Jump to content
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    11,589

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Patient Safety Learning

Administrators

 Content Type 

News posted by Patient Safety Learning

  1. Patient Safety Learning
    Coronavirus vaccines have been offered to residents at every eligible care home for the elderly in England, according to health officials.
    NHS England said that more than 10,000 homes had been visited by staff delivering the jab in a bid to prioritise those most vulnerable to COVID-19.
    Vaccinations were postponed at a small number of homes for safety reasons during a local outbreak and some residents have not received a jab for clinical reasons.
    However, staff will return to those homes as soon as possible, a spokesperson for NHS England said.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 1 February 2021
  2. Patient Safety Learning
    "Traumatised" and "exhausted" medical staff need time to recover before tackling an NHS backlog, says the group representing hospitals in England.
    Many staff could resign if their wellbeing is not factored into plans to cut waiting lists, NHS Providers said.
    The number of people waiting more than a year for surgery rose 1,613 to 192,000 during the Covid pandemic. NHS Providers said demand for hospital beds is easing, but the pressure on intensive care units is still intense.
    NHS Providers estimates that it is going to be at least a month before the NHS gets back to normal winter pressures, and trusts are concerned about the transition into the next phase of the pandemic.
    Critical work that has been postponed, including a small number of urgent cancer cases, will be a priority, but there remains a need to tackle a wider backlog of routine operations alongside the vaccination programme.
    NHS Providers said trusts will work as fast as possible to tackle the backlog, but leaders cannot do so at the expense of staff burnout.
    Last month, a study suggested that many hospital staff treating the sickest patients during the first wave of the pandemic were left traumatised by the experience. Nearly half reported symptoms of severe anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or problem drinking. One in seven had thoughts of self-harming or being "better off dead".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 1 February 2021
  3. Patient Safety Learning
    Dozens and potentially hundreds of urgent operations for children have been cancelled during the third wave of the covid pandemic, HSJ can reveal.
    There are also concerns that national guidance for prioritising surgery “disadvantages” young people.
    Several well placed sources told HSJ that urgent operations for children have been delayed in recent weeks because of covid pressures. This is because of a combination of staff being diverted to help with adults sick with covid, and space in children’s facilities — including intensive care — being taken over for adult covid care, as well as other staff being absent due to covid.
    The royal college of surgeons has told HSJ that urgent children’s operations “are increasingly being cancelled around the country”.
    Dozens and potentially hundreds of children’s operations rated as priority two — those which are urgent and should be carried out within a month — have been cancelled and delayed in recent weeks in the capital, according to several well placed sources. This is alongside potentially thousands of priority three operations being cancelled, which are those needing to be carried out within three months.
    Read full story
    Source: HSJ, 31 January 2021
  4. Patient Safety Learning
    Pregnant women attending scans and appointments alone are repeatedly being told they cannot record or take photographs of their unborn child to show their partner, according to a survey.
    The poll of more than 3,450 pregnant women by the campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed found that more than half of respondents (52%) attended scans alone and were also told that they could not record or take photographs during the appointment.
    NHS trusts have been warned that they could be acting unlawfully if they continue to ban partners of pregnant women accessing hospital appointments remotely. Women are repeatedly being told it is “illegal” to photograph or film their scan, despite this not being the case, said the charity Birthrights, which sought the legal advice.
    “We are keen to see maternity services accommodate partners in person, in line with national guidance,” said Birthrights’ programmes director, Maria Booker. “However if this is really not possible at some hospitals during the current peak, maternity services must find other ways to ensure women feel supported and partners remain involved.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 31 January 2021
  5. Patient Safety Learning
    Hospital trusts in England have been told to stop using virtual assessments to section people under the Mental Health Act after a judge ruled them unlawful.
    An NHS trust sought a court judgment on remote assessments after the Department of Health and Social Care issued guidance in November indicating that this method could be used as part of an evaluation during the pandemic.
    Experts said that a “small but significant” number of people may have been sectioned this way.
    Following the judgment, an email was sent to mental health professionals from NHS England saying “immediate action required”. It added that anyone detained via remote assessment would need to be notified.
    The message read: “Stop using remote methods for any new or ongoing assessments for detention or section renewals under Part II of the Act.”
    “All mental health providers should identify and reassess individuals who are currently detained under Part II of the MHA following a remote assessment as soon as possible if ongoing detention is deemed necessary.”
    The government had originally advised that it believed remote assessment could be used but said only the courts could provide a definitive interpretation of the law, setting out the circumstances under which such assessments could take place.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 30 January 2021
  6. Patient Safety Learning
    Care watchdogs are investigating concerns that staff with Covid-19 have been working with care home residents as operators said absence levels are as high as 70% owing to sickness and self-isolation, increasing pressure to get staff back to work.
    The Care Quality Commission has ordered several councils to investigate allegations about the practice, which puts lives at risk, and possible breaches of the Care Act relating to abuse or neglect of residents. It is understood to be dealing with fewer than 10 cases.
    But the regulator has issued a warning to all care homes in England with the Department of Health and Social Care and council social services chiefs that “under no circumstances should staff who have tested positive for COVID-19, regardless of whether they are displaying symptoms or not, work in a care setting” until their self-isolation has ended.
    The Rights for Residents group said on Thursday it had been contacted by a carer whose boss had asked her to return to work only a few days after a positive test because of staff shortages. She refused and no longer works for the care home.
    In many homes, a quarter of staff are sick or self-isolating, with the ratio as high as 70% in some cases and operators are bringing in friends and family to try to cover shifts, said Nadra Ahmed, executive chairman of the National Care Association.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 28 January 2021
  7. Patient Safety Learning
    Surplus COVID-19 vaccines have been given to healthy young people in parts of England and some GPs have “run out” of eligible patients to vaccinate in the scramble to inoculate the country.
    While supplies have been cut in some areas, one GP in the Midlands told the Guardian he had “hundreds of unused vaccines” which he is not allowed to use, having already inoculated all priority patients.
    Other vaccination centres have taken a more liberal approach, inviting younger patients for jabs at the end of the day if they find themselves with surplus doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which has a shelf life of three days.
    Currently, only four groups are eligible for vaccines in England: the over-70s, the clinically extremely vulnerable, care home residents and frontline health and social care workers.
    But one 38-year-old in Sheffield in none of those groups said she was offered the jab on “the iciest day of the year” if she could get to the clinic within half an hour because of weather-related cancellations. A 24-year-old in Manchester said she’d had a spare after volunteering at a vaccination centre.
    In Reading, one clinic is calling local police stations and offering surplus jabs to officers at the end of the day. Others are offering spares to frontline charity workers.
    One medic in Greater Manchester told the Guardian they managed to receive their second dose of the vaccine by repeatedly turning up at their local vaccine site at the end of each day, receiving it on day three.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 29 January 2021
  8. Patient Safety Learning
    A new COVID-19 test that is able to detect even asymptomatic cases of the virus through saliva is being piloted  in the UK.
    The new LamPORE test, developed by UK-based company Oxford Nanopore, will be tested in mobile laboratories in four areas across the country. 
    It is already being used in Aberdeen, with plans to roll it out in Telford, Brent and Newbury, and results so far have shown it is even effective at detecting the virus in people who are not showing symptoms.
    LamPORE will allow for additional testing capacity where it is needed for large numbers of people and be used alongside existing PCR and lateral flow test, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 28 January 2021
  9. Patient Safety Learning
    Cancer services at large hospital trust have been at ‘catastrophic’ risk of being overwhelmed, after two of its hospital sites had to suspend life-saving cancer surgeries in the last month due to COVID-19.
    In its latest board papers Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust rated the “cancellation of cancer elective activity” at its highest risk level of 25 – which based on their own risk-scoring key is “catastrophic”. It said the expected consequences at this risk level include “permanent disability or death, serious irreversible health effects” and an “unacceptable… quality of service”.
    The trust runs three general acute hospitals in the county. Its 2,000 plus beds make it the third largest trust in England after University Hospitals Birmingham FT and Leeds Teaching Hospitals.
    The same board papers, dated 28 January, said cancer surgery at Southend University Hospital, one of three hospital sites run by the trust, “ceased on 24 December”. At a second hospital site, Mid Essex Hospital covid “hit hard just before Christmas” and elective work was “dramatically impacted with short period of life and limb only carried out on site”. This meant all P2 cancer surgery — which requires treatment in less than four weeks — did not take place. 
    Both hospital sites said they hoped the independent sector could help them restart cancer surgeries this month with a focus on “long waiting and clinical urgent patients”. It is not clear how much capacity the sector has to work through waiting lists and the board papers said “some of this capacity may be reduced” because of recent changes to a new national contract for the independent sector.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 29 January 2021
  10. Patient Safety Learning
    At least twenty-two people have died at a Basingstoke care home in one of the worst known outbreaks of the coronavirus pandemic to date. 
    The deaths occurred at Pemberley House Care Home in Grove Road, Viables, operated by private firm, Avery Healthcare.
    The outbreak was first declared on Tuesday, January 5, with 60 per cent of its residents testing positive for the disease, according to sources. Within three weeks, 22 people had died - over one-third of the home's residents. The Gazette's former picture editor Ron Boshier was among the residents to have died after contracting the disease. 
    A spokesman for Avery Healthcare told The Gazette they were "deeply saddened" by the loss of a number of their residents.
    Read full story 
    Source: Gazette, 27 January 2021
  11. Patient Safety Learning
    Mental health services in England do not have the capacity to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on children, Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, has warned.
    Despite an expansion in the four years before the pandemic, the supply of treatment for child mental health problems was already falling well short of demand, with referrals rising 35%, but treatments only increasing by 4%, the watchdog said as she called for a “rocket boost” in funding.
    Longfield cited an NHS study before the latest national lockdown, which found one in six children had a probable mental health condition and said it is highly likely that the level of underlying mental health problems will remain significantly higher as a result of the pandemic, with an increase in referrals to NHS services already observed last autumn.
    “Even before the Covid pandemic, we faced an epidemic of children’s mental health problems in England and a children’s mental health service that, though improving significantly, was still unable to provide the help hundreds of thousands of children required,” Longfield said. “It is widely accepted that lockdown and school closures have had a detrimental effect on the mental health of many children.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 28 January 2021
  12. Patient Safety Learning
    Bereavement support charities are calling for more funding in light of what they call the "terrible toll of 100,000 deaths from Covid-19".
    They say many families have been unable to be with loved ones as they died or gather to support one another. They argue there has been "huge demand" for counselling and guidance but some providers lack sufficient resources.
    The government says it is committed to ensuring those who are grieving have access to the support they need. In a letter to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock, and mental health minister, Nadine Dorries, charities call for some of the £500 million funding allocated to mental health in England in the November spending review to be used to support the bereaved.
    The request has come from the National Bereavement Alliance, which represents a range of charities. Members include CRUSE Bereavement Care, Support after Suicide Partnership and AtALoss.
    The letter quotes academic research suggesting more than 80% of bereaved people since the start of the pandemic have had limited contact with family and friends and two-thirds have experienced social isolation or loneliness.
    They say there are long waiting lists for support but some services providing advice and guidance are not adequately funded.
    The alliance argues deaths have been heavily felt in disadvantaged and deprived communities where there is a greater need for assistance.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 27 January 2021
  13. Patient Safety Learning
    Thousands of women living in the UK suffering from an aggressive type of breast cancer could be helped by a newly identified drug, according to a study.
    The research, carried out by The Institute of Cancer Research, found medicine presently used to help other breast cancers that have spread to another area of the body, could actually be utilised to help around a fifth of women who have triple negative breast cancer.
    Around 55,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Britain each year, with approximately one in five of these being triple negative. Younger women and black women are more likely to develop this form of breast cancer which is generally more aggressive.
    Researchers’ realisation the drug palbociclib could be used far more widely than previously thought could “provide a much-needed targeted treatment” for those who are at higher risk of witnessing their cancer spread more quickly, becoming incurable and often unresponsive to conventional chemotherapy.
    Dr Simon Vincent, of Breast Cancer Now, a leading charity which funded the study, said: “It’s hugely exciting that this research has uncovered a new possible use for palbociclib as a targeted treatment for some women living with triple negative breast cancer."
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 28 January 2021
  14. Patient Safety Learning
    People infected with the new variant of coronavirus that first emerged in the UK are less likely to report a loss of taste or smell, but more likely to report “classic” symptoms, such as coughing, sore throat or fatigue, a survey has found.
    According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the symptom of impaired taste and smell in those with COVID-19 was “significantly less common” in people who tested positive for the new variant compared with those who had other variants.
    However, there was no evidence of any difference in symptoms related to shortness of breath or headaches, according to the provisional data published in the organisation’s infection survey.
    The data also indicated that people infected with the new variant were more likely to report having symptoms. These were self-reported and not professionally diagnosed, and cover the period between 15 November and 16 January.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 27 January 2021 
  15. Patient Safety Learning
    The number of covid positive patients in English hospitals fell by 1,491 yesterday, by far the biggest decline recorded since the start of the pandemic.
    The previous record was set during the decline of the first wave, when numbers fell 1,055 on 17 April. The largest drop in the third wave before yesterday’s record was the 798 seen last Saturday.
    The national total of covid positive hospital patients now stands at 30,846, a drop of 9 per cent on the peak set on 18 January, but still 163 per cent of the mid-April peak.
    All seven English regions are now seeing a week-on-week decline in the number of their covid hospital patients for the first time.
    All have well established trends in falling admissions, with London and the south east seeing the running seven-day total fall by almost a third since a peak on 9 January. The east and south west have seen their admissions total decline by a fifth, while the midlands total has dropped 16 per cent in just five days and north east and Yorkshire nine in only four.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 28 January 2021
  16. Patient Safety Learning
    Black people over the age of 80 were half as likely as their white peers to have been vaccinated against Covid by 13 January, a large study suggests. This is despite the fact black people are four times more likely to die with COVID-19 than their white counterparts.
    People living in deprived areas or who have severe mental-health conditions or learning disabilities were also less likely to have received a vaccination. The study was based on more than 20 million patient records in England.
    The OpenSafely study, by the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, found of the million of those over 80 but not living in a care home:
    43% of the white people had been given their first dose of the vaccine 30% of the Bangladeshi and Pakistani people had 21% of the black people had. Bangladeshi and Pakistani people are twice as likely to die with COVID-19 as white peple.
    Birmingham-based business owner Tru Powell told BBC Radio 5 Live of a "lack of trust between the government and people of colour".
    "People of colour have been subject to institutionalised racism within the healthcare system," she said.
    "We are five times more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act and four times more likely to die in childbirth."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 28 January 2021
  17. Patient Safety Learning
    The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has launched an investigation into the risks involved in prescribing, dispensing and administering medicines to children.
    The investigation was triggered after HSIB was notified of an incident including a child aged four years, who, after being diagnosed with a blood clot in her leg following a surgical procedure, received ten times the intended dose of anticoagulant on five separate occasions, over three days.
    This, HSIB said, was owing to errors that occurred during the prescription, dispensing and administration processes.
    The errors resulted in the child being admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit, with evidence of a bleed in her brain, where she stayed for three months until she was discharged with an ongoing care plan.
    HSIB said that studies showed that prescribing errors were the most frequent type of medication error in children’s inpatient settings.
    The investigation will look at this and other incidents to examine the role of multidisciplinary teamworking and checking in medication errors, as well as considering the risks associated with the implementation of electronic prescribing and medication administration (ePMA) systems in clinical areas using weight-based paediatric prescribing.
    “‘Wrong dose’ errors are a particular risk in children’s wards,” said Alice Oborne, consultant pharmacist in safe medication practice and medicines safety officer at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
    Read full story
    Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 26 January 2021
  18. Patient Safety Learning
    The Department of Health & Social Care are working with Traverse, a research organisation, to appoint 15 people to a patient reference group. This group will work with DHSC as it develops and implements the Government’s response to the Report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review (IMMDS Review).
    What will the group be doing?
    Meeting online to share experiences, ideas and recommendations. Helping to shape the Government’s response to the IMMDS Review, ensuring that patient voices are heard in the process. Providing advice, challenge, and scrutiny as the Government implements its response. They are looking for people who:
    Have a personal experience of or understand the context of the IMMDS Review. Are committed to improving the experience of patients. Want to engage with others on the group and DHSC representatives to support the development and implementation of the Government’s response to the IMMDS Review. Can consider complex and emotive issues in a balanced and sensitive way. Have good communication skills, and want to build strong working relationships with the rest of the group. They are also looking for a co-chair to support group members contribute to the group and make sure group members are heard. If you know the English healthcare system well and are comfortable working on sensitive issues, take a look at the recruitment pack to find out more about the co-chair role and how to apply.
    If you are interested in getting involved, contact IMMDSRPatientGroup@traverse.ltd for the recruitment pack and more information on how to apply.
  19. Patient Safety Learning
    There were 800 fewer cancer surgeries in the first two weeks of January than usually take place during the period, according to provisional data seen by HSJ.
    The bulk of this reduction came in London and the surrounding counties such as Essex, Bedfordshire, and Surrey.
    London and the south east have been severely hit by coronavirus pressures, causing widely reported mass cancellations of non-urgent elective surgery. However, the impact on cancer cases has, so far, been less clear.
    NHS England has insisted in the last week that urgent cancer cases should be given the same priority as coronavirus patients.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 25 January 2021
  20. Patient Safety Learning
    NHS England has been urged to introduce routine recording of race and ethnicity data when people are given their covid vaccination.
    Documents seen by HSJ show Pinnacle, the IT system being used by GPs and mass vaccination centres to record jabs, does not directly require ethnicity to be recorded.
    Jabeer Butt, chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, which promotes race equality in public services, told HSJ that making it a requirement would help establish the facts on uptake among different groups, more quickly.
    It is understood the NHS is able to ascertain data on vaccine uptake by ethnicity by connecting it with GP records, through the national immunisation management service, and potentially with other healthcare data. However, Mr Butt said this would provide only limited insight and take more time.
    He believes the absence of data may allow ”misconceptions” to take hold about lower uptake among some minorities, which can lead to stigma, when in fact, he said, the trend may so far simply be due to there being fewer black and Asian people in the oldest age groups, who are the first eligible for vaccination. 
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 24 January 2021
  21. Patient Safety Learning
    Two-thirds of women at the heart of a review into maternity services at a Welsh health board could have had very different outcomes if they had received better care, a report has found.
    The Independent Maternity Services Oversight Panel (Imsop) focused on the experiences of pregnant women at Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board.
    Its maternity services have been in special measures since "serious failings" were found two years ago. 
    Concerns emerged in late 2018 that women and babies may have come to harm because of staff shortages and failures to report serious incidents. This sparked a major independent review, which gave a damning verdict on maternity services in Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board.
    Published on Monday, the Imsop report focuses on the care of mothers between January 2016 and September 2018. It found that 19 reviews of maternal care (68%) revealed at least one factor where "different management would reasonably have been expected to alter the outcome".
    The panel's chairman, Mick Giannasi, said: "These findings will be concerning and potentially distressing for the women and families involved, and it will be difficult for staff."
    "Of the 28 episodes of care, we concluded that in 27 of them, our independent teams who reviewed the care would have done something differently. Put simply, what went wrong, might not have gone wrong if things had been done differently."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 25 January 2021
  22. Patient Safety Learning
    A care home worker who was wrongly diagnosed with cancer said she thought it was a "cruel joke" when she was told doctors had made a mistake and she did not have cancer at all.
    Mum-of-four Janice Johnston said her "world crumbled" when she learned she had a rare form of blood cancer at Kent and Canterbury Hospital in 2017.
    She had 18 months of oral chemotherapy treatment, during which she experienced weight loss, nausea and bone pain, and had to give up her job as an auxiliary nurse. When the treatment did not appear to be working, she says, medics upped the dosage.
    In 2018, she sought alternative treatment at Guy's Hospital in London. It was there a specialist told her she did not have cancer at all but a different condition.
    Mrs Johnston was awarded £75,950 in damages after East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust admitted liability. Staff at the hospital had failed to do the necessary ultrasound scan and bone marrow biopsy before diagnosing her.
    Read full story
    Source:  BBC News, 25 January 2021
  24. Patient Safety Learning
    The chief executive of a small acute trust has described the “terrifying situation” faced by ambulance crews and hospital staff in trying to provide adequate emergency care as coronavirus threatens to overwhelm the local NHS services.
    Susan Gilby, of Countess of Chester Hospital Foundation Trust, told HSJ staff are seeing “tragic and potentially avoidable” instances where patients with COVID-19 have reached the emergency department too late.
    She suggested this is due to a combination of patients waiting too long to call 999, and then having to wait long periods for an ambulance to arrive.
    Cheshire has been among the hardest hit areas in England during this third wave of coronavirus, with all four of its acute hospitals having very high covid occupancy rates.
    Dr Gilby, a former critical care consultant, said her trust has been at around 60 per cent covid occupancy for the last fortnight, which has made her increasingly fearful of the difficulties in admitting patients through the emergency department due to a lack of beds. This can then cause knock-on delays for patients arriving in ambulances, and ties those ambulance crews up for long periods, preventing them from responding to further 999 calls.
    She said ambulance turnaround times had been relatively good at the Countess of Chester, but she had spoken to paramedics handing over patients who were “really struggling” to get to people quickly enough.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 22 January 2021
  25. Patient Safety Learning
    A special Crown Office unit set up to probe Covid-linked deaths is investigating cases at 474 care homes in Scotland, the BBC can reveal.
    The unit was set up in May to gather information on the circumstances of all deaths in care homes. Prosecutors will eventually decide if the deaths should be the subject of a fatal accident inquiry or prosecution.
    Care homes say the investigation is "disproportionate" and placing a huge burden on overstretched staff.
    The COVID-19 Deaths Investigation Team (CDIT) had received 3,385 death reports as of Thursday. The majority of them relate to people who lived in care homes.
    Behind the Crown Office statistics are hundreds of families grieving for loved ones who died in Scotland's care homes.
    Alan Wightman's 88-year-old mother Helen died in May last year during a Covid outbreak at Scoonie House in Fife
    Helen's death is part of the Crown Office probe and Mr Wightman's hopes for the investigation are that it looks "at the bigger picture and appreciates that on the ground people were doing the best they could".
    He added: "I thought that Scoonie House did the best they could in a very difficult situation, sourcing their own PPE and stopping people coming from hospital."
    "My own view is that care homes were put in an impossible situation because we had successive governments which did not properly prepare for a pandemic, you only have to look at the lack of PPE at the beginning of the pandemic to see that."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 22 January 2021
     
×
×
  • Create New...