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ADHD: Private clinics exposed by BBC undercover investigation

Patients are being offered powerful drugs and told they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) after unreliable online assessments, a BBC investigation has discovered.

Three private clinics diagnosed an undercover reporter via video calls. But a more detailed, in-person NHS assessment showed he didn't have the condition.

Panorama spoke to dozens of patients and whistleblowers after receiving tip-offs about rushed and poor-quality assessments at some private clinics, including Harley Psychiatrists, ADHD Direct and ADHD 360.

The investigation found that:

  • Clinics carried out only limited mental health assessments of patients.
  • Powerful drugs were prescribed for long-term use, without advice on possible serious side effects or proper consideration of patients' medical history.
  • Patients posting negative reviews were threatened with legal action.
  • The NHS is paying for thousands of patients to go to private clinics for assessments.

Commenting on Panorama's findings, Dr Mike Smith - an NHS consultant psychiatrist - said he was seriously concerned about the number of people who might "potentially have received an incorrect diagnosis and been started on medications inappropriately".

"The scale is massive."

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Source: BBC News, 

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ADHD: ‘We’re sharing and rationing meds to get by’

A year ago, life for many people in the UK with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) became unpredictable and disorientating as their medications suddenly became scarce. They were told the shortages would be over within months - but people with the condition tell the BBC it is still a problem.

Spending two hours on hold to her pharmacy or GP each day has become the norm for Lorelei Mathias, 44, who has struggled to get a consistent supply of her prescription ADHD drugs since the shortages began last September.

The Brighton-based author and comedian, who created the web series Life in ADHD, says she has gone "against advice" and started rationing, hoarding and sharing pills with friends on similar prescriptions to make sure they all have enough.

"I have many friends who are also really struggling and splitting pills or shutting down from work as they can't function without it," she says.

When the UK government issued a patient safety alert, external warning last September about a shortage of many ADHD medications, it said it expected the disruption to end by December 2023.

Dr Ulrich Müller-Sedgwick, a consultant psychiatrist for adult neurodevelopmental pathways at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, says production and manufacturing issues are a factor.

He says: "There’s only a limited number of factories where these medicines are actually produced. They're stimulants, so there’s also quite a high security standard in these factories and they’re not easy operations to run."

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) says most supply issues have been resolved and it is working with manufacturers on the remaining problems.

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Source BBC News, 27 September 2024

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Have you (or a loved one) ever been prescribed medication that you were then unable to get hold of at the pharmacy? 

  • Was there an impact on your health (physical and mental)? 
  • Were you told the reason for it not being available? 
  • Was the issue resolved? If so, how long did it take?
  • If you are still impacted by medication supply issues, have you been told when you will be able to access them again?

To help us understand how these issues impact the lives of patients and families, please share your experience and insights on the hub here. You'll need to register with the hub first, its free and easy to do. 

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ADHD services shutting door to new NHS patients as demand soars, BBC finds

Specialist ADHD services for adults in England are stopping taking on new patients as they struggle to cope with demand, a BBC investigation has shown.

The BBC has identified 15 local areas that have closed waiting lists and another 31 that have introduced tighter criteria, making it more difficult to access support.

Reacting to our investigation, Prof Anita Thapar, chair of NHS England's ADHD taskforce, said the findings were "disturbing", adding there were "enormous risks" for patients.

It comes as she publishes her report into the state of ADHD services on Thursday, which recommends an overhaul of the way people are supported.

ADHD - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - affects the way the brain works and can cause people to act impulsively and become easily distracted.

The taskforce report said it was being under-diagnosed and under-treated and calls for more joint-working across health, education and the criminal justice system to identify people with ADHD.

It said this would require staff to get training and for community NHS staff, such as GPs and pharmacists, to get more involved in supporting people with ADHD. Currently, specialist services take responsibility for this.

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Source: BBC News, 6 November 2025

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ADHD services ‘swamped’, say experts as more UK women seek diagnosis

ADHD awareness hassoared among women in the UK in the past year, but waiting times and the dearth of clinical awareness are leaving people awaiting diagnosis in a perilous position, leading experts have warned.

Dr Max Davie, a consultant paediatrician and co-founder of ADHD UK, said that people talking openly about their diagnoses – including a number of high-profile celebreties – had led to more people seeking referrals for the condition.

However, while awareness is increasing many trusts and private providers have shut waiting lists because of demand.

“I think it’s probably as big a year as we’ve ever had. We are seeing a lot more people from all walks of life seeking a diagnosis later in life, particularly women,” Dr Davie said. “At the same time waiting lists have gone through the roof. NHS services have been swamped for a while and private providers are also closing their lists – there are wildly inadequate services for ADHD diagnosis, particularly for adults.”

Dr Tony Lloyd, the chief executive of the ADHD foundation, said its own figures suggested a 400% increase in the number of adults seeking a diagnosis since 2020, adding that prescription volumes did not take account of those who do not use medication.

“ADHD remains significantly under-diagnosed and under-treated in the UK – at great cost to public services and to the individual and the workforce,” he said. "Stigma around the condition, which the charity says affects one in 20 people in the UK, resulted in negative outcomes for individuals and high costs to the economy. Dismissing ADHD as a cultural construct and undeserving drain on finite NHS resources only adds to the enduring stigma and stereotyping of those with ADHD,” 

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Source: The Guardian, 13 January 2023

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ADHD medication shortage continues, pharmacists say

The continuing shortage of ADHD medication is causing those with the condition increasing stress and anxiety, the BBC has been told.

Pharmacists said the problem persists despite a government assurance it would be resolved by the end of last year.

In September, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) blamed the UK-wide scarcity on "increased global demand and manufacturing issues".

It said the disruption was "expected to resolve" between October and December.

Lorraine Jukes, who has ADHD, said: "Here I am in April 2024, with only four days of medication left."

The 36-year-old, from Iffley, Oxford, said she was "frantically phoning through lists of pharmacies" and being told there was no stock and no indication of any being available before she runs out.

Oliver Picard, vice chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said: "We were told it would be resolved in December.

"Some of the medication is starting to come back. In March, we had the supply of a certain brand of ADHD medication, we are now seeing shortages of other ADHD medication and we don't have a date for resupply.

"Sometimes we can get some but will be limited to one packet per month pharmacy and that's not helpful either. It's hugely frustrating."

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Source: BBC News, 15 April 2024

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ADHD drugs shortage fuels online black market

Drugs used to treat ADHD are being openly traded in "potentially lethal" doses to UK buyers on encrypted apps, a BBC North West investigation has found.

Criminals are cashing in on a national shortage to offer the prescription tablets in a secret mail-order service.

The BBC found an unregulated online market stacked with medication which high street chemists were struggling to stock.

It is feared patients are turning to the black market in desperation, but one psychiatrist has warned some of the drugs could contain other potentially harmful chemicals.

Thousands of people with ADHD have been unable to get prescribed medication amid a major supply shortage.

The BBC has heard how the situation has left children and adults in limbo and with the shortage set to last until December many are believed to be turning to illegitimate traders to help treat the condition.

The BBC took these findings to Dr Morgan Toerien, associate specialist in mental health at Beyond Clinics in Warrington, who said: "A lot of these drugs are potentially lethal, not just dangerous - particularly if you weren't used to taking them and if you took a higher dose.

"During my work in illicit drug treatment, we've tested people alleged to have taken a lot of the drugs seen on this channel and they don't actually contain what they say they do."

He said people could be taking a tablet purporting to be to treat ADHD, but could be "far more dangerous".

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Source: BBC News, 28 February 2024

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ADHD drugs have wider life benefits, study suggests

Drug treatment can help people newly diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) to reduce their risk of substance misuse, suicidal behaviour, transport accidents and criminality, a study suggests.

These issues are linked to common ADHD symptoms such as acting impulsively and becoming easily distracted.

Some 5% of children and 2.5% of adults worldwide are thought to be affected by the disorder - and growing numbers are being diagnosed.

The findings, published in the BMJ, confirm the wider potential benefits of drug treatment and could help patients decide whether to start medication, the researchers say.

"Oftentimes there is no information on what the risks are if you don't treat ADHD," said Prof Samuele Cortese, study author and professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at University of Southampton.

"Now we have evidence they [drugs] can reduce these risks."

This could be explained by medication reducing impulsive behaviour and lack of concentration, which might reduce the risk of accidents while driving and reduce aggressive behaviour which could lead to criminality.

Accessing the right medication for ADHD in many countries is not easy, with some drugs in short supply. In the UK waiting times to see specialists after diagnosis in order to access drugs can be several years.

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Source: BBC News, 14 August 2025

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ADHD drug shortage 'nightmare' for Kent families

Some people in Kent with ADHD say a shortage of vital medications is making life a "living nightmare".

The lack of medications at pharmacies has even left some people waiting years to get the drugs prescribed for them.

Some said they regularly have to ring dozens of pharmacies before finding their medication or drive up to 20 miles (32km) to collect treatments, while one person has resorted to paying £200 a month to get hers privately.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said that, while the majority of medicines were in good supply, it is working to resolve issues caused by complex and highly regulated global supply chains.

Single mother Tracy McKenzie has ADHD, along with her 10-year-old daughter and teenage son.

"My son is on a high strength of stimulant medication and without it becomes impulsive and aggressive," said Ms McKenzie, from Dartford.

"Every month I worry about trying to get medication for us all, which then impacts my own mental health.

"I phone many chemists within a 20-mile radius to find which has it in stock and pray that, by the time the doctor writes the prescription, someone else hasn't managed to get the last of it before me.

"It's a living nightmare."

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Source: BBC News, 4 November 2024

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ADHD digital test approved for NHS use in England and Wales

The NHS has been told it can start using a new digital test to speed up the diagnosis of ADHD in children and young people, which up to now could often take several years.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued draft guidance approving the use of the QbTest by psychiatrists and specialist children’s doctors. The computer-based test measures the three main characteristics of ADHD: inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.

Clinicians can use the results alongside other information they have gathered to help them diagnose, or rule out, that a young person has the condition. NICE said the test could be used when diagnosing six- to 17-year-olds in England and Wales.

Experts welcomed the move, saying the QbTest would help doctors diagnose more people within six months of them first being assessed.

Dr Jessica Eccles, the chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ neurodevelopmental special interest group, said: “People who suspect they may have ADHD often have to wait months or even years for an assessment which can prevent them from accessing timely and effective care. Any new evidence-based tools should be used to reduce these unacceptable waiting times and improve the availability of support.”

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Source: The Guardian, 16 July 2024

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ADHD and autism campaigners plan legal action against NHS over referral limits

Campaigners are planning to launch legal action after NHS chiefs in North Yorkshire placed limits on which adults can get referrals for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments.

North Yorkshire and York Health and Care Partnerships introduced a pilot programme in March in which adults seeking an NHS assessment for autism or ADHD are triaged via an online screening tool.

NHS chiefs say this screening process prioritises those with the most severe needs, rather than processing referrals in chronological order.

These priority needs reportedly include the patient being at risk of immediate self-harm or harming others, at risk of being unable to have lifesaving hospital treatment or care placement, or an imminent risk of family court decisions being determined on diagnosis.

Those who do not meet the criteria are given guidance and signposted to other support networks.

But campaigners say that in practise that means that most people cannot get a referral for an assessment – GPs can no longer make referrals themselves.

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Source: The Big Issue, 19 July 2023

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ADHD ‘not over-diagnosed’ despite surge in Ritalin prescriptions

Children are not being over-diagnosed with ADHD despite concerns about a spike in prescriptions of powerful stimulant drugs, a leading psychiatrist has said.

NHS statistics show 125,000 children and teenagers in England are taking drugs such as Ritalin for symptoms such as poor concentration, up by a quarter since before the Covid pandemic.

Isobel Heyman, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at Great Ormond Street Hospital and lead for child mental health at Cambridge Children’s Hospital, said that on the whole ADHD remained “under-treated” and that this was driving high levels of mental illness in young people.

Speaking to the Times Health Commission, Heyman said: “My understanding is that the increase in prescribing is largely related to increased diagnosis and increased recognition … We are still overall slightly under-treating [rather] than over-treating.

“There is a problem about over-medicalisation of ordinary distress, ordinary ebullience and over-enthusiasm in young people.”

She said the public should be reassured that ADHD diagnoses follow a “very stringent” process. However, she said private adult ADHD clinics may be less “rigorous” in providing a diagnosis.

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Source: The Times, 18 October 2023

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Adenomyosis: NHS failing women, health ambassador says

The NHS in England is "failing women", the government's women's health ambassador has said.

Prof Dame Lesley Regan, appointed to support the Women's Health Strategy implementation, was speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Naga Munchetty.

Last month, Munchetty, 48, revealed she had been diagnosed with the womb condition adenomyosis, after waiting years in severe pain.

Dame Lesley said she wanted women to be able to self-refer to specialists.

Women and girls should not have to seek "permission [to] go and have your crippling menstrual pain sorted out", she said.

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Source: BBC News, 6 June 2023

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Addiction treatment eludes more than half of Americans in need

Roughly three in 10 adults have been addicted to opioids or have a family member who has been, and less than half of those with a substance use disorder have received treatment, according to a new survey conducted by KFF, a health policy research group.

The survey, which polled more than 1,300 adults in July, underscores the broad and often harmful influence of opioid addiction across the nation, which recorded around 110,000 fatal drug overdoses last year alone.

And the findings suggest that some proven medications for helping curb drug cravings, such as buprenorphine and methadone, are still not getting to those who need them. Only 25 percent of participants in the poll who said they or someone in their family had an opioid addiction reported receiving medication for themselves or family members.

Mollyann Brodie, the executive director of KFF’s polling program, said that the numbers might be an undercount, as some survey participants might have been hesitant to share histories of opioid addiction.

Addiction cuts across class, race and geography, the KFF researchers found. Rural and white Americans were the likeliest to report personal or family opioid addiction, but significant percentages of Black, Hispanic, urban and suburban families did, as well. White families were more likely than Black or Hispanic families to say that they had received treatment. Overdose fatality rates among Black Americans have climbed substantially in recent years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a study last year.

Dr. David Fiellin, an addiction physician at the Yale School of Medicine, said the survey showed the need for a stronger federal response to substance use disorders, akin to the one for AIDS. He said, “There’s often a misunderstanding of what treatment actually looks like and what it is—people often look to a quick fix,” he said, referring to a detox strategy. “Effective treatment tends to be much more long term and requires addressing the denial that can be part of the condition.”

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Source: New York Times, 15 August 2023

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Addenbrooke's surgeon suspended after performing wrong operation

An orthopaedic surgeon falsified records and lied to a patient after he performed the wrong operation on her. 

Alan Norrish admitted performing the wrong type of partial knee replacement on his patient in January 2018 at the Nuffield Hospital in Cambridge. Having realised his mistake the former Addenbrooke's consultant tried to cover it up by falsifying records and doing "revision" surgery six days later.

Mr Norrish has been suspended for a year following a medical tribunal. He told the hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) he was "shocked" and "upset" when he realised his mistake. It was found he had lied in a letter to a hospital matron about the reason for the second operation, which was carried out on 25 January 2018.

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Source: BBC News, 30 August 2019

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Adam Price: Wales needs procurement tsar to tackle testing and PPE problems

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price has argued that the Welsh Government should appoint a procurement tsar to get to grips with Wales's serious shortage of COVID-19 testing kits, personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline health and care staff and medical devices for patients.

Wales is currently only testing 1,100 people a day when it was planning to test 6,000. This follows the collapse of an alleged deal between the Welsh Government and private company Roche which would have provided for 5,000 of those tests.

Adam Price made the case for the appointment of a tsar whose "sole responsibility" would be the procurement and supply of COVID-19 tests, PPE, and oxygen and medical devices for Wales.

He cited cases of care homes with just one or two boxes of surgical masks - each enough to last just two days for one patient, as well as hospital staff being forced to wear paper underwear over their hair due to the lack of any other protection.

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Source: Plaid Cymru Party of Wales, 6 April 2020

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Acutely unwell prisoners left in ‘limbo’ due to lack of mental health beds

People needing acute mental health treatment are being left in prison for extended periods, HSJ can reveal.

Figures HSJ obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that 3,111 patients were transferred from prisons to mental health facilities between 2018-19 and 2020-21. A total of 481 (15%) of the transfer took more than 14 days from the date the mental health casework section received an application for transfer to the date the transfer took place.

Across these three years, 167 transfers (5%) took more than 28 days. The longest wait for transfer was 161 days, which happened in 2018-19. However, the average number of days taken to transfer a patient has remained consistent at between 10 and 11 days.

Until the summer, NHS England’s guidance recommended a 14-day time limit for transfers of patients from prisons to mental health facilities.

In June 2021, NHSE published new guidance which recommended a 28-day time limit between a person first being referred for inpatient assessment and being admitted to a mental health facility. The timeline, which consists of two sequential 14-day periods, says medical reports should be “completed to be sent to the [MHCS]” between days 15 and 25, while the MCHS should approve and issue a warrant and admission should take place before day 28.

Sophie Corlett, of mental health charity Mind, said: “Nobody who has been assessed as needing specialist inpatient care should be left for extended periods of time in prison, as it’s a completely inappropriate setting for anyone in crisis… When people are a risk to themselves, it’s crucial there are enough staff and beds available to make sure they are cared for in a safe and therapeutic environment.”

Bethan Roberts, British Medical Association forensic and secure environments committee interim chair, said: “A prisoner who is mentally unwell and cannot be adequately cared for in a prison should… be transferred to a forensic mental health unit as soon as possible."

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Source: HSJ, 1 December 2021

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Acute trust to be prosecuted by CQC

The Care Quality Commission is to prosecute an acute trust after a patient was injured when allegedly exposed to “avoidable harm”.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust is due to appear tomorrow afternoon at Boston Magistrates’ Court.

The alleged incident took place at Lincoln County Hospital, the CQC said. Although the CQC declined to comment further, Lincolnshire Live reported the alleged incident involved 91-year-old Iris Longmate and relates to a failure to provide safe care and treatment on or before 3 March 2019.

The local publication added court papers claimed “at the same time ULHT also failed to give safe care and treatment to patients on Greetwell Ward, who were ‘being exposed to a significant risk of avoidable harm occurring’”. 

Proceedings are being brought under sections 22 and 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. These rules require providers to take reasonable steps to minimise risks to people’s health and safety during treatment, and make it a criminal offence if a provider fails to comply and a patient suffers avoidable harm or is exposed to a risk of this happening.

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Source: HSJ, 24 March 2022

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Actions in Donna Ockenden Review must be acted upon immediately by all maternity services say RCOG and RCM

Strong leadership, challenging poor workplace culture, and ringfencing maternity funding are key to improving safety. That’s the message from two leading Royal Colleges as they respond to the independent review of maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust led by Donna Ockenden.

The RCOG and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) have today welcomed the Ockenden Review and its recognition of the need to challenge poor working relationships, improve funding and access to multidisciplinary training and crucially to listen to women and their families to improve learning and to ensure tragedies such as those that have happened at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust never occur again. 

The Colleges have said that the local actions for learning and the immediate and essential actions laid out in this report must be read and acted upon immediately in all Trusts and Health Boards delivering maternity services across the UK.

Commenting, Dr Edward Morris, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: 

“This report makes difficult reading for all of us working in maternity services and should be a watershed moment for the system. Reducing risk needs a holistic approach that targets the specific challenges of fetal monitoring interpretation and strengthens organisational functioning, culture and behaviour."

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Source: RCOG, 10 December 2020

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Action yet to be taken on stillbirth independent investigation

Now, almost two years after a consultation on inquests into stillbirths was delivered, the government has yet to respond. 

It has recently been reported by MPs that 1,000 babies die preventable deaths each year due to understaffing and a culture of blame among the maternity ward workforce. 

However, despite pressure from campaigners and a promise by the government that a response would come in September 2019, it is yet to be published. 

The Department for Health and Social Care has told Byline Times, “work on analysing the responses to the consultation on coronial investigations of stillbirths has been delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

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Source: Byline Times, 14 July 2021

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Action needed as A&Es overflow with patients in severe dental distress

Ask any MP or local Healthwatch what health issue sits at the top of their inbox, and there is a good chance it will be the public’s access to NHS dentists. The launch of a Health and Social Care Committee inquiry into dentistry is therefore welcome news.

The inquiry is well timed, coming after a recent BBC investigation showing that 90% of practices across England were not accepting new adult NHS patients.

The severe access problems stem from several factors. Longstanding issues relating to the dental contract not offering high enough rates for dentists to provide NHS care, for example, have contributed to a decline in the availability of NHS dentistry. This has led to thousands of people across the country going private or, very concerningly, turning to self-care. 

Accident and emergency departments are over-flowing with people in severe dental distress, with tooth decay being the most common reason for hospital admission among children aged five to nine in recent years. 

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Source: HSJ, 19 January 2023

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Action needed after baby feed deaths, says coroner

A senior coroner has warned that more babies could die unless "action is taken", following the deaths of three infants who had received contaminated feed while being cared for in hospital.

Three-month-old Aviva Otte died in January 2014 after being given contaminated feed at St Thomas' Hospital, south London.

In June that year, one-month-old Oscar Barker and nine-day-old Yousef Al-Kharboush died after a similar, but separate contamination incident.

Following an inquest, Dr Julian Morris said he was concerned that St Thomas' Hospital was not legally required to report the first incident and called for a change in the law.

All three babies, who had been born prematurely, were fed through an intravenous drip, a method known as "total parenteral nutrition" (TPN).

Aviva, the first child to die, was given TPN that was made by NHS pharmacists at St Thomas' Hospital.

Oscar, who died at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge and Yousef, who also died at St Thomas' Hospital, received feed manufactured by private company ITH Pharma which supplied to several trusts.

The bacteria Bacillus cereus was found to be the contaminant in the cause of all three deaths.

In his conclusion, the senior coroner for Inner South London said he was worried that a lack of regulation around medicines such as Aviva's feed might lead to future deaths.

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Source: BBC News, 19 November 2024

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According to medical guidelines, your doctor needs a 27-hour workday

Some doctors say that however reasonable guidelines may seem, their cumulative burden causes “constant frustration” to medical practice.

A team of doctors wrote a study last year for the Journal of General Internal Medicine which suggested that if an American doctor followed all of the guidelines for preventive, chronic and acute disease care issued by well-known medical groups, it would require nearly 27 hours per day.

Guidelines have become “a constant frustration,” said Dr. Minna Johansson, a general practitioner in Uddevalla, Sweden, who also directs the Global Center for Sustainable Healthcare at the University of Gothenburg. “A lot of guidelines may seem reasonable when considered in isolation, but the cumulative burden of all guideline recommendations combined is absurd.”

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Source: New York Times, 14 February 2022

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Accidents on maternity wards cost NHS £1bn a year

Accidents on maternity wards cost the NHS nearly £1 billion last year, Jeremy Hunt, the chairman of the Commons health committee, has revealed.

The former health secretary said the bill for maternity legal action was nearly twice the amount spent on maternity doctors in England. It was part of the NHS’s £2.4 billion total legal fees and compensation bill, up £137 million on the previous year.

Mr Hunt has also told the Daily Mail there is evidence that hospitals are failing to provide details of avoidable deaths despite being ordered to do so three years ago as he highlighted “appalling high” figures which showed that up to 150 lives are being lost needlessly every week in public hospitals.

Responding to the figures, Mr Hunt said: "Something has gone badly wrong."

In 2017, he told trusts to publish data on the number of avoidable deaths among patients in their care. But freedom of information responses from 59 hospital trusts, about half the total, found less than a quarter gave meaningful data on avoidable deaths.

Mr Hunt cited “major cultural challenges” which he blamed for preventing doctors and nurses from accepting any blame. He blamed lawyers who get involved “almost immediately” once something goes wrong with a patient’s care.

“Doctors, nurses and midwives worry they could lose their licence if they are found to have made a mistake. Hospital managers worry about the reputation of their organisation,” he added.

Mr Hunt said: “We have appallingly high levels of avoidable harm and death in our healthcare system. We seem to just accept it as inevitable.”

An NHS spokesman said: “Delivering the safest possible health service for patients is a priority, and the national policy on learning from deaths is clear that hospitals must publish this information every three months, as well as an annual summary, so that they are clear about any problems that have been identified and how they are being addressed.

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Source: The Telegraph, 18 September 2020

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Accidental overdose of hospital patients with paracetamol sparks investigation

Patients have been significantly harmed, including suffering permanent damage to their liver, after being given accidental overdoses of paracetamol in hospital.

The NHS safety watchdog the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has now launched a national investigation after a number of incidents where adults with a low bodyweight were given too much paracetamol through an infusion, or IV drip, directly into their bloodstream.

The Independent understands there were three incidents reported by NHS staff in 2020 but there have been others in earlier years including the trigger event which sparked HSIB’s probe.

Overdoses of IV paracetamol in both adults and children is a recurring problem. Safety alerts have been repeatedly issued to NHS hospitals over the problem, with one alert in 2010 highlighting more than 200 previous incidents of overdoses.

In 2011 an inquiry into the death of 19-year-old Danielle Welsh, who died from liver failure due to a sustained paracetamol overdose in June 2008, found a junior doctor who prescribed the drug did not know she weighed only 35kg. The inquiry found: “There was a prevailing culture of assumed familiarity with the administration of IV paracetamol, a familiarity derived from the common use of oral paracetamol.”

Now the independent Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch believes the problem of prescribing paracetamol without considering a patients’ weight is still going on.

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Source: The Independent, 19 April 2021

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Access to mental health services worsening, according to survey findings

Results from the recently published Community Mental Health Survey highlight that issues with access to services and support, as evidenced in the 2020 and 2021 surveys, continue to persist. 

The 2022 Community Mental Health Survey – coordinated by Picker for the Care Quality Commission – collected feedback from more than 13,400 people in contact with services between September and November 2021. The survey is an important source of information to help us understand the quality of person-centred care provided to mental health service users.

A key feature of a high-quality person centred mental health service is timely access to care. The survey shows that there is more to be done here to ensure that service users have a good experience as nearly a third (31%) reported not being told who was in charge of organising their care and services – up from 28% in 2021. In parallel with this, 30% of service users said that they had not seen NHS mental health services enough in the last 12 months (compared to 27% in 2021 and 24% in 2020) and only 55% said they were given enough time to discuss their needs and treatment.

Just over half of service users (51%) said that they did not receive any help or advice with finding support for financial advice or benefits – a 3% point increase from last year’s survey. When asked a similar question regarding support for finding or keeping work, 50% said they did not receive help or advice but would have liked it. With the financial worries that the increased cost of living is causing for many people, signposting support and advice for employment, managing money, and claiming benefits are vital for helping people maintain good mental health.

Commenting on the results, Jenny King, Picker’s Chief Research Officer, said:

“On the 22nd September 2022, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Deputy Prime Minister at the time, Thérèse Coffey, announced the UK government’s Our plan for patients. Whilst it notes that work will continue to improve the availability of mental health support through expansion of services, there was little detail on how this would be achieved and how backlogs of care in mental health services would be resolved.

With the backdrop of the cost of living crisis and its impact on people’s mental health, the findings from this survey highlight the urgent need for more to be done to address accessibility issues. And not just in mental health services but across health and social care where, as highlighted by CQC’s 2021/22 State of Care report, people are waiting too long for appointments, assessments, and treatment. Without a plan for tackling the NHS’s workforce crisis, the ability to make sustainable service improvements to address the unmet need is severely restricted.”

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Source: Picker, 27 October 2022

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