Patient Safety Learning

Pregnant women were put at “unacceptable risk” by a service which was “deviat[ing] from guidelines”, had poor “surgical competency”, and was over-reliant on a single consultant at “significant risk of burnout”. Independent experts identified an “overuse” of a surgical procedure, a lack of guidance around scans, and risks posed by a single consultant running high-risk perinatal care at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust. NHS England requested a review of the trust’s fetal medicine service early last year following a spate of rapid reviews raising concerns about ultrasounds and preterm clinical pathways. HSJ has now obtained a copy of the 2025 report, which was led by Birmingham Women’s Hospital consultant Leo Gurney, via a Freedom of Information request. It said: “There was evidence of unacceptable patient risk within the preterm birth prevention service, particularly concerning cervical cerclage insertion, with deviations from guidelines and a lack of senior oversight and adherence to multi-disciplinary team processes.” The review said there appeared to be an “overuse” of cervical stitches – which are meant to be used to prevent premature labour where it is a risk – that could “contribute to high surgical complexity”. Other risks from the procedure include infection or the potential to induce labour. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 10 July 2026

The share of patients reporting a good experience when contacting their GP practice has increased for the second year running, while the number going online has increased, new figures show. However, the annual GP patient survey – contrary to other research – suggested many more are still relying on the phone rather than websites or the NHS App. Results published on Thursday of the large national survey found 72.6% of respondents said their experience of contacting their practice was “very good” or “fairly good” – up from 69.6% in 2025. The survey question was revised in 2024 from asking about “making an appointment” to “contacting your GP practice”. The survey, carried out by Ipsos for NHS England, ran between January and April, with more than 650,000 respondents from a random sample of those who use GP services. 54% per cent said they had used the phone to contact their practice on their most recent attempt – down steeply from 62% in 2025 and 68 per cent in 2024. Meanwhile, 31% had used the GP practice’s website or the NHS App, up from 22% in 2025 and 17% in 2024. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 July 2026

A royal college has added to concerns that a shift in NHS funding to expand “neighbourhood” care risks undermining “safe, sustainable hospital services”. The Royal College of Physicians issued its statement in response to a HSJ interview with Shane DeGaris, chief executive of Barts Health Trust, who warned against “top slicing” acute budgets for neighbourhood schemes when “the work still comes to hospitals”. The RCP said that while it supports the potential to move services closer to home, “it must be underpinned by adequate investment, workforce capacity and clear plans to maintain safe hospital services during the transition”. Shifting care out of hospitals without the right infrastructure, specialist input and capacity in community services “risks increasing pressure elsewhere in the NHS, rather than delivering the integrated, patient-centred care that patients need”, it argued. The Department of Health and Social Care has previously said it is up to integrated care boards to shape service transformation in their area. RCP’s clinical vice president Hilary Williams said: “The key challenge is not whether we shift care closer to home, but how we do it. Any transfer of funding or workforce must be accompanied by realistic transition arrangements, investment in community capacity, interoperable digital systems and a clear plan for maintaining safe acute care.”

A manager at the mental health trust at the centre of a public inquiry has said concerns she raised before the death of a patient were not acted on. Chloe Cawston was giving evidence to the Lampard Inquiry, which is examining the deaths of more than 2,000 patients who received care from mental health services in Essex between 2000 and the end of 2023. Cawston was a ward manager at Basildon Mental Health Unit when 28-year-old Bethany Lilley died in January 2019. The inquiry heard she had raised concerns about patient transfer procedures before and after Bethany's death. Asked whether any action had been taken before she died, Cawston replied: "Not that I can recall." Bethany was found unresponsive after being transferred to Basildon. The inquiry heard the ward did not receive all the relevant paperwork or case notes and there was not an appropriate handover between hospitals. Cawston told the inquiry she had been a registered mental health nurse since 2011 and became a ward manager at Basildon in 2018. During her evidence, she also accepted there had not always been enough beds for people in mental health crisis. "Nationally there's been a shortage of mental health beds," she said. She told the inquiry that if no bed was available, a plan would be put in place for a patient to attend A&E if they needed immediate help. Cawston said if someone left A&E before a bed became available, staff would try to contact them and alert police if necessary. Asked about ward culture, she said staff falling asleep at work had been "a feature throughout her whole career", although it was less common now. She also accepted that risk assessments before patients went on leave had not always been carried out properly. Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 July 2026

An NHS consultant doctor has been struck off after it emerged he failed to disclose 14 convictions from Australia, including stalking and threatening to kill his victim. Dr Salah-ud-Din Taj had claimed that the offences were not "serious" enough to mention when he applied to work in the UK. Dr Taj, who qualified from the University of the Punjab in Pakistan in 1996, worked as a Medical Registrar in Australia between 2007 and 2017. During this period, he was convicted of 14 offences over four months, including stalking and threatening to kill, at the Magistrates Court of Victoria in Melbourne. He received a one-year community correction order, which included 150 hours of unpaid work and supervision. When applying for registration to work as a doctor in the UK, Dr Taj "dishonestly" ticked the 'no' box regarding previous convictions on his forms. In 2019, he lied again to North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust to secure himself a job. He later claimed that he thought the stalking conviction “was not serious” and was therefore “filterable” and did not need to be declared. Dr Taj said that he did not declare the conviction because it “had not involved any physical element, did not touch upon his clinical practice and did not result in a custodial sentence”. His prior convictions were discovered by the General Medical Council (GMC) and an investigation was launched into the doctor. In the course of the investigation, it was also discovered that Dr Taj had been dishonest about practicing in Australia exclusively between 2007 and 2017, as he took breaks and also went to Pakistan. A panel from the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service found that Dr Taj could not remain on the register after lying about his convictions. Read full story Source: The Independent, 9 July 2026

Patients with lung disease suffered harm or died after treatment was repeatedly delayed or replaced with alternatives which had no evidence base, an independent review has found. The Royal College of Physicians was commissioned by Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals Trust to review the care of 30 patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) treated by Veronica Varney, a former consultant respiratory physician. It found the majority of patients came to moderate harm or worse, with failures including delayed referrals, keeping patients on clinical trials after they were halted and prescribing treatments with no evidence base for the condition. The 30 affected patients are a sample of 216 patients with ILD, which the trust previously found received poor care. Many of these patients have since died. The review graded 12 cases as causing “severe clinical harm” and three as resulting in death. The review found that Dr Varney “initiated non-evidence-based and off-label treatments for ILD”, including advising patients to avoid covid and flu vaccines and rapeseed oil, and prescribing medications not intended for ILD. It said treatment decisions “were not consistently supported by clinical guidelines and were not always clearly documented as having been discussed with the patient or colleagues”. Dr Varney was “reportedly instructed to cease non-evidence-based ILD treatments”, but the practice continued. “The lack of monitoring at this point was a missed opportunity to ensure compliance and patient safety,” the report said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 July 2026

A German palliative care doctor has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing 15 of his patients. A court in Berlin found the 41-year-old man, named only as Johannes M. in line with German privacy rules, guilty of murdering 12 women and 3 men between September 2021 and July 2024. The authorities believe these killings could be just the tip of the iceberg. Prosecutors are currently investigating dozens of other incidents involving the doctor. His victims were between the ages of 25 and 94. The court heard how they were all critically ill, but that their deaths were not imminent. Prosecutors said that during home visits, the doctor administered a lethal combination of various medicines without his patients' consent. On several occasions, they said he set fires to cover his tracks. In July 2024, shortly before his arrest, prosecutors said the doctor killed two patients in a single day - a 75-year-old man at his home in central Berlin and, a few hours later, a 76-year-old woman in a neighbouring district. They said the doctor tried to set fire to the woman's house, but failed. For much of the trial, which has gone on for about a year, the doctor said nothing. But last month, he confessed to having "killed people," twelve of his severely ill patients. He told the court he had convinced himself that he was doing the right thing, sparing them "suffering and infirmity". Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 July 2026

An average of 80,000 people visited A&E every day last month for the first time ever in June, as record temperatures hit the UK. The NHS has said it is under just as much pressure as in winter and staff are facing an “onslaught of demand” amid heatwaves and the World Cup. Average daily A&E attendances reached 81,264 for the first time ever in June - setting a new daily attendance record. NHS national medical director Professor Frankie Swords said: “These figures show that summer is now putting the NHS under just as much pressure as winter, with staff facing an onslaught of demand – and we have to prepare for it in the same way. “What we’re seeing on the ground is really busy Mondays following weekends of football and sunshine, so please don’t delay coming forward for care when you need it, even if it’s in early hours on a weekend. “In the continuing warm weather, please take precautions like staying hydrated, and check in on loved ones or those who are vulnerable, and as always, please dial 999 in an emergency, and otherwise use 111.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 9 July 2026

Large acute trusts are shouldering unreasonable risk because their funding has been “top sliced” to pay for “well meaning” but unproven “neighbourhood health” schemes, a leading London CEO has told HSJ. Shane DeGaris, of Barts Health Trust, said the financial transition to realise the hospital-to-community “shift” was currently “not clear”, and much of the risk was with with hospital providers. Mr DeGaris said his £2.7bn organisation was “supportive” of neighbourhood health, and in “live discussions” on how responsibility for it can be divided up in North East London. But in an interview with HSJ, he warned his and other acutes were facing potential deficits, with the funding regime becoming “increasingly bad” for them. Mr DeGaris said his trust “fully supports” the shift of services from hospital to community, but added: “There’s going to be a huge chunk of work still going to be required to do in hospitals… “[We need to make sure] all the stranded costs aren’t there for the hospitals in a world where accountability now is all about individual trusts. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 July 2026

Staff could face the sack or even time in prison if they access patient records without a legitimate reason, Sir Jim Mackey has warned. In a letter to hospital and regional leaders today, the NHS England chief executive called on boards to put a “renewed focus” on educating staff and implementing a “tough approach” in response to staff who “breach patient trust in this way”. HSJ revealed in June that multiple hospital staff had viewed medical records of Southport attack survivors without clinical reason in 2024 – resulting in allegations of a “cover up” and with no clear firm disciplinary action having been taken. Also in June, Nottingham University Hospitals announced it was sacking 11 staff for snooping on records after three people were killed in a stabbing in 2023. HSJ has revealed thousands of other similar concerns have been reported nationally, and that Cambridge University Hospitals has recently sacked staff. Sir Jim’s letter said: “There can be no place in the NHS for those who misuse patient information. Patient trust in our handling of their most sensitive data cannot be taken for granted and it is therefore critical that we both educate staff and take a hard line when their access to records falls below the standards we expect. “Anyone considering accessing records for personal reasons or out of curiosity should be in no doubt they could be putting their career at risk, and may face disciplinary action, dismissal, referral to the regulator or even time in prison.” NHSE has also published staff guidance and launched a campaign to remind them “of the law and the potential impact” of snooping. The headline messaging warns: “Don’t let curiosity kill your career.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 8 July 2026