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

Patients whose lives were ruined after being ‘needlessly given cancer drug for years’ sue NHS trust

More than 20 patients who say their quality of life was wrecked when they were needlessly given a highly toxic cancer drug are suing the NHS trust involved.
Some people were prescribed temozolomide – which should normally be used for only six months – for more than a decade during treatment by the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.
They say the overprescribing left them with side-effects including secondary cancers and crippling fatigue.
Earlier this year the Care Quality Commission was looking into at least 14 cases, but lawyers say more are emerging all the time. An investigation by lawyers Brabners found that, over the past two decades, numerous patients with brain and spinal tumours under the care of Professor Ian Brown were routinely exposed to prolonged and in some cases “unnecessary” use of the chemotherapy drug, which has severe side-effects including extreme fatigue, confusion, sickness and seizures.
Read full article.
Source: The Independent, 6 August 2025
Mark Hughes

UK warned it risks exodus of 'disillusioned' doctors

Nearly one in five doctors is considering quitting in the UK, new figures show, while one in eight is thinking about leaving the country to work abroad.
The General Medical Council (GMC), which commissioned the research, is warning that plans to cut hospital waiting lists will be at risk unless more is done to retain them.
The main reason doctors gave for considering moving abroad was they are "treated better" in other countries, while the second most common reason was better pay.
Some 43% said they had researched career opportunities in other countries, while 15% reported taking "hard steps" towards moving abroad, like applying for roles or contacting recruiters.
Read full story.
Source: Sky News, 7 August 2025
Mark Hughes

Crackdown on unsafe cosmetic procedures to protect the public

New measures to crack down on cowboy cosmetic procedures that have left people maimed, injured and in need of urgent NHS care will be introduced by the UK Government.  
Only qualified healthcare professionals will be able to perform the highest risk procedures – such as non-surgical Brazilian Butt Lifts. 
Other lower risk cosmetic treatments - including Botox, lip fillers and facial dermal fillers - will also come under stricter oversight through a new local authority licensing system. Practitioners will be required to meet rigorous safety, training, and insurance standards before they can legally operate.  Once regulations are introduced, practitioners who break the rules on the highest risk procedures will be subject to CQC enforcement and financial penalties.
The planned crackdown follows a series of incidents where people have had high-risk treatments from people with little or no medical training, leading to dangerous complications, permanent scarring and even death. These new rules will seek to protect people from unqualified, rogue operators and reduce the cost to the NHS of fixing botched procedures.  This follows growing alarm over unqualified individuals performing invasive treatments in unsafe environments—including homes, hotels, and pop-up clinics. Many of these procedures are marketed as non-surgical but, in reality, are invasive and carry serious risks.  
The new regulations will be subject to public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny before they are introduced.  
Read the full press release.
Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 7 August 2025
Mark Hughes

Surgeon struck off after patients left in agony

A surgeon who performed unnecessary bowel operations using artificial mesh on more than 200 patients - leaving dozens in agony - has been struck off.
In two separate tribunals, Tony Dixon was found to have performed operations on five patients without obtaining or documenting informed consent and that one of these procedures was not clinically indicated and that he failed to provide post operative care.
Mr Dixon denied the allegations at the two tribunals, in 2024 and this year.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service ordered for Dixon to be removed from the medical register. The tribunal report said he "demonstrated a persistent lack of insight into the seriousness of his actions".
This was the case "not only for patients and colleagues, but also for public confidence in the medical profession", it said.
Mr Dixon, a fully registered doctor of 41 years, was also found to have dishonestly created patient records long after he was involved in their care.
A former patient of Dixon, who was found to have had an unnecessary operation but wishes to remain anonymous, said they were "delighted" with the outcome.
"It's been just such a long time, he's harmed so many people.
"He shouldn't be allowed to do it to anyone else, so being struck off is amazing.
"It should have happened a long time ago. To get that result is brilliant."
Read full story
Source: BBC News, 6 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

AI catches one-third of interval breast cancers missed at screening

An AI algorithm for breast cancer screening has potential to enhance the performance of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), reducing interval cancers by up to one-third, according to a study published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Interval breast cancers - symptomatic cancers diagnosed within a period between regular screening mammography exams - tend to have poorer outcomes due to their more aggressive biology and rapid growth. DBT, or 3D mammography, can improve visualization of breast lesions and reveal cancers that may be obscured by dense tissue. Because DBT is relatively new as an advanced screening technology, long-term data on patient outcomes are limited in institutions that have not transitioned to DBT until recently.
"Given the lack of long-term data on breast cancer-related mortality measured over 10 or more years following the initiation of DBT screening, the interval cancer rate was often used as a surrogate marker," explained study author Manisha Bahl, M.D., M.P.H., breast imaging division quality director and co-service chief at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. "Lowering this rate is assumed to reduce breast cancer-related morbidity and mortality."
In a study of 1,376 cases, Dr. Bahl and her colleagues retrospectively analysed 224 interval cancers in 224 women who had undergone DBT screening. On those DBT exams, the AI algorithm (Lunit INSIGHT DBT v1.1.0.0) correctly localized 32.6% (73/224) of cancers that were previously undetected.
"My team and I were surprised to find that nearly one-third of interval cancers were detected and correctly localized by the AI algorithm on screening mammograms that had been interpreted as negative by radiologists, highlighting AI’s potential as a valuable second reader," Dr. Bahl said.
Read full story
Source: Digital Health News, 1 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

‘Unjust’ NHS ethnic pay gap to be reviewed

A long-awaited review into “unjust and unfair” pay disparities between white and minority ethnic staff across the NHS has been launched. 
The NHS Race and Health Observatory has commissioned the first-ever study of the issue. The project will be carried out in partnership with the University of Surrey.
It will examine differences in pay, career progression, and pension contributions - as well as the potential impact on cumulative financial earnings - between staff from different ethnic backgrounds.
The review will also explore the potential explanations for any differences and make recommendations to “reduce and eliminate unwarranted inequalities where they are found to exist”, the RHO has said.
The final report is due in December 2026.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 6 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Thousands of patients miss out on weight loss jab due to NHS ‘postcode lottery’

Thousands of obese patients are missing out on a key weight loss jab due to a “postcode lottery” of provision in the NHS, according to a report.
Mounjaro, dubbed the “King Kong” of weight loss medicine, was supposed to be available through GP surgeries from 23 June under an agreement between NHS England and NICE.
But just eight out of 42 NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in England were able to provide treatment to patients, according to Sky News, who obtained the data using a Freedom of Information request. Many other ICBs were reportedly unable to confirm when treatment would be available.
Dr Jonathan Hazlehurst, an endocrinologist and obesity physician at University Hospitals Birmingham, said patients were “set up for failure” and have been treated unfairly.
"Giving people open promises and setting them up for disappointment and failure is clearly grossly unfair. That's what the current system is doing,” he told the broadcaster.
NICE said in December that the NHS should offer Mounjaro to patients with a BMI of over 40 and at least four clinical conditions related to their weight, such as heart disease or type 2 diabetes.
It calculated from NHS England data that there were 97,500 patients who should be treated in the first year.
But Dr Hazlehurst claims NHS England has only provided funding for just over 22,000 patients.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 5 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

NHS issues vaccination warning for pregnant women over dangerous virus currently surging in Australia

Expectant mothers and people over 75 are being urged to get vaccinated against a potentially deadly virus following a record number of cases in Australia.
Health chiefs say the Australian winter often predicts how viruses will spread in the UK, and already this year cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have steadily risen in many areas.
The virus, which is a common cause of coughs and colds, may also cause a chest infection called bronchiolitis.
Some people have a high risk of becoming seriously ill with it, including babies and adults over 75.
According to NHS England, RSV is a leading cause of infant deaths worldwide and a main cause of children being taken into hospital.
NHS England is encouraging pregnant women to get a jab that protects against RSV so their babies are protected after birth.
Kate Brintworth, chief midwifery officer for NHS England, said: “While for most adults RSV only causes mild, cold-like symptoms, for older adults and young children it can lead to serious breathing problems that can end up in hospitalisation.
“Getting vaccinated while pregnant is the best way to protect your baby from the moment they are born, and now is the time for mums to act, to make sure their babies are protected ahead of their first few months this winter, when there tends to be more bugs circulating.”
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 5 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Suicidal teen warned mental health hospital staff ‘slept on shifts’ and urged ‘shut this place down’

A suicidal teenager revealed that staff “slept on shifts” and said the scandal-hit mental health hospital she was being held in should be “shut down” in a note she wrote before her death, an inquest has heard.
Ruth Szymankiewicz, 14, died on 14 February 2022 after she was left alone at Huntercombe Hospital, near Maidenhead in Berkshire, despite requiring constant one-to-one observation, Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court was told.
In the 15 minutes she was left alone, Ruth, who had an eating disorder, made her way to her room, where she self-harmed. She was found and resuscitated before being transferred to hospital, but died two days later from a brain injury.
In a note written before she died, which was read aloud on Tuesday at the inquest into her death, Ruth said there was a lack of therapy at the hospital, which she said had an “unsafe number of staff”.
On Monday, the court heard that the support worker responsible for monitoring Ruth was working under a false identity and had completed just a day or a day and a half of online training the day before his first shift at the children’s psychiatric hospital.
Evidence presented at the inquest also revealed that on the day of Ruth’s death, he was working on another ward in the hospital, but had been assigned to Ruth as Thames Ward, where she was being cared for, was short-staffed.
Read full story
Source: The Independent, 5 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Schools and hospitals ‘very likely’ to be hacked

Britain’s schools and hospitals are “very likely” to suffer a “large-scale loss or hijack” of their websites, the government has admitted.
Officials have said that the internet domains of public sector websites are particularly vulnerable to being exploited by “hostile actors”.
A hack could lead to a “significant loss of information and reputation”, officials concluded.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) also said it was “likely” not to be prepared for a significant cyberattack that could “potentially contribute to a national crisis”.
The NHS has faced a series of damaging cyberattacks. Last year, doctors at two big hospital trusts in London were forced to cancel all elective inpatient procedures and admissions after a lab that processes pathology tests was hacked.
Richard Horne, the chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, wrote in a letter to The Times in May that organisations “must operate in a way that minimises the risks”, adding that freely available advice is “not being followed nearly enough across the UK”.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: The Times, 3 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

We will no longer tolerate ‘negative behaviours’, pledges ICB

An integrated care board has apologised to staff and pledged to no longer tolerate a range of “negative behaviours” identified by a report into the organisation’s culture. 
The report into management behaviour at Kent and Medway ICB, obtained by HSJ, reveals staff were reluctant to speak up due to the “perceived futility or fear of consequences”. Executives were perceived as “defensive, remote, and closed-off” by staff, while poor behaviour often remained “unaddressed” or was met with “a lack of action”.
The report added this had led to “colleagues avoiding direct challenge and relying on processes such as the [Freedom to Speak Up] Guardian, even when these methods are not appropriate or best suited to addressing these issues”. 
The ICB commissioned consultancies Kaleidoscope Health and Care and Absolute Diversity to conduct a joint review last November, following concerns expressed in internal staff surveys and FTSU Guardian reports. These included “differential and poorer” work experience for staff with a protected characteristic and low morale.
The report identified “a number of significant and widespread cultural challenges”. These included:
A “loss of civility” in parts of the organisation, particularly between some staff and executives; Senior leaders of band 8 and above felt “disempowered, deskilled and devalued by executives, with excessive decision escalation and micromanagement hindering their ability”; and Executive team members “publicly disagreed with and undermined collective decisions”, leading to inconsistent briefing of teams on executive decisions. Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 5 August 2025
Patient Safety Learning

‘Growing cultural tension’ could turn hospital’s staff against leaders

A hospital has uncovered concerns about “toxic behaviours” and racism, and been warned that “growing cultural tension” could turn “staff against each other or against leadership”.
The review was ordered by Medway Foundation Trust after it identified concerns about culture and potential racism and bias. Staff at Medway Maritime Hospital also reported increasing violence and aggression from patients and relatives.
The resulting report – by a company called Absolute Diversity – details concerns around bullying, toxic behaviour and discrimination. It also found some signs of hope, however, with a sense of pride among staff and a commitment to patient care.
It called on the trust to make it safe to speak up, review staff experience of employee relations processes, and increase leadership accountability and clarity with “clear expectations for leadership behaviours”.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 5 September 2025
Patient Safety Learning

Great Ormond Street Hospital surgeons forced to use mobile phone torches during surgery after power cut

Surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for children were forced to use mobile phone torches during an operation due to a power outage, the NHS’s safety watchdog has found.
The leading children’s hospital has faced ongoing concerns over the maintenance of its estate and operating theatres, which have led to water leaks and power outages, according to a report by the Care Quality Commission.
The CQC warned of “recurrent” problems, including a power outage during spinal surgery and ventilation failures.
Read full story
Source: The Guardian, 4 August 2025
Sam

New support helps parents cope with ICU trauma

Charlotte Creevy's son Seth was two weeks old when he stopped breathing and was rushed to intensive care at a London hospital.
"What kept going through my mind was, 'Is he going to live or die?'"
Charlotte said Seth had contracted three viruses and needed respiratory support.
Thankfully Seth recovered and returned home after being treated at the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington for three weeks in October 2022.
Now a "first of its kind" support service by the charity Cosmic is being rolled out at the hospital to help parents like Charlotte cope with the trauma of experiencing their child going into intensive care.
"It was awful. I would cry because it was hard not knowing what would happen to Seth," Charlotte added.
"I was only two weeks postpartum after an emergency C-section, so I was physically not in a good way anyway."
Chief executive of Cosmic, Susannah Forland said "things like the beeping of a fridge can trigger trauma or flashbacks".
She added: "The impact can be long-lasting and far-reaching after the families return home.
"Our service will bridge the gap between hospital and home, providing a vital safety net during one of the most emotionally vulnerable times in a parent's life."
Research at St Mary's Hospital found that early intervention helped reduce symptoms of PTSD and other long-term mental health issues among parents, following their child's discharge from intensive care.
After a successful pilot, Cosmic is funding and delivering the post-PICU service on a permanent basis.
It involves providing parents with a booklet containing information and coping mechanisms, a follow-up telephone call by trained staff, and ongoing referral for counselling where needed.
Read full story 
Source: BBC News, 5 August 2025
Further reading on hub:
How a charity in France is supporting intensive care units: An interview with Anne-Sophie Debue
 
Sam

NHS in England told to keep Welsh patients waiting

NHS patients from Wales who need knee and hip operations in England face lengthy delays after a health board asked English hospitals to copy Wales' longer waiting times.
Powys health board announced the change as it could not afford the cost of how quickly operations over the border were being carried out, but patients have said they were not informed.
Mel Wallace, 59, from Howey, Powys, was initially told she would have a 12-month wait for her hip replacement, but now faces another 45-week wait after already waiting 59 weeks.
Health board chief executive Hayley Thomas said people in the area "should be treated in the same timeframe as residents of anywhere else in Wales".
Read full story 
Source: BBC News, 4 August 2025
Sam

Quarter of a million NHS Scotland patient falls in 5 years

New figures reveal it is becoming more likely for NHS Scotland patients to fall as a quarter of a million incidents are recorded in just five years. 
There were least 266,573 patient falls between 2019 and 2024, according to Freedom of Information data obtained by the Labour Party. When incidents in 2025 were included, this number rose to 282,385. 
With nine out of 14 health boards reporting an increase, the figures suggest that patients are becoming more likely to fall.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: The Herald
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