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

Burnham hails Hillsborough law as ‘rewiring of the state’ as MPs approve bill

Andy Burnham has hailed a power shift from the state to the people as MPs finally passed the stalled Hillsborough law, a rare moment of Labour unity with the bill set to be a key legacy of Keir Starmer’s government.
In his first intervention in the Commons since returning as an MP, Burnham said the bill was a significant step towards securing the accountability the Hillsborough families had fought for – but should never have had to do.
“We have had a situation in this country where people suffer the trauma of the initial bereavement, the incident that took their loved ones away, and then they are re-traumatised by the behaviour of the state,” he said.
“We can’t take that hurt away tonight. But we can put decency back at the heart of the British state, and that is what this bill does.”
Burnham, who has been a long and passionate campaigner for the Hillsborough families and for the law, said the bill would be “truly a rewiring of the state” and that the lessons were still relevant to other major public scandals where institutions have protected themselves rather than the people.
The public office (accountability) bill puts a duty of candour on public officials, meaning those who lie or evade during inquiries into tragedies would face prosecution.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 14 July 2026
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UK wasted £10bn on PPE that left NHS staff poorly protected, Covid inquiry finds

The lives of NHS staff and patients were put at risk in the pandemic because of a lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), with almost £10bn of taxpayers' money wasted in a scramble to buy more, the Covid inquiry has said.
The chair Baroness Hallett criticised the "vast" waste in procurement, put at £9.9bn – two-thirds of the £14.9bn the government spent on PPE.
The UK entered the pandemic with its stockpile of masks, gowns and gloves in a perilous state and was unprepared for the global race to secure supplies, she added.
She described the controversial VIP lane, which prioritised PPE offers from those with political connections, as a misguided policy that should not be repeated.
But she said there was "no evidence of cronyism or corruption" by ministers or other officials when awarding the final contracts.
When the cost of home testing kits and other equipment, such as ventilators, was included, the total amount spent by the government between January 2020 and June 2022 exceeded £42bn, the inquiry found.
The UK's emergency stockpile of PPE, meant to last at least 15 weeks before being replenished, was running out by the end of March 2020 as demand from hospitals soared.
Only a third of the masks in England's pandemic stockpile were usable, the inquiry found, while Scotland had no supplies of high-grade respiratory masks used in hospitals.
At the time, care homes, GP surgeries and pharmacies were all expected to source their own PPE, something the report described as a "major failure in planning".
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 14 July 2026
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NHSE region signs AI scribe deal covering 15 trusts

The NHS has launched its largest-ever regional deployment of ambient voice technology, covering 70,000 clinicians across 15 trusts and 1,239 GP practices.
NHS England’s Midlands team ran a competitive procurement process, selecting Australian vendor Heidi Health as sole supplier for the framework, which spans emergency departments, outpatient services, and primary care.
The framework emerged from pilots at the Dudley Group Foundation Trust, which, according to Heidi, reduced emergency care documentation time by 80 per cent and cut a six-month rheumatology letter backlog to 14 days.
Neighbouring providers expressed interest in replicating the business case and rollout, prompting NHSE’s Midlands team to coordinate a single regional procurement route.
Five trusts – Dudley Group, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust, the Royal Wolverhampton Trust, Walsall Healthcare Trust, and University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust – have begun deployment. Heidi declined to name the remaining 10 trusts expected to follow.
The framework was opt-in, meaning it covers only those trusts that chose to participate and is closed to new joiners. 
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 15 July 2026
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Simple blood test to detect Alzheimers long before memory loss has been developed by scientists

A groundbreaking blood test could one day identify healthy older adults at high risk of developing Alzheimer's symptoms years before memory loss begins, offering scientists a powerful new tool in the quest to halt the disease's progression.
Researchers announced on Wednesday that individuals with the highest levels of a blood marker called p-tau217 faced a 38% probability of developing cognitive impairment within five years, escalating to a 78% chance within a decade.
While the test is not yet ready for widespread clinical use, and experts caution against healthy individuals rushing to get screened, its immediate value lies in identifying volunteers for clinical trials. These trials aim to determine whether new drugs can effectively delay or prevent Alzheimer's disease.
Should these treatments prove successful, scientists believe a reliable method for identifying at-risk individuals before symptoms manifest will be crucial.
"Wait and get tested when you can potentially do something about it," advised Dr. Reisa Sperling of the Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute, the study's senior author. "At this point it wouldn't change what I would tell someone to do. I'd still tell them to eat well, sleep well, exercise a lot and stay engaged."
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 15 July 2026
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Another trust investigates snooping on attack victims

An ambulance trust is now investigating whether staff snooped on Southport victim records, HSJ can reveal, intensifying calls for a national review into patient privacy.
North West Ambulance Service did not inform patients or their families – nor take disciplinary action – after identifying potential breaches, according to internal NHS documents.
It comes just weeks after another NHS trust was accused of attempting to cover up the inappropriate access of Southport victim records by dozens of staff, revealed by HSJ.
NWAS said it was still investigating the cases, two years after the attack on a children’s dance class in which three young girls were killed and many other people injured.
Chief executive Salman Desai told HSJ: “We have identified concerns about potential inappropriate access to patient records and are formally investigating the matter…
“We will contact families and patients who may have been affected as our enquiries progress… We are deeply sorry for the concern and distress this may cause.”
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 14 July 2026
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How wearable tech such as watches or bracelets could help to detect sepsis more quickly

NHS England is set to equip patients at risk of deadly sepsis with wearable technology, aiming to prevent 1,000 deaths annually.
This initiative forms part of a broader drive to enhance monitoring and treatment, with the health service targeting the prevention of thousands of sepsis-related fatalities by 2035.
Sepsis, often triggered by a bacterial infection, presents with various symptoms. Adults may experience confusion, slurred speech, uncontrollable shivering, muscle pain, and breathing difficulties.
The UK Sepsis Trust estimates that sepsis contributes to approximately 48,000 deaths in the UK each year, with a significant number of these cases considered preventable.
The new NHS England strategy, announced on Tuesday, seeks to address this critical public health challenge.
Its measures include giving wearable devices to people at risk of sepsis, such as watches or bracelets, or via tech on their mobile phone.
This technology can keep track of blood pressure and heart rate, flagging if a person’s condition has deteriorated and they need to be tested for sepsis.
Professor Ramani Moonesinghe, NHS England’s deputy medical director, said: “Every year, sepsis causes of tens of thousands of deaths, and leaves thousands more with long-term disabilities, so it’s vital the NHS has an ambitious plan to reduce this harm over the next decade.
“Key to tackling sepsis is catching it early – the longer sepsis goes undetected the less chance a person has to survive or make a full recovery.
“That’s why the NHS will be trialling new wearable devices that will allow people’s vital signs to be monitored at home, so that if they deteriorate, they can get tested and treated faster.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 14 July 2026
Related resources on the hub:
Top picks: 13 resources about sepsis Spotting the signs of sepsis: a series of short videos
Patient Safety Learning

‘Catastrophic outcomes’ threat from ‘inappropriate’ maternity tools

Hospitals are persisting with using variable methods and tools to measure the growth of unborn babies, which experts say is leading to avoidable deaths, HSJ can reveal.
Fetal growth restriction is a leading cause of stillbirth, and failure to detect it means maternity services are missing opportunities to intervene.
However, HSJ research reveals significant fragmentation in the tools used and concerns about whether some are flawed.
HSJ found that across 113 trusts with maternity services that provided information, eight different types of growth charts were used, including several with their own localised system.
Some 14 trusts continue to use in some capacity a system called Intergrowth, despite NHS England warning in December that it is flawed  for estimating fetal weight. A small number of providers persisted in using it for this purpose, and NHSE said it was “now seeking assurance” they had stopped.
Recent maternity reviews by Baroness Valerie Amos and Donna Ockenden acknowledged concerns about growth charts, but did not shed light on the huge fragmentation in the tools used.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 14 July 2026
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‘Systemic failures’ contributed to teenager’s death

Longstanding issues with leadership and clinical oversight across two trusts contributed to failures surrounding the death of a teenager, two independent reviews have found.
Lucy Curtis, 17, died in hospital on 1 January 2024, five days after an incident of self-harm where she was found unresponsive at the Riverside Adolescent Unit at Blackberry Hill Hospital in Bristol.
The hospital is run by Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust. Lucy had previously been admitted “informally” to Wessex House General Adolescent Unit, which is run by Somerset Foundation Trust, after her mental health deteriorated in summer 2023, and had been discharged on 27 November.
An inquest into her death finished on Friday. It found there were “multiple missed opportunities and failures” in Lucy’s care across both trusts, which “possibly” contributed to her death.
Its judgment was critical of poor communication around Lucy’s discharge from Wessex House, and a delay in accepting her onto the caseload of the AWP child and adolescent service. It also criticised Riverside’s failure to adequately observe her, and problems with delivering emergency treatment when she was discovered by staff.
In addition, an independent review published earlier this year, commissioned by the South West mental health provider collaborative and shared with HSJ, found “systemic failures across the care pathway”, which left Lucy “without timely, coordinated, and effective support at critical points”.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 13 July 2026
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More than 2,700 people may have died in exceptional May and June heatwaves in England and Wales

More than 2,700 people may have died from heat-related causes in England and Wales during the exceptionally hot weather in May and June, experts' estimates suggest.
The figure, from a team at Imperial College London, the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is based on what's known about the dangers of extreme heat.
Most deaths will have occurred in the June heatwave, they say - the warmest June on record in England, when temperatures hit 37.7C (99.9F) at Lingwood, Norfolk, smashing the previous high of 35.6C set in 1957.
A rare red heat alert, external was issued for parts of England and Wales at the time, warning even healthy people of the significant risk to life.
Many UK homes are not built to cope, leaving people vulnerable to prolonged, high temperatures.
Heat puts immense physical strain on the body, made worse if you are dehydrated, with the heart pumping harder and faster to cool you off.
Babies and older people are among those most at risk of harm, as well as those with existing health conditions.
It can lead to more heart attacks, strokes and other potentially fatal emergencies.
Intense heat can affect anyone, including fit and healthy people, and is dubbed a 'silent killer' because early symptoms are easily overlooked.
And when the hot air is very wet or humid, like it was in June, it's more difficult for the body to cool down through sweating.
Prof Fredi Otto, an expert in climate science at Imperial who was involved in the research, told the BBC's Today Programme: "Don't underestimate the risks. Just because you're fit and healthy, you're not safe."
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 13 July 2026
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‘I spent five years battling to bring my disabled son back home – then was banned from telling his story. Now I want answers’

As he speaks, there’s fear in Grant McPherson’s eyes.
“You won’t make me go back, Dad. Horrible. Nasty. They hurt me dad. Stay here.”
Grant, 48, is in the living room of the specially adapted house he shares with his father Leonard McPherson in Wolverhampton. He has cerebral palsy, sight impairment, epilepsy, a learning disability and uses a wheelchair due to paralysis following a spinal operation as a child.
Grant and his father are happy. But they have endured years of heartache in their bid to be reunited at their family home.
Leonard is one of hundreds of people across the country who have faced ongoing battles to advocate for their vulnerable loved ones in care after raising concerns about their treatment.
During five years trapped in council-sponsored accommodation, Leonard says Grant suffered physically and mentally. Among the roll call of injuries, Grant suffered a severely broken leg, contracted two life threatening infections and was burnt twice – the second time so severely that he spent three months in hospital.
But, as Grant was moved between different council care, it was his father Leonard who was put under scrutiny when he asked to remove Grant from care and take him home instead. Incredibly, Leonard was also gagged with legal orders, meaning he could not talk publicly about his struggle to bring his son home.
Leonard was on the cusp of being restricted to seeing Grant for just one hour a week – an issue the government has now vowed to crack down on – when a judge finally agreed that Grant could return home to live with his father.
This is not an isolated case, with concerns raised nationally about draconian conditions placed on parents and guardians, preventing them from advocating for their children, with restrictions often put on visiting rights.
Earlier this year, the government vowed to crack down on care companies and councils that ban families from visiting vulnerable relatives and promised to improve visitation rights.
The chief inspector of the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health and social care in England, also admitted that care companies who look after people with learning disabilities need to be inspected “more consistently and more regularly”.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 11 July 2026
Patient Safety Learning

Ten ICBs accused of blocking access to private care

Private providers have accused 10 integrated care boards of blocking access to eye care, which they argue is redirecting tens of thousands of patients to A&E and GPs.
Providers Newmedica and Specsavers identified 10 ICBs as decommissioning services, setting minimum waits, and capping referrals. 
The restrictions will lead to additional pressure on accident and emergency departments, GPs and other services, they argued in evidence submitted to the Parliamentary committee considering the Health Bill.
The ICBs told HSJ  they aimed to balance “patient need, clinical safety, waiting times, value for money and the fair use of public resources” – and argued NHS-provided alternatives were available.
Newmedica said Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB had used an “indicative activity plan” to cut activity in its elective ophthalmology service by more than half year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Specsavers’ submission also identified Coventry, Sussex and Leeds as having either withdrawn or restricted community urgent eye care.
The high-street chain said in each of these areas, tens of thousands of patients were “now diverted to A&E or GPs”.
In addition, it said Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB had moved community glaucoma schemes back into hospitals and planned to cancel community eye care when its contract expires this year, with GPs and pharmacies to carry out the work.
Specsavers said the ICBs had restricted access to services to “save money”, but these would not be realised because they will “simply reappear as a trust overspend against its block contract for urgent and emergency care”.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 13 July 2026
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Women put at ‘unacceptable’ risk by ‘deviating’ service

Pregnant women were put at “unacceptable risk” by a service which was “deviat[ing] from guidelines”, had poor “surgical competency”, and was over-reliant on a single consultant at “significant risk of burnout”.
Independent experts identified an “overuse” of a surgical procedure, a lack of guidance around scans, and risks posed by a single consultant running high-risk perinatal care at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust.
NHS England requested a review of the trust’s fetal medicine service early last year following a spate of rapid reviews raising concerns about ultrasounds and preterm clinical pathways.
HSJ has now obtained a copy of the 2025 report, which was led by Birmingham Women’s Hospital consultant Leo Gurney, via a Freedom of Information request.
It said: “There was evidence of unacceptable patient risk within the preterm birth prevention service, particularly concerning cervical cerclage insertion, with deviations from guidelines and a lack of senior oversight and adherence to multi-disciplinary team processes.”
The review said there appeared to be an “overuse” of cervical stitches – which are meant to be used to prevent premature labour where it is a risk – that could “contribute to high surgical complexity”. Other risks from the procedure include infection or the potential to induce labour.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 10 July 2026
Patient Safety Learning

GP access improving as more go online

The share of patients reporting a good experience when contacting their GP practice has increased for the second year running, while the number going online has increased, new figures show.
However, the annual GP patient survey – contrary to other research – suggested many more are still relying on the phone rather than websites or the NHS App.
Results published on Thursday of the large national survey found 72.6% of respondents said their experience of contacting their practice was “very good” or “fairly good” – up from 69.6% in 2025. The survey question was revised in 2024 from asking about “making an appointment” to “contacting your GP practice”.
The survey, carried out by Ipsos for NHS England, ran between January and April, with more than 650,000 respondents from a random sample of those who use GP services.
54% per cent said they had used the phone to contact their practice on their most recent attempt – down steeply from 62% in 2025 and 68 per cent in 2024.
Meanwhile, 31% had used the GP practice’s website or the NHS App, up from 22% in 2025 and 17% in 2024.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 9 July 2026
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Shift out of hospitals must be ‘realistic’, warn doctors

A royal college has added to concerns that a shift in NHS funding to expand “neighbourhood” care risks undermining “safe, sustainable hospital services”.
The Royal College of Physicians issued its statement in response to a HSJ interview with Shane DeGaris, chief executive of Barts Health Trust, who warned against “top slicing” acute budgets for neighbourhood schemes when “the work still comes to hospitals”.
The RCP said that while it supports the potential to move services closer to home, “it must be underpinned by adequate investment, workforce capacity and clear plans to maintain safe hospital services during the transition”.
Shifting care out of hospitals without the right infrastructure, specialist input and capacity in community services “risks increasing pressure elsewhere in the NHS, rather than delivering the integrated, patient-centred care that patients need”, it argued.
The Department of Health and Social Care has previously said it is up to integrated care boards to shape service transformation in their area.
RCP’s clinical vice president Hilary Williams said: “The key challenge is not whether we shift care closer to home, but how we do it. Any transfer of funding or workforce must be accompanied by realistic transition arrangements, investment in community capacity, interoperable digital systems and a clear plan for maintaining safe acute care.”
Patient Safety Learning

Lampard Inquiry: Concerns raised before death were not acted on

A manager at the mental health trust at the centre of a public inquiry has said concerns she raised before the death of a patient were not acted on.
Chloe Cawston was giving evidence to the Lampard Inquiry, which is examining the deaths of more than 2,000 patients who received care from mental health services in Essex between 2000 and the end of 2023.
Cawston was a ward manager at Basildon Mental Health Unit when 28-year-old Bethany Lilley died in January 2019.
The inquiry heard she had raised concerns about patient transfer procedures before and after Bethany's death. Asked whether any action had been taken before she died, Cawston replied: "Not that I can recall."
Bethany was found unresponsive after being transferred to Basildon. The inquiry heard the ward did not receive all the relevant paperwork or case notes and there was not an appropriate handover between hospitals.
Cawston told the inquiry she had been a registered mental health nurse since 2011 and became a ward manager at Basildon in 2018.
During her evidence, she also accepted there had not always been enough beds for people in mental health crisis.
"Nationally there's been a shortage of mental health beds," she said.
She told the inquiry that if no bed was available, a plan would be put in place for a patient to attend A&E if they needed immediate help.
Cawston said if someone left A&E before a bed became available, staff would try to contact them and alert police if necessary.
Asked about ward culture, she said staff falling asleep at work had been "a feature throughout her whole career", although it was less common now.
She also accepted that risk assessments before patients went on leave had not always been carried out properly.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 10 July 2026
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Doctor hid 14 overseas convictions – including stalking – to secure job in NHS

An NHS consultant doctor has been struck off after it emerged he failed to disclose 14 convictions from Australia, including stalking and threatening to kill his victim.
Dr Salah-ud-Din Taj had claimed that the offences were not "serious" enough to mention when he applied to work in the UK.
Dr Taj, who qualified from the University of the Punjab in Pakistan in 1996, worked as a Medical Registrar in Australia between 2007 and 2017.
During this period, he was convicted of 14 offences over four months, including stalking and threatening to kill, at the Magistrates Court of Victoria in Melbourne.
He received a one-year community correction order, which included 150 hours of unpaid work and supervision.
When applying for registration to work as a doctor in the UK, Dr Taj "dishonestly" ticked the 'no' box regarding previous convictions on his forms.
In 2019, he lied again to North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust to secure himself a job.
He later claimed that he thought the stalking conviction “was not serious” and was therefore “filterable” and did not need to be declared.
Dr Taj said that he did not declare the conviction because it “had not involved any physical element, did not touch upon his clinical practice and did not result in a custodial sentence”.
His prior convictions were discovered by the General Medical Council (GMC) and an investigation was launched into the doctor.
In the course of the investigation, it was also discovered that Dr Taj had been dishonest about practicing in Australia exclusively between 2007 and 2017, as he took breaks and also went to Pakistan.
A panel from the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service found that Dr Taj could not remain on the register after lying about his convictions.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 9 July 2026
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