Jump to content
  • articles
    9,848
  • comments
    83
  • views
    12,480,413

Contributors to this article

About this News

Articles in the news

‘Racist and misogynistic’ behaviour called out by regulator

A teaching trust has been warned it could see resident doctors removed unless it addresses a raft of concerns, including racist and misogynistic behaviour.

The General Medical Council has placed conditions on Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust following a period of “enhanced monitoring”.

The concerns cover the trust’s medicine and surgical departments, and involve all grades of resident doctors (formerly known as junior doctors).

The trust said it was taking the issues “very seriously” and is “resolved to make this a great place to work, train and develop”.

The medical regulator’s director for education and standards Professor Colin Melville said: “Despite ongoing work with the trust for two years, doctors in training in these departments continue to report a range of concerns, including racist and misogynistic behaviours, which need to be addressed as a priority.

“There are also concerns around the clinical supervision of doctors in training, handover processes and access to educational opportunities.”

The trust was told to adequately cover rotas, and make sure trainees were not subjected to “behaviours including racist and misogynistic behaviours”. 

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 21 November 2024

Read more

Emergency prescribing and ‘shared care’ withdrawn by GPs

Emergency prescribing and monitoring of patients with severe mental health conditions are among services being cancelled by GP practices as part of “collective action”.

Although the action, primarily over funding, began in the summer, growing numbers of practices are now cancelling local enhanced services, according to multiple board papers and other documents.

A common theme among those being “handed back” or cancelled is prescribing and monitoring for people who have severe mental health conditions, neurological conditions, and other long-term conditions.

Practices are often refusing “shared care” arrangements with secondary care, where patients with long-term conditions, including mental health illness, are meant to be monitored and supported by GPs, but also overseen by specialists. 

These are often funded and determined by integrated care boards locally, as “local enhanced services” or “locally commissioned services”, although they are often similar in different systems.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 20 November 2024

Read more

Women who have lost a baby prefer the term ‘pregnancy loss’ over ‘miscarriage’

Women who have lost a baby often dislike the language used by medical professionals and would prefer the term “pregnancy loss” over “miscarriage”, research has found.

More than six in 10 women (61%) who had lost a baby between 18 and 23 weeks of pregnancy said it was unacceptable for doctors, midwives and nurses to use the word “miscarriage”.

Only 22% thought that was an acceptable way to refer to the loss they had suffered, even though that is the medical and legal definition in the UK of a baby who dies before reaching 24 weeks’ gestation. Large majorities also disapprove of “intrapartum foetal death” and “intrauterine death”.

Four out of five (82%) women would prefer staff to use “pregnancy loss”, according to the research, which was led by Dr Beth Malory, a lecturer in English linguistics at University College London.

Malory began looking into how women felt about the clinical language used around baby loss after having a daughter born in the second trimester of pregnancy and seeing how often complaints were aired in online communities, such as the Facebook group of the baby charity Tommy’s.

“‘Pregnancy loss’ is much more broadly acceptable than ‘miscarriage’, which prompts really mixed feelings and which a lot of people actively dislike due to connotations of blame, failure and so on,” said Malory.

She and fellow researcher Dr Louise Nuttall found “widespread dissatisfaction” among women who had lost a baby, with “lots of words and phrases that trigger trauma”.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 21 November 2024

Read more

Mental health patients harmed by being sent to units far from home, report finds

Mental health patients in England are being harmed by the rise in psychiatric unit placements far from their homes and families, a report indicates.

Some patients had experienced anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while others had died by suicide as a result of their distant placements, according to a Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) report, which drew on interviews with patients and their families.

The participants said their experiences had resulted in anger, frustration and a loss of trust in the mental health system.

Neil Alexander, a senior safety investigator, said “urgent improvements” were needed to reduce harm to patients. “The reality is patients need to be treated and sometimes it is seen as safer to admit them to an inpatient ward or unit,” he said.

“However, as our investigation sadly showed, the harm caused to patients when moved far from home or moved back and forth between settings can be distressing, for them and for their families.

“The investigation emphasised that inappropriate out-of-area placements are a symptom of wider issues within health and social care: financial and resources pressures, long waiting lists for social housing and a lack of true integration between the two.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 21 November 2024

Read more

High staff turnover rates linked to patient deaths

More than 4,000 people could be dying per year because of high turnover rates of nurses and doctors in NHS hospitals, according to new research from the University of Surrey.

The university said the research had shown a clear association between high turnover rates of nurses and doctors in NHS hospitals and a "troubling" rise in patient mortality rates.

The study analysed nearly a decade of data from 148 NHS hospitals in England using anonymised patient and worker records.

The researchers found that a one standard deviation increase in nurse turnover is associated with 35 additional deaths per 100,000 hospital admissions within 30 days.

With an average of 8.2 million hospital admissions occurring annually, the turnover rates of hospital nurses and senior doctors could translate to nearly 335 additional deaths each month across the NHS.

Dr Giuseppe Moscelli, lead researcher of the study at the University of Surrey, said: "Our findings underscore the vital role that stable staffing plays in ensuring patient safety.

"High turnover rates are not simply an administrative issue; they have real, life-or-death implications for patients. It's time for healthcare leaders to focus on retention strategies that prioritise workforce stability."

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 21 November 2024

Read more

GP ‘inconsistency’ compounding dangerous A&E crowding, says trust

A review into emergency care deaths at a struggling trust claims a “lack of consistency” in primary care referrals is a major factor causing A&E crowding.

Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, a national outlier for long accident and emergency waits and ambulance handover delays, carried out a review into potential harm to patients from crowding in its emergency departments, which has been obtained by HSJ.

The review found that several factors, both internal and external to the hospital, were leading to long A&E waits. Among them was a “lack of consistency in referrals from primary care”.

It said: “Too many GPs or their deputies send patients to ED when they could safely be referred to [inpatient] teams and bypass ED altogether.”

The review also found the ED was often being used by multiple specialties “as their receiving ‘ward’, bringing more patients to ED who do not need ED care”. This was particularly the case ”when [the specialty’s] own unit closes due to their opening hours, staffing or number of patients in department”.

Another factor was a “lack of provision of extended opening hours, staffing and radiology support for key [minor injury units and urgent treatment centres] meaning flow increases to ED in the evening”. The review also said there were “poor comms” when these services close.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 21 November 2024

Read more

Medics warn of dangers of freebirths

A concerning trend of women giving birth without qualified medics risks "reversing [care] to the middle ages," experts have said.

Figures show a rise in the number of women using doulas - a person who provides support to a pregnant woman before, during and after childbirth, and usually involves a home birth.

In some cases, doulas were persuading women to ignore medical advice, medically experts have said.

A senior consultant said mums-to-be were risking their child's life with medically unsupervised births, and their own health. She knew of a patient left with a colostomy bag after a doula advised them not to be stitched up following a fourth degree tear.

She is now calling on the government to introduce regulation for doulas.

Director of Doula UK Trudi Dawson told the BBC that they do not perform medical tasks and are only there for "advocacy and support".

She insisted members are not allowed to steer women towards making particular birth choices, adding: "We would signpost them to the evidence.

Mrs Dawson does not agree with calls from obstetricians for doulas to be regulated.

She added: "Obviously we can’t be the doula police but we are trying to make sure that there is kind of a gold standard by having a register of doulas who have done specific training, who've had a mentored period, and who stand by the philosophy and a code of conduct."

But a senior obstetrician and gynaecologist, who didn't want to be named, said she was "terrified" about women giving birth in medically unsupervised environments.

She said: "I just feel like freebirthing and allowing women to take that sort of risk with themselves, their bodies and their baby, is risking their baby dying and them potentially dying in that very unsupervised environment."

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 20 November 2024

Read more

Women plan UK legal action over talc cancer claims

Hundreds of women in the UK are planning to take on one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies over alleged links between talc and cancer.

Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021, Cassandra Wardle is one of the women launching a group action against the biggest seller of talcum powder, Johnson & Johnson (J&J).

Cassandra, who stumbled on a Facebook article linking cancer and talc following her diagnosis, said it was used on her as a baby and she continued to use it "for 20 years or more".

If it proceeds, the legal action would be the first of its kind brought against the pharmaceutical multinational in the UK.

With 1,900 potential claimants, including cancer patients, survivors and families, lawyers say it is set to be the largest pharmaceutical product group action in English and Welsh legal history.

The BBC has spoken to a number of women with gynaecological cancers - many are part of the group action - who believe their repeated use of talcum powder played a part in their diagnosis.

Their lawyers allege that for decades, talcum powder was contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos - something they claim J&J was aware of but sought to suppress.

J&J denies suppressing any information and denies any links between its baby powder, asbestos and cancer.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 20 November 2024

Read more

Mental health nurses on 999 calls reduce ED admissions

A new pilot project that sees mental health nurses speaking on 999 calls has seen a 40% reduction in the number of people in mental health crisis being admitted to emergency departments (EDs).

The project in the South Eastern Health Trust area, funded by the Public Health Agency (PHA), sees 12 mental health practitioners from the trust work with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) in its control room in Belfast at the weekends.

It is aimed at people who call 999 in mental health distress.

In the scheme, a medical health practitioner will give a mental health assessment to de-escalate people from attending EDs, and prevent ambulances from going to people that are in mental health crisis.

The trust's project lead, Stephanie Patten, said the pilot has been proving successful so far.

"From April to September, there were 190 [mental health] calls," she told BBC News NI.

"40% of those calls were de-escalated which meant they did not require an emergency ambulance."

Ms Patten said this means people "have the right care and the right response at the right time" when they are in crisis, and don't have to wait on an ambulance or in a busy ED.

"An emergency department is not an appropriate place for someone who is depressed, anxious or distressed to be sitting waiting," she added.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 20 November 2024

Read more

Service rated ‘outstanding’ despite whistleblower concerns

A trust’s neonatal services have been rated “outstanding” just a year after concerns were raised about investigations into baby deaths.

The services at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust were rated “outstanding” overall and “outstanding” for caring and well led in a report published by the Care Quality Commission.

In its first standalone review of neonatal services at Bradford Royal Infirmary, the watchdog also gave the trust a “good” rating for safety, effectiveness and responsiveness.

It comes a little over a year after Max McClean, Bradford’s former chair, resigned and called for trust CEO Mel Pickup to quit amid a breakdown in relations between the pair.

Max McClean subsequently raised a number of concerns, one of which was about delays in completing investigations into three neonatal incidents in April 2021.

This included the deaths of two newborn babies and another baby who was born with a permanent disability. Mr McClean claimed the investigations took 14 months to complete, much longer than the national guideline of 60 days. 

An external report compiled for the trust’s board, previously obtained by HSJ, said it was given “no evidence” the board were “fully appraised” about the delays to the investigations, and that Ms Pickup “should have made more demands for completion of the reviews”.

However, based on on-site assessments conducted on 15 and 16 May this year, the CQC report said the service was performing “exceptionally well”.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: 20 November 2024

Read more

NHSE accused of cutting action to protect staff from violence

A union has accused NHS England of trying to save money at the expense of reducing violence against healthcare staff, as several national initiatives face the axe.

Despite growing concern about abuse and violence against staff, HSJ understands:

  • An NHSE-funded pilot scheme to reduce violence against ambulance staff – who are at much higher risk of violence than others – is coming to an end, with no sign of ongoing help;
  • Six other NHSE-funded violence reduction pilot schemes have come to an end or are ending, with the responsibility passing to integrated care boards and providers, and no confirmed future funding; and
  • The NHSE team responsible for violence prevention and reduction has been reduced to just two people.

Speaking about the concerns, Unison deputy head of health Alan Lofthouse said: “Cost-saving measures at NHSE have put more responsibility for violence prevention and reduction on providers and ICBs.

“But Unison is concerned that resources are just as tight at local and regional levels, and national leadership is really needed.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 20 November 2024

Read more

Action needed after baby feed deaths, says coroner

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 19 November 2024

Read more
 

Government launches independent review of Physician and Anaesthesia Associate professions

An independent review of Physician Associates (PAs) and Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) has been launched by the Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting today to consider how these roles are deployed across the health system, in order to ensure that patients get the highest standards of care. Professor Gillian Leng CBE will independently lead the review.

The review will look into the safety of these roles, how they support wider health teams, and their place in providing patients with good quality and efficient care. It will also look at how effectively these roles are deployed in the NHS, while offering recommendations on how new roles should work in the future. It will consider the scope of PA and AA roles, which currently include gathering medical histories, performing initial examinations, organising tests to support doctors and reviewing patients before surgery.

To increase transparency in these roles, the review will also look into measures to ensure patients know when they are interacting with PAs or AAs, so they are clear on the type of clinician they are seeing and for what reason. 

The review and next steps will be published in the Spring.

Read full story

Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 20 November 2024

Related reading: Physician associates: What are the patient safety issues? An interview with Asif Qasim

Read more
 

Patient Safety Learning appoints new Director and Associate Director

We are delighted to announce that we have appointed to two new roles at Patient Safety Learning, following a recent recruitment process.

Clare Wade, currently Assistant Director at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, will take up the new role of Director, reporting to our Chief Executive. She will support the development and delivery of our organisational strategy and take a leading role in the development of our ‘how to’ resources, products and services. She will join the charity at the end of November.

Claire Cox, currently Patient Safety Lead at Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, will take up the new role of Associate Director, reporting to our Director. Claire currently holds a voluntary role with the charity, chairing the Patient Safety Management Network, that she also co-founded. In this new role she will help to coordinate and support the development of our patient safety networks and develop and deliver our ‘how to’ resources, products and services. She will join the charity at the beginning of January on a part-time basis, while continuing in her role with Kings College Hospital.

Commenting on these appointments, our Chief Executive Helen Hughes said:

“I am delighted we can appoint Clare and Claire to these newly created leadership roles. They will both play a vital role in the growth of the charity and help us to make the case that patient safety should be a core purpose of health and care.”

On being appointed, Clare Wade said:

“I am excited to join the Patient Safety Learning team driving forward important initiatives to support patient safety improvements across the healthcare landscape.”

On being appointed, Claire Cox said:

“I am very happy to be joining Patient Safety Learning in this role, and looking forward to further developing the growing number of informal peer support networks for people involved in patient safety hosted on the hub.”

Read more
 

Fresh inquiry ordered into death after reports are rejected

NHS England has ordered a new independent investigation into the death of an autistic man nearly 10 years ago, after a previous report was effectively quashed.

Anthony Dawson died aged 64 from a burst gastric ulcer in an NHS-run care home in May 2015. An inquest found there were gross failings in his care, and his death was contributed to by neglect.

NHS England commissioned an independent investigation in 2017 from Sancus Solutions at a cost of £25,000. But its report — which went through seven drafts — was heavily criticised by Anthony’s sister, Julia, who said the drafts had significant factual errors and ignored aspects of his care.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 19 November, 2024

Read more

‘Real nastiness’: therapist training courses in UK can be ‘toxic’ and need regulating, say students

When Sally Mumford enrolled in a training course to become a psychotherapist in 2020, she was excited to start a new career.

She hoped to help people understand how their feelings and behaviour were shaped by their pasts. But she quickly realised that the course might not be what she had expected. “I arrived like a lamb to the slaughter,” she said. “There was a real nastiness that percolated down from the top.”

Mumford said her tutors at the training centre in London let bullying between students go unchecked. “It was all part of making you into a therapist. The whole ethos was to break you down and build you back up how they wanted you to be.”

Mumford is one of more than a dozen people who have studied for psychotherapy qualifications at UK institutions who told the Observer that some courses cross the line from challenging to toxic, with tutors bullying students. Some said their tutors made humiliating remarks to them in public, and left them feeling too scared to speak up or leave the course.

But the industry is largely unregulated; “psychotherapist” is not a protected profession, so anyone can set up a practice with that title.

Psychotherapist training is also unregulated, and there is a wide range of qualifications across the UK. 

Amanda Williamson, a psychotherapist who has been campaigning for regulation in the industry for more than a decade, is concerned about “toxic” training courses. “I’ve heard negative feedback about all manner of courses at prominent universities, including appalling tales of bullying and badly-run ‘group process’,” Williamson said.

Since psychotherapy training requires students to be vulnerable, she argues, regulations must be more rigorous than in other industries. Therapists and training institutions should be bound by a consistent code of ethics, and regulated by the same body, she said. “Regulation, or at least an inquiry to shine a light on these toxic hotspots that are allowed to fester … is very much overdue.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 17 November 2024

Read more

USA: The appointment of Robert F Kennedy has horrified public health experts

The announcement that Donald Trump has appointed Robert F Kennedy as the US secretary of health and human services has sent shock waves through the health and scientific community. 

The main goal Kennedy has trumpeted recently is to “Make America healthy again”. At face value, it’s a noble aim. That’s the essence of public health: how to reduce risk factors for disease and mortality at a population level and improve the quality of health and wellbeing. But behind this slogan comes a darker, conspiracy-laden agenda. 

Kennedy is well known as a prominent anti-vaxxer. He has claimed that vaccines can cause autism, and also said that “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective”. He called the Covid-19 vaccine the “deadliest vaccine ever made”.

None of these claims are true: repeat studies have shown that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism, we have numerous safe and effective vaccines against childhood killers such as whooping cough and measles, and the Covid-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives globally.

Similarly, he has tweeted about the benefits of raw milk. Raw milk consumption is a risk factor for a number of dangerous illnesses from E coli to salmonella, but is even more worrying with the widespread infection of dairy herds in the US. While pasteurisation has been shown to kill the H5N1 virus in milk and prevent its ability to infect, raw milk retains its pathogens. Raw milk demand in the US has gone up, with some vendors claiming that “customers [are] asking for H5N1 milk because they want immunity from it”.

How do you try to engage with those who believe things that are simply not true? It’s hard: a recent Nature study found that the more time you spend on the internet trying to validate what is true and not true, you more you go down the rabbit hole of false information. Those who believe outlandish theories are generally people who think of themselves as more intelligent than the average person, have a lot of time to do their own research on the internet, and are convinced that everyone else is being duped.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian,17 November 2024

Read more

Progress made, but serious NHS drug shortages continue

The NHS continues to suffer a shortage of medicines, with alerts in place for conditions including alcoholism, ADHD, type 2 diabetes, and menopause, as UK manufacturers of generic drugs report shortages lasting over 6 months for over half of their medicines. 

Pabrinex vitamin B IM injections, which are used for alcoholism, debility, haemodialysis, and Wernickes encephalopathy, have not been available since August, and there are no plans for their return. 

Supply of ADHD medication currently varies, but issues remain for prolonged-release tablets of methylphenidate, the Department of Health and Social Care told Medscape News UK.

There is a limited supply of liraglutide and the wider GLP-1 receptor agonist medications used for type 2 diabetes and weight management.

Other medication safety alerts have been issued for the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) ethinylestradiol, potassium chloride syrup (KAY-CEE) for hypokalaemia, and phenytoin capsules for epilepsy seizures related to neurosurgery or head injury, status epilepticus, and ventricular arrhythmias. 

To address ADHD medication shortages, clinical guidelines have been issued to support switching to available medicines. Existing supplies have been conserved by not starting new patients on medicines that have limited supplies, but using alternatives, said James Davies, England director of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), speaking to Medscape News UK. 

He added that certain strengths of paracetamol suppositories are in short supply and are expected to be restocked next February. “In the meantime, alternative treatments with the tablet, capsule, liquid, or IV formulations are considered where clinically appropriate, or using half of the suppositories that continue to be in stock and available,” he said. 

Read full story

Source: Medscape News, 15 November 2024

Further reading on the hub

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

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

To help us understand how these issues impact the lives of patients and families, please share your experience and insights in our community forum. 

Read more

USA: Leapfrog Group finds significant improvements in patient safety

The nonprofit Leapfrog Group’s fall 2024 Hospital Safety Grade report shows that US hospitals are making progress in patient safety across several performance measures, including notable improvements in healthcare-associated infections, hand hygiene and medication safety.

The report evaluates nearly 3,000 hospitals on their ability to prevent medical errors, accidents and infections. The Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 30 performance measures to assign an “A, “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” to individual hospitals and uses a public, peer-reviewed methodology, calculated by patient safety experts under the guidance of a national expert panel.

"Preventable deaths and harm in hospitals have been a major policy concern for decades. So, it is good news that Leapfrog’s latest Safety Grades reveal that hospitals across the country are making notable gains in patient safety, saving countless lives," said Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, in a statement. “Next, we need hospitals to accelerate this progress—because no one should have to die from a preventable error in a hospital.”

Read full story

Source: Healthcare Innovation, 15 November 2024

Read more

PA employers must provide references to support registration

Employers of physician associates (PAs) will be required to provide a reference and an insurance and indemnity declaration as part of a PA’s application for registration with the GMC.

The regulation of PAs by the GMC is set to begin on 13 December, with registration open from 16 December. However, registration will not be legally required for another two years to allow for a transition period.

In a letter to employers last week, the GMC said PAs will need to provide a range of evidence to demonstrate knowledge, skills and behaviour to provide safe patient care. It said this would include an employer reference and an insurance and indemnity declaration.

The GMC clarified that this reference will need to be completed and signed by a supervising clinician who has oversight of the PA’s practice, which is likely to be the supervising GP.

‘We’d be grateful if you could support this process by making sure PAs, AAs [Anaesthesia Associates] and their supervisors are aware of and prepared for this requirement and requests that they may receive,’ said the letter.

PAs who have practised within the last five years will need an employer reference covering the most recent three months of employment. Supervisors will be provided with a specific form to complete, sign and date.

It added that most PAs will have indemnity cover under their employer’s scheme, but they will need to sign a declaration saying they have this in place when they apply for registration.

Read full story

Source: Management in Practice, 4 November 2024

Read more
 

CNN: More than 1 in 3 surgical patients has complications, study finds, and many are the result of medical errors

Despite decades of calls for more attention to patient safety in hospitals, people undergoing surgery still have high rates of complications and medical errors, a new study finds.

More than a third of patients admitted to the hospital for surgery have adverse events related to their care, and at least 1 in 5 of these complications is the result of medical errors, the researchers found.

Studies delving into adverse events and medical errors in hospital settings are few and far between, and each has slightly different methods, so their results aren’t always an apples-to-apples comparison. But the latest study, which was published Thursday in the BMJ, fits into a pattern of evidence going back decades, suggesting that hospitals haven’t made much progress on patient safety.

Read full story

Source: CNN, 15 November 2024

Read more
 

Unlicensed medicines may lead to more baby deaths in England, coroner warns

More babies in England could die from issues caused by unlicensed medicines if providers are not required to report problems, a coroner has warned.

The conclusions were reached at the end of an inquest held after three infants died due to receiving contaminated feed.

The babies were all receiving hospital care after being born prematurely and died after receiving total parenteral nutrition (TPN) feed contaminated with Bacillus cereus, Southwark coroners court heard.

Read full story

Source: Guardian, 18 November 2024

Read more
 

Pharmacies vote to cut opening hours in funding protest

Pharmacy owners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have voted in favour of cutting opening hours and stopping home deliveries for the first time, in a protest over government funding.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which ran the ballot, is calling for an annual £1.7bn funding increase to plug the “financial hole”.

The NPA represents 6,500 of the UK's community pharmacies - that's around half of them. It says 99% of those that responded to the vote said they were willing to limit their services unless funding was improved.

Pharmacies could decide:

  • not to open beyond 40 hours a week, into evenings and at weekends.
  • to stop providing free home deliveries of medicines which are not funded.
  • not to offer emergency contraception, substance misuse and smoking support services.
  • to refuse to co-operate with certain data requests.
  • to stop supplying free monitored dose systems (medicine packs), other than those covered by the Equality Act.

NPA chairman Nick Kaye said the ballot result "overwhelmingly shows the sheer anger and frustration of pharmacy owners at a decade of cuts that is forcing dedicated health professionals to shut their doors for good".

He said he cared deeply about his patients - like other pharmacy teams - but he has never experienced a situation as desperate as this.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 14 November 2024

Read more
 

Dad dies days after getting delayed scan results

A Shropshire family has called for faster NHS test results, after a father waited three months for the outcome of a cancer scan which finally arrived five days before he died.

Pete Vagg was receiving chemotherapy at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, unaware his treatment wasn't working and that palliative care might have been an option.

His son Neil said his father "should have had a more dignified end of life, visiting his grandchildren abroad".

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) said: “Waiting times remain longer than we would want for our patients in some specialties".

Mr Vagg, 79, from Shrewsbury, had been living with cancer for a number of years, but it had spread to his bowel and liver.

He started chemotherapy and in July 2024 had a monitoring scan to check if the treatment was working.

His son said: "It was odd that every time his dad met the medical team there was still no scan result”. This meant no decisions could be made about his father's care, because nobody knew what was going on inside him, he added.

Julian Povey, who chairs the Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin GP Board, said it was a common situation with around a third of GP work now related to hospital outpatient appointments.

Dr Povey said people could wait eight weeks for an scan, and then another 12 weeks for the report.

Private companies are often tasked with interpreting scan results to take the pressure off hospitals, but Dr Povey said the trust "needs to look for alternatives to reduce waiting times".

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 18 November 2024

Read more

Declining standards of care for stroke patients must be reversed, says charity

Ministers are being urged to improve declining care for stroke patients to lower the risk of death and disability as new figures show rising cases, especially among people in their 50s.

Thousands of stroke patients are missing out on appropriate treatment and rehabilitation, the standards of which have worsened over the past decade, the Stroke Association has said as it publishes the latest figures from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP), the nation’s biggest stroke data audit covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Separate NHS England analysis paints a picture of a healthcare system under increasing strain, as the number of people being admitted to hospital after a stroke has risen by 28% in the last 20 years. This included a 55% rise in admissions among people aged 50-59, bringing the number to 12,533 in 2023-24 – the highest increase among any age group. The rise is understood to be fuelled by obesity, poor diet and sedentary lifestyles.

The Stroke Association said that innovative treatments, such as thrombectomy, and basic care, such as hospital rehabilitation, are still being delivered inconsistently across different regions.

Juliet Bouverie, the chief executive of the Stroke Association, said: “The NHS stroke pathway has long been at crisis point. The recoveries of too many stroke survivors are being put at risk due to a lack of staff, spiralling waiting times and a lack of basic stroke care provision which compromises – rather than optimises – patient recovery.

“Governmental change is long overdue, and the 10-year health plan is an ideal opportunity to ensure everyone who has a stroke can survive and live well.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 18 November 2024

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.