Jump to content
  • articles
    9,958
  • comments
    84
  • views
    12,770,818

Contributors to this article

About this News

Articles in the news

Lack of access to antibiotics is driving spread of superbugs, finds research

Less than 7% of people with severe drug-resistant infections in poorer countries get the antibiotics they need, a new study suggests, with researchers warning that not only is this causing suffering and deaths, but is also likely to be driving antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

With AMR forecast to cause 1.9m deaths a year by 2050, they are calling for urgent action, akin to the fight earlier this century to get HIV drugs to Africa’s virus hotspots.

“The stark reality is that most people with highly drug-resistant infections are not getting access to the antibiotics they need,” said Dr Jennifer Cohn, a senior author of the study.

AMR is a process whereby bacteria and other pathogens evolve resistance to treatments typically used against them. One driver is the overuse of antibiotics, with greater exposure to drugs offering bacteria more chances to learn how to evade them.

But a focus on overuse has meant access has been neglected, the experts warn.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 30 April 2025

Read more

NHS managers must undergo ‘cultural intelligence training’ says watchdog

NHS managers should receive “cultural intelligence training” to tackle issues such as “the legacy of the British Empire” and improve the experience of overseas recruits, the National Guardian’s Office has recommended.

The NGO’s report examined the experience of international recruits to the NHS, with a particular focus on their willingness to speak out about concerns.

It found overseas staff face disproportionately higher scrutiny, are given limited support and are often penalised before they have had time to settle into their role. International recruits often felt “invisible”, the report concluded.

The report states the responsibility for adapting, including the implications for speaking up, was often on overseas-trained staff and “a lack of cultural intelligence” was a “repeated theme”, according to the body which leads, trains and supports a network of Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in England. It said this highlighted the need for better understanding and outreach by employers.

The NGO calls for “a meaningful approach to cultural competence” which goes “beyond superficial gestures like cultural exchange days”.

It stated that: “A two-way process of cultural intelligence is needed, where organisations actively seek to understand and adapt to the experiences and perspectives of overseas-trained workers.”

Most FTSU Guardians said training on speaking up was available in their organisations, however, only 16.9% surveyed said their organisations provided training to managers on how to support overseas-trained workers. More than half said they did not know if any such training existed.

The report recommends NHS England includes “cultural intelligence training” for NHS staff, managers and leaders as part of its Leadership and Management Framework programme by April 2026.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 1 May 2025

Read more

Patient suffered diagnosis delay after junior doctor missed 'red flags' in A&E

A patient suffering from a perforated bowel had their diagnosis delayed after a junior doctor missed “red flags” during an assessment in A&E.

After arriving at the emergency department of an NHS Forth Valley hospital, the patient was initially assessed by a junior doctor who ordered various tests and investigations.

They were later moved to the acute assessment unit and diagnosed with a perforated bowel. The patient developed sepsis after undergoing emergency surgery.

The patient’s child complained to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) about their parent’s treatment.

Specifically, they complained about the delay in identifying their parent’s condition, which they believe led to a worse outcome.

NHS Forth Valley acknowledged that a more senior doctor may have identified the cause quicker, but that the care provided was reasonable, and that the complaint had led to learning and ongoing development.

In putting together their report, the SPSO took independent advice from an emergency medicine consultant.

It found that there were “a number of red flags” when the patient was admitted and that it did “not appear” they had been reviewed by a senior clinician.

Issues were also found in the patient’s documentation; no intimate examination was recorded, and there was a “lack” of documentation around the interpretation of an X-ray.

Overall, the report concluded that the initial assessment delayed diagnosis of the perforated bowel and was likely to have had a “significant effect” on the patient’s outcome.

Read full story

Source: STV News, 29 April 2025

Read more

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 Coles, 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.”

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 30 April 2025

Read more

Government accused of misleading claim on health hubs

Most integrated care systems lack a women’s health hub offering full services — contrary to government claims — according to research seen by HSJ.

In spring last year, the government and NHS England said all systems were expected to have at least one operational women’s health hub in place by the end of December 2024. They were required to provide clinical support and consultations/triaging in eight “core” services.

Health minister Karin Smyth told Parliament at the start of this year the objective had been met in 39 out of 42 integrated care systems.

But research by the Menstrual Health Coalition found only 14 integrated care boards had established hubs offering all eight core services, as required. The services are: menstrual problems assessment and treatment; menopause assessment and treatment; contraceptive counselling and provision of all methods; preconception care; breast pain assessment; pessary fitting and removal; cervical screening; and screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and HIV.

The coalition, an alliance of patient and advocate groups, collected information from all ICBs between October and December.

Its co-chair Anne Connolly, a GP specialising in gynaecology, said: “Our findings challenge the narrative that women’s health hubs have been successfully implemented nationwide.

“While figures suggest that hubs are in place, the reality is that many do not provide the full range of services women were promised… There is now an urgent need for transparency alongside the rollout of women’s health services, particularly as the current funding is short term and lacks the necessary commitment to future-proofing these services.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 30 April 2025

Read more

Poor mental health a 'common phenomenon' in healthcare staff

A charity set up to help doctors and healthcare professionals with their mental health in Great Britain has extended its services to Northern Ireland.

Doctors In Distress was established by Amandip Sidhu in 2019, when his consultant cardiologist brother took his own life due to "overwhelming work pressure and burnout".

Mr Sidhu said he came to learn that this is "a common phenomenon" within healthcare professions.

Figures, published by the British Medical Association (BMA) NI show that 62% of doctors in Northern Ireland report "higher than normal levels fatigue or exhaustion".

Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme on Wednesday, Dr Alan Stout from the BMA said the figures show that the problem is "more acute in Northern Ireland".

Mr Stout welcomed the charity's services to Northern Ireland, but said "we need to go further", and "a dedicated health service for doctors in Northern Ireland" is required.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 30 April 2025

Read more

GMC approves 36 courses to teach more than 1,000 NHS physician associates

More than 1,000 physician associates (PAs) could begin their careers in the NHS every year after regulators approved dozens of courses to teach them.

The General Medical Council (GMC) said it had given 36 courses formal approval to teach PAs and anaesthesia associates (AAs).

Overall, these courses had capacity for up to 1,059 PAs and 42 AAs to qualify each year.

The GMC said approving training courses would mean that “patients, employers and colleagues can be assured that PAs and AAs have the required knowledge and skills to practise safely once they qualify”.

Prof Colin Melville, the GMC’s medical director and director of education and standards, said: “This is an important milestone in the regulation of PAs and AAs and will provide assurance, now and in the future, that those who qualify in these roles have the appropriate skills and knowledge that patients rightly expect and deserve.

“As a regulator, patient safety is paramount, and we have a robust quality assurance process for PA and AA courses, as we do for medical schools. We have been engaging with course providers for several years already, and we only grant approval where they meet our high standards.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 30 April 2025

Read more

NHSE budget cuts hit maternity, children and prevention

Maternity, prevention, mental health, and children’s services are the national budgets seeing the biggest cuts after government and NHS England decided to slash ringfenced allocations, HSJ analysis reveals.

The move has seen national “services development funding” (SDF) – money earmarked for national initiatives – slashed from £4.3bn in 2024-25 to just £500m (so far confirmed) for 2025-26. This year’s SDF is expected to grow as more funding is decided in coming months, but to nowhere near the levels seen in recent years.

Mental health has lost £1bn of ringfenced funding, although ICBs are still expected to increase spend in line with total spending growth under the mental health investment standard. 

Lost SDF bundles in mental health include £215m for children and young people (including eating disorders), £275m for mental health support teams in schools, and £540m split between adult community and adult crisis services – all of which have been moved to ICB allocations.

Maternity services received £95m overall in 2024-25 – which is reduced to just £2m this year, with three separate pots cut. Notably, this includes £22m for “Ockenden II workforce”. Funding following Donna Ockenden’s report into maternity failings at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust was largely earmarked for workforce expansions, and safety improvement work.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 29 April 2025

Read more
 

Coroner expresses concerns over NHS menopause care after death of teacher

A coroner has expressed wide-ranging concerns about how the NHS cares for women during menopause after the death of a 54-year-old teacher who killed herself after a decline in her mental health.

Jacqueline Anne Potter took her own life during overnight leave from an acute psychiatric unit in Somerset where she was being looked after because of mental health issues exacerbated by menopause.

In a prevention of future deaths report, senior coroner Samantha Marsh said she was concerned about the “lack of importance” given to menopausal care available on the NHS.

She said: “Women who are not fortunate enough to be able to access private clinics and facilities may not be able to access the services and expertise they need at a very crucial transitional phase in their lives. Menopause is not a lifestyle choice, it is an unavoidable part of a woman’s natural biological cycle.”

The coroner said: “Given her presentation it would appear that her underlying anxiety had been slowly building; possibly since 2008 but much more so since 2017.”

She started HRT but in September 2022 declined again and the following month agreed to a voluntary admission to an acute psychiatric unit after she was found wandering in traffic. She was detained there under the Mental Health Act.

Last month an inquest jury concluded that Potter’s death was suicide and said menopause “contributed to her mental health decline and exacerbated her underlying anxiety”. The jury also said that her family “did not receive appropriate information to assist them in keeping Anne safe for an overnight stay”.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 29 April 2025

Read more

One in ten patient safety incidents in hospitals due to poor communication

Patients’ lives are being put at risk by poor communication from healthcare professionals in hospitals worldwide, according to new research.

The analysis included 46 studies, published between 2013 and 2024, involving over 67,000 patients across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia. And the findings are alarming. The authors discovered that poor communication was the sole cause of patient-safety incidents in over one in ten cases and contributed to causing incidents in one in four cases.

These aren’t just statistics, they represent real people harmed by preventable errors.

In one documented case, a doctor accidentally shut off a patient’s Amiodarone drip (a drug to treat heart arrhythmias) while silencing a beeping pump. The doctor failed to tell the nurse, and the patient’s heart rate spiked dangerously.

In another example, a patient died after a nurse failed to tell a surgeon that the patient was experiencing abdominal pains following surgery and had a low red blood cell count – clear indicators of internal bleeding. The patient later died from a haemorrhage that could have been prevented with adequate communication.

These findings confirm what many healthcare professionals have long suspected: communication breakdowns directly threaten patient safety. What’s particularly concerning is that these incidents cut across different healthcare systems worldwide.

Read full story

Source: The Conversation. 28 April 2025

Read more

Urgent care worse than pre-pandemic, think tank says

A leading health think tank says urgent and emergency care in England is performing "far worse" than before the pandemic.

The Health Foundation argues that the NHS was "in distress" this winter with A&E waiting times reaching a record high.

The group says it would be wrong just to blame relatively high levels of flu.

The government is due to publish an urgent and emergency care plan soon. The Department for Health and Social Care said that hospitals were "feeling the strain" but that it was taking "decisive action" to prevent winter crises.

The Health Foundation report on the recent winter says that the number of people waiting 12 hours or more in A&E after a decision to admit to a ward was the highest since modern records began. It topped 60,000 in January, or 11% of emergency admissions.

The report says that a familiar problem remains as acute as ever – delays discharging patients from hospital who are fit to leave. This, it says, made bottlenecks worse in A&E and for ambulances trying to hand over patients and that delays for those handovers were worse than in previous winters.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 28 April 2025

Read more

Scientists fear Trump administration cuts to NIH could impact the health of Americans for generations

Earlier this month, a Trump administration plan to cut the National Institutes of Health budget by more than 40% was leaked to the press. 

The preliminary budget sent shockwaves through the nation's health agency but also, the wider scientific community that relies on the NIH to fund research.

Since January, 1,300 NIH employees have been fired and more than $2 billion in research grants cancelled.

It's all part of the administration's effort to shrink the federal government, an effort led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Dr. Francis Collins, the long-time director of the agency who left the NIH said "When you're talking about medical research, when you're talking about people's lives, when you're talking about clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease or cancer that may take 3 or 4 years, you can't just go in and decide, 'I'm going to shut those down and maybe I'll try something else.' Those are people's lives at risk." 

Read full story

Source: CBS News, 27 April 2025

Read more
 

Prescription charges frozen in England

Prescription charges in England will be frozen this year – for the first time since 2022.

The charge for a single item will remain at £9.90 in 2025-26, the government has announced.

Three-month and annual prescriptions prepayment certificates will also be frozen and existing exemptions will continue. Charges only apply in England as prescriptions are free in the rest of the UK.

Nearly nine in 10 prescriptions in England are already dispensed free of charge, with children, over 60s, pregnant women, people with certain medical conditions and those on lower incomes exempt from paying.

Rachel Power, chief executive of Patients Association which campaigns for improvements in health and social care, said freezing the charges was a "positive step".

But she warned that it did little to tackle the "deep inequalities" in what she described as an outdated system.

She said the medical exemption criteria had remained virtually unchanged since the late 1960s, with nearly three million people in England living with long-term conditions not eligible for an exemption because they were not recognised 60 years ago or people rarely survived into adulthood.

Conditions which are not currently on the medical exemption list include Parkinson's disease, cystic fibrosis and motor neurone disease.

"We urge the government to go further - to commit to a full review of the medical exemption list and prescription charges," Ms Power added.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 28 April 2025

Read more
 

Mental health inquiry chair vows to 'seek out' truth

The chair of England's first public inquiry into mental health deaths vowed to "seek out the truth" - despite difficulties getting documents from the NHS.

The first key evidence sessions in the Lampard Inquiry - examining more than 2,000 deaths at NHS inpatient units in Essex between 2000 and 2023 - have begun in London.

Baroness Lampard said although the hearing was "breaking new ground", 21 legal notices had been issued to NHS organisations to force them to submit evidence.

"We will seek out the truth," she said, adding she would not hesitate to use her legal powers "to the fullest extent necessary to compel the production of evidence where it's not provided".

Counsel to the inquiry, Nicholas Griffin KC, said: "We have been unimpressed with a significant number of requests for deadline extensions... and the number of occasions where providers have not given the material expressly asked for."

He said there were problems with the condition of paper records, "missing documents" and providers, including private ones, sending information late.

Mr Griffin said it was a criminal offence to suppress, conceal, alter, or destroy relevant evidence and said providers should be properly resourced to respond to the inquiry.

He said the inquiry should not be delayed because of it.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 28 April 2025

Read more

Male workers should be able to carry out mammograms, experts say

Male health workers should be allowed to perform breast screening examinations to help relieve staff shortages, say experts.

X-rays called mammograms are offered to women between the age of 50 and 71 every three years to check for signs of cancer, but can currently only be performed by female staff.

The Society of Radiographers (SoR) has called for a change in policy due to "critical" staff shortages among radiographers who specialise in this area.

Sally Reed, 67, who had two mastectomies after mammograms revealed breast cancer, told the BBC that "if something can save your life you should go for it" - whether it's administered by a woman or man.

But Sally also admits women who already don't want to go for breast screening "would definitely be turned off by a man".

According to radiographers, the vacancy rate among mammographers who specialise in breast exams is 17.5%.

Changes to staffing were being discussed at the annual SoR conference, with discussions also taking place over whether transgender men should be included in the NHS breast screening programme.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 29 April 2025

Read more

NHS leaving some patients with rare diseases to ‘fall through the cracks’, damning report finds

The NHS is “not working” for people in the UK with rare diseases as they are left to “fall through the cracks,” a damning new report has claimed.

Nearly three in ten (30%) people with certain uncommon conditions say they are waiting for five years between symptoms starting and being diagnosed with their condition.

Many are still facing “poor care co-ordination” after their diagnoses, the report by the Rare Autoimmune Rheumatic Disease Alliance (RAIRDA) finds, alongside difficulties accessing information and support.

Geographical factors also make too big a difference, the authors add, with where people live making a drastic difference to the level of care they can expect to receive.

The report claims that the UK health system has had an “increasing focus” on major and common conditions, but people with these rare conditions are being left to “fall through the cracks”.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 29 April 2025

Read more

We’re ‘fundamental’ to future ICBs, say pharmacists

Medicines management teams should not be targeted by imminent cost cuts and must remain a “fundamental component” of the new model for integrated care boards, NHS England has been told.

An open letter sent on behalf of ICB chief pharmacists to the new NHS England leadership last week stressed the need to keep tight control of the service’s £20bn medicines spend. ICBs have been told they must cut their running costs in half by October, and there is considerable debate at local and national level over where the axe should fall. 

The letter said: “Prescribing is one of the most volatile expenditures in the NHS, and we are collectively keen to work with you to maintain grip on the management of this precious resource.”

The letter’s authors claim ICB medicines management teams made savings worth £500m in 2024-25. Reducing spend on medicines - which is the second-largest area of NHS expenditure after staffing - features prominently in ICB cost improvement plans across the country. 

The letter continues: “We recognise that we need to continue to transform how the system and individual people use medicines effectively (including alternatives to prescribing).” This requires, it suggested, “professional pharmacy leadership in all sectors” to “navigate the conflicting complexities of supporting financial balance”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 25 April 2025

Read more
 

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."

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: BMJ, 28 April 2025

Read more

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.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 27 April 2025

Read more

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.”

Read full story

Source: Radiology Business, 25 April 2025

Further reading on the hub:

Read more

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.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Times, 25 April 2025

Related reading on the hub:

Read more

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.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 9 September 2025

Read more

‘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”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 28 April 2025

Read more
 

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”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 28 April 2025

Read more
 

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.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 18 April 2025

Read more

© 2026 Patient Safety Learning. All rights reserved.

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

×
  • Create New...

Important Information

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