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CEO: ICB must take ‘urgent action on shameful situation’

The boss of a trust where a child recently spent over two months in A&E has urged other local system leaders to take “urgent action” to help resolve the “shameful situation” concerning vulnerable children.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust CEO Matthew Trainer said “the scale of these challenges” concerning children experiencing long waits in A&E “probably need[ed] a regional solution across London”.

He has announced he will write to North East London Integrated Care Board’s CEO, Nnenna Osuji, to call for urgent action.

A&Es were “increasingly becoming the default place of safety” for children either suffering mental health crises or experiencing a breakdown in their care placements, he said.

He added: “This is a shameful situation, and it is getting worse every year. These children do not need hospital care. They need a place to live, but no other part of the health and care system can provide them with a roof over their heads.”

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Source: HSJ, 11 May 2026

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CEO warns of ‘significant increase’ in patient anxiety over doctors’ strikes

A trust chief executive has warned of a ‘really significant increase’ in patient anxiety and frustration created by the ongoing doctors’ strikes. 

Lance McCarthy, the chief executive officer of Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust, made the comments during the most recent four-day junior doctors’ strike, which also coincided with two days of consultant strike action.

The trust leader told Hertfordshire and West Essex integrated care board on Friday: “We shouldn’t underestimate the impact industrial action is having.”

Mr McCarthy said this impact was not just confined to strike days but also affected the run-up and aftermath of each bout of industrial action. He said every series of strike days caused service disruption for at least another 72 hours. 

He said: “We are seeing increasing frustration [from] our colleagues around it, because we are constantly duplicating work, cancelling patients, rebooking the same patients, etc.

“We are [also] quite understandably starting to see in the last two months a really significant increase in anxiety and concern and frustration from our patients, who took it quite well the first couple of rounds but are understandably really frustrated. It is having a really significant impact.”

In a further statement to HSJ, Mr McCarthy reiterated comments that trust staff had noticed an increase in anxiety, concern and frustration among both patients and colleagues in recent months. 

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Source: HSJ, 25 September 2023

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CEO to take joint leadership of neighbouring trust

The leadership of a specialist trust in Liverpool is set to be taken over by the chief executive of the city’s main acute provider.

A message to staff seen by HSJ said James Sumner, who leads Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust, will also become interim CEO of Liverpool Women’s FT at the end of the year when Kathryn Thomson steps down.  Ms Thomson announced her retirement in May.

There have been long-standing ambitions to move Liverpool Women’s standalone hospital to the new Royal Liverpool Hospital site in the city centre, run by LUHFT, with a possible merger of the organisations.

The relocation remains the ambition, although the trusts are focusing on service integration in the short term.

The message to staff, sent this afternoon by chair Robert Clarke, said: “We have been clear for some time about our preferred future direction of travel for the trust, namely a closer collaboration with the large acute provider of services in the city as we believe this will support the long term clinical and financial sustainability of services for the benefit of women, babies and others who access our services.

“Liverpool Women’s has secured agreement with NHS Cheshire & Merseyside on our ambition to move to a shared CEO model…This is a positive step in providing ongoing stability for Liverpool Women’s.”

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Source: HSJ, 30 August 2023

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CEO tells staff ‘silence is complicity’ after record sexual misconduct reports

An ambulance trust has dismissed “multiple staff” for sexual misconduct offences this year following its “highest year ever for reported sexual safety incidents” in 2024, HSJ has learned.

East of England Ambulance Service Trust’s chief executive Neill Moloney wrote to staff to warn them they all have a “moral obligation” to “step up when [they] see inappropriate behaviour”.

In the letter, seen by HSJ, Mr Moloney said: “Silence is not neutrality. It is complicity. We all have a moral obligation to support those that experience this behaviour… If you witness or experience inappropriate sexualised behaviour, I am encouraging you to report it.”

He added: “Last year alone, 44 sexual safety incidents were reported — our highest year ever for reported sexual misconduct — figures driven in part by higher reporting of incidents.

“Already in 2025, we have dismissed multiple staff for sexual misconduct. This includes sexualised conversation and language in ambulances and crew rooms. This is considered sexual misconduct and we need your support to continue to eradicate this.”

The trust told HSJ that four people were dismissed for sexual misconduct in 2024, and to date in 2025, a further four people have been dismissed.

The concerns follow the results of the NHS Staff Survey published last month, which highlighted the depth of the sexual misconduct problems across the whole ambulance sector, with the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives calling for a “cultural reset”.

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Source: HSJ, 28 April 2025

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CEO met ‘a great deal of resistance’ over admitting failures

A former chief executive of the Countess of Chester hospital said she faced “great resistance” over her preparations to admit its mistakes in its handling of concerns about baby deaths and the role of Lucy Letby.

Susan Gilby, who led The Countess of Chester Hospital Foundation Trust from September 2018 until December 2022, gave evidence on Monday to the public inquiry into the events there following Letby’s conviction in 2023.

Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies, and attempting to murder seven more, in 2015 and 2016 while working at the hospital. 

Dr Gilby’s oral evidence is the last to be heard by the inquiry before closing submissions next month. Lady Justice Thirlwall is expected to deliver her report in the autumn.

The CoCH chief executive told the inquiry she had commissioned a report into how the trust had responded to paediatricians’ initial concerns about neonatal deaths, ahead of Letby’s trial.

She said she planned to draw on it when verdicts were reached: “I personally would have stood there and said: ‘We made mistakes, there is learning, we are accountable for this, and we want to be held to account for how we implement that learning.

“But unfortunately, that is not how the NHS operates. There was a great deal of resistance to my intention to openly say that after the verdict. That was my intention, and that was known to be my intention, and it was made clear to me, ’that was not how we dealt with things’.”

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Source: HSJ, 24 February 2025

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CEO expresses ‘extreme concern’ about trust performance

An acute trust chief executive has warned that his organisation will struggle to “provide high-quality, timely, and financially affordable care” over the winter.

The alert was contained in a message from University Hospitals of Leicester Trust CEO Richard Mitchell to the trust’s system partners.

The large trust is among the worst performers against the four-hour accident and emergency target in England, and its emergency care pathway costs are already driving a deterioration in its financial deficit before the winter period.

He wrote: “I am extremely concerned about our ability to provide high-quality, timely, and financially affordable care to patients this year.” Stressing the urgency of the issue, Mr Mitchell added: “There are 48 days until the start of the NHS winter (1 October) and 145 days until Monday 6 January 2025, which is likely to be the most difficult day of the period.”

Speaking to HSJ, the UHL CEO said: “The UEC pathway is our greatest financial risk at UHL and any growth in demand has a negative impact on our financial position. Providing safe and effective patient care is our priority, and we were stretched to the limit in delivering that last winter. While the industrial action context has changed, and we have plans in place to improve flow and capacity, the overall picture is not different enough to alter our assessment that this year will be incredibly tough again. We need to be honest with our stakeholders and communities about that challenge.”

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Source: HSJ, 22 August 2024

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CEO describes anger at ‘disrespectful’ staff

The chief executive of a mental health trust grappling with care quality failures has described his anger at ‘disrespectful’ staff who have ‘now had to leave the organisation’.

In a message to staff, seen by HSJ, Brent Kilmurray, chief executive of Tees Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust, said a number of staff had “stepped away from our values”.

HSJ has heard reports of 12 staff members within the trust’s forensic secure inpatient services being suspended in recent weeks, and some dismissed, after being caught sleeping on shifts and using electronic devices while meant to be observing patients.

The reports are unconfirmed, but appear to be referenced in a message sent by Brent Kilmurray on 14 March, which said: “I’m sorry to say, there’s been a handful of people who have stepped away from our values and in doing so have now had to leave the organisation."

Mr Kilmurray said the staff were in a “minority” and that when the trust investigated these matters “we have found far more excellent caring practice”. He added the trust is working with service leaders “to ensure that they understand their accountabilities for ensuring that services are safe”.

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Source: HSJ, 14 April 2022

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CEO blames IT system for diagnostics slump

A chief executive has blamed his trust’s electronic patient record for the collapse of its diagnostic performance.

Professor Clive Kay told his board at King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust that the implementation of Epic in October 2023 had contributed to the organisation dropping to the bottom tenth of national rankings for diagnostic waiting times.

At last week’s public meeting, Professor Kay said the trust had fallen from being ranked 11th-best nationally for diagnostic waits to 11th from the bottom.

“As good as Epic is, the radiology elements of Epic were really very challenging for colleagues,” he told his board.

Electronic patient record systems from USA-based Epic have a reputation for having a lot of functionality, but being particularly expensive.    

While the rollout did not affect the range of diagnostic tests the trust was able to carry out, it caused significant disruption, including data migration discrepancies that affected the accuracy and availability of migrated records, as well as a number of manual workarounds required.

While no patient harm has been identified, a review is underway which includes a structured harm assessment.

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Source: HSJ, 19 September 2025

Related reading on the hub:

Electronic patient record systems: Putting patient safety at the heart of implementation

 

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CEO blames group model for trusts’ collapse

Bringing two trusts together in a group led to problems with governance, accountability and the visibility of leaders, the organisations’ interim chief executive has admitted.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust, which work together as the Humber Health Partnership, have been placed in the highest tier of national intervention due to concerns over leadership, performance and patient safety.

The two trusts formed a group in 2023 but subsequently lost their chief executive and chair after their relationship broke down.

In a report for the meeting, Lyn Simpson, who was brought in as interim chief last year, said the group model’s aim was “the right one”.

But she added: “From its inception, the group operating model evolved in practice closer to a de-facto merger than a traditional NHS group arrangement, without the accompanying clarity, simplification or maturity of governance typically required to make such models effective.

“While the original intent of the group model was to enable shared solutions, the operating model was not always systematically refined as pressures increased. Over time this has contributed to increased organisational complexity, diluted lines of accountability and reduced visible senior leadership capacity at site level.”

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Source: HSJ, 10 March 2026

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CEO admits ‘risk aversion’ clogging up hospitals

Medics and managers must overcome a system-wide “aversion” to risk after their integrated care system was identified as a national outlier for low numbers of patients discharged home, according to the ICS’s chief executive.

Kate Shields, CEO of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICS, has highlighted a discrepancy between the ICS and the rest of England, with a lower proportion of patients discharged with no new social care requirements, or discharged directly to their own home, with only intermediate additional care (known as ”pathways” 0 and 1 in national discharge guidance). 

Problems with delayed patient discharges – known as “no criteria to reside” patients – are a major contributor to overcrowding and long waits in the emergency department at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, as well as severe delays for ambulances to handover patients.

Discharge on pathways 2 and 3 – to a care home or intermediate care bed, with substantial additional care requirements – typically take a lot longer, and require more resources. 

Ms Shields’ comments come 18 months after an external report warned of an “over-reliance on bedded care” in Cornwall.

Speaking at a meeting of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board last month, Ms Shields said the health economy needed to “look at how we get people out of hospital faster”.

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Source: HSJ, 4 March 2024

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CEO ‘exodus’ threatens NHS, ministers told

The NHS could face an “exodus” of chief executives within the next two years due to a retirement bulge and intense operational pressure, government pay advisers have warned.

The senior salaries review body’s latest report, published last night, said senior NHS leaders’ turnover was high, emphasising that one-third of executive directors had been appointed within the past 20 months (as of August last year).

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Source: HSJ, 30 July 2024

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Centre has ‘lost the narrative’ over NHSE merger

The NHS should reduce the number of different electronic patient records (EPRs) used by trusts and instead rely on a smaller set of suppliers with nationally agreed prices, according to the CEO of NHS Digital.

Simon Bolton, who is also NHS England’s interim chief information officer, also said NHSD and NHSE had “lost the narrative a little bit” over their forthcoming merger, due to a “fixation” with reducing NHSE staff numbers by a third; and that the centre of the NHS remained too “autocratic and authoritarian”.

Mr Bolton said there were “too many” different EPRs used in the health service and said no private sector organisation would allow such variability for so long.

His comments come amid a national drive to improve the uptake and quality of EPRs across NHS providers, following new technology targets set by the government earlier this year.

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Source: HSJ, 28 September 2022

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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services considers dropping some quality measures

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to modify several hospital quality measures and remove four others, including those focused on health equity and social drivers of health.

The agency outlined the changes on 11 April as part of its 2026 proposed rule for the Medicare payment systems that cover inpatient and long-term care hospitals. 

The agency has proposed modifying these current quality measures:

  • Total hip arthroplasty/Total knee arthroplasty complication rate and 30-day stroke mortality rate.
  • Hybrid, hospital-wide readmission and mortality measures.

CMS is also proposing to remove four measures from the IQR programme:

  • Hospital commitment to health equity 
  • COVID-19 vaccination coverage among healthcare personnel
  • Screening for social drivers of health
  • Screen positive rate for social drivers of health

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Source: Becker's Clinical Leadership, 14 April 2025

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Celebs and lockdown heroes urge public to get cancer symptoms checked and attend routine appointments

Famous faces, including TV chefs Gordon Ramsay, Nadiya Hussein, and actress Emma Thompson are backing a major new campaign urging anyone concerned about cancer to get checked and to keep routine appointments, as new research found that even now, nearly half (48%) of the public would delay or not seek medical help at all.

A fifth (22%) would not want to be a burden on the health service while a similar number said that fear of getting coronavirus or passing it onto others was a major reason for not getting help.

More than four in ten people would leave it longer to get health advice than they normally would have before the coronavirus outbreak, however delaying can have serious consequences for some cancers.

NHS staff have pulled out all the stops to keep cancer services going throughout the pandemic, with almost one million people referred for checks or starting treatment since the virus took hold.

The NHS’s Help Us Help You access campaign will use TV adverts, billboards and social media to urge people to speak to their GP if they are worried about a symptom that could be cancer, and also remind pregnant women to attend check-ups and seek advice if they are worried about their baby.

People with mental health issues are also been encouraged to access NHS support.

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Source: NHS England, 9 October 2020

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Celebrity butt-lift injector who left women with sepsis exposed by BBC

A self-styled "beauty consultant", whose celebrity client list includes Katie Price, is offering potentially dangerous cosmetic procedures to clients and handing over medication illegally - a BBC investigation has discovered.

Ricky Sawyer specialises in liquid Brazilian butt-lifts (BBLs) - which involves injecting dermal filler into buttocks to lift them and make them look bigger.

BBC News has spoken to five of his clients who needed emergency hospital treatment after their procedures. We have also been shown the testimonies of more than 30 women who say they have been left with serious complications such as sepsis and necrosis (tissue death).

Several local authorities have banned Mr Sawyer from practising in their areas.

Uundercover filming captured Mr Sawyer handing out antibiotics without a valid prescription - a criminal offence. He is not qualified to prescribe and the pills were not labelled for a specific patient.

He also offered to inject increasing doses of local anaesthetic without a prescriber present - again illegal - and did not ask for our reporter's weight, thus putting her at risk of an overdose.

Reviewing the footage, plastic surgeon Dalvi Humzah, who sits on the Joint Committee of Cosmetic Practitioners, said Mr Sawyer's actions were "shocking", "very dangerous", and putting patients at a huge risk of infection and potentially fatal complications.

"Putting that volume in, in one sitting, is really dangerous," said Mr Humzah. "The buttocks are such a large area that if they become infected it can overwhelm the body and could end in sepsis - or even death."

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Source: BBC News, 4 February 2025

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CDC: One-third of COVID-19 patients who aren't hospitalized have long-term illness

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged last week that a significant number of COVID-19 patients do not recover quickly, and instead experience ongoing symptoms, such as fatigue and cough.

As many as a third of patients who were never sick enough to be hospitalized are not back to their usual health up to three weeks after their diagnosis, the report found.

Read the full article here

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CDC: More people dying from antibiotic resistance than previously believed

More than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. every year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result of those infections, according to a newly released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report.

The updated Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States (AR Threats Report) also estimates when antibiotic-resistant bacterium Clostridium difficile (or C. diff) is included, that number exceeds 3 million infections and 48,000 deaths. The report, which used data sources such as electronic health records not previously available, shows that there were nearly twice as many annual deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections as the CDC originally reported in 2013.

CDC officials called the numbers in this report "more precise, though still conservative, estimates of the human costs of antibiotic resistance.

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Source: FierceHealthcare, 13 November 2019

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CDC scientific report resumes publication after unprecedented pause

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) resumed publishing its weekly scientific report Thursday after an unprecedented pause, but information about the bird flu virus that was supposed to appear remained on hold even as the outbreak spreads.

Three studies about the H5N1 bird flu virus were scheduled to be released in the weekly Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on 23 January according to multiple CDC officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. But release of the results was abruptly halted when the Trump administration instructed federal health agencies to pause all external communications on 21 January.

The weekly document is the agency’s primary vehicle for disseminating public health information and recommendations. Health officials, clinicians and researchers are among those who rely on the studies for vital guidance. Until last month, the MMWR has been published without interruption since 1952, even during government shutdowns.

“Although I’m encouraged that the MMWR is being published again, I’m surprised and concerned that it doesn’t contain any reports on bird flu spreading in animals and people, the new strain of mpox spreading or other emerging health threats,” said Tom Frieden, a former CDC director for the Obama administration.

“If political decisions determine which health threats to highlight, we’ll all be less safe,” Frieden said. “I hope the new Administration will see the value in CDC publishing information on health threats every week, without political interference.”

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Source: Washington Post, 6 February 2025

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CDC says measles cases are most likely underreported as outbreak swells in Texas

Measles cases are most likely being underreported in the United States as public health officials scramble to find resources to address a ballooning outbreak in the Southwest, according to a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far this year, 747 cases have been recorded in the United States, according to NBC News’ tally. Two unvaccinated children in Texas and an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico have died. The adult tested positive for measles, but the official cause of death is still under investigation. 

Dr. David Sugerman, a senior scientist leading the CDC’s measles response, said Tuesday at a meeting of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee that more than 90% of the cases are “related to the Southwest outbreak, driven by transmission in close-knit, undervaccinated communities.” The other cases have largely been imported from other countries, he said.

“We do believe that there’s quite a large amount of cases that are not reported and underreported,” Sugerman said Tuesday as he updated the committee on measles. “In working very closely with our colleagues in Texas; in talking with families, they may mention prior cases that have recovered and never received testing, other families that may have cases and never sought treatment.”

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Source: NBC News, 16 April 2025

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CDC releases new, more flexible guidelines for prescribing opioids

Responding to a backlash from pain patients in the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released updated guidelines that offer clinicians more flexibility in the way they prescribe opioids for short- and long-term pain.

The new recommendations eliminate numerical dose limits and caps on length of treatment for chronic pain patients that had been suggested in the landmark 2016 version of the agency’s advice, which was aimed at curbing the liberal use of the medication and controlling a rampaging opioid epidemic. Those guidelines cautioned doctors that commencing opioid therapy was a momentous decision for patients.

Parts of that nonbinding document were widely misinterpreted, resulting in unintended harm to patients who were benefiting from use of opioids without much risk of addiction. Patients reported they were rapidly tapered off medication by doctors or saw their medication abruptly discontinued, the CDC acknowledged in the new document. 

The new 100 pages of guidance — which remain only recommendations for doctors, nurse practitioners and others authorised to prescribe opioids — emphasize returning the focus to the caregiver and patient deciding on the best course of treatment.

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Source: The Washington Post, 3 November 2022

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CDC publishes rates of COVID-19 cases, deaths by vaccine brand

The agency is now showing disease incidence among unvaccinated people, as well as those who received Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna vaccines.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published information on its COVID Data Tracker about rates of cases and deaths among fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people.  In August, according to the data, unvaccinated people had a 6.1 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19, and an 11.3 times greater risk of dying from the disease.  

Interestingly, the agency also breaks out case and death rates by vaccine product. In mid-August, at the peak of the latest wave, unvaccinated people made up the greatest percentage of COVID-19 cases, at an incident rate of 736.72 cases per 100,000 people.  Johnson & Johnson had the second-highest incidence rate, at 171.92 cases per 100,000.  Pfizer had the third-highest, at 135.64.  And Moderna had the lowest rate, at 86.28 cases per 100,000 people.  

The death rate mirrored the breakdown in terms of vaccine product and frequency, although the numbers were far lower across the board.  Again, at the peak in mid-August, the death rate among unvaccinated people was 13.23 in 100,000 people.   Rates for vaccinated people were dramatically reduced, at 3.14, 1.43 and 0.73 for Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna, respectively.  

When it came to age groups, peak case rates were highest among unvaccinated 12-17 year olds, followed by unvaccinated 30- to 49-year-olds. And 30- to 49-year-olds also had the highest case incidence among vaccinated people when broken down by age group, followed by fully vaccinated 18- to 29-year-olds.   Those older than 80 had the highest death rates among both unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals.  

The COVID Data Tracker site also includes integrated county views, forecasting and hospitalizations by vaccination status.  

Read the full article here
Original source: Healthcare IT News

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CDC proposes new guidelines in the US for treating pain, including opioid use

The federal government on Thursday proposed new guidelines for prescribing opioid painkillers that remove its previous recommended ceilings on doses for chronic pain patients and instead encourage doctors to use their best judgment.

But the overall thrust of the recommendations was that doctors should first turn to “nonopioid therapies” for both chronic and acute pain, including prescription medications like gabapentin and over-the-counter ones like ibuprofen, as well as physical therapy, massage and acupuncture.

Though still in draft form, the 12 recommendations, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are the first comprehensive revisions of the agency’s opioid prescribing guidelines since 2016. They walk a fine line between embracing the need for doctors to prescribe opioids to alleviate some cases of severe pain while guarding against exposing patients to the well-documented perils of opioids.

“We are welcoming comments from patients who are living with pain every day and from their caregivers and providers,” said Christopher Jones, a co-author of the draft and acting director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the arm of the CDC that released the new guidelines.

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Source: The New York Times, 10 February 2022

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CDC is asked to release race and gender data on Long Covid

Lawmakers say minorities may disproportionately suffer from long-term symptoms of coronavirus infection.

A pair of Democratic House members asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a letter Tuesday to release data on the number of Americans who suffer lingering symptoms of coronavirus infection, including breakdowns along race, gender and age.

The National Institutes of Health and the CDC have launched detailed studies of Long Covid, but those examinations are expected to take years. In the meantime, policymakers lack good information about how many people in the United States and worldwide suffer from long-term, debilitating effects of the disease.

“People suffering from Long Covid have been ignored and overlooked for far too long. Collecting and publishing robust, disaggregated demographic data will help us better understand this illness and ensure that we are targeting lifesaving resources to those who need them most,” said Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who co-signed the letter Tuesday to the CDC.“We’re calling on the CDC to publicly report this data because that which gets measured gets done — and we can’t have an equitable recovery from this pandemic without it.”

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Source: The Washington Post, 25 January 2022

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CDC erupts in chaos after ousted chief Susan Monarez refuses to resign

The US’s top public health agency was plunged into chaos on Wednesday after the Trump administration moved to oust its leader Susan Monarez, sworn in less than a month ago, as her lawyers said she would not resign and that she was being “targeted” for her pro-science stance.

Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was ousted on Wednesday evening, according to a statement from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that offered no explanation its decision.

“Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people,” HHS said in an unsigned statement posted to social media. Her lawyers pushed back in a statement, saying she had “neither resigned nor received notification” from the White House of her termination.

Monarez, who was confirmed by the Senate just last month, appeared to have run afoul of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, after she declined to support sweeping changes to US vaccine policies, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.

“First it was independent advisory committees and career experts. Then it was the dismissal of seasoned scientists. Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk,” her lawyers, Mark Zaid and Abbe David Lowell, said in a statement. “When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted.”

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Source: The Guardian, 28 August 2025

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CCTV uncovers alleged child abuse at NHS funded private mental health hospital in Coventry

Children at an NHS funded private hospital allegedly suffered physical abuse at the hands of staff who were found on CCTV dragging patients around corridors, The Independent can reveal.

Joyce Parker Hospital in Coventry, run by Cygnet Health Care, has been sent an official warning by the Care Quality Commission after inspectors found CCTV evidence young patients had suffered physical abuse by staff.

The hospital, which has 22 mental health beds, has been told it failed to protect patients from “abuse and improper treatment”, in an official warning this month. Nine NHS patients are left in the unit although it is not clear how many the provider had at the time.

The West Midlands Police is currently investigating a number of allegations made about the hosptial, officials confirmed.

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Source: The Independent, 29 August 2024

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