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Change to sepsis advice after mums' herpes deaths

Advice on how new mothers with sepsis should be treated is to change after two women died of a herpes infection.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says viral sources of infections should be considered and appropriate treatment offered. This comes after the BBC revealed one surgeon might have infected the mothers while performing Caesareans on them.

The East Kent Hospitals Trust said it had not been possible to identify the source of either infection.

Kimberley Sampson, 29, and Samantha Mulcahy, 32, died of an infection caused by the herpes virus 44 days apart in 2018, shortly after giving birth by Caesarean section.

Their families were told there was no link between the deaths but BBC News revealed on Monday that both operations had been carried out by the same surgeon.

Documents we uncovered showed that the trust had been told two weeks after the second death that "it does look like surgical contamination".

Edward Morris, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which set standards in maternity care, said routine investigation and management of maternal sepsis "should always consider viral sources of infection, and appropriate changes should be instituted to support earlier diagnosis and treatment".

Medics treating Ms Sampson and Mrs Mulcahy assumed they were suffering from a bacterial infection and didn't prescribe the anti-viral medication that may had saved their lives.

The Royal College said the two deaths should be "fully investigated" as "surgical infection appears to be a significant possibility".

But BBC News has learned that the East Kent Hospitals Trust, which treated both women, never told the coroner's office that the same surgeon had carried out both operations or that an investigation they had ordered had suggested the virus strains the two women had died from appeared to be "epidemiologically linked".

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Source: BBC News, 23 November 2021

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Change prostate cancer treatment for black men to avoid ‘epidemic’, NHS urged

The NHS must change how black men are treated for prostate cancer to prevent “an epidemic of unnecessary deaths” in which twice as many die as white men, campaigners have warned.

Academics are seeking to raise awareness that one in four black men are getting this cancer, twice the rate of white men, which is one in eight, according to Prostate Cancer UK’s analysis of patient datasets for England. One in 12 black men are at risk of dying of this condition compared with one in 24 white men.

“We are living through an epidemic of unnecessary deaths of black men,” said Stafford Scott a community activist. “Prostate cancer is not colour blind. Not only is the death rate twice as high in black men as white men but we are being diagnosed late and so are coming into the system late.”

Scott, the director of the organisation Tottenham Rights, is teaming up with experts to launch a podcast series calling for fundamental changes in the NHS approach to prostate cancer and its high incidence among black men to prevent many more deaths.

This would reflect Prostate Cancer UK’s call to change “outdated NHS guidelines” so that GPs can be advised to start conversations with black men earlier and discuss with them taking prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood tests to indicate cancer.

Approximately 55,300 new prostate cancer cases are diagnosed across the UK every year and this figure is projected to rise by 15% in the next 15 years.

Scott suggested that prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment could also be improved through broader NHS reforms, such as improving how it recruits and promotes black staff, including into leadership positions; partnering with black-led organisations to rebuild trust; improving transparency of health data; and increasing independent oversight of the NHS treatment black men receive.

“For too long, black men have been failed by the very system that is meant to keep us well. The result is a cycle of mistrust, late intervention, and preventable deaths,” he said.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 September 2025

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Change in direction and leadership needed to save Scotland's NHS, report warns

Serious change in direction and leadership is needed to save Scotland’s NHS, a report has found.

The review by Mike McKirdy, a retired consultant surgeon from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the former president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, warned “more of the same will not be enough”.

Mr McKirdy said the founding principles of the NHS were “becoming strained and frayed” and that current trends risk “entrenching a two-tier system where access depends increasingly on ability to pay rather than clinical need”.

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Source: Grampian Online, 8 December 2025

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Chancellor announces £22.6bn cash injection for NHS in England

The NHS in England is to receive a £22.6bn cash injection over two years, the chancellor has announced, in what she called the biggest spending increase outside Covid since 2010. But health experts said patients may not feel the impact as much of the increase would be absorbed by pay rises and higher care costs.

Announcing the “down payment” on the government’s 10-year plan for the NHS, due in spring 2025, Rachel Reeves said the NHS was the nation’s “most cherished public service” and that the extra funding would help the government cut waiting lists.

“This is the largest real-terms growth in day-to-day NHS spending outside of Covid since 2010,” she said. “Because of this record injection of funding, because of the thousands of additional beds that we have secured, and because of the reforms that we are delivering in our NHS, we can now begin to bring waiting lists down more quickly and move towards our target for waiting times to be no longer than 18 weeks by delivering on our manifesto commitment for 40,000 extra hospital appointments a week.”

Health experts welcomed the extra funding but cautioned that more investment in the NHS would be needed for patients to notice the difference. Siva Anandaciva, the chief analyst at the King’s Fund thinktank, said: “The health spending announced today is unlikely to be enough for patients to see a real improvement in the care they receive.”

While the budget increase would help sustain services, “it is unlikely to drastically improve care over the rest of this year, and certainly not overnight”, he added, because much of the £22.6bn extra would be absorbed by NHS staff pay increases and the rising cost of delivering care.

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Source: The Guardian, 30 October 2024

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Chancellor ‘doubles NHS efficiency target’

The government has doubled the annual efficiency expectation on the NHS, he has said, as systems and trusts grapple with large gaps in their financial plans for 2022-23.

The Treasury told the media over the weekend the Chancellor was doubling the NHS’s annual savings target to 2.2% from 1.1%. Reports said this would deliver an annual saving of £4.75bn. 

It is unclear whether the move represents a change to the underlying efficiency expectation in NHS planning — which would require all systems and trusts to revise their plans for 2022-23 — or is simply a re-statement or recognition that the effective efficiency requirement was already well above the 1.1 per cent envisaged under the pre-covid NHS long-term plan.

Rishi Sunak told the Mail on Sunday the move was linked to the “health and social care levy” which will see a rise in National Insurance next month. He also said he would chair a new cabinet committee to reduce waste in the public sector.

Speaking ahead of his Spring Statement on Wednesday, he said: “Your readers should be reassured that unlike any other tax that they pay, every penny of this levy goes specifically to the thing that they care most about… So we are setting up a new Cabinet committee, that I am chairing, to focus on efficiency, value for money, waste and reform. Working with the health secretary we are doubling the efficiency target for the NHS. Every pound from this levy is going to go incredibly far.”

In NHS England’s annual report, published last month, its chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: ”The certainty we have recently received on both capital and revenue budgets for the years ahead provide a welcome basis on which the NHS nationally and locally can now plan. We should however be under no illusions that the challenges ahead – for financial balance and operational performance – are anything other than unprecedented.”

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Source: HSJ, 20 March 2022

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Chairs have high moral values but struggle with disruptive directors, claims landmark study

Nearly half of trust chairs fail to “effectively deal with non-performing board members” according to a major study of the role of NHS non-executive directors seen by HSJ.

The Henley Business School conducted in-depth research over a two-year period for its report 'The Independent Director in Society: Our Current Crisis of Governance & What to Do About It' which is published later this month. The research included a survey of NHS non-executive directors, which reveals that they have a broadly positive view about their contribution but also reveals significant areas of concern.

Only 55% of respondents agreed with the statement that NHS trust chairs “effectively deal with/remove non-performing and/or disruptive board members”. Just 47% said chairs had “positive relations with the media.”

The survey was undertaken before the onset of the pandemic, but nearly a third of the respondents disagreed with the statement that NHS chairs were “effective in a crisis”. However, almost every survey respondent claimed trust chairs had “high moral values” which were “aligned with those of the organisation.”

All but 2% of respondents backed the idea that non-executive directors “have a sense of duty to see things are done both ethically and morally”, while 94% claimed they were “truly independent”. However, a fifth claimed it was impossible for non-executive directors to be effective “given the mandate of the NHS”.

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Source: HSJ, 1 October 2020

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Chair’s ‘insidious’ bullying ‘drove out trust CEO’

An acute trust’s former chief executive was driven out by “manipulative and insidious” bullying by its current chair, she has told a tribunal.

Susan Gilby left the Countess of Chester Hospital Foundation Trust at the end of 2022 following a breakdown in relations with chair Ian Haythornthwaite.

She is claiming unfair dismissal against the trust and Mr Haythornthwaite, saying she was “bullied, harassed and undermined” by the chair.

Dr Gilby joined the Countess initially as medical director in August 2018. This was shortly after its neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, later convicted of murder and attempted murder of babies, had first been arrested, and with investigations ongoing. Dr Gilby was made CEO in 2019, and was in post throughout the peak covid periods, before being suspended in December 2022, and resigning shortly after.

According to court documents, issues first arose in late 2021 when a new chair, Mr Haythornthwaite, was appointed.

Mr Haythornthwaite made efforts to “assert control through his subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) bullying techniques”, according to Dr Gilby, a former intensive care consultant and medical director.

“He would often tell me that ‘people’ (who he refused to name) had ‘said things’ about me, but would refuse to elaborate further,” Dr Gilby wrote in her witness statement.

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Source: HSJ, 28 November 2024

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Chair who was ‘not always honest’ in old job gets NHSE’s ‘full support’

An integrated care board chair is keeping her job despite complaints being upheld against her in a previous role, it has emerged.

Danielle Oum left her position as Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust chair last October.

It later emerged that an independent investigation carried out the month before her departure, the results of which were leaked to HSJ, had upheld several complaints against her and found she did not always act with “honesty, truthfulness and clarity”.

She was appointed to the ICB position in October 2021, four months before the complaints were made against her by an individual at the trust.

But NHS England now says it has reviewed the matter and concluded that it “continue[s] to offer Danielle our full support in her role as chair of Coventry and Warwickshire ICB”.

Following the independent investigation, which upheld 16 complaints against Ms Oum in total, NHSE carried out its own review of the issues.

NHSE said its review involved a “rigorous fact-finding process” and it was grateful to those who raised “freedom to speak up” concerns.

It said in a statement: “A thorough review has taken place at regional and national level, and the committee responsible for adjudicating these issues has delivered what we believe is a fair decision."

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Source: HSJ, 31 August 2023

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Chair hits out at government delay to mental health deaths inquiry

The chair of an inquiry into the deaths of mental health patients in Essex has said she is “disappointed” at a delay in having its scope confirmed by the health secretary.

Baroness Kate Lampard said she has been unable to begin substantive work on the probe while still waiting for sign-off from government. 

An inquiry was launched in 2021 to review the deaths of at least 2,000 people in contact with Essex mental health services across a 20-year period.

Baroness Lampard took over as chair last year after it gained new powers to compel people to give evidence, following concerns not enough staff were coming forward.

She has proposed expanding its scope by a further two years until 2022 due to ongoing concerns and to cover NHS patients treated in the private sector.

The final terms of reference will be set by the health secretary Victoria Atkins. Baroness Lampard said she has not heard back from the Department of Health and Social Care on her proposals since submitting them three months ago.

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Source: HSJ, 19 March 2024

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Chair ‘exceeded authority’ when suspending trust chief, investigation finds

A trust chair “exceeded her authority” and “badly handled” the suspension of its chief executive, according to investigation findings seen by HSJ.

Annette Doherty, chair of East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, gave chief executive Tracey Fletcher less than 24 hours to either accept a settlement package or face suspension during a mid-year performance review on 18 November last year.

Ms Fletcher was formally suspended three days later. In December, she raised a grievance concerning the handling of her suspension and the matters leading up to it.

HSJ has seen a draft report into that grievance prepared by a specialist HR consultant firm, dated 15 March. The document says that it “details high-level interim findings based on the evidence gathered so far”, although the author believed further information was “unlikely to change the findings”.

It concluded that on the basis of the evidence, the chair’s actions were “not in line with the NHS values and expectations of a senior leader”.

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Source: HSJ, 13 April 2026

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CFO pleads ‘parlous state’ of trust’s finances to reduce fine for patient death

A mental health trust has been fined £565,000 over the death of a 22-year-old, a figure reduced because the judge took into account the “parlous state” of its finances.

North East London Foundation Trust was yesterday instructed to make the payment for failing to ensure the health and safety of non-employees.

The trust was found guilty in June following the joint longest jury deliberation in English legal history, and a lengthy trial.

The charges relate to the death by suicide of mental health inpatient Alice Figueiredo, who died on a NELFT ward in 2015. The trust, and one of its ward managers, were found not guilty of greater charges of manslaughter.

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Source: HSJ, 11 November 2025

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CervicalCheck: Review finds hundreds of previously missed abnormal results

Large numbers of previously missed abnormalities have been uncovered in the biggest review of smear tests undertaken since cervical cancer screening began in Ireland.

The review led by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the UK has found hundreds of “discordant” results after re-examining the slides of over 1,000 women who had been tested for the disease under CervicalCheck, were given the all-clear and later developed cancer, according to an informed source.

Discordant means the re-examination of the smear test by Royal College reviewers has produced a result that is different from the original finding by CervicalCheck.

The extent of the individual divergences from the initial results is not yet known, but the review has found some cancers could have been prevented, it is understood.

The college is due to submit an aggregate report on its findings to Minister for Health Simon Harris shortly.

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Source: The Irish Times

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Cervical screening knowledge gap 'costing lives'

A knowledge gap around cervical screenings is currently "costing lives", a cancer charity says.

The Eve Appeal says more women need to know they can ask for adjustments to their cervical screenings, which can be painful, uncomfortable or distressing for some.

The test is thought to save about 5,000 lives every year in the UK, but many women do not get tested.

Research commissioned by the charity suggests most women do not know they can make the test easier by asking for longer appointments, smaller speculums, or move to more comfortable positions.

According to latest NHS England data, more than five million eligible women are not up to date , external with their routine screening, with the lowest uptake being among women aged between 25 and 29 (58%).

Eve Appeal chief executive Athena Lamnisos said this was "worrying" and that any barriers people experience around the screenings could be "easily overcome".

"There are really simple, straightforward things that you can ask for that patients just aren't aware of....basically, you can take control."

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Source: BBC News, 20 January 2025

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Cervical screening invites to change in England

Invitations for cervical screening will be sent out every five years instead of every three for women aged 25-49 in England, if they have a negative test.

Research shows they are at very low risk of cervical cancer and can safely wait longer to be screened again, NHS England has said.

The roll out of a vaccine to protect against HPV - the virus which causes nearly all cervical cancers - has reduced cases by around a quarter since the early 1990s.

Charities said the change was good news for those at low risk because they no longer needed to go for screening as often.

Scotland and Wales have already introduced this change, which will start in England from 1 July.

Cancer Research UK urged women and people with a cervix not to wait for a screening invitation if they noticed any unusual changes.

They are encouraged to go for regular cervical screening between the ages of 25 and 64, external.

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Source: BBC News, 10 June 2025

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Cervical screening every five years ‘prevents as many cancers as every three’

Women could be screened for cervical cancer every five years instead of every three and as many cancers could still be prevented, a new study suggests.

Researchers at King’s College London said that screening women aged 24 to 49 who test negative for human papillomavirus (HPV) at five-year intervals prevented as many cancers as screening every three years.

The study of 1.3 million women in England, published in the BMJ, found that women in this age group were less likely to develop clinically relevant cervical lesions, abnormal changes of the cells that line the cervix known as CIN3+, and cervical cancer three years after a negative HPV screen compared to a negative smear test.

Lead author Dr Matejka Rebolj, senior epidemiologist at King’s College London, said the results were “very reassuring”.

She added: “They build on previous research that shows that following the introduction of HPV testing for cervical screening, a five-year interval is at least as safe as the previous three-year interval.

“Changing to five-yearly screening will mean we can prevent just as many cancers as before, while allowing for fewer screens.”

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Source: The Independent, 31 May 2022

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Cervical cancer: Scottish hospital is first in UK to pilot artificial intelligence in screening programme

A Scottish hospital has become the first in the UK and one of the first in the world to pilot using artificial intelligence (AI) in its cervical cancer screening programme.

University Hospital Monklands has increased capacity by around 25% and improved analysis turn-around times with the measure, which experts said could “revolutionise” the screening process.

The system, from medical technology company Hologic, creates digital images of cervical smear slides from samples that have tested positive for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).

These are then reviewed using an advanced algorithm, which quickly assesses the cells in the sample and highlights the most relevant to medical experts, saving them time in identifying and analysing abnormalities.

“Preliminary results from the pilot are promising, as the team at University Hospital Monklands has increased capacity by around 25 per cent in the slide assessment and improved analysis turn-around times, as well as allowing screeners to dedicate more time to training on the latest technologies and dealing with difficult-to-diagnose cases,” says Allan Wilson, consultant biomedical scientist at NHS Lanarkshire who is leading the pilot.

"Through AI and digital diagnostics, we have the potential to improve outcomes for women not only in Scotland, but around the world.”

Samantha Dixon, chief executive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, welcomed the pilot.

“Catching cervical cell changes means they can be treated to prevent them from developing into cervical cancer,” she said.

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Source: The Scotsman, 4 March 2022

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Cervical cancer: New screenings will save lives, says top doctor

Changes in cervical cancer screenings will help save lives, not put them at risk, according to a top gynaecologist.

Prof Alison Fiander said people should not be worried screenings have dropped from every three to every five years in Wales as tests are "more effective".

Public Health Wales (PHW) said the new rules were for people aged 25 to 49.

More than 1.2 million people backed calls for a rethink in a UK petition and politicians in Wales will debate it after 30,000 signed a Senedd petition.

Women and people with a cervix - as it could also affect trans men too - who had not tested positive for human papillomavirus (HPV) will now wait two more years between tests.

Health chiefs in Wales said they changed the interval between screenings to the same time as those in Scotland because tests are now more accurate. Cervical screening gaps in England and Northern Ireland remain at three years.

But Wales' public health body did publicly apologise for causing "concern", and admitted health chiefs "hadn't done enough to explain the changes".

Prof Fiander, a clinical lead at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said PHW had "missed an opportunity" to help educate people but reassured the public the change was safe and not a cost-cutting exercise.

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Source: BBC News, 18 January 2022

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Cervical cancer: Call for at-home smear tests in Wales

At-home smear tests should be introduced in Wales, campaigners say. Love Your Period campaigners said self-sampling at home would encourage more people to have the tests.

For women aged 25 to 64 a smear test is an effective way of detecting human papillomavirus (HPV) and preventing cervical cancer. According to Public Health Wales data, cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women under the age of 35, with regular screening helping to reduce the risk of getting cervical cancer by 70%.

The Welsh government said it followed advice from the UK National Screening Committee (UKNSC), which is yet to make a recommendation on self-sampling. However, it said Public Health Wales (PHW) was considering how the tests could be implemented in Wales. Currently, women in Wales are invited for a screening to check for the presence of high-risk HPV every five years.

Campaigner Jess Moultrie said tests should be made available to those who have experienced trauma and find the process of in-hospital smears triggering. "Being able to do it at home gives you that power, you can be a little bit more relaxed, it's not as intimidating."

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Source: BBC News, 14 August 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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Cervical cancer test results in Ireland not sent to 4,000 women

More than 4,000 women in the Republic of Ireland were not told the results of cervical cancer smear tests due to an IT problem, a report has revealed.

It found in about 870 of the cases, results letters were not issued to the women or their GP. In the other 3,200 cases the results were issued to GPs, but not the women. The report concluded there was not proper due diligence and risk assessment in appointing a new lab as a cervical check test facility.

Quest Diagnostics Chantilly Laboratory was appointed in an effort to help clear a major backlog of cervical cancer test samples. This, the review said, was well intentioned but no testing took place to see if it could be seamlessly integrated into the way the system operated.

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Source: BBC News, 6 August 2019

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CEOs of covid-ravaged trusts call for more action on shared waiting lists

Coordination of waiting lists and elective treatment across health systems and regions should be ‘far more systematic’, and could have happened earlier, chief executives of some of the hardest hit trusts have told HSJ.

In interviews for the HSJ Health Check podcast, the CEOs of King’s, Croydon, Chester and Sandwell and West Birmingham hospital trusts spoke about their experience in the pandemic and what could be learned from it.

These included the need for faster decision making; resources for deprived and diverse areas, which are often hardest hit; the need for basic staff facilities such as parking and eating areas for staff; longer-term attention to the wellbeing of staff who were most affected; and to give time for trusts to recover.

On elective care, the CEOs highlighted how the length of lists and waits, and the NHS’s ability to keep up, are now much worse in some areas than others. Some of those with the longest waits and lists at present – such as Countess of Chester and Birmingham – were also heavily hit by Covid; for others this is not the case.

There were moves, particularly later in the pandemic, for patients who were on the elective waiting list of one trust to be treated at another, for example if they needed urgent treatment and faced harm if delayed, while other hospitals were still able to treat less urgent cases. Combining lists, often known as “shared patient tracking (or treatment) lists”, could also mean capacity being managed more efficiently across providers. 

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Source: HSJ, 10 June 2022

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CEOs ‘risk becoming prisoners’ in trusts with poor culture

Trust chief executives risk becoming “prisoners” of organisations with poor cultures if they do not “step back and see the bigger picture”, a former chief inspector of hospitals has said.

Ted Baker said he was “tired” of people getting angry about cultural problems in the NHS while doing nothing to change it, amid an appeal for “less anger and more thoughtful interventions”.

He told HSJ’s Patient Safety Congress greater understanding was needed about what will change culture, and working to do so, rather than “rail against the culture in the way people do all the time”.

Professor Baker said: “One of my real concerns is that we often end up criticising individuals in organisations because they, if you like, embody the ‘wrong’ culture.

“But many individuals are often prisoners of the culture themselves, but we don’t see that.

“You put a chief executive into an organisation with a poor culture, if they don’t have the wisdom and the vision to step back and see the bigger picture, they could become trapped in the culture themselves.”

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Source: HSJ, 24 October 2022

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CEO: We have ‘hurt and let down’ our staff

A hospital group CEO says its leaders have “managed to let people down” and, in some cases, “disconnected” from their staff, in response to very poor NHS Staff Survey scores. 

The Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group CEO’s comments in an all-staff briefing email acknowledge the significant morale problems across the three trusts, which are undergoing a major restructure.

Lesley Dwyer was appointed group CEO and took the group live last year. It comprises Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals, James Paget University Hospitals, and Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn Foundation Trusts.

The results showed a year-on-year decline in staff satisfaction across all three trusts. Professor Dwyer told HSJ  this was “from a starting point that was already too low”.

“This is not the experience we want for our people, and it is not the standard they deserve,” she said.

In a note to staff seen by HSJ, Professor Dwyer cited “re-structures and transformations… changes in leadership combined with waiting list, service, and financial pressures, pressures on beds, strikes etc”, adding: “It’s no wonder so many of you tell us you are weary.”

She added: “But for me, these results speak even more deeply than that – I feel that somehow, despite the best of intentions, I/we have managed to let people down. These results show we have disconnected our people from the very purpose of the NHS organisations they work for and, in some cases, from the people who lead them.”

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Source: HSJ, 13 March 2026

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CEO: TV show sparked ‘overwhelming’ regulator scrutiny

An “overwhelming” number of regulators were involved with a trust after an undercover documentary exposed care failings, its chief executive has said.

Channel 4 aired hidden camera footage from Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust mental health inpatient wards in 2022. This revealed staff sleeping on duty and concerns over use of restraints.

Trust CEO Paul Scott said on Thursday: “Understandably, those with regulatory responsibilities were very interested in the Dispatches programme and our response to it. But the sheer volume of people who wanted some assurance that we were taking seriously and making improvements [was] overwhelming.”

He estimated he had attended around 19 boards or equivalent structures to provide assurance from different angles. “Nineteen regulators over one organisation felt overwhelming.”

Mr Scott made the comments during his evidence to the Lampard Inquiry, which is looking into thousands of mental health patient deaths in Essex between 2000 and 2023. The probe is expected to report its findings before the end of 2027.

In his written submission, Mr Scott had mentioned the “complexity of the nature and oversight of regulation” facing trusts from multiple parties within health and social care.

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Source: HSJ, 16 May 2025

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CEO: Staff suffering ‘moral injury’ from poor estates

Staff are suffering “moral injury” as deteriorating estates disrupt their ability to provide care, a chief executive whose hospital rebuild has been delayed has warned.

Thom Lafferty said Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust needed around £120m to fix its basic infrastructure – far outstripping normal capital allocations.

The CEO, who joined in November, said: “Our staff cannot provide the level of care that they wish to because of the deteriorating estate which causes moral injury.” 

He said: “If something is mission critical safety, then we would have access to other resources to fix it. What we don’t have is the ability to guard against that level of operational disruption, which ends up providing a poor service for our patients and also causes moral injury to staff.”

Moral injury is persistent psychological distress from acting against your ethical code, according to NHS Confederation.

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Source: HSJ, 24 March 2025

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