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Patient Safety Learning

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  1. Patient Safety Learning
    "Bolder government action" is needed to address inequalities in dementia risk, the charity Alzheimer's Research UK has warned this week. The comments come in response to findings from four new studies presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) which link socio-economic deprivation with increased risk of dementia and cognitive decline.
    Dr Susan Mitchell, head of policy at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: "These findings are a stark reminder of the health gap between the most and least deprived in society, with the most deprived at a higher risk of developing dementia.
    "Ultimately, these inequalities are profoundly unfair, but they are also avoidable. The Government has a key role in addressing inequalities through a range of measures to improve poverty, employment, housing and education."
    She added: "We urge Government to make dementia prevention a key priority in its aim to level up healthcare across the country, and hope the forthcoming health disparities white paper lays the foundation for a fairer, healthier nation."
    Read full story
    Source: Medscape, 5 August 2022
  2. Patient Safety Learning
    A large private provider says it is finding it harder than ever to fill its staffing vacancies, but is optimistic that its investment in nursing apprenticeships and overseas recruitment can help expand NHS-commissioned capacity.
    In an interview with HSJ, Shelley Thomas, group HR director for Spire Healthcare, said the company is facing the same staffing difficulties as NHS providers.
    She said: “We’re all feeling the same things at the moment… high sickness absence, high holidays, teams that are worn out. We’re all… experiencing the same from a workforce perspective.”
    However, she said Spire is “working harder than ever” to fill vacancies, and now has a “really robust pipeline” of apprentices and oversees recruits.
    Despite the waiting list backlogs which have ballooned since the pandemic began, and a £10bn framework in place for the NHS to utilise private sector capacity, analysis suggests NHS activity undertaken by private hospitals has been below pre-covid levels in almost all specialities.
    Ms Thomas suggested the staffing difficulties had been a factor in that, but acknowledged there were more conversations to be had locally about how the private sector could undertake more activity.
    She said the pandemic was a “huge catalyst for stronger working partnerships” between the NHS and the private sector and that relationships are “stronger than they’ve ever been”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 4 August 2022
  3. Patient Safety Learning
    One in eight Covid-19 patients (12.7%) is likely to experience long term symptoms, a study from the Netherlands has reported.
    Using digital questionnaires, researchers collected data on the frequency of 23 symptoms commonly associated with Covid in an uninfected population and in people who had had a Covid diagnosis.
    The findings, published in the Lancet, found that 21.4% of adults who had had Covid experienced at least one new or severely increased symptom three to five months after infection when compared with before. This compared with only 8.7% of uninfected people followed over the same period.
    The core Long Covid symptoms highlighted by the researchers include chest pain, difficulties breathing, pain when breathing, painful muscles, loss of taste and smell, tingling extremities, lump in throat, feeling hot and cold, heavy arms or legs, and general tiredness.
    Read full story
    Source: BMJ, 4 August 2022
  4. Patient Safety Learning
    Prescribing potentially harmful antipsychotic drugs to people with dementia has increased by more than 50% on average in care homes during the pandemic, new research suggests.
    It found that the number of people with dementia receiving these prescriptions had soared from 18% to 28% since 2018 – with prescription rates of over 50% in a third of care homes.
    Professor Clive Ballard, who was part of a national campaign in 2009 to reduce antipsychotic prescribing by half, said: “Covid-19 put tremendous pressure on care homes, and the majority of them must be applauded for maintaining relatively low antipsychotic prescribing levels amid incredibly difficult circumstances."
    “However, there were very significant rises in antipsychotic prescribing in one third of care homes and we urgently need to find ways to prioritise support to prevent people with dementia being exposed to significant harms.”
    Antipsychotic drugs are used to treat some of the more distressing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, such as agitation and psychotic episodes. They have only very limited, short-term benefits in treating psychiatric symptoms in people with dementia – but significantly increase the risk of serious side effects, including stroke, accelerated decline and death.
    Dr Richard Oakley, from the Alzheimer’s Society, added: “This study shows the shocking and dangerous scale of the use of antipsychotic drugs to treat people with dementia in care homes.
    “Alzheimer’s Society has been campaigning for a move away from the model of ‘medicate first’ and funded research into alternatives to antipsychotic prescriptions, focused on putting people living with dementia at the centre of their own care.
    “This drug-free, tailored care can help avoid the loss of lives associated with the harmful side effects of antipsychotic medications.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 4 August 2022
  5. Patient Safety Learning
    Sexual health charities and LGBT groups are calling for the government to step up efforts to control the monkeypox outbreak in the UK.
    In an open letter to Health Secretary Steven Barclay, they say that without a quicker and wider vaccine rollout, the virus could become "endemic".
    There have been more than 2,600 cases of monkeypox in the UK so far, mostly among men who have sex with men.
    The Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) says it is working "rapidly" to vaccinate those at risk.
    The Terrence Higgins Trust, which co-wrote the letter, says the rollout needs to be speeded up across the UK to help combat "fear and anxiety" within the LGBT community.
    Trust head of policy Ceri Smith told BBC News: "We need to see far better co-ordination, increased vaccine procurement, improved delivery and a cash injection to sexual health services to treat monkeypox."
    The letter reads: "Without urgent action, we risk monkeypox becoming endemic in the UK. This poses a serious risk to health and will exacerbate the health inequalities already experienced by gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men.
    "Vaccinating those most at risk of monkeypox must be a priority if we are to stand a chance of preventing the virus from becoming endemic in the UK."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 5 August 2022
  6. Patient Safety Learning
    The NHS in England is increasingly reliant on doctors and nurses recruited from outside the UK and EU, analysis has found.
    Some 34% of doctors joining the health service last year came from overseas, a rise from 18% in 2014.
    The government said overseas recruitment had always been part of its strategy, but unions have warned it is an unsustainable way of recruiting in the long-term.
    Patricia Marquis, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) director for England, said ministers must do more to reduce the "disproportionate reliance" on international recruits.
    The government is funding an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places each year for domestic students in England - a 25% increase over three years.
    However, last week a report by MPs concluded the large number of unfilled NHS job vacancies, about 110,000 in total, was posing a serious risk to patient safety.
    Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said it was "high time for the government to commit to a fully-funded, long-term workforce plan for the NHS" to tackle "chronic workforce shortages".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 5 August 2022
  7. Patient Safety Learning
    NHS England has called for a “deep dive” into local evacuation and shelter arrangements, amid ongoing concerns about outdated and unsafe estate.
    NHS England’s director of emergency preparedness, resilience and response Stephen Groves wrote to trusts: “Following the publication of the updated evacuation and shelter guidance for the NHS in England, and recent work driven by the heightened risk associated with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the 2022-23 EPRR annual deep dive will focus on local evacuation and shelter arrangements.”
    The letter, sent at the end of last week, comes amid growing concerns about NHS estate, including RAAC planks which were used in constructing public sector buildings in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. 
    Areas to be examined in the deep dive vary by type of organisation. However, according to a self-assessment tool referenced in the letter, questions for providers include: whether they have “a process in place to triage patients in the event of an incident requiring evacuation and/or shelter of patients”; whether there are “effective arrangements in place to support partners in a community evacuation, where the population of a large area may need to be displaced”; and whether “evacuation and shelter arrangements include resilient mechanisms to communicate with staff, patients, their families and the public, pre, peri and post evacuation”. 
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 5 August 2022
  8. Patient Safety Learning
    A 65-year-old man died after doctors failed to notice serious abnormalities on his X-ray, an investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has revealed.  
    The investigation comes a year after a landmark report by the Ombudsman highlighted failings in how X-rays and scans are reported and followed up in the NHS.  
    Mr B, who was admitted to University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust in May 2019, had been unwell for several days. He was admitted to hospital suffering from abdominal pain and vomiting. An X-ray of his abdomen was taken, which two doctors said did not show any apparent abnormalities.
    The following day the man’s condition deteriorated. He suffered a heart attack and died. A PHSO investigation found the Trust failed to notice a blockage in his intestine on the X-ray. Because of this failure, Mr B did not receive treatment that could have saved his life. 
    Speaking on this case Ombudsman Rob Behrens said:  
    “The case of Mr B highlights the devastating impact mistakes like this can have. If the Trust had picked up the abnormalities on his X-ray sooner, Mr B could still be with his family today. 
    “As the NHS faces the challenge of rebuilding after the pandemic, it must not lose momentum in improving the way X-rays and scans are handled during a patient’s care.”  
    Progress has been made by the NHS in implementing recommendations made by the Ombudsman in the report; however, Rob Behrens has said more needs to be done to protect patients from serious harm. 
    “Attention and buy-in from the NHS’s senior leaders is crucial if we want to see sustained and meaningful change in how X-rays and scans are managed during a patient’s care. We need more collaboration across clinical specialties, looking at the whole patient journey once a scan has been carried out.
    "I want to see the NHS treating complaints as a source of insight to drive improvements in patient care. Not learning from mistakes will mean missed opportunities to diagnose patients earlier. In the most serious cases, like that of Mr B, it will mean a death which should never have happened.”
    Read full story
    Source: PHSO, 20 July 2022
  9. Patient Safety Learning
    Mobile apps to track patients' health are keeping them out of hospital and could cut waiting times, experts have said.
    It follows a trial of a new app which heart patients are using through their mobile phones. The trial allows clinicians to change treatments quickly and uses video consultations, avoiding unnecessary hospital visits.
    Rhodri Griffiths is the innovation adoption director at Life Sciences Hub Wales, and is looking for more ways to introduce similar technology. He believes the pandemic accelerated the use and acceptance of digital solutions in healthcare, by patients and clinicians.
    "We really are looking at a big digital revolution within healthcare and there are an amazing myriad of things coming through," he said.
    He explained data collected by smartphones and watches can help predict who is likely to have a heart attack.
    "We can avoid that happening. So prevention is key but it's also looking at how some of this can impact on waiting lists," he said.
    "So, looking at how theatres are used, which patients can be prioritised?
    "In social care it's looking at how pain is managed by face recognition."
    Mr Griffiths said he believed the data collected could also identify wider problems: "It's combining these digital solutions with our genetic information - bringing big data together on a population level we can start spotting trends".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 4 August 2022
  10. Patient Safety Learning
    Midwife numbers are reaching a dangerous level which could put lives at risk, as records show more staff leaving than joining the profession for the first time in a decade.
    As a record number suffer burnout and leave, the figures from NHS Digital for 2021/22 show almost 300 more staff abandoned midwifery than joined the service, with 3,440 leaving and only 3,144 coming in.
    Analysis of the data showed a record 551 resigned in 2021 because of a lack of work-life balance.
    Midwives working in NHS trust maternity units typically work 12-hour shifts, but many work longer for no additional pay to cover staff shortages and to keep services running.
    The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) says members are "at the end of their tether' and 'physically and emotionally burnt out"
    Joeli Brearley, chief executive of campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, said: "We don't have enough midwives, and those we do have are underpaid, undervalued and overworked."
    "This is a problem that has been communicated to the Government repeatedly for years. It is putting the lives of women and their babies in danger and causing untold damage to their mental and physical health. The Government needs to get a grip of the situation urgently before there are more tragedies."
    Read full story
    Source: Daily Mail, 1 August 2022
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  11. Patient Safety Learning
    Private and NHS ambulance services are reviewing safety procedures after the Care Quality Commission identified a series of risks to mental health patients being transported by non-emergency providers.
    The care watchdog wrote to all providers of non-emergency patient transport earlier in the summer, warning of concerns identified at recent inspections about use of restraints, sexual safety, physical health needs, vehicle and equipment safety standards, and unsafe recruitment practices.
    The letter, seen by HSJ, stated: “We know there are many independent ambulance providers providing a good standard of care. Unfortunately, our recent inspections suggest that this is not always the case."
    “We expect providers to deliver on their commitment to provide safe, high-quality care and we will do everything within our powers to ensure this happens.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 4 August 2022
  12. Patient Safety Learning
    The chief executive of a trust trialling the new emergency care standards being considered by the government has called for a new six-hour target to either move patients out of accident and emergency, or for them to receive treatment.
    North Tees and Hartlepool Foundation Trust chief executive Julie Gillon told HSJ  a new target should be set as a “body of evidence” indicates patients are at risk of deterioration following A&E waits of six hours or more.
    The proposal is likely to be broadly welcomed by many clinicians, but could prove controversial in some quarters. NHS England did not include a six-hour target in the bundle of new A&E metrics being piloted, and the proposal could be interpreted by some as a watered-down version of the existing four-hour standard.
    However, Ms Gillon cited analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine last year which revealed thousands of excess deaths resulting from overcrowding and long stays in A&Es.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 4 August 2022
  13. Patient Safety Learning
    Fresh concerns have been raised about the treatment of whistleblowers by managers at a trust recently embroiled in a high-profile bullying scandal, the hospital’s workforce director has disclosed.
    A series of further accusations have been made against managers at West Suffolk Foundation Trust, where executives were recently judged to have led an “intimidating, flawed” hunt for a whistleblower, prompting a series of high-profile departures.
    The trust’s executive director for workforce detailed in a paper for the hospital’s July board meeting how managers had been hunting to identify staff who had raised concerns through supposedly confidential channels.
    The report, by executive director of workforce and communications, Jeremy Over, said: “Feedback has been given indicating that some people have had a poor experience when speaking up.
    “In two separate cases, where people spoke up in confidence, it was reported that the managers were then asking and wishing to find out who had spoken up making the individuals very uncomfortable.
    “Another case reported that the individual was ‘told off’ by their manager for ‘going about their heads’ [sic] and another where staff felt discouraged from raising any points or suggestions as these were taken [as] a personal offence [by] the senior staff. In a further case, the person speaking up was criticised [for] doing so.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 3 August 2022
  14. Patient Safety Learning
    More than 100,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine have been acquired in order to combat the spread of the virus, the government has said.
    Last month the NHS stepped up its monkeypox vaccination programme in England as infections rose.
    Vaccines minister Maggie Throup said the majority of vaccines were being made available in London, with about 75% of confirmed cases in the capital.
    But she urged people to wait to be invited to receive their jabs.
    While anyone can get monkeypox, the majority of those with the virus are gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.
    The latest figures show that nationally there have been 2,436 confirmed cases, with 1,778 of those in London.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 3 August 2022
  15. Patient Safety Learning
    Ministers have admitted a key NHS pledge to ensure that everyone who has been waiting at least two years for hospital care would be treated by last month has not been met.
    The then health secretary Sajid Javid made the promise in February when launching the NHS’s “elective recovery plan”. It was intended to tackle what is now a record 6.6 million-patient backlog in England for those awaiting a procedure such as a joint replacement or cataract removal and included a series of treatment milestones the health service had to hit.
    “No one will wait longer than two years by July,” Javid said. However, the Department of Health and Social Care has now admitted that it will miss that target and that “a small number of patients” will have remained untreated by that deadline.
    The health minister Maria Caulfield told Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, in a written parliamentary answer on 18 July that while “no formal estimate has been made … engagement with the National Health Service suggests a small number of patients with complex cases will have waited longer than two years for NHS treatment by the end of July 2022”.
    Streeting said the admission was a further example of the government not backing up rhetoric on the NHS with concrete action. “It is unacceptable for anyone to be left waiting more than one year for healthcare, let alone two,” he said. “Once again the Conservatives have overpromised, [and] undelivered, and patients are paying the price.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 3 August 2022
  16. Patient Safety Learning
    On 24 June the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision that legalised abortion and left the regulation of abortion to the states.4 At present, about half of the 50 states ban or severely limit abortions, but the picture is changing daily as century old bans go into place in some states, bans are challenged in courts, and state legislatures debate changes to their laws.
    The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) said, “Each piece of legislation is different, using different language and rationales. State legislators are taking it upon themselves to define complex medical concepts without reference to medical evidence. Some of the penalties for violating these vague, unscientific laws include criminal sentences.”
    Doctors report being confused and fearful about how they can continue to practise in states where abortion laws are changing day by day and sometimes hour by hour.
    Katie McHugh, an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Indianapolis, where abortion until 20 weeks is legal for the moment, told The BMJ about a patient who arrived from another state (around 200 miles away) with a miscarriage.
    “A fetal heartbeat could still be detected. The local hospital sent her home and told her to come back if she became very sick.” Instead she travelled two and a half hours by car to McHugh.
    “I don’t blame the physicians in [the other state]. I don’t know if abortion is legal now a trigger law is in effect. They could face lawsuits. As a physician, it’s unacceptable to have to watch the news to know what’s legal and how to practise,” said McHugh.
    Read full story
    Source: BMJ, 1 August 2022
  17. Patient Safety Learning
    A&E waits are now “apocalyptic” and “worse than ever imagined” leaked NHS data shows, and could be driving 1,000 patient deaths a month, The Independent can reveal.
    Almost 700,000 people have waited more than 12 hours in A&E in the first seven months of 2022, according to leaked NHS data.
    The “hidden” monthly trolley waits, not published in national data, have more than doubled this year in comparison to 2019.
    Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, warned data shows trolley waits are “worse than ever imagined” and said it is “scandalous” the real figures are not published despite promises.
    Dr Henderson warned the deterioration in A&E waiting times is the result of “decades of underfunding” and “unheeded warnings” over staffing and social care.
    In one message to staff in Nottinghamshire, seen by The Independent, hospital leaders said last week patients were waiting more than 40 hours for beds in A&E, while some areas of the hospital were running on a 1:14 staffing ratios and patients were waiting at home with no care.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 1 August 2022
  18. Patient Safety Learning
    Hospitals must start using “smart” intravenous (IV) infusion technology to its full potential if they are to prevent dangerous drug errors, University of Manchester researchers have found.
    ‘Smart pumps’-  which automatically calculate the dose and rate of different drugs before they are pumped into a vein  - prevent potentially fatal errors by stopping the administration of the wrong rate.
    But according to the study published in BMJ Open Quality, though the technology probably saved the lives of 110 people in two Trusts over a year, it has largely failed to be adopted by hospitals.
    Though many IV pumps used in hospitals have a smart capability, most trusts do not utilise the functionality because they are difficult to configure and maintain.
    Smart pumps are usually configured by a pharmacist and checked by a consultant or senior nurse. Conventional pumps, however, are set by ward staff who calculate and input infusion rates themselves - increasing the risk of drug errors.
    The risks are illustrated by previous work from the Manchester team, who demonstrated that 1 in 10 IV drug administrations are associated with an error, and up to 1 in 10 of those were associated with harm.
    Read full story
    Source: University of Manchester, 1 August 2022
  19. Patient Safety Learning
    A cancer sufferer who says she faced a wait of 31 hours in A&E has compared the emergency department to "a cattle market".
    Tracy Summerson, who had nausea and a fever, was eventually admitted to Lincoln County Hospital last week. Ms Summerson said there were more than 30 other patients who waited a similar amount of time.
    The hospital said despite long waits, those who needed immediate care were "able to be seen and looked after".
    Ms Summerson, from Scopwick near Metheringham, described the scene as "just crammed, you were like cattle in a market".
    Ms Summerson, who has stage four malignant melanoma, said: "There was people coming with sick bowls being sick next to you.
    "When you are immune-suppressed you're supposed to go in a side room out of germs way, but they needed all the rooms for consultations."
    The family of an 83-year-old woman also contacted the BBC to say she waited more than 40 hours in a wheelchair in her nightdress after being taken to the hospital with a suspected brain bleed.
    The trust added: "We continue to see an increasing demand on our urgent and emergency care services coupled with patients staying much longer in our hospitals than previously experienced."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 1 August 2022
  20. Patient Safety Learning
    Staff at a mental health trust, run by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, falsified records that they had checked on a vulnerable patient the night he died, an inquest has heard.
    Eliot Harris was found dead in his room at Northgate Hospital in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in April 2020. A police witness statement detailed how CCTV footage contradicted 19 log entries.
    Mr Harris, 48, was admitted to hospital after the care home where he was a resident requested an urgent mental health assessment, an inquest into his death at Norfolk Coroner's Court heard.
    He had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, had a history of epileptic seizures and had not been taking his medication.
    Mr Harris was deemed to be high risk and was supposed to be on regular checks four times an hour.
    In a witness statement read out in court, Det Sgt Nick Appleton described how police had cross referenced logs of his observations with CCTV recordings.
    Det Sgt Appleton listed 19 instances in which the observation record was signed by a staff member that night, indicating Mr Harris had been checked, but was not backed up by the CCTV record.
    He identified a number of "points of concern" in his evidence in which falsifying logs was "normal" and "standard practice" on wards.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 1 August 2022
  21. Patient Safety Learning
    Several trusts have now started reporting thousands of 12-hour waits in their emergency departments, representing a huge difference to the numbers published nationally under a slightly different measure.
    This year, trusts have started submitting data to NHS England on the number of patients waiting over 12 hours from time of arrival in ED, until discharge, admission or transfer. Many trusts are now reporting these statistics in their public board reports.
    This is a slightly different measure to the publicly reported “trolley wait” figures, which count waits of over 12 hours from decision to admit until admission.
    Experts have long argued the trolley wait measure does not capture the true problem of ED overcrowding and delayed care. The new data captures a far higher number of patients and has not been published nationally by NHSE.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 2 August 2022
  22. Patient Safety Learning
    People who go to hospital for non-covid treatment are at higher risk of the virus compared with the general public, which is why high levels of hospital-acquired Covid-19 in England are worrying some doctors.
    They fear that the coronavirus is becoming a potential hazard of a hospital stay for older or vulnerable people, in a similar way to “superbugs” such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
    People who go to hospital for non-covid-19 treatment are at higher risk from the virus compared with the general public, says Tom Lawton, an intensive care doctor in Bradford, UK.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The New Scientist, 21 July 2022
  23. Patient Safety Learning
    A large acute trust is carrying out a major expansion of patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) appointments, which is said to be “the most ambitious” project of its kind in the NHS.
    Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Foundation Trust has categorised around half of its outpatient follow-up list as “possible or probable opportunities” for patient-initiated pathways.
    NNUH wants to make PIFU the “default model” for patients who are not on active pathways, and where it is safe to do this.
    Its project is being closely watched by national leaders and has already drawn praise from NHS England’s director of elective recovery, Rob Stones, during a webinar last month. It is understood to be more ambitious than NHSE’s official PIFU pilot projects.
    NHSE’s elective chief, Sir Jim Mackey, has said he wants to expand PIFU pathways on an “industrial” scale.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 29 July 2022
  24. Patient Safety Learning
    More than a million people – including hundreds of thousands of children – are on an unpublished national waiting list for community health services, according to NHS England documents leaked to HSJ.
    They reveal that just over 75,000 children are waiting to access community paediatric services, including children needing help with developmental delay, long-term health conditions and additional needs; and there is a backlog of more than 74,300 young people for speech and language therapy.
    More than 321,000 adults are on the list waiting for musculoskeletal services, mostly physiotherapy such as for back and joint pain; while 120,000 are waiting for podiatry.
    HSJ understands the lack of national support for long waits for most community and mental health care – in contrast to billions of government funding and a major recovery programme for elective consultant-led treatment – has been raised at a senior level in NHS E in recent weeks. One senior leader told HSJ the discrepancy was “immoral”. 
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 1 August 2022
  25. Patient Safety Learning
    The NHS is to use artificial intelligence to detect, screen and treat people at risk of hepatitis C under plans to eradicate the disease by 2030.
    Hepatitis C often does not have any noticeable symptoms until the liver has been severely damaged, which means thousands of people are living with the infection – known as the silent killer – without realising it.
    Left untreated, it can cause life-threatening damage to the liver over years. But with modern treatments now available, it is possible to cure the infection.
    Now health chiefs are launching a hi-tech screening programme in England in a fresh drive to identify thousands of people unaware they have the virus.
    The scheme, due to begin in the next few weeks, aims to help people living with hepatitis C get a life-saving diagnosis and access to treatment before it is too late.
    The NHS will identify people who may have the virus by using AI to scan health records for a number of key risk factors, such as historical blood transfusions or an HIV diagnosis.
    Anyone identified through the new screening process will be invited for a review by their GP and, if appropriate, further screening for hepatitis C. Those who test positive for the virus will be offered treatment available after NHS England struck a deal with three major pharmaceutical companies.
    Prof Graham Foster, national clinical chair for NHS England’s hepatitis C elimination programmes, said the scheme “marks a significant step forward” in the fight to eliminate the virus before 2030. It will “use new software to identify and test patients most at risk from the virus – potentially saving thousands of lives”, he added.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 31 July 2022

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