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Doctors’ leaders criticise GMC advice allowing resident doctors to supervise PAs

The Royal College of Physicians has said it is “disappointing” that new General Medical Council guidance does not state that physician associates (PAs) must be supervised by a senior doctor.

The BMA has also criticised the GMC’s new good practice advice for doctors who supervise and work with PAs and anaesthesia associates (AAs), calling it an “unhelpful contribution.”

Both the RCP and BMA argue that PAs should be supervised only by senior doctors such as consultants, GPs, and autonomously practising specialist or associate specialist doctors and never by doctors in training. But the GMC’s new guidance suggests that other healthcare professionals or resident doctors could take on this responsibility.

Dr Hilary Williams, RCP clinical vice president elect and chair of the RCP PA oversight group (PAOG) said: 

"The RCP published interim guidance for the supervision of physician associates (PAs) in December 2024. In our guidance, we were clear that PAs working in the medical specialties must be supervised by a senior doctor (a consultant, specialist or associate specialist doctor) and never by a resident. 

'It is therefore disappointing that this new resource from the GMC allows for the supervision of PAs by other healthcare professionals and doctors in training – we drew a firm boundary in our guidance to protect the training opportunities and role of resident doctors.

'Patient safety is our priority. This is why we've repeatedly called for a national scope of practice for PAs. They should not work autonomously, prescribe medications, or request ionising radiation. The RCP interim guidance is overall more detailed, structured and explicit about scope of practice, supervision and how PAs should explain their role and responsibilities. We would expect and encourage trusts and health boards to follow this guidance where PAs are being employed to work in medical specialities."

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Source: BMJ, 28 April 2025

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The United States is witnessing the return of psychiatric imprisonment

Across the USA, a troubling trend is accelerating: the return of institutionalization – rebranded, repackaged and framed as “modern mental health care”. From Governor Kathy Hochul’s push to expand involuntary commitment in New York to Robert F Kennedy Jr’s proposal for “wellness farms” under his Make America Healthy Again (Maha) initiative, policymakers are reviving the logics of confinement under the guise of care.

These proposals may differ in form, but they share a common function: expanding the state’s power to surveil, detain and “treat” marginalized people deemed disruptive or deviant. Far from offering real support, they reflect a deep investment in carceral control – particularly over disabled, unhoused, racialized and LGBTQIA+ communities. Communities that have often seen how the framing of institutionalization as “treatment” obscures both its violent history and its ongoing legacy. In doing so, these policies erase community-based solutions, undermine autonomy, and reinforce the very systems of confinement they claim to move beyond.

Take Hochul’s proposal, which seeks to lower the threshold for involuntary psychiatric hospitalization in New York. Under her plan, individuals could be detained not because they pose an imminent danger, but because they are deemed unable to meet their basic needs due to a perceived “mental illness”. This vague and subjective standard opens the door to sweeping state control over unhoused people, disabled peopleand others struggling to survive amid systemic neglect. Hochul also proposes expanding the authority to initiate forced treatment to a broader range of professionals – including psychiatric nurse practitioners – and would require practitioners to factor in a person’s history, in effect pathologizing prior distress as grounds for future detention.

This new era of psychiatric control is being marketed as a moral imperative. Supporters insist there is a humanitarian duty to intervene – to “help” people who are suffering. But coercion is not care. Decades of research show that involuntary (forced) psychiatric interventions often lead to trauma, mistrust, and poorer health outcomes. Forced hospitalization has been linked to increased suicide risk and long-term disengagement from mental health care. Most critically, it diverts attention from the actual drivers of distress: poverty, housing instability, criminalization, systemic racism and a broken healthcare system.

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Source: The Guardian, 27 April 2025

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US congressmen propose bill to address patient safety loophole in medical imaging

Three US congressmen have proposed a bipartisan bill aimed at addressing what they say is a patient safety loophole in medical imaging. 

Reps. Don Davis, Morgan Griffith and Ben Cline earlier this month introduced the Nuclear Medicine Clarification Act of 2025. Their concern stems from the issue of radiopharmaceutical extravasations—medical errors that occur when a radioactive drug is accidentally injected into the tissue rather than a vein. 

These incidents can cause tissue damage and compromise the procedure, they note. However, since 1980, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has exempted radiopharmaceutical extravasations from “medical event” reporting requirements, even if they result in dangerous doses.

“Patients deserve to have protections and transparency when undergoing treatment for serious health conditions,” Davis said in a statement. “Improving reporting for accidental radiation exposure is long overdue and we must restore the rights of the patients who place their trust in healthcare providers.”

Those involved say the bill would ensure transparency and simplify federal rules. The NRC in 2022 accepted a petition to close the loophole and published a draft proposed rule to require reporting of extravasations that result in injury. However, Davis and colleagues claim the proposal is “insufficient and uses a subjective standard to determine whether an event is reportable.” 

“It is disturbing that in the year 2025 patients can be extravasated with large doses of radiation that affect their imaging or therapy procedure and may have skin and tissue implications. And it is unconscionable that patients are not told, and the NRC is not informed,” Jackson W. Kiser, a radiologist with the Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virgina, who has published numerous articles on this topic, said in the announcement. “I am pleased that Congress is stepping in to force the NRC to protect patients.”

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Source: Radiology Business, 25 April 2025

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My son took his life. Why did the NHS ignore the warning signs?

Chris Nichols was one of 2,000 mental health inpatients who died in Essex between 2000 and 2023. The Lampard Inquiry is tasked with finding out why

In one of his final conversations with his mother, Chris Nichols was upbeat and hopeful despite a period of turbulence and poor mental health.

He had phoned Linda Lindsay from Colchester Hospital, in Essex, where he had sought help after the latest in a series of suicide attempts. Despite complaining of voices in his head and acknowledging he had hurt himself, there was a note of optimism as he told her things were going to change.

“He told me ‘it’s all right, Mum, you don’t need to worry. I’m going to get help’,” says Lindsay, 70, recounting the phone call in May 2022. “If only that happened.”

Shortly afterwards, in the early hours of May 30, Nichols was discharged and took a cab home, his right wrist bandaged from the self-inflicted wounds. On June 3 he took his own life at his home in Clacton-on-Sea, aged 44.

Nichols’s mother and stepfather Iain Lindsay, 72, believe his suicide was preventable. He had a long history of mental health issues and alcohol dependency, and had been at A&E on May 24 after overdosing on the anxiety drug Clonazepam.

His relatives cannot understand why, given his risk factors, he was released so quickly, discharged to his GP and advised to self-refer to alcohol related services. They say he was not given a clear care plan or proper support.

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Source: The Times, 25 April 2025

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What is the Lampard Inquiry and what could it change?

Mental health patients are among the most vulnerable in society, but services in England have been under huge strain for at least a decade, with sometimes fatal consequences. A public inquiry backed by the government is focusing on deaths in Essex as a starting point, but what is it and what does it hope to achieve?

Solicitors representing a growing number of families who have lost loved ones say the Lampard Inquiry, which resumes on 28 April, is as important as those surrounding the Post Office and infected blood scandals.

The chair of the inquiry says it is looking at significantly more than 2,000 deaths and the inquiry team says the alleged failings are "on a scale that is deeply shocking".

The failures reported in Essex over 24 years could be an indication of what is going on elsewhere. By examining those failures in detail, it is hoped mental healthcare will be improved across England.

The Lampard Inquiry is the first public inquiry specifically looking into mental health deaths.

It will aim to understand what happened to patients who died at children and adult inpatient units, under the care of the NHS in Essex, between the years 2000 and the end of 2023.

The inquiry will focus on Essex Partnership University Foundation NHS Trust , external(EPUT) and the North East London Foundation Trust, external (NELFT), along with organisations that existed previously.

Calls for an inquiry were first made by the mothers of two 20-year-old men who died at the Linden Centre - a mental health unit in Chelmsford.

In 2008, Ben Morris, the son of Lisa Morris, was found dead after calling her to say he wanted to leave.

Four years later, in 2012, staff said they found Melanie Leahy's son Matthew unresponsive, and he was pronounced dead in hospital. He reported being raped days before he died.

Essex Police investigated and no arrests were made but the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), which followed up Ms Leahy's complaints, found the mental health trust failed to follow its own rape allegation procedures.

His care plan was also falsified.

Since then, repeated failures have been raised in the county.

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Source: The Independent, 9 September 2025

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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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CEO tells staff ‘silence is complicity’ after record sexual misconduct reports

An ambulance trust has dismissed “multiple staff” for sexual misconduct offences this year following its “highest year ever for reported sexual safety incidents” in 2024, HSJ has learned.

East of England Ambulance Service Trust’s chief executive Neill Moloney wrote to staff to warn them they all have a “moral obligation” to “step up when [they] see inappropriate behaviour”.

In the letter, seen by HSJ, Mr Moloney said: “Silence is not neutrality. It is complicity. We all have a moral obligation to support those that experience this behaviour… If you witness or experience inappropriate sexualised behaviour, I am encouraging you to report it.”

He added: “Last year alone, 44 sexual safety incidents were reported — our highest year ever for reported sexual misconduct — figures driven in part by higher reporting of incidents.

“Already in 2025, we have dismissed multiple staff for sexual misconduct. This includes sexualised conversation and language in ambulances and crew rooms. This is considered sexual misconduct and we need your support to continue to eradicate this.”

The trust told HSJ that four people were dismissed for sexual misconduct in 2024, and to date in 2025, a further four people have been dismissed.

The concerns follow the results of the NHS Staff Survey published last month, which highlighted the depth of the sexual misconduct problems across the whole ambulance sector, with the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives calling for a “cultural reset”.

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Source: HSJ, 28 April 2025

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The Aids crisis was set to end by 2030 – now Trump’s cuts will mean 4 million more deaths

Donald Trump’s slashing of foreign aid has derailed the projected end of the Aids pandemic and could lead to four million extra deaths by 2030, The Independent can reveal.

New figures show the number of Aids-related deaths could jump from six million to 10 million in the next five years unless funding is reinstated, according to forecasts from the UN Aids agency (UNAIDS).

The unprecedented disruption to global HIV programmes by the US is also projected to lead to more than three million more Aids orphans than previously expected by the end of the decade.

Only last year, the UN said a goal to end the Aids pandemic by the end of the decade was in reach, equating to a 90% reduction in new infections and deaths.

According to the UN figures, there will be 3.4 million more orphans, defined as children who have lost at least one parent to Aids. In addition, 600,000 more newborns could be infected with HIV by 2030 – more than double the number originally feared. That will bring the total number of infant infections to a million by the end of the decade, analysis of the figures by The Independent shows.

Responding to the grim statistics, Professor Francois Venter, a leading HIV doctor at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, says: “All the gains that we’ve seen over the last 20 years will start being steadily reversed.

“Our hospitals when I was training 25 years ago were absolutely, absolutely overwhelmed. People were dying on the floor and at the moment hospitals are full, but they will be easily overwhelmed with what’s coming.”

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Source: The Guardian, 18 April 2025

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Oliver McGowan training 'lifted scales from my eyes'

A senior doctor says he is shocked at how many deaths of people with learning disabilities and autism are "potentially preventable by really basic things".

Dr Andrew Kelso is a consultant neurologist and the executive medical director at the Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (SNEE ICB).

The ICB, which commissions all health services, has rolled out the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, external to its health and social care professionals.

"That's the thing that keeps me awake at night," Dr Kelso told the BBC. "How little I knew before I went and how much I knew afterwards, and what a missed opportunity that might have been for me."

The mandatory training - for all NHS staff who work with the public - is named after Oliver McGowan, an 18-year-old from Bristol who died in 2016 after he was given an anti-psychotic drug he was allergic to, despite repeated warnings from his parents.

His mother Paula had lobbied for mandatory training to potentially "save lives".

Dr Kelso, a consultant specialising in epilepsy, said: "I thought I knew quite a lot about learning disability.

"But the scales fell off my eyes when I was in the training and realised how much I didn't know - and that's in a career where I see people with learning disability all the time.

"How many gaps are there in the knowledge of people that don't spend their entire career with learning disability and may just come across them every now and then?"

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Source: BBC News, 25 April 2025

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Violence and abuse against ambulance staff in UK at highest level on record

The number of violent assaults, acts of aggression and incidents of abuse against ambulance staff in the UK has risen to the highest on record, according to data health leaders described as “horrendous” and “truly shocking”.

There were 22,536 incidents of violence, aggression and abuse directed at paramedics and other ambulance workers in 2024-25, up 15% on the 19,633 in 2023-24, figures from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) show.

It means that each week on average those responding to 999 calls are the victims of 433 attacks, include kicking, punching, slapping, head-butting, spitting, sexual assault and verbal abuse.

Senior ambulance officials said they believed the true toll was even higher, with many incidents not reported or recorded. Female paramedics and ambulance workers are the most likely to be targeted by the public.

Jason Killens, the AACE chair, said: “These figures are truly shocking and reflect a pattern of increased violence, aggression and abuse directed at hard-working ambulance people who are there to help people in their times of greatest need.

“Frontline staff as well as call handlers are affected by this horrendous abuse, and this unacceptable behaviour has a major long-term impact on the health and wellbeing of ambulance people who are simply trying to do their jobs and help save lives.”

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Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2025

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Waiting list patients ‘should be on standby to fill cancellations’

Patients stuck on NHS waiting lists for routine surgery should be kept on “standby” and contacted at short notice to fill last-minute cancellations, a report has suggested.

There are 135,000 on-the-day surgical cancellations in the UK each year because of patient absence or illness, costing the NHS an estimated £400 million.

Instead of leaving operating theatres unused, a report by the health tech firm Proximie has called for the NHS to implement a new “standby patient system” to drive up efficiency and productivity in the health service. This would require hospitals to identify patients living nearby who could be called up with a few hours’ notice to get operations before their scheduled date.

The system could cover all elective surgery, including hernia repair and knee or hip replacements, helping to tackle waiting lists of 7.4 million and reduce the number of people having to wait months for life-changing surgery.

Some NHS trusts are already testing the standby approach, finding it can save money and cut waiting lists. In one pilot at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, surgeons put 12 patients who had been waiting on average 44 weeks for operations on a standby list.

Six were able to get their operations earlier after being called to fill on-the-day cancellations and reported excellent experiences of the initiative. The scheme saved the trust £15,240, and surgeons concluded that it “provides a cost-effective solution to optimise theatre utilisation, reduce waiting list times and improve patient care”.

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Source: The Times, 23 April 2025

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New NHS probe into spinal surgeon's care

Hundreds of patients treated by a spinal surgeon who was found to have caused them serious harm could have their cases reviewed.

NHS England has confirmed it will look back into two hospital reviews into John Bradley Williamson, who worked at Salford Royal Hospital and the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital from 1991 to 2015.

It comes after former patients, who said they had experienced problems linked to his surgery, said they believed the previous reviews were too limited.

Mr Williamson said he has "always strived to provide the very best care for patients" and would cooperate with any patient care investigation.

A report into the surgeon's care between 2009 and 2014 found he had caused "severe harm" to seven patients at Salford Royal Hospital. Some screws were poorly placed, and some patients suffered heavy blood loss, the report found.

One former patient, treated by Mr Williamson when she was 11, said she had been living in "agony" after the surgery at the former Pendlebury Children's Hospital, now Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

Campaigners, including the sister of a teenager who died during spinal surgery by Mr Williamson, have called for a full recall of all patients on whom the surgeon operated.

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Source: BBC News, 24 April 2025

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Global study on Covid vaccine safety falls victim to Trump cuts

The largest ever global study into the safety of Covid-19 vaccines has been terminated just 13 months shy of completion, after becoming caught up in the Trump administration’s sweeping funding cuts.

The Global Vaccine Data Network, which was established in 2019 by the New Zealand-based vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris and the US-based vaccinologist Steven Black, has already produced some of the world’s most comprehensive studies on vaccine efficacy and safety, based on data from more than 300 million people.

The University of Auckland hosts the network, which collaborates with institutions and experts across the globe.

The groundbreaking five-year project to evaluate the safety of Covid vaccines across hundreds of millions of people received more than NZ$10m from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2021, but after a recent funding review by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), it can no longer finish the project, Petousis-Harris said.

The network looks at data from millions of people to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines, analyse risk and benefits and respond to issues such as vaccine hesitancy.

To do this requires “enormous study power, enormous populations and diversity”, said Petousis-Harris, who is an associate professor at the University of Auckland.

But funding for the global Covid vaccine safety project was “suddenly cut … without warning, without planning”, she told the Guardian.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2025

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Suspects detained by police denied essential insulin, cancer and epilepsy drugs, damning report claims

Drugs for diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and mental illness are being denied to people held in police cells after they are arrested, according to a shocking new report.

Suspects detained in custody suites are even having emergency care withheld as a “form of punishment”, according to the study shared exclusively with The Independent.

The report has sparked calls for healthcare for those in custody to be brought under the remit of the NHS, amid claims that basic standards are not being met by the private companies that currently provide it.

Deborah Cohen, chief executive of the charity Inquest, which represents families whose loved ones have died in custody, said the report is “deeply concerning” and urged ministers to respond before the situation results in “catastrophe”.

“This is about the denial of life-protecting medication,” she said. “There is the ever-present risk of death and harm. It shines a light on the standards of healthcare in police custody suites.

“This report lays bare many of the concerns Inquest has had for decades around the standards of care afforded to detainees in police custody. The reality of this, denying people medication that is life-protecting, does hold the risk of death and serious harm.”

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Source: The Independent, 21 April 2025

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Government launches call for evidence on men’s health

The government is calling for men of all ages to come forward and feed into England’s first ever men’s health strategy.

The 12-week call for evidence will gather vital insights from the public, health and social care professionals, academics and employers so the government can properly consider how to prevent and tackle the biggest issues facing men from all backgrounds.  

It will ask for their views on what is working and what more needs to be done to close the life expectancy gap between men and women, as men in England die nearly 4 years earlier than women, on average. 

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: 

"Every day, men across England are dying early from preventable causes. Men are hit harder by a range of conditions, while tragically suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50. 

"Our Plan for Change means we will tackle these issues head on through a men’s health strategy, and today’s call for evidence is the crucial next step in understanding what works, what doesn’t, and how we can design services men will actually use. I urge people to come forward to share their views."

The call for evidence will seek responses on how the government’s Plan for Change can work across the board to improve the health and wellbeing of men, through: 

  • prevention - finding the right areas and the right ways to promote healthier behaviours  
  • diagnosis and treatment - improving outcomes for health conditions that hit men harder
  • encouragement to come forward - improving men’s access to, engagement with and experience of the health service.

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Source: Gov.UK, 24 April 2025

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Daily peanut exposure can desensitise allergic adults, study suggests

Adults with severe peanut allergies can be desensitised by daily exposure, according to the first clinical trial of its kind.

After being given steadily increasing doses of peanut flour over a period of months, two-thirds of the trial participants were able to eat the equivalent of five peanuts without reacting.

The findings suggest that the window of opportunity for treating allergies could extend into adulthood, raising the prospect of new treatments for those severely affected.

“Constant fear of life-threatening reactions place a huge burden on people with peanut allergy,” said Stephen Till, the professor who led the research at King’s College London. “The only way to manage a peanut allergy is strict avoidance and treatment of allergic reactions, including with adrenaline.

“Although peanut immunotherapy is known to be effective in children, this trial provides preliminary evidence that adults can also be desensitised and that this improves quality of life.”

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Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2025

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NHS ‘routinely failing’ deaf patients in England, report finds

Deaf patients face systemic discrimination when it comes to learning about their own health due to NHS failings, with some not understanding that they might have a terminal illness, according to a damning report.

The study by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) accuses the NHS of “routinely failing” deaf people.

A survey of more than 1,000 people in England who are deaf or have hearing loss found that almost one in 10 had avoided calling an ambulance or attending A&E due to their disability, and a quarter had avoided seeking help for a new health concern.

The survey also found that about half of sign language users reported not having understood their diagnosis, or how their treatment worked. NHS staff said a lack of training, time and a poor IT system were major factors in being unable to provide these accessibility requirements for deaf people.

The report also highlights instances of deaf people receiving particularly poor NHS care. In one instance, a woman was not provided with an interpreter, which meant she was unaware she had had a miscarriage.

Another example was a patient receiving no food or water during a hospital stay as they could not hear staff offering it to them.

Sharing her experiences as part of the report, Dr Natasha Wilcock, a deaf doctor who works in palliative care, said she had met patients who had been referred to palliative care services who, due to the lack of communication, did not understand they were dying and no longer receiving cancer treatment.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2025

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Top picks: 11 resources to support people with hearing loss or deafness

 

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NHS staff fatigue poses ‘significant’ threat to patient safety, watchdog warns

Fatigue among frontline personnel causing them to make mistakes is a “significant” risk to patients, according to the Health Services Safety Investigation Body (HSSIB).

It “contributes directly and indirectly to patient harm”, yet is not properly appreciated as a risk by the NHS, possibly because of the perceived “heroism” of NHS staff.

Exhaustion has led to doctors and nurses harming patients by inserting feeding tubes in the wrong place, leaving swabs inside a woman who had just given birth and mislabelling blood samples.

But the NHS safety regulator for England also found that staff who are driving home after finishing a long shift could die in a road accident because they are extremely tired.

“Fatigue was found to have a negative impact on staff safety,” the HSSIB said in a report, which is based on interviews with about 100 staff and evidence from national organisations.

“A key risk related to this was staff driving home after a long shift and being involved in fatal car accidents or near misses.”

“This report lays bare the daily reality for nursing staff. They are overstretched, understaffed and regularly work beyond their hours caring for too many patients,” said Patricia Marquis, the Royal College of Nursing’s executive director for England.

“This drives dangerous levels of fatigue which not only harms patients but also follows staff home, with sometimes devastating consequences.

“Nursing fatigue is deadly and in health and care services should be treated as a public safety emergency.”

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Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2025

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Paramedics told to listen to podcasts while queuing for A&E handovers

Paramedics have complained of a “disrespectful” instruction to listen to podcasts while queuing to hand over patients to A&E, HSJ has learned.

Staff at South Western Ambulance Service made the claim to an NHS England review of the trust, which also heard concerns about “a lack of effectiveness” in the executive team, “fragile relationships” at senior levels, and a “punitive culture” against speaking up.

The report does not make clear who “asked” the paramedics to listen to podcasts during handovers, but CEO John Martin said neither he nor the executive teams had given such an instruction.

NHSE’s “well led” review of the trust, released to HSJ following a freedom of information request, said: “We heard examples of staff being asked to read [internal trust communications] or listen to podcasts when they were queuing for handover. Staff were not keen on this, as they felt it was disrespectful towards patients, and they preferred engaging with the patients whilst waiting.” It appears to refer to podcasts featuring internal updates.

The organisation has been a national outlier, with large numbers of very long handover delays – when ambulance crews are required to queue for hours before they can transfer their patient to accident and emergency staff – particularly over the past three years.

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Source: HSJ, 24 April 2025

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£5m spent on deaths inquiry still years from completion

An inquiry into deaths linked to a mental health trust is not expected to report for another two years and has already cost more than £5m, HSJ can reveal.

An Essex mental health inquiry was first launched in early 2021 to explore at least 2,000 deaths over a 20-year period, but the initial exercise was abandoned in autumn 2023. A new chair was brought in to lead an inquiry on a statutory footing that had been called for by families of people who died.

Information newly obtained by HSJ shows £5.1m had been spent on the work in total by September 2024 – including £2.2m on the previous inquiry before it was abandoned.

Before the overhaul in 2023, the inquiry team had previously indicated it would consider at least 2,000 deaths over a 20-year period. It will now cover a further three years and more deaths, although the exact number has not been established.

Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust and predecessor trusts have previously been linked to a string of serious problems, and the inquiry will consider the link between care failings and deaths of patients or former patients.

Public hearings, which started last year, are set to resume next week.

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Source: HSJ, 24 April 2025

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Flagship NHSE tech policy creating ‘patient safety risks’, claim analysts

Patient safety risks are being created by central demands that NHS organisations adopt the new federated data platform and “close down” existing systems, according to the body representing the service’s analysts.

In a letter to NHS England chief data and analytics officer Ming Tang, the Chief Data and Analytical Officers Network (CDAON) has stepped up earlier complaints about the FDP and its rollout, calling for a “reset” of NHSE’s approach.

The letter also questions whether the FDP is fit for purpose in achieving the government’s goal of moving care into the community. The £330m seven-year contract to deliver the FDP platform was won by US data company Palantir in 2023.

The FDP was originally launched on the basis that it could be used on a voluntary basis. However, under direction of ministers, NHSE has now moved to an “FDP-first policy”, to the alarm of many senior figures working in NHS technology.  

The letter, seen by HSJ, is signed by CDAON chair and Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board data chief Marc Farr and says: “Anecdotally we are aware of systems being directed to close down existing systems because the functionality is planned within the FDP…

“However we are not convinced that the functionality is imminent and therefore that a risk to patient safety exists – we can cite specific examples.”

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Source: HSJ, 23 April 2025

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NIH to back RFK Jr. autism research campaign with comprehensive data resource from patients' medical records

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will begin work on a comprehensive federal database of patient records to study autism and chronic disease, Director Jay Bhattacharya announced Monday. 

The commitment gives legs to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s calls to find the root cause of childhood autism, which he calls an epidemic. The NIH appears poised to put federal resources to work to create a central, shareable resource for the researchers that undertake RFK Jr.’s call to action.

Last week at an event with reporters, Secretary RFK Jr. announced that HHS will soon be offering research grants for identifying the cause of autism, including exploring causes that were formerly considered taboo by the research community. “People will know they can research and follow the science no matter what it says, without any kind of fear that can be censored ...  gaslighted ... silenced," he told reporters.

The NIH will now work to build out a data resource consisting of medical records, insurance claims and data from wearable devices to aid autism researchers in their quest to find the root cause of the disease. Bhattacharya explained the initiative to a meeting of NIH advisors on Monday. 

The NIH will partner across the HHS and with external stakeholders. The data sources for the real-world data platform will be pharmacy chains, health organisations, clinical data, claims and billing, environmental, sensors and wearables. 

The initiative has sparked some privacy concerns from industry groups.

"Compiling health and disability-related data from both federal and commercial sources to create a federal registry of people with autism, without individuals’ consent, is the latest dangerous effort by this Administration to repurpose Americans’ sensitive information for unchecked government use," Ariana Aboulafia, project lead of disability rights in technology policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said in a statement. "This plan crosses a line in the sand, particularly given longstanding and historical concerns surrounding the creation of registries of people with disabilities.

"The data that would be used to create this registry and inform governmental studies on autism was originally shared with government agencies and private companies, like insurers and wearable technology companies, for a wide range of purposes," Aboulafia said. "It’s unclear exactly who the federal government plans to share this data with, or how they’ll eventually use it. And, while NIH has claimed that the confidentiality of this information will be safeguarded using 'state of the art protections,' it’s also unclear if it’ll be anonymized or disaggregated, or how it will be protected from a hack or breach." 

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Source: Fierce Healthcare, 22 April 2025

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NHS staff levels ‘alarmingly low’ on wards, study finds

A new poll reveals a deepening staffing crisis within the NHS, jeopardising patient safety, particularly in maternity and rehabilitation wards.

A Unison survey of nurses, healthcare assistants, and midwives found that a staggering 69%of shifts were understaffed, a marked increase from 63% just two years ago.

The survey, conducted across 42 hospitals in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, paints a stark picture of the strain on frontline staff.

Workers anonymously reported their experiences after their shifts in October and November of last year, totaling 1,470 shifts surveyed.

Alarmingly, 81% of respondents working in maternity and rehabilitation units, and 82% in elderly care, expressed serious safety concerns due to inadequate staffing levels.

The findings highlight a worrying trend of "red flag" events, indicating serious safety risks, occurring on over half (56%) of all shifts.

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Source: The Independent, 23 April 2025

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Over 150,000 more people in England have ME than previously thought, study finds

More than 150,000 more people in England are living with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) than was previously estimated, according to a study that highlights the “postcode lottery” of diagnosis.

The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Public Health, involved researchers from the University of Edinburgh analysing NHS data from more than 62 million people in England to identify people who had been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome or post-viral fatigue syndrome.

The data was examined by gender, age and ethnicity, and grouped by different areas of England.

ME, also known as chronic fatigue, is a long-term condition with its main symptoms being extreme fatigue, brain fog, and issues with sleep. The condition’s key feature is known as post-exertional malaise, which is a delayed dramatic worsening of these symptoms following minor physical effort. There is currently no diagnostic test or cure for the disease and its causes are unknown.

The findings showed that the lifetime prevalence of chronic fatigue for women and men in England may be as high as 0.92% of the population for women, and 0.25% for men. This is equivalent to about 404,000 people overall.

The study also revealed stark ethnic inequalities relating to chronic fatigue diagnoses rates. White people with ME in England were almost five times more likely to be diagnosed with the condition than other ethnic groups.

People from Black and Asian backgrounds were least likely to be diagnosed with the condition, with rates between 65% and 90% lower than their white counterparts.

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Source: The Guardian, 22 April 2025

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Mental health sidelined in key waiting list policy

Only two mental health trusts are known to be using the advice and guidance (A&G) system, and it should be used “much more broadly” in the sector, Rebecca Gray told HSJ.

A&G was introduced under the last government, but the current administration is pressing for a big expansion this year, introducing payments to GP practices each time they use it from this month. 

Ms Gray, who joined Confed earlier this year from the Maudsley Charity, said it was a good policy but so far was mainly focused on physical health, and she wanted to work with the network’s trust members to expand it.

Mental health is largely not covered by the main referral-to-treatment waiting list, nor the government’s headline target to reduce RTT waits to less than 18 weeks. Data on MH waits is poor, but it suggests tens of thousands of children and adults are waiting longer than two years.

Ms Gray said: ”Mental health services can and should play a crucial role in these kinds of initiatives. We know that mental ill health is placing a huge demand on GPs and their teams. This can not only be difficult for services to manage but frustrating for patients, who can often be left facing long waits to get the support they need if their condition is not best managed in primary care.”

She said GPs should be incentivised to “reach out to specialist mental health teams to support people more quickly [which] could help tackle these issues before they get worse”.

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Source: HSJ,  22 April 2025

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