Skip to content
the hub has moved to a new software platform. You will need to login using your email address. Find out more here.

News

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

Patients taken to hospital in fire engines as firefighters respond to rocketing medical calls

Firefighters have resorted to taking people to hospital in fire engines amid rocketing call-outs to medical emergencies.
Fire and rescue services now respond to more “non-fire incidents” than fires in England, including cardiac arrests, suicide attempts and elderly people trapped in their homes after falls.
Official statistics show that they attended more than 18,200 medical incidents in 2021-22, an increase of a third from the previous year, and that firefighters rather than ambulances were the “first responder” in almost half of those calls.
Chris Lowther, who chairs the National Fire Chiefs’ Council’s operations committee, said the figures showed a “new reality” as firefighters step in to help struggling ambulance services.
Read full story
Source: The Independent (22 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

NHS forced to publish hidden trolley wait data by UK regulator

The NHS has been forced to publish hidden trolley waits data, after intervention by the UK Statistics Authority, The Independent has learned.
In a letter to NHS Digital and NHS England in July, Ed Humpherson director general for regulation at UKSA asked the organisations to publish monthly data on patients whose total wait in A&E is longer than 12 hours, following an ongoing row with emergency care leaders.
NHS England promised to publish this internal data but has yet to comply, and as a result it was referred to UKSA by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine over concerns that the public data is misleading.
Dr Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told The Independent: “For some time, we have been calling for NHS England to publish the 12-hour data measured from time of arrival. This data will show the real scale and depth of the crisis that urgent and emergency care is facing. We believe that through transparency around the sheer number of patients facing 12-hour waits, we can drive political and health leaders into action.
Read full story
Source: The Independent (25 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

Sunak says it was a mistake to ‘empower scientists’ during Covid pandemic

Rishi Sunak has claimed that it was a mistake to “empower scientists” during the coronavirus pandemic and that his opposition to closing schools was met with silence during one meeting.
The Conservative leadership candidate believes one of the major errors was allowing the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) to have so much influence on decision making such as closing nurseries, schools and colleges in March 2020.
Sunak also disclosed that he was banned from discussing the “trade-offs” of imposing coronavirus-related restrictions such as missed doctor’s appointments and NHS waiting list backlogs.
In an interview with the Spectator to be published on Saturday, the former chancellor said: “We shouldn’t have empowered the scientists in the way we did. And you have to acknowledge trade-offs from the beginning. “If we’d done all of that, we could be in a very different place. We’d probably have made different decisions on things like schools.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian (24 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

Minnesota nurses’ strike vote puts safety and conditions in spotlight

Nurses at 15 hospitals in the Twin Cities area (Minneapolis-St Paul) and Duluth, Minnesota, that are negotiating new union contracts with their respective hospitals have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike. A date for the work stoppage has not been set yet by the union, the Minnesota Nurses Association, which represents about 15,000 nurses who voted on the strike authorization, but a 10-day notice must be given ahead of any strike.
If a strike is carried out, it would be one of the largest nurses’ strikes in US history.
Jayme Wicklund, a registered nurse at the Children’s hospital in St Paul, Minnesota, and member of the negotiating committee, said, “We need more resources to take care of the patients. The hospitals are very focused on wages. We have to be comparable to other places. But that’s all that they focus on. Once you start talking about wages, they don’t want to talk about the other important issues around patient safety or actually, other ways to save money.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian (23 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

Alarm over Liz Truss raid on NHS

Hospital bosses have warned that they face “impossible choices” under Liz Truss’s plan to divert £10 billion a year from the NHS to social care.
They say that her pledge to remove cash earmarked for the health service will “slam the brakes” on efforts to tackle record waiting lists, with patients bearing the brunt.
An extra £36 billion has been ring-fenced for health and care spending over the next three years, of which less than £2 billion a year is due to go towards social care. Truss, the frontrunner in the Conservative leadership contest, has announced that as prime minister she will divert the entire amount to local authorities to pay for older people’s care. This would create a £10 billion shortfall in annual NHS spending, the equivalent of imposing a 7 per cent budget cut on the service.
NHS bosses say that they would have no choice but to cut services as they face the worst winter crisis in living memory, forcing patients to wait longer for treatment. There are already 6.7 million people on waiting lists, while patients are dying because of a sharp increase in ambulance response times and accident and emergency waiting times are the worst on record.
Truss told a Times Radio hustings: “I still would spend the money. I would just take it out of general taxation rather than raising national insurance. But I would spend that money in social care. Quite a lot has gone to the NHS. I would give it to local authorities.”
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: The Times (25 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

Polio was almost eradicated. This year it staged a comeback

At the beginning of this year, there was a thrum of excitement among global health experts: Eradication of polio, a centuries-old foe that has paralyzed legions of children around the globe, seemed tantalizingly close.
But there were several ominous setbacks.
Malawi in February announced its first case in 30 years, a 3-year-old girl who became paralyzed following infection with a virus that appeared to be from Pakistan. Pakistan itself went on to report 14 cases, eight of them in a single month this spring. In March, Israel reported its first case since 1988. Then, in June, British authorities declared an “incident of national concern” when they discovered the virus in sewage. By the time New York City detected the virus in wastewater last week, polio eradication seemed as elusive as ever.
“It’s a poignant and stark reminder that polio-free countries are not really polio-risk free,” said Dr. Ananda Bandyopadhyay, deputy director for polio at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest supporter of polio eradication efforts. The virus is always “a plane ride away,” he added.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: The New York Times (18 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

Trust criticised for ‘extreme positivity’ and drops two ratings to ‘inadequate’

Senior leaders of an ambulance trust have been told their ‘extreme positivity’ has made them appear ‘out of touch’ as the Care Quality Commission downgraded the organisation’s rating to ‘inadequate’.
The health watchdog has dropped the overall rating of South Central Ambulance Service Foundation Trust, as well as the provider’s ratings for safety, leadership and for its urgent and emergency care services, from “good” to “inadequate”.
The CQC has served SCAS with a warning notice and has criticised the trust’s board for its “extreme positivity about its performance”, which “could feel dismissive of the reality to frontline staff.” The regulator also said it saw evidence “of executive leaders attempting to discredit people raising valid concerns” and was told that serious concerns including sexual harassment had been “brushed under the carpet”.
The CQC, which published the report today, also said there was “no evidence” of action being considered by SCAS to manage risk for patients suffering long handover delays outside A&E departments, and that serious issues “had not been addressed internally”.
Will Hancock, chief executive of SCAS, said the trust had an “extensive improvement plan” and is “committed to making things better”.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ (25 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

No new London hospitals until at least 2027

Two new London hospitals will not open until 2027 at the earliest, the BBC has been told.
In 2019, the government pledged to build a new hospital in Sutton and another at Whipps Cross in east London. The St Helier complex in Sutton in south London dates back to the 1930s and much of the Epsom site is about 40 years old.
But Dr Ruth Charlton, chief medical officer at Epsom and St Helier Hospital, said: "Our working conditions... are not fit for 21st century healthcare. We really feel that our patients and or staff deserve facilities that would allow them to deliver the quality of healthcare that we all wish to receive."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We have committed to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030, backed by an initial £3.7bn. We are working closely with all the schemes in the programme and providing funding to develop their plans - final funding allocations are only confirmed once business cases have been fully reviewed and agreed. By taking a more centralised approach, we will reduce the overall time taken to build the hospitals and provide better value for money for the taxpayer."
Read full story
Source: BBC News (25 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

NHS and care homes in England to pause routine Covid testing

Most hospital patients and care home residents in England will no longer be tested for Covid unless they have symptoms, the government has said.
From 31 August, NHS and social care staff will also not be offered lateral flow tests unless they fall sick. Free testing for the general public ended in April in England, but continued in some high-risk settings.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "This reflects the fact case rates have fallen and the risk of transmission has reduced, though we will continue to closely monitor the situation and work with sectors to resume testing should it be needed."
Read full story
Source: BBC News (25 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

Private mental health unit scrutiny recommended by Norfolk committee

A report into the care of three women at a former mental health unit has recommended greater monitoring and scrutiny of private provision.
The Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) review focused on care given to women known as L, M and N, who lived at Milestones Hospital near Norwich.
The women, in their 20s, were found to have visited accident and emergency 53 times, mostly due to self-harm. The unit shut down last year and the company that run it has been dissolved.
Heather Roach, chair of NSAB, said: "When vulnerable patients are placed in hospitals like Milestones, it's vital that our whole system works together to keep them safe. This review has shown that there are gaps in the monitoring of private provision, particularly when patients are placed in Norfolk from out of our county."
Read full story
Source: BBC News (25 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

Dr Ted Baker named as preferred candidate for Chair of HSSIB

Dr Ted Baker has been named as the government’s preferred candidate for chair of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB).
Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has today (26 August 2022) invited the Health and Social Care Committee to hold a pre-appointment scrutiny hearing with Dr Baker.
Ted Baker was Chief Inspector of Hospitals at the Care Quality Commission between 2017 and 2022. He trained as a paediatric cardiologist. He was in clinical practice for 35 years and has held a range of clinical and academic leadership roles including medical director at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
He was selected following an open public appointment process.
Following the select committee hearing, the committee will set out its views on the candidate’s suitability for the role. The Secretary of State will then consider the committee’s report before making a final decision on the appointment.
Read full story
Source: HSIB, 26 August 2022
Sam

Leaked report shows ‘long-standing’ bullying and discrimination within national agency

Internal documents show significant evidence of bullying and discrimination within NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) which dates back at least eight years, when the organisation was led by the current chief executive of the Care Quality Commission.
HSJ has seen a report which detailed major tensions and dysfunction at NHSBT’s Colindale site in north London in 2016, four years before another report found similar problems.
Given the damning findings of the second report, in 2020 – which found a “toxic environment”, multiple accounts of bullying, and “systemic racism” at the same site – it raises questions around the actions taken by NHSBT’s former leaders, including current CQC boss Ian Trenholm, to address the issues raised in the 2016 report.
The 2016 report was commissioned by the manufacturing directorate and concluded the hospital services department at the Colindale site was “dysfunctional” after a highly contentious reorganisation of some services and teams.
It noted “a series of bullying and harassment incidents” were being reported, but which staff felt were not investigated appropriately, and claims of “discriminatory practice” by managers.
Read full story
Source: HSJ, 26 August 2022
Sam

Boy, 17, found dead after seeking mental health help ‘had not seen GP in person’

A coroner has expressed concern at the difficulty of getting face-to-face appointments with GPs and other health professionals after a 17-year-old boy suffering from mental health problems was found dead.
Sean Mark, who described himself as an “anxious paranoid mess”, was desperate for help but felt “palmed off” when he asked for assistance, an inquest heard. He was found dead in his bedroom four months after a phone consultation with a GP and before he had spoken to anyone in person about his concerns.
The area coroner, Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, recorded a verdict of death by misadventure, saying she could not be sure Sean had intended to kill himself.
Dr Robin Harlow, clinical director of the Willow Group, where Sean Mark was a patient, said it had increased the number of face-to-face meetings. When told that Sean felt palmed off, he said: “I would want him to be seen face to face at the second time, if not the first time. We have seen a lot more face-to-face appointments since then.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian (23 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

Parts of England have one NHS dentist for thousands of people, data shows

Dental patients are still suffering from the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, as parts of England are left with only one NHS dentist for thousands of people.
In North Lincolnshire, there were just 54 NHS dentists – equivalent to one for every 3,199 people – at the end of March, NHS Digital figures show. This means every NHS dentist in the area would have to work nine-hour days every working day of the year without holidays for each resident to receive one annual checkup on the NHS.
Across England, 24,272 dentists treated some NHS patients in the year to 31 March – up 2.3% from the previous year, broadly in keeping with the general population increase in the same period, but lower than pre-pandemic figures for the three previous years.
The chair of the British Dental Association, Eddie Crouch, said the service was “on its last legs” and the figures underlined the need for radical and urgent change. “The government will be fooling itself and millions of patients if it attempts to put a gloss on these figures,” said Crouch. “NHS dentistry is light years away from where it needs to be. Unless ministers step up and deliver much-needed reform and decent funding, this will remain the new normal.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian (25 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

Biden administration plans for new booster campaign soon after labor day

The Biden administration plans to offer the next generation of coronavirus booster shots to Americans 12 and older soon after Labor Day, a campaign that federal officials hope will reduce deaths from Covid-19 and protect against an expected winter surge.
Dr. Peter Marks, the top vaccine regulator for the Food and Drug Administration, said in an interview on Tuesday that while he could not discuss timing, his team was close to authorizing updated doses that would target the versions of the virus now circulating.
Even though those formulations have not been tested in humans, he said, the agency has “extremely good” data showing that the shots are safe and will be effective. “How confident am I?” he said. “I’m extremely confident.”
Read full story
Source: The New York Times (23 August 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning

‘Vaccine fatigue’ could hit autumn Covid boosters

Britain faces a low uptake of the Covid booster jab this autumn amid “vaccine fatigue” and complacency about the virus, the new Pfizer boss has warned.
The booster campaign starts next week, with care home residents and the housebound the first to be invited. Over-75s and the clinically vulnerable will be able to book appointments from September 12, with a wider rollout for over-50s taking place in phases. Roughly 26 million in England will be eligible.
Susan Rienow, who was appointed UK managing director at Pfizer in February, said: “We have to remain vigilant. I recognise there may be some vaccine fatigue in the population. But making sure that people are boosting their immunity, so that we can prevent people from being hospitalised, is going to be really important.”
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: The Times (28 August 2022)

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.