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Patient Safety Learning

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  1. Patient Safety Learning
    Many virtual nursing models involve separate teams where nurses work as either a bedside nurse or a virtual nurse. But Cleveland-based University Hospitals in the USA is taking a different approach. 
    In May, the health system introduced a model in which nurses can work a hybrid schedule, with several days spent at the bedside and the remainder of their schedule at a remote care hub as a virtual nurse. The model is in place across five hospital units, with 23 staff nurses on these units working some of their weekly shifts at the remote hub in an administrative building, health system leaders told Becker's. 
    "We have hardwired all patient rooms in five hospital units with the technology for remote nursing," Michelle Hereford, MSHA, RN, FACHE, chief nurse executive at University Hospitals and the Ethel Morikis Endowed Chair in Nursing Leadership, told Becker's. "Each day, a nurse from each of the five units works in the remote hub in collaboration with their home units and each other." 
    The approach has been a way to deliver on nurses' flexibility demands and allow members of the same team to continue working together. When working a remote shift, nurses are often caring for the same patients with whom they established a connection during a bedside shift at the hospital, making patients more comfortable when a nurse dials in virtually. 
    Read full story
    Source: Becker's, 30 July 2024
  2. Patient Safety Learning
    The newly-created role of Scotland's Patient Safety Commissioner has not yet been filled, almost a year after a bill was passed creating the post, the BBC has learned.
    Campaigners are frustrated by the lack of progress in appointing the independent watchdog with the power to hold healthcare providers to account and prevent future scandals.
    The law to create the role was passed in September last year and interviews were held in April.
    However, a spokesperson for the Scottish Parliament, which is handling the recruitment process, said a cross-party panel had decided not to nominate any of the candidates and their preference was to readvertise the post.
    Henrietta Hughes was appointed as England's public safety commissioner two years ago.
    Her role was created to look into the scandals surrounding the epilepsy drug sodium valproate, vaginal mesh implants and the pregnancy test Primodos.
    Charlie Bethune has been campaigning for the recommendations of the Cumberledge report to be implemented in Scotland.
    Mr Bethune, who founded the First Do No Harm group, said it was frustrating that Scotland had not yet appointed a safety commissioner.
    "It's been four years since the Cumberledge report which recommended this role," he said.
    "It should have been the easiest recommendation to fulfil so it doesn't give us much hope for any of the others getting done.
    "Meanwhile my daughter continues to be affected from her exposure to valproate without any specialist support being available in Scotland."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 5 August 2024
  3. Patient Safety Learning
    Managers must be “supported to do the right thing” when alerted by whistleblowers to potential problems, the NHS’s national freedom to speak up guardian has told HSJ.
    Jayne Chidgey-Clark was responding to pledges by new health and social care secretary Wes Streeting to sack managers who wilfully suppress concerns expressed by whistleblowers.
    The Labour manifesto also said it would “implement professional standards and regulate NHS managers, ensuring those who commit serious misconduct can never do so again.”
    Ms Chidgey-Clark said: “We all need to be accountable for our actions as managers… and if professional regulation of managers is brought in, I [would] support that. However, I’m also a huge believer in the carrot approach, not just sticks.”
    She continued: “There has to be accountability… if there’s been wilful suppression of speaking up, or wilful detriment to someone who has spoken up.
    “Because when there isn’t [accountability], some people lose faith in the system, they’re not going to speak up, because it’s been brushed under the carpet, and [they feel], what’s the point?
    “Managers need to [listen and take action] because it’s the right thing to do, not just because if they don’t do it, they’re going to get punished.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 5 August 2024
  4. Patient Safety Learning
    More than 20,000 patients each year are being left to languish in care homes and community beds after discharge from hospital without any rehab support according to new data obtained by HSJ.
    The findings of NHS England’s audit of NHS-funded community beds were released to HSJ after a Freedom of Information request.
    The data showed that during March 2024, 1,999 of the total 13,196 beds (13.9%) did not “provide rehab, reablement and recovery services”. These beds are overwhelmingly used for short-term rehab and recovery after an acute stay.
    When applied to all discharges into this kind of care over a 12-month period, the audit data suggests well over 20,000 people a year are placed in beds without rehab support.
    The senior clinicians I spoke to about the data said the lack of rehab was “inhumane” and would cause patients to deteriorate and decondition, rather than recover. 
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 5 August 2024
  5. Patient Safety Learning
    Some GPs are carrying out an "unsustainable" number of consultations, seeing up to 70 patients in a single day, it has been claimed.
    This is more than double the number deemed "safe" by the European Union of General Practitioners, which sets a maximum level of 25 patients per day.
    The Consortium of Lancashire and Cumbria Local Medical Committees (LMCs) revealed the figure at the end of a week in which GPs nationwide began an indefinite work-to-rule over funding for their practices.
    Ms Tomlinson, chief operating officer of Consortium of LMCs, said prior to the work-to-rule beginning some Lancashire GPs were seeing more than double the safe number of patients in a shift.
    "The demand is huge now – we’re hearing of GPs seeing 60 to 70 patients a day, which is not sustainable at all.
    She said limiting the number to 25 would mean patients get "better, safer clinical time with a GP".
    She said it would not deprive patients of the care they need and advised people "not to worry about phoning" their surgery if they were unwell.
    "GPs are still wanting to see you. If [those choosing to cap daily patient numbers] reach that level, you will be diverted to out-of-hours [services], urgent treatment centres or 111 – so you will still be seen in a healthcare setting."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 6 August 2024
  6. Patient Safety Learning
    Three new resources have been launched by the Parkinson’s Excellence Network to support UK healthcare professionals in hospitals to improve the delivery of time critical medication for people with Parkinson’s: 
    Self administration of Parkinson’s medication: a guide for hospital staff. This guide supports senior pharmacists and nurses who are working to develop a self administration policy or better utilise an existing policy to support the delivery of time critical medication. Read the guide. Time critical medication patients' stories: in their own words. In these short films, people with Parkinson’s share their experiences of receiving their Parkinson's medication in hospital and how this impacted on their health and well being. These films have been developed to raise awareness and support education and training of health professionals. Watch Barrie and Margot’s films now. Time critical medication: hospital awareness kit. This new collection of interactive posters, vibrant screensavers and social media graphics will help you to raise awareness of time critical Parkinson’s medication in your hospital. Access the toolkit. Access all of the time critical medication resources.
    Related resources on the hub:
    Parkinson's UK: Time critical medication resources for health professionals Top picks: 11 resources about Parkinson’s Keeping patients with Parkinson’s safe in hospital: 4 key actions for staff
  7. Patient Safety Learning
    The personal details of nearly 83,000 people were stolen during a cyber attack in 2022 that caused a “total system outage” of 111 services and left several trusts without access to their electronic patient records, regulators have revealed.
    Software supplier Advanced — now known as OneAdvanced — was targeted by a criminal hacker group in August 2022. It supplies its Adastra system to 85% of NHS 111 providers, while its Careflow EPR is used by around a dozen community and mental health trusts.
    On Wednesday, the Information Commissioner’s Office announced it had concluded its provisional findings into the attack and had issued a £6m fine to OneAdvanced, which it said had “failed to implement measures to protect” personal patient information.
    According to the ICO, sensitive information such as phone numbers and medical records belonging to 82,946 people was stolen during the attack. Details about how to gain entry to the homes of 890 people who were receiving care at home were also stolen.
    In the wake of the attack, NHS England said it had received assurances from OneAdvanced that no data held by mental health trusts had been “breached” from its Careflow system. 
    The supplier said that none of the stolen information was ever made public or released on the dark web.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 7 August 2024
  8. Patient Safety Learning
    Curbing child poverty by scrapping the two-child benefit cap would save hundreds of lives a year and avoid thousands of admissions to hospital, the largest study of its kind suggests.
    Keir Starmer has faced repeated demands from within Labour ranks and opposition leaders to abolish the policy, which was announced in 2015 by George Osborne, then chancellor. Almost half of all children in some towns and cities now live below the breadline.
    Now researchers from the universities of Glasgow, Liverpool and Newcastle have shown for the first time the extraordinary impact that reducing child poverty with measures such as ditching the two-child benefit cap could have in England.
    Tackling it would substantially cut the number of infant deaths and children in care, as well as rates of childhood nutritional anaemia and emergency admissions, with the most deprived regions, especially in north-east England, likely to benefit the most, the projections indicate.
    Changes were likely to have huge beneficial knock-on effects on local authorities and the NHS, the research concluded.
  9. Patient Safety Learning
    Generative AI - a type of artificial intelligence that can produce various types of content, including text and images - will be transformative for patient outcomes, according to Sir John Bell, a senior government advisor on life sciences.
    Sir John is president of the Ellinson Institute of Technology in Oxford - a major new research and development facility investigating global issues, including the use of AI in healthcare.
    He says generative AI will improve the accuracy of diagnostic scans and generate forecasts of patient outcomes under different medical interventions, leading to more informed, personalised treatment decisions.
    But he warns researchers should not work in isolation, instead innovation should be shared fairly around the country to avoid some communities missing out.
    "To achieve these benefits the NHS must unlock the enormous value currently trapped within data silos, to do good while safeguarding against harm," Sir John says.
    "Allowing AI access to all the data, within safe and secure research environments, will improve the representativeness, accuracy and equality of AI tools to benefit all walks of society, reducing the financial and economic burden of running a world-leading National Health Service and leading to a healthier nation."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 7 August 2024
  10. Patient Safety Learning
    A mental health trust may have falsified records of up to 12 deceased patients, according to a coroner’s report.
    Saba Naqshbandi KC, assistant coroner for Inner North London, said staff at East London Foundation Trust had faked observation records, claiming to have checked on patients when they had not. 
    A member of the trust’s staff admitted to falsifying records in the case of 40-year-old patient Mahamoud Hussain Ali.
    In a prevention of future deaths report published last week, the coroner said investigations commissioned by ELFT following Mr Ali’s death uncovered 11 further “fatal incidents” where records may have been fabricated. 
    In a message to staff in October 2023, seen by the coroner, ELFT admitted that instances of records being fabricated were increasing.
    It said: “We have seen an increase in occasions where observation records have not been completed but records falsified to reflect that they had been done.” 
    Ms Naqshbandi wrote in the PFD report: “I am concerned that action undertaken thus far by the trust has not been sufficient to ensure that observations are being conducted and/or recorded as required, which in my opinion gives rise to a concern that future deaths will occur.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 8 August 2024
  11. Patient Safety Learning
    Most trust leaders want the Care Quality Commission’s single-word ratings scrapped, NHS Providers has said based on survey feedback.
    NHS Providers said written feedback from its annual regulation and oversight survey showed leaders thought the ratings – of “outstanding”, “good”, “requires improvement”, and “inadequate” – were “too simplistic”. They are currently used to rate providers overall quality, sites, services, and performance on particular domains such as safety.
    Staff often found the ratings “demoralising” while patients thought they were “confusing”, according to the findings, shared with HSJ ahead of publication.
    NHSP, which represents trusts and foundation trusts, also told HSJ it backed scrapping the single-word rating approach.
    The findings come with an overhaul of the CQC’s regulation approach highly likely to be instigated later this year. Wes Streeting, the new health and social care secretary last month published a damning interim report by integrated care board chair Penny Dash, which found major flaws across its processes, methodology, staffing, and systems.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 8 August 2024
  12. Patient Safety Learning
    A trust has been told to improve its culture of speaking up and sexual safety by a review of its handling of a doctor who was later convicted of downloading child abuse images.
    The review, commissioned and published by Royal Devon University Hospital Foundation Trust, examined the trust’s handling of its former consultant anaesthetist Alexander Knight (Grice), who in March was convicted of five charges of downloading and viewing indecent images of children.
    The external review, carried out by consultant forensic psychiatrist Helen Smith and published by RDUH in July, praised the trust for “contain[ing] the situation” when Dr Knight was arrested, and for working closely with the police and other agencies to enable the investigation and ultimately his conviction.
    But it also found some staff had found it difficult to speak up about previous incidents involving the doctor, in which he had acted “inappropriately”.
    It said the trust should address “hierarchical” cultures in some teams which prevent staff from being able to speak up about sexual safety. The trust said it has begun work to address this.
    The review said: “Many people who took part in this review describe feeling unable to speak up, or if they did speak up, an experience of not being heard, their concerns not being valued, or being dismissed, not understood.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 7 August 2024
  13. Patient Safety Learning
    NHS doctors are “at breaking point”, with almost a fifth cutting their hours and two in five refusing to take on extra work to avoid becoming burnt out, new research has found.
    A third of medics are “struggling” and unable to cope with heavy workloads that force them to regularly work extra hours to keep up with the demands for care, the General Medical Council (GMC) said.
    Its findings paint a grim picture of the working lives, morale and wellbeing of doctors in the UK.
    The GMC, which regulates the medical profession, warned that exhausted, overworked doctors could pose a threat to patients’ safety. “UK health services are in a critical state and those who work within them are at breaking point,” said Charlie Massey, the GMC’s chief executive.
    Prof Dame Carrie MacEwen, its chair, also described doctors’ experiences in the annual report.
    “Seeking to protect their wellbeing, doctors are taking matters into their own hands. Many are reducing their hours and declining additional work,” she said. “A concerning proportion are taking time off due to stress.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 8 August 2024
  14. Patient Safety Learning
    Millions of people are addicted to, or at risk of becoming dependent on, prescription opioid painkillers, according to international research.
    The study found that one in three people taking prescribed opioid analgesics, which include codeine, tramadol, oxycodone and morphine, show symptoms of being dependent on them, while one in 10 become fully dependent on the drugs.
    The research, led by academics from the University of Bristol and published in the journal Addiction, also showed that one in eight people are at risk of prescription opioid misuse.
    It examined data from 148 international studies involving more than 4.3 million patients aged 12 and over who had non-cancer pain for three months or longer and who were prescribed the medicines.
    While they are useful for short-term acute pain and managing end-of-life care, “opioid painkillers are not effective in the management of long-term pain,” said Kyla Thomas, a professor of public health medicine at the University of Bristol and lead author of the study. “They are associated with many harms. Our findings show that opioid misuse is much more common among patients taking them for long-term pain than perhaps people imagine.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 7 August 2024
  15. Patient Safety Learning
    Six new regional centres created to support under 18s struggling with their gender identity will open over the next two years, NHS England has confirmed.
    They will join two existing clinics, as part of an overhaul of gender services for children and young people.
    The emphasis will be on providing a more holistic approach, with a particular focus on supporting mental health and those with conditions such as autism.
    It follows a ban earlier this year on the routine prescription of puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria. The changes come in response to a landmark review published in April, which was critical of the way young people had been supported.
    NHS England has also announced details of how the clinics will work.
    GPs will no longer be able to refer patients directly. Instead, referrals will have to come via children and young people’s mental health services and hospital child health specialists.
    The move is designed to ensure the wider needs of these children are assessed before they are sent to a specialist centre, and follows a sharp rise in referrals in recent years.
    NHS England medical director Prof Stephen Powis said the new system was about establishing a “fundamentally different and safer model of care for children and young people”.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 7 August 2024
  16. Patient Safety Learning
    For 21-year-old university student Cassandra, the isolation of the coronavirus lockdown was unbearable.
    But when she was admitted to hospital for mental health treatment, that sense of isolation was compounded.
    She was one of 1140 people from Greater Manchester who last year found themselves staying in hospitals that were, in some cases, hundreds of miles from home.
    And this was despite the fact so-called ‘out-of-area placements’ were supposed to have stopped in 2021.
    Cassandra was sent to a hospital 200 miles (321km) away in Norwich. “I was completely shut out from the world around me,” she says.
    Out-of-area placements happen because hospitals do not have enough beds for their patients. The 1000-plus patients from Greater Manchester who were sent to another county represent more than a fifth of the national total of out-of-area placements last year.
    Some placements are at a relatively short distance, but most Greater Manchester patients were sent more than 62 miles (100km) away, at a total cost of £25.6m.
    Cassandra’s situation was made worse by the cost-of-living crisis, which meant her family was unable to visit her.
    “I had no physical affection in terms of hugs from my mum. I had no comfort from when the hospital got too much,” says Cassandra. “I had no escape, in a sense.”
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 7 August 2024
  17. Patient Safety Learning
    NHS England has told the government that the service will have to “slow down” efforts to cut waiting lists without a fresh funding injection, HSJ has learned.
    The warning comes with health service officials locked in discussions with ministers about their budget settlement, amid a deteriorating financial picture at local NHS bodies.
    One source close to the negotiations said the NHS was overspending significantly and could not afford to keep on doing the same levels of elective activity. They said if the government could not find more money, “the reality is we will have to slow down”.
    On top of this, NHSE and the government are currently determining how to deliver Labour’s manifesto commitment to deliver 40,000 extra appointments and procedures a week.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 23 August 2024
  18. Patient Safety Learning
    One in five patients registered to a pair of GP surgeries in the north of England have Long Covid, according to a report that lays bare stark regional inequalities.
    The north-west of England had higher than average numbers of people reporting Long Covid symptoms, with just over one in 20 people (5.5%), followed by the north-east and Yorkshire (5.1%).
    According to the analysis, a fifth of patients at Parklands medical practice in Bradford and Margaret Thompson medical centre in Liverpool are living with Long Covid, and the 10 GP surgeries with the highest prevalence of Long Covid are in the north of England.
    The report also found the prevalence of Long Covid among the most deprived areas of England was 6.3%, almost double the rate in the least deprived areas.
    Dr Stephanie Scott, the lead author of the report and senior lecturer in public health at Newcastle University, said: “Long Covid is a complex condition that goes beyond physical and mental symptoms, affecting other parts of people’s lives including their sense of self and professional identity. This can then lead to experiences of social isolation.
    “Currently, there is little evidence-based treatment for Long Covid and the health system focuses on symptom management. This needs to change. Our research has offered a glimpse into the reality of what it is like to live with this often-debilitating condition and the knock-on effects it has on people’s personal and professional lives."
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 23 August 2024
  19. Patient Safety Learning
    A health minister has defended plans for ambulances to leave patients in hospital corridors after 45 minutes to be able to respond faster to 999 calls.
    While emergency doctors have criticised the move, Stephen Kinnock, the care minister, said the policy had “worked very well” in London.
    The Times revealed that NHS England has told ambulance services to think about adopting the “drop and go” system used in London, which is credited with cutting response times for heart attacks and strokes.
    Ambulance bosses argue it is safer to leave patients in hospital — even if they have not yet been admitted — rather than risk delays in reaching life-threatening emergencies.
    However, A&E doctors insist that it is “not acceptable” to abandon patients without a proper handover and assessment by hospital staff and warn of rows between staff as the health service anticipates a tough winter.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, 21 October 2024
    Related reading on the hub:
    Woman died of sepsis after being ‘abandoned in hospital corridor’ A nurse's response to the NHSE guidance on their principles for providing safe and good quality care in temporary escalation spaces A silent safety scandal: A nurse’s first-hand account of a corridor nursing shift
  20. Patient Safety Learning
    A community services provider at the centre of bullying and racism allegations is being formally investigated by NHS England over its governance arrangements, HSJ can reveal.
    The investigation will look into the governance of Sirona Care and Health, an NHS and council-funded social enterprise which is the main provider of community health services for the Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care System.
    HSJ last month reported that Sirona had launched an internal investigation into its staff culture following allegations of “unacceptable behaviours”, including racism and bullying.
    In an internal staff message sent this month, seen by HSJ, Sirona interim chief executive Julie Sharma said NHSE “has a duty to make sure our governance is working well” and is therefore “undertaking a formal investigation” into how the provider is run, and its decision-making processes.
    Ms Sharma said: “We know that some things could be better. For instance, too many of our executive directors are on interim contracts and our board is short of non-executive directors. We are addressing both of these.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 24 October 2024
  21. Patient Safety Learning
    Royal college chiefs have called for an inquiry into the NHS long-term workforce plan to be reopened amid “significant concerns” over its projections.
    Seven colleges led by the Royal College of GPs have written to the Commons’ public accounts committee asking it to restart its probe into the workforce plan’s modelling, which began earlier this year but then halted ahead of July’s general election.
    It comes after the National Audit Office found “significant weaknesses” in the workforce plan’s projections, such as the number of fully qualified GPs. HSJ has previously revealed GP numbers will barely increase under the national workforce plan.
    NHSE has previously said the long-term workforce plan “is based on credible and robust modelling”, which was independently assessed by the Health Foundation think tank.
    A letter to new PAC chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, which has been signed by the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Physicians among other bodies, said: “During the inquiry, written evidence submissions reflected significant concerns and recommendations regarding certain aspects of the LTWP.
    “However, the general election halted this process, and the inquiry was closed before it was concluded. We are therefore calling on the committee to re-open its inquiry into the LTWP.”
    The letter, shared with HSJ, called for the findings of the reopened inquiry to be published ahead of the workforce plan’s next iteration in summer 2025.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 25 October 2024
  22. Patient Safety Learning
    The value of the UK’s private healthcare market rose to a record £12.4bn last year as long NHS waiting lists fuelled demand from individuals and the health service paid for nearly £3.5bn of procedures to help ease the care backlog.
    As private medical insurance boomed, total revenues generated in the independent healthcare sector hit an all-time high in real terms pegged to 2003 prices, research revealed.
    The total value of work done in hospitals, clinics and by privately practising doctors, including cataract removals, knee surgery and MRI scans, was £1bn higher than in 2022, according to the latest report by the health data provider LaingBuisson.
    More patients went private last year as the NHS waiting list peaked at 7.77 million in September, up sharply from 4.57 million at the end of 2019. Increasing numbers took out private medical insurance to fund their treatment, while there has been a decline in those paying out of their own pockets, LaingBuisson said.
    Tim Read, the co-author of the report, said: “Increasingly we are seeing people willing to find alternatives rather than waiting to be seen on the NHS. Independent hospitals are seeing a continued boom in people claiming against health insurance entitlements, whilst independent clinics offering lower cost treatments – whether it’s cataract surgery or a diagnostic scan – are becoming an increasingly common sight on high streets across England, not just in more affluent areas traditionally associated with private healthcare.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 25 October 2024
  23. Patient Safety Learning
    As the number of people infected with bird flu rises in the US, continued limits on testing may pose a problem as these cases crop up.
    Commercial labs are now developing tests that will be available by prescription, but the tests will still be recommended only for people in close contact with animals and animal products – even as cases in Missouri remain a mystery and wild bird migration and extreme heat may increase spillover opportunities, officials say.
    Blood tests have revealed a second person in Missouri exposed to bird flu with no known animal contact, officials with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters on Thursday.
    Quest Diagnostics announced on Wednesday that its test for H5N1 will soon be available with a prescription from a medical provider, and other commercial labs are also developing tests for the public. But the tests will only be recommended for people with close contact to animals or animal products like raw meat or milk.
    In “the lion’s share of situations”, most people with flu symptoms do not need an H5N1 specific test, said Nirav Shah, principal deputy director at the CDC. “It’s really when there’s an epidemiological exposure history that is suggestive of H5, where the H5 test would be warranted.”
    Neither of the Missouri cases would’ve been detected with limitations like these. However, the CDC still recommends that states regularly check positive flu A tests for H5N1, which is how the first Missouri case was found.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 24 October 2024
  24. Patient Safety Learning
    A new report concludes that health services are “failing” children as young people face average waits of a year for an autism diagnosis.
    The Care Quality Commission’s annual State of Care report, published today, warned of poor care and specialist staff shortages within providers, alongside “far too long” waits for treatment.
    NHS Providers’ deputy CEO Saffron Cordery said trust leaders were “deeply concerned” about meeting demand, particularly in mental health services.
    But she added: “Their ability to do so comes against a backdrop of soaring demand, resource pressures and the poor condition of the mental health estate, much of which isn’t fit for purpose.
    “A cross-government approach to improving health and wellbeing is vital to protect a whole generation of children and young people at risk of being left behind.”
    The CQC has faced two damning reviews of its own, as well as fundamental questions about the quality of its inspections, but NHS Providers and others have said it “echoed what NHS trust leaders tell us.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 25 October 2024
  25. Patient Safety Learning
    An NHS trust will become the first ever to be tried for the corporate manslaughter of a mental health patient after being charged over the death of a 22-year-old woman.
    Alice Figueiredo died at Goodmayes hospital, run by North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), in July 2015.
    Last year the Crown Prosecution Service announced it was charging NELFT with corporate manslaughter as well as a health and safety breach.
    The ward manager at the time, Benjamin Aninakwa, will also stand trial for manslaughter by gross negligence and health and safety breaches for actions related to her death.
    The trial opens on 29 October and is expected to last for nine weeks.
    NEFLT will be the second ever NHS trust to be charged with corporate manslaughter after Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust was charged following the death of a woman who underwent an emergency Caesarean in 2015.
    However, it is the first mental health trust to be charged over the death of a patient in a psychiatric unit.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 24 October 2024

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