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NHS ‘ignores staff, patients and families’, says minister

Health minister Gillian Merron has declared many patients have a poor experience of NHS care as a result of a “culture that has ignored the voice of staff [and] of patients and families for too long”.

Baroness Merron, who is the patient safety minister, said “much of what is wrong with the NHS and needs to change goes back to a culture that has ignored the voices of staff [and] of patients and their families for too long”.

She said there had “been good progress in improving patient safety, but we all know there is a long way to go”.

The minister was speaking at the launch of the new National State of Patient Safety report by Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation, for Patient Safety Watch.

She said the government planned to improve culture, including with professional regulation of managers and a professional duty of candour. Baroness Merron said the new safety report was “going to contribute massively” to the government’s 10-year health plan.

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Source: HSJ, 13 December 2024

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GMC regulation of physician associates and anaesthesia associates to begin

The General Medical Council (GMC) will begin regulating physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) from this Friday, 13 December.

Registration for PAs and AAs will open from Monday, 16 December. A small number will receive an invitation to apply for registration before the end of the month, and all PAs and AAs on existing voluntary registers will have received their invitations by the end of January 2025.

There are thought to be around 5,000 PAs and 200 AAs in the UK. From December 2026 it will be an offence to practise as a PA or AA in the UK without registration.

To join the register of PAs and AAs, individuals will need to complete an application and provide evidence, including their qualifications and, where relevant, work history and references, to show they meet the GMC’s standards.

GMC Chief Executive Charlie Massey said:

"We are looking forward to becoming the regulator of these professions and I am sure it will also be an exciting time for them. I have met many physician associates and anaesthesia associates in recent months and have seen how they work with doctors and others in teams providing excellent care for patients.

‘There have been challenges along the way, but we are about to see a step change in regulation. For the first time, patients, employers and colleagues will be assured that physician associates and anaesthesia associates have the necessary education and training, meet our standards, and can be held to account if serious concerns are raised."

Source: General Medical Council, 12 December 2024

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Americans spend more time living with diseases than rest of world, study shows

Americans spend more time living with diseases than people from other countries, according to a new study.

The American Medical Association has published its latest findings, revealing that Americans live with diseases for an average of 12.4 years. Mental and substance-use disorders, as well as musculoskeletal diseases, are main contributors to the years lived with disability in the US, per the study.

Women in the US exhibited a 2.6-year higher so-called healthspan-lifespan gap (representing the number of years spent sick) than men, increasing from 12.2 to 13.7 years or 32% beyond the global mean for women.

The latest overall healthspan-lifespan gap in the US marks an increase from 10.9 years in 2000 to 12.4 years in 2024, resulting in a 29% higher gap than the global mean.

Globally, the healthspan-lifespan gap has widened over the last 20 years, extending to 9.6 years from 8.5 years in 2000 – a 13% increase.

Following the US in the largest healthspan-lifespan gaps were Australia at 12.1 years, New Zealand at 11.8 years, the UK and Northern Ireland at 11.3 years and Norway at 11.2 years. By contrast, the smallest healthspan-lifespan gaps were seen in Lesotho at 6.5 years, Central African Republic at 6.7 years, Somalia and Kiribati at 6.8 years and and Micronesia at 7 years.

Describing the results, the study’s authors, Armin Garmany and Andre Terzic, said: “These results underscore that around the world, while people live longer, they live a greater number of years burdened by disease.”

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Source: The Guardian, 11 December 2024

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GPs ‘should perform minor surgery’ to cut waiting lists

GPs should be empowered to perform minor surgery to help the thousands of Scottish patients who are waiting years for treatment, one of the country’s leading family doctors has said.

Despite pledges by SNP ministers to tackle the backlog of patients waiting for care, the latest data shows more than 10,000 Scots have been waiting for at least two years for treatment — 100 times higher than the equivalent figure in England.

Doctors have suggested that GPs could perform more services within local surgeries, removing the need for a hospital referral and cutting down waiting times.

Minor treatments which GPs could perform include cutting out skin lesions and cryotherapy (which includes freezing skin lesions with liquid nitrogen), contraceptive coil fittings and joint injections, it has been suggested.

Dr Chris Williams, deputy chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Scotland, said that the Scottish government’s announcement of £13.6 million in extra funding this financial year for general practice “should allow some practices to offer these services should they choose to do so”.

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Source: The Times, 11 December 2024

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Irish medical regulator says regulating physician associates is outside its remit

The Medical Council, the medical regulator for Ireland, has announced that it believes it is not the appropriate body to regulate physician associates (PAs)—in sharp contrast to the position in the UK where the General Medical Council takes on this role from 13 December.

The role of PA was introduced in Ireland in 2016 by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland’s School of Medicine which offers the only masters in physician associate studies in the Republic of Ireland.

To date, 76 PAs have graduated from the two year programme with 60% working in public hospitals and 40% employed by the private sector. The GMC estimates that there are around 5000 PAs and 200 anaesthetic associates (AAs) in the UK.

PAs are not yet subject to statutory regulation in Ireland but there is a managed voluntary register, which lists all fully qualified PAs who successfully fit the criteria to practise as a PA in the Republic. The register is designed to provide public protection and safety and is managed by the Irish Society of Physician Associates.

In a position statement2 published on 3 December, the Medical Council said it was not the appropriate regulatory body for PAs.

“The Medical Practitioners Act 2007 has no provision to regulate health professionals other than doctors,” said the statement. “The Medical Council’s primary purpose is to protect the public by setting high standards of professional conduct, education, training, and competence among doctors.”

The council also said there was potential for emerging patient safety risks arising from confusion for patients, as observed recently in the UK.

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Source: The BMJ, 12 December 2024

Further reading on the hub:

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

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NHS warns of 'tidal wave' of flu as hospital cases rise 70% in England

The number of hospital beds in England occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, NHS England said, as it warned of a “tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals”.

Health leaders said that people eligible for their free flu jab should get vaccinated as soon as possible to avoid “festive flu”.

An average of 1,861 flu patients were in hospitals in England each day last week, including 66 in critical care beds, NHS figures show. This is up from 1,099 patients the previous week, when 39 were in critical care. It is also more than four times the figure at this point last year.

NHS England said cases of norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were also on the rise.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, said on Thursday: “The tidal wave of flu cases and other seasonal viruses hitting hospitals is really concerning for patients and for the NHS – the figures are adding to our ‘quad-demic’ worries.

“While the NHS has plans in place to manage additional demand over the busy winter period, with one week left to book your vaccine, I cannot stress enough the importance of getting booked in to protect yourself against serious illness and to avoid ‘festive flu’.”

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Source: The Guardian, 12 December 2024

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‘Safety concerns’ over provider with £500m new contracts

A patient transport company which is taking over contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds is grappling with concerns about service performance and risk to patients.

EMED has been delivering the non-emergency patient transport service in the Surrey Heartlands area since April.

HSJ has learned that several trusts have repeatedly highlighted problems with missed and late appointments, including those for renal patients attending for dialysis.

One trust – Ashford and St Peter’s – said in a board paper the contract “continues to generate significant patient safety and patient experience concerns across the whole system”.

The Royal Surrey County Hospital Foundation Trust’s board papers said challenges had “a knock-on effect with patient experience, particularly in end of life care transfers, and longer waits for patients being discharged”.

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Source: HSJ, 13 December 2024

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Eight women developed cancer after smear test misread, says report

Eight women whose smear tests were misread by screeners went on to develop cancer, a major review into cervical screening at the Southern Health Trust has found.

A further 11 women's slides were found to have pre-cancerous changes in the cells when they were reviewed and had to receive treatment.

All these women had either pre-cancerous changes to their cervix or were diagnosed with another significant gynaecological condition when their smears were reviewed.

The review was triggered when the diagnoses of three women were investigated as a Serious Adverse Incident.

Two of the women, Lynsey Courtney and Erin Harbinson, have since died.

More than 17,000 were approached to have their smear tests rechecked.

The examination of cancer screening at the Southern Health Trust over 13 years found that many women were failed after some screeners underperformed and went unchecked by management for years.

Stella McLoughlin from the campaign group Ladies with Letters described what had happened as unforgivable and called for a public inquiry.

"This has been an absolute scandal from start to finish and was allowed to go on for 10 years," she added.

"Smears being misread, people not being held to account, screeners not being managed properly - all of this is affecting real people."

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Source: BBC News, 11 December 2024

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Puberty blockers for under-18s banned indefinitely

The ban on giving puberty blockers to under-18s questioning their gender identify is to be made permanent, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced.

Streeting told MPs he was making the temporary ban introduced in May indefinite across the UK, following a consultation and advice from the Commission on Human Medicines - calling the way the drugs had been used a "scandal".

The expert group said prescribing the drugs to children for gender dysphoria was an "unacceptable safety risk".

Campaigners on both sides have reacted to the news, with those in support of the ban commending Streeting's "integrity" and those against calling it "discrimination".

A temporary ban was put in place by the last Conservative government, and had been renewed twice by Streeting.

He said on Monday that the review identified cases where children had been prescribed the treatment after filling out an online form and only having one online consultation with a healthcare provider.

The health secretary said it was essential for the government to be evidence-led when it came to healthcare.

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Source: BBC News, 11 December 2024

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National probe into deaths of NHS heart patients as scale of cardiology crisis revealed

A national probe has been launched into the deaths and harm of thousands of NHS patients waiting for cardiac surgery, as doctors and experts warn of a “crisis in heart care”, an investigation by The Independent has revealed.

The audit was ordered by NHS England after concerns were raised about the impact on patients left waiting too long for specialist surgery, according to a leaked memo. Waiting times for all types of cardiac surgery are also under review.

Senior doctors have described how the NHS is struggling to provide life-saving care to those suffering heart attacks and strokes, with worsening ambulance delays meaning patients are being deprioritised.

The latest figures show waiting lists for cardiology services have doubled since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 with 412,164 patients waiting for routine care in October 2024 – up from 397,956 the year before.

As of October this year, just 58 per cent of heart patients were seen within the NHS target of 18 weeks.

An NHS spokesperson said: “Patients who come to emergency departments with heart attacks and strokes should be transferred as quickly as possible to units that are able to offer this care and prioritised accordingly. Despite significant pressure on services and thanks to staff across the country, the NHS is making good progress with the overall waiting list coming down, however, we know boosting capacity for cardiovascular care remains crucial to improving outcomes. We’re committed to using innovations like surgical hubs and implementing the “right procedure, right place model” to help release capacity and speed up access for patients.”

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Source: The Independent, 9 December 2024

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Woman who died after ‘butt lift’ surgery did not give informed consent, Bolton coroner rules

A 26-year-old woman died after she was subjected to a “frankly barbaric” Brazilian butt lift procedure without giving informed consent, a coroner has ruled.

Demi Agoglia travelled to Turkey for the operation after seeing celebrity endorsements for Istanbul-based Comfort Zone Surgery on social media.

Her partner, Bradley Jones, said he had not wanted Agoglia to have the surgery but she had booked the trip months earlier after seeing “some celebrity” endorse it online.

Immediately after the operation she was “shaking” and appeared “very, very cold”, he told Bolton coroner’s court.

Staff from Comfort Zone were called to the villa where she was staying after Agoglia complained of a tight chest, and they checked her blood pressure, but did not inspect the area of the operation or check her heart rate and pulse, the inquest heard.

Agoglia then collapsed at the villa and was taken back to a hospital in Istanbul where she died on 8 January, three days after the operation.

It later emerged that the Comfort Zone staff who were called out to the villa were not qualified nurses. The inquest heard that their “completely bizarre” actions included trying to feed pieces of cucumber to Agoglia after she collapsed.

Dr Omar Tillo, a Harley Street consultant plastic surgeon, told the inquest: “The lack of proper care and response, particularly the failure to address post-operative complications, are likely to have played a significant role in Demi’s tragic outcome.”

The Bolton coroner, John Pollard, ruled that the medical cause of death was a microscopic fat embolism in which tissue leaks into the bloodstream. Concluding that Agoglia had died as a result of misadventure contributed to by neglect, he said: “I find there was no proper informed consent in this matter, there was no proper pre-operative care and advice, and no proper post-operative care.

“All of this meant the care in total fell well below the standard expected of this type of treatment and the lack of care contributed significantly to Demi’s death.”

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Source: The Guardian, 11 December 2024

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Pay deal could extend waiting list and ‘make day job even harder’, says NHSE

A pay rise of more than the 2.8% budgeted for next year would slow down the NHS’s waiting list recovery, and make ”the day-to-day job of NHS staff even harder”, NHS England has claimed.

The national body said the 2025-26 NHS funding envelope was “extremely tight” and any pay rises above 2.8 per cent would mean “further tough re-prioritisation, significantly impacting patient care and in turn making the day-to-day job of NHS staff even harder”.

In evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body panel published on Monday, NHS England said it would have to meet extra costs from its own budget, and every half percentage point above 2.8 per cent would cost around £700m. This was the equivalent of reducing the elective waiting list by at least 300,000, it said.

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Source: HSJ, 11 December 2024

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NHS spends £14.7bn a year treating patients in England hurt by care mistakes, says report

The NHS is forced to spend a “staggering” £14.7bn a year treating people who have been harmed by mistakes made during their care, a report reveals.

And a stark north/south divide on patient safety has opened up across England, with double the amount of death and disability caused by medical negligence in the north-east than in London.

The report, by experts at Imperial College London, found that the safety of the care patients receive had declined over the past two years.

The authors include Prof Lord Ara Darzi, the surgeon and former health minister who produced a major NHS report for the Labour government, which highlighted avoidable patient deaths.

Darzi said there had been “alarming declines” in 12 key metrics of patient safety in England since 2022. They include maternity care, in which there are growing rates of stillbirth, babies dying during or soon after they are born and also women dying while giving birth.

“Our analysis highlights a troubling increase in neonatal and maternal deaths, with Black women disproportionately affected,” said Darzi, the co-director of Imperial’s Institute of Global Health Innovation, which drew up the report.

He urged ministers and NHS bosses to take “immediate action” to improve maternity care. The Royal College of Midwives said staff shortages, including of specialist midwives, were a key reason for the recent deterioration in women’s experiences during pregnancy, labour and afterwards – a decline which reviews by other organisations have also identified.

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Source: The Guardian, 12 December 2024

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Malaria cases rise for fifth year as disasters and resistance hamper control efforts

Malaria killed almost 600,000 people in 2023, as cases rose for the fifth consecutive year, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Biological threats such as rising resistance to drugs and insecticides, and climate and humanitarian disasters continue to hamper control efforts, world health leaders warned.

Globally, there were 263m cases last year, 11m more than the previous year; the vast majority (94%) occurred in Africa.

Officials said a $4.3bn (£3.4bn) annual funding shortfall was among further challenges, which also include the spread of a new insecticide-resistant species of mosquito, genetic mutations in the malaria parasite that stop tests working, and the emergence of a new type of malaria parasite in south-east Asia.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said: “No one should die of malaria; yet the disease continues to disproportionately harm people living in the African region, especially young children and pregnant women.”

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Source: The Guardian, 11 December 2024

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Mothers came to harm at maternity unit says report

Mothers and newborn babies came to harm because of staffing shortages and a "toxic" culture at Edinburgh's maternity unit, according to a whistleblowing investigation seen by BBC News.

NHS Lothian commissioned a report into the obstetrics triage and assessment unit at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after a member of staff raised concerns in February this year.

The investigation upheld or partially upheld 17 concerns about safety.

NHS Lothian said an "improvement plan" designed to enhance patient safety and improve the working environment for staff was already under way as a result of the report.

The health board said a detailed review was taking place into the death in a bid to give the family much-needed answers.

But staff say they fear the risks to patients remain.

"We are afraid we can't provide safe patient care and that women and babies are being harmed," one staff member said, speaking to the BBC anonymously.

"The situation has been getting worse over the past five years and it is at its worst now."

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Source: BBC News, 10 December 2024

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Cost and safety concerns hamper crisis care

Most integrated care boards report a lack of funding is hampering the NHS’s efforts to respond better to mental health crisis incidents, rather than requiring a police response.

The Department of Health and Social Care has published an evaluation of the Right Care, Right Person model, which was introduced nationally last year in response to the police arguing they were spending huge resources on these cases, and would stop answering them.

The NHS said it would move to RCRP, based on a pilot in Humberside in which the health service had dealt with more crises without police input. 

However, mental health service leaders have consistently raised concerns about funding, and the speed of rollout.

The concerns have now been confirmed in the DHSC evaluation, which includes a survey of integrated care boards and councils.

Of the 34 ICBs asked between autumn 2023 and spring 2024, 62% said they had experienced “barriers”. The majority of these ICBs said “cost/funding pressure” was the biggest barrier (86%), followed by “lack of clarity regarding responsibilities of agencies when responding to incidents” (71%), then “lack of workforce to cope with demands” (67%).

Sixty per cent of ICBs reported their “health-based place of safety” — where patients are meant to be taken after being detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act — did not ”meet demand”. This was mostly because of a lack of adult inpatient beds, followed by a rising number of detentions, ICBs said. 

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Source: HSJ, 11 December 2024

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‘Medical misogyny’ condemns women to years of gynaecological pain, MPs told

Women and girls are enduring years of pain because their reproductive conditions are being dismissed due to “medical misogyny”, according to a damning parliamentary report.

The report, by the Women and Equalities committee, found that gynaecological conditions such as endometriosis and adenomyosis are treated with inadequate care due to a “pervasive stigma”, a lack of education by healthcare professionals and “medical misogyny”.

The Commons select committee, which set out to examine the experiences of care women with reproductive conditions get in England, found that symptoms are often “normalised” and it can take years for women to get a diagnosis and treatment.

The substandard gynaecological care cited by the report also includes routine IUD contraceptive fittings, cervical screenings, and hysteroscopies.

The report said women were being left in pain and discomfort that “interferes with every aspect of their daily lives”, including their education, careers, relationships and fertility, while their conditions worsen.

It also found there to be a “clear lack of awareness and understanding of women’s reproductive health conditions among primary healthcare practitioners” and concluded that gynaecological care is not being treated as a priority.

Pervasive stigma associated with gynaecological and urogynaecological health, a lack of education and “medical misogyny” has contributed to poor awareness of these conditions.

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Source: The Guardian, 11 December 2024

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New leaders bring ‘energy, focus and grit’ to troubled trusts, says NHSE

Changing chairs, CEOs and finance chiefs has helped turn around several poorly performing trusts and systems, NHS England has said, but it plans to do more to “strengthen” leadership at troubled organisations.

Dame Emily Lawson made the comments in an update to NHSE’s board on its “recovery support programme”, which is the current name of its intervention regime for the most poorly performing trusts and systems.

The NHSE chief operating officer said: “We know we have got more to do… to strengthen leaders at the most challenged places. We are developing a more systematic way of identifying and developing talented leaders and matching them to roles where they can make the biggest impact when in post.

“That means we need to give leaders the right flexibilities, incentives and support to turn things around.”

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Source: HSJ, 6 December 2024

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USA: Price stops 1 in 6 adults with asthma from taking their life-saving medications as prescribed

The cost of medication to treat asthma, the chronic lung disease, is stopping one in six US adults from taking their medication as it has been prescribed, researchers have warned.

Furthermore, failure to stick to drug treatment was associated with nearly doubling the risk of an asthma attack and a more than 60 percent heightened risk of visiting an emergency department, they said.

“Adults with asthma who reported experiencing cost-related medication non-adherence had a higher likelihood of experiencing asthma exacerbations,” Emily Graul and Dr. Christer Janson — of the Emory University School of Medicine and Sweden’s Uppsala University, respectively — explained in an editorial article linked to the research.

Asthma can be treated using medications, lifestyle treatments, and inhalers. Inhalers are handheld devices that get medicine directly into peoples’ lungs. While Americans with asthma are more likely to have health insurance, the agency says most adults aged 18 to 64 report cost barriers.

The prices of inhaled medicines have increased by an average of 50 percent since 2009, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. The cost of inhalers ranges between tens and hundreds of dollars, with some companies agreeing to a $35 cap earlier this year.

On average, 10 people in the US die from asthma each day and more than 3,200 people died in 2022, the foundation said. An estimated 22 million American adults had asthma in the US that year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Source: The Independent, 10 December 2024

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Hospitals running with 20% fewer children’s doctors than they need, new figures reveal

Hospitals across the UK are running with 20% fewer children’s doctors than they need on daily shifts, new research shows.

NHS staff are facing “unacceptable” pressures as paediatric units report a shortfall of 20 per cent in doctors and trainees on shift, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has warned.

Top doctors have said the government’s plans to bring down waiting lists would be “doomed to fail” if the workforce gaps for children’s services were not filled.

Professor Steve Turner, president of the RCPCH, said the gaps were having a detrimental impact on the wellbeing, morale and training of doctors and ultimately impacted patient care.

He said: “This report highlights how paediatricians are being stretched far too thin every day.  It is completely unacceptable that our current paediatric services are only operating at 80 per cent capacity when the level of demand on these services is now higher than ever…We cannot allow 80 per cent to become the new normal.

“Our children and the clinicians who serve them deserve more. Investing in and reforming paediatric services is not only valuable but is fundamental to the future health and economic wellbeing of our country.”

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Source: The Independent, 10 December 2024

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'My autistic son had no safety net when in crisis'

The family of a man who died after he repeatedly banged his head against a wall in a mental health suite said there was no "safety net" for people with their son's needs.

Declan Morrison, 26, from Cambridge, was autistic, had severe learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

In the hours before his death, he was left naked in a room with CCTV cameras, but his family said the alarm was only raised after he was found unresponsive by staff.

His parents, Graeme and Sam Morrison, are now calling for answers about what went wrong with their son's care.

Mrs Morrison said: "He was left to his own devices in a surrounding that he couldn't understand, with no stimuli, bright lights and bare walls."

In March 2022, Declan spent 10 days in the Section 136 mental health assessment suite, as there were no beds available across the UK.

But he could not cope with the austere, clinical environment which, under the Mental Health Act, should be used for a maximum of 24 hours.

The suite was described by coroner Simon Milburn as "wholly inappropriate", external for Declan's needs.

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Source: BBC News, 9 December 2024

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Fifth cyber incident in a week under investigation

Cyber security teams are investigating the fifth suspected attack on the NHS to have taken place last week.

HSJ can reveal Medway Community Health shut down some systems last week after suspicious activity.

The incident comes after declared cyber incidents at Alder Hey Children’s Foundation Trust, Royal Liverpool University Hospital and the Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital last week.

Last week also saw the end of an incident from a fortnight ago at Wirral University Teaching Hospital FT.

The three NW trusts with an ongoing incident last week said in a statement: “Criminals gained unlawful access to data through a digital gateway service hosted by Alder Hey. This digital gateway is shared by Alder Hey and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital.

“This has resulted in the attacker unlawfully getting access to systems containing data from Alder Hey Children’s, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, and a small amount of data from Royal Liverpool University Hospital. We have launched an investigation which is still ongoing to determine the full facts around what data has been obtained unlawfully.”

The trusts would not confirm how many patient records had been accessed online, but said “we do not believe the data published or accessed unlawfully relates to children and young people”.

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Source: HSJ, 9 December 2024

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Streeting ‘shocked’ by his lack of ‘oversight’ of social care

Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting has said he is “shocked” by his lack of oversight of adult social care and said he is “determined to improve this” in a call with local leaders this morning.

Addressing a webinar on winter pressures with NHS and care leaders, Mr Streeting said he was “shocked by poor levers and line of sight [from DHSC] into the social care system” compared with the NHS, and said this contrast was “day and night, and I’m determined to improve this”, according to sources present.

Mr Streeting also stressed the importance of reform and a “plan” for social care on the call, alongside NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard this morning.

The health secretary also told trust leaders to “prioritise patient safety” by focussing on improving emergency ambulance response times, addressing handover delays and tackling the longest waits in accident and emergency.

He said he did not want trusts to prioritise patients who can be seen and discharged more quickly — and therefore would help meet the four-hour A&E target — above those with the greatest clinical need. Trusts were pressured to do this last winter amid efforts to meet the flagship target.

In a press statement, Mr Streeting said: “We inherited a broken NHS that saw annual winter crisis as the norm. This year, we’re seeing record pressures on services as we move into December.

“This winter I want to see patient safety prioritised as we brace ourselves for the coming months. I’m asking trusts to focus on ambulance delays, handovers and the longest A&E waits.”

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Source: HSJ, 9 December 2024

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Baby's inquest finds serious hospital failures after family's £250k battle

A coroner has found neglect and failure to provide adequate medical care contributed to the preventable death of a baby.

Hayden Nguyen died aged six days at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London in 2016.

The conclusion came after his parents spent seven years and £250,000 fighting for justice.

In a statement, the hospital said it was "committed to learning from any findings to improve our practices".

Senior Coroner Richard Travers said in his findings that Hayden had "obvious needs that were simply not met" by clinicians when his parents took him to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in west London in August 2016.

They were concerned about a fever he had but his condition quickly deteriorated. He had a cardiac arrest and died within 12 hours of arriving at the hospital. The treatment Hayden received, Mr Travers found, fell "very seriously below expected standards" and had he received appropriate and timely care, he would have survived.

An internal investigation by the hospital following Hayden's death found there had been eight errors in the care he'd received, including failures to identify signs of septic shock and to act on abnormal test results.

However, the original inquest into Hayden's death, held at Westminster Coroner's Court in 2017, concluded he had died of natural causes.

The coroner, Dr Shirley Radcliffe, had contacted the hospital to raise concerns about their investigation.

The hospital produced a second report, which halved the number of errors found and said the root cause of Hayden's death was an infection "which is known to have a high mortality".

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Source: BBC News, 6 December 2024

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Wes Streeting holds winter crisis talks with NHS bosses in England

Wes Streeting has held urgent talks with NHS leaders in England about how the service will cope with an impending winter crisis, amid signs that it is already under intense pressure.

At the meeting today, the health secretary told the chief executive of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard, and the bosses of large hospital trusts to prioritise patient safety over trying to meet waiting time targets.

He convened the meeting days after NHS England said hospitals faced being overwhelmed by a potential “quad-demic” of flu, Covid, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the diarrhoea and vomiting bug (norovirus).

There is mounting alarm that more than 2,000 of the service’s 100,000 beds are already filled with people with Covid (1,390) or norovirus (756), another 142 occupied by children with RSV and that ambulance services are struggling to cope with the number of 999 calls they are receiving.

Streeting said: “We inherited a broken NHS that saw annual winter crisis as the norm. This year, we’re seeing record pressures on services as we move into winter. This winter I want to see patient safety prioritised as we brace ourselves for the coming months.”

He has asked local NHS leaders to make it a priority to get patients out of ambulances and into their hospitals as soon as possible, so crews can get back on the road to attend other incidents, and also to ensure that patients do not wait too long for care in A&E units.

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Source: The Guardian, 9 December 2024

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