Jump to content
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    11,589

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Patient Safety Learning

Administrators

 Content Type 

News posted by Patient Safety Learning

  1. Patient Safety Learning
    Health experts are calling for a “feminist approach” to cancer to eliminate inequalities, as research reveals 800,000 women worldwide are dying needlessly every year because they are denied optimal care.
    Cancer is one of the biggest killers of women and ranks in their top three causes of premature deaths in almost every country on every continent.
    But gender inequality and discrimination are reducing women’s opportunities to avoid cancer risks and impeding their ability to get a timely diagnosis and quality care, according to a new Lancet Commission on women, power and cancer.
    The largest report of its kind, which studied women and cancer in 185 countries, found unequal power dynamics across society globally were having “resounding negative impacts” on how women experience cancer prevention and treatment.
    Gender inequalities are also hindering women’s professional advancement as leaders in cancer research, practice and policymaking, which in turn perpetuates the lack of women-centred cancer prevention and care, the report adds.
    It is calling for a new feminist agenda for cancer care to eliminate gender inequality.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 26 September 2023
     
  2. Patient Safety Learning
    A fifth of UK hospitals were forced to cancel operations during the three days in July last year when temperatures soared, research suggests.
    The findings, published in a letter to the British Journal of Surgery, are based on surveys from surgeons, anaesthetists and critical care doctors working during the heatwave from July 16-19 2022, when temperatures reached as high as 40C in some parts of the country.
    The researchers received 271 responses from 140 UK hospitals – with one in five (18.5%) reporting elective surgeries being cancelled due to the heatwave.
    The respondents also said surgical services were poorly prepared for heatwaves, with 41% of operating theatres having no means to control ambient temperature, while more than a third (35.4%) reported making changes to maintain routine surgical activity during the period.
    These include delayed discharge of high-risk patients, changes to surgical teams, selecting lower-risk patients to have surgery, and restricting surgical activity to day cases.
    Other measures included longer staff breaks, extra fluids to patients, and surgeries earlier in the morning when temperatures were lower.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 23 March 2023
  3. Patient Safety Learning
    Physician associates should never see ‘undifferentiated’ patients in a GP setting, the BMA has declared in new ‘first of its kind’ guidance.
    Today, the union has published a national scope of practice laying out how physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AA) should work safely in GP practices and secondary care. 
    According to the BMA, the guidance is different from what it describes as the current ‘piecemeal or fragmented approach’ whereby individual organisations set their own guidelines for how PAs should be supervised.
    In general practice, the guidance said a GP ‘should first triage’ all patients and ‘decide which ones a PA can see’, suggesting annual health checks as an appropriate contact. 
    The union is also clear that PAs ‘must not make independent management decisions for patients’ and must be clear in all their communications that ‘they are not doctors’. 
    Read full story
    Source: Pulse, 7 March 2024
  4. Patient Safety Learning
    A ‘flurry’ of whistleblowers have raised concerns about the culture within an NHS trust which is grappling with finance and governance problems, its directors were told today.
    Staff at Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust have reported a “command and control” culture at the trust, which last week apologised to its employees for overtime payments made to board members for extra hours worked during the first peak of the pandemic.
    It comes as the trust’s new chair and interim chief executive both pledged to communicate “openly and honestly” with staff.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source HSJ, 12 April 2021
  5. Patient Safety Learning
    Four out of five Britons are worried about the NHS’s ability to provide safe care for patients during strikes by nurses and ambulance workers, a new poll has found.
    While around half of those surveyed said they support the planned industrial action, the majority expressed concern about the impact on patient safety.
    The Ipsos poll of 1,100 adults found that 80% were very or fairly concerned about the ability of the NHS to provide safe care for people during the nurses’ strike, which began on Thursday.
    Meanwhile, 82% of those questioned in the survey said they are very or fairly concerned about patient safety during the ambulance workers’ industrial action, with the first strike planned for 21 December.
    The new poll comes as the NHS continues to face high demand and widespread staffing gaps, with health leaders fearing this winter will be the most difficult in the health service’s history.
    Ambulances have been struggling to meet response times targets, while new data published on Thursday shows handover delays at hospitals in England have hit a new high.
    But the Ipsos survey suggests that, nevertheless, more people are supportive of the industrial action than are opposed to it.
    Some 50% of those questioned said they either strongly support or tend to support the industrial action by nurses, while 47% are supportive of the ambulance worker strikes.
    Read full story
    Source: The National, 15 December 2022
  6. Patient Safety Learning
    Hospital trusts are still treating many patients just before the four-hour A&E target deadline, whose proposed abolition was reversed by government last week, HSJ analysis has revealed. 
    Several of those still treating large proportions of attenders in the 10 minutes before the cut-off are among the top performers on the target.
    NHS England’s 2019 clinical review of standards had proposed to scrap the four-hour target, claiming it was no longer the most appropriate or effective measure. NHSE had planned to replace it with a new bundle of measures, such as the average time spent in emergency departments. It has been trialling these at 14 trusts for more than two years, with enforcement of the four-hour target by NHSE being substantially wound down.
    The move to end use of the four-hour target was never officially endorsed by government, but both Matt Hancock and Sajid Javid indicated they backed the idea. However, their successor as health and social care secretary, Therese Coffey, announced that she would not be abolishing it.
    Royal College of Emergency Medicine president elect Adrian Boyle warned this “target-associated” patient flow could be “diverting clinicians away from more sick cases to people with lower acuity”. He added “the scrutiny and managerial grip that used to go with [the target]” has been “taken away”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 27 September 2022
  7. Patient Safety Learning
    The director of a leading pharmacy chain invited to advise the prime minister on healthcare reform has claimed the NHS makes people too “lazy” to take responsibility for their health.
    Day Lewis director Sam Patel also said the fact the NHS was “free” meant there was little “jeopardy” discouraging people from becoming ill, and encouraged people to accept a lower level of care.
    Mr Patel’s fellow Day Lewis director Jay Patel was one of the private healthcare leaders invited to Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street health summit this January. The company has more than 250 branches concentrated in London and the south of England.
    Speaking at an event organised by strategy advisory firm Global Counsel last week, Mr Patel said: “Having an NHS fundamentally makes too many people lazy about taking care of their own health.
    “Anything that’s free we just accept a lower level of care…. [We should be] making sure we’re taking good care of ourselves with vitamins, minerals, supplements, staying fit."
    ”... the jeopardy of feeling ill is not that bad because you get taken care of. In other countries, even in emerging markets like India where my parents originally come from, people spend vast amounts to make sure they don’t get ill because there is jeopardy in doing so. We need to change the population’s mindset to take care of themselves.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 3 April 2023
  8. Patient Safety Learning
    The NHS in London is planning to “fundamentally shift the way we deliver health and care” in the wake of coronavirus, according to documents obtained by HSJ.
    The plans from NHS England and Improvement’s London office say leaders should:
    Plan for elective waiting times to be measured at integrated care system level, rather than trust level. Accept “a different kind of risk appetite than the one we are used to”. Expect decisions from the centre on the location of cancer, paediatric, renal, cardiac, and neurosurgical services. Plan for a permanent increase in critical care capacity. Transform to a “provider system able to be commissioned and funded on a population health basis”. Work towards “a radical shift away from hospital care”. Expect “governance and regulatory landscape implications” plus “streamlined decision-making”. The document, titled Journey to a New Health and Care System, says there are three “likely” phases, with the final new system in place “from November 2021”.
    The preceding two phases are “action programmes” over the next 12 to 15 months which will be about reconfiguring services to deal with “immediate covid, non-covid and elective need”, and “transition” when the move to new configurations is evaluated and “public consent” sought.
    Read full story
    Source: HSJ, 11 May 2020
  9. Patient Safety Learning
    Women with endometriosis who have endured years of excruciating pain are being “fobbed off” by doctors and told their symptoms are “all in their head”, leading them to give up seeking NHS treatment, new research has found.
    A study carried out by academics at Manchester Metropolitan University found women with the disease felt “gaslit” by doctors due to their lack of understanding of the condition.
    The paper, due to be published in the Journal of Health Communication later this month, also found that treatment was subject to a postcode lottery. Patients in rural areas reported travelling for hours to access a specialist with full training in the complex gynaecological condition.
    Endometriosis is a painful condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows around other organs inside the abdomen. It affects 1.5 million women in the UK. The study looked at the experiences of treatment and diagnosis of 33 patients and revealed how doctors’ lack of understanding of the symptoms meant women often spent years in pain before their condition was diagnosed. During this period participants were told they were exaggerating their symptoms, or their pain was dismissed as psychological.
    As one 27-year-old participant reported: “I feel a lot of mistrust towards the healthcare system in general, simply because I have been told that the pain was in my head, that I must have a low pain threshold or that I was in pain because I was fat.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 21 January 2024
    Share your experience of endometriosis: The Guardian newspaper would like to hear how you have been affected by endometriosis and your experience of being diagnosed and treated.
  10. Patient Safety Learning
    Ambulance trusts have begun asking patients with heart attacks and strokes to get a lift to hospital with family or friends instead of waiting for an ambulance, because of high covid absences and ‘unprecedented’ surges in demand, HSJ has learned.
    An internal note at North East Ambulance Service Foundation Trust said that where there was likely to be a risk from the delay in an ambulance reaching a patient, call handlers should “consider asking the patient to be transported by friends or family”.
    This applies to calls including category two, which covers suspected strokes and heart attacks, according to the note seen by HSJ.
    It said call handlers should “consider all forms of alternative transport” for patients. 
    The note from medical director Mathew Beattie gives the example of a person with chest pain who would normally get a category 2 response – with a target of reaching them within 18 minutes – but where the ambulance response time would be two hours.
    In the message to staff, Dr Mathew Beattie said: “To manage [current] unprecedented demand, we have no other option than to try and work differently which I am aware will not sit comfortably but is absolutely essential if we are to sustain a service to those who need it most."
    “We need to weigh up the risk of delays for ambulances against alternative disposition or transport options. Where such risks are considered, I want you to be aware that the trust will fully support you in your decision-making under these circumstances.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 4 January 2022
  11. Patient Safety Learning
    Ministers must begin paying compensation to the families of children disabled by the epilepsy drug sodium valproate by next year, a report will say this week.
    The report’s author, Dr Henrietta Hughes, England’s patient safety commissioner, says valproate is “a bigger scandal than thalidomide, in terms of the numbers of people affected”.
    She will back calls for financial redress for the thousands of children left physically and mentally disabled. Every month, three babies are still being born who have been exposed to the drug.
    Speaking before the report’s launch, Hughes, 54, a GP, said the state had failed pregnant women by not telling them about key information regarding the drug’s risks. “These families have already been betrayed, because they weren’t given the right information to be able to make decisions to keep themselves and their family safe,” she said.
    “There are senior politicians of every stripe who have expressed their sincere sympathy and support for patients who have been harmed. I take the view that people who seek high office need to also accept the responsibility that comes with that high office.
    “The time for redress is now. The government is responsible. I’ve been asked to give them options for redress and I’ve done that. They have the recommendations, they have the advice, they have everything they need. Get on with it.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, February 2024
  12. Patient Safety Learning
    NHS leaders ‘who might be hesitating about whether or not to really commit’ to their local integrated care system should ‘put aside all of those doubts [and] get stuck in’, Patricia Hewitt has claimed.
    Ms Hewitt, Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board chair and former health secretary, was speaking at the NHS ConfedExpo conference, the day after government responded to her recent review of ICSs.
    The Department of Health and Social Care rejected or ducked several of its most eye-catching recommendations, but did state its support for ICSs and system working; while Labour has also said it would maintain ICSs should it come to power.
    Ms Hewitt said the government response was more positive than she had feared at some points, and it “would have been a complete miracle” if ministers had backed all her recommendations.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 15 June 2023
  13. Patient Safety Learning
    Saiqa Parveen was eight months pregnant and weeks from welcoming her fifth daughter to the world, but died of Covid after putting off getting the coronavirus jab. Her family have now issued an emotional plea for pregnant women to get vaccinated.
    Parveen, 37, had planned to delay having the jab until her baby was born, her family said, but she was admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties in September and put on a ventilator.
    A decision was taken by medical staff at Good Hope hospital in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, to deliver the baby by emergency caesarean section. Parveen died on 1 November after spending five weeks in intensive care.
    Asked what her last words were, her husband Gahfur said: “She couldn’t even talk. She couldn’t breathe properly … She couldn’t talk.”
    He added: “I’m going to pass this message to the whole world, I just beg all people to get the vaccine, otherwise it’s very hard for them. It’s a very deadly disease, you know. She planned so many things, and this disease didn’t give her a chance.”
    Covid vaccines are recommended for pregnant women. In a letter to midwives, obstetricians and GP practices in July, the chief midwife for England, Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, said all healthcare professionals had “a responsibility to proactively encourage pregnant women” to get vaccinated.
    Parveen chose not to have the vaccine, but concerns have been raised that pregnant women are being turned away from vaccine clinics despite clinical advice.
    Members of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation told the Guardian that they were urging ministers to focus more on pregnant women because only about 15% in the UK have been fully vaccinated. 
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 7 November 2021
  14. Patient Safety Learning
    Violence against healthcare workers has become a “global crisis”, with 161 medics killed and 188 incidents of hospitals being destroyed or damaged last year, according to a new report.
    Data collected from 49 conflict zones by the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC), also found that 320 health workers were wounded in attacks, 170 were kidnapped and 713 people were arrested in the course of their work.
    The US-based group said on Tuesday that, although the total number of attacks was similar to those recorded in recent years, there had been an increase in violence in areas of new or renewed conflict in 2021, “underlining the fact that attacks on healthcare are a common feature in many of today’s conflicts”.
    Christina Wille, director at Insecurity Insight, which led the data collection and analysis, said: “Violence against healthcare resulted in widespread impacts on public health programmes, vaccination campaigns and population health, contributing to avoidable deaths and long-term consequences for individuals, communities, countries and global health writ large.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 24 May 2022
  15. Patient Safety Learning
    Monica Evans's initial misdiagnosis could have proved life-threatening – and she is just one of many to have suffered during pandemic.
    Since The Telegraph began reporting on the struggles of patients around the country to access GP services during the pandemic, they have been inundated with messages and letters.
    There have been multiple stories of serious misdiagnoses made after telephone consultations with doctors that took place in lieu of face-to-face assessments; of interminable waits to get through to practices on jammed phone lines; and of lengthy delays while worried patients have waited for referrals to be made.
    Those who shared their experiences have also shared their fury, frustration, fear and dismay. Some who could afford to have felt they had no option but to turn to private healthcare, unable to obtain the help they needed from an NHS struggling with Covid and all its knock-on effects. Others have been left with nowhere to turn. 
    GPs have spoken, too, about their dissatisfaction with a system that has discouraged face-to-face consultations. 
    Amid an outpouring of anger from both patients and doctors, NHS England yesterday rowed back on plans for "total triage" of patients to keep them out of surgeries whenever possible. But for many the damage has already been done.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Telegraph, 13 May 2021
  16. Patient Safety Learning
    A “great” ambulance trust’s “uncompromising” focus on outcomes and its own performance has been a barrier to system working and affected relationships with partners, an external review has advised it.
    The report from the Good Governance Institute on West Midlands Ambulance Service University Foundation Trust found partners felt it was “increasingly out of sync with new ways of working under integrated care” and even “somewhat dismissive of the integrated care agenda”.
    It praised the trust overall, saying: “WMAS is seen by all those we spoke to as being a great organisation: well run, with strong leadership and a clear focus on operational delivery.
    But it said communications, especially through the press, were seen as “bullish and at times damaging to the reputation of partners and harmful to patients”. Its reputation and performance can create a culture of engagement with external partners that “seems defensive at best and arrogant/dismissive at worst”, with the trust being “prickly towards external challenge”, the consultants’ report added.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 27 July
  17. Patient Safety Learning
    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has urged system leaders to move away from “quick fixes” to the “enormous gap in resources and capacity” in urgent and emergency care.
    A report by the CQC and a large group of emergency clinicians and other health and care leaders calls for a ”move away from reactive ‘quick fixes’ such as tents in the car park or corridor care to proactive long-term solutions and to address the enormous gap in resources and capacity”.
    The use of tents and treating more patients in corridors have been increasingly adopted by hospitals in recent months, sometimes encouraged by NHS England, particularly when they are under pressure to reduce handover delays from ambulances.
    The report, 'People First: a response from health and care leaders to the urgent and emergency care system crisis', suggests:
    expanding use of urgent community response teams to attend minor injuries 999/111 calls, giving acute and social care providers direct access to GP and community service booking systems, and providing “rapid access” to support packages to help people avoid hospital admission. Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 22 September 2022
  18. Patient Safety Learning
    Soon after her son Jaxson was born, Lauren Clarke spotted that his eyes were yellow and bloodshot. “We kept asking if he had jaundice, but each time we were told to keep feeding him and just put Jaxson in front of a window,” she says.
    It was only when Clarke was readmitted six days later with an infection that Jaxson’s jaundice was detected by a midwife. By this time, his levels were becoming dangerously high.
    “We spent a further five days in hospital for Jaxson to be treated with light therapy and antibiotics. If I hadn’t had to go back to hospital, he could have died or had serious long-term health conditions,” she says.
    This week, the NHS race and health observatory will announce new funding for research into the efficacy of jaundice screening in black, Asian and minority ethnic newborns on the back of a recent report showing that tests to assess newborn babies’ health are not effective for non-white children.
    The research cannot come too soon. Jaxson’s aunt, Gemma Poole, a midwife from Nottingham, created her company, the Essential Baby Company, to develop resources and training about the specific needs of women and babies with black and brown skins, after Jaxson’s jaundice was initially missed by clinicians.
    Poole believes the trauma her nephew, brother and sister-in-law had to go through could have been avoided if health professionals had known better ways to spot jaundice in non-white babies.
    “The colour of gums, the soles of the feet and hands, the whites of eyes, how many wet and dirty nappies and if the baby is waking for feeds and alert could be more reliable indicators if a black or brown baby has jaundice,” she says.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 16 July 2023
  19. Patient Safety Learning
    A former adviser for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has called on the regulator to explain what action it has taken against the officials responsible for wrongly dismissing him after he raised whistleblowing concerns.
    Shyam Kumar, a surgeon who was part of inspection teams in the North West, told HSJ that he had to live with question marks over his reputation for several years. He is furious that a senior CQC official sought to question his honesty and integrity in evidence submitted to the employment tribunal examing his dismisal.
    The tribunal heard Mr Kumar had raised a number of whistleblowing disclosures to the CQC, including concerns about the lack of appropriate expertise on inspection teams.
    After a wide-ranging review around its handling of whistleblowing concerns, CQC chief executive Ian Trenholm last week apologised to Mr Kumar for “unacceptably poor treatment” by his organisation, and thanked him for contributing to the review.
    However, Mr Kumar told HSJ: “I’m glad the CQC has looked at this and finally acknowledged what they did to me was wrong. But I want to know what has happened to the individuals that were responsible.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 6 April 2023
  20. Patient Safety Learning
    Acute trust leaders have expressed ‘extreme concern’ over their ability to maintain safe services in the upcoming junior doctor and consultant strikes.
    Leaders at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust are “extremely concerned about the impact on patients… as well as on the health and wellbeing of staff”, according to its latest CEO report to the board,
    Junior doctors are striking between 7am on Thursday 13 July and 7am on Tuesday 18 July. The report warned this would result in “complete withdrawal of labour, with no exemptions to cover emergency and critical services”.
    The report said: “Junior doctors may only be recalled to work in the event of a mass casualty incident… Although other staff can cover for junior doctors they are becoming exhausted and increasingly reluctant to do so. 
    “We are therefore extremely concerned about our ability to maintain safe services.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 12 July 2023
  21. Patient Safety Learning
    Parents whose children have mysteriously fallen ill with hepatitis and received a delayed diagnosis could be entitled to negligence claims, lawyers believe.
    Officials are no closer to explaining a recent and unusual outbreak in cases of liver inflammation recorded among young children across the UK.
    To date, a total of 163 children have been diagnosed. Eleven of these have received liver transplants, while 13 are currently in hospital. Globally in recent months, 300 children have been struck down by the illness, which has no clear cause.
    Because the UK cases have been identified retrospectively, there is potential that doctors and medics may have “missed signs” which would have led to earlier hepatitis diagnoses and treatment, lawyers say.
    “There are a significant number of these diagnoses which are actually retrospective,” said Jonathan Peacock, a partner at VWV specialising in clinical negligence.
    “The obvious issue there from a negligence point of view is if you have missed signs, which ought to have led you to a diagnosis of hepatitis earlier, as a result of which it’s gone untreated and the outcome is worse, then potentially you’re negligent.
    “There’s two stages: was the care diagnosis, treatment, intervention, was that of a reasonable standard? If the answer is no – there was clearly a negligent delay, or a breach of duty of care, then the second question that then arises is has the individual been harmed by that delay?”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 10 May 2022
  22. Patient Safety Learning
    High use of agency staff contributed to the care failings exposed at a mental health trust by undercover reporters, an internal inquiry has found.
    Essex Partnership University Trust was at the centre of a Channel 4 documentary last year which raised concerns over care, including the use of restraints and patient observations.
    The trust initially refused to release the final report after a freedom of information request by HSJ, but has now released a redacted version on appeal. 
    The report identified a number of concerns in relation to patient and staff safety, saying factors that contributed to these concerns included high usage of temporary staff and high patient acuity on the two acute mental health wards recorded.
    The internal inquiry looked into allegations of the inappropriate use of restraints raised in the documentary. This section, which contained redactions, found restraint was taught to be used as a last resort, but suggested high temporary staffing levels and a “lack of confident and adequately skilled staff” contributed to guidance not being followed.
    Another concern was around staff sleeping on duty and the use of mobile phones during patient observations. The internal inquiry found there was an “absence of visible leadership and role modelling” to ensure this did not happen during clinical practice.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 17 October 2023
  23. Patient Safety Learning
    Physical health and “hips, knees and eyes” still command the lion’s share of government money, despite persistent calls for fairer mental health funding, the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ departing president has told HSJ.
    Adrian James also said future leaders must tackle bed and workforce shortages, while upcoming inquiries into poor care must allow people to speak openly without fear. 
    NHS England CEO Amanda Pritchard has called the minimum investment standard for mental health “non-negotiable”. However, in an interview with HSJ, Dr James said mental health services are often missing out while “big chunks” of government money are allocated to reduce waiting lists. 
    He said: “The [covid] recovery plan that was negotiated with the government really was about your hips, knees and eyes, in spite of big voices – one of them mine – saying, ‘what about the mental health backlog’. At that point, we didn’t get any extra money.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 18 July 2023
  24. Patient Safety Learning
    A patient died from a serious spinal injury after emergency staff incorrectly attributed his physical condition to his mental health issues, an inquest heard.
    Robert Walaszkowski, who had been detained at a secure mental health unit run by North East London Foundation Trust in October 2019, suffered a serious injury after running into a door on the unit.
    Staff from London Ambulance Service did not suspect a spinal injury and he was taken to the emergency department at Queen’s Hospital in Romford with a suspected head injury. An inquest heard he did not receive a spinal examination and imaging of the spine, despite this being required due to the nature of his injury and presentation.
    He was discharged from A&E the following day, and was then placed on the floor of a private patient transport vehicle, to be transported back to the mental health unit, Goodmayes Hospital. He arrived at the hospital unresponsive. He never recovered consciousness and died of his injuries a month later.
    An inquest jury has recorded a narrative conclusion and found that neglect contributed to Robert’s death.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 24 September 2021
  25. Patient Safety Learning
    Concerns have been raised that patients may not be receiving “vital” safety information after HSJ discovered a high-risk medication was frequently not being dispensed as originally packaged. 
    In 2018, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency asked pharmacies to dispense valproate-containing medications in their original pack where possible, to ensure packages include safety warnings. 
    It also asked manufacturers to produce smaller pack sizes and add pictorial warnings, while pharmacists were additionally asked to add stickered warnings to the outer box of any valproate-containing medication not dispensed in its original packaging.
    Yet, data obtained via freedom of information requests to the NHS Business Services Authority revealed that while the proportion and number of valproate-containing items dispensed as split packs – as opposed to whole packs – had decreased over the last five years, split packs still accounted for more than half of items dispensed in 2022-23. 
    Emma Murphy, of campaign group In-Fact, said the figures on split pack dispensing were “quite horrifying” and showed “the system is not working”.
    She added: “Attitudes have got to change – prescribers, GPs etc need to be proactive and warn women of the risks because this isn’t just a side effect, this is harming real babies. As a mum of five affected children, the consequences of valproate in pregnancy on that baby is devastating.”
    Alison Fuller, of Epilepsy Action, said the high proportion of split packs being dispensed made it “clear why the change in guidance introduced in October 2023 was necessary”, adding: “The manufacturer’s original full pack always contains all the relevant information, which is why it’s the best option for patient awareness.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

 Accept Cookies  Reject Cookies