replacements, up a hundredfold from a year ago. With the whole system beset by delays long before we had even heard of coronavirus, the lack of spare capacity means it will take years to help many patients.

Unprecedented interruptions and delays to cancer tests and treatments have been exacerbated by the pitiful state of diagnostic equipment. Access to CT and MRI scanners is far behind countries with a fraction of our wealth, such as Slovenia and Slovakia. Y

In the midst of all this turmoil, the NHS in England faces another round of legislative and organisational upheaval next year, the likely arrival of a new chief executive, and a potential fight with Downing Street over the extent of political control.

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Source: The Guardian, 18 December 2020

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Clapped Out: Is the NHS Broken?

Eighteen months into the worst pandemic in a century, this hard-hitting Dispatches special travels the country asking some tough questions about the performance of our much-loved NHS.

Watch programme (you will need to sign in)

Source: Channel 4, 18 October 2021

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Claims patients are dying in queuing ambulances

Paramedics are "watching their patients die in the back of ambulances because they can't get them into A&E", according to the health union, Unison.

It was commenting on data showing 2,750 hours were lost by ambulance crews waiting to hand over patients at Hull Royal Infirmary in October 2023.

One crew was stuck outside A&E for 10 hours and 27 minutes.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals said it was "confident" a new urgent treatment centre on the hospital site would "improve overall waiting times" and lost ambulance hours had "reduced notably" this month.

The figures, obtained by the BBC through a freedom of information request, showed on 9 October 2023 ambulance crews lost 144 hours and 18 minutes, the equivalent to one crew being out of action for six full days and nights.

Megan Ollerhead, Unison's ambulance lead in Yorkshire, said paramedics were "literally watching their patients die in the back of these ambulances because they can't get into A and E."

"I talk to a lot of the people who receive the 999 calls in the control rooms and they're just listening to people begging for ambulances and they know there are none to send."

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Source: BBC News, 26 January 2024

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Claims of sleeping staff and bullying on ward

Whistle-blowers have described neglect, patient-on-patient assault and staff who bully colleagues and sleep on the job at a troubled mental health ward.

Sources told a BBC investigation that a patient of 25-bed, mixed-gender Hill Crest Ward in Redditch, Worcestershire, suffered a broken jaw during one clash.

They also claimed three nurses were "forced out" amid bullying behaviour.

The NHS trust that runs Hill Crest said it believed changes there were having a positive impact.

Accounts have been corroborated via five independent sources to whom the BBC spoke. They follow reports earlier this year of a fire and an incident in which staff locked themselves in an office when a patient ran around armed with boiling water and sugar.

Additionally, one patient has provided the BBC with images alleged to show the effects of her battering herself out of desperation - without staff intervening.

Sources also described staff being bullied, with one saying a nurse who particularly suffered had her resignation letter read out and mocked by tormentors.

Sources independently complained of the workplace culture, with the BBC aware of explicit images bearing lewd comments about colleagues.

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Source: BBC News, 15 November 2022

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Civilians, not Toronto police, to take over mental health 911 calls in pilot programme in Canada

Toronto, Canada, will launch a pilot programme that will see civilians, not police officers, dispatched to 911 calls involving mental health crises — as long as violence is not being threatened.

Council also approved a motion by Mayor John Tory to fast-track parts of the plan and review 911 call services in 2021 to determine how best to dispatch help through the proposed new service.

The plan calls for four crisis support teams in different parts of the city, to respond to some of the roughly 30,000 calls for people in crisis that go through 911 each year. 

Pilot programmes are to be launched in early 2022, and were scheduled to be fully implemented in 2026 if proven successful. Tory’s motion called for full implementation by 2025.

“Putting something else in place is not a simple task. It is necessary that we do it properly,” said Tory, in bringing forward the motion. Nonetheless, the mayor said, he believes it can be done more quickly.

Asante Haughton, a mental health advocate and co-founder of the Reach Out Response Network, focused on transformational change in mental-health crisis response, said the move is another rung on the ladder to a more equitable society.

“I really see this as an opportunity to transform the way that we think about mental health and transform the way that we think about social service and community building in general,” he said.

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Source: Toronto Star, 2 February 2021

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Circumcision kits found on sale on Amazon UK as concerns grow over harm to baby boys

Circumcision kits have been found on sale on Amazon UK, highlighting lax regulation as concerns grow about deaths and serious harm to baby boys.

In December, a UK coroner issued warnings about insufficient circumcision regulation after the death in 2023 of a six-month-old boy, Mohamed Abdisamad, from a streptococcus infection.

In a prevention of future deaths report, Dr Anton van Dellen, assistant coroner for west London, highlighted how “any individual may conduct a non-therapeutic male circumcision (NTMC) without any prior training”, with “no requirement for any infection control measures [and] no requirements for any aftercare”, adding that “action should be taken to prevent future deaths”.

The Guardian found “Plastibell” kits, in various sizes, on sale for £200 on Amazon in January. A listing on the site promised “a circumcision procedure which requires no special post-operative care or dressing [which] means a significant saving in both time and money”.

It added: “The disposable PlastiBell circumcision device eliminates the need for the repetitive and costly sterilisation required for stainless steel clamps … No special dressings required.” Similar devices were on sale on eBay.

On Saturday, the Guardian reported that draft guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) classes circumcision as a potential crime. The CPS said while circumcision was legal and “for many, a safe and celebrated tradition”, it had recently prosecuted cases of “significant harm” and that “rigorous scrutiny” and “extensive consultation with different communities” was being carried out before the guidance was finalised and brought into force.

Lord Scriven, the Liberal Democrat peer who has repeatedly raised concerns in parliament about lax regulation, said: “Parliament needs to think about how it can defend a system where a tattooist requires a licence and a sterilised studio to carry out a tattoo, but a person carrying out genital surgery on a baby boy doesn’t."

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Source: The Guardian, 14 January 2026

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