HSJ Podcast: Are Covid visiting restrictions damaging patient safety?

Summary

This episode of HSJ’s Health Check podcast considers concerns raised in Coroners Prevention of Future Deaths reports about the impact of pandemic hospital visiting restrictions on patient care and patient safety.

Content

In this podcast the presenters discuss how vulnerable patients have been adversely affected by hospital visiting restrictions put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. They consider how trusts are still having to balance patient visiting with reducing the spread of Covid.

One of the cases they refer to in this discussion is that of Azra Hussain, who died by suicide while a patient at Mary Seacole House, operated and staffed by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust. In the Prevention of Future Deaths report, the Coroner raised patient safety concerns relating to her family being unable to participate in a multidisciplinary team meeting prior to her death due to Covid-19 visiting restrictions.