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

Urgent review ordered after deaths in fragile maternity services

NHS England has ordered trusts to “urgently” review their home birth services, it has emerged – as an HSJ  investigation reveals widespread fragility and safety risks.
Chief midwifery officer Kate Brintworth wrote to trust and integrated care board CEOs late last year after “gross failures” were identified in the care of Jennifer and Agnes Cahill during a home birth under the care of Manchester University Foundation Trust in 2024.
Ms Cahill died shortly after suffering a haemorrhage during labour, while baby Agnes had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and was not breathing when she was delivered.
Coroner Joanne Kearsley identified serious failures by two inexperienced community midwives, and  a subsequent prevention of future deaths report warned of a lack of national guidance on staffing, training and experience for midwives attending home births.
NHSE’s letter, which was sent last year but has not been made public, comes as HSJ analysis shows multiple coroners have been raising concerns about poor support for and oversight of home birth services for several years.
Separate HSJ research has found  widespread and regular suspensions of the services across the country, underlining their fragility and pushing some women towards giving birth with minimal support.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 20 January 2026
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World is short of nearly a million midwives, report warns

A global shortage of nearly a million midwives is leaving pregnant women without the basic care needed to prevent harm, including the deaths of mothers and babies, according to new research.
Almost half the shortage was in Africa, where nine in 10 women lived in a country without enough midwives, the researchers said.
Anna af Ugglas, chief executive of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and one of the study’s authors, said: “Nearly 1 million missing midwives means health systems are stretched beyond capacity, midwives are overworked and underpaid, and care becomes rushed and fragmented.
“Intervention rates rise, and women are more likely to experience poor-quality care or mistreatment,” she said. “This is not only a workforce issue, it is a quality and safety issue for women and babies.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 20 January 2026
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Doctors warn of 'horrific' impact of tech and devices on children and young people's health

Doctors and medical experts have warned of the growing evidence of "health harms" from tech and devices on children and young people in the UK.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) said frontline clinicians have given personal testimony about "horrific cases they have treated in primary, secondary and community settings throughout the NHS and across most medical specialities".
The body, which represents 23 medical royal colleges and faculties, plans to gather evidence to establish the issues healthcare professionals and specialists are seeing repeatedly that may be attributed to tech and devices.
It intends to highlight the sometimes-hidden risks of unrestricted content and screen time to children and young people and provide guidance to the medical profession about how to identify and manage the harm being done.
The academy said it already had "evidence of the impact on children and young people's physical and mental health both from excessive screen time as well as exposure to harmful online content".
It says the work is due to be completed within three months.
The letter was sent to Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.
Read full story
Source: Sky News, 18 January 2026
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Trump claim linking paracetamol during pregnancy to autism rubbished by major new study

President Donald Trump’s claim that taking paracetamol during pregnancy is linked to autism is not based on robust evidence, a study has found.
The claims were made by Trump and health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in September, 2025. They urged women to not take Tylenol, known as paracetamol in the UK, and repeated numerous conspiracy theories about autism.
Kennedy, who has previously been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation and pushed a discredited theory that routine childhood vaccines were linked to autism, said the department would encourage clinicians to prescribe the lowest effective dose of the pain relief drug.
UK scientists hit back at the “fearmongering” claims and health secretary Wes Streeting stressed to not “pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine.”
Now a review of the medical evidence published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health journal, has found there is no strong evidence that paracetamol use during pregnancy increases the risk of autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or any intellectual disability among children.
“Autism diagnoses have surged by 787 per cent in the UK since 1998, which naturally raises questions around what’s behind this trend. It’s simply bad science to automatically assume that this is due to autism becoming much more prevalent. It’s even worse to attribute it to a simple cause like taking paracetamol during pregnancy without foundation,” Dr Lisa Williams, founder and clinical director, The Autism Service, who was not involved in the study, told the Independent.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 16 January 2026
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Staff left with ‘strong sense of betrayal’ after manager jailed for fraud

A former manager at a now-dissolved trust has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after using his position to defraud the organisation of more than £100,000.
Alec Gandy, a former senior operational manager at Dudley Integrated Health and Care Trust was sentenced along with two others at Wolverhampton Crown Court for his role in defrauding the trust of £123,090.
Mr Gandy pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position. He filed multiple false invoices and used the money to partly fund a “gambling habit” and to fund businesses he had formed, one of which was called “Crooked Spire.”
In its victim impact statement, the trust outlined how the stolen funds could have been used to pay the annual salaries of four nursing associates, two community paramedics or two clinical pharmacists. None of the money stolen has been recovered.
The statement added: “Many of the staff involved in the investigation and those across the wider workforce felt personally connected to Mr Gandy, and therefore have felt a strong sense of mistrust and betrayal from his actions. In turn, the investigation itself led to months of scrutiny over the activity across the service, which could have eroded the trust between the organisation and our contractors.” 
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 17 January 2026
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Charter to tackle sexual harassment across NHS in England has failed, say unions

A flagship strategy to tackle sexual harassment across the NHS in England has failed to improve the safety of female staff, according to legal experts and healthcare unions.
The NHS sexual safety charter, launched in September 2023, was supposed to improve how hospitals, GP surgeries and other organisations address sexual harassment. But the UK-based charity Rights of Women said calls from NHS staff to its sexual harassment at work advice line had increased significantly since the charter was rolled out.
Laura Bolam, the employment law officer at the charity – which provides free legal advice to 3,000 working women each year across England and Wales – said the proportion of its callers who were women in the NHS had doubled recently.
“In 2023, around 11% of our calls came from women working in the NHS; this rose to 19% in 2024 and increased again to 22% in 2025. This highlights that sexual harassment within NHS trusts is not only rising but appears to be an entrenched, systemic issue.”
All NHS organisations in England have signed the sexual safety charter, which commits them to taking a zero-tolerance approach to unwanted sexual behaviour. But a Guardian investigation found many trusts continued to report improbably low numbers of incidents, particularly for staff sexually assaulting or sexually harassing colleagues and other staff.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 18 January 2026
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Women ‘being failed by underfunded and understaffed’ UK postnatal care

Women in the UK are being failed by a postnatal care system that is “dangerously underfunded and understaffed”, a damning report has warned.
Thousands of new mothers feel unsafe, unsupported and overwhelmed in the weeks and months after giving birth, according to the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).
Experts said the report was “deeply troubling” and too many women were “being left without a safety net at one of the most important and vulnerable times of their lives”. Feeling overwhelmed should never be considered a normal part of early parenthood, they added.
The NCT report included a survey of 2,000 new and expectant parents across the UK, including 500 women who were pregnant at the time. Almost a quarter – 24% – said they did not have regular access to NHS staff in the weeks and months after birth.
Nearly nine in 10 (87%) reported feeling overwhelmed at least some of the time, with 22% always feeling overwhelmed. Meanwhile, 62% reported feeling lonely sometimes, with 12% saying they felt lonely all of the time.
More than half (59%) of pregnant women said they worried about their mental health.
The NCT chief executive, Angela McConville, said: “Every major report has shown that the UK’s maternity system is failing to provide safe, compassionate care."
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 19 January 2026
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Cancer patients 'warned for years' about hospital water infections

The father of a woman whose death is being investigated by prosecutors said a health board was "warned for years" about issues with a major hospital's water system that it has now admitted probably caused infections in child cancer patients.
Molly Cuddihy - who died in August aged 23 - became seriously ill in 2018 with an infection potentially acquired at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) had consistently denied bacteria in the water was responsible for causing some infections which led to the deaths of patients.
But in closing submissions to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, external it has now admitted "on the balance of probabilities", that there was a "causal connection" between some infections and the hospital environment.
The probe was launched to examine mistakes made in the planning, design and construction of the QEUH campus following concerns about unusual infections and the deaths of four patients.
Those included 10-year-old Milly Main, who died after contracting the stenotrophomonas bacteria while undergoing treatment for leukaemia in 2017.
A separate corporate homicide investigation into the deaths of Milly, two other children and 73-year-old Gail Armstrong was launched in 2021.
And last year prosecutors opened an investigation into Molly's death after it was reported by a consultant.
Molly's father, John, told BBC Scotland News the statement was "overdue recognition".
He added: "Molly's words and experience must continue to echo beyond her lifetime."
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 18 January 2026
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‘Jess’s rule’ posters remind GPs in England to re-examine patients’ symptoms

Millions of patients in England will this week be urged to ask their GP to think again if they have not had a diagnosis for their symptoms after three appointments.
From Monday, GP practices across the country will use posters to promote Jess’s rule, a new system aimed at preventing serious illnesses from being missed and needless deaths. It is named after Jessica Brady, a 27-year-old who contacted her surgery 20 times before dying of cancer in 2020.
Jess’s rule urges family doctors to consider a second opinion, conduct a face-to-face physical examination or order more tests if a patient has had three appointments for their symptoms but no diagnosis.
Posters advertising Jess’s rule have been sent to all 6,170 GP practices in England. The system was launched in September but the new posters will boost patient safety by reminding GPs to rethink initial assumptions, ministers said.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 19 January 2026
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NHSE’s ‘model A&E’ delayed after ‘real world value’ questioned

Senior leaders have been drafted in to draw up NHS England’s new blueprint for A&Es, following internal criticism of the highly anticipated guidance.
NHSE has been working on a new plan for accidents and emergencies – titled the “model emergency department” – to outline how they can achieve the “ambitious” targets for four hours performance, as outlined in the medium-term planning guidance.
In October, NHSE had promised the ‘model ED’ blueprint would be published “soon”, but HSJ understands the process has stalled following internal criticism.
HSJ understands Birju Bartoli, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust, and Emma Rowland, chief operating officer at Homerton Healthcare FT, are among the senior figures drafted in by NHSE to work on the “model ED” policy.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is also understood to have privately raised concerns about the “model ED”, including over a lack of any new money for emergency departments.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 15 January 2026
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US health officials reverse course and reinstate $1.9bn to mental health and substance use

US health officials reversed course and began reinstating nearly $2bn in cuts to mental health and substance use programmes on Wednesday night, one day after they unexpectedly announced the immediate shutdown of programmes.
The reversal is a blow to the agenda of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, who has made aggressive and legally contested cuts to health agencies in the first year of the Trump administration and has proposed folding the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Samhsa) into a new agency he would call the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA).
There was immediate outcry about the effects of shutting down vital programs amounting to one-quarter of the budget of Samhsa.
The cuts would have affected overdose prevention and reversal, mental health and substance use support for children, mental health training and support for first responders, support for pregnant and postpartum women, and recovery support programmes.
“After national outrage, Secretary Kennedy has bowed to public pressure and reinstated $2 billion in SAMHSA grants that save lives,” DeLauro said. “These are cuts he should not have issued in the first place,” and they “created uncertainty and confusion for families and healthcare providers”, Rosa DeLauro, ranking member of the House appropriations committee, said.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 15 January 2026
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Hospitals with unsafe concrete expected to miss rebuild deadline

Work to fix hospitals built using unsafe concrete will not be completed in time to meet the government's target, a new report has warned.
Seven hospitals built using Raac, or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, were prioritised for remedial work last year, with the government setting a deadline of 2030.
The new buildings are now expected to open in 2032 and 2033 - but some are already facing pressure to meet the revised timetable, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.
In a number of hospitals, roofs are being supported by metal props and some areas have been closed as unsafe.
Meanwhile, affected health trusts face huge maintenance bills to keep their aging buildings safe.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 16 January 2025
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NHSE’s ‘model A&E’ delayed after ‘real world value’ questioned

Senior leaders have been drafted in to draw up NHS England’s new blueprint for A&Es, following internal criticism of the highly anticipated guidance.
NHSE has been working on a new plan for accidents and emegencies – titled the “model emergency department” – to outline how they can achieve the “ambitious” targets for four hours performance, as outlined in the medium-term planning guidance.
In October, NHSE had promised the ‘model ED’ blueprint would be published “soon”, but HSJ understands the process has stalled following internal criticism.
HSJ understands Birju Bartoli, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust, and Emma Rowland, chief operating officer at Homerton Healthcare FT, are among the senior figures drafted in by NHSE to work on the “model ED” policy.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is also understood to have privately raised concerns about the “model ED”, including over a lack of any new money for emergency departments.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 15 January 2026
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New registry launched to tackle ‘Wild West’ IT market

Only around a fifth of ambient voice technology firms understood to be supplying the NHS have been included on a new national registry designed to beef up NHS England’s oversight of the market, described as the “Wild West”.
19 AVT firms have been listed on the new national registry launched today, but it is understood that over a hundred such firms operate in the competitive market.
The suppliers of the AI tools are the first to join the self-certified registry, which requires them to comply with multiple standards covering regulation, clinical safety, and data protection.
AVT software automatically transcribes conversations between patients and clinicians and generates structured medical notes, aiming to reduce the manual documentation burden on staff and free up more time for patient care.
To be listed, suppliers must demonstrate compliance with the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria, hold Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Class I registration, and provide evidence of post-market surveillance.
Additional requirements include evidence of benefit in the NHS, the ability to integrate with existing NHS digital infrastructure and scalability across organisations of different sizes.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 15 January 2026
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Letby trust pays £1.4m damages to ex CEO

A former NHS chief executive has been awarded £1.4m in damages after suing the health service for unfair dismissal.
Dr Susan Gilby took the Countess of Chester NHS Trust to court after being suspended in December 2022.
The compensation is one of the largest payments the NHS has ever made to a former employee.
The final cost to the taxpayer - including court costs - could be around £3m after the trust refused offers to avoid the case going to court.
Gilby told the BBC she was relieved the case was over and that this "was never about the money."
The Countess of Chester NHS Trust - where Lucy Letby worked - confirmed that a settlement had been agreed.
The compensation payment comes after an employment tribunal ruled in February last year that board members at the trust had conspired to remove her from her job.
Gilby had accused the trust's chairman, Ian Haythornthwaite, of bullying and harassment. In response, Haythornthwaite, working alongside three other directors, had set up Project Countess, to force Gilby out.
Gilby, 62, said one of the trust's directors, Ros Fallon, took her to a pub on a Friday afternoon in October 2022 and told her it was "time for you to go".
"She said: 'And if you don't agree to go, we will start a process against you'. She was unable to tell me what that process would be."
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 15 January 2026
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System criticised after death of ‘fit and well’ 23-year-old

Urgent and emergency care services in the East Midlands are letting down people with ”serious but not immediately life-threatening” conditions, a coroner has warned after the death of a “fit and well young man”.
Adam Hussain, 23, died from complicated appendicitis at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham in May, after repeatedly asking for help for abdominal pain over the previous four days.
Mr Hussain called emergency and urgent care services five times during the days before his collapse at home on 15 May. He was sent to a walk-in-centre after his first call on 12 May then sent home, but was not seen again face to face. 
The coroner found East Midlands Ambulance Service and the Nottingham Emergency Medical Service – the system’s single urgent care triage system – had failed to recognise the need for further face-to-face assessment and necessary treatment.
She also said there was “confusion” in the system about how to manage category 3 ambulance calls, the classification for urgent but not immediately life-threatening conditions, and where triage suggests the patient can be managed at home.
Elizabeth Didcock, assistant coroner for Nottinghamshire, said: “Had Adam been seen face to face [when he sought help], it is very likely that the intra-abdominal sepsis would have been recognised and treatment provided, likely leading to him surviving what is a treatable condition in a previously fit and well young man.”
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 15 January 2026
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