Patient Safety Learning

Of those attending primary care each year, 25%–30% have respiratory tract infections and 10% of women have urinary tract infections. In secondary care, at any given time, antibiotics are prescribed to 34% of inpatients and over 20% of bed days in 2023-24 were attributable to infectious disease or infections, at a cost to the NHS of £5.9 billion. In the UK in 2019 there were 87,500 deaths involving bacterial infection, second only to ischaemic heart disease in burden. Of those deaths, 35,200 were associated with AMR; for comparison, there were 15,300 deaths from breast cancer. AMR leads to treatment failure, resulting in repeat GP appointments, A&E conveyances, hospital admissions, intensive care unit admissions, extended length-of-stay and higher morbidity and mortality for patients. AMR poses a strategic threat to achievement of trust and ICB core objectives: to improve patients’ access to general practice; to reduce the time people wait for elective care; and to improve A&E waiting times and ambulance response times.

Seriously ill children are being denied the chance to die at home because the NHS in many parts of England is flouting its legal duty to provide the care needed to make that happen, critics say. The widespread failure to provide at-home end-of-life care is forcing children who want to die at home to instead do so in hospital. Campaigners have described it as “cruel”. The postcode lottery in palliative care means some of the almost 89,000 under-19s in England who have a life-limiting condition may not get their wish to die at home. Medical advances mean their numbers have almost trebled since 2003-04, and the complexities of their illnesses have increased. About 1,600 die each year. Nick Carroll, the chief executive of the charity Together for Short Lives, said: “It is shocking that children with serious illnesses are waiting to leave hospital because the health and care system is not taking responsibility for their community care. To deny families the chance to spend precious moments together at home before their child dies is simply cruel.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 September 2026

An ambulance trust waited nearly two months before informing victims of the 2024 Southport attack that their patient records may have been accessed inappropriately by staff, HSJ has discovered. North West Ambulance Service Trust began a formal investigation into potential breaches of privacy in May after HSJ revealed that University Hospitals of Liverpool Group had discovered 48 staff had accessed the records of Southport victims. By 20 May, NWAS had identified 14 staff whose accessing of the records of 13 patients might not have been justified. The trust alerted the Information Commissioner’s Office to the potential breaches on 6 July. HSJ has obtained the trust’s communications with the regulator. It said “FOIs, public investigations and press release[s]” about unauthorised access over the Southport attack had “prompted a review” of its own systems. The claim was made despite evidence that NWAS became aware in early 2025 that its staff might also have breached patient confidentiality. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 2 September 2026

One of the webinars at Patient Partnership Week 2026 explored a question that will only become more critical as AI develops further in healthcare. Why does patient trust matter so much to how technology and data are used in healthcare? The panel’s answer kept arriving at the same conclusion: trust is not a barrier to good data use, but it is what makes data use sustainable. View the webinar recording and read a summary of the session.

More than a third of sexual misconduct complaints made against doctors at tribunals come from their colleagues, new data indicate. Figures from the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) show that it handled 48 cases involving sexual misconduct allegations against doctors in 2025. Of these, 37.5% of allegations were made by a healthcare colleague, and 35.4% were allegations involving patients. Overall, the MPTS considered 270 cases in 2025 during 150 hearings. Allegations of dishonesty (27.4%) were most common, followed by cases involving sexual misconduct (17.8%). Other types of cases involved clinical concerns, doctors who do not recognise that they have an adverse health condition impairing their fitness to practise, violent or abusive behaviour, substance misuse, and discrimination. The new data relate to all types of allegations heard by MPTS tribunals. Not all the allegations will have been proved, as tribunals make independent decisions based on the evidence presented. The MPTS said that in some cases doctors may have faced allegations made by more than one person, covering more than one category. Fiona Monk, MPTS chair, said, “These figures paint a deeply concerning picture for those working in healthcare. Healthcare professionals should be free to do their jobs without fear of becoming a target of sexual misconduct. “I know concerns have been raised about how some of these cases have been handled. I have had many conversations with those raising concerns, which have shown me that we all share the desire to root out sexual misconduct across the healthcare system.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 28 August 2026

Nurses are expected to practise patient safety—to escalate, document, report and speak up—yet few are ever explicitly taught how. After more than 13 years across clinical, governance, consulting and patient safety roles, Aderonke Opawande kept hearing the same sentence from colleagues: "I just thought you were supposed to know." In this blog, she shares the research she carried out with 50 practising nurses across several countries, which confirmed the gap was systemic rather than personal, and explains why it led her to write the Patient Safety 101 Suite: six practical resources covering foundation of patient safety, escalation, internationally educated nurses, preceptorship, second victim support and organisational learning. Aderonke has also shared a free CLEAR™ escalation quick-reference tool attached at the end of the blog for staff to print, laminate and use on the ward.

When people talk about emergency preparation, we hear the same list again and again: water, canned food, flashlight, batteries and important documents. Those things matter. But for many people living with mental illness, one often forgotten item may be just as life-saving: psychiatric medication. A flood, wildfire, tornado, heatwave or power outage can close a pharmacy in one day. It can cut phone service. It can cancel clinic appointments. It can force someone to leave home without enough medication. For a person with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, severe depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or anxiety, this is not just a small inconvenience. It can become a medical crisis.

Top US health officials and government agencies are currently not including the two recent measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania in their counts. “This is highly unusual,” said Debra Houry, former chief medical officer of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She noted that this did not happen with the three deaths reported from measles in Texas and New Mexico last year. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), gave the wrong number of measles deaths in a recent interview with Fox News. “In 10 years, there have been three measles deaths in America,” he said, comparing that with deaths from “food-induced illness” – a category the CDC does not appear to track. “The media and certain demagogue politicians are constantly trying to scare us about infectious disease,” Kennedy said, adding that he was attempting to “redirect attention and resource [sic] to the thing that’s really killing Americans, which are foodborne diseases”. There were three deaths associated with measles in the US last year, the first deaths from the virus in a decade. But Pennsylvania also reported two measles-related deaths in August, including at least one newborn who died soon after birth. Kennedy has suggested that these two deaths were “fabricated”. The CDC has also stopped short of reporting deaths from measles in 2026. The agency posted a note on Friday saying it was delaying its weekly update, keeping the number at zero. On Sunday, the measles landing page appears to have been updated twice, with the two deaths first reported and then replaced with an asterisk. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 31 August 2026

Flok Health has expanded the regulatory clearance for its AI physiotherapy clinic to cover the autonomous assessment and treatment of patients across all musculoskeletal (MSK) and pelvic health pathways. The company’s Class IIa medical device certification previously covered care for back pain and sciatica but has now been extended to conditions including hip and knee problems, urinary incontinence and other pelvic health conditions. Flok said its technology can manage a patient’s care pathway from diagnostic assessment through to treatment and discharge without a clinician being directly involved. Patients access the clinic through a mobile app and receive interactive video appointments that adapt to their responses in real time. The service is available 24 hours a day and accepts self-referrals from patients. Finn Stevenson, chief executive and co-founder of Flok Health, said: ““Since launching our Class IIa back pain service last year, we’ve seen the incredible impact that’s achievable when technology can autonomously deliver a patient’s entire treatment journey – from diagnostic assessment through to treatment delivery and discharge. “Traditional care providers are fundamentally constrained by supply-demand mismatch. Without the expansion of safe and effective autonomous care providers like Flok, patients will continue to face unacceptably long waits for care, clinical staff will continue to be unsustainably overstretched, and both the quality and quantity of care deliverable at scale will remain bottlenecked. “We’re therefore delighted that this change to our Class IIa regulatory clearance will allow us to expand our AI clinic across all community physiotherapy pathways, transforming access and quality of care for the tens of millions of Britons who suffer from these debilitating conditions.” Read full story Source: Digital Health, 25 August 2026

Thousands of women across the UK develop undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) each year after giving birth, new research has found. According to a report, the condition is being missed in at least 15,000 women as many GPs mistake PTSD for postnatal depression, which means they do not urgently receive specialist help. The warning comes after two damning reports into maternity and neonatal services in England from Baroness Amos and Donna Ockenden, which found that mothers and babies were being failed by the NHS. The report, conducted by University of East Anglia and published in the British Journal of General Practice, has urged the health service to better equip GPs to ensure more women don’t fall through the gaps. According to recent figures, suicide remained the leading cause of death among women between six weeks and one year after pregnancy in the UK during 2021-2023. These deaths have been described as the "tip of the iceberg", arguing that many more women are living with serious mental health difficulties but are unable to access the support they need. Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 August 2026

The NHS in England is to offer free finger-prick blood tests for cholesterol on the high street for the first time under plans to reduce heart disease and stroke deaths by a quarter within the next decade. The seven-minute tests will be available at participating pharmacies as part of a national rollout to spot “ticking timebombs” earlier. People aged 40 to 84 who are not pregnant and have not had a blood test in the past year will be eligible to walk in and get tested. Blood will be taken from a person’s fingertip using a lancet – a small, sharp medical tool used to prick the skin – and analysed immediately. A pharmacist prescriber can then provide lifestyle advice and determine whether any treatment, such as statins, may be needed. Patients will receive a copy of their results by email. They will also be offered a blood pressure check as part of a clinical consultation with a pharmacist prescriber. Details of the scheme – the first of its kind globally – were announced during the European Society of Cardiology’s annual congress in Munich, the world’s largest heart conference. David Webb, the chief pharmaceutical officer for England, said pharmacies could be a vital first line of defence against serious illness. He said: “By making it easier for people to get a quick and convenient cholesterol health check on their local high street, we can spot ticking timebombs earlier, helping people take action, and prevent heart attacks and strokes before they happen. “This is the latest in a series of initiatives involving pharmacies in delivering care previously only offered in GP surgeries as part of the 10-year health plan to bring care closer to where people live.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 31 August 2026

A fraudster secured 13 management and administrative jobs over 10 years, despite extensive pre- and post-recruitment checks by trusts, commissioners, national bodies, and recruitment agencies, HSJ has discovered. Amran Hussain, who consistently lied about his experiences and qualifications, was sentenced in July to four years in jail for defrauding NHS employers of almost £170,000. HSJ has now discovered that Mr Hussain secured eight jobs at Agenda for Change band eight in a 19-month period between February 2021 and September 2022. For part of November 2021, Mr Hussain held posts at three NHS organisations at the same time. A recurring pattern emerged across his employment: shortly after starting work, he would take sick leave and remain absent until his contract ended or was terminated, meaning he did little or no work and gained none of the experience he claimed. HSJ asked the eight organisations where Mr Hussain held a band eight job what checks they carried out before employing him. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 September 2026

Sickle cell disease can affect people of all backgrounds but is more common in African and Caribbean communities. It has become one of the fastest growing genetic conditions in England, with 250 new cases every year. People living with sickle cell disease may experience painful crises, fatigue and an increased risk of serious health complications. Despite this, the condition is often not well understood.  At Patient Safety Learning we believe that sharing insights and learning is vital to improving outcomes and reducing harm. That's why we created the hub; to provide a space for people to come together and share their experiences, resources and good practice examples. We have pulled together 8 useful resources about sickle cell disease that have been shared on the hub. They include recommendations on tackling inequalities, recognising and managing sickle cell disease in hospital, and managing pain.  

According to the UK Sepsis Trust, sepsis affects 245,000 people every year in the UK alone, and 48,000 people die of sepsis-related illnesses. Sepsis arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. It may lead to shock, multi-organ failure, and death – especially if not recognised early and treated promptly. Dr Ron Daniels, Founder & Joint CEO of the UK Sepsis Trust, and Topic Lead for the hub, said: “During the Covid-19 pandemic, attention to sepsis care understandably diminished, leading to gaps in timely and effective treatment. As we emerge from the pandemic, it’s crucial to refocus our efforts on this life-threatening but often treatable condition. We’re calling on the government to commission clear and efficient pathways within the NHS, supported by integrated care boards, to ensure that suspected sepsis is taken seriously – every time – in Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments nationwide.” At Patient Safety Learning we believe that sharing insights and learning is vital to improving outcomes and reducing harm. That's why we created the hub; to provide a space for people to come together and share their experiences, resources and good practice examples. We have pulled together 13 useful resources about sepsis that have been shared on the hub. They include advice on recognising and managing sepsis along with educational materials.  

Artificial intelligence has huge potential to improve health and care, but its use must be safe, effective and fair. In this blog, chief executive Jonathan Benger explains how NICE's new AI delivery plan will support responsible adoption in the NHS, ensuring AI brings real benefits for patients.

Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly being integrated into clinical workflows, supporting tasks such as diagnosis generation and patient communication. Hallucinations—unintended fabrications arising from gaps in a model’s underlying knowledge—are a well recognised risk. However, research in 2024 has identified a distinct class of model behaviour, known as deception. Deception occurs when a model produces outputs that misrepresent its reasoning or capabilities in ways that make the output appear more credible or aligned with user expectations. Although LLMs do not possess human-like intent, this behaviour functions more like deliberate misrepresentation. Empirical or conceptual literature addressing deception within clinical artificial intelligence (AI) is scarce. Although deceptive behaviours have been described in general AI safety research, these behaviours have not been conceptualised as a distinct clinical safety failure mode. As clinicians increasingly adopt LLMs for decision support and documentation, exposure to deceptive outputs can grow, and these risks are not captured by existing categories such as hallucination or bias. This Lancet commentary reframes deception as a clinically relevant risk class, highlights three forms of deceptive behaviour with particular relevance to clinical care, and proposes a governance lens tailored to real-world medical deployment.

This Care Quality Commission survey looks at the experiences of people who stayed at least one night in hospital as an inpatient. People were eligible to take part in the survey if they stayed in hospital for at least one night during November 2025 and were aged 16 years or over at the time of their stay.