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

USA: RFK Jr contradicts experts by linking autism rise to ‘environmental toxins’

The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, said in his first press conference that the significant and recent rise in autism diagnoses was evidence of an “epidemic” caused by an “environmental toxin”, which would be rooted out by September.
“This is a preventable disease, we know it’s environmental exposure, it has to be,” said Kennedy. “Genes do not cause epidemics, they can provide a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin,” he said, despite known evidence against this claim.
Kennedy’s remarks come after a new federal report suggests that autism rates in the US are rising. The report states that autism prevalence across the country has increased from 1 in 36 children to 1 in 31. Health researchers across various autism advocacy groups attribute the increase to the expansion of diagnostic tools and access to care, along with other factors.
RFK disagreed with the consensus of health researchers, and said that “we need to move away” from the idea that the increase in autism prevalence “is simply due to better diagnostic tools”.
The health secretary is instead using the data to support the idea that the rise in autism diagnoses is evidence of a growing “epidemic”. He added that “epidemic denial” towards autism had become a “feature of mainstream media”.
In a statement about the CDC’s research, the Autism Society of America said: “This rise in prevalence does not signal an ‘epidemic’ as narratives are claiming – it reflects diagnostic progress, and an urgent need for policy decisions rooted in science and the immediate needs of the autism community.”
The statement emphasised that the “rise in prevalence likely reflects better awareness, improved screening tools, and stronger advocacy”.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025
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Six Massachusetts hospital workers on same floor report getting brain tumours

The number of staff members who have developed brain tumours while working on the same floor of a Boston-area hospital has increased to at least six, according to the facility’s leadership.
A recent statement attributed to the president of Mass General Brigham’s Newton-Wellesley hospital, Ellen Moloney, said the newly reported tumour was benign, as were five previously documented ones. The statement maintained that investigators had not turned up any evidence of environmental risks at the hospital, though their work remained ongoing.
Nonetheless, even before the number of staffers with tumours jumped, a labour union representing nurses at the hospital had pledged to press for answers.
That pledge came after Newton-Wellesley hospital’s leadership initially confirmed that five nurses had reported developing non-cancerous growths in their brains after having worked on the facility’s fifth-floor maternity unit at some point.
An additional half-dozen staff members with experience working on the floor in question reported other health concerns that did not involve brain tumors, Newton-Wellesley officials have said.
The hospital has repeatedly suggested there is no evidence to establish that the situation is anything more than a coincidence.
Moloney alluded to how the hospital had worked internal and governmental occupational offices while also consulting with outside environmental experts. Testing since then has examined the hospital’s water, radiation levels, air quality and other factors.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025
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USA: Dr Mehmet Oz outlines vision for CMS

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is a federal agency in the United States that administers major healthcare programmes, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Health Insurance Marketplace. 
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz has set out his vision for the agency, including a commitment to President Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda and modernisng Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA marketplace.
As a first step, CMS will implement President Trump’s executive order from February aimed at boosting healthcare price transparency. The order directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Labor and Treasury departments to “rapidly implement and enforce” healthcare price transparency enforcement regulations that the president introduced during his first term.
It will work to streamline access to life-saving treatments by “equipping providers with better patient information versus unnecessary paperwork.” The agency did not elaborate further on how it would streamline care access.
Identifying and eliminating fraud, waste and abuse is a top priority for the agency. During his confirmation hearing process, Dr Oz promised scrutiny of the Medicare Advantage program amid allegations of widespread fraud, and expressed concerns about MA sales and brokers encouraging seniors to switch to MA policies for financial gain.
CMS will focus on prevention, wellness and chronic disease management. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has identified chronic disease as a key priority under his leadership. He has criticised the influence of the pharmaceutical and food industries, linking issues like obesity and diabetes to ultra-processed foods, federal subsidies and dietary guidelines. He has called for reforms targeting food additives, pesticides and environmental health risks, alongside overhauls of agencies like the CDC and FDA.
Read full story
Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 10 April 2025
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German doctor charged with murder of 15 patients

A German palliative care doctor has been charged with murdering 15 of his patients using a cocktail of lethal drugs.
Prosecutors in Berlin have accused the 40-year-old of setting fire to the homes of some of his suspected victims to cover his tracks.
He allegedly killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024, though prosecutors have said they believe that total could rise.
The doctor, who has not been named due to strict privacy laws in Germany, has not admitted to the charges, prosecutors said.
He is accused of administering an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant to his patients without their knowledge or consent.
The relaxant "paralysed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes", the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
He worked in several German states, and the ages of those whose deaths are being treated as suspicious range from 25 to 94.
The doctor was initially suspected of having killed four people in his care when he was arrested in August 2024 but investigations have uncovered other suspicious deaths, with more exhumations on potential victims planned.
A "lifelong professional ban" and "preventative detention" is being sought for the 40-year-old suspect. He remains in custody.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 16 April 2025
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WHO agrees legally binding pandemic treaty

Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) have agreed the text of a legally binding treaty designed to better tackle future pandemics.
The pact is meant to avoid the disorganisation and competition for resources seen during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Key elements include the rapid sharing of data about new diseases, to ensure scientists and pharmaceutical companies can work more quickly to develop treatments and vaccines.
For the first time, the WHO itself will also have an overview of global supply chains for masks, medical gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE).
WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the deal as "a significant milestone in our shared journey towards a safer world".
"[Member states] have also demonstrated that multilateralism is alive and well, and that in our divided world, nations can still work together to find common ground, and a shared response to shared threats," he said.
It is only the second time in the WHO's 75-year history that an international agreement of this type has been reached – the first being a tobacco control deal in 2003.
It still needs to be formally adopted by members when they meet for the World Health Assembly next month.
US negotiators were not part of the final discussions after President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the global health agency, and the US will not be bound by the pact when it leaves in 2026.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 16 April 2025
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Robotics approved for use in NHS surgeries across England

State-of-the-art robotic systems approved for use on the NHS could transform treatment for thousands of people across England.
The technology, given the green light by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) under its early value assessment programme, offers a range of applications, from helping remove tumours to replacing a patient’s knee.
The rollout is expected to reduce hospital stays, faster recovery times, and a lower risk of complications.
A total of 11 systems have been approved, including five for soft tissue surgeries, such as removing tumours, repairing hernias and removing gallbladders and six for orthopaedics, including knee and hip replacements.
Some allow surgeons to perform operations using mechanical arms controlled from a console, while others are hand-held.
Dr Anastasia Chalkidou, programme director of NICE’s HealthTech programme, said: “These innovative technologies have the potential to transform both soft tissue and orthopaedic surgical care in the NHS.
“Robot-assisted surgery may help overcome key limitations of conventional techniques through precise movements and enhanced 3D visualisation, potentially transforming surgical options and outcomes for NHS patients.
“Both applications could benefit patients who might not otherwise be candidates for minimally invasive approaches.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 17 April 2025
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ICBs told to get tighter grip on GP referrals

Integrated care boards have been told to significantly strengthen the drive to ensure that potential GP referrals are first scrutinised by hospital consultants.
The approach, known as “advice and guidance”, involves GPs discussing cases with specialist consultants. The discussions can lead to the patient being triaged to alternative services or the GP continuing to be responsible for their management, rather than being placed on a waiting list to see a consultant.
The use of A&G to reduce referrals is a key plank of NHS England’s plan to deal with the elective care backlog.
NHSE’s elective reform plan pledged to drive up A&G requests by GPs to 4 million in 2025-26, nearly double the amount seen in 2023-24. NHSE forecasts this would deliver 2 million “diversions” – cases where a referral is avoided. 
For the first time, GPs will be paid £20 each time they use the model, and the government has announced that an £80m pot has been allocated to fund the policy.  
But new guidance published by NHS England warns local systems must deliver a “higher degree of rigour and standardisation” in their A&G services. It also sounds the alarm about the “considerable variation” in A&G models operating in different areas. 
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 17 April 2025
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Best and worst trusts to work at, according to bank staff

NHS bank staff are almost always more likely to recommend their employer as a good place to work than permanent staff.
Results published this week found that 67% of responding bank staff would recommend their organisation as a place to work. This compares to 60% of substantive staff. The bank staff score increased slightly on last year, while that for salaried staff fell – again marginally.  
The survey, which is coordinated by Picker on behalf of NHS England, revealed a quarter (25.3% of bank staff reported experiencing at least one incident of physical violence from patients and the public in the last 12 months
The proportion of bank workers experiencing discrimination from patients and the public has also risen, from 13.1 to 14.8%.
Other results from the survey showed improvements in work-life balance and a reduction in burnout rates.
Picker Group chief executive Chris Picker said: “These latest results paint a mixed picture of life as a bank-only worker in the NHS.
“While many continue to benefit from the flexibility and improved work-life balance offered by bank roles, rising reports of incidents of violence and discrimination from patients and the public are a cause for concern, particularly for the many bank nursing and healthcare assistants reporting experiences of these unacceptable behaviours.”
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 17 April 2025
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Dr Atul Gawande updates Senators on the destruction of USAID

Earlier this month, Dr Atul Gawande briefed US Senators on the effects that the destruction of USAID is already having. Dr Gawande, until noon on 20 January 2025, ran global health for USAID.
While the Supreme Court ruled last month that the Trump administration still has to pay its bills for work already completed by USAID contractors, that was not exactly a high bar to clear—and even that decision was a narrow 5-4 ruling. Meanwhile, all of the contract terminations and personnel purges have been permitted to go through while the overall issues are litigated. Therefore, the reality is that even if the courts eventually determine that the complete gutting of USAID was not lawful, it will already be a fait accompli—that is, practically impossible to reverse.
So, what of USAID’s crucial work remains, and what has—in Elon Musk’s own words—already been ‘fed to the wood chipper’?
In testimony to members of the US Senate, Dr Gawande summarised what has already been destroyed by callous and brutal DOGE-directed terminations since January. We are only just beginning to be able to estimate the number of deaths these cuts will cause in the coming months and years, but unless something changes, it will surely amount to millions of human lives lost. A particularly depressing aspect is that these are senseless deaths (not to mention other suffering from disease and poverty), without reasonable or accurate justifications, as Dr. Gawande explicitly delineated in his presentation.
Read full story
Source: Inside Medicine, 6 April 2025
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USA: Tech becomes cornerstone of hospital violence prevention

A growing number of healthcare workers and patients are demanding immediate legislative action to address rising workplace violence in hospitals, a survey by Black Book Research has found.
The survey, which included responses from 240 individuals — emergency department physicians, nurses, hospital-based staff and 200 healthcare consumers — reveals widespread concern over increasing aggression toward medical professionals and overwhelming support for federal intervention.
Key findings show that 98% of hospital staff and 93% of healthcare consumers support federal legislation mandating workplace violence prevention measures. All staff respondents said they had experienced or witnessed violence at work, with many expressing dissatisfaction with current safety protocols.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average of 57 healthcare workers are injured daily due to workplace violence, resulting in lost workdays, job reassignment or medical care. Incidents range from verbal threats and physical assaults to chronic aggression, particularly in emergency departments and behavioral health units.
“Technology is now a cornerstone of prevention strategies in hospital safety plans,” Doug Brown, founder of Black Book Research, said in the report. “Healthcare IT vendors play a vital role in safeguarding hospital staff by embedding safety-focused features into the software and services used every day.”
Read full story
Source: Becker's Health IT, 14 April 2025
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USA: Whooping cough cases soar by 1,500% leaving two dead and health experts concerned it could be next outbreak

State and local health officials are seeing skyrocketing cases of whooping cough, and experts are sounding the alarm it could join the outbreak of measles in impacting thousands of Americans.
Cases of the highly contagious bacterial infection have reportedly risen by more than 1,500 percent nationwide since 2021. Cases of whooping cough have been high in measles-stricken Texas, with the Laredo Public Health Department reporting more cases there than all of last year.
“We’ve seen more cases of whooping cough this year in Laredo than in the past few years,” Dr. Richard Chamberlain, director of Laredo Public Health told The Laredo Morning Times. “This isn’t just happening in Laredo; other places in Texas are also seeing more cases. Right now, we’re keeping a close eye on it. There’s no need to panic, but it’s important to stay informed and take simple steps to help keep everyone safe.”
“Many babies who get whooping cough are infected by family members or caregivers who may not even know they are carrying the bacteria,” the Louisiana Office of the Surgeon General noted earlier this month. “About half of babies younger than a year old who get whooping cough will need hospital care.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 15 April 2025
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Judge says latest safety data can be used in case against GMC over regulation of physician associates

Campaigners who are taking the General Medical Council (GMC) to court alleging failure to properly regulate physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) have been cleared to submit new patient safety evidence.
A judge has granted Anaesthetists United’s bid to submit two reports that were published after it began its legal case, and which the GMC had argued were inadmissible, for a judicial review in the High Court on 13 and 14 May.
One report is a systematic review published in The BMJ in March 2025, which found little evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of PAs and AAs in the UK.1
The other is a coroner’s regulation 28 “prevention of future deaths” report published in February 2025, regarding the death in 2024 of Pamela Marking, who was seen by a PA and died after having a nosebleed misdiagnosed. 
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: BMJ, 10 April 2025
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'We wait too long for endometriosis diagnoses'

After seven years of doctors discounting my symptoms, Ellie Tutt joined the end of a fifty-five-week-long waiting list to find out whether she had endometriosis.
About 1.5 million women in the UK, external are thought to have the condition, which causes pain and extreme tiredness as a result of tissue similar to the womb lining growing elsewhere in the body. But for many of these women, it is taking a long time to get a diagnosis.
Endometriosis can cause chronic pain, heavy bleeding and, if untreated, organ damage, external and infertility.
Despite this, Dr Kate Dyerson, a GP from Berkshire, said it was taking some women four or five trips to their doctor before they were taken seriously.
She said: "I think there's a degree of ignorance among the medical profession as to how many women are affected."
Women's medical problems had long been dismissed, she said, adding many doctors would assume a teenager was just adjusting to period pains.
"I don't think it's sexist so much, I think it's that inbuilt sense that women have periods, periods are unpleasant, we don't want to talk about them, and if they hurt, well, take your pain elsewhere."
Dr Dyerson said it took an average of eight years for women to get a diagnosis and felt GPs needed to get better at making referrals.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 16 April 2025
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Blood test firm blamed for 'catalogue of disasters'

An NHS provider that won a £2bn contract to deliver blood-testing services for hospitals and GPs is failing to deliver reliable results, according to medical professionals.
Synnovis, a public-private partnership between the medical company Synlab and Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College hospital foundation trusts, secured the contract in 2021 to deliver pathology services for just under 200 GP surgeries across south-east London.
The BBC has spoken to GPs who say incorrect and delayed blood results are a "regular concern" and that the firm's performance is causing great distress to patients.
The company, which fell victim to a ransomware cyberattack in June 2024 that caused more than 1,000 NHS operations to be postponed, said the attack had "significantly reduced our capacity to process samples". Synnovis, which serves six hospitals in London, added that it had "dedicated every available resource to delivering clinically safe and largely manual interim solutions".
According to more than a dozen GPs we heard from, across all of south-east London's boroughs, the severity of challenges they face under Synnovis is causing anxiety for both patients and doctors.
The GPs told the BBC that the blood-test issues were leading to unnecessary hospital referrals and wasted patient appointments. In one case the BBC was told about, an elderly man who was caring for his wife with dementia needlessly spent hours in accident and emergency (A&E) due to problems with his test.
One GP, who spoke to the BBC anonymously, said: "It would [previously] never cross our minds that a blood test might not be reliable. This is now an everyday concern.
"The current problems with Synnovis is nothing short of a national scandal," they added.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 15 April 2025
Patient Safety Learning

ASA bans Brazilian liquid butt lift ads from six UK cosmetic treatment providers

The Advertising Standards Authority has reprimanded six cosmetic treatment providers for pressuring customers, exploiting women’s insecurities or trivialising medical risks after an investigation into adverts for liquid Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs).
The cosmetic procedure, which involves injecting fillers into the buttocks to enhance their shape and size, is unregulated in the UK and can carry significant health risks, not least from potentially life-threatening infections.
Hundreds of women have contracted infections after paying for liquid BBLs in the UK, with many requiring hospital treatment for sepsis or corrective surgery to repair tissue damage.
The ASA took action against the UK companies after its artificial intelligence-driven monitoring system flagged numerous Facebook and Instagram adverts for liquid BBLs and similar procedures.
Adverts from Beautyjenics, Bomb Doll Aesthetics, CCSkinLondonDubai, EME Aesthetics & Beauty Academy, Rejuvenate Academy, trading as Rejuvenate Clinics, and NKD Medical, trading as Dr Ducu, were found to have breached the code and the companies were told the ads must not appear again.
“Choosing to undergo a cosmetic procedure is a serious decision, so ads that trivialise this, exploit insecurities, or pressure consumers can cause real harm. We’re particularly concerned about these types of ads for liquid BBLs, given the procedure is currently unregulated and is known to be high risk,” an ASA spokesperson said.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025
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British hospitals introduce treatment for heart failure that cuts deaths by 62%

People in Britain with heart failure are being given larger doses of drugs at the start of their treatment after a global study found that this led to a huge fall in deaths.
Experts say the new approach could mean those with the potentially fatal condition start receiving their ideal amount of medication within two weeks of diagnosis rather than after many months.
Evidence from other countries that have already used the treatment found it cut deaths from heart failure by 62% and lowered their risk of ending up back in hospital by 30%. 
St George’s hospital in London and Morriston hospital in Swansea have begun treating patients with the innovative method, which those involved say “is a total gamechanger” for the condition.
Clinical staff likened the approach – known as “rapid titration” – to how cancer patients are given a full dose of chemotherapy medication from the start of their treatment to improve their chances of recovery.
“Heart failure is a silent killer, so this new way of treating patients is a total gamechanger that I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. It will save many lives and bring hope to so many families,” said Matthew Sunter, the lead heart failure nurse at St George’s.
“In days gone by, we would start patients on a very low dose and increase it by very small doses. It could take nine to 12 months to reach the optimal dose.
“Strong-HF has allowed us to think completely differently. For the first time ever, we offer patients a review one week after discharge and we can catch them before they get sick enough to need to come back into hospital.
“And we can get them on to the recommended therapy for their heart failure within two to three weeks instead of nine to 12 months.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025
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