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Mark Hughes

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  1. Mark Hughes
    Doctors treating vulnerable patients with gender dysphoria have no way of assessing whether the NHS treatment provided has worked because outcomes are not systematically recorded, a damning official inquiry into the clinics has found.
    Waiting times for a first appointment at NHS adult gender dysphoria clinics (GDCs) in England are projected to reach 15 years unless there are improvements, the review found. The number of people seeking treatment is rising significantly and on average patients are already waiting five years and seven months for a first assessment.
    The review conducted by Dr David Levy, an NHS medical director and cancer specialist, was commissioned after last year’s Cass report on gender care for children and young people.
    His report found that the clinics’ failure to study outcomes for their patients made it impossible to judge the safety of these services. Long waiting lists were also leading to safety issues, driving people to self-source hormone drugs from high-risk online providers abroad.
    Read full article.
    Source: The Guardian, 18 December 2025.
  2. Mark Hughes
    The lack of a single patient record across a system led to failures in information sharing, which contributed to a mother’s death, a coroner has concluded.
    According to a Prevention of Future Deaths notice, providers across Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board involved in the care of Hannah Booth, who died by suicide in January 2025, did not have the “whole picture” of her mental health deterioration because electronic systems used by different services did not share data.
    Read full article (paywalled).
    Source: Health Service Journal, 19 December 2025
  3. Mark Hughes
    A culture of systemic bullying and harassment has been allowed to flourish among staff at one England’s most scandal-hit hospitals, a damning leaked report reveals.
    The safety of patients at Blackpool Victoria hospital was affected as a result of the failings, the report by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) found.
    The report was provided to leaders at the Blackpool teaching hospitals NHS trust in January but its findings were not shared widely with staff until 10 months later, prompting concerns that employees’ ability to take urgent action on its 19 recommendations was compromised.
    Staff who spoke to the RCP inquiry team said that excessive workloads were handed to inexperienced doctors, leaving them fatigued and stressed while treating patients. They described a “keeping your head down culture” where their concerns were inadequately addressed. Consultants said that there was “systemic bullying, harassment and racial discrimination among staff”.
    Read full article.
    Source: The Guardian, 3 December 2025
  4. Mark Hughes
    Artificial intelligence (AI) tools sometimes produce hallucinations when asked to remove personal patient information from electronic patient records (EPRs), a study has found.
    Researchers from the University of Oxford evaluated the ability of large language models (LLMs) and purpose-built software tools to detect and remove patient names, dates, medical record numbers, and other identifiers from real-world records, without altering clinical content.
    The study, published by iScience on 9 December 2025, found that smaller LLMs frequently over-redacted or produced hallucinatory content, in which erroneous text not present in the original record was shown, or occasionally introducing fabricated medical details.
    Read full article.
    Source: Digital Health, 18 December 2025.
    Related reading
    2025: A turning point for digital patient safety Artificial intelligence and patient safety in healthcare: Insights and recommendations from HETT 2025 roundtable
  5. Mark Hughes
    Investigations into workplace conflict and alleged misconduct are frequently being used as punishment across the NHS, leaving staff feeling suicidal and alienated, according to findings shared with Health Service Journal.
    Failings in probes carried out by NHS employers internally, and commissioned from external companies, are exposed in Investigating the Investigators, a report by workforce culture expert Roger Kline.
    Read full article (paywalled).
    Source: Health Service Journal, 17 December 2025
    Related reading
    Key themes emerging from our ‘Speaking up for patient safety’ interview series
  6. Mark Hughes
    NHS England is introducing new infection diagnosis standards, which experts told Health Service Journal reflected a “real concern” about variation between providers.
    A draft document on proposed changes to the NHS Standard Contract 2026-27 says adherence to national guidance on diarrhoea sampling and testing for C difficile was currently “variable” across providers, while NHSE has also warned about variation in service delivery and outcomes for blood culture pathways.
    It comes amid national concern over the rising numbers of infections caused by C difficile, a type of bacteria which can cause diarrhoea, with cases reaching a 13-year high in 2024 and experts warning they could rise again.
    Read full article (paywalled).
    Source: Health Service Journal, 18 December 2025
  7. Mark Hughes
    Patients with mobility issues have been left stranded with no way of getting to and from their hospital appointments, according to a review.
    Every weekday, more than 20,000 people use NHS non-emergency patient transport services to get to appointments, operations and services such as dialysis.
    But a review by Healthwatch, the patient watchdog, revealed transport services across the country are sometimes cancelled at the last minute or patients are told they do not meet the requirements for transport.
    Wheelchair user John Nye told The Independent he had to pay almost £100 for a wheelchair accessible taxi to get to and from his operation in June. The appointment was at 7am but patient transport was unable to take him before 8.30am.
    Read full article.
    Source: The Independent, 17 December 2025
  8. Mark Hughes
    A public inquiry will be held into the failures of a north-east NHS foundation after the deaths of several patients, Wes Streeting has confirmed.
    The health secretary made the announcement in Darlington, speaking to the families of patients who died while receiving treatment from hospitals run by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS foundation trust, which is headquartered in the County Durham town.
    The inquiry will look into the number of the trust’s patients who took their own lives in the past decade, which the Department of Health and Social Care called “concerning”.
    Three of the people known to have died while under the trust’s care were the 17-year-olds Nadia Sharif and Christie Harnett, who killed themselves at West Lane hospital in Middlesbrough in June and August 2019 respectively, and 18-year-old Emily Moore, who died in February 2020 after a week at Lanchester Road hospital in County Durham.
    Read full article.
    Source: The Guardian, 11 December 2025.
  9. Mark Hughes
    The US Food and Drug Administration intends to put a “black box” warning on Covid-19 vaccines, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans.
    A boxed warning, which appears at the top of prescribing information for medicines, is the agency’s most serious, designed to warn about risks such as death or life-threatening or disabling reactions that should be weighed against the intervention’s benefits. They can also be used when a risk might be lowered by using a medicine in a targeted way, such as only in certain groups.
    Boxed warnings on opioids, for example, warn about risks of abuse, addiction, overdose and death. The acne medication Accutane carried a warning about the risks of birth defects when used during pregnancy. ACAM2000, a smallpox and mpox vaccine, has a warning about complications such as heart inflammation and encephalitis.
    Read full article.
    Source: CNN, 12 December 2025
  10. Mark Hughes
    A surge in flu cases will present the NHS with a challenge "unlike any it has seen since the pandemic", Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said.
    Writing in the Times, Streeting said the NHS was in a "precarious situation", and warned that next week's planned strikes by resident doctors could be the "Jenga piece that collapses the tower".
    The number of patients in hospital with influenza has risen more than 50% in the past week, with officials warning there is still no sign of it peaking yet.
    In the week up to Sunday there were 2,660 flu cases a day on average in hospital, which NHS England said was the equivalent of having three hospitals full of flu patients.
    Read full article.
    Source: BBC News, 11 December 2025
  11. Mark Hughes
    An initiative called TrustX has been launched to help verify, deploy, and test agentic AI for use across the NHS and social care.
    It aims to support the government’s NHS 10 year health plan, which calls for the large-scale adoption of AI tools, including technology to support diagnosis, automation of admin tasks, predicting demand for services, and ambient voice agents for tasks such as note-taking.
    TrustX aims to address the risk of bias, potential errors and misinformation from AI agents by evaluating how they behave in real-world situations, interact with other technologies and data sources, and how they may change over time.
    The initiative is being run in partnership between Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS), the University of Cambridge’s Trustworthy AI Lab, the Responsible AI Institute and The King’s Fund.
    Read full article.
    Source: Digital Health, 11 December 2025
  12. Mark Hughes
    The government plans to take direct control of the cost effectiveness thresholds used by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), in an unprecedented move its own impact assessment says could “undermine the independence” of the standards setting organisation.
    The government also wants to ensure ministerial instructions to NICE do not need to be consulted on first.
    These potential options have been raised in a new government consultation on changing the regulations under which NICE operates. 
    Read full article (paywalled).
    Source: Health Service Journal, 10 December 2025.
  13. Mark Hughes
    Next week's strike by resident doctors in England may be averted after ministers offered the British Medical Association a fresh deal.
    The doctors' union has agreed to put the offer to members over the coming days - if they support it, the five-day walkout starting on Wednesday 17 December could be called off.
    The offer includes a rapid expansion of specialist training posts as well as covering out-of-pocket expenses such as exam fees.
    But it does not include any promises of extra pay. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been adamant he will not negotiate on that, given resident doctors - the new name for junior doctors - have had pay rises of nearly 30% over the past three years.
    Read full article.
    Source: BBC News, 10 December 2025
  14. Mark Hughes
    A charity has called for systematic changes to stop patients from discovering their disease diagnoses through the NHS App without proper support. 
    Kidney Care UK says that thousands of patients are learning that they have chronic kidney disease (CKD) through the app, despite NHS guidelines stating that serious diagnoses should not be received through digital channels “without adequate support or context”.
    In the report ‘Falling through the G-App’, the charity says that around 10% of calls to its support line are from people who have recently discovered they have CKD without any explanation from their doctor, either through medical notes, the NHS App or other healthcare professionals.
    Read full article.
    Source: Digital Health, 10 December 2025
  15. Mark Hughes
    Corridor care is “endemic” in the UK, doctors have said, as a major study found one in five patients were treated in hallways, offices and cupboards.
    Millions of patients are enduring undignified and unsafe care, with almost every A&E department in the country deploying the approach routinely, contravening national guidance, research reveals.
    The study, by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s (RCEM) trainee emergency research network (Tern), analysed five snapshots taken from 165 A&E departments in March this year. It found 17.7% of patients were receiving care in escalation areas, classed as anywhere not routinely used for care unless capacity in emergency departments is breached. This included corridors, waiting rooms, doubled-up cubicles, offices, cupboards and ambulances waiting outside to offload for more than 15 minutes.
    Read full article.
    Source: The Guardian, 9 December 2025.
    Related Reading: Corridor care and patient safety
  16. Mark Hughes
    A commonly used blood pressure medication has been recalled over fears that it may be cross-contaminated with another drug.
    Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc. has recalled more than 11,100 bottles of bisoprolol fumarate and hydrochlorothiazide tablets under the brand name Ziac, as the tablets may have been cross-contaminated with other products, according to a recall notice published by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
    The recall notice stated that testing of reserve samples “showed presence of ezetimibe,” a drug used to treat high cholesterol.
    The December 1 recall was listed as Class III, meaning the use or exposure to the product is “not likely to cause adverse health consequences,” the FDA said.
    Read full article.
    Source: The Independent, 9 December 2025
  17. Mark Hughes
    Personal patient and staff information has been posted on the dark web after hackers exploited a software vulnerability at Barts Health NHS Trust.
    The criminal group, known as Cl0p, stole files from the trust’s database in August 2025, including names, addresses, and invoices of patients and staff who had paid for treatment or services over several years.
    It also included files relating to accounting services provided since April 2024 to Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.
    In a statement, Barts Health said that its electronic patient record and clinical systems have not been affected by the attack and it is “confident” that its core IT infrastructure is secure.
    Read full article.
    Source: Digital Health, 9 December 2025
  18. Mark Hughes
    Fewer than one in 10 frontline NHS staff have been vaccinated at some trusts, despite public appeals from NHS England ahead of this winter.
    Data from the UK Health Security Agency says that fewer than a third – 29.7 per cent – of frontline NHS staff in England have received this year’s flu vaccination.
    Flu vaccination rates are fewer than one in five at 21 English NHS trusts, and at West London Trust, Croydon Health Services Trust, and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust – uptake was at just one in 10 or fewer. Lewisham and Greenwich Trust had a similarly low uptake according to the UKHSA data, but the trust has said its rates are in fact much higher.
    Read full article (paywalled).
    Source: Health Service Journal, 5 December 2025.
  19. Mark Hughes
    Staff at an ambulance trust fear their managers will “retaliate” if they report concerns to the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, a board report reveals.
    South Central Ambulance Service Foundation Trust’s board was told of staff reports that some managers “actively identify and challenge” those who raise concerns or suggestions, “contributing to a culture of apprehension and mistrust”. 
    The points were reported to a board meeting last week by its FTSU Guardian Christine McParland. Guardians are meant to act as an independent and confidential channel for employees to raise problems at work, and to support them to do so. 
    Read full article (paywalled).
    Source: Health Service Journal, 3 December 2025.
  20. Mark Hughes
    England’s chief medical officer says infections in older people must be taken “much more seriously”.
    Professor Sir Chris Whitty said older people are “under-served” when it comes to care and research into the illnesses affecting them, adding that doctors should have a lower threshold for prescribing antibiotics than they do for younger adults.
    He suggested the medical community has been “nihilistic” about infections in older people historically, adding that “people have assumed it’s one of those things that happen in old age – in fact, we can do a lot about it”.
    Discussing his new annual report, which focuses on infections, Sir Chris said: “Whilst we are very systematic about reducing infections and preventing infections in children and in young adults, in older adults it is often a lot more hit and miss.”
    Read full article.
    Source: The Independent, 4 December 2025
  21. Mark Hughes
    The number of flu patients in hospital has hit a record high in England for this time of year with NHS leaders warning the country is facing an unprecedented flu season.
    NHS figures show there were an average of 1,700 patients in hospital with flu last week - that is more than 50% higher than the same time last year - and early indications from this week are that hospitalisations have continued climbing sharply since.
    It comes as the flu season hit a month earlier than normal this year, with experts warning there appears to be a more severe strain of the virus circulating.
    England's chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty has warned the NHS must take diseases like pneumonia and flu in older people much more seriously to save lives.
    Read full article.
    Source: BBC News, 4 December 2025
  22. Mark Hughes
    The British Medical Association has claimed the exclusion of a medical director from his trust role for more than a year reflects a “toxic culture” and “disturbing pattern” when concerns are raised.
    Tim Noble has been excluded from his director role at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust since September 2024, his union confirmed to HSJ this week. The British Medical Association claims the exclusion is unlawful as he has been prevented from returning to work.
    It is thought Dr Noble’s case is due to proceed to a formal disciplinary hearing at the trust this month, but the details, including any allegations, are not known. He has continued one session a week for the trust in his consultant medical role.
    Read full article (paywalled).
    Source: Health Service Journal, 4 December 2025
  23. Mark Hughes
    The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has ordered a clinical review of the diagnosis of mental health conditions, according to reports.

    Streeting is understood to be concerned about a sharp rise in the number of people making sickness benefits claims because of diagnoses for mental illness, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the Times reported.

    He has asked leading experts to investigate whether normal feelings have become “over-pathologised”, the newspaper said, as he seeks to grapple with the 4.4 million working-age people now claiming sickness or incapacity benefit.

    The figure has risen by 1.2 million since 2019, while the number of 16 to 34-year-olds off work with long-term sickness because of a mental health condition is said to have grown rapidly in the same period.
    Read full article.
    Source: The Guardian, 3 December 2025
  24. Mark Hughes
    A father of seven was not told he was terminally ill by doctors, who instead said he would be okay, an investigation has found.
    William Chapman, known as Syd, only found out he had deadly pulmonary fibrosis when his GP, who thought he already knew the prognosis, mentioned it during a phone call.
    He died eight months later.
    An investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has found doctors at the Countess of Chester Hospital showed a "worrying lack of accountability" and failed to keep proper records, engage fully with Mr Chapman's family or learn from mistakes.
    Read full article.
    Source: Sky News, 4 December 2025.
  25. Mark Hughes
    About one million A&E patients have been placed in corridors or similar “temporary” spaces over the past year, information obtained by HSJ reveals.
    Sixty-six of England’s 118 acute trusts with accident and emergency departments responded to freedom of information requests for their record of how many times an A&E patient had been placed in a corridor or “temporary escalation space”.
    The data released by hospital trusts gives the clearest picture yet of the scale of “corridor care” in crowded emergency departments – a practice labelled “unacceptable” by the government amid deep concerns over patient safety.
    Read full article (paywalled).
    Source: Health Service Journal, 4 December 2025
    Related reading
    Corridor care and patient safety

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