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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. -
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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 -
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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 Today
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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 Yesterday
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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
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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?
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News article
The health department’s capital budget is being cut by £1bn over the next four years, as the government moves funding to bolster defence investment. Wednesday’s Budget revealed the department’s capital budget has been cut by up to £300m each year to 2029/30. In June the government said the Department of Health and Social Care’s capital budget would be reduced by 1%, around £580m over four years, to partially fund the defence investment plan. However, this raid has now nearly doubled. The Budget document said £3bn of the remaining £4.7bn needed for defence would come from “further reducing departmental capital budgets”, by another 1% from 2027/28 to 2029/30. Several experts said it would have to be paid for by cutting back on major capital projects in the coming years, particularly the New Hospital Programme. Hiba Sameen, lead economist at the Health Foundation, said: “After years of underinvestment, reducing funding for buildings, equipment and technology risks undermining the productivity gains needed to improve care and cut waiting times.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 October 2026 -
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Dr Joe Farmer tells us how an encounter with a rude consultant led to him and Dr Chris Turner in 2016 setting up Civility Saves Lives. He explains how they have created a movement that is evidence based, people focused and dynamic, with one thing in mind—improving workplace behaviours in a way that ultimately improves patient outcomes. Last week
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Community PostAnonymous posted a topic in Health inequalitiesAs healthcare software developers, the architectures we build directly influence clinical decision-making and patient safety. When engineering data layers, predictive models, or interoperability workflows, semantic drift and unrepresentative baseline datasets present severe technical and ethical risks that can actively widen health inequalities. For example, when clinical tools rely on historically biased data baselines—such as pulse oximetry data with high error rates for darker skin tones—simply streaming that data cleanly through an HL7 FHIR or legacy HL7 v2 pipeline isn't enough. Unchecked data ingestion can feed flawed inputs directly into automated clinical decision support (CDS) hooks and predictive AI models, creating critical safety hazards for marginalized communities. For software engineers, system architects, and technical teams developing in the digital health space: Data Bias Mitigation: What technical strategies or validation patterns are you implementing within your ETL pipelines to detect, flag, or normalize clinically biased data inputs before they reach predictive layers? Inclusive UI/UX Engineering: When designing patient engagement portals or mobile health applications, what architectural choices have effectively minimized barriers for digitally excluded or low-income populations (e.g., low-bandwidth optimization, multi-language data schemas)? Algorithmic Accountability: How are you structuring automated testing frameworks or continuous integration pipelines to perform explicit health equity and algorithmic bias assessments before code deployment? We want to build systems where equity and patient safety are engineered into the digital health infrastructure from day one. I would highly value hearing about the architectural patterns, data structures, or open-source validation libraries your teams utilize to audit healthcare data for systemic bias. -
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The first trust to establish a diverse “shadow board” to tackle poor ethnic diversity among directors has reported recruitment equality has worsened since its launch. Hertfordshire Community Trust’s “shadow board”, set up in 2023, comprises staff from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, alongside those with disabilities, identify as LGBT+, and those with carer responsibilities. Trust chief executive Elliot Howard-Jones said at the time he had “borrowed the idea from Silicon Valley” following an admission that the trust had few directors from minority backgrounds. However, data in the trust’s October board papers show the trust recorded a substantial reduction in the proportion of non-white applicants appointed in 2025-26. The paper said: “White candidates were therefore 3.11 times more likely to be appointed from shortlisting and approximately nine times more likely to convert from application to appointment [according to the latest workforce race equality standard data]. “This is a significant deterioration from the previous two years and indicates potential bias or structural barriers at interview and selection stages.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 October 2026 -
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Rishi Sunak has repeated demands for expanded prostate cancer screening, arguing that the decision to reject broader testing relied on a flawed model. The Conservative former prime minister, who stood down from Downing Street in 2024, stated he "dove" into data behind the UK’s National Screening Committee (NSC) recommendation and considered it to be incorrect. Mr Sunak, who acts as an ambassador for Prostate Cancer Research, said he was "disappointed" by the NSC's decision. Earlier this year, the committee decided against rolling out wider population screening for prostate cancer through prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood tests. The committee cautioned that screening is "more likely to cause more harm than good in the whole population", as subsequent treatments can trigger side effects including incontinence and impotence. Instead, men carrying BRCA2 genetic mutations – which place them at significantly elevated risk of prostate cancer – will undergo screening every two years between the ages of 45 and 61 if they have a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancers. Mr Sunak said: “I, like many other campaigners, was disappointed with the decision of the National Screening Committee. “Colleagues know I like numbers, and I dove into the model behind that decision. “I think there are a few issues which I hope the minister can go back and have a look at that.” He said the model’s assumption of treatment costs was wrong, and it had incorrectly understated how many men receive the most advanced drugs. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 October 2026 -
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An ambulance trust has commissioned an “independent” investigation into its patient transport service amid concerns that patients could be at risk of harm. East Midlands Ambulance Service Trust said it was carrying out an “independent internal service investigation” into its non-emergency patient transport services (NEPTS), which it runs in Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire. It will look at complaints, missed appointments, patient safety incidents, safeguarding concerns, and the extent of avoidable harm, and will be overseen by the trust’s quality directorate. The trust has also raised the risk score for NEPTS on its board assurance framework from 12 to 20 out of a maximum of 25. It said it had received a number of complaints about delayed and missed appointments, particularly affecting renal, oncology, and other vulnerable patients. “A review of complaints found that affected patients generally had care and support needs and may meet the safeguarding threshold as vulnerable adults. Missed or late appointments could result in shortened or missed periods of treatment and potential clinical harm, as well as poor patient experience,” its board papers for this week said. It is now treating every missed appointment as a patient safety incident and considering whether a safeguarding referral is required. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 October 2026 -
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Yvette Cooper has abandoned plans to abolish the NHS’s independent patient champion after an outcry from MPs across the political spectrum. The health secretary has decided to keep and extend the role of Healthwatch England, which was due to be axed as part of the government’s reorganisation of the health service in England. The move is the latest in a series of U-turns by ministers on core elements of the health bill since Andy Burnham became prime minister in July. Sources at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said her decision to retain and strengthen Healthwatch and its network of branches illustrated her strong belief – which Burnham shares – in public and local accountability. Read full article. Source: 28 October 2026 -
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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the UK. This roundup provides a summary of their latest safety advice for medicines and medical device users. It includes details of medicine recalls, medical device field safety notices and details of how to report drug reactions and device incidents. -
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A trust has apologised for a further delay to an independent review into potential harm to hundreds of patients, many of them children, treated by one of its surgeons. The review concerns hundreds of cases of patients who were operated on by Kuldeep Stohr, a children’s orthopaedic surgeon at Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust, over a period of around a decade. Read full article (paywalled). Source: Health Service Journal, 27 October 2026 -
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Gloria Monte died on 2 May 2025, at the City Hospital, Nottingham, as a result of cancer. There was a delay in diagnosing Gloria’s cancer of approximately one-year. She had initially attended the emergency department (ED) following a fall in February 2024, where a nodule was discovered on her lung which she was told could be a primary lung tumour. The nodule was not subsequently investigated. Gloria attended her GP in February 2025 with chest symptoms. She was treated with antibiotics but when she failed to improve, her GP arranged an admission to hospital. There, chest imaging showed findings suspicious of lung cancer and comparison with the February 2024 imaging led to the conclusion that the nodule noted the year prior probably was cancer. In their findings the Coroner states that if diagnosis had been achieved as expected in 2024, Gloria would have been counselled on the available treatment options. If she had accepted those options, it is possible that she may have lived for longer than she in fact did, but the Coroner has been unable to determine whether her life would probably have been extended because there are many variables to the success of, and side effects of, cancer treatment. -
News article
An NHS trust has been told it must take action after a woman's cancer diagnosis was delayed for about one year before she died. Gloria Monte, 79, died of lung cancer at Nottingham City Hospital on 2 May 2025. An inquest at Nottingham Coroner's Court, which concluded in August, heard a nodule was discovered on her lung in February 2024, and although she was told it "could be" a primary lung tumour, it was never investigated. She was diagnosed with cancer the following year. The inquest found there had been a delay in her diagnosis "due to individual and systemic omissions in her medical care" by Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, which has apologised to Monte's family. Coroner Laurinda Bower issued a prevention of future deaths report - a notice by coroners to highlight areas where action is needed to stop similar deaths - to NUH over concerns raised during the inquest. Read full article. Source: BBC News, 27 October 2026 -
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New data released show that the government has hit its target to speed up clinical trials with delivery times cut by 35%. The average set-up time for commercial trials in the UK dropped to 100 days in the three months to March this year, down from 153 in the same period last year. All 24 commercial trials during those months were set up within 150 days, exceeding the goal of 95% of commercial trials set up within 150 days laid out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, published in July 2025. Read full article. Source: Digital Health, 27 October 2026 -
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In this short video, Chief Medical Officer for The UK Sepsis Trust, Ron Daniels explains how and why sepsis can have an disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations. Read the transcript -
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The NHS complaints system should provide answers, accountability, learning and resolution to all areas of service concern, including when care goes wrong. Avma supports people affected by avoidable medical harm and sees first-hand how an effective complaint response can meet patients’ needs and, in some cases, reduce the call for alternative, more complex and costly routes such as litigation. Too often, however, patients and families encounter delay, fragmentation, defensiveness, poor communication and complaint responses that do not answer their questions or show what has changed. The purpose of this paper is to use Avma’s unique insights to help improve complaints handling in support of those who are avoidably harmed. In summary, AVMA are calling for a remodified NHS complaints system based on eight key principles. -
EventMeet the experts behind clear, consistent and consent-ready patient information. Join Radar Healthcare’s Content Director, Julie Smith, and clinician and EIDO Library contributor, from Mid & South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Julie Godfrey. for a behind-the-scenes conversation about how trusted patient information is created. This 30-minute webinar is ideal for healthcare, clinical and governance teams. Patient information plays an important role in helping people understand their treatment options, ask informed questions and make decisions about their care. In this practical and open conversation, the session will explore how clinical expertise, peer review and editorial standards come together to create information that patients can understand and clinicians can rely on. Using the ‘Inserting a PICC Line’ information document as a practical example, they will discuss how patient information supports shared decision-making and informed consent, from the first draft through to clinical use. What you’ll learn How content is developed: Understand the submission process, author guidelines, expectations and support available to clinical contributors. How quality is assured: Explore the role of peer review, editorial queries, clinical accuracy checks and plain-English editing. How accessibility is considered: Discover how illustrations, document layout, accessibility and translations help make information more useful for patients. How information is used in practice: Learn how clinicians access and share patient information through digital platforms, PDFs and printed copies. How content stays current: Find out how patient information is reviewed, updated and maintained over time. How information supports consent: Explore how clear information about benefits, risks, alternatives and what happens without treatment supports better consent conversations. Register
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The online world is now a central part of childhood. Around eight in 10 UK children aged three to 17 are estimated to have at least one active social media profile, with research showing that this can have both positive and negative consequences for children and young people, including in terms of their health. Against a backdrop of worsening children’s mental health, this King's Fund event will explore what it will take to create a healthier online environment for children. Australia introduced world-first restrictions on access to social media for under-16s in December 2025, and the UK Government has announced plans to pursue a similar approach, due to come into force in Spring 2027. Hearing from those driving these changes in the UK and internationally, this event will consider what the UK can learn from Australia’s experience. We will also consider the role of government, technology companies, schools, health services, families and communities in supporting children and young people online. Looking beyond restrictions on access to social media alone, what action may be needed across society to create a healthy online environment, and how can children and young people themselves be involved in shaping the discussion? This event forms part of The King's Fund's Healthy childhoods: shared responsibility for growing up well project, which explores how the different people, organisations and sectors that shape children's health can work together to help children grow up as healthy as possible. The session will also include an opportunity for questions from the online audience. Register -
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Consultant doctors in England are to stage a two-day strike next month in a dispute over pay and working conditions. The walkout will begin on 25 November at 06:59 GMT, with consultants providing emergency cover only. This is known as Christmas Day cover and is likely to have a major impact on most routine and elective services. The announcement comes after talks had taken place with the government over the past month following the vote in favour of strike action by British Medical Association members in July. Consultants – the most senior doctors in the NHS – were given a 3.5% pay increase this year. But the BMA argues pay has fallen by a quarter over the past 17 years, once inflation is taken into account. The union also wants a reduction in the standard working week from 40 to 35 hours and higher pay for out-of-hours work alongside changes to pensions. In a joint statement, BMA consultants committee co-chairs Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta, said they had tried to negotiate with the government in "good faith", but "time-and-time again ministers have kicked the can down the road". "Unfortunately, that road has now run out, and we have been forced to announce strikes. "Consultants take their responsibilities incredibly seriously, and striking does not come naturally, but we are hearing loud and clear from the profession that they have had enough." Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 October 2026
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