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Sam

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  1. Sam
    Patients could be waiting as much as two years for vital operations by the time of the next election due to a “truly frightening” backlog of care caused by the pandemic, the NHS’s former boss has said.
    Lengthening delays in getting treatment in England are will become a major political problem for Boris Johnson and pose a risk to patients’ health, Sir David Nicholson told the Guardian.
    “The backlog is truly frightening. We can very easily get to the next election with people waiting over two years. It’s easy to do that,” said Nicholson, citing an explosion in the number of people waiting at least a year since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
    “The whole issue of access [to care] is a greater threat to the NHS than privatisation because poor access undermines confidence amongst those people who fund the service – taxpayers,” he added.
    The widespread suspension of normal NHS diagnostic tests and surgery during the pandemic as hospitals prioritised Covid care has left the service in England with a record 4.59 million people waiting for hospital treatment.
    That number is set to rise to what the NHS Confederation believes could be as much as 6.9m cases by the end of the year as people on a “hidden waiting list” – who put off seeking help after discovering symptoms of illness – finally visit a GP.
    According to the most recent figures, the number of people who have been waiting for at least a year has rocketed from 1,613 before the pandemic struck to 304,044.
    Under the NHS Constitution, 92% of people waiting are meant to be treated within 18 weeks. However, a third of the 4.59 million people have already waited longer than that.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 2 April 2021
  2. Sam
    New research led by researchers at King’s College London suggests that restricting testing to the ‘classic triad’ of cough, fever and loss of smell which is required for eligibility for a PCR test through the NHS may have missed cases. Extending the list to include fatigue, sore throat, headache and diarrhoea would have detected 96% of symptomatic cases.
    A team of researchers at King’s and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) analysed data from more than 122,000 UK adult users of the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app. These users reported experiencing any potential COVID-19 symptoms, and 1,202 of those reported a positive PCR test within a week of first feeling ill.
    While PCR swab testing is the most reliable way to tell whether someone is infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the analysis suggests the limited list of three does not catch all positive cases of COVID-19.
    Testing people with any of the three ‘classic’ symptoms would have spotted 69% of symptomatic cases, with 46 people testing negative for every person testing positive. However, testing people with any of seven key symptoms - cough, fever, anosmia, fatigue, headache, sore throat and diarrhoea - in the first three days of illness would have detected 96% of symptomatic cases. In this case, for every person with the disease identified, 95 would test negative.
    Researchers also found users of the Symptom Study App were more likely to select headache and diarrhoea within the first three days of symptoms, and fever during the first seven days, which reflects different timings of symptoms in the disease course. Data from the ZOE app shows that 31% of people who are ill with COVID-19 don’t have any of the triad of symptoms in the early stages of the disease when most infectious.
    Read full story
    Source: King's College London, 17 February 2021
  3. Sam
    Hospitals throughout the NHS are in such a poor state of repair that patient safety and care is being put at risk, according to an investigation by the Labour Party. A freedom of information requests sent to every hospital trust in England highlighted problems such as sewage and water leaking on to hospital wards, broken lifts and ceilings collapsing. The incidents have affected patient care, often leading to the cancellation of appointments and leaving people waiting longer for vital treatment. It is speculated that these issues are not just confined to secondary care.
    Read full story
    Source: Nursing Notes, 5 July 2019
  4. Sam
    A campaign has started to prevent children and young people receiving cancer treatment alone in the pandemic.
    Charities behind the #Hand2Hold campaign want to enable all young people aged 16 to 25 to be allowed a chaperone, instead of only some.
    Mikaela Forrester, 18, from Somerset had some of her cancer treatments alone and said she did not want other young people to have that experience.
    She said without her mother she found it "scary" and "lonely".
    Miss Forrester lives in Frome and was diagnosed in July 2019 with Stage 2 Hodgkin Lymphoma, an uncommon cancer that develops in the lymphatic system. In March 2020 she was told she had relapsed and would need to undergo a further round of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and a stem cell transplant.
    Because of the coronavirus pandemic, she was told she had to have those treatments on her own, without immediate support from her family or friends.
    She said: "When I had my transplant and my cells harvested with three weeks in hospital, with no visitors, it was just so scary. It was quite lonely."
    "Even if I could hug my parents, or if they could stand two metres away with a mask on, just knowing they were there during the most difficult times would have made me feel comfortable because it was so overwhelming."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 16 February 2021
  5. Sam
    More than one in three middle-aged British adults are suffering from at least two chronic health conditions, including recurrent back problems, poor mental health, high blood pressure, diabetes and high-risk drinking, according to research that warned that health in midlife is on the decline.
    The study of “generation X” adults born in 1970 found that those who grew up in poorer families were 43% more likely to have multiple long-term health conditions than their peers from wealthier households. Those who had been overweight or obese as children, who had lower birthweight and who had experienced mental ill-health as teenagers were also at increased risk of poor health in midlife.
    Dawid Gondek, the UCL researcher who authored the paper, said: “This study provides concerning new evidence about the state of the nation’s health in midlife. It shows that a substantial proportion of the population are already suffering from multiple long-term physical and mental health problems in their late 40s, and also points to stark health inequalities, which appear to begin early in childhood.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 28 July 2021
  6. Sam
    An ambulance crew had to wait seven hours to hand over a patient in the West Midlands, it has been revealed.
    The case on 11 December was highlighted in the West Midlands Ambulance Service's in-house magazine, which said average waits had "ballooned".
    It said average waits at one hospital were running at nearly three hours in early December.
    The ambulance service said it hoped to put another 40 crews on the road by January.
    Delays in hospitals taking over care of patients is considered "risky", NHS England said, because it not only delayed patients receiving specialist assessment and treatment, but also reduced the number of ambulances available to respond to emergencies.
    The West Midlands trust's weekly briefing magazine, published on 17 December, said only the East of England trust had experienced a similar level of "horrendous" delays. It added that another four hospitals in the West Midlands had average delays of about two hours.
    The "knock-on" effect it said was some high-risk patients were waiting longer for an ambulance than they should.
    Meanwhile, some staff had to work late beyond their shifts and missed meal breaks.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 23 December 2020
  7. Sam
    Parents and professionals have been devastated by the impact of the pandemic on some of the UK’s most vulnerable patients
    Kelly Stoor gave birth to her daughter, Kaia, 14 weeks early. On 12 March, the midwife held her up for Kelly to see before whisking Kaia off to the neonatal unit for critical care. Kaia became seriously ill and was transferred to a hospital in Southampton, 50 miles away from home, for specialist treatment just before lockdown was imposed on 23 March. While there, she teetered on the edge of life and death for weeks and underwent life-saving surgery twice.
    The impact on Kelly, her husband, Max, and their other three children has been enormous. Hospital restrictions in April dictated that only one parent was allowed to visit. Both parents were not able not hold their daughter for the first time until 88 days after she was born.
    “It was extremely difficult,” says Kelly. “I wasn’t allowed to hold her because of Covid. I had to wear gloves if I was going to touch her. We didn’t know if she was going to make it, and Max and I weren’t allowed in together to be with her. There was one time I was with her for three hours and I couldn’t cope any more. I wanted to break.”
    Kelly is not alone. In the UK, at least 25,000 children are living with conditions that require palliative care support and their lives, along with those of their families, have been upended by the coronavirus pandemic and accompanying restrictions.
    A report by Rainbow Trust found that lockdown was a distressing experience for many; 80% of those surveyed by the charity in April said their situation was worse or much worse than before lockdown. Nearly 60% of parents, meanwhile, say that their mental health is worse than before the pandemic.
    Families have had to take on the strain of caring full-time for a child with a life-limiting illness, such as cancer or neurological conditions, with little to no support. There has been no respite, explains Dr Jon Rabbs, a consultant paediatrician and trustee for Rainbow Trust. When lockdown was announced, many community healthcare services had to stop face to face contact and special schools which supported children were also closed. “One of my families is at breaking point, they are so exhausted and worried,” he says.
    In child healthcare there have been delays, he says. Urgent treatment is always available but follow-up care has been cancelled or delayed in some places. “In my practice we have not missed any significant relapses,” he adds. “But imagine the worry not knowing whether things were going to be OK or not.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 22 October 2020
     
  8. Sam
    At the age of 49, Sarah Fisher feels her life is on a knife-edge. She had a heart attack during lockdown and has subsequently been diagnosed with heart failure.
    In July, she was told she needed to have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) fitted, which can shock the heart back into rhythm when it detects a potential cardiac arrest. But 12 weeks on, she is still waiting. "I could have a cardiac arrest at any point," Sarah says.
    "It is awful not knowing what is going to happen. "I am on the urgent list – but the infection rates are rising and the clinics are closing."
    "I don't know when I will get it.
    "There are so many people in my position – we don't have Covid but our lives are at risk too. We are the forgotten victims of this pandemic."
    British Heart Foundation analysis of Office for National Statistics data for England and Wales found almost 800 extra deaths from heart disease among under-65s from March to July - 15% more than would be expected.
    The rate of death was highest during the full lockdown - but, worryingly, the trend continued afterwards. The charity blames delays in people seeking care, as well as reduced access to routine tests and treatments.
    And NHS England figures show a sharp rise in the numbers waiting over six weeks for a whole range of key tests, including echocardiograms for hearts.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 15 October 2020
  9. Sam
    In April, when the coronavirus outbreak was at its peak in the UK and tearing through hospitals, junior doctor Rebecca Thornton’s mental health took a turn for the worse and she ended up having to be sectioned.
    Even now, three months later, she cannot face going back to her job and thinks it will take her a year to recover from some of the horrors she saw while working on a Covid ward in a deprived area of London.
    “It was horrendous,” Thornton recalls. “It’s so harrowing to watch people die, day in, day out. Every time someone passed away, I’d say, ‘This is my fault’. Eventually I stopped eating and sleeping.”
    Thornton’s case may sound extreme but her experiences of working through Covid are far from unique. More than 1,000 doctors plan to quit the NHS over the government’s handling of the pandemic, according to a recent survey, with some citing burnout as a cause.
    A psychologist offering services to NHS staff throughout the UK, who asked to remain anonymous, has witnessed the toll on staff. “I’ve seen signs of PTSD in some healthcare workers,” she says. “Staff really stood up to the plate and worked incredibly hard. It was a crisis situation that moved very quickly ... After it subsided a little bit, the tiredness became very clear.”
    Roisin Fitzsimons, who is head of the Nightingale Academy, which provides a platform to share best practice in nursing and midwifery, and consultant nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust, also worries about the looming threat of an uncertain future. “Are our staff prepared? Do they have the resilience to go through this again? That’s the worry and that’s the unknown. Burnout is hitting people now. People are processing and realising what they’ve gone through.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 8 September 2020
  10. Sam
    Continuity of care in general practice reduces use of out-of-hours care, acute hospitalisations and mortality, researchers have shown - as GP leaders warned staff shortages and heavy workload means it is becoming harder to deliver in the UK.
    Long-lasting personal continuity with a GP is 'strongly associated with reduced need for out-of-hours services, acute hospitalisations, and mortality', according to a study by researchers in Norway.
    An association lasting more than 15 years between a patient and a specific GP reduces the probability of any of these factors by 25-30%, the study published in the British Journal of General Practice found.
    The researchers said 'promoting stability among GPs' should be a priority for health authorities, and warned that continuity of care was under pressure.
    The findings come as general practice in the UK faces intense pressure amid a shortage of GPs and intense workload after more than 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Responding to the findings, RCGP chair Professor Martin Marshall said: "Continuity of care is highly valued by patients and GPs and our teams alike. It is what allows us to build relationships with our patients, often over time, and this study builds the strong evidence base of its benefits for patients and the NHS."
    Read full story
    Source: GP Online, 4 October 2021
  11. Sam
    For most people, COVID-19 is a brief and mild disease but some are left struggling with symptoms including lasting fatigue, persistent pain and breathlessness for months. The condition known as "long Covid" is having a debilitating effect on people's lives, and stories of being left exhausted after even a short walk are now common.
    There is no medical definition or list of symptoms shared by all patients - two people with long Covid can have very different experiences. However, the most common feature is crippling fatigue.
    Others symptoms include: breathlessness, a cough that won't go away, joint pain, muscle aches, hearing and eyesight problems, headaches, loss of smell and taste as well as damage to the heart, lungs, kidneys and gut. Mental health problems have been reported including depression, anxiety and struggling to think clearly.
    Long Covid is not just people taking time to recover from a stay in intensive care. Even people with relatively mild infections can be left with lasting and severe health problems.
    "We've got no doubt long Covid exists," Prof David Strain, from the University of Exeter, who is already seeing long-Covid patients at his Chronic Fatigue Syndrome clinic, told the BBC.
    A study of 143 people in Rome's biggest hospital, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, followed hospital patients after they were discharged. It showed 87% had at least one symptom nearly two months later and more than half still had fatigue.
    The Covid Symptom Tracker App - used by around four million people in the UK - found 12% of people still had symptoms after 30 days. Its latest, unpublished data, suggests as many as one in 50 (2%) of all people infected have long-Covid symptoms after 90 days.
    The number of people with long-Covid appears to be falling with time. However, the virus emerged only at the end of 2019 before going global earlier this year so there is a lack of long-term data.
    "We've asked, deliberately, to follow people for 25 years, I certainly hope only a very small number will have problems going beyond a year, but I could be wrong," said Prof Brightling.
    However, there are concerns that even if people appear to recover now, they could face lifelong risks. People who have had chronic fatigue syndrome are more likely to have it again and the concern is that future infections may cause more flare-ups.
    "If long Covid follows the same pattern I'd expect some recovery, but if it takes just another coronavirus infection to react then this could be every winter," said Prof Strain.
    It is still possible more problems could emerge in the future.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 6 October 2020
     
  12. Sam
    A review into the work of a locum consultant radiologist has so far identified "major discrepancies" affecting 12 cases.
    A full lookback review of 13,030 radiology images was launched last month.
    The doctor worked at hospitals run by the Northern Health Trust between July 2019 and February 2020.
    The review steering group chair said it was "images in levels one and two that we are most concerned about".
    "To date there are 12 level ones and twos [approximately 0.5% of the total number reviewed]," said Dr Seamus O'Reilly, the Northern Trust medical director.
    "Most of these concern CT scans where inaccurate initial reading of the scans could, or is likely to, have had an impact on the patient's clinical treatment and outcome."
    More than 9,000 patients have been contacted as part of the review, which is looking at radiology images taken in Antrim Area, Causeway, Whiteabbey and Mid Ulster Hospitals as well as the Ballymena Health and Care Centre.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 28 July 2021
  13. Sam
    A firm which reviews healthcare apps for several NHS trusts says 80% of them do not meet its standards.
    Failings include poor information, lack of security updates and insufficient awareness of regulatory requirements, said Orcha chief executive Liz Ashall-Payne.
    The firm's reviews help determine whether an app should be recommended to patients by NHS staff.
    There are about 370,000 health-related apps available online, Orcha said.
    App developers can categorise their apps themselves and the ones reviewed by the firm include those tagged health, fitness and medical. So far, the firm has reviewed nearly 5,000 apps and found many poor examples, including:
    A diabetes management app offering complex medical support without any back-up from experts. A physiotherapy app offering exercise plans without any visible input from professionals. An app to help smokers quit, which had not had security updates in more than two years. Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 16 February 2021
  14. Sam
    Former BBC Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, now a writer and podcaster, has Parkinson's disease. Two weeks ago, after fracturing his elbow in a nasty fall, he found out just how difficult it can be to get answers from the NHS.
    "Getting information about one's treatment seems like an obstacle race where the system is always one step ahead. But communication between medical staff within and between hospitals also appears hopelessly inadequate, with the gulf between doctors and nurses particularly acute.
    "I also sense that, in some cases, new computer systems are slowing not speeding information through the system. On Saturday morning, as we waited in the surgical assessment unit, four nurses gathered around a computer screen while a fifth explained to them all the steps needed to check-in a patient and get them into a bed. It took about 20 minutes and appeared to be akin to mastering some complex video game beset with bear traps."
    Rory's latest experience as a customer of the health service has left him convinced that more money and more staff won't solve its problems without some fundamental changes in the way it communicates.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 29 October 2023
  15. Sam
    A new variant of coronavirus has been found which is growing faster in some parts of England, MPs have been told.
    Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at least 60 different local authorities had recorded Covid infections caused by the new variant.
    He said the World Health Organization had been notified and UK scientists were doing detailed studies.
    He said there was "nothing to suggest" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 14 December 2020
  16. Sam
    Royal College of Nursing (RCN) member Tara Matare has won the coveted title of RCN Nurse of the Year 2019. She scooped the leadership category at the RCNi Nurse Awards before being crowned the overall winner. Tara has tackled short staffing, improved workplace culture and enhanced patient care at her ophthalmology unit at Whipps Cross Hospital in London. Over a 14-year mission to overhaul the unit, there have been a steady stream of challenges, including fighting ophthalmology’s corner to ensure it wasn’t overlooked in favour of higher-profile inpatient services and tackling an ingrained culture of bullying.  
    Read full story
    Source: Royal College of Nursing, 4 July 2019
  17. Sam
    Shortages are dogging the fight against the coronavirus. At Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) it's still only possible to test six staff for the virus per day, consultants have been making their own personal protective equipment, and there's an urgent need to save oxygen.
    Searching for ways round the problem, Dr Tom has been working with Leeds University on a 3D-printed valve that could be attached to the hospital's ventilators to reduce the amount of oxygen they use.
    But he also began looking at CPAP machines used to treat sleep apnoea at home. These maintain air at a continuous pressure, inside a mask, to keep the user's airways open - they have to be repurposed to provide oxygen for use in the hospital, but they use much less of it than standard hospital ventilators.
    They said, 'Yes we've got 2,000, how many do you want?''' he says. "And so our plan is to start with 100 and to see whether, if we use these early enough during a patient's stay, we can prevent people deteriorating and needing to go on to the more complex ventilators, and needing to come to the intensive care unit."
    We've been testing them over the weekend, and there's evidence from China and from the US that they seem effective. They just help inflate your lungs and that seems to be beneficial.
    They are also very simple, which means that there's no need for a huge amount of training.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 7 April 2020
     
  18. Sam
    Covid outbreaks in care homes have more than trebled in a month. Figures show that infection levels are now similar to the peak of the first wave, with last week having the second highest weekly total since records began in April.
    Senior figures said the numbers were "shocking" and warned: "Care homes cannot be neglected again".
    Ministers have pledged that all care home residents would be vaccinated by the end of this month. But The Telegraph has been told the care home rollout was taking longer than officials had anticipated.
    The new figures come after The Telegraph revealed the Government is proposing to send hospital patients into care homes without tests, despite being warned that was responsible for driving up cases in the first wave.
    Read full story
    Source: The Telegraph, 14 January 2021
  19. Sam
    The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including drug-resistant bacteria, or “superbugs”, pose far greater risks to human health than Covid-19, threatening to put modern medicine “back into the dark ages”, an Australian scientist has warned, ahead of a three-year study into drug-resistant bacteria in Fiji.
    “If you thought Covid was bad, you don’t want anti-microbial resistance,” Dr Paul De Barro, biosecurity research director at Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, told The Guardian.
    “I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say it’s the biggest human health threat, bar none. Covid is not anywhere near the potential impact of AMR. We would go back into the dark ages of health.”
    WHO warns overuse of antibiotics for COVID-19 will cause more deaths
    While AMR is an emerging public health threat across the globe, in the Pacific, where the risk of the problem is acute, drug-resistant bacteria could stretch the region’s fragile health systems beyond breaking point.
    An article in the BMJ Global Health journal reported there was little official health data – and low levels of public knowledge - around antimicrobial resistance in the Pacific, and that high rates of infectious disease and antibiotic prescription were driving up risks.
    “A challenge for Pacific island countries and territories is trying to curtail antimicrobial excess, without jeopardising antimicrobial access for those who need them,” the paper argued.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 10 September 2020
  20. Sam
    Few of the 23 million Americans with lingering symptoms are getting answers – in this dangerous void, alternative providers and wellness companies have created a cottage industry of Long Covid miracle cures.
    Some doctors ply controversial blood tests that claim to identify evidence of the elusive disease. Other practitioners speak assuredly about the benefits of skipping breakfast and undergoing ozone therapy, or how zinc can bring back loss of taste or smell. Some desperate patients have gone overseas for controversial stem cell therapy. Over the next seven years, the global complementary and alternative medicine industry is expected to quadruple in value; analysts cite alternative Covid therapies as a reason for growth.
    Robert McCann, a 44-year-old political strategist from Lansing, Michigan, sleeps for 15 hours – and when he wakes up, he still finds it impossible to get out of bed. Sometimes he wakes up so confused that he’s unsure what day it is.
    McCann tested positive for Covid in July 2020. He had mild symptoms that resolved within about a week. But a few months later, pain, general confusion and debilitating exhaustion returned and never fully left. 
    He says he’s skeptical of “miracle cures”. But, after about 17 months of illness and no relief from doctor’s visits, he’s desperate. “I’ll just be frank,” he told me, “if someone has mentioned on the Subreddit that it’s helped them, I’ve probably bought it and tried it.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 2 June 2022
  21. Sam
    The boss of a NHS trust that asked hospital staff for fingerprints and handwriting samples as it hunted a whistleblower is stepping down.
    Dr Stephen Dunn will leave West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in the summer after seven years as chief executive.
    An independent inquiry into the way management handled the affair is expected to report in the autumn.
    In 2018, Jon Warby received a letter two months after the death of his wife, Susan. It claimed mistakes were made during her bowel surgery. An inquest into her death was subsequently told how she had been given glucose instead of saline fluid via an arterial line.
    The Doctors' Association described the hospital's attempt to find the author of the letter a "witch-hunt".
    A subsequent Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection said the way internal investigations had been conducted by the hospital was "unusual and of concern".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 28 July 2021
  22. Sam
    The former police chief who investigated mental health services in a crisis-hit health board was “shocked” by the poor working relationships and “blame shifting” he uncovered.
    David Strang, who led the independent inquiry into the issues in NHS Tayside, said staff felt isolated and unsupported and people complained about each other’s practices without coming together to sort the issues out.
    He described asking staff questions based on information he had received and being met with the response: “Who told you?” He added: “A lot of staff felt there was a real blame culture and that risk and blame fell to the front line.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: 6 February 2020, The Times
  23. Sam
    Nearly 8,900 more people have died of cancer than expected in Britain since the start of the pandemic, amid calls for the Government to appoint a minister to deal with the growing crisis. 
    In an essay in The Lancet Oncology, campaigners and medics said the upward trend of cancer deaths is likely to continue, with 3,327 in the last six months alone. 
    They urged the Government to tackle the crisis with the same focus and urgency given to the Covid vaccine rollout, and called for a cancer minister to get on top of the backlog.
    NHS data from November showed that in the last 12 months, 69,000 patients in the UK have waited longer than the recommended 62-day wait from suspected cancer referral to start of treatment.
    Professor Gordon Wishart, a former cancer surgeon and chief medical officer of Check4Cancer, said: “The Covid-induced cancer backlog is one of the deadliest backlogs and has served to widen the cracks in our cancer services". 
    “Now we face a deadly cancer timebomb of treatment delays that get worse every month because we don’t have a sufficiently ambitious plan from policymakers. I urge the Government to work with us.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Telegraph, 15 December 2022
  24. Sam
    Consultants at a major tertiary centre have written to their chief executive, warning services are in ‘an extremely unsafe situation’ and calling for elective work to be diverted elsewhere.
    Surgeons and anaesthetists at the former Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust — now part of University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust — said: “We are devastated to report that the care we aspire to is not being provided at UHS… we are forced to contemplate that it is not safe to be open as a trauma tertiary centre and we feel elective activity must be proactively diverted elsewhere.”
    The letter from BSUH’s anaesthetist and surgical consultant body is dated yesterday and was sent to UHSussex chief executive Dame Marianne Griffiths. The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton — part of the trust — is the major trauma centre for the South East coast, from Chichester to parts of Kent.
    In the letter, seen by HSJ, the consultants claimed a shortage of theatre staff is leading to “clinical safety issues, gross operational inefficiencies and burnout within our remaining depleted staff groups”. 
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 21 September 2021
  25. Sam
    Oversight failures, a fearful workplace culture and lax quality standards for years at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Arkansas, USA, allowed a pathologist who was routinely drunk on the job to misdiagnose thousands of veterans — sometimes with dire or deadly consequences, a new investigation has found.
    Hospital leaders “failed to promote a culture of accountability” that would have led more of the doctor’s colleagues to come forward with accounts that his behavior was putting patients at risk, according to the report released Wednesday by VA’s Office of Inspector General. But the staff members at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville feared that reporting their concerns would lead to retaliation from their bosses.
    “Any one of these breakdowns could cause harmful results,” Inspector General Michael Missal’s staff wrote in an 86-page report about the failures to stop the pathologist, Robert Morris Levy. “Together and over an extended period of time, the consequences were devastating, tragic, and deadly.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Washington Post, 2 June 2021
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