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Patient Safety Learning

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  1. Patient Safety Learning
    The NHS App should be the main channel for all types of patient communication by the start of 2029, new national guidance has stated. 
    The medium-term planning framework published by NHS England today places the app at centre of its plans for patient triage, appointment booking and all other forms of communication.
    The document said the rules “set the scene” for “a crucial new principle that services should be delivered digitally as the default wherever possible”.
    The guidance insists the service must “move to a unified access model, using AI-assisted triage, that can effectively guide patients to self-care or to the appropriate care setting, through a single user interface delivered via the NHS App but with an integrated telephony and in-person offering”.
    Providers are also told to “fully adopt all existing NHS App capabilities as a priority” over the next three years. This includes ensuring patients can manage their medicines, view waiting times and make appointments via the NHS App.
    Patient-initiated follow-ups (PIFU) pathways in which patients trigger their own appointments should also be integrated with the app no later than 2028-29.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 24 October 2025
  2. Patient Safety Learning
    A “failure of governance” has been identified by two coroners investigating deaths at the same major London teaching trust.   
    Both coroners discovered that Barts Health Trust did not carry out patient safety investigations into cases that raised serious concerns.
    HSJ has uncovered at least five Prevention of Future Deaths reports issued in the past year which highlight patient safety reporting issues at Barts. Some of the patients involved suffered harm caused by medical treatment which contributed to their deaths.
    The service is in the process of rolling out NHS England’s new “patient safety incident response framework” (PSIRF). This is leading to fewer incidents needing a full investigation and, as a result, some trusts are having to carry out additional work to meet the needs of coroners.
    The most recent coroner’s report said “senior governance staff at the trust still do not understand NHS England guidance on what should trigger a patient safety investigation”. It warned “future deaths may follow”.
    That report covered the death of 82-year-old Mohammad Asghar in September 2024. The inquest heard Mr Asghar died from cardiac arrest and excessive bleeding from the bladder after a catheter was wrongly inserted.
    The coroner’s report said no patient safety investigation was carried out despite concerns being raised by a medical examiner and “express direction from this court for the case to be reviewed”.
    It added: “A failure in governance at the trust meant that this case was not identified as an incident worthy of investigation through the Patient Safety Framework. This omission gives rise to a concern that future deaths may follow due to an inability on the part of the trust to identify, reflect upon, and remediate sub-optimal practice.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 27 October 2025
  3. Patient Safety Learning
    Health leaders are warning that NHS services and jobs in England will have to be cut unless up to £3bn more in funding is allocated to cover unexpected costs.
    The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, representing trusts and other health organisations, said in a joint statement that the cost of covering redundancies and strikes, along with paying more for medicines, was not included in the budget this year and will need extra cash from the Chancellor.
    Talks between the Department of Health and the Treasury are ongoing, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has confirmed.
    Responding to the statement, the Department of Health said the government was committed to "properly funding" the NHS.
    Cuts to NHS services and jobs could mean fewer tests, appointments and operations being carried out.
    Senior managers say that demands from the government for significant job cuts in regional health boards and NHS trusts have been made without any promise of extra funding to cover at least £1bn of redundancy payments.
    Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: "The threat from un-budgeted redundancy payments, higher drug prices and renewed industrial action risks derailing progress on key waiting time targets and the wider reforms that are essential to getting the NHS back on track."
    Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: "Redundancies cost money, making it harder to make long-term savings without government support.
    "As the government prepares its Budget it's time for an honest assessment and discussion about what the NHS can really achieve this year in these challenging financial circumstances - and about what is 'doable'' to meet ministers' ambitions in their 10-year plan for health."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 27 October 2025
  4. Patient Safety Learning
    The number of reports by nurses of racist incidents at work has risen by 55% over three years, according to analysis by the nursing union.
    The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) expects to receive more than 1,000 calls this year from nurses seeking advice and support after racist incidents in the workplace, compared with almost 700 cases in 2022.
    Examples of racist abuse reported to its helpline include a nurse whose annual leave was denied being told by their manager that they should not have come to the UK, and another RCN member being told by a colleague: “I want to remind you that you’re not one of us.”
    Other racist incidents reported to the union include a patient and their family repeatedly refusing care from a nurse because they said they didn’t want “people like her” treating them and referring to the nurse as a “slave”. Another member was subjected to racist remarks including being told that you could only see black people’s teeth “when it’s dark”.
    Prof Nicola Ranger, the RCN general secretary and chief executive, said it was a “mark of shame” that racist incidents were rising across health and care services.
    She said: “Every single ethnic minority nursing professional deserves to go to work without fear of being abused, and employers have a legal duty to ensure workplaces are safe. These findings must refocus minds in the fight against racism.
    “If health and care employers fail to make their workplaces a safe environment for nursing staff, it is unsurprising that those same staff leave and their services are [left] less safely staffed.”
    The nursing union has urged the government to stop using anti-migrant rhetoric, which it said was putting staff at risk.
    Ranger said: “The reality is that our health and social care system only functions because nursing staff of every ethnicity, nationality and faith make it so. We are urging government and politicians of all parties to recognise their role in tackling racism – and that must include an end to the use of anti-migrant rhetoric, which only risks emboldening racist behaviour.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 27 October 2025
  5. Patient Safety Learning
    The NHS is trialling a rapid blood test to help diagnose life-threatening conditions in children.
    The 15-minute blood test can speed up the diagnosis of illnesses such as sepsis or meningitis by telling medical practitioners whether a patient is suffering from a bacterial or viral infection.
    Instead of relying on regular blood test results, which can take several hours and require lab analysis, the test can rapidly indicate whether a patient has a bacterial infection that could benefit from immediate antibiotics.
    Doctors who participated in the trial say they have witnessed the benefits. In one case, a child with meningococcal meningitis received treatment much more quickly, and another with sepsis started antibiotics straight away.
    NHS England has funded a trial of the technology in three emergency departments: at Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool, St Mary’s hospital in London and Great North children’s hospital in Newcastle.
    Dr Ron Daniels, founder and chief medical officer of the UK Sepsis Trust, told the PA news agency the test could save lives.
    He said: “A recent national publication suggested that, among the deaths of approximately 500 children each year where infection was present, care was suboptimal in 40% of cases.
    “Making the right decision around early antimicrobial prescribing in children who need antibiotics the most has potential to save dozens of young lives every year.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Guardian, 27 October 2025
    Related reading on the hub:
    Seeking better sepsis awareness in Wales (a film by Corinne and Laurence Cope) Top picks: 11 resources about sepsis Dr Ron Daniels: Recognising sepsis
  6. Patient Safety Learning
    Trusts have been told to treat 82% of A&E attendees within four hours next year, and must also hit a slew of other new targets revealed in the latest planning guidance.
    The new A&E target set in NHS England’s ‘Medium Term Planning Framework’, which is published today, is a significant step up from the 78% target set for this year. 
    The NHS has not achieved 85% against the four hour A&E targets since April 2021 when demand was suppressed during the pandemic. The constitutional standard of 95% has not been hit since 2015. The NHS recorded a performance of 75% against the target last month. 
    Children’s A&Es have also been told to return to 95% four hours A&E performance “over the coming months”.
    Ambulance trusts have been told to deliver an average category two response time of 25m in 2026-27 – an increase on this year’s target of 30m. 
    Trusts have been told to deliver a minimum 7% improvement in the proportion of elective patients seen within 18-weeks, or to achieve a  65% performance if that would be greater. The trusts are required to deliver a minimum of 60% in 2025-26.  The national elective target has been set at 70 %, up from 65% this year.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 24 October 2025
  7. Patient Safety Learning
    Two simple blood tests could help to predict which pregnant women with high blood pressure are at risk of serious complications, including seizures, stillbirth and newborn death, a new study conducted in Sierra Leone has found.
    The study is the first to show how such tests, which are simple to perform and give results within 30 minutes, could help to improve safety for mothers and babies in pregnancies affected by high blood pressure in settings where maternity and neonatal care resources are limited.
    Led by King’s College London in collaboration with the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Sierra Leone and published in Hypertension, the study included 488 pregnant women admitted to hospital with suspected pre-eclampsia – a pregnancy condition that causes high blood pressure and protein in the urine, and can lead to life-threatening complications for mother and baby.
    “The tests were very good at ruling out serious problems when results were normal, meaning these women were unlikely to have life-threatening complications. Abnormal test results identified women at higher risk who may need closer monitoring or earlier delivery of the baby,” says Dr Katy Kuhrt, Clinical Research Fellow and Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Department of Women & Children’s Health at King’s and lead author of the study.
    "Our study shows that simple, bedside blood tests could help doctors decide which women need urgent care, improving safety for mothers and babies in pregnancies affected by high blood pressure."
    Read full story
    Source: King's College London, 18 September 2025
  8. Patient Safety Learning
    NHS England wants to standardise local drug formulary teams and operations while it develops a single national formulary over the next two years, HSJ  has learned.
    The centre wants to bring more consistency to local formulary operations while it works on the SNF, one of the biggest changes to national policy in July’s 10-Year Health Plan, which was exclusively revealed by HSJ.
    A formulary is a list of medicines that have been approved for use by the regulator and are considered cost and clinically effective in treating specific conditions. Currently, there are multiple local formularies overseen by prescribing committees.
    The SNF will introduce a nationally managed list with the overall aim of driving “rapid and equitable adoption of clinically and cost-effective innovations”, according to a letter seen by HSJ.  NHSE sent the letter to regional and integrated care board chief pharmacists and medical directors last week.
    “The SNF will be designed to help address inequity and variation in the use of approved medicines across the country. Whilst local clinicians, including pharmacists, will retain clinical autonomy, they will be encouraged to use products ranked highly in the SNF,” it explained.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 24 October 2025
  9. Patient Safety Learning
    Women across the country will soon benefit from better and more compassionate care as the Women’s Health Strategy is set to be renewed to address longstanding barriers, the government has announced.  
    This follows the announcement that menopause questions will be included in the NHS Health Check to better support millions of women.  
    The renewed strategy will set out how the government will take the next steps to improve women’s healthcare as part of the 10 Year Health Plan and create a system that listens to women’s experiences and tackles the inequalities they face.  
    As part of the renewal, which will be published next year, the government will look to identify specific barriers in access to healthcare and set out concrete action to remove them. 
    Opinions from women who contributed to our 10 Year Health Plan consultation - the biggest ever conversation about the future of the NHS - will play a central role in developing this strategy. 
    Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:   
    We inherited a broken NHS, and as a result too many women are still subject to a system that doesn’t listen to their experiences or understand their needs.   Whether it’s being passed from one specialist to another for conditions like endometriosis or PCOS, the lack of proper pain relief during procedures, or unacceptable gynaecology waiting lists - it’s clear the system is failing women, and it shouldn’t be happening.  Our renewed strategy will set out our longer-term vision so every woman gets the healthcare she deserves, when she needs it. We’re determined to build an NHS in which women can feel safe and can trust. Read press release
    Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 23 October 2025
  10. Patient Safety Learning
    More than 20,000 people across the UK could be living with undiagnosed Parkinson’s disease, a new study has revealed.
    The charity Parkinson’s UK warns that a "painfully slow" NHS backlog, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, has left thousands in a state of uncertainty, with some individuals are waiting up to five years to see a neurologist.
    The organisation is now urging the NHS to address what it describes as a "diagnosis crisis".
    Research by Parkinson's UK, published in the journal Movement Disorders Clinical Practice, used data from more than 18 million primary care records.
    It found diagnosis rates dropped by 26% – from 26,000 to 19,300 – between 2019 and 2021 and still have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
    The study suggests that while excess deaths had a small impact on the prevalence of Parkinson’s, the biggest factors affecting diagnosis have been long NHS waiting lists, and access to neurology services.
    Caroline Rassell, chief executive of Parkinson’s UK, said: “The painfully long Covid backlog, and slow recovery of neurology services, has left thousands of people with Parkinson’s struggling to be seen.
    “Some people are waiting five years to see a neurologist.
    “All too often we hear they are bounced between services, in a state of uncertainty, fearing the worst whilst they wait for a diagnosis.
    “It’s simply unacceptable and forces those who can afford it, to turn to private healthcare for answers.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 23 October 2025
  11. Patient Safety Learning
    The chief executive of the Care Quality Commission has quit with “immediate effect”, the regulator has announced today.
    Sir Julian Hartley confirmed his departure after deciding his role had become “incompatible” with the ongoing independent maternity and neonatal inquiry ongoing at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, examining care provided while he was CEO. 
    Arun Chopra, chief inspector of mental health, is planned to assume the role of interim CEO until a permanent successor is appointed, the CQC said in a statement. 
    Sir Julian said: “This has been an incredibly difficult decision. However, I feel that my current role as chief executive of CQC has become incompatible with the important conversations happening about care at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, including during the time I was chief executive there. I am so sorry for the fact that some families suffered harm and loss during this time.
    “I will be giving whatever support I can to the inquiry into maternity services at Leeds, so families get the transparency and answers that they need and deserve – and I want to avoid my connection with the trust impacting on CQC’s work to rebuild people’s confidence in the regulator.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 23 October 2025
  12. Patient Safety Learning
    NHS health checks are to include questions about the menopause for the first time, ministers have announced, with millions of women in England expected to benefit.
    Adults aged from 40 to 74 who do not have a pre-existing long-term health condition are eligible for an NHS health check every five years. The checks are intended to identify those at higher risk of heart and kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and stroke.
    The checks will also include questions about the menopause, which the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) estimates could help as many as 5 million women. The questions will be written over the next few months and ministers hope the change will take effect from 2026.
    The health secretary, Wes Streeting, said the change would give women “the visibility and support they have long been asking for.”
    “Women have been suffering in silence for far too long,” he said, and they are “left to navigate menopause alone, with very little support – all because of an outdated health system that fails to acknowledge how serious it can be.
    “No one should have to grit their teeth and just get on with what can be debilitating symptoms or be told that it’s simply part of life.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 23 October 2025
    Related reading on the hub:
    “It’s not menopause, you’re too young and don’t have the right symptoms"—the difficulties accessing menopause support and treatment
  13. Patient Safety Learning
    The Government is making a legal bid to curb the need for health and care providers to get council sign-off and oversight when they admit and put restrictions on people with limited mental capacity.
    The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is asking the Supreme Court, in a case brought by the attorney general of Northern Ireland, to set aside a 2014 legal ruling known as “Cheshire West”, which widened the definition of when so-called “deprivation of liberty safeguards” (DoLs) apply.
    The move comes at the same time as the DHSC has revealed proposals to reform the DoLs system in England.
    A panel of judges this week began considering whether the Northern Ireland minister of health has the power to revise the DoLs code of practice. 
    The Cheshire West ruling resulted in a revised two-part test of whether someone is being deprived of their liberty: if they are under continuous supervision and control, and not free to leave.
    It applies where a person is deemed to lack mental capacity to decide themselves. Previously there had been no clear definition.
  14. Patient Safety Learning
    The Care Quality Commission is prosecuting a large hospital trust for an alleged failure to provide safe care and treatment resulting in “avoidable harm”. 
    The regulator today said it was launching the prosecution against University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust, with a hearing due to take place at Brighton Magistrates Court on Monday.
    It said it was bringing the action under regulations 12 (1) and 22 (2) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, which relates to a provider’s responsibility to ensure people receive safe care and treatment, and making it a criminal offence where a breach results in avoidable harm or where a person has been exposed to a significant risk of avoidable harm.
    The prosecution relates to a young person who was able to abscond from an acute children’s inpatient ward at Worthing Hospital in 2022.
    UHSFT has been under intense scrutiny over recent years and is one of the 12 trusts subject to a government-commissioned investigation into maternity service quality. An independent review also recently uncovered claims of misogyny and sexual harassment reported by female staff members.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 22 October 2025
  15. Patient Safety Learning
    A blind man said he is living in a “personal lockdown” after having to move back in with his parents while waiting 18 months for vital support.
    David Brookmyre, 43 and from Middlesbrough, had to quit his job and move 50 miles away to live with his parents last summer after the glaucoma he’s had since birth rapidly deteriorated. Now, he is unable to leave the house on his own and go out at night without careful planning.
    “It's almost like a bit of a personal lockdown,” he told The Independent. “There’s one route I can take down the road with a bit of care because it’s a quiet path to where I live, but other than that, I need to be walking along with somebody, and this is why I was hoping to get some mobility training.”
    Mr Brookmyre is one of thousands of visually impaired people who have been forced to wait for local authority training, known as vision rehabilitation, to help them relearn how to do things and live independently. Experts warn that without timely help, those experiencing sight loss will become isolated from society.
    A Freedom of Information request by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) revealed that 20% of local authorities, including the likes of Newcastle upon Tyne, Brighton and Hove, and Croydon in London, have people waiting for more than a year to receive just an initial assessment of the services they need.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 22 October 2025
  16. Patient Safety Learning
    The side effects of different antidepressants have been ranked - revealing a huge difference between drugs.
    Researchers looked at the impact medications had on patients in the first eight weeks of starting treatment.
    It revealed individuals prescribed certain antidepressants may gain up to 2kg in weight, vary heart rate by as much as 21 beats every minute or have changes in blood pressure.
    “Antidepressants are among the most widely used medicines in the world. While many people benefit from them, these drugs are not identical – some can lead to meaningful changes in weight, heart rate, and blood pressure in a relatively short period,” said senior author of the study Dr Toby Pillinger, an academic clinical lecturer at King’s IoPPN, a consultant psychiatrist.
    Led by experts from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), the team analysed data from 58,534 participants across over 150 studies, comparing 30 antidepressants against a dummy drug, known as a placebo.
    Researchers said that the findings, which have been published in The Lancet, should “empower” patients but urged them to speak with a medic if they have any concerns.
    Study author Andrea Cipriani, professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, added: “Most clinical decisions – especially in mental health – are still made by physicians with little input from patients.
    “Our results emphasise the importance of shared decision making, the collaborative process through which patients are supported by the clinicians to reach a decision about their treatment, bringing together their preferences, personal circumstances, goals, values and beliefs.
    “This should be the way forward in the NHS and globally.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 22 October 2025
    Related reading on the hub:
    Antidepressant Risks - Adverse interactions The question that will save lives: Interview with Katinka Blackford Newman, founder of Antidepressant Risks Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction: After 30 years, why is the health system still failing to recognise this life-limiting adverse effect? Long-lasting sexual dysfunction after taking antidepressants: Lack of recognition harmful to patients
  17. Patient Safety Learning
    Two NHS trusts have been removed from a review of maternity failings across England.
    Trusts in Shropshire and Leeds have been dropped from the government's rapid reviews of "failures in the system", after it was confirmed last month they were two of 14 trusts to be looked at.
    The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH) was removed after "discussions with West Mercia Police about the detail and schedule of [an] ongoing investigation". The decision has left families in the county shocked.
    The news Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTH) is no longer included in the review comes after a "separate maternity inquiry announced by the Secretary of State" on Monday, officials said.
    The national inquiry is due to urgently look at the worst-performing maternity and neonatal services in the country and to report back by December.
    North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan said she was concerned how "a review into maternity care in the UK doesn't think it can learn from one of the most in-depth investigations into failings at a maternity unit over decades".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 22 October 2025
  18. Patient Safety Learning
    Cerys Lupton-Jones pauses between two doorways. One door leads into a side room in the Manchester mental health unit where she's a patient. The other leads into a toilet.
    The 22-year-old had tried to end her life just 20 minutes earlier - but no staff are seen on the CCTV footage from inside the unit.
    She hesitates for about 30 seconds, walking backwards and forwards. Then she enters the toilet and shuts the door.
    The next time she is seen on the footage, doctors and nurses are fighting to resuscitate her.
    Cerys dies five days later, on 18 May 2022.
    A coroner has concluded that some of the care Cerys was given at Park House, which was run by the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, was a "shambles".
    Staff were meant to be checking on her every 15 minutes.
    But the last recorded observation - at 15:00 - had been falsified, saying she had been seen in a corridor. CCTV shows at that point, Cerys was already in the toilet where she would fatally harm herself.
    A staff member who was supposed to be looking after her has now admitted to falsifying these records.
    Zak Golombeck, coroner for Manchester, said that if someone had stayed with her after the earlier attempt to take her life, what followed may never have happened. He said neglect was likely to have contributed to her death.
    Campaigners are calling for an inquiry into the number of deaths at the mental health trust and believe the services are in crisis.
    Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust said it "failed her that day, and we are so very sorry that we did not do more".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 21 October 2025
  19. Patient Safety Learning
    Hospital productivity growth has “slowed sharply” in recent months, new analysis has revealed, prompting experts to warn the NHS is set to miss a key government target.
    It comes just weeks after ministers celebrated data showing the NHS had exceeded its target to become 2% more productive each year of this parliament.
    NHS England data showed the acute sector had delivered 2.7% growth over the past financial year, 2024/25, as the amount of activity rose faster than staffing costs.
    However, research carried out by the Health Foundation and the Strategy Unit, which compared staffing and activity growth month-by-month, found “progress has slowed sharply” in the final quarter of 2024/25, and in the first months of the current financial year.
    The think tank said: “Further analysis reveals weakening growth across all components of care, with the fastest fall in emergency inpatient care. Staffing growth has slowed too, but not to the same degree. Taken together, this paints a picture of cooling acute productivity growth.”
    Anita Charlesworth, who is co-leading the Health Foundation’s commission on NHS productivity, said the target would not be delivered by “short-term, one-off initiatives and getting people to try and have a big push on one aspect of care for a few months”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 22 October 2025
  20. Patient Safety Learning
    Cuts to the world’s biggest funder of malaria prevention, including by the UK government, could lead to almost a million more deaths by 2030 – including 750,000 children, a report has warned.
    It could also drive losses of $83 billion (£62bn) in national economies across Africa, and cost billions in extra trade with the rich countries making up the G7.
    On 21 November the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which provides 59 per cent of all international malaria funds, will hold a summit with the aim of raising $18bn (£13.5bn) for the next three years. The event will be co-hosted by the UK and South Africa.
    A report by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) and Malaria No More UK estimated that if the Global Fund could no longer pay for malaria prevention, only treatment, almost one million more people would die by 2030 with 750,000 of them being children under five.
    In the event that the Global Fund raised 80% of what it did last time, that would still amount to more than 80,000 additional deaths.
    The disease kills roughly 600,000 people a year, with the vast majority being children under five.
    “We are really at a very momentous time in human history,” said Joy Phumaphi, executive secretary of AMLA and former health minister of Botswana. “There are tools that are available that can actually facilitate the elimination of malaria,” she said, including new vaccines, more effective insecticide- treated bed nets and the use of drones to kill mosquito larvae in standing water.
    But, she added, “one of our biggest challenges at the moment is financing”.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 21 October 2025
  21. Patient Safety Learning
    Suicide rates among children and young people in England have increased by 50% in the last decade, figures show.
    The Office for National Statistics analysed data covering almost 12 million children and young people aged between 15 and 25 from 2011-12 to 2021-22. There were 4,315 suicides across the whole period.
    A total of 440 young people killed themselves in 2021-22, up 47% from the 300 such deaths in 2011-22. The number of suicides per 100,000 children and young people was up 54% over the same period.
    Suicide rates were higher around the summer exam period and slightly lower at the start of the academic year, the ONS found.
    Gemma Byrne, the policy and influencing manager at the charity Mind, said the figures were devastating and showed that the country was “sliding backwards, not moving forwards, on young people’s mental health”.
    She said: “The causes of suicide are complex and differ from person to person, but we know that over half a million people under 18 are on mental health waiting lists, with one in four of them waiting for more than two years for meaningful care. Too many young people can’t get help in the community when they need it.
    “Until the government grasps the scale of the nation’s mental health crisis, more children and young people will be let down by the systems supposed to care for them. We must see investment in timely support for young people, through a national network of early support hubs and a commitment to tackling mental health waiting lists, so they can get help before it’s too late.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 20 October 2025
  22. Patient Safety Learning
    Applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds are much more likely than others to be rejected by the NHS graduate management training scheme, HSJ can reveal.
    Last year, 84% of the 37,557 applications to the graduate management training scheme were from people with a minority ethnic background, but they made up 38% of the 197 people that started the scheme.
    HSJ analysis of NHS England data shows that of the previous five full recruitment cycles, one in every 198 minority ethnic applicants was successful, compared to one in every 41 for white applicants.
    Of the 1,193 successful applicants in each of the past five full recruitment cycles, 321 (27%) identified as from a minority ethnic background. 
    The latest NHSE Workforce Race Equality Standard report warned that many more staff were from a minority ethnic background than board members, with the gap, at 16.8% nationally, being “especially large in 2024, having increased from 13.5% in 2021”.
    Habib Naqvi, chief executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said the low rate of successful minority applicants to the GMTS identified by HSJ was “concerning, not least because the lack of diverse representation at leadership level is a long-standing challenge for the NHS”.
    He told HSJ: “Healthcare leaders need to take stock of the data and lead by example in ensuring opportunities for these coveted placements are equally accessible and open to applicants from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 20 October 2025
  23. Patient Safety Learning
    Current NHS policies designed to improve care for people taking multiple medicines may not be effective, according to new research.  
    In England, more than one in seven people take five or more medicines daily, leading to growing concerns over the overuse of medicines – known as polypharmacy – because of potential side effects and patient harms.  
    The new study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and led by the universities of Exeter and Bristol. Published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, it looked at how medication safety in general practice might be improved for people taking lots of medicines. 
    Drawing on current NHS policy recommendations, the researchers developed a process involving rigorous reviews of a person’s medicines by a pharmacist and GP, and compared this new method of care with the usual type of care carried out in GP practices.
    They found that the enhanced process did not lead to improvements in safe prescribing for patients taking multiple medicines. 
    The findings suggest the need to reconsider NHS approaches to improving medication safety for people with complex prescriptions, with researchers calling for future policies to be revised to ensure efficient and effective use of resources. 
    Professor Rupert Payne of the University of Exeter, who led the project, said: “This is one of the largest studies of its kind. It adds strong evidence that the strategies being used by the NHS to improve medicines safety need to be reconsidered. We’ve also learned that there are ways we can improve the experience of patients and help GPs and pharmacists to work more effectively together. The NHS should look at how this might be made to happen in practice, as more of the same doesn’t seem to be working.” 
    Read full story
    Source: University of Exeter, 20 October 2025
  24. Patient Safety Learning
    Patient safety is being put at risk by “decrepit” NHS buildings, experts have warned, as new figures show the maintenance bill has risen by more than 15% to almost £16 billion.
    The sum outstrips the total cost of running the NHS estate, which was £14 billion in 2024-2025, according to NHS England data.
    Health commentators warned that hospitals with “flooded corridors” and “roofs at risk of falling in” are impacting care and patient safety.
    The latest Estates Return Information Collection (ERIC) shows that the cost to eradicate the backlog of NHS repairs in England increased to £15.9 billion in 2024-2025.
    This is up by 15.7% on £13.8 billion reported a year earlier.
    The backlog bill is a measure of how much funding is needed to restore buildings to a good state. It refers to maintenance work that should already have taken place rather than any that is planned.
    Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Critical parts of the NHS are falling to bits, literally, after years of underinvestment nationally. The safety of patients and staff is at risk.
    “We can’t keep wasting money propping up ageing buildings not fit for purpose.”
    He added: “Eye-watering sums are needed just to patch up buildings and equipment which are in a very bad way right across hospital, mental health, community, and ambulance services. We need to make the NHS as modern and winter-proof as possible, but the waiting list of essential repairs keeps getting longer and costs are soaring.”
    Read full story
    Source: Medscape, 17 October 2025
  25. Patient Safety Learning
    Millions of women are being exploited by a “menopause gold rush” as companies, celebrities and influencers take advantage of a “dearth” of reliable information on the issue, experts have said.
    Healthcare companies and content creators saw menopause as a “lucrative market” and were trying to profit from gaps in public knowledge, women’s health academics at UCL said.
    Researchers called for the rollout of a national education programme after finding a significant number of women do not feel well-informed about menopause.
    Writing in medical journal Post Reproductive Health, they said: “There has been a rapid expansion in unregulated private companies and individuals providing menopause information and support for profit; this has been termed the ‘menopause gold rush’.
    “This fragmented landscape of menopause support and education leaves people vulnerable to financial exploitation, may propagate misinformation and is likely to amplify existing menopause-related health inequities.”
    One woman who took part in the UK study told researchers: “Everything I know about the menopause I learnt on Instagram from other women.” Only one in five – 22% – of 1,500 women surveyed by the UCL team felt well-informed about menopause.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 20 October 2025

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