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

Why GPs are using fewer physician associates

GPs are cutting back on the use of physician associates (PAs), polling suggests.
A new survey, conducted by the GP magazine Pulse, found that 21% of 425 GP networks in England said they had reduced PA numbers in the last year.
It comes after the Government-ordered Leng Review found PAs have been used as substitutes for doctors, despite having significantly less training.
One of the 18 recommendations in the review was that PAs be banned from seeing patients whom a medic has not reviewed to prevent the risk of “catastrophic” misdiagnoses.
Pulse said that the main reasons GPs gave for cutting back on PAs included: guidance from professional bodies; supervision demands; patient safety concerns and rising complaints.
One GP told Pulse: “We had a PA but now don’t use them because of the change in guidance.
“We can’t afford to pay someone with such limited scope.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 19 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Children’s supplement recalled over fears it contains prescription-only sleep drug

A health alert has been issued to parents over a brand of children’s magnesium gummies after batches were found to contain a prescription-only drug used to aid sleep.
Melatonin, which may cause drowsiness, headaches, dizziness and nausea, was detected in Kids Magnesium Glycinate Gummies made by Nutrition Ignition.
The synthetic hormone is not listed on the packaging of the raspberry-flavoured gummies.
Health chiefs have ordered the gummies to be removed from sale, working with online retailers to withdraw all listings.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has warned parents to stop giving them to children and to safely dispose of any left.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 19 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

NHS data reveals A&E ‘Uber ambulance crisis’ in England, say Lib Dems

Growing numbers of patients are making their own way to A&E instead of taking ambulances with nearly 2.7 million people taking alternative transport to emergency departments last year.
The figure is a 14% increase from 2.36 million in 2019 and highlights the number of people losing faith in ambulance services, the Liberal Democrats have said, after gathering the data from NHS trusts.
“These figures lay bare an Uber ambulance crisis, where people do not think they can rely on ambulance services even in the most serious of circumstances. This could have deadly consequences if people have lost faith that ambulances will be there when they need them,” said Helen Morgan MP, the Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson.
The Lib Dems called on the government to invest £50m each year into an emergency fund to ensure community ambulance stations do not close and to recruit and train paramedics.
The numbers of people taking taxis or other forms of transport to a hospital did rely on the severity of their condition. Code 1 incidents – the most severe category for those needing immediate medical attention – saw a 24% drop in the number of people arriving without an ambulance compared to 2019.
There was a rise however of 54% in code 2 incidents, where patients require urgent attention.
The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives said there can be times when it was appropriate for patients to make their own way to hospital, so that those with the most severe conditions could be prioritised.
“Current data proves that NHS ambulance services have never been busier answering 999 calls and responding to more patients than ever before, something that is testament to our incredibly hard-working frontline staff, as well as those handling the calls and dispatching the most appropriate clinical response to patients in greatest need,” said Anna Parry, the managing director of the AACE.
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Source: The Guardian, 18 August 2025
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Maternity services isolated from trust boards, watchdog warns

The safety watchdog has raised fresh concerns about NHS maternity services in a new review, warning that harm has been normalised within units that are working “in parallel” to trusts. 
The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) published an exploratory review of maternity and neonatal services today, based on work it has now paused while a national investigation, ordered by health secretary Wes Streeting, takes place.
The HSSIB review – intended to scope out areas to look at in more depth – was based on discussions with stakeholders and 35 cases where safety concerns were raised.
It found the clinical risks in maternity services were not always identified and responded to, with harm being “normalised” and sometimes being reported in a way that minimised life-threatening situations. 
The harm caused was also compounded by the trusts’ action after the event, which was sometimes defensive and concerned about litigation and reputation management.
The safety watchdog was told maternity services have a “mini governance” and “work in parallel to report to the board”, resulting in less scrutiny. It also found they sometimes “feel like separate organisations”, and recommend this is explored in more detail nationally.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 19 August 2025
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'Broken and burnt out': Nurse lifts lid on staffing at children's cancer unit

A whistleblower who resigned from the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children over staff shortages has said the system left her broken, disillusioned and burnt out.
Hannah Farrell, who left the Children's Cancer Unit in 2019, said the lack of support and management's failure to listen to her and other nurses led her to resign.
Parents of sick children and former staff members contacted BBC News NI after it was revealed more than half of the specialist nurse team at the cancer unit are currently off work, a problem that Ms Farrell said was not new.
In a statement, the Belfast Health Trust said there had been "significant investment" in the unit's service development in the last decade.
It added that this included "an increase across all nursing bands, and the development of specialist nursing roles".
The trust said it wanted to thank the "hard-working nurses" and wider staff at the unit for their work "particularly during times of pressure, to ensure the safe and timely care of our patients and the support they provide to families".
Ms Farrell said that for years maternity leave, long-term sickness and career breaks at the unit were not backfilled, meaning wards were insufficiently staffed.
She said that raised pressure on colleagues and had the potential to impact patients, but the issues were not addressed.
"When a ward goes into crisis like it did a few weeks ago, the trust takes nurses from other wards, which just puts a band aid on it," she said.
"It's a quick fix, all we've done is impact other wards negatively and we haven't fixed the problem."
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 18 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

RSNA AI challenge models can independently interpret mammograms

Algorithms submitted for an AI Challenge hosted by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) have shown excellent performance for detecting breast cancers on mammography images, increasing screening sensitivity while maintaining low recall rates, according to a study published today in Radiology, the premier journal of the RSNA.
The RSNA Screening Mammography Breast Cancer Detection AI Challenge was a crowdsourced competition that took place in 2023, with more than 1,500 teams participating. The Radiology article details an analysis of the algorithms’ performance, led by Yan Chen, Ph.D., a professor in cancer screening at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.
"We were overwhelmed by the volume of contestants and the number of AI algorithms that were submitted as part of the Challenge," Prof. Chen said. "It’s one of the most participated-in RSNA AI Challenges. We were also impressed by the performance of the algorithms given the relatively short window allowed for algorithm development and the requirement to source training data from open-sourced locations."
The goal of the Challenge was to source AI models that improve the automation of cancer detection in screening mammograms, helping radiologists work more efficiently, improving the quality and safety of patient care, and potentially reducing costs and unnecessary medical procedures.
RSNA invited participation from teams across the globe. Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and BreastScreen Victoria in Australia provided a training dataset of around 11,000 breast screening images, and Challenge participants could also source publicly available training data for their algorithms.
Prof. Chen’s research team evaluated 1,537 working algorithms submitted to the Challenge, testing them on a set of 10,830 single-breast exams - completely separate from the training dataset - that were confirmed by pathology results as positive or negative for cancer.
Altogether, the algorithms yielded median rates of 98.7% specificity for confirming no cancer was present on mammography images, 27.6% sensitivity for positively identifying cancer, and a recall rate - the percentage of the cases that AI judged positive - of 1.7%. When the researchers combined the top 3 and top 10 performing algorithms, it boosted sensitivity to 60.7% and 67.8%, respectively.
Read full story
Source: Digital Health News, 14 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Deadly ‘sloth virus’ detected in UK for first time as health watchdog issues urgent warning

A deadly malaria-like “sloth virus” has been detected in Britain for the first time, triggering a warning from the UK’s health watchdog to those with symptoms to seek urgent medical help.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data has revealed there were three cases of Oropouche virus reported in Britain between January and June this year.
The tropical disease is usually found in South America and can cause fevers, headaches, pain behind the eyes, and in rare instances lead to meningitis and death, the watchdog warned.
“If a person becomes unwell with symptoms such as high fever, chills, headache, joint pain and muscle aches following travel to affected areas, they should seek urgent medical advice,” the UKHSA warned.
All three cases were people who had returned to the UK after travelling abroad to Brazil after a surge of virus infections across the region.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 18 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Millions of people ‘could be denied weight-loss jabs due to flawed NHS guidance’

Millions of people could be denied access to treatments such as weight-loss jabs because of flawed NHS guidance, a major think tank has warned.
King’s Fund senior analyst Danielle Jefferies said Body Mass Index (BMI) measures, which are used to determine obesity levels, are primarily based on research for white European or American people.
That means they do not account for the inherited ethnic differences of people from Black, Asian, brown, dual heritage or indigenous ethnicities – differences that can mean some groups are more likely to develop some health conditions.
The 2021 census for England and Wales showed 1.3 million people listed themselves as “other” for their ethnic group, while 1.7 million people listed themselves in “mixed or multiple” categories.
Ms Jefferies said that meant the current BMI thresholds “potentially do not fully work for up to 3 million people in the UK”, meaning they could miss out on treatments because they have a lower BMI than is required for some treatments.
The warning comes as the NHS prepares to roll out access to weight-loss jab Mounjaro, to 250,000 patients a year over the next 12 years.
Access to Mounjaro is based on strict measures, including the stipulation that a person has a BMI of over 40. Other NHS treatments, such as IVF, bariatric surgery, and joint replacement surgery, are also managed based on a person’s BMI.
Currently, BMI guidelines for people from black, Asian and Middle Eastern backgrounds are lowered to account for health risks that occur at a lower BMI than for white people. But it is not clear if the same is not done for those in these mixed heritage groups.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 18 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

NHS to use AI technology to help free up hospital beds

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is being piloted to help free up NHS hospital beds being used by people who are fit to be sent home, officials have said.
A new platform, currently being trialled by Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust, uses AI to help fill out the documents needed to discharge a patient - potentially saving hours of delays.
The tool extracts information such as diagnoses and test results from medical records, helping staff to draft discharge summaries, which must be completed before a person is sent home from the hospital.
The document is then reviewed by healthcare professionals responsible for the patient and used to send them home or refer them to other services.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said the technology will allow doctors to spend less time on paperwork and more time on patient care, cutting waiting times in the process.
Read full story
Source: Sky News, 16 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Disabled by a drug, ignored by ministers, these children are abandoned

Catherine McNamara had to carry her son, Sebastian, in her arms for years. He was born with a curved spine and deformed limbs, making each step difficult. His disabilities were caused by sodium valproate, an anti-epilepsy drug she took while pregnant. It also left him with numerous learning difficulties.
In 2022, McNamara told The Sunday Times how every day was a struggle: “I’m not able to invest in myself, a career. I can’t buy a house. Just to meet everyday expenses is difficult because I can’t go out and get a job.”
Like thousands of mothers with valproate-affected children she wanted help for hers and to know they would get the care they needed throughout their life.
Three years on there has been silence from the government over whether it will compensate families harmed by valproate, a drug given to women for decades despite known risks that it could damage their unborn babies.
England’s patient safety commissioner, Dr Henrietta Hughes, submitted a detailed report to ministers on how a compensation scheme could work 18 months ago. It, too, has been met with silence.
Hughes has demanded action on her report. “It should not take the government this long to respond. Every day’s delay intensifies the harm caused to these patients who have been harmed by the healthcare system,” she said.
Calls for compensation have also been backed by MPs from across the Commons. More than 100 parliamentary questions have been submitted on the topic since Hughes’s report.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: The Times, 17 August 2025
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Patients in England given more access to crucial health checks out of hours

Patients in England now have greater access to important tests such as MRI scans and endoscopies in the evenings and weekends, the government has said, after increasing the number of community diagnostic centres (CDCs) offering out of hours services.
There are 170 CDCs operating in England, which are often in shopping centres, football stadiums and on university campuses. Patients can access them through a referral from their GP or clinical teams at hospitals.
The government has revealed that 100 CDCs are open 12 hours a day, seven days a week – an increase of 37 CDCs with such opening hours compared with July 2024 – with the hope that the service will allow patients greater and speedier access to diagnosis.
The move to provide more convenient care is part of the government’s plan for change which, it says, aims to transform healthcare and make the NHS fit for the future, with an expansion of community-based services a key part of the approach.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said: “This government is determined to offer healthcare that fits around working people’s lives and not the other way around.
“From early morning MRI scans to late evening blood tests, we’re meeting patients where they need it most by extending the operating hours for community diagnostic centres and putting patients first.”
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 18 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Campaigners against care failings at three trusts will help scope national investigation

Three large teaching trusts are highly likely to be included in a government-commissioned “investigation” of NHS maternity and neonatal care after those campaigning for improvements at the organisations were included in the group establishing its terms of reference.    
The government announced on Thursday that Baroness Valerie Amos will lead the previously announced “independent” probe into 10 services across the country.
The announcement said: “The 10 maternity and neonatal units will be decided by Baroness Amos and her team, alongside the terms of reference of the investigation.”
It added that these were “being developed with the families who have experiences of maternity and neonatal care, including those in Leeds, Sussex, Nottingham and more”.
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, and University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust have all been involved in recent maternity and neonatal scandals.
The Department of Health and Social Care said Baroness Amos was selected after bereaved families said they wanted someone with distance from the NHS to lead the probe. The investigation will make recommendations to improve care and safety by looking into systemic problems dating back over 15 years.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 15 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

US health department reinstates task force on safer childhood vaccines

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Thursday it is reinstating a federal task force for safer childhood vaccines after 27 years.
The original task force was created by Congress under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 to improve the safety, quality and oversight of vaccines administered to American children. It was disbanded in 1998 and has been inactive ever since.
HHS said the task force will be led by Jay Bhattacharya, the National Institutes of Health director, and represented by senior leaders of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read full article
Source: Reuters, 14 August 2025
Mark Hughes

Board director ‘talent pipeline’ needs ‘refreshing’, claims NHS England

NHS England is launching a recruitment campaign to attract trust and integrated care board non-executive directors (NEDs) in the face of an increasing number of retirements and resignations.
A tender notice published by NHS England says the service has “experienced difficulty in recruiting NEDs” and therefore needs to “refresh” its “talent pipeline”.
It adds this is particularly important as “a large number of NEDs are coming to the end of their terms of office”, while others are “stepping down” for other reasons.
Read full article (Paywalled).
Source: Health Service Journal, 15 August 2025
Mark Hughes

AI designs antibiotics for gonorrhoea and MRSA superbugs

Artificial intelligence has invented two new potential antibiotics that could kill drug-resistant gonorrhoea and MRSA, researchers have revealed.
The drugs were designed atom-by-atom by the AI and killed the superbugs in laboratory and animal tests. The two compounds still need years of refinement and clinical trials before they could be prescribed.
Researchers have previously used AI to trawl through thousands of known chemicals in an attempt to identify ones with potential to become new antibiotics. Now, the MIT team have gone one step further by using generative AI to design antibiotics in the first place for the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea and for potentially-deadly MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
Read full article.
Source: BBC News, 14 August 2025
Mark Hughes

Government works with TikTok to help safety for treatments abroad

Patients who use social media to help plan cosmetic procedures will now be able to access more reliable trustworthy information thanks to a landmark new initiative between the government and TikTok. 
More people are using social media apps like TikTok to research potentially risky operations - like hair transplants and dental work - abroad as they are often cheaper or more readily available than in the UK but are often presented with slick marketing campaigns that do not highlight the dangers of the surgery.  
To help keep these patients informed, TikTok and the government have partnered with medical influencers, like Midwife Marley and Doc Tally to create content to show the risks, help carry out thorough research and provides advice on how to make trips as safe as possible.
The Foreign Office will also provide more detailed travel advice for those seeking to travel abroad for ‘tweakments.’
Read full article.
Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 15 August 2025
Related reading: Crackdown on unsafe cosmetic procedures to protect the public
Mark Hughes
Registered address: Patient Safety Learning, China Works SB203, 100 Black Prince Road Vauxhall, London, SE1 7SJ

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