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Jeremy Hunt ‘ignored’ NHS staff shortages while health secretary

Jeremy Hunt has been accused of ignoring serious NHS staff shortages for years and driving medics out of the profession while health secretary after he intervened this weekend to warn of a workforce crisis.

Promoting his new book, 'Zero: Eliminating Unnecessary Deaths in a Post-Pandemic NHS', Hunt said tackling the “chronic failure of workforce planning” was the most important task in relieving pressure on frontline services. Now the chair of the health and social care committee, he said the situation was “very, very serious”, with doctors and nurses “run ragged by the intensity of work”.

But his comments drew sharp criticism from healthcare staff, who said Hunt – the longest-serving health secretary in the 74-year history of the NHS – failed to take sufficient action to boost recruitment while in the top job between 2012 and 2018. Instead, critics said, his tenure saw health workers quit the NHS in droves for jobs abroad or new careers outside medicine. There are now 100,000 vacancies in the NHS, and the waiting list for treatment has soared to 6.4 million.

“There’s an avalanche of pressure bearing down on the NHS. But for years Jeremy Hunt and other ministers ignored the staffing crisis,” said Sara Gorton, the head of health at Unison, the UK’s largest health union. “The pandemic has amplified the consequences of that failure. Experienced employees are leaving at faster rates than new ones can be recruited.”

“Hunt has recently been an articulate analyst of current issues, particularly workforce shortages, but these haven’t come out of the blue,” said Dr Colin Hutchinson, the chair of Doctors for the NHS. “At the time he could have made the greatest impact, his response was muted. We have to ask: was the service people were receiving from the NHS better, or worse, at the end of his time in office? At the time when it most mattered, he was found wanting.”

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Source: The Guardian, 15 May 2022

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Shropshire baby deaths: Trust will return £1m it received for 'good care'

An NHS trust at the centre of an inquiry into preventable baby deaths will repay money it received for providing good maternity care.

In 2018, Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust received almost £1m, weeks before its services were rated inadequate. The BBC revealed in December the trust had qualified for the payment under the NHS's Maternity Incentive Scheme.

The trust said an "incorrect submission" had been made and it had ordered an independent review.

Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust (SaTH) is at the centre of England's largest inquiry into poor maternity care, with more than 900 families contacting a review looking into concerns over preventable deaths and long-term harm.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote to ministers questioning if improvements to the Maternity Incentive Scheme were needed in light of payments made to both Shrewsbury and Telford and East Kent Hospitals, despite both facing serious questions over the safety of maternity services.

The trust in Shropshire was paid £963,391 after certifying it had met the 10 safety standards demanded by the scheme, which is run by NHS Resolution.

In the letter, seen by the BBC, Mr Hunt suggested one improvement would be to link payments to CQC maternity and safety ratings.

"The whole approach is likely to be discredited if trusts can meet all 10 actions and yet still be delivering poor standards of care," the letter said.

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Source: BBC News, 6 March 2020

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Jeremy Hunt: It’s crazy that six people can meet in a pub while mums endure the misery of lone births

Covid has brought many hidden tragedies: elderly residents in care homes bereft of family visits, families in quarantine missing loved one’s funerals, and mums forced to go through labour alone. 

Much of this has been necessary, however painful, but Jeremy Hunt fears we’re getting the balance badly wrong in maternity care. That’s why he is backing The Mail on Sunday’s campaign to end lone births, which has been championed in Parliament by Alicia Kearns.

Infection control in hospitals is critically important, but mothers’ mental health can’t be pushed down the priority list. 

Imagine the agony of a new mum sent for a scan on her own, only to be told that her much longed-for baby has no heartbeat. Or the woman labouring in agony for hours who is told she is not yet sufficiently dilated to merit her partner joining her for moral support.

"I have heard some truly heartbreaking stories, which quite frankly should have no place in a modern, compassionate health service. One woman who gave birth to a stillborn baby alone at 41 weeks; another woman who was left alone after surgery due to a miscarriage at 12 weeks," says Jeremy.

Perhaps most concerningly of all, there are reports of partners being asked to leave their new babies and often traumatised mothers almost immediately after birth. That means they miss out on vital bonding time and mums lose crucial support to help them recover mentally and physically, in some cases with partners not allowed back to meet their new child properly for several days.

"This is a question of basic compassion and decency – the very values that the NHS embodies and the reason we’re all so proud of our universal health service – so we need every hospital to commit to urgent action without delay."

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Source: MailOnline, 19 September 2020

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Doctor suspended for sterilising woman without permission

A consultant gynaecologist who admitted sterilising a woman without her permission has been suspended from practising for 12 months.

The woman - known as Patient A - was sterilised by Dr David Sim following an emergency caesarean section.

Dr Sim previously admitted that the sterilisation was not necessary to save the woman's life or prevent harm to her health.

The procedure took place at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry in September 2021.

On 1 December, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) found his fitness to practice was impaired.

The tribunal previously heard Dr Sim and the patient had discussed sterilisation twice over a period of years, but the patient had never consented or expressed any wish to undergo sterilisation.

When she required the emergency caesarean section, Dr Sim delivered the baby and blocked the patient's fallopian tubes to permanently impair their normal function.

Dr Sim previously admitted to the tribunal that this was in violation of the woman's reproductive rights.

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Source: BBC News, 5 December 2023

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Can we change the culture around breaks in the NHS?

The culture of working without breaks is dangerous to doctors’ and patients’ wellbeing and only a cultural shift can change things, argues Heidi Edmundson. 

Heidi, Consultant for Emergency Medicine at Whittington Health NHS Trust, discusses in BMJ Opinion how it has become impossible to ignore the huge cost of burnout to both individual doctors and the medical workforce. Breaks are no longer being viewed as a luxury, but as an integral part of physician wellbeing, patient safety, and workforce sustainability. However exceptional reporting and the costs associated with recruitment and retention issues mean that they are becoming a financial issue as well. Heidi ran her own departmental “public health” campaign entitled “take a break” to see if she could change this culture. 

"I started this project with a desire to try and change culture and I have come to realize that changing the culture around taking breaks is really just the tip of the iceberg. What we really need is a huge cultural shift in our attitudes and behaviours towards staff wellness. This will require imagination, innovation, and investment at all levels."

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Source: BMJ Opinion, 28 June 2019

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'Breaking point': fears over lack of intensive care beds for children

Critically ill children are being rushed from one part of England to another because NHS hospitals are running short of intensive care beds in which to treat them, the Guardian has revealed.

An increase in severe breathing problems in children driven by winter viruses and infections, including flu, means some are having to be transferred sometimes many miles from their home area because there are not enough paediatric intensive care (PICU) beds locally.

Specialist doctors who staff the units say the situation is “dangerous and rotten for the families” involved and that staff are firefighting to handle the number of children needing sometimes life-saving care, many of whom are on a ventilator to help them breathe.

In the past few weeks, young patients have been sent from the Midlands to Sheffield, from London to Cambridge, and from one side of the Pennines to the other in order to get them a place in a PICU.

One doctor at a PICU in the Midlands said: “PICU beds are always in high demand. But since winter hit this year, around six weeks ago, the situation feels like we are simply firefighting. Many days I come on shift to find there are no beds in [our] region and the patients referred to us end up in Southampton, Sheffield, Oxford and other centres far away."

“The PICU network is overstretched. There aren’t enough beds, nurses or skilled doctors.”

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Source: The Guardian, 29 December 2019

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COVID-19 disruption could erase decade’s worth of global vaccine coverage for childhood diseases, Unicef warns

Global efforts to vaccinate children against fatal diseases such as measles and polio could be set back a decade due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Unicef has warned.

Immunisation campaigns and routine vaccine services have been suspended across the world to limit the transmission of COVID-19, leaving countries with weak health systems susceptible to a resurgence in preventable illnesses once lockdown restrictions are lifted and societies reopen.

More than 25 vulnerable countries have placed their immunisation programmes for measles on hold, while the delivery of Ebola vaccinations across central Africa, in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic (CAR), has similarly been suspended or curtailed.

“Our immediate concern is with disruption to currently available vaccines,” Dr Robin Nandy, global chief of immunisation at Unicef, told The Independent. “We expect to go back maybe five to 10 years. The longer the disruptions continue, the more concerned we are as it builds the number of susceptible kids in populations.

“What we’re trying to avoid is countries recovering from the current Covid pandemic then being hit by another outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease.”

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Source: The Independent, 18 May 2020

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Learning the lessons of the past to restore the nation’s health and prevent widening health inequalities post-COVID-19

A healthy population is one of any nation’s most important assets. We have known for a long time that not everyone has the same opportunity to access the things they need to lead a healthy life, such as good quality work and safe secure stable housing. Now we can see that the COVID-19 pandemic is replicating and exacerbating deep-rooted health inequalities. Without concerted action, this health crisis will also become a health inequalities crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought health inequalities into sharp focus. While every part of the population has been affected by the current crisis, some communities have been hit much harder both by the virus itself and by the measures taken to control its spread.

Evidence is starting to emerge, for example, of the unequal impact of the shutdown of the economy. For example a recent survey of UK households found that the lowest earners have been worst hit by loss of earnings, with the most severe losses for single parents.

The uneven impact of COVID-19 has also highlighted the inequalities faced by Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. Recent data shows that some ethnic groups are at much higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than the rest of the population (e.g. Black men are four times more likely to have died of COVID-19 than their White peers).

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Public health ‘at risk’ as leading Covid surveillance programme ends

Ministers will be left in the dark on Covid spikes just as case numbers reach unprecedented levels if a “world-beating” surveillance programme is scrapped, scientists have warned.

The React-1 study, which played a crucial role in detecting and tracking the spread of the Alpha variant in December 2020 ahead of the second lockdown, has been stopped as part of the government's plan to cut its Covid costs.

But in its last report, the study found 6.37% of the population was infected between 8 and 31 March – the highest figure since it began in May 2020. More worryingly, the scientists behind the research said the prevalence rate has also reached new highs for people aged 55 and over, at 8.31 per cent.

The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) said dismantling the project while cases were at record levels damaged preparedness and put public health at risk.

The spread of Covid within hospitals is also fuelling staff shortages, bed closures and delayed discharges in multiple regions of the country. This is coinciding with delays in ambulance handovers and response times, NHS sources say.

Information seen by The Independent revealed hundreds of beds are currently out of use at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals trust due to Covid outbreaks. A senior clinician said the “hospital is coming apart at the seams” and that, across the northeast, even “high” performing emergency departments were “crashing” and “stacking ambulances outside of hospital”.

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Source: The Independent, 6 April 2022

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Covid can cause ongoing damage to heart, lungs and kidneys, study finds

Damage to the body’s organs including the lungs and kidneys is common in people who were admitted to hospital with Covid, with one in eight found to have heart inflammation, researchers have revealed.

As the pandemic evolved, it became clear that some people who had Covid were being left with ongoing symptoms – a condition that has been called Long Covid.

Previous studies have revealed that fewer than a third of patients who have ongoing Covid symptoms after being hospitalised with the disease feel fully recovered a year later, while some experts have warned Long Covid could result in a generation affected by disability.

Now researchers tracking the progress of patients who were treated in hospital for Covid say they have found evidence the disease can take a toll on a range of organs.

What’s more, they say the severity of ongoing symptoms appears to be linked to the severity of the Covid infection itself.

“Even fit, healthy individuals can suffer severe Covid-19 illness and to avoid this, members of the public should take up the offer of vaccination,” said Prof Colin Berry, of the University of Glasgow, which led the CISCO-19 (Cardiac imaging in Sars coronavirus disease-19) study.

“Our study provides objective evidence of abnormalities at one to two months post-Covid and these findings tie in with persisting symptoms at that time and the likelihood of ongoing health needs one year later,” Berry added.

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Source: The Guardian, 23 May 2022

 

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The paramedics keeping patients out of hospital

Chest pains for a 63-year-old man might typically mean a hospital trip to check it out. But after Clive Pietzka's 999 call, an advanced paramedic practitioner carried out tests and discharged him.

The Welsh Ambulance Service Trust (WAST) job is one of those in a growing team who work to keep people out of hospital.

Solutions like this are being sought following ambulance queues for hospital and worst ever performance figures.

Mr Pietzka, from Barry, who has a heart problem, said initially he did not want to call an ambulance because of high demand.

"They're very busy with Covid and everything else. But the GP practice said to call 999," he said.

However, on this occasion a rapid response vehicle - a car with a single paramedic - came within 15-20 minutes and tests were performed, without a hospital trip.

Advanced paramedic practitioner John McAllister who attended said he sees people more medical low acuity cases rather than emergency and trauma conditions.

"I use assessment techniques and diagnostic tools to assess patients, formulate a diagnosis then put a plan in place," he said.

"It's about trying to treat them at the right time and the right place, without having to take them to A&E."

Adding to the pressure of the pandemic and winter demand, a shortage of social care workers to support patients' safe discharge means a large number of patients find themselves in hospital longer than medically necessary. The knock-on impact means it is becoming harder for new patients to be treated and admitted.

Penny Durrant, the service manager for the clinical support desk at WAST regional headquarters in Cwmbran, said current challenges had led to growth in her team.

She said it was a "recognition of needing to do something different".

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Source: BBC News, 21 December 2021

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New super registry: all implanted medical devices to be tracked

A ground-breaking, mandatory national medical device outcome registry has been launched to collate detailed information on all procedures involving high-risk (Class III/IIb) devices, including pacemakers, hip joint replacements and breast implants.

Led by NHS England’s Outcomes and Registries programme, and developed in partnership with NEC Software Solutions (NEC), the Medical Device Outcome Registry platform (MDOR) will capture data on over two million medical device procedures and more than 10 million unique devices used on patients each year across the NHS and independent healthcare sector, addressing recommendations from the Cumberlege review and Patterson inquiry.  

Collecting key details of the procedure, the clinicians involved and devices used, the registry will include clinical observational and patient outcome data, providing a single, comprehensive repository to improve patient safety and outcomes.  

Scott Pryde, delivery director for the Outcomes and Registries Programme, NHS England, said: “Millions of people receive high-risk medical devices and implants every year. Whereas most procedures are a complete success, when things go wrong it can result in serious harm for the patients affected. The Medical Device Outcome Registry will be responsive to concerns about the safety and outcomes of patients who receive high-risk medical devices, such as implants, and will use the data to actively detect, predict and prevent patient harm, and improve outcomes for patients".  

“The result will be in a step change in improving patient safety in these procedures, providing clinicians and healthcare teams with secure access to critical information they can use to inform clinical decisions and improve the experience of patients before, during and after their procedures.”  

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Source: Clinical Services Journal, 31 May 2023

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Doctors accuse trust of caving to political pressure to reopen ‘unsafe’ A&E

Senior clinicians say their trust board has caved into political pressure by making an ‘unsafe’ decision to re-open a small emergency department — having previously suggested this would not happen if there was a second wave of coronavirus.

In a letter to management at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust, seen by HSJ, a group of 17 emergency medicine consultants have raised serious concerns over the planned re-opening of the accident and emergency department at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital next week.

The unit, which has long suffered from staffing shortages and temporary closures, was again closed on a temporary basis at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. When covid subsided in the summer, plans were put forward to reopen it in the autumn.

However, when announcing this, chief executive Karen Partington said: “It is really important that everybody recognises that if covid-19 cases begin to rise significantly, or other safety concerns are identified, we will need to revisit the situation.”

The letter from the clinicians, addressed to trust clinical director Graham Ellis, said: “We consider that the trust has been subjected to an undercurrent of external pressure which has resulted in an unsafe decision being taken to re-open the ED prematurely…"

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Source: HSJ, 30 October 2020

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Dozens of patients seen by independent provider suffered ‘moderate or severe’ harm

Nearly 30 patients suffered severe or moderate harm due to quality issues with ultrasounds carried out by an independent provider, a review has found. 

Scans of 1,800 patients carried out by two sonographers employed by Bestcare Diagnostics were examined as part of a clinical harm review initiated by Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group in 2019.

Papers for next week’s governing body meeting of West Sussex CCG — which has absorbed Coastal West Sussex CCG — reveal the review found 29 cases of severe or moderate harm. 

According to the NHS’ National Recording and Learning System, moderate harm is that where a patient needs further treatment or procedures but the harm is short-term. Severe harm results in permanent or long-term harm. Both require NHS bodies to exercise the duty of candour.

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Source: HSJ, 6 April 2021

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Mapped: The stark north-south divide in UK life expectancy

Men across the country are, on average, living four fewer years than women – but there are stark disparities across the UK, new analysis shows.

Research from the Centre for Ageing Better found from 2021-2023, the average life expectancy at birth is 79 years for men and 83 years for women.

The charity’s 2025 State of Ageing report found men living in the bottom fifth of areas of the country in terms of wealth can expect to live 4.4 fewer years on average than those living in the wealthiest areas of England.

There is a clear north-south divide in average life expectancy at birth across England, the report found. The lowest life expectancy at birth for men and women is in the North East (77.4 and 81.4 years respectively), according to the Centre for Ageing Better.

Dr Carole Easton OBE, Chief Executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said: “The substantial regional inequalities highlighted in our new State of Ageing report are truly a matter of life and death. Living in a part of the country where good quality jobs and opportunity is scarce, and where financial insecurity and poverty is rife, is robbing people of their health in later life and depriving them of years spent with loved ones. This is the true human cost of our very unequal society.

“The really worrying trend is that inequality in life expectancy is increasing almost everywhere. The bombardment of shocks from austerity, Covid and the cost-of-living crisis have compounded longer-term health and inequality issues to ensure we truly are the sick man of Europe.”

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Millions of patients 'avoiding calls to GP' during COVID-19 pandemic

Four in ten people are not seeking help from their GP because they are afraid to be a burden on the NHS during the pandemic, polling by NHS England reveals.

The findings – from a survey of 1,000 people – are the latest in a wave of evidence that fewer people are seeking care for illnesses other than those related to coronavirus during the pandemic.

GP online reported on 20 April that data collected by the RCGP showed a 25% reduction in routine clinical activity in general practice, and figures from Public Health England (PHE) and the British Heart Foundation show that A&E attendances overall and patients going to hospital for heart attacks are down 50%.

Warnings that patients' reluctance to come forward could put them at risk come as leading charities warned that suspension of some routine GP services during the pandemic could also lead to a 'future crisis' if control of conditions such as asthma and COPD deteriorate.

Professor Carrie MacEwen, chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said: 'We are very concerned that patients may not be accessing the NHS for care because they either don’t want to be a burden or because they are fearful about catching the virus.

'Everyone should know that the NHS is still open for business and it is vitally important that if people have serious conditions or concerns they seek help. This campaign is an important step in ensuring that people are encouraged to get the care they need when they need it.'

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Source: GP online, 25 April 2020

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GPs asked to keep doors open after ‘significant incidents’ warning

New guidance requires GPs to offer at least some face-to-face appointments, amid reports that some had completely eliminated them, sparking ‘significant incidents’.

NHS England’s instructions for the third phase of the NHS response to COVID-19 were issued on Friday, including the call that “all GP practices must offer face to face appointments at their surgeries” along with remote triage and remote consultations.

Most appointments in primary care have been carried out remotely since the NHS instituted new operating procedures in response to covid, with practices offering a mix of remote consultations over the telephone or video, with a diminished number face-to-face. 

However, there have been reports of some GP practices not offering any face-to-face appointments at all, and continuing this approach following the peak of cases in the spring.

A letter to GPs last month told them they must offer appointments in person “where clinically appropriate”, now reiterated in the phase three guidance.

The letter added: “It should be clear to patients that all practice premises are open to provide care, with adjustments to the mode of delivery. No practice should be communicating to patients that their premises are closed.”

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Source: HSJ, 4 August 2020

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'My message to young people is just do the right thing' – teenage virus survivor's plea

A Dublin teenager has told of his harrowing battle with COVID-19 and is urging other young people to take the disease seriously.

Jack Edge, 17, from Rathfarnham, had no underlying health conditions when he contracted the virus in April. Five months on and three hospital admissions later, the Leaving Cert student is still suffering from the "destruction" the virus wreaked on his body.

Jack first displayed symptoms of COVID-19 on 15 April and five days later was admitted to Tallaght University Hospital. Within hours of being hospitalised, he was fighting for his life. Jack had to be put on a ventilator to help him breathe for 12 days. As his condition stabilised, he was transferred to a high dependency unit.

Jack said: "I couldn't sleep for three days. Every time I closed my eyes, there was just dizziness and loads of colours. "I literally stayed in the bed for 72 hours, just staring at the wall. I had a lot of dark times in the hospital, since I do struggle with anxiety too."

"But the care I received was absolutely amazing. They came in and talked to me if I needed to talk, as I would often get lonely, as it was mainly just me in an isolation room."

However, surviving COVID-19 was just the first step for Jack. On 28 May, he was readmitted to hospital in excruciating pain. Doctors told him he may have suffered nerve damage associated with the virus.

"I’m currently taking 18-20 tablets a day. Tablets for the nerve damage, for pain and for my anxiety. "

"I basically have to learn to walk again. I do two to two-and-a-half hours of physio every day, depending on how much energy I have. I wake up some days and I get really upset. I still don’t know why this happened to me or how I got it."

Jack hopes that by sharing his story he can raise awareness of the dangers and debilitating long-term effects of COVID-19 for young people.

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Source: RTE News, 2 October 2020

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NHS may ‘never catch up’ with ophthalmology surgery backlog caused by covid

Delays due to the COVID-19 crisis have created tens of thousands of year-long waiters for ophthalmology treatment, and a surgery backlog which experts say may never be recovered.

NHS England provisional data shows the number of people waiting 52 weeks or longer for ophthalmology treatment increased to more than 23,000 in December, up 57,580% on just 40 the year before. 

Experts say ophthalmology procedures have been hit particularly hard by the cancellation of elective work due to COVID-19 pressures. On average, roughly 130,000 ophthalmology patients completed treatment per month in England in 2019, most of which would likely have been cataract surgeries.

Royal College of Ophthalmologists professional standards chair Melanie Hingorani told HSJ that many in the discipline feared “traditional” ways of working were too “fragmented” to address the size of the challenge. She said that without a “much more innovative” approach it would be “really difficult” to deal with the surgery backlog on ophthalmology and that clearing it could take “two years, maybe longer”.

There remained a danger, however, she added that: “Maybe we never catch up”. 

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Source: HSJ, 1 March 2021

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As a nurse in the US faces prison for a deadly error, her colleagues worry: Could I be next?

Four years ago, inside the most prestigious hospital in Tennessee, nurse RaDonda Vaught withdrew a vial from an electronic medication cabinet, administered the drug to a patient, and somehow overlooked signs of a terrible and deadly mistake.

The patient was supposed to get Versed, a sedative intended to calm her before being scanned in a large, MRI-like machine. But Vaught accidentally grabbed vecuronium, a powerful paralyser, which stopped the patient’s breathing and left her brain-dead before the error was discovered.

Vaught, 38, admitted her mistake at a Tennessee Board of Nursing hearing last year, saying she became “complacent” in her job and “distracted” by a trainee while operating the computerized medication cabinet. She did not shirk responsibility for the error, but she said the blame was not hers alone.

“I know the reason this patient is no longer here is because of me,” Vaught said, starting to cry. “There won’t ever be a day that goes by that I don’t think about what I did.”

If Vaught’s story followed the path of most medical errors, it would have been over hours later, when the Board of Nursing revoked her RN license and almost certainly ended her nursing career. But Vaught’s case is different: This week she goes on trial in Nashville on criminal charges of reckless homicide and felony abuse of an impaired adult for the killing of Charlene Murphey, a 75-year-old patient who died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on the 27 December 2017.

Prosecutors do not allege in their court filings that Vaught intended to hurt Murphey or was impaired by any substance when she made the mistake, so her prosecution is a rare example of a health care worker facing years in prison for a medical error. Fatal errors are generally handled by licensing boards and civil courts. And experts say prosecutions like Vaught’s loom large for a profession terrified of the criminalization of such mistakes — especially because her case hinges on an automated system for dispensing drugs that many nurses use every day.

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Source: Kaiser Health News, 22 March 2022

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‘It was horrific’: Women given saline instead of fentanyl, US lawsuit says

When a couple decides to try to have a child by in vitro fertilisation, it’s often accompanied by anticipation, anxiety and worry about whether the egg and sperm will unite and produce a healthy baby.

So when the procedure to retrieve eggs from a woman’s ovary turns out to be physically painful, it can create long-term emotional pain as well, according to a lawsuit and two women who underwent the procedure at the Yale University Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Clinic.

They are among dozens of women and spouses who are suing Yale University, claiming the staff at the clinic should have known that, instead of receiving fentanyl to relieve pain during the procedure, they instead were being injected with saline — salt water.

“The result was that dozens, perhaps hundreds, of women underwent the most painful fertility surgeries and procedures offered at the REI Clinic with little or no analgesia,” the lawsuit states.

Angela Cortese, 33, of Vernon, who first had her eggs retrieved on Dec. 3, 2019, said the pain was “excruciating” as a nurse wiped tears from her eyes and Cortese tried “not to flinch every time they’re using this giant needle to retrieve the follicles.”

“I want to say it was probably around 45 minutes that I was very much aware of what exactly was happening and feeling every pinch and prod,” she said. “And it doesn’t feel like somebody’s just pinching you. It feels like somebody’s stabbing you through your vagina. It was horrific.”

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Source: ctpost, 31 May 2022

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Inquest finally delivers the truth about how Claire Roberts died

The parents of Claire Roberts said those responsible for their daughter's care should "hang their heads in shame". Alan and Jennifer Roberts were speaking after an inquest found that the nine-year-old's death in October 1996 was caused by the treatment she received in hospital. Outside Laganside courthouse, Mr and Mrs Roberts welcomed the coroner's findings but said the public can have "no confidence in patient safety" in Northern Ireland. 

Mr Roberts said that after a two decade wait the inquest had finally delivered the truth about how their daughter died. "We would like to thank the coroner for reaching a verdict after 22 years of cover-up that finally identifies the truth. The coroner has confirmed an unnatural cause of death. We have known as a family since 2004 the true cause of death - this has not been news to us but the coroner reaffirming what we have always known."

Mr Roberts also issued a demand to health officials for accountability, saying those responsible for failings in his daughter's care should "hang your heads in shame."

Source: Belfast Telegraph

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Boris Johnson announces £300m for A&Es ahead of potential winter spike

Boris Johnson has said the government will allocate £300m to NHS trusts to upgrade A&E facilities ahead of a potential spike in coronavirus cases this winter.

The funding, which will be split between 117 trusts, comes alongside attempts to reassure members of the public that it is safe to visit A&E departments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Thanks to the hard work and tireless efforts of NHS staff throughout the pandemic, our A&Es have remained open for the public,” the prime minister said in a statement.

“It is vital that those who need emergency treatment this winter access it, and for those who remain concerned about visiting hospitals, let me assure you that the NHS has measures in place to keep people safe.”

Hospitals will be able to use the funding to expand waiting areas and increase the number of treatment cubicles to boost A&E capacity, while social distancing rules and hygiene measures are in place to protect patients from COVID-19.

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Source: The Independent, 10 August 2020

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Make It Public – new strategy marks step-change in making health research findings available to the public

The Health Research Authority has launched a new strategy to ensure information about all health and social care research – including COVID-19 research - is made publicly available to benefit patients, researchers and policy makers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of sharing details of research taking place - to understand the virus and find the tests, treatments and vaccines - so that results can inform best quality care and preventive measures. This also means researchers do not duplicate efforts and can build on each other’s work while the public can see what research is going on. Now the new Make it Public strategy aims to build on this good practice and make it easy for researchers to be transparent about their work.

The strategy, delivered by the HRA in partnership with NHS Research Scotland (NRS), Health and Care Research Wales and Health and Social Care Northern Ireland, is about making transparency ‘the norm’ in research and making information more visible to the public. New measures set out in the strategy – will improve transparency and openness in health and social care studies, by:

  • expecting researchers to plan how they will let research participants know about the findings of the study from the beginning
  • introducing additional monitoring to check that researchers are reporting results and to collect information about study findings
  • making information on individual research projects – and their transparency performance - available to the public
  • introducing a system to consider past transparency performance when reviewing new studies for approval and in the future introducing sanctions. 
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