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Patient-Safety-Learning

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News posted by Patient-Safety-Learning

  1. Patient-Safety-Learning
    Nearly 1.5 million patients have lost their GP in the last eight years after the closure of almost 500 practices, research has suggested.
    Issues around recruitment were a factor in the closure of about two-fifths of the surgeries, while workloads and inadequate premises were also cited as triggers.
    The investigation, by Pulse magazine, revealed for the first time the number of premises that have closed for good since 2013. Previously, research has identified the number of practices where GP partners have returned their contracts, or certain branches have closed or merged with others.
    Prof Martin Marshall, the chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “The impact of a practice closing on its patients and neighbouring practices can be considerable. As such, a decision to close a practice will be one of the most difficult a GP partner can make. When the reason for closing a practice is workload pressures, and not being able to fill vacancies, then this needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Telegraph (29 August 2022)
     
  2. Patient-Safety-Learning
    NHS Blood and Transplant have estimated that almost 7,000 people are waiting for lifesaving transplants in the UK, the highest number in six years.
    During the first peak of the pandemic last year, several key services have had to be closed reveals the analysis from April 2020 to March 2021, although most were rapidly reinstated and 80% of NHS transplant work went ahead. 
    Figures from the report found 474 patients died while waiting for organs, a higher number than the year before and the majority of patients were waiting for kidney transplants. 
     Read full story.
    Source: BBC News, 15 July 2021
  3. Patient-Safety-Learning
    Almost 780,000 Scots found themselves on an NHS waiting list for an appointment, treatment, or test, new figures show.
    Statistics published on Tuesday by Public Health Scotland show a rise in the number of people waiting, from 772,887 on December 31 to 779,533 as of March 31. Some 479,725 people were waiting for an outpatient appointment on March 31, an increase of 0.5% (2,617) from December 31 and 14.5% higher than the same date last year.
    Since March 2020 – the beginning of lockdowns in response to the pandemic in the UK – the waiting list has grown by 87%. A Scottish Government target aims to ensure 95% of patients are seen within 12 weeks. Of those waits, 31,498 people had been waiting longer than 1 year for their procedure, the figures show.
    Humza Yousaf, Scotland's First Minister said: "There’s going to be a long way to go. The recovery plan is purposely a 5-year recovery plan because we know that recovery from the pandemic—which was the biggest shock the NHS faced for almost 75 years—is going to take us not weeks or months, but years to recover from."
    Read full story
    Source: Medscape, 31 May 2023
  4. Patient-Safety-Learning
    Covid-19 may cause early onset Alzheimer’s disease in patients who suffer neurological symptoms such as brain fog or loss of smell and taste. A separate study has also found patients with coronavirus may be more susceptible to long-term memory and thinking problems.
    In Alzheimer’s patients, researchers have found higher levels of markers in the blood of people who had suffered neurological complications after being infected with the virus. 
    “These new data point to disturbing trends, showing Covid-19 infections leading to lasting cognitive impairment and even Alzheimer’s symptoms. With more than 190 million cases and nearly 4 million deaths worldwide, Covid-19 has devastated the entire world. It is imperative that we continue to study what this virus is doing to our bodies and brains.” said Heather M Snyder, Alzheimer’s Association vice-president for medical and scientific relations.
    Read full story.
    Source: The Independent, 29 July 2021
  5. Patient-Safety-Learning
    A report published today has revealed the creation of single regional boards to commission ambulance services is under discussion with NHS England and Improvement.
    According to the report titled Rapid response: the role of the ambulance sector in transforming services and coping with the long-term impact of covid-19, ambulance trusts are to be involved in regional, integrated care system and place-level decision-making to maximise their contribution to more integrated services has also been called for. 
    NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson and Association of Ambulance Chief Executives chair Daren Mochrie said: “As well as providing mobile treatment services, ambulance trusts have the potential to be an absolutely crucial co-ordinator on the urgent and emergency care pathway. We think there is a real opportunity there that is being missed."
    Read full story (paywalled).
    Source: HSJ, 12 August 2021
  6. Patient-Safety-Learning
    999 calls soar as patients experience record waiting times in the back of ambulances. 
    The Independent has seen a leaked brief from the West Midlands Ambulance Service and has found patients have been waiting for hours outside hospitals, meaning ambulances could not respond to any emergency 999 calls. 
    Ambulance staff have also faced hours of delays resulting in at least four hours or more at the end of their 12 hour shift. 
    The briefing in June said "“This current situation is unacceptable and leads to fatigue, poor morale, has impacts on patient safety and potentially non-compliance with the Working Time Directive.”
    Read full story.
    Source: The Independent, 9 July 2021
  7. Patient-Safety-Learning
    The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has called for in-person learning to be prioritised and for schools to prepare to address the mental health needs of their students. 
    The AAP has also urged all who are eligible to get vaccinated, to do so, and recommends a layered approach in making schools safe for all such as wearing masks even if vaccinated. 
    Sonja O’Leary, MD, FAAP, chair of the AAP Council on School Health has said “We need to prioritize getting children back into schools alongside their friends and their teachers -- and we all play a role in making sure it happens safely”. 
    Read full story.
    Source: American Academy of Pediatrics, 19 July 2021
  8. Patient-Safety-Learning
    The Care Quality Commission has downgraded another maternity unit over 'blame culture' and concerns over safety.
    After an inspection was carried out, Salisbury Foundation Trust , which was downgraded from 'good' to 'inadequate' has been told it must make improvements after concerns were raised about safety and leadership of the maternity unit.
    Head of hospital inspection at the Care Quality Commission, Amanda Williams has said: “Following our recent inspection of Salisbury District Hospital’s maternity services, we found that women and babies using the service received effective care and treatment which met their needs most of the time. But most of the time is not good enough.
    Read full story.
    Source: The Independent, 10 July 2021
  9. Patient-Safety-Learning
    Use of antipsychotic medications in patients with dementia is linked with a much wider range of serious harms than previously thought, say UK researchers.
    Although there have been safety warnings on use of the antipsychotics from regulators about increased risk of stroke and death, a large study has now found increased risks for pneumonia, venous thromboembolism, heart attack, heart failure, fracture, and acute kidney injury.
    Reporting the findings in the BMJ, researchers from the University of Manchester said it underscores the need for increased caution when prescribing. The analysis showed that antipsychotic use was associated with increased risks for all outcomes looked at with the exception of ventricular arrhythmia. Over the first six months of treatment, it was estimated that antipsychotic use was linked with one additional case of pneumonia for every nine patients treated, and one additional heart attack for every 167 patients treated.
    Professor Charles Marshall, professor of clinical neurology at Queen Mary University of London, said the study findings should prompt renewed efforts to reduce the prescribing of antipsychotics to people living with dementia. "There are rare circumstances where antipsychotics are genuinely required, and the benefits outweigh these risks, but for the majority of patients with behavioural symptoms that might lead to them being prescribed anti-psychotics, we should be focussing on much safer behavioural management approaches."
    Read full story
    Source: Pulse, 24 April 2024
  10. Patient-Safety-Learning
    Patients will be able to use the NHS app to shop around for hospitals with the shortest waiting lists in a renewed drive to cut backlogs for routine care.
    Health bosses agreed yesterday to give patients more choice over where they are treated by next April in an effort to use digital league tables to direct people towards hospitals with the shortest waits.
    Steve Barclay, the health secretary, wants to give patients “real-time data” on their phones to decide whether to travel further to get quicker treatment for hip replacements, cataract removals and other non-urgent procedures.
    A government source said: “We don’t need a big bureaucracy to funnel patients towards the hospital which NHS managers decide is best, when, armed with a right to choose and the right information on the app, patients will go where waiting times are lowest.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times (31 August 2022)
     
  11. Patient-Safety-Learning
    Almost 100 members of the army have been brought in to help four ambulance trusts amid staff shortages in the South Central, South West, North East and East areas of England, with Unison saying it was a sign "things were not right".
    Vicky Court, assistant chief operating officer at North East Ambulance Services has said "It will ensure everyone continues to get the care they need by freeing up paramedics to be more available to attend potentially life-threatening incidents."
    Read full story.
    Source: BBC News, 21 August 2021
  12. Patient-Safety-Learning
    New research has emerged that may be able to diagnose dementia after a single brain scan. 
    Scientists have begun testing a new artificial intelligence system that could identify the condition and predict predict whether it will remain stable for many years, slowly deteriorate or need immediate treatment.  
    Prof Zoe Kourtzi, of Cambridge University and a fellow of national centre for AI and data science The Alan Turing Institute, said "If we intervene early, the treatments can kick in early and slow down the progression of the disease and at the same time avoid more damage". 
    Read full story.
    Source: BBC News, 10 August 2021
  13. Patient-Safety-Learning
    Nursing and maternity staff have reported that they are unable to have water with them whilst working, meaning some are unable to drink water for 12 hours due to work pressures.
    The Royal College of Midwives in updated guidance are calling for "common sense" from NHS trusts and boards on staff access to water and other drinks, particularly as staff are having to wear more PPE than before the pandemic began. 
    Dr Mary Ross-Davie, director for professional midwifery at the RCM, said: “Some trusts and boards have banned water bottles in clinical areas, which means that our members are often going 12 hours with no break and no water. We are appealing to those services to apply common sense, to recognise that this application of infection control is misguided and to look after the health and wellbeing of their staff.”
    Read full story (paywalled).
    Source: Nursing Times, 11 August 2021
  14. Patient-Safety-Learning
    Research by the BBC finds thousands of people with disabilities had been forgotten about during the pandemic, revealing most participants experienced worsening of their disability and many said their vital appointments had been cancelled. 
    The research found some reported attempting suicide due to the sudden changes, being isolated or not being able to access their care or support networks. 
    Scope, one of the UK's biggest disabilities charities have said the research conducted by the BBC confirms the government failed to support people with disabilities during the pandemic. 
    Read full story.
    Source: BBC, 30 June 2021
  15. Patient-Safety-Learning
    The Biden administration set a first-ever minimum staffing rule for nursing homes Monday, making good on the president’s promise more than two years ago to seek improvements in care for the nation’s 1.2 million nursing home residents. 
    The final rule, proposed in September, requires a registered nurse to be on-site in every skilled nursing facility for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It mandates enough staff to provide every resident with at least 3.48 hours of care each day. And it beefs up rules for assessing the care needs of every resident, which will boost staff numbers above the minimum to care for sicker residents.
    For a facility with 100 residents, it translates to a minimum of two or three registered nurses and at least 10 or 11 nurse aides per shift, as well as two additional staffers who could be nurses or aides per shift, according to the administration’s interpretation of its new formula. Set to phase in over the next few years, the mandate will replace the current vague standard that gives operators wide latitude on how to staff their facilities.
    While the administration has said the rule will improve care, industry lobbyists have said it’s unworkable, with staffing goals that will be impossible to achieve because of a shortage of workers.
    The administration received 47,000 public comments on the rule since it was proposed last September. They included observations of people lying in their own filth for hours, not being fed appropriately and being left on the floor too long after falling, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said in an interview Monday.
    Read full story
    Source: Washington Post, 22 April 2024
  16. Patient-Safety-Learning
    The Biden administration plans to offer the next generation of coronavirus booster shots to Americans 12 and older soon after Labor Day, a campaign that federal officials hope will reduce deaths from Covid-19 and protect against an expected winter surge.
    Dr. Peter Marks, the top vaccine regulator for the Food and Drug Administration, said in an interview on Tuesday that while he could not discuss timing, his team was close to authorizing updated doses that would target the versions of the virus now circulating.
    Even though those formulations have not been tested in humans, he said, the agency has “extremely good” data showing that the shots are safe and will be effective. “How confident am I?” he said. “I’m extremely confident.”
    Read full story
    Source: The New York Times (23 August 2022)
  17. Patient-Safety-Learning
    Performance data published by NHS England has revealed a big surge in the number of immediately life-threatening incidents ambulance services have responded to.
    The data also showed average response times have increased and a large number of patients are attending emergency departments. So far, the reason for the increase remains unclear, however, a potential factor could be the return of respiratory illnesses, particularly in children, as the lockdown has eased. 
    In a statement Association of Ambulance Chief Executives said, ”The reasons for the demand increases are complex and will include some patients who have not accessed care as early as they might have done normally and therefore present to the ambulance service as a high acuity patient and many patients who are contacting us for lower acuity issues which in some cases could have been managed by accessing other parts of the UEC system. We continue to work closely with NHS England to mitigate the demand as much as possible and encourage sign-posting of patients to other parts of the UEC system when that is a safe and more appropriate solution to their problem.”
    Read full story (paywalled).
    Source: HSJ, 12 August 2021
  18. Patient-Safety-Learning
    Owing to a lack of beds and space, one the of the largest hospitals in the country has had to cancel all it's planned operations for two days. 
    The hospital, which has more than 1,100 beds has had to cancel cancer operations and liver transplants due to an influx in coronavirus patients increasing demand for bed space. 
    Deputy medical director at the University Hospitals Birmingham, Ian Sharp has said “The pressure at the front door, whether its people who should be able to access care elsewhere, or people with Covid, or people with other acute issues, flooding our front door makes it very difficult to function effectively". 
    Read full story.
    Source: The Independent, 16 July 2017
  19. Patient-Safety-Learning
    A public inquiry into the infected blood scandal has heard that the government was right to say there was "no conclusive proof" that Aids could be transmitted by blood products in 1983.
    According to Lord Clarke, the phrase was entirely accurate at the time it was said. However, evidence in documents reveal senior health officials believed HIV could be carried through blood.
    "Somebody, somewhere, decided that that was the best most accurate line to take. It was repeatedly used by every minister. We kept repeating that because that was the scientific advice we had until it was perfectly clear to the medics that there was in fact sufficient proof... we weren't playing down that possibility. It seems to me... it's a perfectly accurate description of where medical opinion was at that time." Lord Clarke told the inquiry. 
    Read full story.
    Source: BBC, 28 July 2021
  20. Patient-Safety-Learning
    A national shortage in blood collection tubes has meant trusts are having to limit blood tests, with some trusts advising doctors to only order blood tests if they deem it absolutely necessary or using the same tubes for different tests rather than using a different tube of blood for each test.
    It has also been reported that the global disruption to the supply chain may mean shortages could continue before the supply lines recover. The NHS Supply Chain, has said there was “some improvement in the supply position in September” but that controls on the products "are likely to continue to be applied beyond this until supply stabilises”.
    Read full story (paywalled).
    Source: HSJ, 9 August 2021
  21. Patient-Safety-Learning
    On 10 August NHS England issued guidance for healthcare workers, including medical directors and GPs, in the light of global shortages of blood tube products, now, doctors have raised concerns about the effects that a shortage of blood tubes in England will have on patient care and the NHS, which already faces backlogs.
    Read full story (paywalled).
    Source: BMJ, 24 August 2021
  22. Patient-Safety-Learning
    A 10-year-old boy with severe asthma died as a result of multiple failings by healthcare professionals amounting to neglect, a coroner has concluded.
    William Gray, from Southend, died on 29 May 2021 from a cardiac arrest caused by respiratory arrest, resulting from acute and severe asthma that was “chronically very under controlled”. His death has led to calls to improve asthma treatment for children nationwide.
    The court heard that William’s death was a “tragedy foretold” having previously suffered a nearly fatal asthma attack on 27 October, 2020, which he survived.
    The coroner said that William’s death was avoidable, his symptoms were treatable, and he should not have needed to use 16 reliever inhalers over 17 months, but instead his condition should have been treated with preventer medications and should have been controlled.
    Julie Struthers, a solicitor at Leigh Day who represented the family, said, “In an inquest involving concerns with medical treatment it is rare for a coroner to find neglect, and even rarer for a coroner to find Article 2, a person’s right to life, to be engaged. This reflects the real tragedy of what happened to William, the substantial number of failures by multiple healthcare professionals in his care, and the importance of improving asthma treatment for children nationwide.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: inews, 22 November 2023
  23. Patient-Safety-Learning
    A coroner has expressed concern at the difficulty of getting face-to-face appointments with GPs and other health professionals after a 17-year-old boy suffering from mental health problems was found dead.
    Sean Mark, who described himself as an “anxious paranoid mess”, was desperate for help but felt “palmed off” when he asked for assistance, an inquest heard. He was found dead in his bedroom four months after a phone consultation with a GP and before he had spoken to anyone in person about his concerns.
    The area coroner, Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, recorded a verdict of death by misadventure, saying she could not be sure Sean had intended to kill himself.
    Dr Robin Harlow, clinical director of the Willow Group, where Sean Mark was a patient, said it had increased the number of face-to-face meetings. When told that Sean felt palmed off, he said: “I would want him to be seen face to face at the second time, if not the first time. We have seen a lot more face-to-face appointments since then.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian (23 August 2022)
  24. Patient-Safety-Learning
    People no longer believe the NHS will treat them quickly if they fall ill, according to new polling showing wide dissatisfaction about the state of the health service.
    With hundreds of ambulances stacked outside overstretched A&E departments and patients languishing on record waiting lists, voters are far more likely to say the service has worsened than improved in the last year.
    Fifty-eight per cent are not confident they would receive timely treatment from the NHS if they fell ill tomorrow, with 36 per cent not confident at all and 22 per cent just not confident. Meanwhile, 45 per cent believe the service they receive has worsened in the past 12 months. Just over half think it has become harder to get an appointment with their local doctor while 41 per cent think their local GP service has worsened.
    Robert Ede, head of health and social care at the Policy Exchange think tank, said: “It is concerning to see that a majority of the public don’t believe they would receive timely treatment from the NHS if they became ill tomorrow. There is a risk that the perception of a service in crisis beds in and actually leads to a complete erosion in public confidence."
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times (27 August 2022)
  25. Patient-Safety-Learning
    A new report commissioned by the House of Commons finds NHS staff and social care workers are suffering from burnout at 'emergency levels'. The report has said problems with burnout among the NHS and care staff already existed but was increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 
    Staff shortages have been indicated as one of the causes of burnout as the work days became longer and the pressure on staff grew. It was also found that staff felt overwhelmed after lockdown ended as patients who had not been to see their GP during lockdown were now coming in with an array of health problems. NHS and care staff felt insufficiently equipped to deal with the incoming patients due to a lack of proper staffing support in the workforce. 
    Read the full story
    Read the full report here
     
    Source: BBC News, 8 June 2021
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