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

Care watchdog has warned that “exceptional” pressures on the NHS is affecting the care of patients across England

The care watchdog has warned patient care may be being affected by the current pressures on the NHS with healthcare workers suffering significant levels of stress.
Concerns have been raised in recent weeks after a surge in Covid-19 infections has resulted in record numbers of people calling for ambulances and attending emergency departments, overwhelming the service. 
Professor Ted Baker, the Care Quality Commission’s chief inspector of hospitals has said “It's imperative that not only do we deal with the immediate pressures on the system, we also need to deal with the underlying problems with the models of care. If we don't do that, patients will not be able to receive the care we want them to, and the pressure on staff to provide care under these difficult circumstances will continue.”
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Source: The Independent, 22 July 2021
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Patients waiting 10 minutes for 999 calls to be answered

Some people calling 999 are having to wait up to 10 minutes before their call is answered. Staff have warned patients may be coming to harm, and may be even dying as a result of the delays and with paramedics also reporting it's taking as long as 24 hours for some ambulances to reach patients. 
One paramedic has told The Independent, “We are stacking over 500 jobs, with patients waiting hours for an ambulance response. That includes elderly vulnerable people who have fallen but only merit a category three, so their calls are routinely pushed further and further down the queue. In the last few days, I've been to patients waiting 11 or 13 hours. And just to be clear: this is not the hospitals’ fault. The system is profoundly broken.”
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Source: The Independent, 22 July 2021
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Nottingham maternity scandal: families want independent inquiry

More than 20 families have said they want a completely independent inquiry into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust.
One mother, Hayley Coates has said her baby was delivered with forceps, a fractured skull and was starved of oxygen, suffering major brain injuries after a very difficult labour. An inquest this year found serious failings in the service Hayley received after her baby Kaylan, died of an infection a week later. 
"I was pushing and pushing and nothing was happening. I kept saying the baby isn't coming and I need to go for a Caesarean, but staff kept saying I was going to have the baby naturally," Hayley has said. 
NUH chief executive Tracy Taylor has said, "We apologise from the bottom of our hearts to the families who have not received the high level of care they need and deserve, we recognise the effects have been devastating".
Read full story.
Source: BBC News, 22 July 2021
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Child winter respiratory illness on rise in summer

Owing to social distancing and a lack of exposure, childhood respiratory illness, RSV is on the rise, according to reports and parents are being warned to look out for signs and symptoms. 
"This winter, we expect levels of common seasonal illnesses such as cold and flu to increase, as people mix more and given that fewer people will have built up natural immunity during the pandemic. Children under two are at a particular risk of severe infections from common seasonal illnesses," Public Health England, medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle has said. 
Read full story.
Source: BBC News, 23 July 2021
Patient-Safety-Learning

Group set up by govt review flags ‘culture of protect and deny’

The Department of Health and Social Care has been criticised after it accepted only 4 out of the 9 recommendations set out in the Cumerledge review.
Marie Lyon, co-chairwoman of the patient reference group for the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review has said “Unfortunately, the culture of protect and deny continues to be the default response to patients, while stating lessons have been learned. These lessons will never equate to action and improved safety of drugs and devices, while government ministers mark their own performance as satisfactory when it is not. Many more women and children will be damaged unless this systemic culture of protect and deny undergoes a profound change.”
Read full story. (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 22 July 2021
Patient-Safety-Learning

Coronavirus infections continue to fall in UK

Coronavirus infections continue to fall, according to new reports, with the UK recording 29,173 new cases on Sunday - down from 48,161 recorded from the 18th July.
Prof Paul Hunter from the University of East Anglia has said, "Today's figures do not of course include any impact of last Monday's end of restrictions. It will not be until about next Friday before the data includes the impact of this change."
Read full story.
Source: BBC News, 26 July 2021
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Could the Covid vaccine be taken as a pill?

Researchers are looking at ways the Covid-19 vaccine could become a pill or inhaler instead of an injection. 
In the hope of fighting against the coronavirus pandemic, a team in Sweden are hoping to create a new, powdered version of the vaccine which can be taken at home instead.
ISR's founder, Ola Winquist, a professor of immunology at the Karolinska Institute has said, "The game-changer is that you could distribute the [powder] vaccine extremely easily without the cold chain, and it can be administered without the need for healthcare providers".
Read full story.
Source: BBC News, 26 July 2021
Patient-Safety-Learning

Hospitals experiencing "perfect storm"

NHS bosses have warned as Covid-19 infections rise, the demand for A&E ha surged, colliding with holiday season. 
According to reports, hospitals are being told to brace themselves as admissions to hospital for patients with Covid have risen by more than 30 per cent over the past week.
Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals, chief executive Dame Jackie Daniel has said, “We are going through the ‘perfect storm’ of high numbers of Covid patients in hospital, high Covid infections in the community, which is affecting staff and our families, unprecedented levels of urgent and emergency demand and peak holiday season, all of which comes after 18 months of exhausting work.”
Read full story.
Source: The Independent, 25 July 2021
Patient-Safety-Learning

Midwives reveal their fears for the safety of mothers and babies

Midwives working at the Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust have told The Independent that "women are still at a risk of harm". 
This comes after Nottingham hospitals were investigated after it was found there was a high number of baby deaths and injuries on the maternity ward. However, midwives have revealed to The Independent that there are still not enough resources and support to help women deliver their babies safely. 
One midwife working in the community told The Independent: “They keep saying ‘We’ve learned our lessons, it’s not like that now’ – but it’s even worse now. It’s worse because we know about it and it’s still bad. Women are still at risk of harm. Even more so in the community.”
Read full story.
Source: The Independent, 25 July 2021
Patient-Safety-Learning

Government scientist accuses minister of trying to get as many as possible infected with Covid

A Sage scientist has accused ministers of allowing infections to spread through the younger population in the hopes it would increase herd immunity before the NHS experiences winter pressures. The government scientist made ministers aware of their concerns after restrictions were eased on Monday 19th July, allowing nightclubs to open, with all previous restrictions being eased. 
“Abandoning all precautions and allowing infections to climb not only risks further restrictions in the future, it condemns thousands to long-term illness and places huge pressure on the NHS. Rising Covid admissions are helping exacerbate a summer NHS crisis, with operations cancelled and increasing waiting times. It means we are heading into another difficult winter and high levels of virus circulating could see a vaccine-evading variant emerge. This is an utterly reckless strategy from Boris Johnson.” Shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth, has said. 
Read full story.
Source: 23 July 2021
Patient-Safety-Learning

Artificial Intelligence models to analyse cancer images take shortcuts that introduce bias

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools and deep learning models are a powerful tool in cancer treatment. They can be used to analyse digital images of tumour biopsy samples, helping doctors quickly classify the type of cancer, predict prognosis and guide a course of treatment for the patient. However, unless these algorithms are properly calibrated, they can sometimes make inaccurate or biased predictions.
A new study led by researchers from the University of Chicago shows that deep learning models trained on large sets of cancer genetic and tissue histology data can easily identify the institution that submitted the images. The models, which use machine learning methods to "teach" themselves how to recognise certain cancer signatures, end up using the submitting site as a shortcut to predicting outcomes for the patient, lumping them together with other patients from the same location instead of relying on the biology of individual patients. This in turn may lead to bias and missed opportunities for treatment in patients from racial or ethnic minority groups who may be more likely to be represented in certain medical centres and already struggle with access to care.
"We identified a glaring hole in the in the current methodology for deep learning model development which makes certain regions and patient populations more susceptible to be included in inaccurate algorithmic predictions," said Alexander Pearson, one of the authors of the study.
Read full story
Source: Digital Health News, 22 July 2021
Patient Safety Learning

Long-term effects of Covid-19 can be considered a disability says Biden

US President Biden has said people suffering from long-term effects if Covid-19 could be considered a disability under federal civil rights laws.
The administration does make clear however that having long covid doesn't automatically mean disability and that an individual assessment may be needed to determine whether a person’s long-term symptoms “substantially limits a major life activity.”
President Biden has said the classification of long covid as a possible disability would “help Americans grappling with long-term effects of covid-19 that doctors call long covid.”
Read full story.
Source: The Washington Post, 26 July 2021
Patient-Safety-Learning

Can the UK relax now that the peak has passed?

According to reports, Covid-19 cases may be falling, raising hopes that the peak of the third wave has passed.
However, experts are not so sure that Covid is truly in decline as figures have shown cases have gone up dramatically and declined just as quickly. 
Prof Christl Donnelly, from University of Oxford and Imperial College London has said "It's certainly is good to see case numbers going down, but we need a reality check. We've had a dramatic increase - and then on the face of it, a dramatic decrease. We have to be careful not to over-interpret that."
Read full story.
Source: BBC News, 27 July 2021
Patient-Safety-Learning

‘Confused messaging’ around Oxford vaccine helping fuel Covid spread, says scientist behind jab

Experts have warned misinformation around the Covid vaccine may be helping fuel the spread of the virus. Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group has warned "confused messaging" around the effectiveness to protect the population could threaten confidence in the jab. 
Sir Andrew, together with Professor of vaccinology Shabir Madhi at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, have suggested lessons can be learned from South Africa. Writing for The Independent, they said “South Africa was one of the first African countries to procure the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from Serum Institute of India. Unfortunately, these doses were never deployed because of misguided fears over efficacy, allowing the present third wave to occur in a largely unvaccinated population.” 
Read full story.
Source: The Independent, 26 July 2021
Patient-Safety-Learning

Eight trusts now have one in 10 beds filled by covid patients

Eight hospitals have reported that at least 1 in 10 beds are now occupied by a patient with coronavirus, HSJ can reveal. 
Operational information seen by HSJ showed the 8 Trusts were, Queen Elizabeth Hospital; Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland Foundation Trust, North Tees and Hartlepool Foundation Trust, Barnsley Hospital, The Rotherham Foundation Trust, Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust, across several hospitals in north Manchester, Oldham and Bury, Whittington Health Trust, and Sandwell and West Birmingham. 
Having 10 per cent or more beds occupied by Covid patients has a big impact on how the hospital is able to run due to the need to ensure the patients are in appropriate wards and isolated from patients who are negative for the virus. Compared to previous waves, current patients are much younger and healthier and have been found to have a shorter length of stay in hospital. 
Read full story (paywalled).
Source: HSJ, 26 July 2021
Patient-Safety-Learning

New compensation scheme for victims of rogue surgeon to be set up by private hospital group

Breast surgeon Ian Paterson, was convicted and jailed for 20 years for performing unnecessary and dangerous surgery on women over the span of 14 years, being found guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three counts of unlawful wounding. Thousands of his patients are only now just learning that they experienced unnecessary tests and surgery when there was no clinical need, having never been properly reviewed after his conduct had been revealed.
Now, Spire Healthcare may be facing up to £50 million in compensation costs with the NHS and insurers having also paid £10 million.
Linda Millband, head of clinical negligence at Thompsons Solicitors has said "“It is clear people have been missed and we will be urging anyone who believes they may have been a victim of Ian Paterson, at any time, to come forward and seek compensation for their injuries. Our job is to ensure any victim of Paterson, whenever they may have been contacted, get the maximum compensation.”
Read full story.
Source: The Independent, 27 July 2021
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