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Keep up to date with the latest news, research and activity in patient safety.

Win in Doctors for America lawsuit against Trump’s HHS

A federal judge ruled in favour of Doctors for America (DFA) and the City and County of San Francisco in their lawsuit challenging the removal of important health information from government websites. The removal of key webpages and datasets created a dangerous gap in the scientific data available to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, deprived physicians of resources that guide clinical practice, and took away key resources for communicating and engaging with patients.
The court order requires restoration of webpages on which DFA and San Francisco relied and vacates the Office of Personnel Management and Department of Health and Human Services policies that led to the webpage removals.
“The court found that the government violated the law when it took down important health information that physicians and other public health professionals rely on to keep all of us healthy,” said Zach Shelley, a Public Citizen Litigation Group attorney and lead counsel on the case. “The decision serves as a reminder that the government must follow the law, just like the rest of us.”
“It is heartening to see that the court agrees with doctors, researchers, and patients that the government cannot unlawfully and without explanation remove crucial health information and datasets. With this ruling, we can provide care for our patients and protect public health based on evidence, rather than ideology,” said Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, member of the board of directors of Doctors for America.
Read press release
Source: Doctors for America, 3 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

UK bosses to be banned from using NDAs to cover up misconduct at work

Bosses in the UK will be banned from using non-disclosure agreements to silence employees who have suffered harassment and discrimination in the workplace as part of the government’s overhaul of workers’ rights.
Ministers will on Monday night table amendments to the government’s employment rights bill to prohibit the widespread practice of using legally enforceable NDAs to conceal unacceptable behaviour at work.
If passed, the rules would mean any future confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements that sought to prevent a worker speaking about an allegation of harassment – including sexual harassment – or discrimination would be null and void.
They would also allow victims to speak freely about their experiences, while any witnesses – including employers – would be able to call out poor conduct and publicly support victims without the threat of being sued.
Announcing the change, Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, said: “Victims and witnesses of harassment and discrimination should never be silenced. As the Guardian has reported on widely, this is not an issue confined to high-profile individuals or the most powerful organisations.
“The use of NDAs to cover up abuse and harassment is growing – and sadly amongst those in low-income or insecure employment across multiple industries and workplaces.
“This cannot go on. That is why we are stamping out this practice and taking action to ban any NDAs used for this purpose. My message is clear: no one should suffer in silence and we will back workers and give survivors the voice that they deserve.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 7 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Robot performs realistic surgery ‘with 100% accuracy’

A robot has performed realistic surgery on its own with 100% accuracy, researchers have said.
In a “major leap” towards using more robots in operating theatres, a machine trained on the videos of surgeries was able to precisely work on removing a gallbladder.
The robot operated with the expertise of a skilled human surgeon, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers in the US, even during unexpected scenarios typical in real-life medical emergencies.
The robot was watched as it performed a lengthy phase of a gallbladder removal on a life-like patient.
It was able to respond to and learn from voice commands from the team, just like a novice surgeon working with a mentor.
Overall, there were 17 tasks in the surgery, the robot had to identify certain ducts and arteries and grab them precisely, strategically place clips, and sever parts with scissors.
It was also able to adapt even when dye was introduced which changed the appearance of the organs and tissue.
Associate professor in mechanical engineering, Axel Krieger, said: “This advancement moves us from robots that can execute specific surgical tasks to robots that truly understand surgical procedures.
“This is a critical distinction that brings us significantly closer to clinically viable autonomous surgical systems that can work in the messy, unpredictable reality of actual patient care.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 9 July 2025
Sam

Blood scandal victims 'harmed further' by compensation delays

Thousands of victims of the infected blood scandal are being "harmed further" by long waits for compensation, the chair of the public inquiry into the disaster has said.
In a hard-hitting report, Sir Brian Langstaff said there were "obvious injustices" in the way the scheme had been devised.
It is thought 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis B or C in the 1970s, 80s and early 90s after being given contaminated blood products on the NHS.
The government has set aside £11.8bn to pay compensation and has said it is cutting red tape to speed up payments to victims.
The inquiry's main report into the scandal, published last year, found that the disaster could largely have been avoided if different decisions had been taken by the health authorities at the time.
It said too little was done to stop the importing of contaminated blood products from abroad in the 1970s and 80s, and there was evidence that elements of the scandal had been covered up.
In May of this year, Sir Brian took the unusual step of ordering two days of extra hearings after he received "letter after letter, email after email" expressing concerns about the way the government's compensation scheme for victims had been managed.
His extra 200-page report, published on Wednesday, was based on that evidence, and found that victims had been "harmed further" by the way they had been treated over the last 12 months.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 9 July 2025
Sam

US posts highest annual measles case tally in 33 years amid Texas outbreak

The annual tally of measles cases in the US is the highest in 33 years, as an ongoing outbreak in west Texas continues to drive cases.
The latest figures mean Americans will have to look back to 1992 to find a worse year with the vaccine preventable disease. The official tally very likely undercounts the scope of the outbreak, experts told the Guardian.
“When you talk to people on the ground, you get the sense that this outbreak has been severely underestimated,” said Dr Paul Offit, director of the vaccine education center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Confirmed cases appear to be the “tip of a much bigger iceberg”, he said.
Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000. However, as the pandemic disrupted routine childhood visits to the doctors and anti-vaccine organizations saw their coffers swell during the pandemic, measles vaccination rates have fallen below a critical threshold to prevent outbreaks in some communities.
“The number of new cases has slowed down, but I don’t think there’s any reason to suggest this will be our last,” said Dr Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert and dean for the national school of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
He later added: “It’s a very dark epidemic that never had to happen.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 7 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Wes Streeting warns doctors ‘the public will not forgive you’ as NHS strike chaos looms

Wes Streeting has warned doctors that “the public will not forgive you” as the NHS faces months of strike chaos.
The health secretary said that a pay rise is not an option after doctors in England voted in favour of industrial action, which could see walkouts last until January next year.
He also accused them of “squandering an opportunity by striking” instead of working with him to improve working conditions, warning: “You will not find another health and social care secretary as sympathetic to resident doctors as me”.
It comes after the British Medical Association (BMA) announced that resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, had backed strike action as part of demands to secure a 29% pay rise.
Warning that more walkouts will be a “disaster” for the BMA’s members and patients alike, “just as we are finally moving the NHS in the right direction”, Mr Streeting called on the union to reconsider.
He told The Times: “Patients do not support the proposed strike action and it doesn’t even command majority support among BMA resident doctors, less than half of whom actually voted for industrial action. There are no grounds for strike action now. Resident doctors have just received the highest pay award across the entire public sector.”
“I urge the BMA, even at this late stage, to reconsider this deeply damaging course of action”, he added.
Commenting on the announcement, Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers – which is part of the NHS Confederation, said: “Resident doctors voting for more industrial action after the largest series of pay awards in the public sector is a troubling development.
“Further strikes are the last thing health leaders wanted and could result in tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of operations and procedures being delayed or cancelled, leaving patients in pain or discomfort.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 9 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

First anti-malaria drug for newborns approved

Switzerland's medical products authority has granted the first approval for a malaria medicine designed for small infants, touted as an advance against a disease that takes hundreds of thousands of lives — nearly all in Africa — each year.
Swissmedic gave a green light Tuesday for the medicine from Basel-based pharmaceutical company Novartis for the treatment of babies with body weights between 2 and 5kg, which could pave the way for hard-hit African nations to follow suit in the coming months.
The agency said that the decision is significant in part because it's only the third time it has approved a treatment under a fast-track authorisation process, in coordination with the World Health Organization, to help developing countries access needed treatment.
The newly approved medication is a lower-dose version of a tablet previously approved for other age groups, including older children.
Dr. Quique Bassat, a malaria expert not affiliated with the Swiss review, said the burden of malaria in very young children is “relatively low” compared to older kids.
But access to such medicines is important to all, he said.
“There is no doubt that any child of whichever age — and particularly very, very young ones or very light-weighted ones — require a treatment,” said Bassat, the director general of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, known as ISGlobal.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 8 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

ASA cracks down on online pharmacies advertising weight loss injections

Online pharmacies are no longer allowed to run adverts for weight loss injections, the advertising watchdog has ruled, as part of a crackdown on what has been described as a “wild west” culture of online selling.
In the UK, advertising prescription-only medications (POMs) – which includes all weight loss jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro – to the public is illegal. However, a Guardian investigation previously found some online pharmacies either breaking these rules outright, or exploiting grey areas to peddle the medications to the public.
Now the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has released nine new rulings that, it says, will set clear precedents for advertisers.
The ASA said the new rulings meant that while pharmacies could continue to mention weight loss injections on their websites, provided they were not shown on homepages or landing pages from other links, adverts were banned from using the phrases “weight loss injections” and “weight loss pen”, and the treatments must instead be marketed as part of a wider service, including a consultation and prescription.
Experts say the ban on the advertising of POMs protects the public by preventing people from being exposed to undue commercial pressure, ensuring safe prescribing, and avoiding over-medicalisation of everyday concerns.
“Part of our overall strategy is protecting vulnerable people from harm, and nothing’s so harmful as powerful prescription-only medicines,” said Nicky Morgan, chair of the ASA.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 9 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Why is banned vaginal prolapse mesh still being used in India?

Sling The Mesh is deeply concerned to see a global organisation, the International Urogynecological Association (IUGA), publishing a glowing spotlight article featuring an Indian surgeon who continues to use transvaginal mesh for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) – despite its ban in many countries due to serious and well-documented harm.
In a recent IUGA article, Dr Karthik Gunasekaran describes how he not only continues to use transvaginal mesh for prolapse, but also:
Cuts his own mesh by hand from sheets of polypropylene – a practice that lacks standardisation and has been linked to erosion, chronic pain, and other complications. Uses “reusable trocars”, increasing the risk of infection and cross-contamination. Admits to off-label use, potentially without fully informed patient consent. Shows no mention of disclosing these products are banned in many countries for safety reasons. Transvaginal mesh for prolapse has been withdrawn or banned across much of the world.
These decisions were not taken lightly. They came in response to overwhelming evidence of complications – including mesh erosion, nerve damage, mobility problems, autoimmune reactions, chronic infections, inability to have sex due to pain.
Mesh manufacturers may have been forced to exit regulated Western markets, but some have shifted focus to countries with different regulatory oversight. This creates a dangerous double standard where women in lower-income or less-protected healthcare systems are exposed to high-risk procedures banned elsewhere.
Sling the Mesh are especially alarmed that IUGA, a global body, would platform a surgeon openly admitting to practices that would not be permitted in the US, UK, or Australia. This raises serious ethical and professional questions:
Why is IUGA showcasing a surgery that has been stopped in many Western countries Are patients in India and elsewhere being fully informed that the mesh being used is off-label, manually cut, and banned in much of the developed world? What safeguards exist to protect women from these outdated and dangerous practices? Read full story
Source: Sling the Mesh, 3 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

USA: Medical groups sue HHS, RFK Jr. over 'unlawful' vaccine changes

Several major medical organizations filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday over what they are calling "unlawful, unilateral vaccine changes."
The six groups -- including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) -- as well as a pregnant woman filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
The organizations, representing paediatricians, infectious disease physicians and public health professionals, accused the HHS and Kennedy of intentionally taking away vaccines, such as the COVID-19 vaccine, and unjustly replacing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) entire vaccine advisory panel.
The lawsuit seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions to enjoin Kennedy's new COVID vaccine recommendations and a declaratory judgment pronouncing the change as unlawful.
Kennedy "has been on a warpath. It's gotten to the point that we are going to ... ask the court to put a stop to it," Richard H. Hughes IV, a partner at Epstein Becker Green and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, told ABC News. "This decision to unilaterally overturn the COVID recommendation based on a history of bias -- it was an arbitrary, capricious decision. They didn't make any effort to follow any ordinary processes."
Hughes said the HHS violated the Administrative Procedure Act, a U.S. federal law that establishes procedures federal agencies must follow when making rules.
Read full story
Source: ABC News, 7 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

New ‘sponge’ cancer test to be trialled in high-street pharmacies

Hundreds of people experiencing persistent heartburn or acid reflux will soon be offered a “sponge on a string” test in high-street pharmacies.
NHS England is piloting a new way of preventing oesophageal cancer by identifying individuals with a condition called Barrett’s oesophagus, which occurs when stomach acid damages the lining of the oesophagus or food pipe.
Some cells may grow abnormally and then develop into oesophageal cancer.
From early next year, around 1,500 people in London and the East Midlands will participate in these new "heartburn health checks" to test for Barrett’s oesophagus.
During the test, the patient swallows a small capsule attached to a string. The capsule dissolves in the stomach and leaves a small sponge about the size of a 1p coin.
The sponge is then pulled out via the string by NHS staff after a few minutes, during which time it collects cells from the oesophageal lining for analysis in the lab.
This test is already used in hospitals and community diagnostic centres to help reduce the need for invasive endoscopies in Barrett’s patients.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 9 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Number of patients in UK waiting for lifesaving organ transplant at record high

The number of patients waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant in the UK has increased to a record high while there has been a sharp drop in donors, official figures show.
More than 8,000 people, including almost 300 children, are on the transplant waiting list, according to NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). With nearly another 4,000 in need of an organ but temporarily off the list because they are too sick or unavailable for an operation, it means almost 12,000 people are living in limbo, waiting for the call that can mean the difference between life and death.
In the past year, the NHS performed fewer transplants, and fewer people donated organs than the previous year. One senior official at NHSBT said the situation was “incredibly concerning”.
Anthony Clarkson, NHSBT’s director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation, said there was an urgent need for more Britons to save lives by registering their decision on the NHS organ donor register and telling their loved ones about their wishes.
“We are facing an incredibly concerning situation where more people than ever are waiting for transplants, but fewer donations are taking place. Tragically, someone will die today waiting for a transplant – we urgently need more people to register their decision to donate and to have these vital conversations with their families.
“Last year, 60% of people who donated after death were on the NHS organ donor register, which made those conversations with families so much easier. People are far more likely to support donation when they know it’s what their relative wanted.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 9 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Forty-two areas to pioneer neighbourhood health

The government and NHS England will select 42 places to lead the rollout of neighbourhood health and shape how it will be operationalised.
Officials are writing to integrated care boards (ICBS) and councils today to call for applications to join the first wave of the national neighbourhood health implementation programme.
The first cohort of the programme, which will use an improvement network approach, is expected to be selected by September. A “co-design day” in August will help design implementation.
Applications must be from “places” (which often match a borough, town or district) and will be judged based on promising early evidence of joint working on care for multiple and complex conditions. CEOs of trusts, councils, GPs, primary care network directors, and VCSE organisations must together support and submit applications, rather than ICBs.
There can be multiple applications from several places within a single ICB.
The 42 will include representation from all regions, but there will not necessarily be one NH in each of the 42 current ICBs.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 9 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

90,000 three-year waiters revealed in unpublished data

The huge numbers of very long waits for NHS mental health care have been exposed in new data – revealing figures much larger than those waiting for physical health treatment.
The previously unpublished figures show one million adults and children are waiting for a mental health “first contact” appointment in England. 
Of those, about 90,000 – nearly one in ten – have already been waiting more than three years. 
Some 420,000 (42%) have been waiting longer than a year.
That is more than double the 198,868 year-long waiters on the “referral to treatment” list at the same point - in January this year - which is almost entirely for help with physical health problems. There is no directly comparable measure for “first contact” in physical health services.
Similarly, 195,887 (19% of the total) have been waiting for longer than two years for a mental health first contact, according to the figures, which is thousands of times bigger than the just 139 RTT two-year waits.
Centre for Mental Health chief executive Andy Bell said the data was of “major concern”. He stressed the NHS must “put mental health access and waiting time standards on a par with those for elective physical health care”.
“They are just as pressing, just as serious,” Mr Bell said. “They must be placed on the same level, with the resources, transparency and accountability we need to bring the long waits down.
“Delays of months or even years can cause deep and prolonged distress as well as affecting people’s work, education, and relationships.”
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 8 July 2025
Source: HSJ, 8 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

NHS set for months of strike chaos after doctors vote to walk out over 29% pay rise demand

The NHS is facing months of disruption after doctors in England voted in favour of strike action which could see walkouts last until January next year.
The British Medical Association announced that resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, had backed strike action as part of demands to secure a 29%
The dates of the strikes have not yet been confirmed but the NHS will huge disruption with hundreds of thousands of appointments at risk of being cancelled if the action goes ahead.
The move would threaten to undermine Sir Keir Starmer’s key ambition to cut waiting lists and could leave the government’s new ten-year plan for the NHS, unveiled last week, in tatters.
The BMA said there is “still time to avert strike action” as it urged Health Secretary Wes Streeting to “come forward as soon as possible with a credible path to pay restoration”.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 8 July 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Doctors against Palantir’s NHS software put ‘ideology over patient interest’

Doctors who oppose the use of software developed by Palantir in the NHS have “chosen ideology over patient interest”, the UK boss of the tech giant has told MPs.
Louis Mosley appeared in front of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee on Tuesday as part of its innovation showcase.
The shared software system will aim to make it easier for health and care organisations to work together and provide better services to patients, but Palantir’s involvement sparked concerns about how patient data will be used.
When asked by MPs about how the company protects patient privacy, and if data would be processed outside of the UK, or be accessible by any foreign government, Mr Mosley said: “The critical thing to bear in mind about the way our software works and the way it’s deployed in the NHS, is that the data controllers – so those organisations that have that legal responsibility, in the NHS those are trusts, typically – they maintain control over their data.
“So each of them gets their own instance of our software, and they control who has access to it, they control what data is integrated into it, and they, in effect, implement and enforce the data protection policies that they deem appropriate.”
It comes after the British Medical Association (BMA) passed a motion stating the company is an “unacceptable choice” for the FDP at its annual representative meeting in Liverpool last month.
The union’s members voted in favour of the BMA lobbying against the introduction of Palantir software in the health service, and called for the Department of Health and Social Care to create an audit of the progress of the uptake of the systems throughout the NHS.
When asked about this, Mr Mosley said: “I was very disappointed to see that. I think the accusation that we lack transparency or this is secretive is wrong.
“I think the BMA has, if I may be frank, chosen ideology over patient interest.
“I think our software is going to make patient lives better; so making their treatment quicker, more effective, and ultimately the healthcare system more efficient.
“And I, as a patient, and a user of the NHS, I want it to be as quick and efficient as possible.
“I’m very sad, frankly, that the ideology seems to have taken precedence over those interests.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 8 July 2025
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