The number of measles infections around the world could surge in the wake of coronavirus as countries are forced to suspend vaccination programmes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it fears more than 117 million children could miss out on being vaccinated against measles, which killed 140,000 people in 2018.
Officials worry that 37 countries where the deadly virus is a major threat could delay immunisation programmes, with 24 countries already suspending their efforts as attention is focused on containing and preventing the spread of COVID-19.
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Source: The Independent, 14 April 2020
Proposals by the Scottish Government to give a licence to unregistered professionals to carry out cosmetic procedures are “fundamentally flawed” and put lives at risk, leading nurses in the field have warned.
A consultation has been launched seeking views on plans for a new regulatory regime of non-surgical aesthetic treatments that pierce or penetrate the skin like dermal fillers or lip enhancements. Ministers want to bring non-health professionals under existing legislation allowing them to obtain a licence to perform these procedures in unregulated premises such as beauty salons and hairdressers.
The move comes after a UK-wide review carried out in 2013, by then NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, identified that little regulation existed within the cosmetic industry. Since then there has been growing concern that people are coming to physical and psychological harm from treatments gone wrong.
Leaders at the British Association of Cosmetic Nurses (BACN) told Nursing Times that they were “totally opposed” to non-medical practitioners carrying out injectable beauty procedures.
BACN Chair Sharon Bennett said holding a medical, nursing or dentistry qualification should be a “basic prerequisite” before being accepted to an aesthetics training course. SHe said BACN believed even clinically trained practitioners, including nurses, needed further training in aesthetics before working in this “specialist” area.
“[This is] because there is no educational framework, training or statutory provision to establish or task beauty therapists to detect disease, care for patients or carry out medical treatment, so to do so would breach public health safety and endanger lives.”
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Source: The Nursing Times, 20 January 2020
Sick newborns in some areas of the UK are dying at twice the rate of seriously ill babies in other areas, a new report has revealed.
The findings raise serious questions about the quality of care in some neonatal units, with experts warning action needs to be taken to tackle the “striking variation”.
Across the country neonatal units are also short of at least 600 nurses with four in five failing to meet required safe staffing levels for specialist nurses.
The regions with the highest mortality rate at 10 per cent were Staffordshire, Shropshire and the Black Country, where 107 babies died. This compared with a rate of 5 per cent in north central and northeast London. The Shropshire region includes the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust, which is at the centre of the largest maternity scandal in the history of the NHS, with hundreds of alleged cases of poor care now under investigation.
Dr Sam Oddie, a consultant neonatologist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust and who led the work for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the differences in death rates between units.
“The mortality differences are very striking, with some units having a mortality rate twice that of the lowest. This variation in mortality is a basis for action by neonatal networks to ensure they are doing everything they can to make sure their mortality is as low as possible,” he said.
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Source: The Independent, 18 December 2019
A cosmetic surgeon has been suspended from the UK medical register for nine months for failures in obtaining informed consent, pressuring a patient into surgery by offering a discount, and laughing when passing on a patient’s complaint of sexual assault by another doctor.
Ashish Dutta is the nominated member for the European Society of Aesthetic Surgery on the European Commission for Standardisation of Aesthetic Surgery Services. He is also an examiner for the World Board of Cosmetic Surgery.
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Source: BMJ, 27 November 2019
A cosmetic surgery was forced to close after the health watchdog raised concerns about the safety of its practices. Smethwick's Bearwood Cosmetic Clinic's registration was cancelled by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last year.
The health watchdog's report into the practice is yet to be published, but inspectors have written to other practitioners expressing concerns. It found "unsafe practice" and a lack of appropriate training.
The letter from the CQC reveals it has inspected 65 services across the country, about two thirds of independent cosmetic surgery providers and raised concerns about 12. While some were found to be "providing a very good standard of care", there were a number of areas of concern.
Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals, wrote to providers raising particular concern regarding the use of anaesthetic during liposuction. Inspectors had seen examples of "unsafe practice", he said, and reminded providers that a trained anaesthetist should be present for procedures. The CQC also warned it had found evidence of staff not having appropriate training, a lack of attention to fundamental safety processes and infection control standards not being followed.
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Source: BBC News, 31 October 2019
The NHS and the national medical regulator could face legal action over the shortage of intravenous feed supplies for hundreds of UK patients, HSJ has learned.
The law firm acting for more than a dozen patients affected by the shortage of feed supplies has confirmed to HSJ it has been instructed to take action against NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the company responsible for producing the feed, Calea.
Since June, hundreds of patients who rely on IV feed known as total parenteral nutrition have gone without deliveries of their bespoke feed. More than 40 people have been admitted to hospital as a result.
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Source: HSJ, 29 August 2019
An unfortunate series of events involving a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine led to the death of a man at a hospital in India.
Rajesh Maruti Maru, a 32-year-old, was thrust into the MRI machine while he was visiting an elderly relative at the BYL Nair Charitable Hospital in Mumbai, India. As the Hindustan Times reports, the man was apparently told by a junior member of staff to carry a metal cylinder of liquid oxygen into a room containing an MRI machine.
Unbeknownst to everyone, the MRI machine was turned on. This caused Maru to be suddenly jolted pulled towards the machine, causing the oxygen tank to rupture and leak. The man later died after inhaling large amounts of oxygen. His body also bled heavily as a result of the accident.
"When we [the hospital staff] told him that metallic things aren't allowed inside an MRI room, he said 'sab chalta hai, hamara roz ka kaam hai' [it's fine, we do it every day]. He also said that the machine was switched off. The doctor, as well as the technician, didn't say anything,” Harish Solanki, Maru's relative, told NDTV.
"It's because of their carelessness that Rajesh died," Solanki added.
Police are currently examining the CCTV footage of the incident and have arrested at least two members of hospital staff for the negligence. The local government has also awarded the man's family 500,000 rupees ($7,855) in compensation.
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Source: IFL Science, 29 January 2018
Regina Stepherson needed surgery for rectocele, a prolapse of the wall between the rectum and the vagina. Her surgeons said that her bladder also needed to be lifted and did so with vaginal mesh, a surgical mesh used to reinforce the bladder.
Following the surgery in 2010, Stepherson, then 48. said she suffered debilitating symptoms for two years. An active woman who rode horses, Stepherson said she had constant pain, trouble walking, fevers off and on, weight loss, nausea and lethargy after the surgery. She spent days sitting on the couch, she said.
In August 2012, Stepherson and her daughter saw an ad relating to vaginal mesh that mentioned 10 symptoms and said that if you had them, to call a lawyer.
Vaginal mesh, used to repair and improve weakened pelvic tissues, is implanted in the vaginal wall. It was initially — in 1998 — thought to be a safe and easy solution for women suffering from stress urinary incontinence.
But over time, complications were reported, including chronic inflammation, and mesh that shrinks and becomes encased in scar tissue causing pain, infection and protrusion through the vaginal wall.
More than 100,000 lawsuits have been filed against makers of mesh, according to ConsumerSafety.org, making it “one of the largest mass torts in history.”
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Source: Washington Post, 20 January 2019
Nearly half of care workers in care homes have been both physically and verbally abused by the residents they are supporting, according to new research.
A poll of 2,803 staff working in care homes revealed 17% have received verbal abuse from residents and 11% have been subject to physical abuse.
A spokesperson for carehome.co.uk, said: “All over the UK, care workers are doing physically and emotionally demanding jobs on often low pay and long hours. Yet at the same time, the rewards of working in a care home can be huge, as you can build strong relationships with the people you care for and make deep, emotional connections."
“Lashing out at staff is often a sign of frustration and it is vital care homes give staff dementia training so they can find the reasons behind this challenging behaviour. Care workers do such an important job and with around three-quarters of people in care homes having dementia, it is vital care workers are given adequate support and specialist training to care for them.”
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Source: Carehome.co.uk, 10 May 2019
NHS bosses have been accused of “burying” a damning report into child cancer services commissioned following complaints that patients were “dying in agony”. Completed in 2015, the document highlights failings at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, one of the UK’s flagship cancer organisations. It found that, despite being supposedly a centre of excellence, children admitted for cancer treatment were routinely transferred between hospitals to get the care they needed.
Compiled by Professor Mike Stephens, the report was commissioned after a coroner found “astonishing” failures in the care of a two-year-old girl, Alice Mason, leading to her suffering irreversible brain damage and dying in 2011. It recommended a radical shake-up of the Marsden’s services. The document was never made public, however, and former NHS medical director for London, Dr Andy Mitchell, accused the head of NHS England, Simon Stevens, and Cally Palmer, England’s National Cancer Director and Chief Executive of the Royal Marsden, of suppressing its publication.
Dr Mitchell told the Health Service Journal (HJS): “I can’t imagine any other individuals having the power and influence to be able to stop this report moving forward.”
NHS England has denied that its then Medical Director, Sir Bruce Keogh, was improperly leaned on and said the report remained unpublished because it made “implausible suggestions” which would have forced children with cancer to travel further for care. But Gareth Mason, Alice’s father, said: “To write a report, shelve it and not debate it, that is a cover-up [and] it has left children since Alice and danger, and the Marsden won’t acknowledge that.”
The controversy surrounds the performance of a so-called “shared care system”, with the Marsden’s Sutton site forming part of a network for South London, Surrey, Sussex and Kent.
Critics say the format meant children were transferred between sites more regularly than they should have been and were put in danger because information was not properly shared.
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Source: The Telegraph, 19 June 2019
The parents of Claire Roberts said those responsible for their daughter's care should "hang their heads in shame". Alan and Jennifer Roberts were speaking after an inquest found that the nine-year-old's death in October 1996 was caused by the treatment she received in hospital. Outside Laganside courthouse, Mr and Mrs Roberts welcomed the coroner's findings but said the public can have "no confidence in patient safety" in Northern Ireland.
Mr Roberts said that after a two decade wait the inquest had finally delivered the truth about how their daughter died. "We would like to thank the coroner for reaching a verdict after 22 years of cover-up that finally identifies the truth. The coroner has confirmed an unnatural cause of death. We have known as a family since 2004 the true cause of death - this has not been news to us but the coroner reaffirming what we have always known."
Mr Roberts also issued a demand to health officials for accountability, saying those responsible for failings in his daughter's care should "hang your heads in shame."
Source: Belfast Telegraph
Public Health Minister, Seema Kennedy, has confirmed that Professor Dame Sally Davies will take on the role of UK Special Envoy on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) later this year. Dame Sally will be working across all sectors to deliver a ‘One Health’ response to AMR, which includes health, agriculture and the environment.
The appointment of Dame Sally follows the government’s 20-year vision and 5-year national action plan published earlier this year, setting out how the UK will contribute to containing and controlling AMR by 2040.
Professor Dame Sally Davies said: “AMR is a complex challenge which needs local, national and global action. The UK should be proud of its world-leading work on AMR. We have made tangible progress but it is essential we maintain momentum. I am honoured to have been asked to continue this vital work on behalf of the UK government.”
Last year the government committed £32 million funding to accelerate the UK’s work in the global fight against AMR. The awarded funding will support the development of a state-of-the-art, virtual ‘open access’ centre that will link health outcomes and prescribing data. This technology, led by Public Health England (PHE), will gather real-time patient data on resistant infections, helping clinicians to make more targeted choices about when to use antibiotics and cutting unnecessary prescriptions.
PHE will use £5 million in funding to develop a fully functional model ward, the first of its kind in the UK, to better understand how hospital facilities can be designed to improve infection control and reduce the transmission of antibiotic-resistant infections.
Other successful funds include £4.4 million to Manchester University to test ‘individualised’ approaches to antibiotic prescribing by bringing together patient care and clinical research, and £3.5 million to the University of Liverpool to apply innovative genome sequencing to enable more personalised antibiotic prescribing.
Public Health Minister Seema Kennedy said: “Antibiotic resistance poses an enormous risk to our NHS – we are already seeing the harmful effect resistant bugs can have on patient safety in our hospitals. It is vital that we retain the irreplaceable expertise of Professor Dame Sally Davies – an international expert in AMR – and continue to invest in research.”
Findings from the Care Quality Commission's (CQC’s) latest annual survey of people who stayed as an inpatient in hospital show that most people had confidence in the doctors and nurses treating them and felt that staff answered their questions clearly. However, just over a third (40%) of patients surveyed left hospital without written information telling them how to look after themselves after discharge (up from 38% in 2017), and of those who were given medication to take home, 44% were not told about the possible side effects to watch out for.
The Nursing Times has just broken a story about the importance of safe nurse staffing levels, which has been underlined in an international white paper that calls on countries around the world to take action to ensure they have enough nurses.
The paper – launched at the International Council of Nurses’ annual conference – states evidence for a clear link between nurse staffing levels, patient safety and the quality of care is now “overwhelming and compelling”.
PRESS RELEASE - 1 July 2019
Patient Safety Learning identifies that reduced performance in two aspects of patient experience may increase the safety risks patients face as in-patients.
The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) recently published 2018 annual in-patient survey shows that improvement in two areas of patient experience has stalled while a range of issues that matter to patients have worsened. The charity, Patient Safety Learning, has identified that deteriorating performance in two of these issues is likely to make patient safety risks worse.
Fewer patients informed properly when discharged home
The CQC’s sixteenth annual survey of people who stayed as an in-patient in hospital was published on 20 June 2019. It shows that most people had confidence in the doctors and nurses treating them, and felt that staff answered their questions clearly.
However, the survey reports that 40% of patients were discharged from hospital without written information about how to look after themselves following treatment. This is up 2% from 2017. Of patients who had been given medication to take home, 44% were not told of possible side effects for which they should watch.
Fewer patients report being involved in their own care
Only 54% of patients report that they are involved as much as they want to be in decisions about their care and treatment, down from 56% in 2017. The number of patients reporting that their views had been sought on the quality of care they received was down by a quarter compared with 2017, from 20% to 15%.
An increasing challenge to safety
Giving patients written information about how to look after themselves on discharge is clearly a patient safety issue. If this practice is reducing, then the inherent risk to patients must be increasing.
Patient Safety Learning’s recent report, A Blueprint for Action, cited a wide range of evidence that communication with patients – listening to them and acting on what is heard – has a demonstrable effect on improving patient safety. The evidence from the CQC survey indicates, however, that such practice is reducing, not increasing, with corresponding implications for patient safety.
Patient Safety Learning Chief Executive, Helen Hughes, said, “Effective communication and engagement with patients is essential for safe care. The CQC’s survey is a valuable tool for assessing this. It is concerning that their report evidences that communication with patients is reducing in ways that have the potential to increase the risk to patient safety. Patient safety is a core part of the purpose of healthcare and action is needed to share good practice across the wider health system.” /ENDS
Note to editors
Patient Safety Learning is a charity. We help transform safety in health and social care, creating a world where patients are free from harm.
We identify the critical factors that affect patient safety and analyse the systemic reasons they fail. We use what we learn to envision safer care. We recommend how to get there. Then we act to help make it happen.
Patient Safety Learning’s latest report, A Blueprint for Action, can be downloaded here: www.patientsafetylearning.org/resources/blueprint.
For more information, contact
Margot Knight, Marketing and Communications Manager, Patient Safety Learning
E: [email protected]
Or
Helen Hughes, Chief Executive, Patient Safety Learning
T: +44 (0) 7793 550855
E: [email protected]
Patient Safety Learning
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www.patientsafetylearning.org
After many months of development and several user workshops, we are delighted and proud to present the hub at Patient Safety Congress 2019.
the hub is one of the actions proposed by Patient Safety Learning's A Blueprint for Action. The report identifies six foundations of safe care: shared learning, leadership, professionalising patient safety, patient engagement, data and insight, and culture, and proposes a range of actions to address these foundations. the hub is Patient Safety Learning's share online learning platform, which encourages and facilitates knowledge sharing, collaboration and conversation in patient safety across the whole of health and social care. It is a platform for health and social professionals, patients and their families to share and learn from one another.
the hub is free for everyone to use. Have a browse and you will find the latest news, research, resources and events in patient safety, and lively conversations and debates. Members can share content, comment on posts and start conversations in our communities. Please use the hub, share content and let us know what you think and how we can continue to develop it.
We would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed this far in the development of the hub. Your thoughts, ideas and critique have been invaluable. the hub is still in development and we continue to seek out user testing and feedback. Please contact us at [email protected] with your ideas or if you would like to be a part of our user testing group.
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Patient Safety Learning, China Works SB203, 100 Black Prince Road Vauxhall, London, SE1 7SJ
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