Skip to content

News

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

USA: As AI identifies more at-risk patients, health systems face a capacity challenge

Healthcare AI solutions tout their ability to identify more at-risk patients and irregularities imperceptible to physicians, all while keeping a human in the loop.
But are there enough humans to handle all this additional demand brought on by AI?
That’s a question healthcare leaders in the United States are grappling with as the technology expands across the industry.
“You don’t want to be, say, implementing something that’s going to scan every patient for a particular disease, which costs you a lot of money if you can’t do anything about it, because you don’t have the appointments downstream to actually manage that,” said Michael Pfeffer, MD, senior vice president and chief information and digital officer of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Health Care, at Becker’s 16th Annual Meeting in April. “So you have to look at the entire workflow and value chain to see: Is it the right tool to put in?”
As for keeping a human in the loop on AI, Dr. Pfeffer said that’s just not feasible — or even necessary — in every instance. Research is showing that physicians increasingly trust AI and are not going to check every summary and citation the technology makes. Where the human element becomes critical is if, say, AI detects a hospital patient is deteriorating from a lack of fluids — a human clinician then has to administer fluids.
“We’ve been thinking exactly about the same thing, and we hold ‘human in the loop’ as sort of a bulwark for safety,” said Sri Adusumalli, MD, vice president and chief health information officer of Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine, during the panel discussion. “But we know we humans are terrible at vigilance of algorithms and other technology tools. So banking on humans in the loop as that bulwark is not sustainable. Plus, there are not enough humans.”
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: Becker's Health IT, 22 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

'Don't be too kind': Stories from the maternity unit where mums were failed

The midwife's notes were short and to the point.
The three letters - "FOH" - that she had written on a whiteboard next to names of heavily pregnant women were not there to alert colleagues to women having a specific medical condition or requiring a certain type of care.
Instead, they were an acronym for a three-word offensive statement signalling they wanted the women to leave the maternity unit run by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH).
The "F", a swear word. The "O", standing for "OFF". The "H", short for "HOME".
The acronym was described in a 2018 resignation letter from another member of staff, now seen by BBC Panorama, raising concerns about attitudes within the unit.
In the same letter, another midwife was reported to have advised colleagues to get pregnant women, who had arrived worried they were going into labour, to go home with the advice: "Don't be too kind, she'll keep coming back."
The Nottingham trust is currently at the centre of the largest maternity inquiry in the history of the NHS - looking at care provided to about 2,500 families between 2012 and 2025.
Led by senior midwife, Donna Ockenden, the inquiry is due to publish its findings on 24 June.
"Nottingham thought that there was a Nottingham way, that they were some kind of superior NHS trust compared to others," Ockenden tells Panorama.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 1 June 2026
Patient Safety Learning

Abolishing patient watchdog leaves NHS 'marking own homework', councils warn

Abolishing the organisation which champions patient views on health and social care would leave the NHS "marking their own homework", a group representing local councils in England and Wales has warned.
Healthwatch is an independent body which represents the views of patients on their local health and social care providers to help improve the services they offer.
Speaking exclusively to BBC News, the Local Government Association (LGA) says that disbanding Healthwatch could create a "fragmented system" which would undermine accountability.
The Department for Health and Social Care says these changes will give patients a "stronger, clearer voice at the heart of health and social care".
The LGA says it's concerned by the lack of a plan for an alternative to Healthwatch, which currently challenges the NHS and providers of care services in the community, when patients or the public highlight problems.
They warn that disbanding Healthwatch would be a "significant step back" in accountability.
"Without an independent, locally rooted voice to challenge and represent communities, there is a risk of duplication and gaps in accountability," the LGA said.
It is calling on the government to "work with local government" and develop a "clear and workable model" which fulfills Healthwatch's role while maintaining independence.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 30 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

Shared NHS patient records could cut 20,000 A&E visits a year, ministers claim

Sharing access to patients’ health data across NHS providers in England could result in 20,000 fewer A&E visits a year and save £20m annually, the government has claimed, before the second reading of the NHS modernisation bill on Monday.
The bill, which would also abolish NHS England, sets out measures including single patient records (SPR) for every person receiving health and social care in England, requiring GPs and hospitals to securely share data as part of the government’s 10-year health plan.
Combining SPRs with virtual care would reduce A&E attendances for frail patients by about 10,000 a year, with another 10,000 fewer visits as a result of fewer misdiagnoses. This would save doctors about 500,000 hours a year, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
The DHSC also predicts 6,000 fewer hospital admissions a year based on the avoided A&E attendances, better heart failure management and improved mental health care. The £20m savings would come through reducing medication errors, adverse drug reactions and duplicate prescribing.
All NHS providers, including hospitals and GPs, would share data so medical professionals could see a patient’s medical history without the need for patients to keep repeating their issues unnecessarily. The change would join up community services and help people manage their conditions.
Patients would have more control over their care, with clear safeguards, audit trails and choice over how their data was used. Social care records and those from private healthcare providers working on behalf of the NHS would also be included.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 1 June 2026
Patient Safety Learning

Health Bill proposal an ‘attack on patient safety’

Scrapping the legal guarantee that a nurse sits on every foundation trust board is a “brazen attack on patient safety”, the Royal College of Nursing has warned.
The Health Bill, published this month, would remove the requirement in primary legislation for foundation trust boards to include a registered nurse or midwife and a registered medical practitioner or dentist among their executive directors. Under a new schedule to the NHS Act 2006, the only board roles guaranteed in law would be the chief executive, finance director and chair.
The reason for the change is not given in the bill’s explanatory notes, which describe the new board composition without acknowledging that the clinical requirement has gone. It is also absent from the government’s fact sheet on the legal changes affecting providers, and from its impact assessment on foundation trust reform.
The Department of Health and Social Care, which did not respond to requests for clarification before publication, has since contacted HSJ to say that it plans to recreate the requirement for clinical members in secondary legislation (see below).
Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive Nicola Ranger told HSJ that removing the legal requirement – which has been in place since the creation of FTs in the early 2000s – would “allow for hospitals to make decisions about services for entire populations with no clinical oversight whatsoever”.
She said she was “genuinely worried that we could return to those dark days where leaders look to cut nursing staff to make savings, putting financial targets above safety”. Nursing was “the safety-critical, 24/7 presence for patients”, Professor Ranger said, and removing its guaranteed board voice “would be a recipe for disaster”.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 29 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

ICBs facing clash between PCNs and neighbourhood health

Dozens of primary care networks in some areas may need to be reorganised to take on neighbourhood contracts, because they do not cover a coherent geographic area.
Of 1,210 multipractice primary care networks nationally, between 166 and 392 (14% to 32%) have member GP practices that are intermingled with others, and/or do not serve a single joined-up area, HSJ analysis has found. They make up 900-2,000 of the 6,100 total practices nationally.
Five integrated care board areas – mainly in London and inner West Midlands – are particularly affected, with more than half of PCNs not serving a single joined-up patch (see below).
The pattern reflects how PCNs were formed in 2019. GPs were allowed to determine networks, with little challenge from NHS England. Many were decided based on factors such as pre-existing practice relationships or common working methods.
In contrast, ICBs and councils have set boundaries for neighbourhood teams largely based on municipal or other natural boundaries.
For now, ICBs are mainly working around the mismatch with PCNs. In urban areas, they have set “neighbourhood” or “locality” footprints with large populations, which they say will function with multiple intermingled PCNs within them.
Read full story
Source: HSJ, 28 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

More pharmacies in England to prescribe medication from autumn

More pharmacists in England will be able to prescribe medications as part of an effort to speed up care and ease pressure on GP surgeries and hospitals.
As part of the Pharmacy First scheme, pharmacists can currently prescribe medication for a sore throat, earache, sinusitis, shingles, impetigo, infected bites and urinary tract infections.
From the autumn, the new £340m investment will see five common ailments added to this list, although it is not yet clear what these will be.
The Pharmacy First scheme in England was first launched in 2024, and allows patients to see their pharmacist for advice, over-the-counter treatments and prescription-only medicines.
According to the Department of Health and Social Care, more than 3.3 million consultations under the scheme were carried out between March 2025 and February 2026.
Health Minister Stephen Kinnock said the government is "making the most of our highly skilled pharmacists, while boosting access to services and giving patients more care right on their doorstep".
"Independent prescribing will play a major part in delivering this shift, easing pressures on GPs, cutting unnecessary red tape and helping patients get the right care closer to home," he said.
The NPA said that while the deal "points in the right direction", it did not address the "crippling" new costs hitting pharmacies.
"We remain concerned that it does very little to close the £2.5bn funding gap that the NHS itself identified a year ago," said NPA chairman Dr Olivier Picard, adding that the expanded scheme was "nowhere near ambitious enough to transform patient access to care, nor make full use of pharmacists' skills".
He went on: "We are also concerned that the current funding levels mean that many pharmacies will struggle to take this development forwards, risking its success. Pharmacies cannot sustain yet more loss-making work."
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 29 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

Trusts begin EPR rollouts after NHSE-imposed delays

Three trusts have begun rolling out their electronic patient record systems months later than planned after NHS England forced them to delay.
HSJ reported in early March that a major go-live of the Nervecentre electronic patient record at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust was suspended, following intervention by NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey. Elements of Sherwood Forest Hospitals FT’s phased rollout of Nervecentre had also been halted.
Later that month, HSJ broke the news that North Cumbria Integrated Care FT had been told by NHSE to delay its planned rollout of the Alcidion EPR as the NHSE was “unable to approve any go-lives at the time”.
This followed reports that Sir Jim was requiring personal sign-off for all major EPR launches  due to concerns about their impact on performance and productivity – particularly during winter performance pressures, and with government very keen to hit year-end waiting list targets. 
James Hawkins, chief digital information officer at York and Scarborough FT, said the rollout was “one of the most significant and complex transformations” undertaken by the trust.
Mr Hawkins said the EPR had been introduced across multiple sites and in “some of our busiest clinical environments with zero downtime and without compromising the quality of care we provide to our patients”.
“That is a remarkable achievement and a testament to the professionalism, resilience, and teamwork of colleagues right across our organisation,” he added.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 28 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

Hospital accused of delaying ambulances to eliminate corridor care

MaA hospital trust has been accused of delaying the offloading of ambulance patients so it can maintain zero “corridor care”.
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust had no patients being treated in corridors, while ambulance crews were providing care in its car parks, according to a West Midlands Ambulance Service board paper last week.
Minutes of the ambulance trust’s quality governance committee said UHCW had “better flow” than most local hospitals, but “the problem is our staff are still providing ‘car park care’”.
Paramedic and senior staff side representative Stephen Thompson told the committee that staff were frustrated about the situation. He said bringing even a small number of patients inside the hospital, which is on the outskirts of Coventry, would free up several ambulances to respond to other emergencies.
WMAS medical director Richard Steyn pointed out that acute trusts were now under pressure from NHS England to report on corridor care, and claimed there was less focus on ambulance handover delays.
“They [UHCW] will not tolerate corridor care, but they are responsible for the patient outside in the ambulance, but [they] are tolerating that,” he said.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

Prostate cancer screening only for "a few thousand" high risk men

Only "a few thousand" men who have a dangerous genetic variant and a family history of cancer should be screened for prostate cancer with a blood test, according to the final recommendations of scientific advisers.
The UK's National Screening Committee says the harms of screening outweigh the benefits in all other groups.
A major review by the National Screening Committee said for every 1,000 men screened in their 50s, it would save two lives from prostate cancer over the next 15 years.
But it would also lead to 20 men being told they have a cancer that would never need treatment.
Some prostate cancers grow so slowly you would have to reach 120 to 150 years old before they were a threat. However, they would have to live with that psychological burden of a cancer diagnosis for the rest of their lives.
Out of those 20 men, 12 would end up having treatment they don't need, but that damages the prostate – potentially damaging their sex lives and causing some incontinence, meaning they would need a pad to catch leaking urine.
"Once a prostate cancer is found, we still can't reliably tell which cancers need treatment or which do not – and the treatments available for prostate cancer can cause long-lasting harm," said Prof Sir Mike Richards, who chairs the screening committee and has prostate cancer himself.
The only group where the benefits were greater than the harms is men with a BRCA2 gene variant and a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic, or prostate cancer.
The final decision though rests with health ministers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 28 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

'We knew somebody would die': Teenage patients 'ignored' before fatal NHS trust failures

"We knew somebody would die… and nobody listened."
Laura Kenny is remembering her friend Christie Harnett.
Both were patients at a mental health unit in Middlesbrough when Christie took her own life.
Laura says she and other patients had expressed worries about their treatment at the unit - later described in an independent report as "chaotic and unsafe" - but she says nobody listened.
"We'd been warning everyone," says Laura. "We wrote letters to everyone we could think of saying one of us is going to die."
In fact, 17-year-old Christie was one of three young women who, within a few months of each other, took their own lives while patients in hospitals run by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) - which covers the whole of North Yorkshire, County Durham and Teesside.
In recent weeks The Independent has spoken to more than a dozen former patients, admitted as young people or as adults, who say they experienced failures in the standard of care at TEWV.
All have similar stories - describing a lack of compassion among staff and an absence of any meaningful treatment or therapy. Many fear mistakes are still being made.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 26 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

Scandal-hit nursing regulator still failing to address problems, watchdog warns

The UK’s scandal-hit nursing regulator is still failing to address problems years after a “toxic” culture was first revealed by The Independent.
A review of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in 2023-24, by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) which regulates the body, found it had wrongly approved more than 350 “fraudulent” or “underqualified” nurses to work in the UK.
That followed an expose by The Independent, which uncovered whistleblower allegations of a “toxic” and bullying culture within its ranks that had allowed rogue nurses were free to work in the NHS unchecked, prompting an overhaul of its leadership.
Despite the changes at the top of the organisation, and pledges by its new chief Paul Rees to do better, the PSA’s annual review of 2024-25 said it had not seen evidence of “substantial and sustained improvement”.
The damning assessment comes a day after the NMC admitted more than a dozen rogue nurses who should have been struck off had been free to work in the NHS for up to 12 years after a major vetting failure.
Read full story
Source: Independent, 28 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

‘I had gestational diabetes during my pregnancy. Six years later, I’ve yet to receive any follow-up care’

Rates of type 2 diabetes are surging at twice the pace in younger women compared to their older counterparts, according to new analysis.
Charity Diabetes UK suggests this alarming trend could stem from "little or no follow-up care" for individuals who develop the condition during pregnancy.
Gestational diabetes (GD), characterised by insufficient insulin production leading to high blood sugar during pregnancy, typically resolves after childbirth.
However, those affected face a significantly elevated risk of subsequently developing type 2 diabetes.
Data compiled by Diabetes UK reveals a 47% increase in type 2 diabetes diagnoses among women under 40 between 2017/18 and 2023/24.
The charity has voiced concerns that inadequate postnatal care for GD, which impacts between 10 and 20% of pregnant women, is a significant contributor to these escalating rates.
Women with GD should be offered HbA1c blood tests to check for diabetes between six and 13 weeks after birth, and then once a year to measure average blood sugar levels.
The first annual gestational diabetes audit, which was published last year by NHS England, showed that only 57% of women had an annual HbA1c test after having GD.
It also showed that more than one in 10 (11%) of women with GD developed prediabetes within a year, while 15% developed type 2 diabetes within 10 years.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 28 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

Young people in UK facing ‘mental health emergency’ as referrals reach record high

New figures have revealed a record surge in referrals to children and young people’s mental health services in March, alongside unprecedented waiting times.
The charity YoungMinds, analysing NHS England data, reported 932,822 under-18s had an active mental health referral during the month.
YoungMinds warned the data highlights the "sheer scale of the mental health emergency" facing youngsters.
New referrals climbed 11% from February and were up 2% compared to the same time last year.
The analysis also found that the average waiting time topped 300 days for the eighth consecutive month.
Abigail Ampofo, interim chief executive at YoungMinds, said: “These alarming figures highlight the sheer scale of the mental health emergency.
“While waiting lists for the treatment of physical health problems are going down, the time young people are spending trying to access specialist support for their mental health continues to rise.
“So many pressures are harming young people’s mental health, including academic demands, rising living costs and inequality.
“We need more investment in mental health services, but we also need to tackle these root causes of poor mental health.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 28 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

NHSE project to put FDP into primary care

NHS England is exploring how to push the federated data platform into primary and community care.
A document seen by HSJ reveals the FDP, of which controversial US firm Palantir is the main contractor, was last month being scoped for use in integrated neighbourhood teams.
Shifting care to the community is one of the government’s priorities for the health service.
It said the “minimum viable product capabilities that address user challenges and are technically feasible to build” were:
A triage patient list to prioritise patient by urgency, complexity or eligibility for interventions Tracking and coordinating tool to “assign and track actions with explicit ownership and escalation routes, supported by targeted alerts” Tool to monitor patient outcomes. This would “compare patient progress to baseline and intervention goals and iterate model of care” The British Medical Association last year called for the NHS to move to a publicly owned alternative to Palantir.
Asked about the move to involve the FDP in neighbourhood health, a BMA spokesman said: “It is essential that patients can trust that their data is safe and being used responsibly by institutions across the NHS.
“To have that trust, patients need confidence not only in the technical safeguards but also in the regulations governing these organisations. If that trust is eroded, there is a real risk that patients who fear their personal health information may be misused could delay seeking care, withhold important information from clinicians, or avoid engaging with vital services altogether."
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 27 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning

Don’t let this heatwave affect your medicines: Three important tips from the MHRA

As the UK braces for another scorching day of high temperatures today, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is reminding people that these hot conditions can affect medicines and how well they work. Hot weather changes how your body responds to medications, which could impact people managing long-term conditions – but a few simple steps can help avoid problems.
Alison Cave, Chief Safety Officer at the MHRA, said:
“Let’s face it – when there’s a heatwave, most of us are focused on getting outside and enjoying it while it lasts. But it’s easy to forget that medicines left in the heat – in cars, bags, or on sunny windowsills – might not work properly when you need them.
“Some medicines can also make you more likely to burn in the sun, feel dizzy, or get dehydrated, especially if you’re taking diuretics or have a condition like asthma, heart disease, or diabetes.
“To stay safe in the heat:
Store medicines somewhere cool, dry and out of direct sunlight – especially if you’re out and about Know the signs of heat-related illness – stay hydrated and listen to your body Take extra care in the sun if your medicine makes your skin more likely to burn “And remember, for all medicines it’s important to read the leaflet and speak to a healthcare professional if you have any questions.” 
Read full press release
Source: MHRA, 26 May 2026
Patient Safety Learning
Registered address: Patient Safety Learning, China Works SB203, 100 Black Prince Road Vauxhall, London, SE1 7SJ

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications
Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.