Jump to content
  • articles
    9,839
  • comments
    83
  • views
    12,460,276

Contributors to this article

About this News

Articles in the news

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”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 14 April 2022

Read more

Provider investigating ‘racism and bullying’ complaints

A community services provider has launched an investigation into its staff culture, following concerns including racism and bullying.

Sirona Care and Health, a major provider of NHS and council-funded community services in the south west, told HSJ: ”Our staff have stepped forward to tell our leadership about unacceptable behaviours – both experienced within Sirona’s staffing body and towards our colleagues from patients/service users.

“It is incumbent on all of us, led by our board and senior leadership, to listen and take decisive action towards the culture we want to build.”

Sirona is the main provider of community health services in Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, and one of the largest healthcare social enterprises.

Speaking at a recent staff question and answer session, interim chief executive Julie Sharma said the former chief executive and chair stepped away from their duties in May “to allow the organisation to carry out an investigation into a whole host of things”.

She said it would cover allegations of racism and bullying in the organisation, but that these allegations “are not directly related” to the former chief CEO or chair.

During the question and answer session, Ms Sharma said the organisation was committed to sharing a “lessons learned” review with staff once the investigation had concluded.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 9 September 2024

Read more

HSE tenders for €50m national electronic prescription service to reduce medication errors

The Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) is set to spend up to €50m on a new national electronic prescription service as it seeks to modernise as part of Ireland’s “broader digital health transformation”.

It has gone out to tender for the provision of this technology which it said will be rolled out in both public and private settings across the country’s healthcare system.

“Ireland’s healthcare system currently lags behind other European countries in its adoption of digital technologies,” it said.

“Its prescribing and dispensing processes are fragmented, with either Healthmail (secure email) or paper-based prescriptions being used. Healthcare providers often lack timely access to a patient’s complete medication history, leading to errors, communication gaps, and inefficiencies. Patients also have limited access to their medication information.” 

The current “healthmail” system has several limitations, according to the HSE, such as community pharmacy staff needing to locate and open patient files on the dispensing system and then transcribing details from prescriptions when they’re dispensing it.

The HSE said the new prescription service will be secure, efficient and a fully integrated digital service to transmit and store electronic prescriptions and dispensations for patients.

It will also integrate with existing and future health platforms and allow prescribers to generate prescriptions for patients electronically.

“It will enable accurate, timely access to medication information, which will enhance clinical decision-making, reduce medication errors, streamline clinical workflows, empower patients and improve overall patient care,” it said.

Read full story

Source: Irish Examiner, 25 May 2025

Read more
 

Less than 1% of doctors feel NHS is well prepared for coronavirus, poll shows

A new poll has found only 8 out of the 1,618 respondents believed the health service was ready to deal with an outbreak when asked by The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), despite the prime minister’s insistence that the NHS will cope if it is hit by a surge in the number of people falling ill.

Common concerns included difficulties coping with increased demand, a shortage of beds and poor staffing levels, according to the group who led the poll. 

Some doctors asked said they were worried that there could be not enough laboratory space to do testing in the case of a pandemic. Others claimed that NHS 111 had been giving out “inappropriate advice” to go to A&E and GP practices, according to DAUK. 

“The NHS has already been brought to its knees and many frontline doctors fear that our health system simply will not cope in the event of a Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak,” Dr Rinesh Parmar, the DAUK chair, said. 

“Many hoped the threat of Covid-19 would prompt an honest conversation to address the issue of critical care capacity and our ability to look after our sickest patients. By simply saying ‘the NHS is well prepared to deal with coronovirus’ it seems that yet again doctors’ concerns have been brushed under the carpet.”

The findings come after the number of people infected with the coronavirus which rose to 39 in the UK on Monday. 

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 3 March 2020

Read more
 

‘Exceptionally urgent’ to secure kit used to treat critically ill covid patients

The availability of dialysis equipment used to treat more than a quarter of ventilated COVID-19 patients has reached “critical” levels, HSJ has learned.

Concerns are growing over an “exceptional shortage” of specialist dialysis machines used to treat intensive care patients with acute kidney failure.

Although hospitals are able to deploy alternative machines which are not typically used in intensive care, this is logistically challenging and can carry increased risks for patients.

Read full story

Source: HSJ, 22 April 2020

Read more
 

Talking Medicines raises £1.1m to scale up AI patient tracking

Talking Medicines, a social intelligence company for the pharmaceutical industry, has secured £1.1 million funding deal to scale up its AI-based platform for measuring patient sentiment.

Tern, an investment company specialising in the Internet of Things (“IoT”), is the lead investor in a syndicated funding round alongside The Scottish Investment Bank, Scottish Enterprise’s investment arm.

Led by CEO Jo Halliday alongside co-founders Dr Elizabeth Fairley and Dr Scott Crae, Talking Medicines will use the funds to support the launch and roll-out of a new AI data platform, which will translate what patients are saying into intelligence by providing a global patient confidence score by medicine. As part of these plans, the business intends to immediately recruit 9 new employees to the NLP data tech team.

Formed in 2013 to create new ways of capturing the voice of the patient, the Glasgow-based firm uses a combination of AI, machine learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tech tools to capture and analyse the conversations and behaviours of patients at home, with the aim of transforming big pharma’s understanding of patient sentiment. Through mapping the patient voice from social media and connected devices to regulated medicine information, it is able to build data points to determine trends and patterns of patient sentiment across medicines.

The round brings the total raised by the firm to £2.5m, including three previous seed funding rounds with previous investors including impact investor SIS Ventures and the Scottish Investment Bank. Talking Medicines CEO Halliday, said: “This investment will scale our team and the development of our AI, ML, NLP tech tools to translate what patients are saying into actionable pharma grade intelligence through our global patient confidence score by medicine.”

Read more
 

NHS launches 40 ‘long COVID’ clinics to tackle persistent symptoms

The NHS will launch a network of more than 40 ‘long COVID’ specialist clinics within weeks to help thousands of patients suffering debilitating effects of the virus months after being infected.

The clinics, due to start opening at the end of November, will bring together doctors, nurses, therapist and other NHS staff to physical and psychological assessments of those experiencing enduring symptoms.

NHS England has provided £10 million to fund the pioneering clinics, which will see patients who have been hospitalised, officially diagnosed after a test or reasonably believe they had COVID-19.

Ten sites have been earmarked for the Midlands, seven in the North East, six in the East of England, South West and South East respectively, five in London and three in the North West.

Patients will be able to access services through a GP referral or referral from other healthcare professional, allowing doctors an opportunity to rule out any other possible underlying causes for symptoms, such as suspected stroke, lung cancers or respiratory conditions.

The NHS has also launched a new taskforce, with patients, charities, researchers and clinicians, to help manage the NHS approach to ‘long COVID’ and produce information and support materials for patients and healthcare professionals to develop a wider understanding of the condition.

NHS Chief Executive Sir Simon Stevens said: “Long COVID is already having a very serious impact on many people’s lives and could well go on to affect hundreds of thousands.

“That is why, while treating rising numbers of patients who are sick with the virus and many more who do not have it, the NHS is taking action to address those suffering ongoing health issues."

“These pioneering ‘long COVID’ clinics will help address the very real problems being faced by patients today while the taskforce will help the NHS develop a greater understanding of the lasting effects of coronavirus.”

Read full press release

Source: NHS England, 15 November 2020

Read more

US health officials monitor the rising cases of UK Covid hospitalisations

US health officials are monitoring an unusual situation in the UK, where COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations are simultaneously climbing due to the BA.2 subvariant, CNN reports. 

COVID-19 cases were up 52% in the UK last week compared with the week prior, and hospitalisations were up 18%t over the same period, according to the UK Coronavirus Dashboard. 

The seemingly in-tandem ascent of cases and hospitalisations is unusual, given that increases in COVID-19 cases preceded increases in hospitalisations by about 10 days to two weeks in previous waves. 

"So we're obviously keenly interested in what's going on with that," Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN.

Dr Fauci said in conversation with his U.K. counterparts, they attribute the rising cases and hospitalisations to three things, listed in order of contribution: the BA.2 variant, which is more transmissible than the original omicron; the opening of society, with people socializing indoors without masks; and waning immunity from vaccination or prior infection. 

Hospitalisations in the U.K. raise questions, given that BA.2 doesn't appear to cause more severe disease.

"The issue with hospitalization is a little bit more puzzling, because although the hospitalizations are going up, it is very clear their use of ICU beds has not increased," Dr. Fauci said. "So are the numbers of hospitalizations a real reflection of COVID cases, or is there a difficulty deciphering between people coming into the hospital with COVID or because of COVID?"

Read full story

Source: Becker Hospital Review, 16 March 2022

Read more
 

Dozens of patients left conscious but unable to breathe after NHS drug errors

More than a dozen NHS patients have stopped breathing and 40 others suffered serious effects after having powerful anaesthetic drugs mistakenly “flushed” into their systems by unsuspecting NHS staff.

In one case a man has been left suffering nightmares and flashbacks after he stopped breathing on a ward when a powerful muscle relaxant used during an earlier procedure paralysed him but left him fully conscious. He only survived because a doctor was on the ward and started mechanically breathing for him.

An investigation by the safety watchdog, the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB), found there had been 58 similar incidents in England during a three-year period.

The mistakes happen when residual amounts of drugs are left in intravenous lines and cannulas and not “flushed” out after the surgery. When the IV lines are used later by other staff the residual drugs can have a debilitating effect on patients.

In a new report HSIB said flushing intravenous lines to remove powerful drugs was a “safety-critical” task but that the process for checking this had been done was not being properly carried out, posing a life-threatening risk to patients.

It said the use of a checklist by anaesthetic staff can be overlooked when doctors are busy with other tasks and they fail to engage with the process.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 4 March 2021

Read more

Vaccines could mean only one smear test a lifetime

Women who have the HPV vaccine may need only one smear test to prevent cervical cancer in their lifetime, according to a leading scientist.

Women are currently invited for screening every three to five years in the UK. But Prof Peter Sasieni said the vaccine was leading to such dramatic reductions in cancer that the screening programme would need to change soon.

The NHS invites women, and people with a cervix, for regular screening. Swabs of the cervix are used to check for signs of abnormalities using a microscope (the traditional smear test) or more recently to test for the virus itself.

 However, a seismic shift in preventing cervical cancer started in the UK in 2008 with the introduction of the HPV vaccine. It is offered to girls (and boys since 2019) aged between 11 and 13.

Research published in December shows the vaccine is cutting cervical cancer by nearly 90% in those who choose to have the jab.

"This is really exciting," Prof Sasieni, the director of the clinical trials unit at King's College London, told Inside Health on BBC Radio 4.

His modelling suggests between one and three checks a lifetime would be appropriate for people who have been immunised.

"There's a new vaccine which will be used in the UK from the next school year, which protects against even more types of the virus, and I think with that probably one screen would be enough, maybe two, over a lifetime."

However, the Department of Health and Social Care said one in three people do not come for screening when invited, and a spokesperson added: "The NHS Cervical Screening programme remains an important way of protecting the population - including those who have not been vaccinated - from developing cervical cancer."

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 2 March 2022

Read more
 

Doctors warn ‘culture of fear’ in NHS could prevent whistleblowing

Doctors have warned that a “culture of fear” in the NHS may prevent life-saving lessons being learned about COVID-19 after a leading hospital consultant emailed scores of staff saying those responsible for “leaks” would be found and fired.

Dr Daniel Martin OBE, head of intensive care for serious infectious diseases at the Royal Free hospital, emailed a report to colleagues at the peak of the pandemic with a note claiming that the trust would “track any leaks to the media” and then “offer you the chance to post your P45 on Facebook for all to see.”

The email, which described journalists at one respected newspaper as “parasites”, was sent to dozens of nurses and junior doctors. It has been examined by Liberty Investigates, the investigative journalism unit of the civil rights group Liberty, and the Guardian, after being shared by a recipient who said they found the language “intimidating”.

 Whistleblowers UK, the non-profit group, said it had been made aware of the email by a separate individual who was also concerned about its contents.

The Royal Free London trust said the email was “badly worded” and did not reflect trust policy. However, the trust said it was an open and transparent organisation that “does everything it can to encourage our staff to raise concerns and, if necessary, whistleblow”.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 22 June 2020

Read more
 

Private provider’s contract suspended pending safety review

An independent provider’s NHS contract has been suspended, and a harm review is to be carried out on patients who have faced a long wait.

Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group suspended DMC Healthcare’s contract to provide dermatology services in north Kent “to ensure patient safety” on Friday. It said it had showing some patients had been on waiting lists longer than they should have been.

It is unable to say how many patients are likely to be involved in the harm review, but it is expected to focus on those who have waited longer than they should or where harm is suspected.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 24 June 2020

Read more
 

Landmark sickle cell disease inquiry finds evidence of racism in patient care

A groundbreaking inquiry into sickle cell disease has found “serious care failings” in acute services and evidence of attitudes underpinned by racism.

The report by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia, led by Pat McFadden MP, found evidence of sub-standard care for sickle cell patients admitted to general wards or attending A&E departments.

The inquiry also found widespread lack of adherence to national care standards, low awareness of sickle cell among healthcare professionals and clear examples of inadequate training and insufficient investment in sickle cell care.

The report notes frequent disclosures of negative attitudes towards sickle cell patients, who are more likely to be people with an African or Caribbean background, and evidence to suggest that such attitudes are often underpinned by racism.

The inquiry also found that these concerns have led to a fear and avoidance of hospitals for many people living with sickle cell.

Care failings have led to patient deaths and “near misses” are not uncommon, leading to a cross-party call for urgent changes into care for sickle cell patients.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 15 November 2021

Read more
 

My body caught on fire halfway through surgery – my insides were scorched and it took a year to recover

A patient was left traumatised when his body caught on fire halfway through surgery - leaving his insides scorched.

Mark, 52, went to hospital for a routine abscess removal - but woke up to the news that a freak accident in theatre had sparked an horrific blaze.

A diathermy machine, used to stop bleeding, caused a swab to catch fire - before flames burnt their way through his exposed flesh, Mark explained.

It took over a year for Mark - not his real name - to recover from his dreadful injuries - and the emotional scarring it caused.

Between 2008 and 2018, 37 cases were acknowledged by NHS trusts across Britain. But from 2009 to 2019, it has paid out nearly £14 million in compensation settlements and legal fees.

Fires such as these are often fuelled by leaking oxygen - and are caused by faulty machinery or sparking equipment.

Campaigners are concerned that UK hospitals are lagging behind other countries in recording surgical fires and introducing protocols to reduce both their frequency and severity.

Theatre scrub nurse Kathy Nabbie has spent the past five years trying to make colleagues more aware of the threat of surgical fires.

In 2017 - after hearing how a woman in Oregon, USA, had suffered severe burns when her face was set alight in surgery - she made a  simple safety checklist. 

Her Fire Risk Assessment tool allowed colleagues to check for the presence of elements that together might cause a fire to break out.

But senior staff failed to implement the initiative and - when a surgical fire actually took place three months later - Kathy learned that her laminated checklist had simply been put in a drawer.

 “I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “After that they did start using it, but why on earth should it have taken an actual fire to persuade them?”

Read full story

Source: The Sun, 7 April 2022

Further reading

What can we do to improve safety in the theatre? Reflections from theatre nurse Kathy Nabbie

How I raised awareness of fires in the operating theatre - Kathy Nabbie

 

Read more

G7 presidency statement – patient safety: from vision to reality

On Monday 22 November, the UK under its G7 Presidency convened a meeting on ‘Patient safety: from vision to reality’, co-sponsored with the World Health Organization (WHO). Patient safety is a critical global public health issue and is essential if health systems are to advance and achieve universal health coverage (UHC). This event provided an important opportunity to demonstrate the continued importance of patient safety as an urgent global endeavour, facilitate international collaboration, and support strategic initiatives designed to eliminate avoidable harm in healthcare globally.

Since 2016, the UK has worked closely with international partners, including in the G7, to raise the profile of patient safety issues and work together to drive solutions. This engagement led to the establishment of the annual Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety and adoption by the 72nd World Health Assembly (2019) of a UK co-led Resolution on ‘Global Action on Patient Safety’ (creating an annual World Patient Safety Day on 17 September) and WHO’s ‘Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021 to 2030’ by the 74th World Health Assembly (2021).

The event on 22 November brought together G7 countries, UK devolved administrations, system partners and patient advocates to share learning and reaffirm the importance of this critical issue. With the unprecedented coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, patient safety has become an even more crucial area for international cooperation, and the event underlined the importance of countries continuing to work together to maintain momentum on improving patient safety worldwide.

The event was chaired by Dr Aidan Fowler, National Director of Patient Safety for NHS England and NHS Improvement, and was very well attended by global experts. The importance of continued international work to improve patient safety was underlined in the keynote speeches from Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO, as well as Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Jeremy Hunt, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee.

The event also provided an important opportunity for sharing learning from around the world; and highlighted the need for and value of continued collaboration between countries on health issues. Interventions from G7 countries and UK devolved administrations provided important insights into how different countries are tackling this shared aim of eliminating avoidable harm in healthcare. It was clear that although health systems differ from country to country, many threats to patient safety have similar causes and similar solutions.

 

Read full story

Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 23 November 2021

Read more

‘Low priority’ community cases to be deferred as staff redeployed

NHS England has told local systems to defer ‘low priority’ cases across 11 community services, because of the pressures created by the omicron wave. 

NHSE has issued guidance for the prioritisation of the community health workforce “given the increasing pressures on the health system due to the omicron wave of COVID-19 this winter and the need to provide booster jabs as quickly as possible”.

It is hoped the guidance will encourage the redeployment of community staff to help reduce the strain on acute services.

Staff working in musculoskeletal services are being asked to deprioritise some low priority rehabilitation work, with patients enabled to self-manage at home.

It adds: “Where possible, provide capacity to support other community resources focused on rehabilitation and recovery for those discharged from acute care and those whose functioning is deteriorating at home, and/or the administration of vaccines.”

A host of other services have been advised to continue, but with “prioritised” waiting lists and a deferral of provision considered for “low priority cases” to “free up workforce capacity”, including children’s therapy interventions, children’s community paediatric services and audiology services for older adults.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 11 January 2022

 

Read more

Warnings over NHS data privacy after ‘stalker’ doctor shares woman’s records

The confidentiality of NHS medical records has been thrown into doubt after a “stalker” hospital doctor accessed and shared highly sensitive information about a woman who had started dating her ex-boyfriend, despite not being involved in her care.

The victim was left in “fear, shock and horror” when she learned that the doctor had used her hospital’s medical records system to look at the woman’s GP records and read – and share – intimate details, known only to a few people, about her and her children.

“I felt violated when I learned that this woman, who I didn’t know, had managed to access on a number of occasions details of my life that I had shared with my GP and only my family and very closest friends. It was about something sensitive involving myself and my children, about a family tragedy,” the woman said.

The case has prompted warnings that any doctor in England could abuse their privileged access to private medical records for personal rather than clinical reasons.

Sam Smith, of the health data privacy group MedConfidential, said: “This is an utterly appalling case. It’s an individual problem that the doctor did this. But it’s a systemic problem that they could do it, and that flaws in the way the NHS’s data management systems work meant that any doctor can do something like this to any patient.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 14 May 2023

Read more
 

‘Do not resuscitate’ orders caused potentially avoidable deaths, regulator finds

Do-not-resuscitate orders were wrongly allocated to some care home residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing potentially avoidable deaths, the first phase of a review by England’s Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found.

The regulator warned that some of the “inappropriate” do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) notices applied in the spring may still be in place and called on all care providers to check with the person concerned that they consent.

The review was prompted by concerns about the blanket application of the orders in care homes in the early part of the pandemic, amid then prevalent fears that NHS hospitals would be overwhelmed.

The CQC received 40 submissions from the public, mostly about DNACPR orders that had been put in place without consulting with the person or their family. These included reports of all the residents of one care home being given a DNACPR notice, and of the notices routinely being applied to anyone infected with Covid.

Some people reported that they did not even know a DNACPR order had been placed on their relative until they were quite unwell.

“There is evidence of unacceptable and inappropriate DNACPRs being made at the start of the pandemic,” the interim report found, adding that the practice may have caused “potentially avoidable death”.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 3 December 2020

Read more
 

Covid: Sajid Javid orders review of medical device racial bias

A review into whether medical devices are equally effective regardless of the patient's ethnicity has been ordered by Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

Research suggests oximeters, which are clipped to a person's finger, can overstate the level of oxygen in the blood of people from ethnic minorities.

Ministers want to know whether bias could have prevented patients receiving appropriate Covid treatment.

Mr Javid said any bias was "totally unacceptable".

But the doctors' union the British Medical Association (BMA) said the review should not simply look at equipment, but also "structural issues" within healthcare that affect ethnic minorities.

Mr Javid announced the review in the Sunday Times, saying he was determined to "close the chasms that the pandemic has exposed".

Asked later on the BBC's Andrew Marr show whether he thought people had died of Covid because of pulse oximeters, Mr Javid said: "I think possibly yes, yes. I don't have the full facts."

He said there was racial bias in some medical instruments, adding: "It's unintentional but it exists."

"And the reason is that a lot of these medical devices, even some of the drugs, some of the procedures, some of the textbooks, most of them are put together in majority white countries and I think this is a systemic issue around this," he said.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 21 November 2021

Read more

‘Black market’ Botox scars women for life

Practitioners with no professional medical qualifications use social media to target women and girls, an investigation by undercover Times reporters has found.

The medicines regulator has begun an investigation after undercover Times reporters found beauticians offering to inject women with “black market” Botox, putting them at risk of being disfigured for life.

Practitioners with no professional medical qualifications used social media to target women and girls, suggesting the treatments were safe and would enhance their looks. Many used products that have not gone through safety checks in Britain. Reporters confirmed that at least three practitioners advertising facial injections on social media sites were using cheap versions of Botox that are not licensed in the UK.

Campaigners say they are receiving increasing reports of disfigurements such as permanent facial scarring and large sores caused by injections with unlicensed versions of Botox, often carried out in people’s homes and at beauty salons.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it was reviewing the findings and would “take appropriate regulatory action where any non-compliance is identified”.

Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said the practices uncovered were “totally unacceptable” and officials were looking into whether legal changes were needed “to ensure no one is harmed”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Times, 2 February 2022

Read more

When the NHS spends billions on personal injury cases, it’s the public that loses

Hunt’s radical plan to reform compensation for clinical negligence is “completely unacceptable” says the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, which includes some of the kinds of firms that urge people to sue the NHS, soliciting online, in TV ads or posters in waiting rooms.

Damages paid by the NHS as a result of medical negligence claims have soared exponentially over the last decade, up from £900m to £2.2bn now. Yet despite horror stories of deaths and life-changing damage in badly run maternity wards, the National Audit Office (NAO) finds no evidence of more injuries, only that the number of claims and sums awarded by courts are shooting up. The NAO found that “the claimant’s legal costs exceeded the damages awarded in 61% of claims settled”. Though the lawyers in the clinical compensation business protest vigorously that they defend patients’ rights, the Hunt committee demolishes any justification for the present system.

The report quotes Sir Ian Kennedy QC, the chair of many inquiries and emeritus professor of health law and ethics at University College London, who wrote in 2021 that clinical negligence was an “outdated, arbitrary and scandalously expensive system” with a “stranglehold that lawyers exert over a system that should be putting the interests and needs of patients first”.

What injured patients need is an independent authority to conduct a speedy and transparent investigation of what went wrong, with everyone free to speak openly, ending in reasonable compensation and a pledge to prevent anyone else being put at risk by the same error. Peter Walsh, the chief executive of Action Against Medical Accidents, told the committee that litigation was often “a last-gasp attempt to get a sense of justice and to get to the bottom of what has actually happened after people have experienced denial after denial”.

Instead of a system of delays and denials that frustrates grieving families and terrorises doctors as lawyers seek to pin personal blame on someone, the committee proposes a system closer to those used in New Zealand and Scandinavia. An independent administrative body would investigate a patient’s case to see if the harm done was avoidable and if so, to fix fair compensation briskly within six months. The priority would be openness and learning from mistakes to protect future patients. Not needing to find a person to blame makes it easier for patients to get compensation – but the payout would be far lower. Some warn this lower burden of proof would encourage a flood of claims, but New Zealand found a similar system ended up halving the sums paid out. 

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 3 May 2022

Read more

Lack of ‘psychological safety’ at trust with ‘acceptance of poor behaviours’

An acute trust has “palpable” cultural problems and staff “at all levels” have described an acceptance of “poor behaviours”, according to the Care Quality Commission.

Some staff at Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust also reported a lack of trust in their senior managers and a “fear of speaking up”.

The Care Quality Commission feedback was set out in a post-inspection letter to the trust’s acting chief executive Mark Pietroni last month following an inspection in June. The trust’s CEO Deborah Lee is currently off work as she recovers from a stroke.

According to the CQC letter, published in the trust’s board papers ahead of a full inspection report which is due in the autumn, staff “articulated [to inspectors and said they] had observed rudeness and incivility throughout the organisation”.

In a written statement, Professor Pietroni told HSJ he “fully recognised” the CQC’s feedback.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ (24 August 2022)

Read more
 

From stargazing to mole-gazing

Astrophysics and dermatology are colliding through a new research project led by the University of Southampton – with potentially lifesaving consequences.

The project, dubbed MoleGazer, will take algorithms used for detecting exploding stars in astronomical imaging data and develop them to be used to spot changes in skin moles and, therefore, detect skin cancer.

MoleGazer, led by Professor Mark Sullivan, Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University, and Postdoctoral Researcher Mathew Smith, has been awarded a Proof of Concept Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). It is the first time the University has won such a grant.

Currently, patients at high risk of developing skin cancer are photographed at regular intervals and a consultant visually compares images to detect changes. MoleGazer could automate this process, potentially leading to earlier diagnoses and improved survival rates.

“It’s a really exciting project that came along from nowhere,” added Professor Sullivan. “It also highlights the importance of blue sky science – curiosity-driven scientific research will always have a fundamentally important role to play.”

Read full story

Source: University of Southampton, 10 January 2020

Read more

Use of antipsychotic drugs among dementia patients increasing, study suggests

Prescribing potentially harmful antipsychotic drugs to people with dementia has increased by more than 50% on average in care homes during the pandemic, new research suggests.

It found that the number of people with dementia receiving these prescriptions had soared from 18% to 28% since 2018 – with prescription rates of over 50% in a third of care homes.

Professor Clive Ballard, who was part of a national campaign in 2009 to reduce antipsychotic prescribing by half, said: “Covid-19 put tremendous pressure on care homes, and the majority of them must be applauded for maintaining relatively low antipsychotic prescribing levels amid incredibly difficult circumstances."

“However, there were very significant rises in antipsychotic prescribing in one third of care homes and we urgently need to find ways to prioritise support to prevent people with dementia being exposed to significant harms.”

Antipsychotic drugs are used to treat some of the more distressing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, such as agitation and psychotic episodes. They have only very limited, short-term benefits in treating psychiatric symptoms in people with dementia – but significantly increase the risk of serious side effects, including stroke, accelerated decline and death.

Dr Richard Oakley, from the Alzheimer’s Society, added: “This study shows the shocking and dangerous scale of the use of antipsychotic drugs to treat people with dementia in care homes.

“Alzheimer’s Society has been campaigning for a move away from the model of ‘medicate first’ and funded research into alternatives to antipsychotic prescriptions, focused on putting people living with dementia at the centre of their own care.

“This drug-free, tailored care can help avoid the loss of lives associated with the harmful side effects of antipsychotic medications.”

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 4 August 2022

Read more

© 2026 Patient Safety Learning. All rights reserved.

Patient Safety Learning is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission Registration number 1180689.

×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.