All news
Showing .
Today
-
Community PostThe Health Services Safety Investigation Body (HSSIB) investigation into the decontamination of surgical instruments produced the NHS England Estate Bulletin on Competency framework for Decontamination departments. With the new Care Quality Care (CQC) Premises Assurance Model (PAM) Safety Hard (section 16), does this go far enough in identifying the risks to patients? Medical devices are strictly Regulated by the MHRA yet the governance of the Surgical instruments is sitting in IPC, Decontamination. These high risk class IIa and Class III, medical devices under PAM technically cross Safety Hard (section 16) and Safety Soft (section 2) . Does the MDSO or the decontamination lead report on surgical instruments for PAM?
-
Content Article
World Menopause Awareness Day is celebrated every year on 18 October and is dedicated to raising global awareness about menopause and the health-related issues women face during this phase of life. At Patient Safety Learning we believe that sharing insights and learning is vital to improving outcomes and reducing harm. That's why we created the hub; providing a space for people to come together and share their experiences, resources and good practice examples. In this Top picks, we’ve pulled together (1) resources and blogs shared on the hub for people who are going through menopause, and (2) resources and guidance for healthcare staff to support their patients and improve services. -
-
News article
The amount of time children in England spend on screens at school could be harming their "physical and developmental health", a group of more than 150 clinicians has warned. GPs, paediatricians and other specialists said in an open letter to Education Secretary Lucy Powell and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper that tablets and laptops are being used without a full understanding of their long-term health impacts, including on eye health. The clinicians said they are prescribing glasses, hearing aids and speech therapy to children "for a problem that is unintentionally being made worse in our schools". The group of clinicians said nearly one million children are using screens in most lessons, despite studies suggesting a rise in short-sightedness. They pointed to an analysis of 276 studies covering 5.4 million participants around the world. That analysis, they claimed, found a rise in short-sightedness among children and adolescents from around 24% in 1990 to almost 36% by 2023, warning the condition is associated with an increased risk of a range of eye health problems. One of its signatories was Dr Becky Foljambe, an NHS GP and founder of Health Professionals for Safer Screens. She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme parents had not been given the chance to "opt out" of the "excessive" use of screens in schools, which risks children "just not thriving" in education. She said an "explosion" in short-sightedness "cannot be put down to genetics alone". Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 October 2026 -
News article
Doctors must be more transparent with patients and families about the role of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in deaths, especially among cancer patients, the UK’s special envoy on AMR says. Speaking at the World Health Summit in Berlin, Sally Davies—England’s previous chief medical officer—said it was common for families to understand a death as being caused by cancer without being told that an untreatable infection had contributed. Instead, greater openness and patient advocacy were needed to urge political action on AMR, she argued. “When patients die … the relatives think of cancer and they had an infection. No one says actually it was untreatable; it was AMR,” she said. “AMR is much more common in cancer patients, and one in four have serious infections. We’ve got to be much more open. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 12 October 2026 -
News article
Suicide rates among men in their early 50s across England and Wales have hit a record high, extending a persistent trend of elevated numbers within Generation X, official figures reveal. A total of 532 suicides were recorded among men aged 50 to 54 in 2025, equating to 28.0 deaths per 100,000 people. This rises from 27.3 per 100,000 in 2024, marking the highest level for this age demographic since contemporary data collection began in 1981, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure also represents the highest rate recorded across any age category for both men and women. The ONS highlighted that higher rates of suicide have "followed" Generation X men over recent decades. David Mais, head of mortality statistics at the ONS, said: “Sadly, today’s figures show that suicide rates in England and Wales remain elevated, with the overall rate among the highest recorded this century. “Men in their early 50s are at most risk, reflecting a pattern of increased rates that has followed Generation X men over the past few decades.” Sonya Trivedy, an executive director at the suicide support charity Samaritans, said middle-age “can be a particularly challenging stage of life”, often characterised by long-term relationship breakdown, money worries, worsening physical health and caring responsibilities for both children and older parents. Read full story Source: The Independent, 13 October 2026 -
News article
Leading campaigners have accused ministers of “suppressing” a report that is understood to set out significant concerns raised by families harmed by their experiences of maternity care investigations. The Maternity Investigations and Review Tools Process evaluation was commissioned by ministers in 2025 following concerns raised by parents about national review processes undertaken following late miscarriages, stillbirth, and neonatal deaths. The MATREP project carried out an independent evaluation of Perinatal Mortality Review Tool investigations carried out by trusts and those conducted by the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations programme. HSJ understands the project, run by University of Manchester researchers, was completed and received by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) by mid-2025. But the report’s findings, said to include complaints from parents about MNSI and PMRT processes, have still not been made public. A DHSC spokesman said it was “considering the findings and recommendations” and that researchers were “able to share” these if they wished. However, bereaved families disputed this and said the report was being suppressed, while researchers said they could not put the report into the public domain yet because it was still going through a publication process. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 October 2026 -
Content Article
Patient experiences reported online can reveal safety incidents in healthcare organisations, but they can only translate into quality improvement if organisations engage with them. Accordingly, healthcare organisations’ responses to online feedback offer a new data source on corrective culture, namely, the norms and practices for identifying, interpreting, and acting on safety incidents. This study explored the feasibility of using a large language model to reliably code these responses for two candidate indicators of corrective culture: engagement and organisational learning. The results indicate that large language models can reliably code engagement in these responses, while their ability to code organisational learning remains inconclusive. Organisational culture in healthcare is usually assessed with staff surveys, which rely on self-report. Large language models could complement surveys by measuring observed behaviour in naturally occurring data, although whether engagement reflects corrective culture requires external validation. -
Content Article
On 20 October 2025, the then-Secretary of State announced the decision to commission an independent review into maternity and neonatal services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT). This was due to: LTHT having one of the highest extended perinatal mortality rates. hearing families’ experiences. the ‘inadequate’ rating in the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) report. The purpose is to review the care women, babies and families received in a maternity and neonatal context, identify any failings and recommend actions for improvement. For clarity and consistency, references to ‘women’ throughout this document are intended to include women and all birthing people, including those who do not identify as women. During the defined time period, the governance and leadership of the trust and the extent to which the regulators were aware of issues will be reviewed to determine if the regulatory response was sufficient. -
Content Article
This NHS Resolution thematic review explores learning from suicide-related compensation claims made against mental health trusts in England. The report highlights opportunities to strengthen communication, support effective family involvement, improve risk assessment processes and address organisational factors that can influence patient safety and care. -
Content Article
The National Audit of Inpatient Falls (NAIF) has published its 2026 annual report, Beyond hip fracture: reporting on the expansion to include other injuries for the first time. This is the first NAIF report to extend beyond hip fracture, providing broader insights into the prevention, assessment and management of patients who sustained a fracture, head injury or spinal injury following an inpatient fall. The report highlights opportunities for trusts and health boards to improve patient safety and outcomes. It also introduces a new key performance indicator on timely pain management following an injurious fall and sets out key recommendations to strengthen participation and falls governance, standardise post-fall processes, and improve patient outcomes. Yesterday
-
EventWhen teams are facing pressure and uncertainty, finding time for open conversations can be difficult. This session explores how listening to staff, understanding their experiences and acting on their feedback can support learning and everyday improvement. Attendees will hear reflections from Lara Mott at ImproveWell, followed by a focused exploration of maternity data, emerging patterns and what these mean for teams on the ground. The session will offer practical ways to encourage staff voice and use insights to inform improvement. What you will learn: Why communication becomes even more critical during periods of pressure and uncertainty How to support staff voice and encourage open, honest conversations What maternity data is revealing about current challenges and trends How to use data insights to inform learning, improvement, and decision making It is particularly relevant to Directors and Heads of Midwifery, Neonatal Leads, Maternity Governance Leads and senior clinical leaders. Attendees will also receive our Creating the Conditions for Safer Maternity and Neonatal Care guide and a Maternity Data Snapshot summarising the session’s key insights. Registration link: https://meet.zoho.eu/wujc-ufm-fro
-
Content Article
Evidence is limited on how people experience government-commissioned inquiries, what they value about them and the impacts of procedures. This study applies realist logic to examine the experiences of those designing and participating in a government-commissioned restorative approach to harm associated with surgical mesh use in Aotearoa New Zealand. Attention is paid to divergent perspectives about harm and responsibility, desired outcomes, and the multiple identities that shaped people's responses to the programme. -
EventThis virtual conference focuses on the role of the Coroner, the coronial investigation and inquest process, and preparing effectively for a Coroner’s Inquest. The conference will provide an important update on current developments in the coroner system, including the impact of the statutory Medical Examiner system and Death Certification Reforms on referrals, investigations and learning from deaths. The conference will explore the Coroner’s investigation from notification and referral through to the inquest, preparing witness statements and giving evidence, supporting staff involved in proceedings, and understanding what families want and need from the process. Practical sessions will provide an opportunity to understand how an inquest works in practice and develop confidence in preparing for and attending Coroner’s Court. Following the introduction of statutory Medical Examiner scrutiny, all deaths in England and Wales now undergo independent review either by a Medical Examiner or through investigation by a Coroner. Emerging national evidence suggests that the reforms are leading to fewer unnecessary referrals to coroners and more appropriate use of the coronial process. The conference will examine how Medical Examiners, Coroners, patient safety teams and clinical governance functions can work effectively together to identify concerns and ensure learning leads to improvement. The conference will also consider how organisations manage PSIRF learning responses, complaints, claims and coronial investigations in parallel. HSSIB has highlighted that coroners’ expectations can influence organisations’ choice of learning response under PSIRF, demonstrating the importance of clarity around the different purposes and requirements of patient safety learning and the coronial process. There will be a strong focus on learning from deaths and Prevention of Future Deaths reports, including identifying themes, responding effectively within the required 56-day timeframe and ensuring recommendations and concerns result in demonstrable and sustained improvement. Delegates will also be updated on the developing Public Office (Accountability) Bill, widely known as the Hillsborough Law. The Bill proposes a statutory duty of candour and assistance for public authorities and public officials engaging with inquests, inquiries and investigations, alongside provisions designed to improve the participation and representation of bereaved families. This conference will enable you to: Understand the role of the Coroner and current developments in the coroner system Understand notification and referral of deaths and when a Coroner has a duty to investigate Examine the impact of the Death Certification Reforms and statutory Medical Examiner system Understand the relationship between Medical Examiners, Coroners and organisational learning from deaths Reflect on a family’s experience and understand what bereaved families want from a Coroner’s investigation and inquest Understand the Coroner’s investigation, the scope of an inquest and the role of Interested Persons Develop your skills in preparing for an inquest, including writing witness statements and giving evidence effectively Learn from the experience of Coroners and healthcare professionals who have attended Coroner’s Court Improve support for staff before, during and following an inquest Understand how PSIRF learning responses, complaints, claims and coronial investigations can be managed effectively in parallel Explore openness, candour, disclosure and the implications of the developing Public Office (Accountability) Bill/Hillsborough Law Understand Prevention of Future Deaths reports, the 56-day response requirement and current Chief Coroner arrangements Identify key strategies for learning from deaths and ensuring findings lead to sustained improvement Understand how learning from mortality reviews, Medical Examiner scrutiny, patient safety responses and bereaved-family concerns can be brought together Reflect on your own practice and identify areas for improvement Support CPD professional development and provide evidence for revalidation. This conference provides 5 hours’ training for CPD, subject to peer group approval for revalidation purposes. Register
-
News article
Under fire health chiefs were accused of prioritising the environment over patient safety at a deadly superhospital. The Queen Elizabeth University is being probed by an Inquiry which is set to make its conclusions in the coming months, and has been labelled "safe" by John Swinney and Angela Constance. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's (NHSGGC) handling of the scandal is being scrutinised, with officials accused of mistreating whistleblowers who raised concerns about the near £1bn Glasgow premises. Opened in 2015 "before it was ready," the construction was botched amid issues with the ventilation and water systems. The Crown Office is probing potential corporate homicide over seven deaths linked to the building, including children. Patients and families still fear the QEUH is not safe, with the ventilation in some key rooms, housing the most vulnerable patients, still not at recommended levels. A Times story quoted expert Andrew Poplett, who has conducted audits of the building and is an engineer specialising in healthcare ventilation. The recommended number of air charges per hour for healthcare settings is six, but at the QEUH most rooms had a system that delivers two to for an hour. He said that while the air cooling system at the QEUH was good for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it did not meet health standards: "It appeared that the environmental consideration to make the hospital as energy efficient and as green as possible took priority over the clinical requirement." Still to this day, not all wards at the hospital have been independently verified, with the bone marrow transplant ward being replaced due to safety concerns after mould and water ingress were reported. Rooms in the Royal Hospital for Children reported similar issues, as well as problems with the water supply. Read full story Source: Scottish Daily Express, 11 October 2026 -
Event
until
Improving medicines data across health and social care is the focus of this year’s PRSB AGM, with Dr Melanie Ivarsson, CEO of the Health Data Research Service (HDRS) as the keynote speaker. Melanie has a background in neuroscience research and medicines development and led the creation of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine against Covid-19. Register -
News article
A doctor has been accused of examining patients with blood-stained gloves. Dr Syeda Siddiqui is due to face a misconduct tribunal after being investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates the register of doctors able to practise in the UK. Dr Siddiqui is alleged to have examined two patients on 7 August 2024 at the Community Health and Eyecare Ltd Clinic (CHEC) in Warrington, Cheshire, with non-sterile gloves contaminated with the blood of a previous patient. She also faces a similar allegation that she examined a patient at CHEC's Stockport clinic on 10 December 2024 with non-sterile, contaminated gloves. Dr Siddiqui had been carrying out "minor operations" on other patients prior to the incidents outlined. The GMC also alleged that Dr Siddiqui, who qualified from the University of Manchester in 1984, collected used, non-sterile equipment to take home. A notice of the hearing stated the doctor claimed that it was "normal practice" at another CHEC branch when she knew that was untrue. Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 October 2026 -
News article
Women with autoimmune conditions are up to 74% more likely than men to be told their symptoms are psychological or psychosomatic, and face much longer waits for a diagnosis and treatment, a study suggests. Hundreds of millions of people – about one in 10 globally – are affected by autoimmune conditions, which can cause a range of health issues including fatigue, muscle pain and rashes. But research by the University of Cambridge and University of East Anglia suggests a stark gender divide when it comes to how signs of the conditions are handled by doctors. Women are more likely to have their conditions wrongly attributed to psychiatric causes, more likely to have symptoms misdiagnosed as psychosomatic, and more likely to experience delays in getting a diagnosis, according to the study. The lead author, Melanie Sloan, said: “The damage caused to women by these types of misdiagnosis can be very long lasting in terms of trusting doctors and their own self-esteem.” Sloan, a researcher in the department of public health and primary care at Cambridge and UEA, said some women were forced to wait years before finally getting a diagnosis, causing long delays to treatment for their condition. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 13 October 2026 -
News article
The transfer of a children’s cancer service, ordered after years of safety concerns, has been delayed again and will not happen before 2028. Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust, which is due to run a new centralised paediatric principal treatment centre at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital in Lambeth, said essential approvals from the Building Safety Regulator were “taking more time than originally anticipated”. When NHS England London confirmed the switch in 2024 – which will replace a current service led from the Royal Marsden site in Sutton – it said it would take place from “October 2026 at the earliest”. That date later slipped to March 2027. Papers for the Royal Marsden FT’s board meeting on 30 September said GSTT now expected the transfer in “February or March 2028 at the earliest”. The Marsden’s board was asked to endorse its position that the transfer “cannot safely proceed” without confirmed estates readiness, specialist air-filtered rooms, diagnostic arrangements, and funding for the workforce and the transition period. It was also asked to back continued escalation through NHSE London’s regional oversight board. The PTC for children aged one to 15 in south London, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex is currently run from the Marsden’s Sutton site, which has no paediatric intensive care unit. Children who need intensive care are transferred to St George’s Hospital in Tooting. The Marsden’s papers said such transfers averaged seven a year. A 2019 HSJ investigation revealed that multiple unpublished reviews had found the model unsatisfactory, and that it had been implicated in a series of incidents and child deaths. Concerns had been an “open secret” for almost a decade, one informed figure said at the time. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 October 2026 -
News article
Kelly O'Shea says she has woken from more than one operation to be told adequate resources were not available to do the procedure she needed. The 32-year-old, who lives with chronic pain, felt there was no alternative but to pay £20,000 for the endometriosis treatment she needed, out of frustration and desperation. It comes as gynaecologists warn specialist centres in Wales dealing with complex cases of endometriosis are in jeopardy and a national service must be commissioned. The deputy minister for women's health in Wales said the current set up was "not sustainable" and is discussing options for a regional or national service to be established. Changes are being introduced by national accreditation body British Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy (BSGE) highlighting the resource challenges faced by hospitals in Wales. Clinical staff say it has been made worse because of the funding differences between England and Wales. They say unless more resources are found to increase capacity and dedicate teams to endometriosis care, BSGE-accreditation requirements will not be met, which would lead to a downgrading of services, a potential skills exodus and large numbers of patients being sent to England for care. At a recent cross-party Senedd group on women's health, gynaecologists said Wales either needed a nationally commissioned service or an overhaul of the funding model to better reflect the true cost of the specialist care. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 October 2026 -
Content Article
In this 2 minute video, Chief Medical Officer for The UK Sepsis Trust, Ron Daniels explains how antibiotics can enter your food chain, and how this is having an impact on sepsis and antimicrobial resistance. Read the transcript -
Content Article
Preventable harm continues to be a major problem in health care. The WHO estimates the global rate of patient harm is 1 in every 10 patients, and that roughly half of harm is preventable. There has been progress in improving safety over the last quarter century, but rates of patient harm remain high. One reason is that essential patient safety concepts have not been adopted as a central part of professional education and training. We do not expect clinicians to learn anatomy or pharmacology on the job. Why do we expect patient safety can be learned that way? A principal reason for the foot dragging is inertia. Anatomy and chemistry have been the mandatory foundation for medical education for over a hundred years. Since that time, curricula have expanded, but the persistent assumption has been that well-trained, conscientious clinicians will not make errors. Systems thinking, which explains how flawed structures, policies and processes lead to errors and harm, has not been a part of that training. By allowing this mindset to persist, we are setting up future clinicians to fail. If we want safer care, teaching about safety must play a more central role in medical education. In this paper, Albert Wu suggests that this should begin as early as possible, stretching back into pre-professional education and even grade school. Last week
-
Content Article
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems now summarise health-related search results, answer medical questions and offer guidance people once sought from clinicians. These systems bring real benefits, including plain-language explanations of medical information, around-the-clock availability and expanded access for people facing language or literacy barriers. They also carry new risks: inaccurate guidance can harm people at scale, and malicious actors can now generate personalised health misinformation at negligible cost. In this Perspective published in Nature, the authors argue that these risks are largely invisible to the institutions responsible for protecting public health. When AI guidance causes harm, no record exists outside the platform, no channel allows users to report it and no independent researcher can measure the consequences. The authors trace these invisible risks across two settings: incidental exposure online and active seeking through search engines and chatbots. Minimising harm from AI-generated health information requires making it observable. The authors therefore offer recommendations that aim to improve transparency, mitigate harm at the point of delivery and assign accountability, ranging from voluntary platform measures to regulatory ones. -
News article
Maternity wards across the United States are facing a wave of closures as cuts to federal Medicaid funding take effect, experts have warned. According to analysis by the non-profit Protect Our Care, 52 maternity wards have closed since the HR1 bill was announced in July 2025, with a further eight having announced their upcoming closure. The bill, which will fully come into effect in the new year, will result in many adults covered through Medicaid having to meet new work requirements and being subject to more frequent eligibility checks, while there will be less federal funding for states for Medicaid. Hospitals which have already permanently closed their maternity wards include the Centra Southside Community hospital in Virginia and St Mary’s Sacred Heart hospital in rural north-east Georgia, which both cited upcoming federal policy changes to Medicaid as a reason. Experts are expecting to see more closures of maternity units in the run-up to and after the federal changes to Medicaid come into effect in the new year. “We’re deeply concerned that these changes already have and will continue to worsen an already serious maternity care crisis,” said Erin Jones, senior director of legislative and strategic counsel of the non-profit March of Dimes. “Reduced funding and restrictions on how states finance Medicaid will put additional pressure on state budgets and hospitals, increasing the risk that communities lose essential maternity services and specialized providers close to home.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 October 2026 -
Ec9abe69e8a53b4798033251e2851144Your reflection seems spot on. It would be really interesting to understand which balancing measures are being considered as part of the review of Martha’s Rule, particularly to explore any unintended consequences alongside the intended benefits.
