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Patient Safety Learning

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  1. Patient Safety Learning
    Some patients who have been red flagged for breast cancer assessments are waiting up to seven weeks to be seen in Northern Ireland.
    The target set by Northern Ireland's devolved Department of Health - which oversees five health and social care trusts - is 14 days.
    Mary (not her real name), who was red flagged by her GP last week, told BBC News NI she will have at least a five-week wait to be seen.
    She said her doctor was "very apologetic" but couldn't give her a definitive timescale.
    "I don't know when I'm going to receive a letter that will give me a date," she told The Nolan Show.
    BBC News NI understands that several breast cancer consultants are concerned that waiting times have spiralled since a new regional system for handling referrals was introduced.
    The system was criticised for creating a postcode lottery network as, depending on a patient's address, some were being seen more quickly than others.
    Before its introduction, health trusts managed their own red flag referrals.
    In May, all red flag referrals in the Western Trust were seen within 14 days, making it one of the better performing trusts at meeting its target.
    However, within weeks of the regional system starting, some patients were waiting up to seven weeks, with the latest data showing 250 patients waited more than 14 days for a red flag breast clinic appointment.
    More than 1,100 people across Northern Ireland are on a red flag list.
    Sources have told the BBC that some of the health trusts feel they are in a better position to manage the lists, but as some breast units are better staffed than others, this does not produce an equitable appointment system.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 27 August 2025
    One health trust source told BBC News NI that the regional system was proving too complex to manage, with projections of waiting lists rising to 11 weeks by the end of September.
  2. Patient Safety Learning
    Official data revealed that 389 of these incidents have occurred in the first six months of this year.
    NHS health boards are duty bound to notify regulator Healthcare Improvement Scotland when a significant adverse event review (SAERs) has been commissioned following a major incident.
    Category one events – the most serious incidents - must be reported and may have caused death, major injury, disfigurement or severe emotional or psychological trauma.
    The Scottish Government revealed the figures following a written parliamentary question from Scottish Conservative MSP Tim Eagle.
    The data revealed that since 2021, there have been 3,586 incidents reported to the regulator by local health boards and the Scottish Ambulance Service.
    The Scottish Government said the 90-day guideline is in place to learn lessons from the significant incidents.
    However, Mr Eagle, who represents the Highlands and Islands region in Holyrood, said the figures show that Health Secretary Neil Gray is “out of his depth” and described the data as “catastrophic”.
    He told The Herald: “Since the pandemic, the number of significant adverse events in Scotland’s hospital has soared to alarming levels.
    “The lethal combination of the SNP’s dire workforce planning and successive flimsy recovery plans has left our NHS in a constant state of crisis, with overstretched staff unable to deliver the standard of care patients deserve.
    “These aren’t just statistics, they are patients who have suffered serious harm or even died because of the Nationalists’ catastrophic mismanagement of our health service.
    “We cannot go on with business as usual. Neil Gray is out of his depth. He needs to back our common sense plans to cut bureaucracy, slash the ranks of middle managers and surge resources to the frontline.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Herald, 27 August 2025
  3. Patient Safety Learning
    Cancer cases are projected to surge in England by 2040, with a person diagnosed every two minutes, up from one every four minutes in the 1970s.
    More than 6 million new cases of the disease are predicted to be diagnosed over the next 15 years, with the NHS at risk of being unable to cope unless action is taken to prevent more cases and diagnose the disease earlier, when it is more treatable.
    One Cancer Voice, the coalition of 60 cancer charities that published the projections on Tuesday, called on ministers to set early diagnosis targets and introduce strong prevention policies to save lives and transform cancer outcomes.
    The projected increase in cases is likely to be due to a range of factors, including a rapidly expanding and ageing population, improvements in detection and diagnosis, and a higher prevalence of known risk factors for the disease.
    Despite progress in survival – which has doubled since the 1970s – the surge in cases threatens to pile pressure on an already overstretched NHS. Without decisive action, England risks falling behind comparable countries in cancer outcomes, the analysis warns.
    The projections come after the Department of Health and Social Care launched a call in February for evidence to help shape a national cancer plan.
    Michelle Mitchell, the chief executive of Cancer Research UK and a One Cancer Voice representative, said: “Nearly one in two of us will be diagnosed with cancer in our lifetime – everyone will be impacted by the disease, whether they receive a diagnosis themselves, or have a friend, family member or loved one who does.
    “The national cancer plan for England could be a defining moment. If the UK government delivers an ambitious, fully funded strategy, we could save more lives and transform cancer outcomes, propelling England from world-lagging to among world-leading when it comes to tackling this disease.
    “We’ve seen progress before – now is the time to act again and make a difference for cancer patients.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 27 August 2025
  4. Patient Safety Learning
    The lack of information given to trusts likely to be involved in a national maternity investigation due to complete this year is making leaders “look silly” in front of staff, a major trust chief executive has said.
    Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust boss Matthew Hopkins told HSJ he wanted clarity over whether his organisation would definitely be involved, as ministers have already suggested, and what this would entail.
    Health secretary Wes Streeting announced plans for a national probe into maternity and neonatal services two months ago, with around 10 trusts likely to be covered in the review.
    He named MSEFT among the trusts “very likely” to be included.
    But, despite plans for the review to be completed by Christmas, this has not yet been formally confirmed, and neither have the full terms of reference for what will be within the investigation’s scope.
    Mr Hopkins said: “It’s quite difficult for me when I go and say to the teams, ‘we think we’re involved but we don’t know. We don’t know what the process is going to be’.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 27 August 2025
  5. Patient Safety Learning
    A trust rated “inadequate” for maternity services has reported what it describes as a “concerning” increase in caesarean sections to its board.
    Bedfordshire Hospitals Foundation Trust said the proportion of births delivered in this way was “approaching 50-65 per cent”, in its August board papers.
    A report from the quality committee, written by non-executive director Annette Gamell, said: “We are observing a concerning trend of increasing caesarean section rates… potentially indicating systemic challenges in our current maternity care pathways.”
    BHFT – which runs maternity units in Luton and Bedford – told HSJ the most significant factor in the rise was the increasing number of complex pregnancies in its communities.
    It said enhanced monitoring protocols meant more people were being screened for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and autoimmune disorders before giving birth, which could lead to greater medical involvement. 
    A BHFT spokeswoman said it was “committed to understanding in more detail the multiple factors” behind its C-section rates. But she said the trust was committed to supporting informed choice. “Our priority remains ensuring the safest and best possible outcomes for the women/birthing people and babies in our care,” she added.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 21 August 2025
  6. Patient Safety Learning
    A new personalised “blood matching” test has been launched for people with rare conditions who require regular blood transfusions.
    The move will allow donor blood to be matched to these patients more closely, to reduce the risk of severe reactions.
    It is the first time it has been used for patients with rare inherited anaemias – with around 300 people eligible for testing, according to NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).
    The new test uses genetics to generate detailed blood group information.
    The programme has been backed by the family of toddler Woody Mayers, aged 22 months, who has a rare inherited anaemia called congenital dyserythropoietic anaemia (CDA) type 1.
    The condition causes the bone marrow to struggle to produce healthy red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body.
    It is estimated to affect between one to five out of every million babies.
    Woody Mayers, aged 22 months, who has a rare inherited anaemia called congenital dyserythropoietic anaemia (CDA) type 1 (NHSBT)
    Patients have low haemoglobin levels, meaning Woody relies on blood transfusions every four weeks to stay alive.
    However, the donor blood must be carefully matched to reduce the risk of patient’s developing antibodies against certain blood types, which can cause severe reactions and make transfusions more difficult in the future.
    The new genotyping testing programme, a partnership between NHSBT and NHS England, uses genetics to identify more of the rarer blood groups.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 21 August 2025
  7. Patient Safety Learning
    The NHS in England faces an uphill struggle to improve productivity as it confronts record waiting lists, with data suggesting that an increase in staff numbers alone will not transform its performance.
    Creaking infrastructure, a sicker population and a reliance on less experienced staff are hampering the health service’s attempts to treat people in greater numbers than before the pandemic, according to health experts.
    This difficult context is casting a shadow over the government’s goal that hospital waiting lists should be falling by the next election.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: Financial Times, 1 June 2023
  8. Patient Safety Learning
    More than 750 current and former employees of the US health department have published a letter rebuking Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, saying his "dangerous and deceitful statements" contributed to recent violence at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters.
    Officials say the man who fired hundreds of rounds at the CDC this month, killing a police officer, had expressed distrust in the Covid-19 vaccine.
    In their letter, the staff said the attack came as "politicized rhetoric" drives mistrust in institutions.
    They also said Kennedy had put Americans' health in danger and hurt the country's ability to respond to public health emergencies.
    "Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is complicit in dismantling America's public health infrastructure and endangering the nation's health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information," they wrote in a letter addressed to both Congress and Kennedy and published on a site called Save HHS.
    The signatories were affiliated with the CDC, the National Institutes of Health, and Health and Human Services.
    In a statement, a spokesperson for HHS said Kennedy was "standing firmly with CDC employees" to ensure their safety and wellbeing.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 20 August 2025
  9. Patient Safety Learning
    Hungry patients are overwhelming NHS emergency departments at unprecedented levels, researchers claim.
    Admissions to hospital Accident and Emergency (A&E) units because of hunger have more than tripled, rising by nearly 219 per cent in five years, figures suggest.
    Analysis of NHS data shows a lack of food was the fastest growing cause of A&E admissions in England between 2018-19 and 2023-24, as food prices and poverty spiralled.
    As the cost-of-living crisis gripped the UK, experts repeatedly warned that households were being plunged into poverty, with food bank use soaring and charities finding parents going hungry so their children could eat.
    Health experts warned in 2022 that millions of people were facing a “significant humanitarian crisis”, exacerbated by rocketing fuel bills.
    Paula Lingard, of the ID Band Company, which analysed the NHS data, said: “The significant rise in admissions related to lack of food is particularly concerning and may reflect growing food insecurity in England, highlighting the importance of addressing basic needs as part of our approach to public health.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 20 August 2025
  10. Patient Safety Learning
    More than 1,000 patients living with bladder cancer in England will be eligible for a treatment which can double survival rates from the disease.
    In England, 18,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer each year, and only about 10% of people with stage 4 bladder cancer will survive five years or more after they are diagnosed.
    The treatment, enfortumab vedotin with pembrolizumab, has been approved for use on the NHS from Thursday. About 1,250 patients across the country to be offered the therapy, which has been described by NHS bosses as one of the “most hopeful advances in decades”.
    Clinical trials of the drug have shown that people with bladder cancer that has spread (metastasised) live up to twice as long when given the combination antibody treatment when compared with those given normal chemotherapy.
    Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England’s national clinical director for cancer, said that the treatment is “one of the most hopeful advances in decades for people with bladder cancer”.
    He added: “Bladder cancer is often difficult to treat once it has spread, but this new therapy is the first one in years to really help stop the disease in its tracks, and our rollout to NHS patients will make a huge difference to the lives of those affected and their families.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 21 August 2025
  11. Patient Safety Learning
    A hospital trust has paid a "six-figure settlement package" in the case of nine patients following an outbreak of a bacterial infection linked to its water supply.
    Three patients died and two of these cases were as a result of complications connected to the outbreak at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, according to lawyers.
    Lung transplant patients Karen Starling, 54, of Ipswich, died in February 2020, and Anne Martinez, of Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, died in December 2020.
    Eilish Midlane, the hospital's chief executive, said: "Lessons have been learnt [and] regulations revised to seek to avoid a similar occurrence in the UK."
    The trust denied liability but resolved each of the claims in out-of-court settlements, which were secured following a civil claim pursued as a group action.
    Six further patients suffered serious complications that continue to affect them following the outbreak of Mycobacterium abscessus (M.abscessus), according to legal firm Irwin Mitchell.
    Lawyers said the "six-figure settlement package" was agreed in connection with the nine cases.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 20 August 2025
  12. Patient Safety Learning
    New five-year plans to be drawn up by all NHS organisations this autumn must be “credible, deliverable and affordable”, and boards must actively challenge them rather than them “simply endorsing the final version”, NHS England has said.
    Draft guidance sent to local leaders in recent days kicks off work on the next wave of service development and finance plans, which NHSE says must be submitted later this year. Initially they will cover 2026-27 to 2030-31, and then be refreshed annually.
    The document, seen by HSJ, seeks to set out the more robust approach to local planning that NHSE’s chair and CEO, Penny Dash and Sir Jim Mackey, want to introduce.
    It states: “The boards of individual ICBs and providers are ultimately accountable for the development and delivery of their plans.”
    These plans must be “evidence-based and realistic in scope”, states NHSE: “Having an aligned, integrated plan is not enough – the plan must also be credible, deliverable and affordable [and able to be] realistically executed with the available resources and operating environment”.
    The NHSE guidance adds: “Boards are expected to play an active role in setting direction, reviewing drafts, and constructively challenging assumptions – rather than simply endorsing the final version of the plan.”
    Meanwhile, the framework says the Department of Health and Social Care and NHSE are currently working to “translate the 10-Year Health Plan and spending review outcome into specific multi-year priorities and allocations”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 21 August 2025
  13. Patient Safety Learning
    The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is urging that children as young as six months and up to 23 months receive the Covid-19 vaccine – a position that diverges from the current federal guidance given by the Trump administration’s health agencies.
    The AAP released its updated childhood immunization schedule, which outlines recommendations for vaccines against Covid-19, influenza and RSV for individuals under 18.
    “It differs from recent recommendations of the advisory committee on immunization practices of the CDC, which was overhauled this year and replaced with individuals who have a history of spreading vaccine misinformation,” the organisation said in a statement.
    The announcement follows a decision from the health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, in late May to halt CDC recommendations for healthy children to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Previously, the CDC advised vaccination for everyone six months and older with the latest available dose.
    The CDC currently advises that Covid-19 vaccinations for children aged six months through 17 years should be determined through “shared clinical decision-making”.
    The AAP recommends vaccination for anyone under 18 who is at higher risk of serious illness from Covid-19, resides in a long-term care or congregate living facility, has not previously been vaccinated or shares a household with someone at elevated risk.
    “The academy has been making pediatric immunization recommendations since the 1930s. That has not changed,” Dr Susan Kressly, president of the AAP, told ABC News.
    “But what has changed is that this year, we’re doing it in the environment of misinformation, which makes it more important than ever that we provide clear and confident guidance, because the majority of American families really depend on us for this guidance.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 19 August 2025
  14. Patient Safety Learning
    The top hospitals in the US are focused on utilising technology to identify safety risks early and fostering a culture where patient safety is a shared responsibility. 
    Among more than 4,000 US hospitals evaluated on patient safety and outcomes measures, US News & World Report named 20 hospitals on its Honor Roll. Measures include risk-adjusted mortality rates, preventable complications and level of nursing care. 
    Quality and safety leaders at eight of US News & World Report’s 2025-26 Best Hospitals said their priorities for the rest of the year include expanding the use of predictive analytics, AI-powered monitoring and digital engagement tools to prevent harm, while strengthening team communication and psychological safety. 
    Paul Casey, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Rush University System for Health (Chicago), said "We remain dedicated to reducing any potential of adverse events for our patients throughout the health system. We believe this is best accomplished by keeping patients engaged in their care throughout their care journey. So in addition to our regular team-based rounding, we are focused on digital engagement with our patients throughout their care journey. This includes a newly developed myRush app and broader Rush Connect digital experience. We also see AI as a key tool to surface insights for our teams to ensure we continue to provide the highest quality care for Rush patients."
    Read full story
    Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 11 August 2025
  15. Patient Safety Learning
    The American Medical Association (AMA) has released new guidance for health systems looking to develop and implement artificial intelligence within their organisation.
    The new Governance for Augmented Intelligence toolkit, built in collaboration with Manatt Health, is an eight-step module. It guides health systems from the initial steps of establishing executive accountability and governance structure through policy development, vendor evaluation, oversight and organisational readiness for the launch of new AI tools.
    The toolkit also includes worksheets, sample forms, example AI policy documents and other resources for organisations to reference and can be completed by physicians for Continuing Medical Education credit.
    “There is excitement about the transformative potential of AI to enhance diagnostic accuracy, personalize treatments, reduce administrative and documentation burden, and speed up advances in biomedical science,” the toolkit reads. “At the same time, there is concern about AI's potential to worsen bias, increase privacy risks, introduce new liability issues and offer seemingly convincing yet ultimately incorrect conclusions or recommendations that could affect patient care.
    “Establishing AI governance is important to ensure AI technologies are implemented into care settings in a safe, ethical and responsible manner.”
    Read full story
    Source: Fierce Healthcare, 18 August 2025
  16. Patient Safety Learning
    More than a dozen trusts have not been meeting a new “maximum” NHS England standard through the spring and summer, HSJ can reveal.
    Analysis of NHS England data reveals that 50 of 117 acute trusts (42%) had worse average ambulance handover times in the first four months of 2025-26, compared with the previous year.
    At 17 trusts, average handover times so far this year have been above 45 minutes – which NHSE has declared should be the definitive “maximum” time.
    Nationally, average handover times have slightly improved from this year to last (27 mins vs 30 mins). See the table below for the full data.
    NHSE has signalled it will get a stronger grip on handover delays – which are a key factor behind longer ambulance response times and have been linked to patient harm and deaths.
    This year’s planning guidance said trusts should “[work] towards delivering hospital handovers within 15 minutes [and] ensure that no handover takes longer than 45 minutes”. National urgent and emergency care director Sarah-Jane Marsh has said “we need the average to be much, much better than 45 minutes”.
    Royal College of Emergency Medicine president Adrian Boyle said: “No one working in emergency care wants to see ambulances stuck outside emergency departments, but fixing this requires system wide co-ordination and flow.
    “We do not support single service initiatives such as [45 minutes ‘maximum’ handover time] without a hospital wide commitment to improve flow.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 19 August 2025
    Related reading on the hub:
    My experience of the 'Wait 45' policy
  17. Patient Safety Learning
    The NHS has identified 225 people with a silent but deadly virus as part of a national drive to stamp out the disease and uncover more victims of the infected blood scandal.
    The significant discovery was made after more than 100,000 at-home hepatitis C tests were requested since the service's launch in May 2023, including 15,463 in the week after the Infected Blood Inquiry published its final report in May 2024.
    Health officials said that 105,998 people have ordered an at-home NHS hepatitis C test online since the service was launched in 2023.
    Among those diagnosed under the NHS scheme so far, NHS England said that seven in 10 are from deprived communities.
    The most common risk factors reported by positive cases include injecting drug use, sharing needles and other drug paraphernalia and a history of prison.
    It is understood that only a very small number identified after ordering a test online had a positive result after receiving contaminated blood.
    In May this year, NHS England also launched a system which means that people of a certain age who newly register with GP practices in England will be asked if they had a blood transfusion prior to 1996 in a bid to find more victims of the infected blood scandal.
    Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS national medical director, said “We want to make it easier for people to access care before hidden viruses like hepatitis C cause people serious harm.
    “The home testing service is available to everyone, and through targeted outreach to people at higher risk we are helping thousands avoid serious illness and reducing health inequalities in the process.
    “If you or someone you know might be at risk, order a free and confidential test today via the NHS hepatitis C testing website – it could save your life.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 20 August 2025
  18. Patient Safety Learning
    Treatment for millions of people with type 2 diabetes should be more personalised, with greater access to newer medicines, including weight-loss drugs, the healthcare assessment body for England, Wales and Northern Ireland has recommended.
    It calls the move "the biggest shake-up" in type 2 diabetes care in a decade.
    Offering more people the new drugs will prevent complications such as heart disease, strokes and kidney damage, reduce costs to the NHS and potentially save lives, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says.
    Around 4.6 million people in the UK are diagnosed with diabetes - of these 90% have type 2, with another 1.3 million likely to be undiagnosed.
    NICE, which produces guidance for the NHS on how to give patients the best care, recommends a move away from a "one size fits all" approach and towards more personalised treatment.
    It is calling for newer diabetes medicines called SGLT-2 inhibitors, which protect the heart and kidneys as well as lowering blood sugar levels, to become the first-choice treatment for all diabetes patients. Around 2.3 million people will be eligible for these drugs.
    Some 22,000 lives could be saved if 90% of all diabetes patients were prescribed them, NICE says, but access is not equal across the UK. There is evidence that women, older people and black people are less likely to be prescribed them.
    "There is some urgency to find ways to increase the uptake of SGLT-2 inhibitors because if we were to achieve perfect uptake, the nation would be significantly healthier," said Dr Waqaar Shah, chair of the guideline committee.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 20 August 2025
  19. Patient Safety Learning
    People with heart problems will be able to complete rehabilitation online in their homes rather than waiting for face-to-face appointments.
    Experts said the programmes “offer real potential to transform” how this type of care is delivered to individual patients.
    Six online platforms have been conditionally recommended to the NHS to support adults with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in new draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
    They are Activate Your Heart, D REACH-HF, Digital Heart Manual, Gro Health HeartBuddy, KiActiv and myHeart.
    Uptake for cardiac rehabilitation programmes, which can reduce the risk of further heart problems and hospital admissions, is low, according to NICE.
    Each platform is designed to offer cardiac rehabilitation online, including exercise programmes, advice on diet, medication management and psychological support.
    Some of the platforms also include wearable devices to monitor activity levels.
    Dr Anastasia Chalkidou, healthtech programme director at NICE, said: “These digital platforms offer real potential to transform how cardiac rehabilitation is offered to people to meet their individual circumstances.
    “We know that traditional programmes aren’t reaching everyone who could benefit – particularly women, younger patients and people from ethnic minority backgrounds.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 19 August 2025
  20. Patient Safety Learning
    AI is detecting tumours more often and earlier in the Dutch breast cancer screening program. Those tumours can then be treated at an earlier stage. This has been demonstrated by researchers led by Radboud university medical centre in a study published in The Lancet Digital Health. The use of AI could reduce workload and save millions of euros annually.
    Previous research in Sweden had already shown that AI detects breast cancer on mammograms more frequently than radiologists. Moreover, AI can reduce the workload for radiologists. Now, it appears that AI can also replace the second radiologist in the Dutch breast cancer screening programme. This even leads to the detection of more tumours - and at an earlier stage - which later turn out to be clinically significant.
    Researchers, led by breast radiologist Ritse Mann of Radboudumc, analyzed 42,000 breast scans. These mammograms were taken as part of the Dutch screening program in the Utrecht region. Traditionally, two radiologists review these scans, as is standard practice in breast cancer screening. In this study, the researchers also evaluated the scans using AI developed by ScreenPoint Medical. Additionally, they followed the women whose scans were analysed for nearly four and a half years, with multiple scans available for many of them.
    The study showed that one radiologist working with AI detects more tumours than two radiologists alone. Tumours are also identified earlier when AI is involved. "Sometimes the AI detects a tumour that the radiologists don’t yet recognize as such. We call this a false positive. But often that tumour appears in a later scan after all. Therefore the AI was right earlier," PhD candidate Suzanne van Winkel explains. "By the time the radiologist raises the alarm, it often concerns larger invasive tumours, which definitely need treatment, as early as possible."
    In Sweden, AI is already being used to analyse screening mammograms. "They replace the second radiologist with AI. Only if the AI is uncertain does a second radiologist step in," Mann explains. "We see that radiologists work well with AI, which leads to more tumors being detected without a significant increase in unnecessary follow-up checks for women."
    Read full story
    Source: Digital Health News, 15 August 2025
  21. Patient Safety Learning
    GPs are cutting back on the use of physician associates (PAs), polling suggests.
    A new survey, conducted by the GP magazine Pulse, found that 21% of 425 GP networks in England said they had reduced PA numbers in the last year.
    It comes after the Government-ordered Leng Review found PAs have been used as substitutes for doctors, despite having significantly less training.
    One of the 18 recommendations in the review was that PAs be banned from seeing patients whom a medic has not reviewed to prevent the risk of “catastrophic” misdiagnoses.
    Pulse said that the main reasons GPs gave for cutting back on PAs included: guidance from professional bodies; supervision demands; patient safety concerns and rising complaints.
    One GP told Pulse: “We had a PA but now don’t use them because of the change in guidance.
    “We can’t afford to pay someone with such limited scope.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 19 August 2025
  22. Patient Safety Learning
    A health alert has been issued to parents over a brand of children’s magnesium gummies after batches were found to contain a prescription-only drug used to aid sleep.
    Melatonin, which may cause drowsiness, headaches, dizziness and nausea, was detected in Kids Magnesium Glycinate Gummies made by Nutrition Ignition.
    The synthetic hormone is not listed on the packaging of the raspberry-flavoured gummies.
    Health chiefs have ordered the gummies to be removed from sale, working with online retailers to withdraw all listings.
    The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has warned parents to stop giving them to children and to safely dispose of any left.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 19 August 2025
  23. Patient Safety Learning
    Growing numbers of patients are making their own way to A&E instead of taking ambulances with nearly 2.7 million people taking alternative transport to emergency departments last year.
    The figure is a 14% increase from 2.36 million in 2019 and highlights the number of people losing faith in ambulance services, the Liberal Democrats have said, after gathering the data from NHS trusts.
    “These figures lay bare an Uber ambulance crisis, where people do not think they can rely on ambulance services even in the most serious of circumstances. This could have deadly consequences if people have lost faith that ambulances will be there when they need them,” said Helen Morgan MP, the Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson.
    The Lib Dems called on the government to invest £50m each year into an emergency fund to ensure community ambulance stations do not close and to recruit and train paramedics.
    The numbers of people taking taxis or other forms of transport to a hospital did rely on the severity of their condition. Code 1 incidents – the most severe category for those needing immediate medical attention – saw a 24% drop in the number of people arriving without an ambulance compared to 2019.
    There was a rise however of 54% in code 2 incidents, where patients require urgent attention.
    The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives said there can be times when it was appropriate for patients to make their own way to hospital, so that those with the most severe conditions could be prioritised.
    “Current data proves that NHS ambulance services have never been busier answering 999 calls and responding to more patients than ever before, something that is testament to our incredibly hard-working frontline staff, as well as those handling the calls and dispatching the most appropriate clinical response to patients in greatest need,” said Anna Parry, the managing director of the AACE.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 18 August 2025
  24. Patient Safety Learning
    The safety watchdog has raised fresh concerns about NHS maternity services in a new review, warning that harm has been normalised within units that are working “in parallel” to trusts. 
    The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) published an exploratory review of maternity and neonatal services today, based on work it has now paused while a national investigation, ordered by health secretary Wes Streeting, takes place.
    The HSSIB review – intended to scope out areas to look at in more depth – was based on discussions with stakeholders and 35 cases where safety concerns were raised.
    It found the clinical risks in maternity services were not always identified and responded to, with harm being “normalised” and sometimes being reported in a way that minimised life-threatening situations. 
    The harm caused was also compounded by the trusts’ action after the event, which was sometimes defensive and concerned about litigation and reputation management.
    The safety watchdog was told maternity services have a “mini governance” and “work in parallel to report to the board”, resulting in less scrutiny. It also found they sometimes “feel like separate organisations”, and recommend this is explored in more detail nationally.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 19 August 2025
  25. Patient Safety Learning
    A whistleblower who resigned from the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children over staff shortages has said the system left her broken, disillusioned and burnt out.
    Hannah Farrell, who left the Children's Cancer Unit in 2019, said the lack of support and management's failure to listen to her and other nurses led her to resign.
    Parents of sick children and former staff members contacted BBC News NI after it was revealed more than half of the specialist nurse team at the cancer unit are currently off work, a problem that Ms Farrell said was not new.
    In a statement, the Belfast Health Trust said there had been "significant investment" in the unit's service development in the last decade.
    It added that this included "an increase across all nursing bands, and the development of specialist nursing roles".
    The trust said it wanted to thank the "hard-working nurses" and wider staff at the unit for their work "particularly during times of pressure, to ensure the safe and timely care of our patients and the support they provide to families".
    Ms Farrell said that for years maternity leave, long-term sickness and career breaks at the unit were not backfilled, meaning wards were insufficiently staffed.
    She said that raised pressure on colleagues and had the potential to impact patients, but the issues were not addressed.
    "When a ward goes into crisis like it did a few weeks ago, the trust takes nurses from other wards, which just puts a band aid on it," she said.
    "It's a quick fix, all we've done is impact other wards negatively and we haven't fixed the problem."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 18 August 2025

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