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‘Irresponsible’: Alarm over Coffey’s ‘plans to let patients get antibiotics without seeing GP’

Doctors have criticised new health secretary Therese Coffey over reports that pharmacists will be allowed to prescribe antibiotics without the approval of a doctor.

According to The Times, Ms Coffey’s “Plan for Patients” will give pharmacists the power to prescribe certain drugs, such as contraception, without a prescription in an effort to reduce the need for GP appointments and tackle waiting lists.

Responding to reports of the plans, Rachel Clarke, an NHS palliative care doctor and writer, wrote on Twitter: “This is staggeringly irresponsible of Therese Coffey and will cause so much more harm than good.

“Doctors do not – unlike Coffey – dish out spare antibiotics to our family and friends because we’re painfully aware of the harms of antibiotic resistance. Utter recklessness.”

Stephen Baker, a professor at Cambridge University and an expert in molecular microbiology and antimicrobial resistance, branded the health secretary’s plans “moronic”.

He told the newspaper that the more antibiotics were used “the more likely we are to get drug-resistant organisms”.

He added that it was “nuts” to consider widening access to drugs, adding that resistance against antibiotics is “clearly one of the biggest problems humanity is facing in respect of infectious disease at the moment”.

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Source: The Independent, 17 October 2022

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‘Irrelevant’ training will stop next year, vows 10-Year Plan

The government’s 10-Year Health Plan has vowed to stop “repetitive” and “irrelevant” training that takes up NHS staff time.

The document said: “Our first step will be to reverse the accumulation of centrally dictated training requirements, which irritate staff and add unnecessary burdens to their working day.

“It is often repetitive, irrelevant to the work that staff do and has little or no impact on the quality of care that patients receive. By April 2026, we will have completely reformed mandatory training.

“As we transform the centre and push power out to staff and citizens, we will work with providers and professionals to identify more opportunities to ease the burden on frontline workers, remove central edicts, and allow a more flexible approach to workforce development.”

The plan also commits to using technology to increase clinical capacity, including through UK-registered health professionals working abroad to provide remote services to NHS patients.

NHS England has estimated that unnecessary mandatory training is wasting more than 100,000 days of staff time every year.

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Source: HSJ, 3 July 2025

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‘Integration is not enough’, NHSE demands ‘credible, affordable’ local plans

New five-year plans to be drawn up by all NHS organisations this autumn must be “credible, deliverable and affordable”, and boards must actively challenge them rather than them “simply endorsing the final version”, NHS England has said.

Draft guidance sent to local leaders in recent days kicks off work on the next wave of service development and finance plans, which NHSE says must be submitted later this year. Initially they will cover 2026-27 to 2030-31, and then be refreshed annually.

The document, seen by HSJ, seeks to set out the more robust approach to local planning that NHSE’s chair and CEO, Penny Dash and Sir Jim Mackey, want to introduce.

It states: “The boards of individual ICBs and providers are ultimately accountable for the development and delivery of their plans.”

These plans must be “evidence-based and realistic in scope”, states NHSE: “Having an aligned, integrated plan is not enough – the plan must also be credible, deliverable and affordable [and able to be] realistically executed with the available resources and operating environment”.

The NHSE guidance adds: “Boards are expected to play an active role in setting direction, reviewing drafts, and constructively challenging assumptions – rather than simply endorsing the final version of the plan.”

Meanwhile, the framework says the Department of Health and Social Care and NHSE are currently working to “translate the 10-Year Health Plan and spending review outcome into specific multi-year priorities and allocations”.

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Source: HSJ, 21 August 2025

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‘Insulting’ cut to staff support services confirmed by NHSE

NHS England has issued a ‘tokenistic’ and ‘insulting’ funding settlement for staff mental health and wellbeing hubs this year, which is not enough to provide proper support, HSJ has been told.

A letter sent by NHSE to its regional directors, and seen by HSJ, confirmed that the hubs have been allocated just £2.3m for 2023-24. NHSE says the funding, which is far below current running costs, must be spent within the financial year.

It appears to confirm fears that many of the 40 hubs will need to be shut, if they are not funded locally.

One hub lead said: “Day in, day out, we work with colleagues across the NHS who are struggling with a wide range of mental health issues, from anxiety and depression to burnout and dealing with the impacts of moral injury.

“Staff are exhausted, overwhelmed by their workload and struggling to give their patients the care they know they deserve.

“I urge ministers to speak directly to hub leads to find out exactly what the issues are on the ground, and how the hubs are helping staff who are working at their limits, while supporting staff retention.”

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Source: HSJ, 6 July 2023

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‘Insufficiently curious’ leaders ‘tolerated’ safety failures

Leaders at a mental health trust tolerated high levels of safety incidents and accepted verbal assurance with ‘insufficient professional curiosity’, a critical report has found.

An NHS England-commissioned review into governance at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust has been published, reviewing the organisation’s response to serious safety concerns flagged at the former West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough.

It follows separate reports identifying “systemic failures” over the deaths of inpatients Christie Harnett, Nadia Sharif and Emily Moore.

The new report, conducted by Niche Consulting, criticises board and service leaders’ handling of concerns about the regular occurrence of restraint and self-harm.

More than a dozen incidents of inappropriate restraint, some seeing patients dragged along the floor, were identified in November 2018, resulting in multiple staff suspensions and some dismissals. 

Niche found there was a “lack of accountable leadership at all levels” and lack of evidence for decisions in response to the November 2018 incidents.

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Source: HSJ, 21 March 2023

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‘Insufficient’ national response to deaths review programme, report finds

The latest annual report into the deaths of people with learning disabilities has criticised the “insufficient” national response to past recommendations and called for “urgent” policy changes.

The national learning disabilities mortality review programme has criticised the response from national health bodies to its previous recommendations.

To date, just over 7,000 deaths have been notified to the programme and reviews have been completed for just 45%.

There have been four annual reports for programme to date, and in the latest published today, the authors warned: “The response to these recommendations has been insufficient and we have not seen the sea change required to reassure [families] that early deaths are being prevented."

“It is long over-due that we should now have concerted national-level policy change in response to the issues raised in this report and previous others. A commitment to take forward the recommendations in a meaningful and determined way is urgently required.”

The latest report also warns that black, Asian and ethnic minority children with learning disabilities die “disproportionately” younger compared to other ethnicities.

It also found system problems and gaps in service provision were more likely to contribute to deaths in BAME people with learning disabilities. 

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Source: HSJ, 16 July 2020

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‘Insufficient leadership’ as maternity unit drops two ratings to ‘inadequate’

Inspectors raised serious concerns around leadership and safety at Lister Hospital in Stevenage, run by East and North Hertfordshire Trust, when they visited in October. The maternity service was also rated inadequate for leadership.

The CQC also raised concerns about staffing shortages, infection prevention control, care records, cleanliness, waiting times and training.

The inspection did, however, find staff worked well together, managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and findings were used to make improvements.

Carolyn Jenkinson, the CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said: “This drop in quality and safety was down to insufficient management from leaders to ensure staff understood their roles, and to ensure the service was available to people when they needed it.”

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Source: HSJ, 20 January 2023

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‘Insufficient curiosity’ of trust’s leaders enabled abuse

A major review into a mental health unit abuse scandal has found a catalogue of failings, including repeated missed opportunities to act on concerns, and a board “disconnected” from the realities faced by patients and staff.

The independent review into failings at Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust was published today, commissioned after BBC Panorama revealed a “toxic culture of humiliation, verbal abuse and bullying” at Edenfield Centre in Prestwich in September 2022.

The trust’s then chair, Rupert Nichols, resigned in November 2022, and CEO Neil Thwaite stepped down in spring last year.

Review chair Professor Oliver Shanley, a former mental health trust CEO and chief nurse, describes in his report how the trust’s culture and leaders’ “insufficient curiosity” contributed to the “invisibility” of the deterioration in care quality. He says its board was focused on “expansion, reputation and meeting operational targets”.

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Read the report of the Independent Review into Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Source: HSJ, 31 January 2024

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‘Institutionalised’ staff ‘perpetuating long hospital stays’

Nearly half of NHS patients with a learning disability or autism are still being kept inappropriately in hospitals, several years into a key programme to reduce inpatient care, a national review reveals.

The newly published review by NHS England suggests 41% of inpatients, assessed over an eight-month period to May 2022, should be receiving care in the community.

Reasons given for continued hospital care in the NHSE review included lack of suitable accommodation, with 19% having needs which could be delivered by community services; delays in moving individuals into the community with appropriate aftercare; legal barriers, with one region citing “ongoing concerns for public safety” as a barrier for discharge; and no clear care plans.

In some cases, individuals were placed in psychiatric intensive care units on a long-term basis, because “there was nowhere else to go”, while another instance cited a 20-year stay in hospital.

Other key themes included concerns about staff culture, particularly “institutionalisation” and suggestions that discharge delays were not being sufficiently addressed.

The report adds: “While the process around discharge can be time consuming, staff may perpetuate this by accepting such delays as necessary or inevitable.”

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Source: HSJ, 22 February 2023

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‘Insecure’ junior medics ‘crying every day’ in ‘chaotic’ department

Delays in patient care and a lack of consultant support have left junior medics fearing for their mental health, an NHS England investigation has discovered.

Junior doctors described haematology services delivered from University Hospitals Birmingham’s Heartlands Hospital as “chaotic”.

Their concerns are raised in a report by NHS England Workforce, Training and Education (formerly Health Education England). UHB’s haematology service has been under scrutiny since 2021, when HSJ revealed whistleblower concerns over patient safety, including a series of blood transfusion’ never’ events.

The WTE team visited UHB in April. As a result, the haematology service is now subject to the General Medical Council’s enhanced monitoring regime. This means intensive support is given to trainees and the trust to improve medical training. UHB’s obstetrics and gynaecology department is also under enhanced monitoring.

The WTE report warns that consultants working across multiple sites left trainee medics at Heartlands without sufficient support and supervision. Most conversations with consultants were via telephone, leaving juniors feeling “unsupported and insecure”. 

The report stated: “Trainees described the workload … as chaotic and some reported the stress … was affecting their mental health… Some reported they do not feel valued, and the panel heard examples of people crying every day. Most described their roles as 100 per cent service provision… [they] reported very limited learning opportunities overall.”

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Source: HSJ, 24 August 2023

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‘Innovation put over safety’ at world-famous hospital

A world-famous hospital has a culture where some staff may put research interests above patient safety, according to an external investigation.

A report published yesterday cited some employees at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Foundation Trust as saying “they feel that the hospital sometimes put too much emphasis on pushing the boundaries of science” and “are concerned [this] may lead to a culture where some prioritise innovation over safety in their practice”.

The trust’s medical director Sanjiv Sharma commissioned the report into the effectiveness of its safety procedures, from consultancy Verita, in 2020, after families of several patients who died at the hospital raised concerns in the media about how it responded to safety incidents.

The report said: “We believe that it is sometimes culturally difficult within Great Ormond Street to accept that things can go wrong and to respond appropriately. We were told that some see the organisation as ‘bullet-proof’ in the face of criticism."

“There is also a view outside the trust that some clinicians at Great Ormond Street can find it difficult to accept that something had gone wrong. Some believe that this reflex is deeply ingrained. This is potentially indicative of a culture of defensiveness. Acknowledging this trait is the first step on the road to changing it.”

Dr Sharma said in a statement yesterday that GOSH had already taken steps to improve its culture and systems, appointing patient safety educators and patient safety leads in each directorate.

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Source: HSJ, 7 July 2022

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‘Inhumane’ NHS fees left more than 900 migrants without treatment

Hundreds of migrants have declined NHS treatment after being presented with upfront charges over the past two years, amid complaints the government’s “hostile environment” on immigration remains firmly in place.

Data compiled by the Observer under the Freedom of Information Act shows that, since January 2021, 3,545 patients across 68 hospital trusts in England have been told they must pay upfront charges totalling £7.1m. Of those, 905 patients across 58 trusts did not proceed with treatment.

NHS trusts in England have been required to seek advance payment before providing elective care to certain migrants since October 2017. It covers overseas visitors and migrants ruled ineligible for free healthcare, such as failed asylum seekers and those who have overstayed their visa. The policy is not supposed to cover urgent or “immediately necessary” treatment. However, there have been multiple cases of people wrongly denied treatment.

Dr Laura-Jane Smith, a consultant respiratory physician and member of the campaign group Medact, said: “I had a patient we diagnosed as an emergency with lung cancer but they were told they would be charged upfront for treatment and then never returned for a follow-up. This was someone who had been in the country for years but who did not have the right official migration status. A cancer diagnosis is devastating. To then be abandoned by the health service is inhumane.”

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Source: The Guardian, 20 August 2023

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‘Inherently risky’ children’s cancer service to be overhauled

Children’s cancer services in south London are to be reconfigured after a new review confirmed they represented an “inherent geographical risk to patient safety” — following HSJ revelations last year of how serious concerns had been “buried” by senior leaders.

Sir Mike Richards’ independent review was commissioned after HSJ revealed a 2015 report linking fragmented London services to poor quality care had not been addressed, and clinicians were facing pressure to soften recommendations which would have required them to change.

The review, published in conjunction with Thursday’s NHS England board meeting, recommended services at two sites should be redesigned as soon as possible to improve patient experience.

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Source: HSJ, 31 January 2020

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‘Independent review of NHS’ ahead of second wave

There should be independent reviews of the NHS’ readiness for a potential second major outbreak of coronavirus in the UK, senior doctors are arguing.

The Royal College of Anaesthetists said a series of reviews should be carried out, overseen by an independent group formed from clinical royal college representatives, independent scientists and academics.

It would encompass investigation of what happened to care quality during the peak of infection and demand through March, April and May — there are major concerns that harm and death was caused by knock of effects, with some health services closed and people being afraid to use others.

Hospitals were unable to provide many other services as staff, including most anaesthetists, were redeployed to help with critical care.

Ravi Mahajan, president of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, told HSJ areas such as capacity, workforce and protective equipment were key issues to be reviewed. He said: “We can’t wait for [the pandemic] to finish and then review. [The reviews] have to be dynamic, ongoing, and the sooner they start the better.

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Source: HSJ, 17 June 2020

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‘Increased survival rates’ for bladder cancer patients given immunotherapy drug

Bladder cancer patients given an immunotherapy drug are a third less likely to see disease come back and are more likely to survive, according to a “game-changer” study.

Patients with advanced (muscle-invasive) bladder cancer had significantly less risk of cancer progressing or returning when treated with durvalumab, and were more likely to still be alive two years after treatment.

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Source: Independent, 13 January 2025

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‘Inappropriate behaviours’ persist despite ‘substantial progress’ on trust’s board

Cultural issues persist at a large teaching trust, despite “substantial progress” at board level, according to an external review it commissioned.

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust ordered the review to assess change since it was rated “inadequate” for leadership by the Care Quality Commission in 2024, amid leadership and culture problems.

It praised “renewed leadership that has driven significant, positive change from the top”, a “cohesive, professional and collegiate board” and a “clear focus on board visibility”.

Despite the board improvements, the review, by advisory firm Grant Thornton UK, said an “overwhelming majority” of complaints raised by staff still involved “inappropriate attitudes” and “behaviours” – particularly in incidents with line managers.

It recommended NUTH should continue work to improve culture and leadership, because progress made at the top had not been “embedded” throughout the rest of the organisation.

Specifically, the trust should improve the quality of its line management, bolster trust in a revised “freedom to speak up” process, and promote “greater diversity and inclusion”, it said.

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Source: HSJ, 11 February 2026

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‘Inadequate’ provider threatens CQC with legal action

A patient transport company rated “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has said it is taking legal action against the watchdog because it claims the judgement was based on factual inaccuracies and inspectors “going rogue”.  

Inspectors gave the company poor scores for both safety and leadership and identified “systemic shortfalls that placed people at risk and did not meet the standards of a safe or well‑led service”, including what they described as substandard training and “poor management”.

But the parent firm of HTG-UK East – Norwich, which was inspected last September, said it rejected the watchdog’s “highly damaging” findings. HTG-UK chief Neil Berry told HSJ that inspectors chose “hearsay over hard evidence” and dismissed 34 “factual inaccuracies” raised by the team.

He said HTG-UK had successfully overturned a warning notice issued after the inspection – but accused inspectors of “going rogue” and still proceeding with an “inadequate” rating.

This is not the first time a patient transport company has taken legal action against the CQC over an “inadequate” report.

At a tribunal hearing in March 2023, Specialist Medical Transport successfully appealed the CQC’s notice of decision at a First-tier Tribunal, which found the regulator’s decision “was not necessary, reasonable or proportionate”. 

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Source: HSJ, 31 March 2026

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‘Inadequate’ children’s mental health hospital ‘put safety of patients at risk’ CQC report finds

Serious safety concerns have been raised about a children’s mental health hospital where staff lacked respect for patients, as the provider faces a police investigation into another one of its units.

The Huntercombe Hospital in Stafford has been rated as “inadequate” by watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after inspectors found the safety of children within the hospital was at risk.

The concerns about this hospital come as The Independent revealed police have launched an investigation into another mental health unit run by the provider in Maidenhead.

Following an inspection in October inspectors sent an urgent warning notice to the provider, after it found there were not enough staff to keep patients safe.

The hospital was described as relaying on agency workers who did not have knowledge of the patients.

The CQC inspectors found children’s wards were dirty with poor hygiene measures in the hospital and patients at risk of infection.

According to the report staff were found “sitting with their eyes closed for prolonged periods of time”, and that staff observations of at risk patients were “undermined by a blind spot where people could self-harm unseen.”

Craig Howarth, CQC head of inspection for mental health and community health services, said: “Further to these issues, we saw that staff sometimes showed a lack of respect to patients and one ward was poorly furnished and maintained and there wasn’t always enough emphasis on some people’s individual requirements.”

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Source: The Independent, 11 March 2022

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‘Impossible’ to improve delayed discharges as picture worsens

The number of patients stuck in hospitals despite being ‘medically fit’ to leave has continued to increase in recent months, leading to warnings from NHS Confederation that trusts are finding it ‘impossible’ to make progress on reducing the numbers.

Official statistics for April suggest an average of 12,589 patients per day in NHS hospitals in England – 13% of all occupied beds – did not meet the “criteria to reside”. At 31 trusts, the proportion was 20% or more.

NHS England has since told local leaders to make reducing the numbers of delayed discharges an operational priority. The issue is a key factor behind the long waits in emergency care, as ward beds are taking longer to become available to accident and emergency patients.

Rory Deighton, acute lead at NHS Confederation, said targets to reduce delayed discharges “will not be met” unless the government “invests in domiciliary care wages,” amid high numbers of vacancies in the social care sector.

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Source: HSJ, 1 June 2022

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‘Immobile’ patient dies after discharge with no care package

An “immobile” patient was found dead after a trust discharged him home with no support and no means of calling for help, a coroner has found.

Samuel Brookes, who lived alone, was taken home from Russells Hall Hospital, run by The Dudley Group Foundation Trust, and left in his bed without access to his alarm or mobile phone.

John Ellery, the coroner for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said in a Prevention of Future Deaths report sent to the hospital: “Mr Brookes was left unattended for two weeks until on the 22 April 2024 his grandson attended and found him unresponsive, wedged between his bed and the bedroom wall… When Mr. Brookes got into difficulty he could not raise the alarm or call for help.”

The coroner found the hospital had sent Mr Brookes home “without rearranging his required care” and there was “no record or documentation or process to show or demonstrate that the care had been rearranged”.

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Source: HSJ, 28 April 2025

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‘If we catch Covid, we die’: UK shielders reflect on still feeling unsafe

Sarah Spoor and her two adult sons have spent the past 14 months shielding in a one-bedroom apartment, with no garden, in west London. Her youngest sleeps in the bedroom, his brother has a pull-out bed in the kitchen, while Spoor takes the living room in another fold-out bed.

All three have complex medical conditions that leave them vulnerable to Covid, and despite the strain of living in such close quarters, they don’t feel safe leaving home any time soon.

“If we catch it, we die; it’s that simple. In the 14 months, I have probably been out about four times, and that’s usually in some dire emergency,” said Spoor, who provides round-the-clock care for her sons, 20 and 24, after their medical team decided it was too risky for their usual carers to continue visiting.

The family has yet to be vaccinated as their medical conditions, which include type 1 diabetes, adrenal insufficiency, pernicious anemia and thyroid failure, mean they are likely to experience a severe reaction leading to hospital admission, and they are concerned about the risk of catching Covid in hospital when cases are still prevalent.

Spoor is not alone in fearing a return to life after lockdown, with disability charity Scope estimating 75% of disabled people plan to continue shielding until after their second vaccine dose, and some for longer.

“I think there is a potential long-term impact that groups of people become squirrelled away and it’s potentially easy for governments and local authorities to forget about them,” said James Taylor, executive director of strategy and social change at Scope. “We’re really worried that, in the long-term, lots of the rights that disabled people have fought for, the visibility, the recognition of disabled people as equal, that all falling away and going backwards.”

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Source: The Guardian, 19 April 2021

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‘Ideologically driven’ NHSE maternity model causing national tension

A policy ‘at the heart’ of NHS England’s efforts to improve maternity care is under question after being sharply criticised by an independent inquiry, and is the subject of major tensions within NHSE and midwifery, HSJ understands.

The Ockenden report into major care failings at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust included 15 “immediate actions” for all maternity services in England, which government has accepted and said it would begin implementation.

However, one of these relates to the “continuity of carer” model, which NHS England has championed since 2017, when it was described as “at the heart of” its national plans for improving maternity care and outcomes.

The model intends to give women “dedicated support” from the same midwifery team throughout their pregnancy, with claimed benefits including improved outcomes, with a particular focus on some minority groups.

However, Ms Ockenden indicated its implementation in recent years had stretched staffing, and therefore harmed quality and safety overall, and also appeared to question whether the model was evidenced.

Some midwifery leaders are advocates for the model, but others have described how it can result in awful working patterns, with concerns it is causing some staff to leave the profession.

Royal College of Midwives director for professional midwifery Mary Ross-Davie told HSJ: “With the right resources and the right number of midwives, CoC can have a positive impact on maternity care – but in too many trusts and boards this is simply not the situation. We are really pleased, therefore, to see that the review team has echoed the RCM’s recommendations around the suspension of continuity of carer where too few staff puts safe deployment at risk.”

She said the model was “something to which many maternity services aspire, particularly for women who need enhanced monitoring throughout their pregnancy to deliver better outcomes for them and their baby”.

Helen Hughes, chief executive of Patient Safety Learning charity, said that although it had heard positive feedback that the model can improve outcomes, there must also be a “robust assessment of the safety impact of implementing such changes and the sources and staffing in place to deliver this”.

“Otherwise the core intentions and benefits will be lost,” Ms Hughes said.

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Source: HSJ, 31 March 2022

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‘I’ve been treated like the accused’: NHS nurse reveals 8 years of hell after raising sexual harassment claims

A nurse whistleblower has described her eight years of hell as she fights the NHS over its failure to properly investigate claims she was sexually harassed by a colleague.

Michelle Russell, who has 30 years of experience, first raised allegations of sexual harassment by a male nurse to managers at the mental health unit where she worked in London in 2015.

Years of battling her case saw the trust’s initial investigation condemned as “catastrophically flawed” while the nursing watchdog, the Nursing Midwifery Council, has apologised for taking so long to review her complaint and has referred itself to its own regulator over the matter.

With the case still unresolved, Ms Russell will see her career in the NHS end this week after she was not offered any further contract work.

Speaking to The Independent she said: “If I’m going to lose my job, I want other nurses to know that this is what happens when you raise a concern. I want the public to know this is what happens to us in the NHS when we are trying to protect the public.

“I have an unblemished career. They’re crying out for nurses. I’ve dedicated my life to the NHS. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

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Source: The Independent, 6 February 2024

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‘I’m sorry’: hospital boss wishes he’d stopped rogue surgeon sooner

The chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital said he is “deeply sorry”, after an internal report revealed a rogue surgeon harmed more than a quarter of the children he operated on.

Matthew Shaw’s apology to families comes before the publication of a major review this week, which will set out the full scale of botched operations carried out by the orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar.

The review of Jabbar’s care will confirm that of the 333 children he performed surgery on during a six-year period, 91 were harmed — representing 27% of his surgical patients.

One child had a leg amputated, another may need to have an amputation in the future, while others have been left with chronic pain from nerve damage and debilitating deformities.

“I wish we could have stopped him earlier,” said Shaw, who is leaving Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in April, after six years in charge.

He also apologised to whistleblowers who helped to expose the scandal, and warned of weaknesses in the wider NHS that meant rogue surgeons like Jabbar, working in highly specialised areas, could be going under the radar.

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Source: The Times, 24 January 2026

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‘I’m an NHS whistleblower. Patients are dying needlessly’

The number of deaths and patients seriously harmed due to alleged clinical negligence at a scandal-hit trust is “just the tip of the iceberg”, an NHS whistleblower has claimed.

Several hundred more cases are likely to come under Operation Bamber, a formal investigation into multiple deaths and injuries at the Royal Sussex County Hospital between 2015 and 2021, according to sources close to the inquiry.

The operation was initially launched in June 2023 after two consultant surgeons who reported concerns over surgical standards were dismissed by the University Hospital Sussex NHS trust (UHS), which runs the hospital. Police then expanded the operation to investigate 105 cases of alleged medical negligence but, insiders have said they expect that number to reach “many hundreds” the longer the inquiry goes on.

Michael Swinn, a Surrey-based consultant urological surgeon who blew the whistle on bad practice at his own trust, said he has been approached by senior clinical staff across the country, including Brighton, since publishing a book about his own experience. Some have blown the whistle on poor practice already, others are considering it and seeking advice.

Mr Swinn, 58, told inews: “The reports about Brighton say the police are looking at around 100 cases. I’m told it is many, many more. Potentially several hundred."

Sussex Police said it is continuing to investigate allegations of medical negligence relating to neurosurgery and general surgery at the Royal Sussex.

A spokesperson for the force said: “A number of cases from within the specified NHS departments and during the specified time period have been assessed and are forming part of the ongoing investigation… Sussex Police is committed to conducting a thorough and transparent investigation. Due to the complex nature of the enquiries, this is likely to take some time to complete.”

Among the cases forming part of the investigation is the death of Lewis Chilcott, 23, who suffered a fatal arterial haemorrhage after an alleged error in his tracheostomy led to infection. A review by the Royal College of Surgeons found that it was likely that the low position of the inserted tube caused the fatal damage.

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Source: inews, 2 September 2024

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