All news
Showing .
Today
-
News article
A trust has all but conceded it cannot meet its financial plan this year, as finding the required savings would most likely be “at the expense of patient safety”. University Hospitals Plymouth Trust (UHP) agreed a breakeven year-end plan with NHS England for 2026/27, but according to recent board papers, there are “risks” of £58m to this position. Read full article (paywalled). Source: Health Service Journal, 2 November 2026 -
News article
MPs have warned that blind and partially sighted people risk being shut out of the NHS as the government pushes ahead with plans to make the NHS App its ‘digital front door’ by 2028. A report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Visual Impairment found that 53% of people who responded to its survey rated the app as either ‘not accessible’ or ‘slightly accessible’. The findings, which draw on a survey of 64 people, most of them blind or partially sighted, and evidence given to MPs, also found that 50% who require their healthcare information provided in an accessible format said they ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ receive it that way. Meanwhile 46% of respondents who use the app found it ‘difficult’ or ‘very difficult’ to use, with 56% saying that reading letters or documents was one of the hardest parts of using the app. Read full article. Source: Digital Health, 2 November 2026 -
News article
Closing two of three consultant-led maternity units run by a hospital group is the best option for safety and staffing, a review by senior local clinical leaders has concluded. Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group bosses stressed no final decisions had been taken on its future model, and that other scenarios being considered included retaining all three, or closing just one unit. The conclusions were outlined in a report, Our Case for Change, the recommendations of which were signed off at the group’s board meeting. Read full article (paywalled). Source: Health Service Journal, 2 November 2026 -
Content Article
This paper, published in Advances in Simulation, describes how a single site used simulation-based clinical systems testing during pre-opening operational-readiness work for a newly expanded emergency department, integrating quality improvement methods and human factors frameworks to find problems before real patients encountered them. -
Content Article
In a blog to mark Learning Disability Nurses' Day on 1 November, Professor Ben Thomas highlights why this specialist profession is safety-critical. He sets out how Learning disability nurses are indispensable to safe, equitable and person-centred care and why sustained investment is needed to secure the roles future. -
News article
A new early warning system is being introduced in hospital emergency departments in England to help busy NHS staff identify sick children who are dangerously deteriorating. It comes after Health Secretary Yvette Cooper promised to stop "corridor care" for sick children because of long waits for hospital beds. The new National Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) asks staff to check, log and grade vital signs, such as blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels. A high overall score means a child needs more urgent attention. Concerns from staff, parents, carers or the child themselves will trigger an immediate escalation of care. The initiative is designed to save lives ahead of winter, when pressure on the NHS is at its highest. Read full article. Source: BBC News, 2 November 2026 -
News article
From 2 to 8 November 2026, the World Health Organization joins the global #MedSafetyWeek campaign to raise awareness of the importance of recognizing side effects from medicines and encourage patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals to report them. Side effects can take many forms, from a skin rash or upset stomach to changes in sleep, mood or other unexpected symptoms. Some may appear shortly after starting treatment, while others develop after prolonged use, a change in dose or when several medicines are taken together. Although medicines undergo rigorous evaluation before they reach patients, not all potential side effects can be identified during clinical trials. Continuous monitoring throughout a medicine's life cycle is therefore essential. Every report matters. When combined with other reports and scientific evidence, it can help identify potential safety concerns, improve understanding of medicine-related risks and inform actions to protect patients. The campaign aims to: raise awareness and highlight the importance of reporting. encourage patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals to recognize and promptly report side effects through national reporting systems, even when they are unsure whether a medicine caused them. Read full article. Source: World Health Organization, 2 November 2026 Related reading Medication adverse reactions and patient safety -
News article
.png.fce0c2b59f069caba03e085b318e474f.png)
An AI program is alleged to have ignored the evidence of hundreds of mothers who blamed traumatic labours on the pursuit of a normal birth ideology in the NHS. Mothers who suffered harm when giving birth gave their evidence to a landmark review of maternity care in England led by Baroness Amos. Transcripts of interviews and panel discussions, testimonies, and reports of their care were among more than 10,500 submissions given to the inquiry. Many contained devastating accounts from mothers denied pain relief, who had caesarean sections refused and had concerns about their babies dismissed because they believed doctors and midwives wanted them to have a natural birth. Yet when Amos published her report into maternity care in June it concluded: “We did not find that normal birth ideology was currently widespread.” Read full article. Source: The Times, 31 October 2026 -
Community PostWe want to hear from patients with experience of NHS and/or private orthodontists and dentists in any healthcare setting, including community practices and hospitals. Did the orthodontist/dentist give you the treatment and support you needed? If you had ongoing problems, how did the orthodontist/dentist and other healthcare professionals respond? Have you tried to make a complaint? You can read one patient's experience in this opinion piece: “I’ve been mocked, scolded and gaslighted”: a harmed patient’s experience of orthodontic treatment
-
Community PostI’d be cautious about starting cosmetic or orthodontic treatment without a proper bite and jaw assessment first. I once nearly agreed to a small cosmetic adjustment before another dentist explained that the change could affect how my teeth met. That second opinion saved me from rushing into something I didn’t fully understand.
Last week
-
Content Article
The Patient and Client Council (PCC) is an independent statutory body in Northern Ireland that represents the interests of patients, service users, carers and communities in relation to health and social care. This Casebook showcases the work of PCC Support Service and demonstrates the range of issues they supported in 2026. It highlights how independent, professional advocacy can positively impact on people’s lives; helping them to have their voice heard, uphold their rights and address inequalities. -
Content Article
This annual report contains information on: NHS England’s work this year and their achievements and challenges how they have performed against their priorities board members and governance financial statements for 2025 to 2026 -
Content Article
The Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations (MNSI) programme annual report highlights a year of activity aimed at improving maternity and newborn safety for women, babies, and families across England. Between April 2025 and March 2026, MNSI completed 618 investigations and made more than 1,300 safety recommendations. -
Content Article
This report by the UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE), based on the Collaboration for Health Equity in Scotland (CHES), explains why progressive policies have not closed the country’s large health gap and makes recommendations about what needs to change covering the structural drivers of poor health and the implementation landscape. CHES is a partnership between Public Health Scotland, the IEH and three collaborating places: Aberdeen City, North Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. -
News article
Thousands of patients have been unable to access their GP surgery online after a tech firm collapsed into administration. The loss of Silicon Practice means some services, such as entire websites, online consultations and chatbots, are no longer running. Gloucestershire, parts of Wales and London are among the regions that have faced disruption. Patients are being urged to call their GP practice or attend in person if they cannot access services online. Read full article. Source: The Independent, 29 October 2026 -
Content Article
With the NHS App set to become the “digital front door” to the NHS by 2028, this report from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Eye Health and Visual Impairment considers how accessible the NHS App and wider digital health services are for people who are blind or partially sighted. It draws on a stakeholder survey carried out earlier this year and the parliamentary Oral Evidence Session on 30th June, chaired by Marsha De Cordova MP. It shows that when health information is not accessible, blind and partially sighted people are put at risk, making this a patient safety issue. -
Content Article
.png.fc332c11e0bdc919b3c4585a7d89f67a.png)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the UK. This five-year strategy sets out how they are seeking to modernise regulation in response to rapid advances in science, technology and global healthcare. -
Content Article
This article explores the importance of language in healthcare as a matter of patient safety, highlighting the work of Fundació Puigvert, a hospital in Barcelona, to promote the use of Catalan through its 2026–2030 Language Management Plan. It makes the case that patients need to be able to communicate in their preferred language to ensure they are properly understood and receive appropriate care. The Language Management Plan will create a network of language advocates and record the patient’s preferred language in their medical record. -
Content Article
The UK Government is proposing that high-risk cosmetic and wellbeing procedures, including cosmetic surgery and certain injectable and laser treatments, should only be carried out by specified, qualified healthcare professionals. Under the proposals, such procedures could only be performed by doctors, dentists and independent prescribing nurses, midwives or pharmacists. Cosmetic surgery, including the liquid Brazilian butt lift, would be restricted to doctors only. Procedures would also be restricted to people aged 18 and over, with exceptions for NHS provision or where a healthcare professional is treating a medical condition. They are consulting on: whether you agree or disagree with these proposals which procedures and professional groups should be included what effect the changes would have on you, your business or the people you work with This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 13 January 2027. -
News article
Women with breast cancer could be spared 10 hospital visits during radiotherapy through government-backed research, as well as benefit from action to diagnose cancer earlier and strengthen patient support. More than 1,000 people have joined a government-funded trial, testing whether breast cancer radiotherapy can be safely cut from three weeks to just five days. The FAST-Forward Boost trial is running at 39 hospitals across the UK and will test a shorter course of radiotherapy with an additional targeted dose, known as a boost, to help prevent breast cancer returning. The milestone comes as Ashley Dalton MP, who is living with metastatic breast cancer, is appointed as an adviser on delivery of the National Cancer Plan to help ensure patients’ experiences shape decisions on cancer care. Ms Dalton stepped down from her role as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention on March 2, 2026, to manage her health and treatment side effects. Read full article. Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 30 October 2026 -
News article
The body representing most NHS organisations plans to start work on rethinking the service’s national waiting time standards for “the NHS of the future”. NHS Alliance CEO Sir Ciarán Devane said he wanted to look at what should be “the suite of top-level key performance indicators that really matter” for a service now caring for large numbers of elderly patients with long-term conditions. Sir Ciarán said the work “might take you in directions of saying that apart from a few limited situations, frail elderly people should not be admitted to hospital, because of the risk that once they’re admitted, then getting them home again becomes more difficult”. Read full article (paywalled). Source: Health Service Journal, 30 October 2026 -
News article
.png.f7c4158135af3bfb9de7990d7dc56a26.png)
The government’s response to the NHS AI Commission’s recommendations has weakened measures to hold AI developers accountable, an NHS non-executive director has warned. Randeep Sidu, NED at the NHS Business Services Authority, told delegates at the BMJ Future Health 2026 conference on 29 October that while the commission’s work was positive, three proposals aimed at strengthening accountability for AI systems had been weakened. Although the government accepted all 44 recommendations from the National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare, Sidu questioned whether its proposed approach to implementing them would deliver the accountability originally envisaged by the commission. He highlighted changes to three proposals as “worrying”. These are the allocation of responsibility across the AI lifecycle, requirements for manufacturers to specify safe operating conditions, and contractual accountability between developers and healthcare providers. Read full article. Source: Digital Health, 30 October 2026 Related reading Reflections on the National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare recommendations -
News article
A second hospital in Liverpool has suspended two staff members while it investigates whether they viewed the medical records of the Southport attack victims without legitimate reason. The potential cases were identified at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital in a “retrospective audit” of which staff had accessed the care records of victims of the 2024 attack on a children’s dance class. It follows HSJ exclusively revealing in May that staff at another hospital in the city, run by University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, had inappropriately viewed survivors’ files. An investigation is also ongoing into record access at North West Ambulance Service Trust in relation to the same attack. HSJ understands eight staff members are going through its disciplinary process. LHCH said it has contacted those impacted by their investigation as well as the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Care Quality Commission. Medical director Manoj Kuduvalli said: “We are deeply sorry that this has happened." Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 29 October 2026 -
Community PostMorning All I hope you are all well. I have a question in relation to Duty of Candour (DoC) In relation to formal complaints and the responses we send to service users, do any of you use these in executing your DoC statutory obligations, or do you write to the service users separately as per the guidance. I have been advised by an individual that they have been using the formal complaint response as their statutory DoC response and not a separate letter. What are your thoughts? any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks
-
Community PostI agree with Sue, DoC, the criteria and statutory requirement are really clear, maybe the issue is differentiating between a complaint response and a safety concern that needs taking through a different prcoess?
.png.fce0c2b59f069caba03e085b318e474f.png)
.png.fc332c11e0bdc919b3c4585a7d89f67a.png)
.png.f7c4158135af3bfb9de7990d7dc56a26.png)
