Everything posted by Patient Safety Learning
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Disparities in medication error reporting: a focus on patients with select protected characteristics (7 April 2025)
Content ArticleIt is widely acknowledged that health disparities exist in minority populations, with ethnicity, gender, language, ability and culture emerging as critical determinants of health outcomes. At present, research is available demonstrating that patients with protected characteristics experience less favourable patient safety outcomes. However, there has been limited focus on reviewing how processes within the healthcare system contribute to this inequity of care received by minority populations. This study published in BMJ Open Quality reviews the prevalence of incident reporting of medication errors for people with selected protected patient characteristics within an acute NHS Trust. The aim is to determine if there are unexplained variations. Medication error reporting is not equitable between different gender, ethnic or age groups. The results of this study show that these characteristics were negatively related to the number of medication incidents reported. This study demonstrates that further systematic support is required to reduce the variations in medicine error reporting for patients with key protected characteristics. Infrastructure to overcome known barriers to safe care in the mainstream such as language, culture, beliefs and lower levels of understanding needs further development
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Hospital running out of space for bodies after rise in deaths
News articleA trust warned it was running out of mortuary space and not meeting new standards, following national concerns about post-death care in the NHS. Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust raised the concerns in board papers for an extraordinary meeting last week. The trust’s board risk register noted that an inability to provide adequate capacity could lead to the loss of its Human Tissue Authority licence, which would mean “all mortuary related activity… would have to cease”. It also warned that periods of “increased activity” could lead to its mortuary services “not [having] capacity to store all the deceased… even when our contingency measures have been activated”. The trust’s mortuary in Truro has space for 79 deceased patients, and the trust has had to activate contingency plans over the past 12 months due to “an increase in the number of deaths and an increase in the length of stay”, the board paper said. This has included utilising private funeral home capacity, transferring bodies to West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance, and using four “temporary storage units”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 29 July 2026
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Black people’s risk factors for stroke ‘rising faster than for white people’
News articleStroke risk factors including high blood pressure and diabetes are rising faster among people from Black African and Caribbean backgrounds compared with their white counterparts, according to analysis. Researchers at King’s College London analysed data from more than 8,500 adults over a 30-year period from the South London Stroke Register, one of the longest-running population-based stroke registers in the world. The study found that while the prevalence of stroke risk factors, including diabetes and hypertension, were increasing faster among Black people, those from Black African backgrounds were also twice as likely to experience stroke without a prior risk factor diagnosis than white people, at a rate of 12% compared with 6%. About one in six people across the UK will have a stroke in their lifetime. Diabetes was about twice as common in Black Caribbean and Black Africans on the stroke register compared with white participants, and high blood pressure was 29% more prevalent in Black Caribbean and 47% more prevalent in Black African people. Although diabetes rates increased for all ethnic groups over the 30-year study period, they increased most rapidly among Black African participants, rising from 21% between 1995 and 2004 to 41% between 2015 and 2024. Dr Eva Emmett, a research fellow at King’s College London and the lead author of the study, said: “Our study shows that the prevalence of pre-stroke hypertension and diabetes is higher and increasing faster in ethnic minority and lower socioeconomic groups. Together with Black people’s younger age at stroke and higher likelihood of having a stroke without a prior risk factor diagnosis, these findings call for targeted and earlier primary prevention efforts. “NHS health checks, which screen for hypertension and diabetes, begin at the age of 40. However, this may be too late for higher-risk groups who often experience stroke at a younger age.” She called for “universal improvements in cardiovascular risk detection” as well as more targeted prevention strategies, such as younger screening age for those most at risk. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 July 2026
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Provider fined £600k over death
News articleA provider has been fined more than £600,000 over the death of a 33-year-old mental health patient who sought a private admission after being turned down by the NHS. Priory Healthcare Limited pled guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment at one of its hospitals in Surrey, resulting in avoidable harm, the regulator has announced. Staines Magistrates’ Court fined Priory Healthcare Limited £600,000, and ordered it to pay a £2,000 victim surcharge and costs of £11,645. The prosecution was brought by the Care Quality Commission. Amy Henderson died in March 2022 after she admitted herself to Priory Hospital Woking as a voluntary patient, following a significant deterioration in her mental health, including experiencing suicidal thoughts. A coroner’s report said: “She was diagnosed with postpartum depression. She was advised to become an informal patient in the NHS, but there was no bed available so she would have had to wait in the hospital until a bed could be found. She decided to seek a private admission the following day.” On admission, she was assessed as being at high risk. However, a coroner found that neglect had contributed to Ms Henderson’s death, as the hospital had failed to “adequately manage a known and previously identified ligature risk”. Ligature point audits flagged the risk in March 2020 and May 2021, but no action was taken. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 July 2026
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Women’s heart health is a patient safety issue
Content Articlehub topic lead, retired psychotherapist, and current Chair of the Women and Heart Network at Global Heart Hub, Risa Mallory, and Karen Padilla, the staff lead of the Women and Heart Network at Global Heart Hub, discuss women’s heart health inequities from both an individual advocate’s and advocacy organisation’s perspective. They explain why the conversation must move beyond awareness alone into actions. This blog is part of a series on noncommunicable diseases, in support of World Patient Safety Day 2026.
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Professional support is an important lifeboat, but let’s also stop people falling into the water (BMJ, 26 July 2026)
Content ArticleThe critical importance of doctors in providing high-quality healthcare is undisputed, but what happens when something goes wrong? When mistakes or substandard patient experiences occur, it is right that care should be scrutinised. However, even though the issue may be at the healthcare organisation or wider systems level, many doctors report the negative impact of complaints on individual clinicians, leading to defensive practice and detrimental effects on their mental health and well-being.1 This reflects a broader tendency within healthcare to focus on responding to harm once it has occurred rather than investing in upstream measures that prevent harm in the first place. This BMJ Editorial shine a welcome spotlight on what healthcare organisations can do to better support doctors experiencing work performance issues.
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Trainee doctors: Burnout risk falls, but “unwelcome sexual conduct” is rising, finds GMC survey
News articleThe risk of trainee doctors experiencing burnout or discrimination has slightly decreased, the latest annual survey from the General Medical Council has suggested. However, there was “a small but real increase” in the number of trainee doctors reporting having experienced regular unwelcome sexual conduct in the workforce. This year’s GMC national training survey was completed by 51 727 doctors in postgraduate medical training and 22 923 trainers. For trainees, measures relating to workload slightly improved when compared with last year. For example, 22% of trainees reported that their working pattern left them feeling short of sleep on a daily or weekly basis, down from 24% in 2025. By collating responses to seven work related questions, the GMC calculated that 61% of doctors in training were still considered to be at moderate or high risk of burnout—down one percentage point from last year. Doctors in training reported fewer experiences of discriminatory behaviours across several areas. For example, 28% reported they had experienced microaggressions, negative comments, or oppressive body language from colleagues, down from 29% in 2025. However, 141 trainees reported experiencing unwelcome sexual conduct in the workplace on a daily or weekly basis in 2026, an increase of 23 trainees from 2025. The GMC said any rise in this measure matters and that trainees must be able to work and learn free from harassment. “We will continue to expect organisations to take direct action to address this,” the report said. Read full story Source: BMJ, 21 July 2026
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Australian regulator warns of ‘rare but severe’ eye disorder linked to GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic
News articleAustralia’s medicines regulator has issued warnings for several type 2 diabetes and obesity-related treatments – including Ozempic and Mounjaro – over the potential to cause a “rare but severe” eye disorder that could lead to blindness. The Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) warning came after several GLP-1 RA medicines marketed in Australia as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, among other products, were linked to 36 cases of the condition. The TGA says the eye disorder – non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION) – may result in permanent visual impairment and “no treatment has been shown to improve visual acuity outcomes” after the condition develops. Product information documents for Australians have been updated to reflect the new warning, and patients prescribed the drugs are urged to “seek urgent medical attention if they experience sudden vision loss, including partial loss of vision”. But the TGA does not recommend patients stop treatment without first consulting a doctor, nor has it placed new restrictions on prescriptions. Prof Helen Danesh-Meyer, from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, said that NAION is “a very rare condition” that “needs to be put in perspective” to avoid causing alarm. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 July 2026
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‘I would rather be poor’: man says money cannot compensate for partner’s death after failed cancer diagnosis
News article“I remember the doctor, after he’d examined Helen and found a large lump in her colon, saying: ‘It’s very sinister – we need to bring you in to be investigated.’” Darren Rosheski is recalling the moment a consultant doctor at Tameside hospital broke the news to his partner, Helen Dutton, that her symptoms – which also included back pain, passing blood and altered bowel habits – were so worrying that they needed further tests. “I lost her because nobody listened to her. It came down to the GP not listening to her. They should have investigated her when she first saw the GP. Passing blood is a serious thing, isn’t it?” The family doctor who Dutton saw then, back in late 2016, judged that her symptoms were signs of irritable bowel syndrome and haemorrhoids. The GP did not recommend any further action. It proved a serious misjudgement. Dutton, a 35-year-old finance manager and mother of one, already had bowel cancer. However, it went undetected until she went back to her GP surgery two years later, saw a different doctor and was referred to Tameside hospital in Greater Manchester. In January 2019 she had a physical examination, CT and MRI scans and finally a colonoscopy, which confirmed the presence of a cancer that had already begun to spread. Three weeks later doctors at Manchester’s Christie cancer hospital told Dutton she had advanced rectal cancer, a type of bowel cancer, that was already at stage 4. She had all three main types of cancer treatment: chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. In June 2020, she was given the all-clear. But her cancer returned just two months later and she died aged 40 a year later, in August 2021. The GP’s failure to refer Dutton for tests when she first presented with her symptoms proved disastrous for her chances of survival – and also very costly for the NHS. Rosheski, a tradesman, hired Irwin Mitchell solicitors to sue the NHS over the errors in his partner’s care. He reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum in January. “I would rather be poor and have Helen still around. A family has been destroyed by a doctor’s negligence. I don’t care about the compensation. I just wish she was here now,” he said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 July 2026 Further reading on the hub: Jess’s Rule: Three strikes and we rethink (NHS England)
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You’re ‘too gentle’ with those who abuse staff, police tell trust
News articleNHS staff “tolerate too much” abuse and trusts are “too gentle” with perpetrators, police have told the workforce of a large district general hospital. The warning came from Thames Valley Police, who were invited by Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust chief executive James Blythe to join a recent staff webinar. Mr Blythe told HSJ: “It’s been really difficult to get prosecutions in the past. Police tell us we’re far too gentle with it and that NHS staff tolerate too much. Police said we should tolerate less and report more.” The trust had already teamed up with TVP under Mr Blythe’s predecessor Steve McManus as part of the force’s Operation Cavell. This sees every incident of assault against staff reviewed by dedicated investigators with an understanding of healthcare environments. The trust itself is cracking down on abuse and aggression against staff by pursuing prosecutions. It has reported 10 cases of abuse to police this year. Three people have been charged, one case is with the Crown Prosecution Service, one resulted in an out-of-court settlement and the rest are being “looked at”. Mr Blythe said the trust was now communicating “very openly and assertively to the local community” about the clampdown as part of its “no excuse for abuse” campaign. This included sharing the number of people prosecuted and/or banned from its hospital. He told HSJ: “The trust has a really important role to play in supporting staff practically and psychologically in pursuing prosecutions… This is supportive not just to them, but also to their colleagues because it prevents a recurrence.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 July 2026
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PSIRF—Insight to Improvement programme (Health Innovation East Midlands)
Content ArticleThe introduction of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) in 2022 marked a significant shift in how NHS organisations approach patient safety. As a nationally mandated framework for all organisations holding an NHS Standard Contract, PSIRF moves the system away from prescriptive investigation requirements and towards a more learning‑focused, proportionate, and system‑oriented model for responding to patient safety incidents. It aims to strengthen the overall patient safety incident response system by emphasising four core principles: compassionate involvement of those affected. the use of system-based learning methodologies. proportionate responses. supportive oversight centred on improvement. Now four years later a new programme has been launched: PSIRF Insight to Improvement. This programme moves beyond implementation of PSIRF and focusses on understanding and developing the infrastructure needed to support the translation of insight, from systems-based learning responses, into improvement. It aims to lay the foundations for processes which support the consistent measurement of impact, capturing evidence of improvement across distinct safety improvement programmes. PSIRF has driven a shift towards systems-based learning. The new programme builds on this to: Reduce variation in the NHS’s ability to translate learning from patient safety incidents into sustained improvement.
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Man sues OpenAI for unlicensed practice of medicine
News articleA lawsuit 21 July claims that ChatGPT offered inaccurate medical guidance to a Florida man that resulted in delayed care for a pulmonary embolism last year. The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco, accuses OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman of negligence, unlicensed practice of medicine, defective product design and other claims. It is among the first to allege that a chatbot’s health advice caused physical injury to a user seeking guidance about a medical condition, according to The New York Times, and the plaintiff has asked the court to stop ChatGPT Health from operating until independent evaluators verify its safety. According to the complaint, ChatGPT-4o told Scott Winters, a pastor, that early signs of his health problems were “not something dangerous” and discouraged him from seeking medical care, urging him instead to trust that “God did not design your body to endlessly fail.” Mr. Winters, 55, claims ChatGPT manipulated his own language and beliefs with the knowledge that he was a pastor. He began using ChatGPT in 2024 for everyday questions and general health queries. Over time, the lawsuit claims, the chatbot’s disclaimers urging him to seek professional care fell away, and it began offering direct guidance instead — including, when he described dizziness and blood pressure instability in June 2025, advice to stay home and “recliner-bound.” Mr. Winters followed the guidance and limited his movement. “ChatGPT-4o positioned itself as an authoritative partner in a medical journey it was simultaneously designing for Scott,” alleges the complaint, which includes screenshots of Mr. Winters’ exchanges with the chatbot. Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 22 July 2026
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Alarm over hospital lung admissions for children in England’s poorest postcodes
News articleChildren living in the poorest areas across England are 40% more likely to be admitted to hospital for respiratory infections, an analysis of NHS England data shows, with experts raising the alarm on the impact of air pollution on young people’s health. The analysis, based on data obtained via freedom of information requests by the charity Impact on Urban Health, revealed 1,941 out of every 100,000 children living in the most deprived fifth of England were admitted to hospital for respiratory illnesses in 2024/25. The high admission rate contrasted starkly with figures on England’s least deprived area, where 1,380 out of every 100,000 children were admitted to hospital for respiratory illnesses, including acute upper and lower respiratory infections, influenza and pneumonia, that same year. Although the data did not provide an exact cause for these hospital admissions, air pollution was identified as a significant risk factor, with children living in deprived areas exposed to the most extreme levels of toxins and pollutants. “Children growing up in deprived neighbourhoods are often exposed to dirtier air,” said Dr Gergo Baranyi, a senior research fellow at University College London with a focus on air pollution. “But air pollution is only part of the story. Poor-quality housing, overcrowding, damp and mould, outdated heating systems, indoor air quality and exposure to smoking, are also more common in deprived areas. These conditions can all harm children’s respiratory health. He added that the “stark” inequalities in admission rates should not come as a surprise. “They are shaped by individual circumstances and environmental exposures where children grow up. Respiratory infections in childhood can have long-lasting consequences on health and wellbeing." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 July 2026
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Corporate manslaughter investigation launched into trust
News articleA trust that treated a man with paranoid schizophrenia who went on to kill three people is being investigated for corporate manslaughter. A criminal inquiry has been launched into Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust’s care and treatment of Valdo Calocane, who killed Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates in June 2023. Three others were seriously injured after Mr Calocane drove a van into them. The investigation – which will run for several months – is being carried out by Northumbria Police because Nottinghamshire Police is implicated in failings related to the attack, The Times reported last night. In a statement, the trust said it would be “cooperating fully”. It said: “We know how important the independent inquiry and police investigation are for the affected families, the survivors and our local communities.” A public inquiry opened in February this year and ran until June. It heard evidence of poor communication between agencies, flawed risk assessments, failures to escalate Mr Calocane’s treatment, and discharging a high-risk patient after he disengaged with services. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 22 July 2026
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What changes following the launch of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework in the English National Health Service? Protocol for a formative and summative evaluation of the implementation of a national patient safety policy (March 2026)
Content ArticleLarge numbers of patients continue to be harmed as a result of safety incidents, and current approaches to responding to and learning from safety incidents are increasingly questioned for their effectiveness in reducing harm. Many types of incidents are frequently repeated across the NHS and organisations struggle to implement policies to improve safety and share learning. As a result, NHS England launched a new national policy framework, the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) that has far-reaching implications at all levels of healthcare by seeking to create incident response and learning processes that are more proactive, proportionate, flexible, learning-focused, equitable and fair.
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Speaking up for patient safety: Bethany Carter in conversation with Peter Duffy and Helen Hughes
Content ArticleIn this podcast interview series, NHS whistleblower Peter Duffy and Patient Safety Learning’s Chief Executive Helen Hughes explore how the healthcare system responds when its staff raise concerns about patient safety. In each episode, Helen and Peter interview someone who has spoken up about patient safety issues in healthcare organisations, or who works to help staff raise concerns where they see unsafe care. In this episode, Helen and Peter speak to Bethany Carter, currently Head of Quality and Clinical Governance at Combat Stress. Bethany discusses her career from military nursing and infection control to becoming a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian and later a senior leader at the National Guardian’s Office. She reflects on how organisational culture determines whether staff feel safe to raise concerns, drawing on both positive and negative personal experiences of speaking up. The interview explores the importance of supporting Guardians, strengthening managers’ ability to listen and respond, protecting staff from detriment, and maintaining independent national oversight as the National Guardian’s Office closes. Bethany's central advice is that anyone with a concern should not be deterred by terminology or process: they should find someone they trust, seek support and speak up so organisations can learn and improve.
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Mental health patient monitoring system in spotlight
News articleA healthcare trust has defended its decision to abandon a controversial digital monitoring system for mental health patients. Leicestershire Partnership Trust (LPT) gave evidence on Tuesday during the Lampard Inquiry in London, which is examining the deaths of more than 2,000 people under the care of Essex mental health services between 2000 and 2023. The Leicestershire trust piloted a system which uses infrared sensors and cameras in patients' bedrooms, but decided not to use it. Oxevision is used by a number of mental health trusts across England, including neighbouring Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust where bosses are looking to expand its use. Grave concerns about the system have been raised previously in the inquiry with campaigners claiming it had been overly relied upon by staff at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust. Campaign group Stop Oxevision has said it had concerns around patient's dignity, privacy and consent processes which vary across the country, but the creators of the system have said it is an important safety aid. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) recently confirmed it was investigating Oxehealth, which developed Oxevision, and said "as this is a live investigation, we are unable to comment further". Andres Freire-Patino, deputy director of mental health services at LPT, who began working at the trust in 2023, told the inquiry that one of the aims of the pilot was to test whether Oxevision could support patients getting a better night sleep. Oxevision can digitally track pulse rates and breathing rates, so this does not need to be done in-person and disturb patients throughout the night. Freire-Patino said: "Sleep is incredibly important in terms of people's recovery from mental health." However, the inquiry heard one patient - a pregnant woman - slept in an interview room as she refused to stay in a bedroom with Oxevision, even with it off. Freire-Patino said there were a number of reasons why they decided not to use the technology, but one was only 42% of patients consented to its use during the second pilot. Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 July 2026
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More young women in their 20s are getting type 2 diabetes
News articleEngland is seeing a "worrying increase" in young women in their 20s developing type 2 diabetes, experts at Imperial College London have warned. The rise has largely occurred since the Covid pandemic and is closely linked to increasing obesity levels, according to an analysis of NHS data from 2011 to 2024, external. Type 2 diabetes is serious, and can lead to severe complications, such as heart attacks and strokes. When it develops at a younger age, the disease tends to be more aggressive, raising the risk of devastating complications and cutting lives short, according to Diabetes UK. It is vital that those at risk are diagnosed early to prevent long-term organ damage, the charity says. Type 2 diabetes can sometimes be put into remission by eating a healthy diet and keeping slim without needing to rely on glucose-lowering medications. The researchers say newer obesity treatments - such as GLP-1 jabs and pills - might help, alongside healthy eating advice. Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 July 2026
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Lack of defibrillators could put 16m at risk of death by cardiac arrest in England and Wales
News articleMore than 16 million people in England and Wales risk dying from a cardiac arrest because they live farther than a 1km round trip from the nearest 24/7 defibrillator, according to exclusive research. Analysis of publicly available defibrillators by the Heart Restart campaign found that in England and Wales alone, 35 million people – more than half the population – do not live within the recommended three- to five-minute brisk walk of a defibrillator. Of these, about half live more than a 1km round trip from a 24/7 accessible defibrillator. There are more than 40,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year in the UK, but fewer than one in 10 people survive. However, early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation can more than double the chance of survival. Patients in cardiac arrest who do not receive emergency treatment within 10 minutes – a 1km round trip to retrieve a defibrillator – are highly likely to die. But Heart Restart’s researchers calculated that with the exception of the City of London, all local authorities have at least some of their residents living at least 10 minutes’ round trip from their nearest 24/7 defibrillator. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 July 2026
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Army medics could plug gaps in ‘unsafe’ service
News articleArmy medics could be used to prop up a service at risk of closure, a struggling trust has declared. University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust’s Furness General Hospital has been unable to provide the highest level of intensive care for nearly two years due to staffing shortages. Patients needing level three ICU care are transferred 50 miles to Royal Lancaster Infirmary. The trust had recommended closing the service to the most critically ill patients on safety grounds earlier this year. However, it also continued to explore alternative service models in a bid to avoid this step. In a joint update with Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care board on Wednesday, the trust revealed it was in “ongoing discussions with Defence Medical Services”. These included the potential use of army medics “as happens in some other hospitals elsewhere in NHS England”. Military staff have been embedded at a small number of NHS hospitals through the DMS since the last dedicated military hospitals closed in the late 1990s. However, the main focus is on the maintenance of the medic’s clinical skills, rather than the relief of workforce pressures. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 July 2026
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Patient Safety Incident Response Framework three years on - what have we learned? (IHPN, 13 March 2026)
Content ArticleIndependent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN)’s Head of Patient Safety and Quality Governance Linda Jones looks at their past three years since the introduction of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), and discusses how the sector has embraced PSIRF, and what the learnings have been in the three years since it was implemented.
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World Patient Safety Day 2026: poster for you to share
Content ArticleThis year’s World Patient Safety Day (WPSD 2026) on 17 September is focused on the theme ”Safe care for noncommunicable diseases”. To support you with your World Patient Safety Day activities, Patient Safety Learning has created a poster for you to print out and display within your organisation. There are two versions attached to download: A4 and A3, with blank spaces in the top-right for organisation's to drop their logo in before printing. The third attachment features guidance on where an organisation should feature their logo and preferred size in relation within the available space.
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Experts agree at landmark event that simulation should be built into health system
News articleOn 15 June 2026, over 80 representatives from simulation societies, ministries of health, hospitals, universities, international organizations, professional associations and industry partners met at the WHO Academy in Lyon for a joint event of WHO and the Society for Simulation in Europe (SESAM). Together they tackled a pressing question: how can simulation move from isolated initiatives to systematic integration within health systems? The consensus was clear: simulation is no longer a niche educational tool. Beyond training, it strengthens health systems by improving quality of care, patient safety, workforce preparedness, team performance and organisational resilience. Participants agreed the evidence for simulation’s value no longer needs to be demonstrated, but that implementation remains fragmented and too often dependent on individual local champions. Bridging that gap, they said, means both generating further evidence and raising awareness among decision-makers. “At the WHO Academy, we see simulation not simply as a training methodology but as a strategic tool for capacity-building, workforce readiness and stronger health systems,” said Dr Bart Janssens, Unit Head, Health Learning and Capacity Building. “This event is not only about discussion; it is about moving from ideas to action.” As health systems worldwide face workforce shortages, growing complexity of care and rapidly evolving competency needs, participants concluded that the question is no longer “Why simulation?” but rather how to scale it, how to sustain it, and how to ensure it becomes an integral part of stronger health systems. Read full story Source: WHO, 21 July 2026 Related reading on the hub: The role of simulation-based education, co-design and co-delivery in improving patient safety
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US measles cases set to surpass last year’s record high – and it’s only July
News articleThe number of U.S. measles cases is about to exceed the total for all of last year – and it’s only July. There are now 2,260 confirmed cases in 44 states and the District of Columbia, according to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2025 was the worst year for measles in America in over three decades. There were 2,289 cases and three deaths. The majority of cases are in young, unvaccinated children and teenagers, and doctors have blamed vaccine hesitancy on recent spikes. The measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is 97% effective in preventing illness. Without it, measles infections can lead to life-threatening brain swelling, pneumonia, fever, ear infections and a rash. Fortunately, no patient has died from measles this year. More than 30 outbreaks have been reported this year, with the largest number of cases in South Carolina, Utah and Texas. Read full story Source: The Independent, 20 July 2026
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UK health tech firm Craneware admits customer and staff data stolen in cyber attack
News articleHealthcare technology firm, Craneware, has disclosed it suffered a cyber attack resulting in the theft of customer and employee data. The Edinburgh-based company, which supplies software to thousands of hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies across the US healthcare sector, confirmed it is actively responding to and investigating the incident. Craneware, listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), stated that a significant volume of file names were viewed and exfiltrated during the breach. “The current assessment is that a large element of the data involved is non-sensitive or already public regulatory data,” according to the company. “A percentage of Craneware employee data as well as a subset of customer and partner records have been accessed and exfiltrated.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 20 July 2026