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Patient Safety Learning

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  1. Patient Safety Learning
    It could take more than a decade to clear the cancer-treatment backlog in England, a report suggests.
    Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) estimated 19,500 people who should have been diagnosed had not been, because of missed referrals. 
    If hospitals could achieve a 5% increase in the number of treatments over pre-pandemic levels, it would take until 2033 to clear the backlog. However, if 15% more could be completed, backlogs could be cleared by next year.
    Between March 2020 and February 2021, the number of referrals to see a specialist dropped by nearly 370,000 on the year before, a fall of 15%.
    Behind these figures are thousands of people for whom it will now be too late to cure their cancer, the report, with the CF health consultancy, warns.
    And it estimates the proportion of cancers diagnosed while they are still highly curable - classed as stage one and two - has fallen from 44% before to pandemic to 41%.
    IPPR research fellow Dr Parth Patel said: "The pandemic has severely disrupted cancer services in England, undoing years of progress in improving cancer survival rates.
    "Now, the health service faces an enormous backlog of care, that threatens to disrupt services for well over a decade. We know every delay poses risks to patients' chances of survival."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 24 September 2021
  2. Patient Safety Learning
    Anti-vaccine Facebook groups in the United States have a new message for their community members: Don’t go to the emergency room, and get your loved ones out of intensive care units.
    Consumed by conspiracy theories claiming that doctors are preventing unvaccinated patients from receiving miracle cures or are even killing them on purpose, some people in anti-vaccine and pro-ivermectin Facebook groups are telling those with COVID-19 to stay away from hospitals and instead try increasingly dangerous at-home treatments, according to posts seen by NBC News over the past few weeks.
    Some people in groups that formed recently to promote the false cure ivermectin, an anti-parasite treatment, have claimed extracting Covid patients from hospitals is pivotal so that they can self-medicate at home with ivermectin. But as the patients begin to realize that ivermectin by itself is not effective, the groups have begun recommending a series of increasingly hazardous at-home treatments, such as gargling with iodine, and nebulizing and inhaling hydrogen peroxide, calling it part of a “protocol.”
    The messages represent an escalation in the mistrust of medical professionals in groups that have sprung up in recent months on social media platforms, which have tried to crack down on Covid misinformation. And it’s something that some doctors say they’re seeing manifest in their hospitals as they have filled up because of the most recent delta variant wave.
    Those concerns echo various local reports about growing threats and violence directed toward medical professionals in the US. In Branson, Missouri, a medical center recently introduced panic buttons on employee badges because of a spike in assaults. Violence and threats against medical professionals have recently been reported in Massachusetts, Texas, Georgia and Idaho.
    Read full story
    Source: NBC News, 24 September 2021
     
  3. Patient Safety Learning
    Advice on how new mothers with sepsis should be treated is to change after two women died of a herpes infection.
    The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says viral sources of infections should be considered and appropriate treatment offered. This comes after the BBC revealed one surgeon might have infected the mothers while performing Caesareans on them.
    The East Kent Hospitals Trust said it had not been possible to identify the source of either infection.
    Kimberley Sampson, 29, and Samantha Mulcahy, 32, died of an infection caused by the herpes virus 44 days apart in 2018, shortly after giving birth by Caesarean section.
    Their families were told there was no link between the deaths but BBC News revealed on Monday that both operations had been carried out by the same surgeon.
    Documents we uncovered showed that the trust had been told two weeks after the second death that "it does look like surgical contamination".
    Edward Morris, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which set standards in maternity care, said routine investigation and management of maternal sepsis "should always consider viral sources of infection, and appropriate changes should be instituted to support earlier diagnosis and treatment".
    Medics treating Ms Sampson and Mrs Mulcahy assumed they were suffering from a bacterial infection and didn't prescribe the anti-viral medication that may had saved their lives.
    The Royal College said the two deaths should be "fully investigated" as "surgical infection appears to be a significant possibility".
    But BBC News has learned that the East Kent Hospitals Trust, which treated both women, never told the coroner's office that the same surgeon had carried out both operations or that an investigation they had ordered had suggested the virus strains the two women had died from appeared to be "epidemiologically linked".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 23 November 2021
  4. Patient Safety Learning
    A coroner will investigate the deaths of two women from herpes following childbirth, amid fears they contracted the virus from their surgeon.
    Kim Sampson, 29, and Samantha Mulcahy, 32, died weeks apart after their babies were delivered by caesarean section at different hospitals in Kent.
    Their families have campaigned for answers as to whether they contracted the infection from their surgeon, after a BBC investigation found the women were treated by the same person.
    Sampson’s mother, Yvette, said: “We’ve wanted this since Kim died in 2018 – it’s been a long time coming. We hope we are finally going to get answers to the questions we’ve always had – both for ourselves and for Kim’s children.”
    Herpes infections are commonly found in the genitals and on the face, often with mild symptoms. Sampson’s baby boy, her second child, was delivered at Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital in Margate in May 2018, but she died at the end of the month in hospital in London after becoming infected.
    In July the same year, first-time mother Mulcahy died from an infection caused by the virus at William Harvey hospital in Ashford.
    Sampson’s family requested documents from Public Health England which revealed emails from the trust, some NHS bodies, staff at PHE, and a private lab.
    The messages showed that the same two clinicians – a midwife and the surgeon who carried out the C-sections – had been involved in both births.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 30 December 2021
    Related reading
    Neonatal herpes – more common than you think? Neonatal herpes: Why healthcare staff with cold sores should not be working with new babies
  5. Patient Safety Learning
    Those harmed by the NHS will “have to pay again by losing access to justice” as a result of government plans to introduce fixed costs, campaigners have claimed.
    The Department of Health & Social Care has published long-awaited proposals for fixed recoverable costs for fast-track cases, and significantly chose to set the fees at levels recommended by defendant representatives, rather than higher ones proposed by the claimant side.
    Peter Walsh, chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA), noted that the government consulted on similar proposals in 2017 and received a thumbs down from the majority of respondents.
    He said: “It is shocking that the government is still pushing to bring in these illogical and potentially unfair proposals rather than looking at the root causes of high costs and addressing them…
    “The government seems to have ignored the fact that the likely effect of these proposals would be that many people whose lives have been devastated by perfectly avoidable, negligent treatment will not be able to challenge denials or get access to justice.
    “In effect, the very people that the NHS has harmed through lapses in patient safety will have to pay again by losing access to justice. If lawyers are unable to claim for time they spend overcoming denials of liability, injured people will not be able to get legal representation.”
    Mr Walsh argued that the best way to save the NHS money was to improve patient safety to prevent these incidents in the first place, “and when mistakes do happen investigate them properly and make early, fair and appropriate offers of compensation without costly litigation”.
    Read full story
    Source: Legal Futures, 1 February 2022
  6. Patient Safety Learning
    Long waits at accident and emergency (A&E) departments in Scotland continue to put patient safety at “serious risk”, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned.
    New figures from Public Health Scotland show 78 per cent of patients visiting A&E in the week to January 23 were seen and admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
    This is an increase on the previous week, but still below the Scottish Government target of 95%
    It comes as the number of planned operations across NHS Scotland dropped 13% from November to December, to 17,835.
    Dr John Thomson, vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Scotland, said the college was concerned poor A&E performance times are becoming the “status quo”.
    “With fewer attendances performance has plateaued, but be in no doubt that the health service and its staff in Scotland remain under unprecedented pressure and increasing burnout,” he said.
    Dr Thomson added: “The impact of this continued poor performance is distress and moral injury to staff and serious discomfort and risk to the safety of patients.
    Read full story
    Source: The Scotsman, 2 February 2022
  7. Patient Safety Learning
    Campaigners have welcomed the "life-saving" legislation to bring opt-out organ donation to Northern Ireland.
    The legislation, which will align Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK, passed its final stage in the assembly on Tuesday. It means people will automatically become donors unless they specifically state otherwise.
    Máirtín MacGabhann, whose son Dáithí is waiting on a heart transplant, said it was "phenomenal".
    The bill is to be known as 'Dáithí's Law' after the five-year-old whose family have campaigned for the law change.
    Mr MacGabhann said it was an emotional day for them.
    He told BBC NI's Evening Extra programme: "The most important thing, regardless of the name, is that it's passed its final stage and that life-saving legislation will go through."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 9 February 2022
  8. Patient Safety Learning
    The midwife leading a review into Nottingham's maternity services has urged families and staff to come forward with their experiences. Donna Ockenden was appointed in May to head the inquiry into the services at Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital.
    It was launched after more than 100 families with experiences of maternity failings wrote to former Health Secretary Sajid Javid demanding the action. A much-criticised initial review was subsequently scrapped.
    Ms Ockenden, who uncovered 200 avoidable baby deaths at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust across two decades, said the review is now open to families, NHS workers and others who wish to contribute.
    "By September 1 we'll be ready to receive contact from families," she told Nottinghamshire Live. "In the mean time if there are either families or members of the NHS that want to get in touch they can use our new email. And also those who represent communities, whether that's safe communities or women's groups in Nottingham."
    People can contact the review through the email [email protected], which was launched last week. Ms Ockenden said that positive steps were being made in putting in place the "building blocks" for the review, which is due to start on 1 September 2022.
    Read full story
    Source: Nottinghamshire Live, 17 August 2022
  9. Patient Safety Learning
    Five promising technologies that could help improve symptoms and quality of life for people with Parkinson’s disease have been conditionally recommended by NICE.
    The wearable devices have sensors that monitor the symptoms of people with Parkinson’s disease while they go about their day-to-day life. This information may more accurately record a person’s symptoms than a clinical assessment during in-person appointments and help inform medication decisions and follow up treatment such as physiotherapy.
    Parkinson's disease is an incurable condition that affects the brain, resulting in progressive loss of coordination and movement problems. It is caused by loss of the cells in the brain that are responsible for producing dopamine, which helps to control and coordinate body movements.
    Mark Chapman, interim director of Medical Technology at NICE, said: “Providing wearable technology to people with Parkinson’s disease could have a transformative effect on their care and lead to changes in their treatment taking place more quickly.
    “However there is uncertainty in the evidence at present on these five promising technologies which is why the committee has conditionally recommended their use by the NHS while data is collected to eliminate these evidence gaps.
    “We are committed to balancing the best care with value for money, delivering both for individuals and society as a whole, while at the same time driving innovation into the hands of health and care professionals to enable best practice.”
    Read full story
    Source: NICE, 27 October 2022
  10. Patient Safety Learning
    Parkinson’s patients are suffering from “devastating effects” as GPs have started to switch to cheaper drugs which have different release rates into the body.
    Parkinson’s UK put out a warning when a 65-year-old man who had been successfully managing the condition for 17 years suddenly needed help eating and getting dressed.
    This happened after his branded medication Sinemet was changed to a cheaper form of the drug.
    Barrie Smith - who comes from Birmingham - was left in pain, developed slow speech and experienced an uncontrolled tremor when his normal Sinemet medication was switched to a more generic form of medication last year without consultation. He called the effects “devastating”.
    Dr Rowan Wathes, Associate Director of the Parkinson’s Excellence Network at Parkinson’s UK, said: “Changes to brands or manufacturers can trigger a significant deterioration of symptoms. It is vitally important for prescribers to specify the Parkinson’s medication brand or generic manufacturer on prescriptions for people with Parkinson’s. ”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 30 January 2023
    You may also be interested in the following blogs written by Parkinson's UK for the hub:
    Medication delays: A huge risk for inpatients with Parkinson’s Keeping patients with Parkinson’s safe in hospital: 4 key actions for staff Preparing to go into hospital – tips for people with Parkinson's and their carers
  11. Patient Safety Learning
    Black people have the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections in Britain and officials are not doing enough to address the issue, sexual health experts have warned.
    Black Britons have “disproportionally high rates” of various STI diagnoses compared to white Britons, with those of Black Caribbean heritage specifically having the highest rates for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, herpes and trichomoniasis.
    Experts have told The Independent that healthcare providers are failing to address these disparities in STIs. They have called for more research to fully understand the complicated reasons why STIs are higher among people of Black ethnicity.
    Research conducted through the Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) found that there were no clinical or behavioural factors explaining the disproportionately high rates of STI diagnoses among Black people.
    But higher rates of poverty and poor health literacy among marginalised communities are all linked with higher STI rates, according to a 2016 study, which found that behavioural and contextual factors are likely to be contributing.
    Moreover, experiences of racism among Black people can fuel a reluctance to engage with sexual health services and test frequently, according to HIV activist Susan Cole-Haley.
    She told The Independent: “I very much believe that it is linked to socioeconomic disadvantage and racism, often in healthcare settings, which can be a significant barrier for people accessing testing, for instance, and feeling comfortable engaging with care.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 19 February 2023
  12. Patient Safety Learning
    A surgeon who may have infected two new mothers with herpes has been granted anonymity during the inquests into their deaths in an "unprecedented" ruling.
    Coroner Catherine Wood said she made the decision because the surgeon's "apprehension" about being named when he stands as a witness would "likely impede his evidence in court" and affect his health.
    Mid Kent and Medway Coroners is investigating the cases of Kimberly Sampson, 29, and Samantha Mulcahy, 32, who both died in 2018 after the same obstetrician conducted their caesareans. They were treated 6 weeks apart in hospitals run by East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust (EKHUT).
    On February 26 – the day before the inquest was due to begin and 16 months after it was first announced – EKHUT made a last-minute bid for anonymity covering the surgeon and a midwife also involved in both cases. The trust said they should not be named unless the inquest concluded they had passed on the infection, because of the "reputational damage" they would suffer, and because the surgeon's health was already being impacted by reports.
    Read full story
    Source: Medscape, 9 March 2023
  13. Patient Safety Learning
    In an enormous leap forward in the understanding of Parkinson’s disease (PD), researchers have discovered a new tool that can reveal a key pathology of the disease: abnormal alpha-synuclein — known as the “Parkinson’s protein” — in brain and body cells.
    The breakthrough published in the scientific journal The Lancet Neurology, opens a new chapter for research, with the promise of a future where every person living with Parkinson’s can expect improved care and treatments — and newly diagnosed individuals may never advance to full-blown symptoms.   
    The tool, called the α-synuclein seeding amplification assay (αSyn-SAA), can detect pathology in spinal fluid not only of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but also in individuals who have not yet been diagnosed or shown clinical symptoms of the disease, but are at a high risk of developing it. 
    By helping to identify people at the earliest stages of PD, “We could then study what happens at different biological stages of the disease,” says Dr. Sherer. Says Ken Marek, MD, PPMI principal investigator, “αSyn-SAA enables us to move to another level in effecting new strategies for prevention of disease.” 
    Read full story
    Source: The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson' research, 13 April 2023
  14. Patient Safety Learning
    NHS staff will be asked if they have experienced sexual harassment or inappropriate behaviour in the workplace for the first time.
    In a letter, NHS England chief delivery officer Steve Russell said the upcoming annual staff survey would include the following question: “In the last 12 months, how many times have you been the target of unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature in the workplace? This may include offensive or inappropriate sexualised conversation (including jokes), touching or assault.”
    Mr Russell said the anonymous answers to the new question would “help us understand the potential prevalence of sexual misconduct in your organisation and inform further action to protect and support staff across the NHS”. 
    It comes as NHSE launches the health service’s first sexual safety charter to help protect staff from harassment and inappropriate behaviour.
    The charter is an agreement comprising 10 pledges, including commitments to provide staff with clear reporting mechanisms, training, and support from managers.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 6 September 2023
  15. Patient Safety Learning
    Health secretary, Steve Barclay, has named Lady Justice Thirlwall as the chair of the independent inquiry into the crimes committed by former Countess of Chester Hospital nurse, Lucy Letby.
    The inquiry was given statutory powers last week and will be led by one of the country’s most senior judges, who currently sits on the Court of Appeal.
    The announcement came during Barclay’s speech in the House of Commons, where he also announced that the chair of the Essex mental health inquiry will be Baroness Lampard, who investigated the crimes of Jimmy Saville in a similar inquiry led by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
    The rest of the health secretary’s address centred around patient safety and what the government has done, is doing and will do.
    Barclay drew attention to the appointment of Dr Aidan Fowler as NHS England’s first ever national director of patient safety in 2018, and thus the following patient safety strategy in 2019.
    Read full story
    Source: National Health Executive, 4 September 2023
  16. Patient Safety Learning
    Former commissioning chiefs have been accused of presiding over a ‘culture of bullying’ at the predecessor organisation to Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, as part of a legal claim from a former employee.
    The accusations, which have been made in an employment tribunal case, relate to former chief executive Melanie Craig and other former executives at what was then Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group. Ms Craig now leads Suffolk Community Foundation, a local voluntary sector organisation.
    The claims have been made by a former long-standing assistant director for mental health services, Clive Rennie, who has claimed unfair dismissal. However, the integrated care board said it disputes the claims and is defending the case.
    In a witness statement to the tribunal, which began this week, Mr Rennie alleges there was an “authoritarian and dictatorial style of management” and described a “culture of bullying and misuse of power that had emerged under the leadership of Melanie Craig and which included the executive team”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 6 September 2023
  17. Patient Safety Learning
    Dozens of young autistic people have died after serious failings in their care despite repeated warnings from coroners, BBC News has found.
    Their investigation found issues that were flagged a decade ago are still being warned about now.
    Two bereaved mothers said lessons had not been learned by their local health authority after the deaths of their teenage sons, two years apart.
    The coroner who oversaw both cases, noted a repeated failure in care.
    After the first death, the coroner criticised NHS Kent and Medway for "inadequate support" and said a similar incident may happen if this continued.
    Two years later, the second autistic teenager died under the care of the same authority. The same coroner found that had the victim received the recommended level of care, he might have got the therapy he needed.
    In the first piece of research of its kind, the BBC combed through more than 4,000 Prevention of Future Death (PFD) notices delivered in England and Wales over the past 10 years.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 7 September 2023
  18. Patient Safety Learning
    Most women going through menopause are not receiving effective treatment for their symptoms, in part because of widespread misinformation, according to new research.
    A comprehensive literature review led by Prof Susan Davis from Monash University in Australia calls for more personalised treatment plans that address the greatly varying physical and mental symptoms of menopause.
    After adverse affects were reported from the landmark 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study into menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), Davis said there was a blanket fear that “hormones are dangerous” and as a result, “menopause [treatment] just went off the radar”.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 6 September 2023
  19. Patient Safety Learning
    A father whose daughter died after travelling to Turkey for weight-loss surgery has urged people to think again before doing the same.
    Shannon Meenan Browse from Londonderry was 32 when she died in August.
    The mother-of-four travelled for a gastric sleeve operation 18 months ago but, according to her father, got sick almost straight away.
    The family were told she died in Altnagelvin Hospital from "malnutrition due to gastric sleeve".
    A BBC investigation in March found that seven British patients who travelled to Turkey for weight-loss surgery died after operations there, while others returned home with serious health issues.
    One of the UK's leading bariatric surgeons, Prof David Kerrigan said people are taking a "massive risk" by travelling abroad for weight-loss surgery.
    In the UK, he said, patients undergo a rigorous preparatory process that includes a psychological assessment and there is "a proper after-care programme".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 6 September 2023
  20. Patient Safety Learning
    Rishi Sunak’s pledge to cut the NHS waiting list backlog is being threatened by the crumbling concrete crisis as affected hospitals warn they will be forced to shut wards and theatres.
    Hospitals were told they had buildings prone to collapse in 2019 but four years later they are still dealing with the issue.
    In a report last year, West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust leaders said that work to replace reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in its hospitals would hit general surgery, urology, gynaecology and orthopaedic care.
    Wards have had to close, piling pressure on a crowded A&E as patients can’t be offloaded due to lack of beds, and threatening its ability to hit government targets to reduce waiting lists, it added.
    The warning comes as Sir Keir Starmer used Prime Minister’s Questions to attack Mr Sunak over the crisis. He argued that “the cowboys are running the country” and asked the PM if he was “ashamed” of the scandal caused by 13 years of “botched jobs”.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 6 September 2023
  21. Patient Safety Learning
    Sharri Shaw walked out of the CVS on Vermont Avenue in South Los Angeles in 2019 believing she had a prescription for the pain reliever acetaminophen.
    Instead the bottle held a medicine to treat high blood pressure, a problem she did not have.
    Shaw began taking the pills, not learning of the mistake until six days later when a CVS employee arrived at her home, according to a lawsuit she filed last year. The employee told her not to take the tablets, the lawsuit said, before leaving the correct prescription at her door. The mistake, she said, left her stunned.
    Shaw’s experience is far from an isolated event. California pharmacies make an estimated 5 million errors every year, according to the state’s Board of Pharmacy.
    Officials at the regulatory board say they can only estimate the number of errors because pharmacies are not required to report them.
    Most of the mistakes that California officials have discovered, according to citations issued by the board and reviewed by The Times, occurred at chain pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens, where a pharmacist may fill hundreds of prescriptions during a shift, while juggling other tasks such as giving vaccinations, calling doctors’ offices to confirm prescriptions and working the drive-through.
    Christopher Adkins, a pharmacist who worked at CVS, and then at Vons pharmacies until March, said that management policies at the big chains have resulted in understaffed stores and overworked staff.
    “At this point it’s completely unsafe,” he said.
    Read full story
    Source: Los Angeles Times, 5 September 2023
  22. Patient Safety Learning
    A police investigation is to be launched into failings that led to dozens of baby deaths and injuries at a hospital trust.
    The maternity units at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust are already being examined in a review by senior midwife Donna Ockenden.
    The review will become the largest ever carried out in the UK, with about 1,800 families affected.
    Nottinghamshire Police said its decision to investigate followed discussions with Ms Ockenden.
    Her team is looking into failings that led to babies dying or being injured at Nottingham City Hospital and the Queen's Medical Centre.
    Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: "On Wednesday I met with Donna Ockenden to discuss her independent review into maternity cases of potentially significant concern at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) and to build up a clearer picture of the work that is taking place.
    "We want to work alongside the review but also ensure that we do not hinder its progress.
    "However, I am in a position to say we are preparing to launch a police investigation.
    "I have appointed the Assistant Chief Constable, Rob Griffin, to oversee the preparations and the subsequent investigation."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 7 September 2023
  23. Patient Safety Learning
    NHS England’s finance boss has said patient treatment areas are being closed “all the time” due to crumbling estates, fire risks and flooding.
    Julian Kelly told MPsthe health service had “examples all the time where hospitals are having to shut units, decant patients into other spaces, where we are losing theatres… which limits our capacity to treat patients”.
    It comes amid the national controversy around the government’s investment into public buildings, sparked by the sudden closure of dozens of school buildings with unsafe structures known as ‘reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete’.
    He said: “We have hospital teams which are managing these sort of issues day in and day out. And so we have examples of managing fire risk, flooding… a lot of this is because we know we’ve seen a big increase in backlog maintenance and we know there was a pause in investment in new hospital infrastructure.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 7 September 2023
  24. Patient Safety Learning
    YouTube has launched a verification system for healthcare workers in the UK as it battles disinformation online.
    In 2022, health videos were viewed more than three billion times in the UK alone on the video-sharing platform.
    Doctors, nurses and psychologists have been applying for the scheme since June and must meet rigorous criteria set by the tech giant to be eligible.
    Successful applicants will have a badge under their name identifying them as a genuine, licensed healthcare worker.
    But YouTubers have warned the system is only meant for education purposes, not to replace medical advice from your GP.
    Vishaal Virani, who leads health content for YouTube, said it was important simply due to the sheer number of people accessing healthcare information on the video-sharing platform.
    "Whether we like it or not, whether we want it or not, whether the health industry is pushing for it or not, people are accessing health information online," he told the BBC.
    "We need to do as good a job as possible to bring rigour to the content that they are subsequently consuming when they do start their care journey online."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 8 September 2023
  25. Patient Safety Learning
    North East London Foundation Trust has been charged with corporate manslaughter – making it only the second NHS provider to be prosecuted for the crime.
    The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised the Metropolitan Police to bring a charge of corporate manslaughter against the mental health provider in regard to the death of Alice Figueiredo at the trust’s Goodmayes Hospital on 7 July 2015.
    Goodmayes ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa has also been charged with gross negligence manslaughter, and an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
    The trust and Mr Aninakwa will appear at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 4 October. The prosecution follows a five year investigation by Met detectives.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 7 September 2023

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