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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

Senior staff at Wales' newest hospital insist it's safe - despite claims that it is dangerous and failing. Since it opened early in the pandemic, Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, Torfaen, has been under fire over concerns about long delays, overcrowding, staff shortages and the quality of its care. Criticism has been especially intense on social media, with some in the comments even urging people to stay away. Bosses admit staff feel "devastated" that patient confidence could be dented but insist the hospital performs better than many others on patient safety, including survival rates. They are urging those who are seriously unwell not to be afraid to seek help. "We're currently over capacity," says Dr Zoe Morgan-Pittard, who is so busy that she's placed stickers on her arms to remind her who she's been assessing. "We've had to move three patients already who probably aren't well enough. "But the sickest patients have to take priority - we're having to make fluid decisions. "We're putting patients in any extra space we can find... but there's a lot of block and very little flow. "Everybody is working hard, but unfortunately the hospital isn't big enough." Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 October 2026

People from minority ethnic backgrounds in England are up to a third less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer via routine screening, and are more likely to be diagnosed in an emergency setting, analysis has found. The research, carried out by academics at the University of Surrey and funded by the charity Breast Cancer Now, involved analysis of 86,564 adults diagnosed with the disease between 2009 and 2019, from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and the Cancer Registration Tumour and Treatment datasets. The analysis found that people from Black, Asian and mixed backgrounds, alongside people from deprived backgrounds, were up to 33% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer via screening, while these groups were also up to 31% more likely to be diagnosed via urgent suspected cancer referral, and up to 37% more likely to be diagnosed via emergency presentation. Manveet Basra, the associate director of public health, inclusion and awareness at Breast Cancer Now, said the analysis revealed that people from marginalised groups “face inequalities at every stage of their breast cancer experience, and tragically this impacts their survival rates”. Basra added: “This research helps us understand who is less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer via screening, [who] might wait longer to get diagnosed or experience delays in treatment, and knowing what barriers they face enables us to work towards eliminating them. “Determined to improve breast cancer care and survival rates outcomes, we’re funding world-class research that actively identifies and addresses inequities, working with policymakers to improve equal access to screening, and ensuring our information, campaigns and life-changing support services reflect the diverse needs of everyone affected by this devastating disease.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 October 2026

Mental health trusts are under “daily relentless pressure” on their inpatient beds, the Care Quality Commission has warned. Most trusts the regulator spoke to said their beds were running “at, or near to” 100% occupancy, according to its annual State of Care report. The CQC interviewed mental health trust leaders after inspecting emergency departments over the winter. NHS England data in the report shows the average number of available overnight mental health beds fell from 18,139 in 2022-23 to 17,870 in 2025-26. Occupancy has stayed above the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ recommended 85% throughout. Demand is still rising. Monthly referrals to secondary mental health services rose 7% in 2025-26, to an average of 483,797. The number of people with severe mental illness in contact with community services rose 6%, to 681,149 per month. The CQC said long waits in EDs were “often linked to difficulties securing appropriate mental health inpatient beds”. Inspectors in London and the South East found some people with mental health needs waiting several days, one of them for six days. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 October 2026

In this blog, Stephanie O’Donohue, patient advocate and Founder of TIGER UK, shares the findings from their recent survey on experiences of vaginal access procedures. She explains why patient experiences and insights are critical to service improvement, and how collaborative work can really make a difference moving forward.

This study examined the current fall prevention practices and implementation strategies used by the US hospitals. It found that there is substantial variation in US hospitals’ choice of fall prevention practices and a lack of implementation strategies to enhance staff adherence to the practices. The findings suggest a critical need for more standardised, evidence-based, and individualised approaches to effectively reduce falls.

Several hospitals in India face challenges in establishing a strong patient safety culture, which is crucial for quality health care. This study aimed to evaluate and benchmark the patient safety cultures across various Indian hospitals. An analysis of the data on patient safety culture obtained using a questionnaire showed that 62 (79%) hospitals used the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality tool. Analysis of the composite positive response score of safety culture dimensions highlighted strengths in organisational learning and teamwork, but weaknesses in staffing and work conditions . This study highlights the current patient safety culture in Indian hospitals and identifies its strengths and gaps. These findings serve as a basis for benchmarking and targeted improvements, particularly in staffing and communication, to enhance the overall patient safety.

Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are demanding urgent action over a lack of funded services in Northern Ireland, with some revealing they pay thousands of pounds a year for private treatment. Northern Ireland doesn't have a formally commissioned, publicly funded adult ADHD pathway like in other parts of the UK. One woman has described the situation as "wildly unfair and inhumane", saying she and her husband spend about £4,000 a year on private treatment and care. The Department of Health acknowledges increasing demand but said decisions must be taken in the context of overall affordability. Read full article. Source: BBC News, 23 October 2026

Safety listening, responses to voice acts aimed at preventing harm, can avert organizational failures like airplane crashes. Using directed and summative content analysis, in this study the authors analysed 45 transcripts of flightdeck communication before crashes and near misses to develop a framework of safety listening behaviour in risky contexts. Their analysis illustrates that engaging with voice enables teams to develop shared and accurate situation awareness of emerging risks, thus potentially averting accidents. The authors state that their findings also demonstrate the importance of a behavioural approach to safety listening, illustrating that assessing listener engagement with safety voice—rather than attitudes—can provide an accurate and practical explanation for how safety listening influences organisational safety outcomes.

Healthcare research increasingly observes that patients and families can be highly active in trying to prevent medical accidents. However, the safety literature lacks a model of these behaviours. This study aimed to establish a model of the behaviours used by patients and families to prevent accidents and ensure safety whilst in hospital. Using a mixed qualitative-quantitative research design, the authors analyzed 1,857 healthcare complaints submitted by patients and families to UK hospitals reporting poor treatment experiences. Their analysis focused upon reports within the complaints of healthcare users engaging in (1) voicing behaviors to raise concerns about safety with staff and (2) correcting behaviors to directly resolve safety issues.

Safety communication is crucial for accident aversion across industries. While researchers often focus on encouraging concern-raising (‘safety voice’), responses to these concerns (‘safety listening’) remain underexplored. In this article, the authors discuss how they developed and tested the Ecological Assessment of Responses to Speaking-up (EARS) tool to code safety listening behaviours in flightdeck conversations. The EARS tool allows researchers to assess safety listening in naturalistic conversations, facilitating analysis of its antecedents, its interplay with safety voice, and the impact of interventions on outcomes.

For too long, women’s experiences, symptoms and outcomes have not been adequately reflected in the evidence and systems that shape their care. Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents an enormous opportunity to do things differently. But if it is developed using data and approaches that reproduce existing inequalities, we risk carrying those same problems into the future. In this blog the Patient Safety Commissioner for England, Henrietta Hughes, explores why women’s health could be a defining test for AI in healthcare and why safety, transparency and patient voice need to be built in from the start.

National patient safety investigation bodies conduct system-level investigations and produce recommendations intended to improve patient safety. However, evidence that such recommendations translate into meaningful improvement is often weak. This study examined how recommendations produced by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) are produced by investigators and received by the national organizations to whom they are directed. HSSIB investigates patient safety concerns across the NHS in England and in independent healthcare settings where safety learning could help to improve NHS care. Funded by the NIHR Patient Safety Research Collaboration: Greater Manchester, this study analysed 22 published investigation reports, ran two focus groups with 12 HSSIB investigators, and carried out interviews with 11 senior representatives from national bodies including NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, the General Medical Council, and several medical royal colleges.

State of Care is the annual assessment of health care and social care in England by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The report looks at the trends, shares examples of good and outstanding care, and highlights where care needs to improve.

England’s largest integrated care board (ICB) expects to need almost a tenth fewer hospital beds within a decade as it tries to close a projected financial gap that could reach £4bn. West and North London ICB’s strategy, presented to its board this week, said its modelling suggests the system will need to move to around 5,700 beds by 2035-36 – 9.2 per cent below its current bed base of 6,279. Read full article (paywalled). Source: Health Service Journal, 23 October 2026

New AI tools could help doctors spot prostate cancer more accurately on MRI scans, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has said. It is recommending that five AI technologies can be used in the NHS to highlight areas on a prostate MRI scan where cancer might be present, making it easier to spot and report. AI-Rad Companion Prostate MR, DeepHealth Prostate, ProstatID, Prostate Intelligence (Pi), and QP-Prostate were recommended in the draft guidance for NHS use during a two-year evidence-generation period. The independent NICE committee concluded that the technologies have the potential to improve the accuracy and consistency of prostate MRI interpretation, particularly in settings without specialist expertise. However, further evidence is needed to understand how they perform in routine NHS practice. Read full article. Source: Digital Health, 23 October 2026

A new personalised cancer vaccine given alongside a widely used immunotherapy drug has cut the risk of patients dying or their skin cancer returning by 42% in a major clinical trial. The researchers involved say the results could mark a turning point in cancer treatment, bringing personalised medicine a step closer. The trial also found that the new drug combination reduced the risk of melanoma, a type of skin cancer, spreading by 38% over two years compared to immunotherapy alone. The drug manufacturers MSD and Moderna say the same approach is already being tested against other tumours, including kidney, bladder and lung cancer. Independent cancer experts described the results as impressive but said longer-term studies were still needed to establish whether the treatment really helps most patients live longer, on average. Read full article. Source: BBC News, 23 October 2026

In this HSJ article, Dr Aaliya Goyal argues that the NHS’s new staff standards are hampered by their reliance on annual NHS Staff Survey results, which provide delayed and retrospective insights into workforce problems. Instead, she advocates using real-time, anonymised occupational health (OH) data as an early-warning system for issues such as bullying, discrimination, racism, sexual harassment, burnout and poor management, arguing that these problems often surface in OH consultations long before they appear in surveys, grievances or formal reports.

An independent review into 10 child fatalities has identified fundamental governance and sepsis care failings at an embattled trust, HSJ has discovered. The news comes just days after it was reported that Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust is facing prosecution, brought by the Care Quality Commission, over the deaths of two young children who had sepsis. Documents obtained by HSJ under the Freedom of Information Act show an independent review examined the deaths of 10 children between November 2022 and February 2025 across Southend, Basildon, and Broomfield Hospitals. HSJ understands that the two deaths the trust is facing prosecution over were among the 10 deaths investigated as part of the review. The trust declined to comment. The documents include a summary of the findings of the independent thematic “deep dive” review, although it does not name the author of the review. The summary said the review had identified care failures such as delayed recognition and escalation of deteriorating children, and delayed treatment of sepsis. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 October 2026

Andy Burnham has backed mandatory suicide prevention training for social workers after the “devastating” death of Matilda Davis, a parent-carer who killed herself minutes after meeting professionals. The Guardian revealed in August how the “absolutely inspirational” 36-year-old had taken her life after feeling “completely exhausted” and failed by England’s social care system. Davis, a former art teacher, had told multiple professionals she was struggling to cope with the significant care for her seven-year-old son and “paralysed with anxiety” about her looming divorce from her estranged husband. She died on 3 October last year, minutes after an emotional meeting with social workers who had not received suicide prevention training. Burnham was asked about Davis’s case at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday and said he supported the extension of this training to all local authorities in England. Manuela Perteghella, the Liberal Democrat MP for Stratford-upon-Avon, highlighted University of Birmingham research showing that 41% of parent-carers have contemplated suicide, and asked Burnham to meet her and Matilda’s family to discuss “mandatory suicide prevention training for local authorities and other measures so that no more normal families suffer such a devastating loss”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 October 2026

This is the second interim report in Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB)s investigation into electronic patient record systems and electronic referrals for ongoing care. It has been published to highlight a risk to patient safety associated with the electronic referral service (e-RS), where referrals may be removed from healthcare provider organisation worklists without warning or recognition. The e-RS system generates digital worklists, which are used by provider organisations to manage patient referral processes. Referrals are automatically removed from a provider’s worklist within e-RS when a user performs an action, like accepting a referral or booking a patient appointment, or when 180 days pass with no action since the unique booking reference number (the patient referral) entered a worklist. The 180-day function was designed into e-RS to reduce the risk of large worklists affecting the performance of the service. However, the investigation found that the function also creates a hazard to patients.

This week the UK Government has dropped its plans to abolish the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) and transfer its functions to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). BackgroundLast summer the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published the findings of its review of patient safety across England, chaired by Dr Penny Dash.[1] This review proposed several changes which sought to coordinate and rationalise patient safety roles and responsibilities. One of those recommendations was that the functions of HSSIB should be transferred to the CQC. HSSIB investigates patient safety concerns across the NHS in England and in independent healthcare settings where safety learning could help to improve NHS care. It is currently an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by DHSC. The proposal to abolish HSSIB and transfer its functions to the CQC was included in the new Health Bill which is currently progressing through Parliament. Concerns about the changeThe Patient Safety Management Network (PSMN), hosted on the hub, held a discussion about this proposed change earlier this year. The PSMN is an innovative voluntary network for patient safety managers and everyone working in patient safety. They highlighted several concerns about this proposal, most notably: Concerns about combining HSSIB’s investigative role with the CQC’s regulatory and inspection functions, including potential conflicts of interest and reduced staff confidence in sharing information openly. Despite assurances that existing ‘safe space’ legal protections would be retained, members questioned whether these protections would remain secure in the long term and whether staff would continue to perceive them as trustworthy. Similar concerns had also been highlighted by Professor Carl Macrae, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Patient Safety. New amendments in the House of LordsThe Health Bill is currently being scrutinised by the House of Lords. Yesterday, Health Service Journal reported that Baroness Merron, the DHSC minister in the Lords, had sent a letter stating that the government, after listening to concerns about this proposal, has decided not to proceed with this. This has been confirmed in the latest running list of amendments to the Bill, which now includes the Minister’s intention to leave out Schedule 9 of the legislation, which transfers the Health Services Safety Investigations Body’s functions to the Care Quality Commission. Patient Safety Learning's responseIn our response to the Dash Review, Patient Safety Learning stated our belief that HSSIB has an important independent role in the health system which should be retained. We subsequently expressed our view that the provisions included in the Health Bill did not effectively address the concerns about this proposal raised by MPs, members of the Patient Safety Management Network and patient safety campaigners. We therefore welcome this decision to retain HSSIB's independent investigative function and to not proceed with plans to move this into the Care Quality Commission.