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Patient Safety Learning

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Everything posted by Patient Safety Learning

  1. News Article
    An NHS mental health trust that has been the worst performing in England has been warned it must improve after failing another inspection. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has been rated "inadequate" in the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) report. The CQC said it had served the trust with a warning notice that it had to act on to improve patient care. The trust has been rated "inadequate" on three previous occasions by the health watchdog, as well as being the only one currently within the NHS's improvement regime for not meeting standards. Following the latest inspection, its overall rating was downgraded from "requires improvement" - and three out of five measures assessed by the CQC, for safety, leadership and effectiveness, met its lowest grading. The report said two wards were immediately closed to new patients following a CQC visit in November, after the trust was threatened with enforcement action if urgent measures were not taken. Significant staffing problems, including an annual nurse vacancy rate of more than 17%, were also highlighted. Staff at an adult long stay ward did not complete regular checks on patients supposed to happen every 30 to 60 minutes, which meant they were unaware if somebody needed help for periods of up to seven hours. Inspectors also said there had been a severe deterioration on the trust's inpatient ward for children and young people - the Dragonfly Unit in Carlton Colville, Suffolk. They found it was reliant on agency workers and lacked a permanent doctor. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 April 2022
  2. News Article
    A major reform of the way NHS clinical negligence claims are handled in England is needed, MPs say. The House of Commons' Health and Social Care Committee said the current system was too adversarial, leading to bitter and long legal fights for patients. More than £2bn a year is paid out on claims, but 25% goes to legal fees. An independent body should be set up to adjudicate on cases and the need to prove individual fault should be scrapped, the cross-party group said. Instead, the focus should be whether the system failed, which the MPs believe would create a better culture for learning from mistakes. The committee heard from families who had lost children or whose babies had been left with brain injuries from mistakes made during birth. Parents described how they had to fight for years to get recognition for the harm that had been caused. One woman criticised the "complacent attitude" of the hospital involved, saying they just wanted to put it down to one mistake and carry on as normal. Another woman whose daughter died aged 20 months after errors in her care said she felt lessons had not been learnt despite a settlement in her favour. She said the whole process had left her feeling devastated. The average length of time for these settlements was over 11 years, the committee was told. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 April 2022
  3. Content Article
    Nearly half of all adults and approximately 8% of children (aged 5-17) worldwide have a chronic condition. Yet, studies have consistently shown that adherence to medication is poor; estimates range from under 80% to under 50%, with an average of 50%. There could be a considerable improvement in health outcomes (and consequently longevity), not only by developing new drugs, but by helping people adhere to existing treatment regimens that have already been researched, tested and prescribed for them. But adherence isn’t usually prioritised by governments, health providers or healthcare professionals (HCPs). Adherence isn’t measured at a national level for any disease, apart from in Sweden where hypertension is recorded. And as governments don’t prioritise adherence, health providers aren’t measured or incentivised for improving it, meaning HCPs may not have the time and resources (or reminders) to focus on it during consultations.  This report from the International Longevity Centre-UK (ILC) makes a series of recommendations.
  4. Content Article
    Operations can have cognitive side-effects, particularly in the over-65s but also in the very young. How can science minimise the danger?
  5. News Article
    Government policies on discharging untested patients from hospital to care homes in England at the start of the Covid pandemic have been ruled unlawful by the High Court. The ruling comes after two women took former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Public Health England to court. Dr Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris said it had caused a "shocking death toll". Prime Minister Boris Johnson renewed his apologies for all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic. Dr Gardner and Ms Harris partially succeeded in claims against Mr Hancock and Public Health England. The women claimed key policies of discharging patients from hospitals into care homes were implemented with no testing and no suitable isolation arrangements in the homes. A barrister representing Dr Gardner and Ms Harris told the court at a hearing in March that more than 20,000 elderly or disabled care home residents died from Covid between March and June 2020 in England and Wales. Jason Coppel QC also said in a written case outline for the judicial review that the care home population was known to be "uniquely vulnerable" to Covid. "The government's failure to protect it, and positive steps taken by the government which introduced Covid-19 infection into care homes, represent one of the most egregious and devastating policy failures in the modern era," he added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 April 2022
  6. News Article
    NHS management and leadership are overly ‘task focused’, according to briefings by the senior military leader who has carried out a major review of health and care for the government. General Sir Gordon Messenger has nearly completed the work, which had been due to be published shortly before Easter but was delayed by the government, and has briefed several senior leaders on several of his main observations. According to several senior figures, he has said NHS management and leadership are heavily “task focused” — a management term referring to an approach devoted to completing certain tasks or meeting certain short-term objectives; in contrast to an approach which focuses on people, relationships or skills. HSJ has spoken to several senior sources who have been briefed on Sir Gordon’s findings so far. One said the former military figure had observed that “NHS leadership is… very focused on getting things done, and not focused enough on how things get done – which I think is very fair if you think particularly what the last 10, 15 years have been like”. Another finding, according to those briefed, is the need for better support for NHS leaders running the most difficult local organisations, including providing what has been described as “support packages”. Read full story Source: HSJ, 26 April 2022
  7. News Article
    In an unprecedented murder case in the United States about end-of-life care, a physician accused of killing 14 critically ill patients with opioid overdoses in a Columbus, Ohio hospital ICU over a period of 4 years was found not guilty by a jury Wednesday. The jury, after a 7-week trial featuring more than 50 witnesses in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, declared William Huse not guilty on 14 counts of murder and attempted murder. In a news conference after the verdict was announced, lead defense attorney Jose Baez said Husel, whom he called a "great doctor," hopes to practice medicine again in the future. The verdict, he argued, offers an encouraging sign that physicians and other providers won't face prosecution for providing "comfort care" to patients suffering pain. "They don't need to be looking over their shoulders worrying about whether they'll get charged with crimes," he said. The trial raised the specific issue of what constitutes a medically justifiable dose of opioid painkillers during the end-of-life procedure known as palliative extubation, in which critically ill patients are withdrawn from the ventilator when they are expected to die. Under medicine's so-called double-effect principle, physicians must weigh the benefits and risks of ordering potentially lethal doses of painkillers and sedatives to provide comfort care for critically ill patients. To many observers, however, the case really centered on the largely hidden debate over whether it's acceptable to hasten the deaths of dying patients who haven't chosen that path. That's called euthanasia, which is illegal in the United States. In contrast, 10 states plus the District of Columbia allow physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill, mentally competent adults who can self-administer them. That's called medical aid in dying, or physician-assisted dying or suicide. Read full story Source: Medscape, 27 April 2022
  8. Content Article
    This paper ranks the performance of the UK health care system with that of 18 similar, wealthy countries since 2000 or the earliest year for which data is available. It covers the level of health spending, overall life expectancy, the health care outcomes of the major diseases and the outcomes for treatable mortality and childbirth.
  9. News Article
    Three in four GPs have reported facing increasing patient abuse last year, according to a major survey by a medical defence organisation. The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) surveyed almost 2,000 members across the UK, including 668 GPs, about their experiences last year compared with 2020. It revealed that 76% of GPs reported an increase in verbal abuse from patients towards them and their practice staff. Half of these (38%) said this had ‘significantly increased’ and the other half that it had ‘somewhat increased’ throughout 2021. Female GPs were more likely to face verbal abuse or aggression than their male counterparts, with 81% reporting an increase in this compared with 72% of their male colleagues. The survey found that this has led to a ‘huge increase in work-related stress’, MDDUS said. Among GPs who experienced verbal abuse or aggression in the workplace, 83% said they felt ‘more stressed’ than they did in 2020. MDDUS chief executive Chris Kenny said: ‘The pandemic has stretched our healthcare professionals to the limit. For those at the very frontline, it is clear now that the levels of stress have reached an almost unsustainable point. ‘GPs urgently need recognition, reassurance and realism to support them so they can reset their relationship with patients.’ Read full story Source: Pulse, 22 April 2022
  10. News Article
    Fewer than one in three people who have been hospitalised with Covid-19 have fully recovered a year after they succumbed to infection. That is the shock finding of a survey into the impact of long Covid in the UK. The team of scientists and doctors at Leicester University also found that women had poorer recovery rates than men after hospitalisation, while obesity was also likely to hinder a person’s prospects of health improvements. Among the symptoms reported by patients a year after their initial infection were fatigue, muscle pain, poor sleep and breathlessness. “Given that more than 750,000 people have been hospitalised in the UK with Covid-19 over the past two years, it is clear from our research that the legacy of this disease is going to be huge,” said Rachael Evans, one of the study’s authors. The team stressed their results show there is now an urgent need to develop ways to tackle Long Covid. “Without effective treatments, Long Covid could become a highly prevalent long-term condition,” said Professor Chris Brightling, another author. A critical factor in these poor rates of recovery was the lack of treatments that exist for Long Covid, added Professor Louise Wain, who was also involved in the study. “No specific therapeutics exist for long Covid and our data highlights that effective interventions are urgently required.” The researchers also found that many of those reporting impairment in the wake of their hospitalisation were suffering from persistent inflammation. “That suggests these groups might respond to anti-inflammatory strategies,” added Wain. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2022
  11. News Article
    Major differences in the rate of foot amputations for people with diabetes in England are incredibly concerning, patient groups say. Such amputations are a sign patients have not received adequate care, as poorly controlled diabetes increases the risk of foot ulcers and infections. One in 10 areas had "significantly higher rates", government data shows. There was nearly a five-fold difference between the best and worst when taking into account risk factors such as age. The government data - published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities - looked at the three years leading up to the pandemic. It is believed up to 80% of foot amputations could be avoided with better care. Diabetes UK said the figures "shined a light on the scale of the crisis facing diabetes care" and it warned access to support was likely to have become worse during the pandemic. A report produced by the charity earlier this month said lives would be needlessly lost because of disruption to services over the past two years. Diabetes UK chief executive Chris Askew said the latest figures were "incredibly concerning". "The majority of these major amputations are preventable, but many people living with diabetes are struggling to access the care they need - and in areas of higher deprivation, people are experiencing worse outcomes. These inequalities must be addressed." Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 April 2022
  12. News Article
    A trust has discovered 1,800 patients who were removed by mistake from its elective waiting list. Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust chief executive Matthew Trainer wrote to colleagues in the east London health system today to “apologise for the stress this will have caused those experiencing a delay”. Of the 1,800 patients involved, 600 have been waiting more than a year and roughly 200 have been waiting for more than two years. Mr Trainer’s note explained: “The patients have been waiting to see our specialists in routine clinics in gynaecology, neurology, neurosurgery and ophthalmology.” It continued: “As we have been working through our waiting lists, we have discovered a problem with one of them that was used to deal with the backlog created by the pandemic. “It contained routine referrals that were submitted by GPs who wanted their patients to be seen by a specialist, but for whom there were no appointments available due to covid-19. Unfortunately, these patients were removed automatically from this list before they had been seen.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 26 April 2022
  13. News Article
    Women with asthma are twice as likely to die from an asthma attack compared with men in the UK, new figures show as health experts called for urgent research into the condition’s sex-related differences. They are more likely to have the condition, more likely to need hospital treatment for it and more likely to die from an attack, Asthma + Lung UK said. Over the past five years women have accounted for more than two-thirds of asthma deaths in the UK. The charity said the current “one size fits all” approach to asthma treatment is “not working” because it does not take into account the impact that female sex hormones during puberty, periods, pregnancy and menopause can have on asthma symptoms and attacks. More must be done to tackle the “stark health inequality”, it added. Between 2014-15 and 2019-20 more than 5,100 women in the UK died from an asthma attack compared with fewer than 2,300 men. Meanwhile, emergency hospital admissions in England show that, among those aged 20 to 49, women were 2.5 times more likely to be admitted to hospital for asthma treatment compared with men. Asthma + Lung UK said many people were unaware that fluctuations in female sex hormones can cause asthma symptoms to flare up or even trigger life-threatening attacks. It is calling for more research to examine the sex-related differences in asthma. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 April 2022
  14. Content Article
    Recently the Financial Times health and data reports produced an incisive piece showing the world what is all too readily apparent to people in the NHS: bed capacity has been stretched to breaking point. The report said this “calls into question [the NHS’s] ability to meet a commitment to increase non-urgent hospital treatment by 30 per cent above pre-pandemic levels over the next three years”. It also demonstrates the dangerous congestion that is causing ambulances to stack up outside emergency departments and medically fit patients to languish in vital beds past their due time for discharge. This congestion is causing dangerous delays, leading to a rising number of serious incidents in ambulances queuing to get to the front door of the ED. There is doubtless much that can be done inside hospitals to improve efficiency, alleviate bottlenecks and improve patient flow.
  15. News Article
    Relatives of intensive care Covid patients were left traumatised by being banned from visiting their seriously ill loved ones during the pandemic, a study has found. Researchers found two-thirds of family members of patients in intensive care were still suffering high levels of symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) three months after their relative was admitted. Symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, nightmares and physical sensations such as pain, sweating, feeling sick or trembling. Before the Covid pandemic, symptoms of PTSD in family members of intensive care patients were between 15 and 30 per cent, depending on the condition. The team from the University of Colorado School of Medicine said visitation restrictions may have inadvertently generated a secondary public health crisis of stress-related disorders in family members of Covid patients. At the height of the pandemic, hospitals across Britain restricted access to patients, with many people forced to say goodbye to dying loved ones over Skype, or behind screens or windows. Even as late as last winter, a Telegraph investigation showed that a quarter of trusts were still imposing restrictions on visitors. The findings suggest that the rates of PTSD may be higher in relatives than in patients. A previous study by Imperial College and the University of Southampton found that only one-third of patients on ventilators suffer symptoms. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 25 April 2022
  16. News Article
    The UK’s Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it is investigating after finding more than 100 cases of sudden hepatitis in children. Doctors said they had seen "increasing" evidence the problem is linked to adenoviruses - a group of viruses that can cause illnesses such as the common cold and flu. The HSA said it cannot rule out other possible causes such as Covid, which it is also investigating, but that an adenovirus has been identified in 40 out of the 53 cases so far tested. In Britain, cases have reached 81 in England, 14 in Scotland, 11 in Wales and five in Northern Ireland, with the majority of patients under five years old. No children in the UK have died, it was confirmed, after the World Health Organization said there had been 169 cases globally with at least one child who had died from the illness. Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 April 2022
  17. News Article
    A woman who has been waiting three years for a hysterectomy says she feels she and other women have been pushed to the bottom of the list. Jessica Ricketts, from Barry, is one of 164,000 patients who have been on various NHS waiting lists for more than a year, compared to less than 7,000 two-years-ago. But it will take another three years to tackle the backlog. Welsh government's plan to tackle long waits is due to be published later. But for Jessica, she remains in pain with endometriosis despite six gynaecological surgeries over the past 10 years and is now waiting for the hysterectomy. "Every day there's some sort of pain and I'm in pain right now," she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast. "My fear is that the endometriosis - because obviously I'm just waiting - is now in my diaphragm, and so I get pain on my left side. "With every day almost, which used to just be cyclical and now it's gone a lot worse." Jessica is keen to see what the Welsh government's plan to cut waiting times is, but she believes women's health "seems to be at the very bottom of the pile". She added: "I think it's even more important now than ever, to really push the women's health side of things. We have it takes on average 10 years for a diagnosis of endometriosis. "As women we have to fight to even get past the GP who is severely under-trained in this department. "And it's just seems to be that because we're women. We're told that you know, just suck it up really and carry on and it needs to be a fairer system, particularly for the women of Wales and we need to stop pushing it to the bottom of the pile." Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 April 2022
  18. News Article
    The death of a young woman a day after she was discharged from a mental health facility has sparked renewed calls for a public inquiry into a scandal-hit trust. Abbigail Smith, 26, who had autism and learning difficulties, was found dead in a park in Essex in February, 24 hours after she was allowed to leave the Linden Centre run by the Essex Partnership University Hospitals Foundation Trust (EPUT). The trust has launched an investigation into the care she received before she died, according to a letter seen by The Independent, and Essex Coroner’s Court will examine her death. The Independent can reveal 97 patient deaths have been declared by the trust between February 2021 and February 2022 under the national patient safety alert system. The trust is already facing an independent inquiry into 1,500 patient deaths between 2000 and 2020. Deaths after December 2020 will not be looked at by that inquiry. At least 68 families have called for a public inquiry into mental health services in Essex, led by Melanie Leahy, whose son Matthew died at the Linden Centre in 2012. Nina Ali, a solicitor at Hodge Jones & Allen, which is supporting the Wolffs and other families, told The Independent: “It is worrying that the government has and continues to completely ignore the call led by Melanie Leahy, now supported by some 68 families and individuals, for the current independent inquiry to be converted to a full statutory inquiry on the basis that the current inquiry – which lacks the statutory power to compel relevant documentary evidence to be obtained and to compel witnesses to attend and give their evidence under oath – will ultimately prove to be a complete waste of time and money.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 April 2022
  19. News Article
    Health Secretary Sajid Javid is to review what immediate changes can be made to gender treatment services for children in England. This could include changing the law to let the independent Cass review have access to an NHS database of young people who already received treatment. It comes ahead of the review's report, due later this year. This week Mr Javid told MPs services in this area were too affirmative and narrow, and "bordering on ideological". He is now thought to be planning an overhaul of the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), which is run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, with clinics in London and Leeds. The trust has defended itself, saying while there is a need for change, doctors already take into account the wider physical and mental health of children who are referred there. The health secretary has been considering changing the law to allow a review of GIDS being led Dr Hilary Cass, former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, to access a database of children who were treated by GIDS to see if any later regretted having treatments, such as puberty blockers. It is unclear how the process of giving access to the information would work. Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 April 2022
  20. Content Article
    The first wave of the pandemic necessitated a large scale shift to greater digital engagement with patients, yet progress has not been uniform. While virtual consultations have become increasingly commonplace, communication outside of those appointments is still often analogue and generally sporadic. Cancelling an appointment – or indicating in advance that a specific day or time doesn’t work – remains a complicated, non-digital experience for many patients. With millions now on waiting lists for treatment, and a significant minority having already waited two years, this sort of communication gap becomes more challenging. As such there are arguments that it’s now time for the digital acceleration seen during the pandemic to extend to this area too.
  21. Content Article
    There are too many integrated care systems (ICSs) in some parts of the country, especially the South West and Midlands, writes Alastair McLellan and Dave West in this HSJ article. This means that effective integration will struggle due to limited resources, leadership capacity and ability to influence large providers. It is also a problem widely acknowledged at the centre and within the regions.  The proposed structure for ICSs is overly complex, consisting of a partnership board with little statutory power, which is meant to give strategic direction to an executive board which in practice will be held accountable for all decisions, but which is also meant to give up as much power and money as possible to “place based” entities which remain ill defined and have no statutory standing.
  22. Event
    Healthcare Conferences UK in association with Christopher Fincken Former Chair of the UK Caldicott Guardian Council are pleased to announce the 9th National Annual Caldicott Guardians Conference which will return to an in person event with the option of virtual attendance. There are now more than 22,000 Caldicott Guardians in place in health, social care and beyond. Following the success of previous Caldicott Guardian Events, and feedback from our the Caldicott Training Masterclasses, this conference aims to bring current and aspiring Caldicott Guardians together to understand current issues and the national context, and to debate and discuss key issues and areas they are facing in practice. Chaired by Christopher Fincken, this conference will give you the opportunity to focus on the key areas of developing your skills as an effective Caldicott Guardian, learning from experienced Caldicott Guardians and Caldicott Decision Making. Hot topics this year will focus information sharing with the police, developing a Caldicott Support Function, information sharing after death, in emergency situations and information sharing issues both in children and young adults, and at the end of life. This conference will enable you to: Network with fellow Caldicott Guardians and those working to deliver the Caldicott Role and Principles. Learn from Caldicott Guardians about issues they are facing in practice. Understand and reflect on what makes an excellent Caldicott Guardian and what are the competencies required . Improving understanding of frontline staff in the Caldicott Principles and developing a Caldicott Culture. Understand public expectations of the use of health and care data. Reflect on emerging issues that have arisen due to Covid-19. Self Assessment of your decision making skills as a Caldicott Guardian. Update your knowledge on national developments including the revised principles and the 8th Caldicott Principle . Learn how organisations are supporting Caldicott Guardians through a Caldicott Support Group including patients . Understand how to manage difficult issues and ethical dilemmas for Caldicott Guardians. Understand the legal context behind information sharing after death . Learn from case studies in information sharing with the police, in emergency situtions, in suidice, in children and young people and at the end of life. Apply the Caldicott Principles to sharing information with families, and friends. Self assess and reflect on your own practice. Supports CPD professional development and acts as revalidation evidence. This course provides 5 Hrs training for CPD subject to peer group approval for revalidation purposes. Register
  23. News Article
    More than 100,000 doctors in Australia hold the right to call themselves cosmetic surgeons, without having undergone the specific training to be competent and safe. President of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery and Medicine Dr Patrick Tansley says cosmetic surgery does not form part of the traditional medical training undertaken in Australia, due to the practice being relatively new. “Society has moved faster than legislation has followed it,” he told Sky News Australia. Dr Tansley said he is advocating for the introduction of a national standard to endorse this area of practice in Australia, where doctors would be placed on a public register for patients to review their accreditation. “Once they had met those standards and then were endorsed, they could be placed on a public register, independently administered by the regulator AHPRA. “And the public would then be able to see, with clarity and transparency, which of those doctors have been trained and accredited in cosmetic surgery.” Read full story Source: Sky News, 23 April 2022
  24. News Article
    "I thought she would be safe at Chadwick Lodge,” said Natasha Darbon, recalling how she felt in April 2019 when her 19-year-old daughter, Brooke Martin, was admitted to the mental health hospital in Milton Keynes. Eight weeks later, Brooke took her own life. The jury at the inquest found that Brooke’s death could have been prevented and that the private healthcare provider Elysium Healthcare, which ran the hospital, did not properly manage her risk of suicide. It also found that serious failures of risk assessment, communication and the setting of observation levels contributed to her death. Elysium accepted that had she been placed on 24-hour observations, Brooke would not have died. In 2018, Brooke, who was autistic, was repeatedly sectioned under the Mental Health Act because of her escalating self-harm and suicide attempts. After a spell in an NHS facility in Surrey she moved to Chadwick Lodge, which specialises in treating personality disorders. After a few weeks there, Brooke was doing well and staff were pleased with her progress. She was due to move to Hope House, a separate unit at the hospital, to start more specialist therapy for emotionally unstable personality disorder, and was keen to make the switch. But then the teenager’s mental health deteriorated again. On 5 June 2019 she tried to kill herself. Five days later she was seen twice that evening secretly handling potential ligatures, but no appropriate action was taken. A few minutes later she was found unresponsive in her room. She received CPR but died the next day in Milton Keynes university hospital. After hearing the evidence about the care Brooke received in her final days, Tom Osborne, the coroner at the inquest, took the unusual step of issuing a prevention of future deaths notice. He sent it to Sajid Javid, the health secretary, and to Elysium Healthcare, as the owner of Chadwick Lodge. It set out the detailed criticisms that the jury had made of Elysium’s interaction with Brooke after her attempt to take her own life on 5 June. They cited the hospital’s failures to communicate information regarding Brooke’s suicide attempt, to search her room after she was found handling potential ligatures on the night she died, and to place Brooke on constant observations afterwards. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2022
  25. News Article
    A pill to help treat an overactive bladder - which affects millions of women - could soon be available to buy in the UK without prescription. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) wants women and doctors to submit their views. Aquiette tablets treat the "urge to pee" condition which can cause frequent toilet trips and distressing accidents. Symptoms include having to urinate at least eight times a day and more than once during the night. It would be the first time a medicine for the treatment of overactive bladder would be available without prescription. Dr Laura Squire, from the MHRA, said: "For many women, an overactive bladder can make day-to-day living extremely challenging. "It can impact on relationships, on work, on social life, and it can lead to anxiety and depression. "Fortunately there are treatments around, and from today you will have a chance to have your say on whether one of those treatments, Aquiette, can be available for the first time without a prescription." Minister for Women's Health Maria Caulfield said: "When it comes to sensitive issues such as bladder control, speaking to a GP may act as a barrier for some women to seek help. "Reclassification of Aquiette would enable women to access vital medication without needing a prescription." The Commission on Human Medicines has been consulted and has advised that it is safe for Aquiette to be made available over-the-counter at UK pharmacies. The consultation will run for three weeks, closing on 6 May, 2022. Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 April 2022
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