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

Black people have highest rate of STIs in Britain. Is enough being done to change that?

Black people have the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections in Britain and officials are not doing enough to address the issue, sexual health experts have warned.
Black Britons have “disproportionally high rates” of various STI diagnoses compared to white Britons, with those of Black Caribbean heritage specifically having the highest rates for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, herpes and trichomoniasis.
Experts have told The Independent that healthcare providers are failing to address these disparities in STIs. They have called for more research to fully understand the complicated reasons why STIs are higher among people of Black ethnicity.
Research conducted through the Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) found that there were no clinical or behavioural factors explaining the disproportionately high rates of STI diagnoses among Black people.
But higher rates of poverty and poor health literacy among marginalised communities are all linked with higher STI rates, according to a 2016 study, which found that behavioural and contextual factors are likely to be contributing.
Moreover, experiences of racism among Black people can fuel a reluctance to engage with sexual health services and test frequently, according to HIV activist Susan Cole-Haley.
She told The Independent: “I very much believe that it is linked to socioeconomic disadvantage and racism, often in healthcare settings, which can be a significant barrier for people accessing testing, for instance, and feeling comfortable engaging with care.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 19 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

Kettering Hospital ward accused of traumatising children may close

Children's services could be forced to close at a hospital that is accused of leaving young patients traumatised and sick through poor care.
The care regulator said it had taken action to "ensure people are safe" on Skylark ward at Kettering General Hospital (KGH) in Northamptonshire.
Thirteen parents with serious concerns after their children died or became seriously ill have spoken to the BBC.
A BBC Look East investigation has heard allegations spanning more than 20 years about the treatment of patients on Skylark ward, a 26-bed children's unit.
The BBC discovered:
An independent report found staff left a 12-year-old boy - who died at KGH in December 2019 - for four hours suffering seizures, and suggests little effort was made to obtain critical care support. In April 2019, nurses allegedly dragged a "traumatised" four-year-old girl down a corridor in agony, insisting that she could walk. Medics are accused of refusing to carry out an MRI scan, which would have detected a dangerous cyst on her spine. Mothers claim to have been threatened with safeguarding referrals, with one stating a referral was made against her after she complained her son was struggling to breathe, while another likened it to blackmail. Read full story
Source: BBC News, 20 February 2023
Sam

Junior doctors in England to strike for 72 hours in March

Hundreds of thousands of operations and medical appointments will be cancelled in England next month and progress in tackling the huge care backlog will be derailed as the NHS prepares to face the most widespread industrial action in its history.
Junior doctors are poised to join nurses and ambulance workers in mass continuous walkouts in March after members of the British Medical Association (BMA) voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action.
In only the second such action in the 74-year-history of the NHS, junior doctors will walk out for 72 hours – continuously across three days, on dates yet to be confirmed – after 98% of those who voted favoured strike action.
Amid an increasingly bitter row between health unions and the government, NHS leaders expressed alarm at the enormous disruption now expected next month.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 20 February 2023
Sam

Big rise in long-term sick hitting UK workforce

The UK risks a shrinking workforce caused by long-term sickness, a new report warns.
Pensions and health consultants Lane, Clark and Peacock (LCP) says there has been a sharp increase in "economic inactivity" - working-age adults who are not in work or looking for jobs.
The figure has risen by 516,000 since Covid hit, and early retirement does not appear to explain it.
The total of long-term sick, meanwhile, has gone up by 353,000, says LCP. It means there are now nearly 2.5 million adults of working age who are long-term sick, official data from the Labour Force survey reveals.
The LCP says pressure on the NHS can account for some of the increase in long-term sickness. Delays getting non-urgent operations and mental health treatment are possible explanations. Others who would otherwise have had a chronic condition better managed may be in poorer health.
One of the report authors, Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, said: "The pandemic made clear the links between health and economic prosperity, yet policy does not yet invest in health, to keeping living in better health for longer. NHS pressures have led to disruption of patient care which is likely to be impacting on people's ability to work now and in the future."
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 20 February 2023
Sam

Children’s surgery backlog grows as NHS prioritises adult waiting lists

Hundreds of thousands of children are waiting for surgery as new figures show the backlog has spiralled by almost 50 per cent in two years.
The latest NHS data for December lays bare the parlous state of paediatric medicine, with NHS leaders and doctors warning that adult care is being prioritised over children’s.
In December 2022, 364,000 children were waiting for treatment, from neurosurgery to ear, nose and throat operations, while a further 200,000 needed community services such as speech and language therapy.
The surgery figure is up by 48%t since April 2021 – a far bigger increase than was seen in the overall NHS waiting list, which grew by 36% over the same period.
Mike McKean, vice-president of policy at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said “Lengthy waits are unacceptable for any patient, but for children and young people, waits can be catastrophic, as many treatments need to be given by a specific age or developmental stage. It is not the same as for adults. If you miss the right window to treat a child, or wait too long, the consequences can be irrevocable.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 19 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

Patient safety put 'at risk' by crumbling NHS hospitals in desperate need of repair

Doctors have warned that patient safety is being put at risk by the state of crumbling NHS hospitals which have fallen into potentially dangerous disrepair, an ITV News investigation has found. 
Year-long leaks, collapsing floors, ageing roofs and potential for falling stone are among the issues exposed in the investigation - which have caused whole wards to be closed down. 
One doctor told ITV News conditions are so poor in hospitals she has worked in that “we are always just hoping that the next time something happens it does not cause something catastrophic.”Half of the 87 hospital trusts in England that responded to our Freedom of Information requests had at least one unresolved structural or maintenance issue, as of October 2022.
Footage shared with ITV News by staff working in NHS hospitals lays bare some of the appalling conditions doctors are forced to treat patients in every day.
Some leaks have been so severe they flood and close entire corridors, while some wards have become so unsafe they have been permanently shut.
Read full story
Source: ITV News, 22 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

Nurses set for 'intensive' talks with government after strike paused

Health Secretary Stephen Barclay is to meet Royal College of Nursing bosses for pay talks later, after the union suspended next week's planned strike.
In a joint statement, after months of bitter dispute, the two sides said they would begin "intensive talks" on "pay, terms and conditions" and "reforms to enhance productivity".
Next week's walkout in England, from 1 to 3 March, was set to be the biggest strike of this winter's pay dispute, with half of frontline services affected.
The action would have included nursing staff from intensive care units, cancer care and other services that were previously exempted.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said: "We will put our plans on the table, they can put their plans on the table - but I'm confident that we will come out with a fair pay settlement for our nursing staff."
She added they would make sure no stone was left unturned and a fair pay deal was reached as quickly as possible so they could end the strikes.
Read full story 
Source: BBC News, 22 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

London Ambulance lagging behind on diversity and must improve, bosses warned

The London Ambulance Service (LAS) failing on diversity and must implement specific targets for improvements, its leadership has been warned.
According to LAS data, just 20% of the workforce is from a Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic background despite almost half of the capital’s population (46.2%) being made up of non-white communities.
Of that 20%, 40.9% are in the lowest paid roles, compared to 15.9% who are in the highest wage bands, according to the LAS’ Integrated Performance report.
The LAS is in the process of developing a new strategy to help attract more diverse staff, which will be published early next year.
Research shows that ethnic minority groups suffer disproportionately higher levels of inadequate ambulance care due to a combination of issues such as a lack of cultural awareness among professionals, language and communication difficulties and a limited understanding of how the healthcare system operates for some minority groups.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 21 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

Suicidal NHS staff left in ‘dangerous limbo’ as mental health help ends

Suicidal NHS staff will be left in “dangerous” situations without support when national funding for mental health hubs ends next month, health leaders have warned.
The hubs, set up with £15 million of government funding for NHS workers following Covid, are being forced to close or reduce services as neither the Department for Health and Social Care nor the NHS has confirmed ongoing funding for 2023-24.
This will leave thousands of NHS staff, some of whom are described as “suicidal” in “complete limbo”, The Independent has been told.
The British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Association of Clinical Psychologists (ACP) said the failure to continue the funding was an “irresponsible” way to treat vulnerable health and care workers.
Professor Mike Wang, chair of ACP, said: “There is a clinical responsibility, not to remove a service from individuals who are vulnerable, and in difficulty … the problem with that is that the funding ceases at the end of March and that’s absolutely no time at all to make any [future] provision. So, it’s clinically irresponsible to simply halt a service. Some of these individuals are, you know, carrying suicide risk.”
He said it was “dangerous” and “astonishing” that funding for the hubs was ending “given the present circumstances of continuing effects of the pandemic, clear evidence of underfunding of health care in this country”.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 22 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

Messages and challenge to all participants of the 5th Global Ministerial Patient Safety Summit 2023

Ahead of the 5th Global Ministerial Patient Safety Summit 2023 in Switzerland, the World Patient Safety Epicentre shares three messages and one challenge to the participants attending. 
1. Please think about changing the term Patient Safety to Safety in Healthcare.
2. Please consider creating a World Patient Safety Epicentre Safety, People Solutions – Network and Center(s) of Safety in Healthcare Change,
3. Please invite two people to the discussion.
4. One challenge - Let’s save 155 patients by 17 September 2023 in each country.
Read full story
Sam

Laughing gas users risk spine damage, say doctors

Doctors at an east London hospital say they are seeing so many risky cases of laughing gas misuse that they have drawn up treatment guidelines for colleagues in the UK.
Nitrous oxide, sold in metal canisters, is one of the most commonly used drugs by 16 to 24-year-olds.
Heavy use can lead to a vitamin deficiency that damages nerves in the spinal cord.
The Royal London Hospital team say medics need to be on alert.
They have been seeing a new case almost every week.
The guidelines, endorsed by the Association of British Neurologists and written with experts from Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham and the Queen Mary University of London, warn doctors what to look for and how to treat.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 23 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

Ethnic minority Covid death gap closes

People from ethnic minority backgrounds are no longer significantly more likely to die of Covid-19, new Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows.
Early in the pandemic, deaths involving coronavirus were higher among black and Asian people than white people, with the highest risk among Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean and Pakistani groups.
Covid mortality rates for all ethnic minorities decreased last year. The latest data shows there is no significant statistical difference between the number of Covid deaths among ethnic minorities and the white population.
The ONS also said that "all cause" mortality rates - measuring how likely people are to die of any cause, including Covid-19 - have returned to pre-pandemic patterns.
The reasons for this change are complex, and experts say there are "various factors" to consider.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 22 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

Trust ‘missed opportunities’ to prevent sex offender working as locum

A trust has admitted it ‘missed opportunities’ to identify that a locum doctor – who was arrested on hospital premises for two sexual offences — had already been cautioned for indecent exposure.
Salman Siddiqi admitted two offences – attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to arrange or facilitate a meeting with a child for sexual offences – last month.
East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, where he was working as a locum paediatric registrar at the time of the January offences, has now said there had been “missed opportunities” to identify his previous caution.
Chief medical officer Rebecca Martin told HSJ the trust had taken steps to ensure that these missed opportunities could not happen again. She said in a statement: “This includes standardising DBS checks for temporary workers booked through an agency and escalating all DBS and General Medical Council checks that feature conditions, cautions or warnings.”
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 23 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

White candidates still 50% more likely to be recruited, says new NHSE data

White applicants remain 54% more likely to be appointed from NHS job shortlistings compared to ethnic minority candidates, a metric that has hardly budged since 2016, a NHS England report has revealed.
The 2022 NHS workforce race equality standard report, revealed a significant rise in the proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds. And while there had been progress on some key targets since last year, others have stagnated.
NHSE’s report showed ethnic minority staff comprise 24.2% of the workforce in 2022, up from 22.4% last year and from 17.7% six years ago.
However, it also revealed the likelihood of white applicants being appointed from shortlists was 1.54 in 2022 than minority ethnic applicants – only a very small improvement on 1.57 in 2016, when WRES began
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 22 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

Record levels of NHS staff seek mental health help in crisis deemed ‘worse than pandemic’

Record levels of NHS staff are seeking mental health help as clinicians warn the “crisis” facing workers is “worse than the pandemic”.
Hundreds of staff are being referred to the specialist mental health service, NHS Practitioner Health, with 842 workers referred in October 2022 – up from 534 in the same month the year before and 371 in 2020.
Around 40% of the staff seeking the service are GPs and 50% are hospital doctors.
The news comes as The Independent reported that the NHS and government are set to axe funding for 40 mental health hubs set up for health and social care workers following the pandemic.
Amandip Sidhu, of Doctors in Distress, which offers workers mental health support, said: “Health workers believe that the crisis they are currently dealing with is worse than during the pandemic and exacerbated by the fact there is no end in sight, with little evidence that decision-makers are taking steps to improve the situation.
“The fact that the public, their patients, lack sympathy or understanding is making many medics feel isolated and completely unappreciated.”
Read full story 
Source: The Independent, 23 February 2023
Patient Safety Learning

Lack of private sector help putting elective target at risk, says trust

An acute trust and its integrated care system have said they risk missing the imminent waiting list target, after struggling to get as many patients treated in the independent sector as they hoped.
University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICS have found that some patients who had earlier been referred to independent providers, had then, while waiting for IS treatment, got sicker or became high risk to such an extent that they needed to be referred back to UHNM.
Other patients have declined being transferred to the independent sector, board meetings heard. 
Phil Smith, chief delivery officer at Staffordshire and Stoke-On-Trent Integrated Care Board, told its meeting last week he needed to “flag an escalated risk” to meeting the target, after deterioration in activity “linked to industrial action, linked to the willingness of patients to be treated in the independent sector and the independent sector’s ability to treat patients”.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 22 March 2023
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