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

Waiting list patients ‘should be on standby to fill cancellations’

Patients stuck on NHS waiting lists for routine surgery should be kept on “standby” and contacted at short notice to fill last-minute cancellations, a report has suggested.
There are 135,000 on-the-day surgical cancellations in the UK each year because of patient absence or illness, costing the NHS an estimated £400 million.
Instead of leaving operating theatres unused, a report by the health tech firm Proximie has called for the NHS to implement a new “standby patient system” to drive up efficiency and productivity in the health service. This would require hospitals to identify patients living nearby who could be called up with a few hours’ notice to get operations before their scheduled date.
The system could cover all elective surgery, including hernia repair and knee or hip replacements, helping to tackle waiting lists of 7.4 million and reduce the number of people having to wait months for life-changing surgery.
Some NHS trusts are already testing the standby approach, finding it can save money and cut waiting lists. In one pilot at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, surgeons put 12 patients who had been waiting on average 44 weeks for operations on a standby list.
Six were able to get their operations earlier after being called to fill on-the-day cancellations and reported excellent experiences of the initiative. The scheme saved the trust £15,240, and surgeons concluded that it “provides a cost-effective solution to optimise theatre utilisation, reduce waiting list times and improve patient care”.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: The Times, 23 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Suspects detained by police denied essential insulin, cancer and epilepsy drugs, damning report claims

Drugs for diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and mental illness are being denied to people held in police cells after they are arrested, according to a shocking new report.
Suspects detained in custody suites are even having emergency care withheld as a “form of punishment”, according to the study shared exclusively with The Independent.
The report has sparked calls for healthcare for those in custody to be brought under the remit of the NHS, amid claims that basic standards are not being met by the private companies that currently provide it.
Deborah Cohen, chief executive of the charity Inquest, which represents families whose loved ones have died in custody, said the report is “deeply concerning” and urged ministers to respond before the situation results in “catastrophe”.
“This is about the denial of life-protecting medication,” she said. “There is the ever-present risk of death and harm. It shines a light on the standards of healthcare in police custody suites.
“This report lays bare many of the concerns Inquest has had for decades around the standards of care afforded to detainees in police custody. The reality of this, denying people medication that is life-protecting, does hold the risk of death and serious harm.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 21 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Global study on Covid vaccine safety falls victim to Trump cuts

The largest ever global study into the safety of Covid-19 vaccines has been terminated just 13 months shy of completion, after becoming caught up in the Trump administration’s sweeping funding cuts.
The Global Vaccine Data Network, which was established in 2019 by the New Zealand-based vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris and the US-based vaccinologist Steven Black, has already produced some of the world’s most comprehensive studies on vaccine efficacy and safety, based on data from more than 300 million people.
The University of Auckland hosts the network, which collaborates with institutions and experts across the globe.
The groundbreaking five-year project to evaluate the safety of Covid vaccines across hundreds of millions of people received more than NZ$10m from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2021, but after a recent funding review by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), it can no longer finish the project, Petousis-Harris said.
The network looks at data from millions of people to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines, analyse risk and benefits and respond to issues such as vaccine hesitancy.
To do this requires “enormous study power, enormous populations and diversity”, said Petousis-Harris, who is an associate professor at the University of Auckland.
But funding for the global Covid vaccine safety project was “suddenly cut … without warning, without planning”, she told the Guardian.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

New NHS probe into spinal surgeon's care

Hundreds of patients treated by a spinal surgeon who was found to have caused them serious harm could have their cases reviewed.
NHS England has confirmed it will look back into two hospital reviews into John Bradley Williamson, who worked at Salford Royal Hospital and the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital from 1991 to 2015.
It comes after former patients, who said they had experienced problems linked to his surgery, said they believed the previous reviews were too limited.
Mr Williamson said he has "always strived to provide the very best care for patients" and would cooperate with any patient care investigation.
A report into the surgeon's care between 2009 and 2014 found he had caused "severe harm" to seven patients at Salford Royal Hospital. Some screws were poorly placed, and some patients suffered heavy blood loss, the report found.
One former patient, treated by Mr Williamson when she was 11, said she had been living in "agony" after the surgery at the former Pendlebury Children's Hospital, now Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.
Campaigners, including the sister of a teenager who died during spinal surgery by Mr Williamson, have called for a full recall of all patients on whom the surgeon operated.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 24 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Government launches call for evidence on men’s health

The government is calling for men of all ages to come forward and feed into England’s first ever men’s health strategy.
The 12-week call for evidence will gather vital insights from the public, health and social care professionals, academics and employers so the government can properly consider how to prevent and tackle the biggest issues facing men from all backgrounds.  
It will ask for their views on what is working and what more needs to be done to close the life expectancy gap between men and women, as men in England die nearly 4 years earlier than women, on average. 
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: 
"Every day, men across England are dying early from preventable causes. Men are hit harder by a range of conditions, while tragically suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50. 
"Our Plan for Change means we will tackle these issues head on through a men’s health strategy, and today’s call for evidence is the crucial next step in understanding what works, what doesn’t, and how we can design services men will actually use. I urge people to come forward to share their views."
The call for evidence will seek responses on how the government’s Plan for Change can work across the board to improve the health and wellbeing of men, through: 
prevention - finding the right areas and the right ways to promote healthier behaviours   diagnosis and treatment - improving outcomes for health conditions that hit men harder encouragement to come forward - improving men’s access to, engagement with and experience of the health service. Read full story
Source: Gov.UK, 24 April 2025
Related reading on the hub:
12 top picks: Men's health  
Patient Safety Learning

Daily peanut exposure can desensitise allergic adults, study suggests

Adults with severe peanut allergies can be desensitised by daily exposure, according to the first clinical trial of its kind.
After being given steadily increasing doses of peanut flour over a period of months, two-thirds of the trial participants were able to eat the equivalent of five peanuts without reacting.
The findings suggest that the window of opportunity for treating allergies could extend into adulthood, raising the prospect of new treatments for those severely affected.
“Constant fear of life-threatening reactions place a huge burden on people with peanut allergy,” said Stephen Till, the professor who led the research at King’s College London. “The only way to manage a peanut allergy is strict avoidance and treatment of allergic reactions, including with adrenaline.
“Although peanut immunotherapy is known to be effective in children, this trial provides preliminary evidence that adults can also be desensitised and that this improves quality of life.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2025
Further reading on the hub:
Why allergies are the Cinderella service of the NHS – a blog by Tim McLachlan
Patient Safety Learning

NHS ‘routinely failing’ deaf patients in England, report finds

Deaf patients face systemic discrimination when it comes to learning about their own health due to NHS failings, with some not understanding that they might have a terminal illness, according to a damning report.
The study by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) accuses the NHS of “routinely failing” deaf people.
A survey of more than 1,000 people in England who are deaf or have hearing loss found that almost one in 10 had avoided calling an ambulance or attending A&E due to their disability, and a quarter had avoided seeking help for a new health concern.
The survey also found that about half of sign language users reported not having understood their diagnosis, or how their treatment worked. NHS staff said a lack of training, time and a poor IT system were major factors in being unable to provide these accessibility requirements for deaf people.
The report also highlights instances of deaf people receiving particularly poor NHS care. In one instance, a woman was not provided with an interpreter, which meant she was unaware she had had a miscarriage.
Another example was a patient receiving no food or water during a hospital stay as they could not hear staff offering it to them.
Sharing her experiences as part of the report, Dr Natasha Wilcock, a deaf doctor who works in palliative care, said she had met patients who had been referred to palliative care services who, due to the lack of communication, did not understand they were dying and no longer receiving cancer treatment.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2025
Further reading on the hub:
Top picks: 11 resources to support people with hearing loss or deafness
 
Patient Safety Learning

NHS staff fatigue poses ‘significant’ threat to patient safety, watchdog warns

Fatigue among frontline personnel causing them to make mistakes is a “significant” risk to patients, according to the Health Services Safety Investigation Body (HSSIB).
It “contributes directly and indirectly to patient harm”, yet is not properly appreciated as a risk by the NHS, possibly because of the perceived “heroism” of NHS staff.
Exhaustion has led to doctors and nurses harming patients by inserting feeding tubes in the wrong place, leaving swabs inside a woman who had just given birth and mislabelling blood samples.
But the NHS safety regulator for England also found that staff who are driving home after finishing a long shift could die in a road accident because they are extremely tired.
“Fatigue was found to have a negative impact on staff safety,” the HSSIB said in a report, which is based on interviews with about 100 staff and evidence from national organisations.
“A key risk related to this was staff driving home after a long shift and being involved in fatal car accidents or near misses.”
“This report lays bare the daily reality for nursing staff. They are overstretched, understaffed and regularly work beyond their hours caring for too many patients,” said Patricia Marquis, the Royal College of Nursing’s executive director for England.
“This drives dangerous levels of fatigue which not only harms patients but also follows staff home, with sometimes devastating consequences.
“Nursing fatigue is deadly and in health and care services should be treated as a public safety emergency.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Paramedics told to listen to podcasts while queuing for A&E handovers

Paramedics have complained of a “disrespectful” instruction to listen to podcasts while queuing to hand over patients to A&E, HSJ has learned.
Staff at South Western Ambulance Service made the claim to an NHS England review of the trust, which also heard concerns about “a lack of effectiveness” in the executive team, “fragile relationships” at senior levels, and a “punitive culture” against speaking up.
The report does not make clear who “asked” the paramedics to listen to podcasts during handovers, but CEO John Martin said neither he nor the executive teams had given such an instruction.
NHSE’s “well led” review of the trust, released to HSJ following a freedom of information request, said: “We heard examples of staff being asked to read [internal trust communications] or listen to podcasts when they were queuing for handover. Staff were not keen on this, as they felt it was disrespectful towards patients, and they preferred engaging with the patients whilst waiting.” It appears to refer to podcasts featuring internal updates.
The organisation has been a national outlier, with large numbers of very long handover delays – when ambulance crews are required to queue for hours before they can transfer their patient to accident and emergency staff – particularly over the past three years.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 24 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

£5m spent on deaths inquiry still years from completion

An inquiry into deaths linked to a mental health trust is not expected to report for another two years and has already cost more than £5m, HSJ can reveal.
An Essex mental health inquiry was first launched in early 2021 to explore at least 2,000 deaths over a 20-year period, but the initial exercise was abandoned in autumn 2023. A new chair was brought in to lead an inquiry on a statutory footing that had been called for by families of people who died.
Information newly obtained by HSJ shows £5.1m had been spent on the work in total by September 2024 – including £2.2m on the previous inquiry before it was abandoned.
Before the overhaul in 2023, the inquiry team had previously indicated it would consider at least 2,000 deaths over a 20-year period. It will now cover a further three years and more deaths, although the exact number has not been established.
Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust and predecessor trusts have previously been linked to a string of serious problems, and the inquiry will consider the link between care failings and deaths of patients or former patients.
Public hearings, which started last year, are set to resume next week.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 24 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Flagship NHSE tech policy creating ‘patient safety risks’, claim analysts

Patient safety risks are being created by central demands that NHS organisations adopt the new federated data platform and “close down” existing systems, according to the body representing the service’s analysts.
In a letter to NHS England chief data and analytics officer Ming Tang, the Chief Data and Analytical Officers Network (CDAON) has stepped up earlier complaints about the FDP and its rollout, calling for a “reset” of NHSE’s approach.
The letter also questions whether the FDP is fit for purpose in achieving the government’s goal of moving care into the community. The £330m seven-year contract to deliver the FDP platform was won by US data company Palantir in 2023.
The FDP was originally launched on the basis that it could be used on a voluntary basis. However, under direction of ministers, NHSE has now moved to an “FDP-first policy”, to the alarm of many senior figures working in NHS technology.  
The letter, seen by HSJ, is signed by CDAON chair and Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board data chief Marc Farr and says: “Anecdotally we are aware of systems being directed to close down existing systems because the functionality is planned within the FDP…
“However we are not convinced that the functionality is imminent and therefore that a risk to patient safety exists – we can cite specific examples.”
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 23 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

NIH to back RFK Jr. autism research campaign with comprehensive data resource from patients' medical records

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will begin work on a comprehensive federal database of patient records to study autism and chronic disease, Director Jay Bhattacharya announced Monday. 
The commitment gives legs to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s calls to find the root cause of childhood autism, which he calls an epidemic. The NIH appears poised to put federal resources to work to create a central, shareable resource for the researchers that undertake RFK Jr.’s call to action.
Last week at an event with reporters, Secretary RFK Jr. announced that HHS will soon be offering research grants for identifying the cause of autism, including exploring causes that were formerly considered taboo by the research community. “People will know they can research and follow the science no matter what it says, without any kind of fear that can be censored ...  gaslighted ... silenced," he told reporters.
The NIH will now work to build out a data resource consisting of medical records, insurance claims and data from wearable devices to aid autism researchers in their quest to find the root cause of the disease. Bhattacharya explained the initiative to a meeting of NIH advisors on Monday. 
The NIH will partner across the HHS and with external stakeholders. The data sources for the real-world data platform will be pharmacy chains, health organisations, clinical data, claims and billing, environmental, sensors and wearables. 
The initiative has sparked some privacy concerns from industry groups.
"Compiling health and disability-related data from both federal and commercial sources to create a federal registry of people with autism, without individuals’ consent, is the latest dangerous effort by this Administration to repurpose Americans’ sensitive information for unchecked government use," Ariana Aboulafia, project lead of disability rights in technology policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said in a statement. "This plan crosses a line in the sand, particularly given longstanding and historical concerns surrounding the creation of registries of people with disabilities.
"The data that would be used to create this registry and inform governmental studies on autism was originally shared with government agencies and private companies, like insurers and wearable technology companies, for a wide range of purposes," Aboulafia said. "It’s unclear exactly who the federal government plans to share this data with, or how they’ll eventually use it. And, while NIH has claimed that the confidentiality of this information will be safeguarded using 'state of the art protections,' it’s also unclear if it’ll be anonymized or disaggregated, or how it will be protected from a hack or breach." 
Read full story
Source: Fierce Healthcare, 22 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

NHS staff levels ‘alarmingly low’ on wards, study finds

A new poll reveals a deepening staffing crisis within the NHS, jeopardising patient safety, particularly in maternity and rehabilitation wards.
A Unison survey of nurses, healthcare assistants, and midwives found that a staggering 69%of shifts were understaffed, a marked increase from 63% just two years ago.
The survey, conducted across 42 hospitals in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, paints a stark picture of the strain on frontline staff.
Workers anonymously reported their experiences after their shifts in October and November of last year, totaling 1,470 shifts surveyed.
Alarmingly, 81% of respondents working in maternity and rehabilitation units, and 82% in elderly care, expressed serious safety concerns due to inadequate staffing levels.
The findings highlight a worrying trend of "red flag" events, indicating serious safety risks, occurring on over half (56%) of all shifts.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 23 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Over 150,000 more people in England have ME than previously thought, study finds

More than 150,000 more people in England are living with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) than was previously estimated, according to a study that highlights the “postcode lottery” of diagnosis.
The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Public Health, involved researchers from the University of Edinburgh analysing NHS data from more than 62 million people in England to identify people who had been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome or post-viral fatigue syndrome.
The data was examined by gender, age and ethnicity, and grouped by different areas of England.
ME, also known as chronic fatigue, is a long-term condition with its main symptoms being extreme fatigue, brain fog, and issues with sleep. The condition’s key feature is known as post-exertional malaise, which is a delayed dramatic worsening of these symptoms following minor physical effort. There is currently no diagnostic test or cure for the disease and its causes are unknown.
The findings showed that the lifetime prevalence of chronic fatigue for women and men in England may be as high as 0.92% of the population for women, and 0.25% for men. This is equivalent to about 404,000 people overall.
The study also revealed stark ethnic inequalities relating to chronic fatigue diagnoses rates. White people with ME in England were almost five times more likely to be diagnosed with the condition than other ethnic groups.
People from Black and Asian backgrounds were least likely to be diagnosed with the condition, with rates between 65% and 90% lower than their white counterparts.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 22 April 2025
Related reading on the hub:
Exploring the barriers that impact access to NHS care for people with ME and Long Covid
Patient Safety Learning

Mental health sidelined in key waiting list policy

Only two mental health trusts are known to be using the advice and guidance (A&G) system, and it should be used “much more broadly” in the sector, Rebecca Gray told HSJ.
A&G was introduced under the last government, but the current administration is pressing for a big expansion this year, introducing payments to GP practices each time they use it from this month. 
Ms Gray, who joined Confed earlier this year from the Maudsley Charity, said it was a good policy but so far was mainly focused on physical health, and she wanted to work with the network’s trust members to expand it.
Mental health is largely not covered by the main referral-to-treatment waiting list, nor the government’s headline target to reduce RTT waits to less than 18 weeks. Data on MH waits is poor, but it suggests tens of thousands of children and adults are waiting longer than two years.
Ms Gray said: ”Mental health services can and should play a crucial role in these kinds of initiatives. We know that mental ill health is placing a huge demand on GPs and their teams. This can not only be difficult for services to manage but frustrating for patients, who can often be left facing long waits to get the support they need if their condition is not best managed in primary care.”
She said GPs should be incentivised to “reach out to specialist mental health teams to support people more quickly [which] could help tackle these issues before they get worse”.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ,  22 April 2025
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