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

Resident doctor charged with sexual assaults of 38 patients

A former resident doctor has been charged with sexually assaulting 38 patients who were in his care.
The Crown Prosecution Service today announced charges against Nathaniel Spencer, 38, of Quinton, Birmingham for alleged offences at The Dudley Group Foundation Trust and the University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust.
He faces 15 counts of sexual assault, 17 counts of assault by penetration, nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 13. Mr Spencer has also been charged with three counts of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and one count of attempting to assault by penetration.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 5 December 2025
Patient_Safety_Learning

Baby’s death linked to EPR disruption

A trust has linked the stillbirth of a baby to the disruption that followed the launch of an electronic patient record.
A report to Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust’s board said that in September, reduced “oversight” in its Jessop Wing maternity unit meant a woman in labour was not triaged within the recommended time.
An initial assessment – itself delayed – when she arrived, found a normal heartbeat, but by the time she was re-examined, no heartbeat could be detected, the paper said. It was later discovered the umbilical cord had become entangled around the baby’s body.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 8 December 2025
Patient_Safety_Learning

‘It’s absolute anarchy’: Oxygen therapy chambers have led to horrific deaths. Why are Maha elite raving about them?

The FDA has approved hyperbaric oxygen therapy to be marketed as a treatment for only 13 conditions – but some clinics are claiming that it can be used for more than 100.

Touted as a cure for everything from wrinkles to autism, the treatment has been hyped by Robert F Kennedy Jr and various celebrities. Experts say it needs to be regulated.
Warning: this article contains distressing content.
Read full story
Source: Guardian, 4 December 2025
Patient_Safety_Learning

Over 1,000 patients occupying hospital beds despite being medically fit to leave

More than 1,000 patients across Kent, Sussex and Surrey are occupying hospital beds despite being medically fit to leave, according to the latest NHS figures.
"Bed blocking" affects the availability of space for incoming patients, which leads to delays in A&E departments and delayed ambulance handovers.
On 30 November, NHS data showed 462 patients in Kent and Medway, 118 in Surrey and 614 in Sussex were ready for discharge.
The NHS said patients who wait longer to leave often have "complex" health and care needs. Kent and Sussex branches said they work with trusts and partners to find the right support.
Read full story
Source: BBC, 8 December 2025
Patient_Safety_Learning

Change in direction and leadership needed to save Scotland's NHS, report warns

Serious change in direction and leadership is needed to save Scotland’s NHS, a report has found.
The review by Mike McKirdy, a retired consultant surgeon from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the former president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, warned “more of the same will not be enough”.
Mr McKirdy said the founding principles of the NHS were “becoming strained and frayed” and that current trends risk “entrenching a two-tier system where access depends increasingly on ability to pay rather than clinical need”.
Read full story
Source: Grampian Online, 8 December 2025
Patient_Safety_Learning

New immersive room in A&E will 'change so many lives'

The parents of an autistic boy say a new immersive room in their local hospital's children's A&E will "change so many lives".
Robert and Gemma Cummings spent the past year fundraising to open the room, which is the first of its kind in Wales, at the paediatric department of Prince Charles Hospital in their hometown of Merthyr Tydfil.
The project was inspired by their own "distressing" experiences with their six-year-old son Ellis, who struggles with "sensory overload".
They hope the room, officially opened on Thursday, will allow children to receive emergency care without parents reaching a "crossroads" in deciding whether or not hospital visits are worth the potential of trauma.
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 7 December 2025
Patient_Safety_Learning

Thousands of patients in England at risk as GP referrals vanish into NHS ‘black hole’

One in seven people in England who need hospital care are not receiving it because their GP referral is lost, rejected or delayed, the NHS’s patient watchdog has found.
Three-quarters (75%) of those trapped in this “referrals black hole” suffer harm to their physical or mental health as a result of not being added to the waiting list for tests or treatment.
Communication with patients is so unreliable that seven in 10 (70%) only discover they have not been put on a waiting list after chasing up the NHS because they have not been told a hold-up has occurred. In some cases referrals that GPs have agreed to make do not even get sent from their surgery to the hospital, Healthwatch England’s findings show.
Read full story
Source: Guardian, 7 December 2025
Patient_Safety_Learning

Six-fold variation in staff vaccination rates revealed

Fewer than one in 10 frontline NHS staff have been vaccinated at some trusts, despite public appeals from NHS England ahead of this winter.
Data from the UK Health Security Agency says that fewer than a third – 29.7 per cent – of frontline NHS staff in England have received this year’s flu vaccination.
Flu vaccination rates are fewer than one in five at 21 English NHS trusts, and at West London Trust, Croydon Health Services Trust, and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust – uptake was at just one in 10 or fewer. Lewisham and Greenwich Trust had a similarly low uptake according to the UKHSA data, but the trust has said its rates are in fact much higher.
Read full article (paywalled).
Source: Health Service Journal, 5 December 2025.
Mark Hughes

Managers ‘defensive and frustrated’ in response to staff concerns

Staff at an ambulance trust fear their managers will “retaliate” if they report concerns to the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, a board report reveals.
South Central Ambulance Service Foundation Trust’s board was told of staff reports that some managers “actively identify and challenge” those who raise concerns or suggestions, “contributing to a culture of apprehension and mistrust”. 
The points were reported to a board meeting last week by its FTSU Guardian Christine McParland. Guardians are meant to act as an independent and confidential channel for employees to raise problems at work, and to support them to do so. 
Read full article (paywalled).
Source: Health Service Journal, 3 December 2025.
Mark Hughes

Chris Whitty on the infections we should take ‘much more seriously’

England’s chief medical officer says infections in older people must be taken “much more seriously”.
Professor Sir Chris Whitty said older people are “under-served” when it comes to care and research into the illnesses affecting them, adding that doctors should have a lower threshold for prescribing antibiotics than they do for younger adults.
He suggested the medical community has been “nihilistic” about infections in older people historically, adding that “people have assumed it’s one of those things that happen in old age – in fact, we can do a lot about it”.
Discussing his new annual report, which focuses on infections, Sir Chris said: “Whilst we are very systematic about reducing infections and preventing infections in children and in young adults, in older adults it is often a lot more hit and miss.”
Read full article.
Source: The Independent, 4 December 2025
Mark Hughes

Hospitals facing unprecedented flu season, say NHS bosses

The number of flu patients in hospital has hit a record high in England for this time of year with NHS leaders warning the country is facing an unprecedented flu season.
NHS figures show there were an average of 1,700 patients in hospital with flu last week - that is more than 50% higher than the same time last year - and early indications from this week are that hospitalisations have continued climbing sharply since.
It comes as the flu season hit a month earlier than normal this year, with experts warning there appears to be a more severe strain of the virus circulating.
England's chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty has warned the NHS must take diseases like pneumonia and flu in older people much more seriously to save lives.
Read full article.
Source: BBC News, 4 December 2025
Mark Hughes

Director excluded for a year by his trust

The British Medical Association has claimed the exclusion of a medical director from his trust role for more than a year reflects a “toxic culture” and “disturbing pattern” when concerns are raised.
Tim Noble has been excluded from his director role at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust since September 2024, his union confirmed to HSJ this week. The British Medical Association claims the exclusion is unlawful as he has been prevented from returning to work.
It is thought Dr Noble’s case is due to proceed to a formal disciplinary hearing at the trust this month, but the details, including any allegations, are not known. He has continued one session a week for the trust in his consultant medical role.
Read full article (paywalled).
Source: Health Service Journal, 4 December 2025
Mark Hughes

Wes Streeting orders review of mental health diagnoses as benefit claims soar

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has ordered a clinical review of the diagnosis of mental health conditions, according to reports.

Streeting is understood to be concerned about a sharp rise in the number of people making sickness benefits claims because of diagnoses for mental illness, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the Times reported.

He has asked leading experts to investigate whether normal feelings have become “over-pathologised”, the newspaper said, as he seeks to grapple with the 4.4 million working-age people now claiming sickness or incapacity benefit.

The figure has risen by 1.2 million since 2019, while the number of 16 to 34-year-olds off work with long-term sickness because of a mental health condition is said to have grown rapidly in the same period.
Read full article.
Source: The Guardian, 3 December 2025
Mark Hughes

Doctors failed to tell father of seven he was terminally ill, investigation finds

A father of seven was not told he was terminally ill by doctors, who instead said he would be okay, an investigation has found.
William Chapman, known as Syd, only found out he had deadly pulmonary fibrosis when his GP, who thought he already knew the prognosis, mentioned it during a phone call.
He died eight months later.
An investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has found doctors at the Countess of Chester Hospital showed a "worrying lack of accountability" and failed to keep proper records, engage fully with Mr Chapman's family or learn from mistakes.
Read full article.
Source: Sky News, 4 December 2025.
Mark Hughes

Nearly 1 million ‘corridor care’ cases in past year

About one million A&E patients have been placed in corridors or similar “temporary” spaces over the past year, information obtained by HSJ reveals.
Sixty-six of England’s 118 acute trusts with accident and emergency departments responded to freedom of information requests for their record of how many times an A&E patient had been placed in a corridor or “temporary escalation space”.
The data released by hospital trusts gives the clearest picture yet of the scale of “corridor care” in crowded emergency departments – a practice labelled “unacceptable” by the government amid deep concerns over patient safety.
Read full article (paywalled).
Source: Health Service Journal, 4 December 2025
Related reading
Corridor care and patient safety
Mark Hughes

‘Sexual misconduct and blame culture’ found at hospital

Specialist medics in training have been removed from a hospital department after an NHS England investigation uncovered concerns about sexually inappropriate, undermining and aggressive behaviours.
Anaesthetic residents were removed from Basildon University Hospital — part of Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust — after NHS England’s workforce, training and education quality team inspected the trust and provided feedback to senior management over the summer.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 3 November 2025
Patient_Safety_Learning
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