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Time for change: The College of Medicine launches its Beyond Pills campaign

On Thursday 16 June, The College of Medicine launched its Beyond Pills campaign – calling for Government intervention on over-prescribing – at the Integrated and Personalised Medicine Congress 2022.

Around 1.1 billion medicines are currently prescribed unnecessarily. Supported by eminent voices in both the Government and our healthcare system, the Beyond Pills campaign calls for the Government to immediately address the nation’s unsustainable prescription service through re-prescribing and social prescribing.

Speaking at the Integrative and Personalised Medicine Congress 2022, The College of Medicine Chair Dr Michael Dixon said: “Medicine, as we know it, is no longer affordable or sustainable. Nor is it able to curb the increase in obesity, mental health problems and most long-term diseases.

“A new medical mindset is needed, which goes to the heart of true health care. The advantages and possibilities of social prescription are limitless.

“An adjustment to the system now will provide a long-term, sustainable solution for the NHS to meet the ever-increasing demand for funding and healthcare professionals.”

The Campaign was established in the wake of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s National Overprescribing Review published in September 2021.

The Beyond Pills Campaign aims to reduce drug prescription, expand the number of social prescribing link workers, save crucial funds, and provide support to individuals and local communities hampered by health inequalities. To achieve these goals, it has today launched a campaign that includes six specific actions that need to be taken:

  • Improving medical and healthcare training. Social prescribing and a psychosocial approach to treatment needs to be embedded throughout the curriculum
  • Addressing financial incentives within the NHS. Financial incentives in the system should centre around community health. For those patients already on a cocktail of pills, medication reviews and appropriate deprescribing need to be emphasised
  • Increasing the number of social prescribing link workers. Primary Care
  • Networks need to employ more link workers to enable access to social prescribing for everyone who could benefit
  • Increasing support for the voluntary sector. Government departments need to fund and support voluntary initiatives that encourage healthy communities
  • Empowering individuals and communities. Informing individuals about social prescribing and collaborating with volunteers involved in social prescription and local health creation and showcasing benefits
  • Further systematic research. Mobilising the research community to develop a fully-fledged programme review into topics including the therapeutic efficacy of social prescribing

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Source: College of Medicine, 16 June 2022

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TikTok video of IUD removal at home prompts warning from health authorities

A TikTok user who went viral with a video of herself removing her implanted birth control device has prompted calls among sexual health experts for better monitoring of social media platforms.

In a video which has gained over 178,000 likes, TikTok user Mikkie Gallagher is filmed performing a ‘DIY IUD removal’ wearing medical gloves, writing on top of the post: “A lot easier than I thought TBH,” and “Catch of the day: Mirena IUD, 2 inches”.

An intrauterine device (IUD) is inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy and sometimes assist in relieving period pain. They usually need to be taken out every five to 10 years depending on the type. Women can choose when to have them removed.

Family Planning Victoria CEO, Claire Vissenga, said she found it very concerning that “DIY could pass as healthcare or professional assistance”.

“... it’s just a ridiculous thing to do. Removing an IUD potentially does physical damage, and could complicate contraception,” says Vissenga

Family Planning medical director, Kathleen McNamee, said 80% of DIY IUD removals failed, leading to GP or emergency visits.

“If the person dislodges the IUD in a failed attempt, it could no longer be effective as a contraceptive method and result in an unwanted pregnancy,” she said.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 September 2021

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TikTok trends: Don't rub castor oil into your eyes - no matter what influencers say, doctors warn

Videos circulating on the social media platform claim that castor oil can help to treat dryness, floaters, cataracts, poor vision and even glaucoma.

Doctors have issued a warning not to use castor oil as a way to treat vision problems following claims on TikTok.

Castor oil is a type of vegetable oil traditionally used to treat a range of issues like skin infections. It is even a common ingredient in some over-the-counter eye drops. But dozens of TikTok videos have gone one step further, claiming that by rubbing the oil over eyelids, eyelashes and under the eye, it helps to treat dryness, floaters, cataracts, poor vision and even glaucoma. One woman said that after two weeks of use, she doesn't need to wear reading glasses as often, while another said it prevented an eye infection from progressing.

Now, doctors in the US have said the oil is "not going to seep in and dissolve or fix anything". They warned that some unsterilised bottles on shop shelves may even cause irritation or infection if put directly into the eye. "Castor oil is not a cure-all. If you have concerns about your eyes, you need to see an optician," Dr Ashley Brissette, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. She said they cannot make recommendations as studies that look at the effects of eye drops which contain castor oil on dry eyes and blepharitis are of low quality, involving small sample sizes and no control groups.

Dr Vicki Chan, a practising optician in Los Angeles added that castor oil has no effect on conditions that affect the inside of the eyeball. These include cataracts - an age-related condition that causes cloudy vision - floaters, and glaucoma, which occurs when fluid accumulates and damages the optic nerve. Dr Brissette added that ignoring early symptoms of glaucoma, or waiting to see it castor oil improves conditions such as cataract, can lead to permanent vision loss or complications with surgery. Instead, eating a healthy balanced diet; removing all make up before bed; wearing sunglasses outdoors and attending regular eye examinations are alternative ways to maintain eye health.

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Three-year-old child dies from cardiac arrest after its mother was kept on hold to NHS 111 for an hour

A three-year-old child died after its desperate mother spent more than an hour on hold to the NHS 111 helpline.

The ill child suffered a cardiac arrest at its home and died in hospital, according to details of critical incidents affecting children in London amid the coronavirus crisis. 

Another case saw a six-month-old die from sepsis and liver failure because the parents feared the child could catch Covid-19 in hospital, the Evening Standard reports. 

Doctors have raised concerns that parents are not seeking treatment for their children amid the outbreak.

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Source: 16 April 2020, Mail Online

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Three-year wait for Essex girl, 8, to have tooth removed

An eight-year-old girl waiting three years to have three teeth removed has been left in "agony".

Ella Mann, from Dovercourt in Essex, first went to the dentist with an issue with a baby tooth in December 2019.

She was given a temporary filling and told it needed to be removed but has still not had the NHS procedure.

The youngster has now been placed on an NHS waiting list for the tooth extraction.

Ella's dad Charlie Mann, 54, said his daughter was sometimes in "agony".

Healthwatch England last year warned of people struggling to get dental treatment as increasing practices closed to new patients.

A BBC investigation identified cases of people driving hundreds of miles in search of treatment and pulling out their own teeth without anaesthesia.

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Source: BBC News, 23 March 2023

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Three-quarters of children detained under mental health act are girls, new report warns

Nearly three-quarters of children detained under the mental health act are girls, a new report has found, amid warnings youngsters face a “postcode lottery” in their wait for treatment.

Average waiting times between children being referred to mental health services and starting treatment have increased for the first time since 2017 with the children’s commissioner describing support across the country as “patchy”.

In the annual report on children’s mental health services, the watchdog warned that, although the average wait is 40 days, some children are waiting as long as 80 days for treatment after being referred in 2021-22.

The analysis, published on International Women’s day, also says young girls represented the highest proportion of children detained under the mental health act last year, highlighting “stark and worrying” gender inequalities.

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Source: The Independent, 7 March 2023

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Three-month ‘urgent’ cancer waits top 10,000 for the first time

More than 10,000 people are waiting three months or longer following an urgent referral for suspected cancer, internal NHS data seen by HSJ reveals.

Patients with suspected cancer are not supposed to wait more than two months from a referral. However, information shared with HSJ shows that of the 313,000 people on the national cancer waiting list, just over 10,000 had waited 104 days or more.

Information about three-month cancer waits is not made public on a regular basis. NHS England publishes data for the total backlog of patients waiting over 62 days, but does not make public the regional or trust-level results, or reveal how many patients are waiting three months or more.

One senior figure in cancer policy told HSJ the backlog position was “awful” and “a reflection of a worsening trajectory overwhelming diagnostic capacity in particular”. Breast, skin and lower gastro-intestinal cancers saw the biggest increases in long waiters.

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Source: HSJ, 5 July 2022

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Three-day strike by doctors in England expected to have ‘enormous impact’

Almost all routine NHS care in England will be disrupted for three days this week when junior doctors strike in their latest attempt to force ministers to increase their pay.

Prof Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, said the stoppage would have an enormous impact and lead to huge numbers of patients missing out on planned care.

Many thousands of junior doctors are due to stage a 72-hour walkout starting at 7am on Wednesday and continuing until 7am on Saturday.

“The NHS has been preparing extensively for this next set of strikes,” said Powis. “But we know that – with the sheer number of appointments that need to be rescheduled – it will have an enormous impact on routine care for patients and on the waiting list, as procedures can take time to rearrange with multiple teams involved.”

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Source: The Guardian, 13 June 2023

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Three years of breathing polluted air increases risk of lung cancer

Just three years of breathing polluted air can increase a person’s risk of lung cancer, a study has found.

Scientists have found, for the first time, the mechanism that proves air pollution causes lung cancer to develop.

Research funded by Cancer Research UK and conducted by the Francis Crick Institute showed that small pieces of carbon particulates, known as PM2.5, enter deep into the lungs and lead to tumour development. A key gene, known as EGFR, mutates and then the presence of the air pollution exacerbates the growth and expansion of these mutated cells, the study found.

The scientists are hopeful that by shedding light on how lung cancer develops they can help to prevent it. Prof Charles Swanton, the chief clinician for Cancer Research UK and lead investigator on the study, said a statin-like drug to protect against lung cancer and ensure the inflammation that can lead to the disease is kept under control could be developed in as little as 10 years.

Prof Swanton said: “Our study has fundamentally changed how we view lung cancer in people who have never smoked."

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Source: The Telegraph, 5 April 2023

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Three trusts whose struggling maternity departments were supported and supposedly improved by a national safety programme have since fallen back into the scheme

A freedom of information request by HSJ has for the first time revealed a complete list of participants in NHS England’s maternity safety support programme, with 28 trusts involved since its inception in 2018.

London North West University Healthcare Trust, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust, and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust all entered the scheme at the start, due to pre-existing quality and safety concerns. The trusts were all subsequently removed, having been deemed to have made improvements, but have since been placed back in it following inspections by the Care Quality Commission (see table below).

HSJ asked the trusts to explain why they had re-entered the scheme, and why it had failed to deliver sustainable improvements the first time, but they declined to comment.

NHSE said in a statement: “Trusts are placed on the maternity safety support programme according to complex criteria, including local insight and external performance measures, including CQC ratings. “Following the success of the programme since its creation in 2018, its criteria was widened to strengthen its role in proactively improving safety and enabling earlier intervention where there are concerns — this has allowed support to be offered to more trusts than in previous years.” However, it would not provide further details on the new entry criteria.

Three further trusts — Barts Health, North Devon Healthcare, and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn — have previously exited the programme and not so far re-entered. Trusts such as Shrewsbury and Telford and East Kent — which have been at the centre of major maternity scandals — have been on the improvement scheme for all four years.

Peter Walsh, chief executive of the patient safety charity Action against Medical Accidents, said: “The number of NHS maternity services being found to be needing improvement is worrying. We welcome the fact that NHS England is devoting resources to support trusts to improve their maternity services, but there should be much more transparency about this.

“The criteria for needing this support should be published, and indeed should have been subject to consultation.”

Helen Hughes, chief executive of patient safety charity Patient Safety Learning, said there should be transparency about resource allocation and the criteria used to make decisions, adding: “It doesn’t appear that this information is easily accessible and in the public domain and rather begs the question, why not?” 

NHSE said trusts receiving support from the programme detail this in their board papers, although HSJ found this is not always the case. It added trusts are made aware of the rationale for inclusion on an individual basis.

NHSE and the Department of Health and Social Care last year described the maternity safety support programme as the “highest level of maternity-specific response”. They have said the programme “involves senior clinical leaders providing hands on support to provider trusts, through visits, mentoring, and leadership development”.

Full article here (paywalled)

Original source: Health Service Journal

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Three quarters of NHS computers still running Windows 7 less than six months before support cut-off

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) indicates that more than a million machines are still on the decade-old operating system with less than six months until Microsoft ceases support for Windows 7.

In answer to a written parliamentary question from shadow Cabinet Office Minister Jo Platt, former Department of Health and Social Care Minister Jackie Doyle-Price said that the NHS operates about 1.37 million PCs. As of the end of last month, some 1.05 million of these, equating to 76% of the overall total, still run on Windows 7, she added.

Platt – whose parliamentary question recently revealed that there are still 2,300 computers across the NHS running Windows XP, for which support ended five years ago – claimed that the widespread use of Windows 7 is “deeply concerning”. She added: “The WannaCry cyberattack two years ago starkly proved the dangers of operating outdated software. Unless the government swiftly acts and learns from their past mistakes, they are risking a repeat of WannaCry. Protecting public data and computer systems should be a highest priority of government...".

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Source: Public Technology.net, 30 July 2019

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Three quarters of GPs report rising patient abuse, MDO warns

Three in four GPs have reported facing increasing patient abuse last year, according to a major survey by a medical defence organisation.

The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) surveyed almost 2,000 members across the UK, including 668 GPs, about their experiences last year compared with 2020.

It revealed that 76% of GPs reported an increase in verbal abuse from patients towards them and their practice staff. Half of these (38%) said this had ‘significantly increased’ and the other half that it had ‘somewhat increased’ throughout 2021.

Female GPs were more likely to face verbal abuse or aggression than their male counterparts, with 81% reporting an increase in this compared with 72% of their male colleagues.

The survey found that this has led to a ‘huge increase in work-related stress’, MDDUS said.

Among GPs who experienced verbal abuse or aggression in the workplace, 83% said they felt ‘more stressed’ than they did in 2020.

MDDUS chief executive Chris Kenny said: ‘The pandemic has stretched our healthcare professionals to the limit. For those at the very frontline, it is clear now that the levels of stress have reached an almost unsustainable point.

‘GPs urgently need recognition, reassurance and realism to support them so they can reset their relationship with patients.’

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Source: Pulse, 22 April 2022

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Three patients died after radiology failings at teaching hospital

Radiology failings at a teaching hospital led to eight patients coming to severe harm, with three dying, a hospital trust has admitted. 

A report into issues at St George’s University Hospitals Foundation Trust identified multiple problems, including staff missing cancers, improperly reported results and diagnoses being sent to unmonitored inboxes.

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Source: HSJ, 11 November 2019

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Three patients died after doctor failed to ensure bowel test follow-up treatment

Three patients have died after being given a bowel test by a doctor who failed to ensure treatment needed was carried out, a health board has said.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) said three more patients suffered harm.

The six patients were identified in a clinical review the health board carried out of 2,700 people the consultant carried out a colonoscopy on between 2020 and 2022.

The consultant, who has not been named, was suspended in November 2022 and has since left the health board.

NHSGGC deputy medical director Professor Colin McKay said: “We would like to offer our sincere apologies to patients who were not followed up appropriately and our condolences to the families of those patients who have died."

“Our investigations found that the doctor did not consistently follow up the results of investigations that had been completed or requested and therefore missed the opportunity for patients to be treated, including a number of patients who went on to develop malignancy."

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Source: The Independent, 11 October 2023

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Three patients died after ambulance transfer delays from private hospital

Three patients died after delayed transfers from a private hospital within a nine-month period, coroner’s findings reveal.

Three prevention of future deaths reports reviewed by HSJ raised concerns about the deaths of patients whose transfer from Spire’s Norwich facility to the NHS hospital in the same city was delayed.

The sites, which are one mile apart, are run by £1bn-turnover private company Spire Healthcare and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Foundation Trust respectively.

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Source: HSJ, 15 November 2023

Prevention of Future Deaths reports:

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Three NHS patients ‘mutilated’ by surgeon in a single week prompts shake-up at NHS trust

An RAF veteran has been left with life-changing injuries after being “mutilated” by an NHS surgeon during what should have been a routine procedure.

Paul Tooth, 64, has been permanently left with tubes going in and out of his body which he needs to continually recycle bile produced by his liver.

The previously fit and active father-of-two has lost five stone in weight and can barely leave his house after the surgery last year.

It was supposed to be a routine gall bladder removal, but the surgeon inexplicably took out Paul’s bile duct and hepatic duct, which link the liver to the intestines, as well as damaging the liver itself, making a repair impossible.

Although he has won his legal battle against the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust, Paul believes what happened to him raises bigger safety questions for the trust after he learned he was one of three patients harmed by the same surgeon just days apart.

The alarm was first raised by Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge where the three patients were transferred for specialist care after their initial operations.

The Norfolk and Norwich trust has now admitted liability for the errors and standard of care Paul received.

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Source: The Independent, 25 April 2021

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Three million callers fail to get through to GP every month, government research reveals

One in 10 people attempting to contact their GP practice do not manage to get in contact, while a further 6% are only told to try again another day, according to new official survey findings commissioned by the government.

The Office for National Statistics has been quietly carrying out the new regular GP access survey since the spring after ministers said they wanted to monitor the impact of their primary care recovery plan.

After a sign of slight improvement in the summer, the latest survey results – for October – show no significant change since May.

It also found, as did previous rounds, that of those who had tried to contact a GP practice in the past month, 10 per cent said they could not do so (see chart below, ‘Contact with GP practice’). Of those who did make contact, a further 6 per cent reported they were told to try again another day (see chart below, ‘Next step after contact’).

The government and NHS England have made it a high priority in recovery plans that patients should no longer be asked to call back another day to book an appointment and should know “on the day” how their request will be managed, which may mean being advised to use a different service.  

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Source: HSJ, 9 November 2023

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Three investigations launched into trust beset by bullying and safety scandals

Three “major” reviews are being launched into a struggling teaching trust in response to growing concerns over bullying and poor workplace culture.

Birmingham and Solihull integrated care board has begun a series of investigations into University Hospitals Birmingham, whose chief executive announced he was standing down last month.

The first review will get under way immediately and will focus on specific allegations made recently on BBC Newsnight. These include patient safety concerns, the “bullying” of clinicians and the issues raised by a review of 12 patient deaths undertaken by former consultant Dr Manos Nikolousis in 2017.

It will be led by an “experienced senior independent clinician” from outside the local health system who is expected to report by the end of January. 

The second and third investigations will review the trust’s leadership and broader cultural issues respectively. The probes will be carried out with UHB and NHS England. Both are expected to report in the first half of 2023. 

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Source: HSJ, 9 December 2022

 

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Three infants died in the US after being fed infected breast milk

Five-day-old Abel Cepeda died in Geisinger Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit in the US. Cepeda’s parents didn’t know it at the time, but their son was the eighth baby since the summer to get sick after exposure to the same bacteria in Geisinger Medical Center’s NICU. Two had died by the time Cepeda’s mother was admitted on 18 September, according to the family’s lawsuit. Geisinger staff have admitted noticing “unusual” illness weeks before the hospital went public with its problem.

On Friday, Geisinger announced that its own equipment contaminated the donor breast milk that exposed premature infants to a bacteria called pseudomonas. The medical center in Danville, Pa., says it changed its equipment on 30 September, switching to single-use materials — the same day Cepeda died while his parents remained in the dark about the ongoing bacteria problem, the family’s lawsuit alleges.

Matt Casey, a Philadelphia-based lawyer representing Cepeda’s parents, says findings that Geisinger’s breast milk measurement materials led to the infections have reinforced his belief that Geisinger — which runs sites around Pennsylvania — was negligent both in cleaning its equipment and in taking steps to save lives once red flags surfaced.

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Source: The Washington Post, 9 November 2019

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Three in four patients not seen within new target time

Data revealed for the first time shows nearly three-quarters of adult patients needing community mental health care are waiting more than four weeks for treatment to start, which is the timeframe that NHS England wants to introduce as a national standard.

Figures shared with HSJ also show two-thirds of children needing community care are waiting more than four weeks from referral to treatment.

In 2021, NHS England proposed a series of new waiting time standards in mental health, including a four-week standard for non-urgent community care.

A lack of new funding, as well as data recording problems, mean the new standards have not so far been introduced, and no timeline set for implementation.

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Source: HSJ, 14 March 2023

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Three in four NHS staff are struggling with mental health, as NHSE forced to reverse axing of support

Three in four NHS staff have struggled with a mental health condition in the last year, according to a new poll.

A survey of workers carried out by NHS Charities Together over medics’ mental health comes as healthcare leaders were forced to reverse cuts to NHS Practitioner Health, a service for medics.

A backlash from NHS staff over the proposed cuts forced health secretary Victoria Atkins to intervene.

In the new poll of more than 1,000 NHS staff, 76% said they have experienced a health condition in the last year with 52% reporting anxiety, 51% reporting low mood, while 42% of respondents also said they’d experienced exhaustion.

Meanwhile, the most recent NHS data shows the most common reasons for staff sickness are anxiety, stress, depression or other psychiatric conditions, with more than 586,600 working days lost over this in November 2023.

NHS Practitioner Health began as a mental health service for GPs but has since expanded to other specialities following funding from NHS England. However, last week the provider announced this national funding was due to end, so its service would be reduced.

NHS England said the decision was so it could review the services available for all NHS staff. However, it was forced to u-turn on the decision and agreed to provide funding for an additional year.

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Source: The Independent, 17 April 2024

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Three in four GP partners fear for staff safety as practice workload floods back

Almost three quarters of GP partners are concerned about how to keep colleagues safe as numbers of patients attending practices return to pre-pandemic levels - with access to PPE a major worry, a GPonline poll has found.

Half of the 185 GP partners responding to the poll said that they were either 'very worried' or 'slightly worried' about the government's ability to supply the PPE that GPs and practice staff needed to keep them as safe as possible through the rest of the pandemic.

Only 9% said they were 'very confident' that the government would be able to supply adequate PPE, with a further 20% saying they were 'slightly confident'.

Some 73% of GP partners said that they were concerned about how to ensure the safety of practice staff as the number of patients attending the surgery begins to rise.

BMA GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said keeping staff safe was 'a challenge for everyone in the NHS'.

He told GPonline: 'Even months now into this crisis the government still hasn’t sorted out PPE in a way that means people have absolute confidence that they will have enough to meet their needs, and the growing needs of practices as they will need to be seeing more patients face-to-face for important procedures that can’t be done remotely.

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Source: GPonline, 8 June 2020

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Three in five Australian GPs say vaccine rollout changes among biggest Covid challenges

Almost three out of five GPs reported managing patient expectations about vaccinations to be one of the most challenging issues of the pandemic, with multiple changes to vaccine eligibility requirements leaving many people confused and overwhelmed, the president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Dr Karen Price, said.

In her foreword to the college’s Health of the Nation report, published on Thursday, Price said: “Unfortunately, some of these patients took their frustrations out on general practice staff”.

“Differing eligibility requirements across jurisdictions added to the strain.”

Schools should stay open as greatest risk of Covid transmission is in households, research finds

The report is published annually and provides an insight into the state of general practice in Australia. It includes the findings of a survey of 1,386 GPs between April and May, of which 70% were in major cities, 20% inner-regional, 8% outer‐regional, and 2% remote and very remote.

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Source: Guardian, 21 October 2021

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Three hundred babies lost to a fixation on natural births

When Debbie Greenaway was told by doctors that she should try to deliver her twin babies naturally, she was nervous. 

But the doctor was adamant, she recalls. “He said: ‘We’ve got the lowest caesarean rates in the country and we are proud of it and we plan to keep it that way'."

For Greenaway, labour was seemingly endless. She was given repeated doses of syntocinon, a drug used to bring on contractions. By the second day, the midwife was worried for one of the babies, whom the couple had named John. “She was getting really concerned that they couldn’t find John’s heartbeat.”

Her husband remembers “the midwife shaking her head”. “She said a number of times that we should be having a caesarean.”

By the time doctors finally decided to perform an emergency C-section, it was too late. Starved of oxygen, baby John had suffered a catastrophic brain injury. When he was delivered at 3am, he had no pulse. Efforts to resuscitate him failed.

Their son’s death was part of what is now recognised as the largest maternity scandal in NHS history. 

The five-year investigation will reveal that the experiences of 1,500 families at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust between 2000 and 2019 were examined. At least 12 mothers died while giving birth, and some families lost more than one child in separate incidents, the report is expected to show.

The expert midwife Donna Ockenden and a team of more than 90 midwives and doctors will deliver a damning verdict on the Shrewsbury trust, its culture and leadership — and failure to learn from mistakes or listen to families.

At its heart is how a toxic obsession with “normal birth” — fuelled by targets and pressure from the NHS to reduce caesarean rates — became so pervasive that life-or-death decisions on the maternity ward became dangerously distorted for nearly two decades.

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Source:  The Times, 26 March 2022

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Three hospitals placed in special measures following infection control concerns

Three private mental health hospitals have been placed in special measures after the Care Quality Commission found concerns over infection control.

John Munroe Hospital and Edith Shaw Hospital, both in Staffordshire and run by the John Munroe Group, were inspected after the CQC received several whistleblowing complaints over poor covid-19 infection control and covid deaths. 

A third hospital, Priory Hospital Arnold, based in Nottinghamshire, was criticised over hygiene and infection control failures after the regulator found dried blood, faeces, food and sputum on seclusion room walls.

In reports published this week, the CQC revealed it had placed all three hospitals in special measures and imposed urgent enforcement action against the providers. 

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Source: HSJ, 29 April 2021

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