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Sam

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  1. Sam
    Swedish expert has praised Scotland for leading work in improving patient safety, with a decade-long programme which is now expanding into social care.
    Dr Pelle Gustafson (below), chief medical officer, of Swedish patient insurer Löf, said he was “particularly impressed” by the work in Scotland over the past 10 years during a meeting of the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee.
    The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP), which has been in existence for around 13 years, was set up to make patient safety a priority in NHS Scotland, drawing on lessons from the airline industry such as introducing checklists.
    Gustafson was asked by Tory MP Dr Luke Evans which country he would hold at the “very top of the pillar” for preventative work during an evidence session on NHS litigation reform last week.
    He responded: “If you take all preventive work as regards patient safety, I would say that I am personally very impressed by Scotland.
    “In Scotland, you have a long-standing tradition of working. You have development in the right direction.
    “You have a system that is fairly equal all over the place and you also have improvement activities going on. I am very impressed by Scotland.”
    He added: “I am particularly impressed by the Scottish work over the last 10 years. There are a lot of things that we, in the Nordic countries, can learn from Scotland too.”
    Read full story
    Source: The National, 16 January 2022
     
     
     
     
  2. Sam
    There are serious concerns over the standards of specialist care being provided to patients with the most complex mental health needs, a BBC investigation has found.
    Patients sent by the NHS to stay in mental health rehabilitation units say they have been placed in unsafe environments, often far from home, with untrained staff.
    Experts say not enough is being done to regulate the sector, which costs the NHS half a billion pounds a year.
    Lissa had spent years struggling with her mental health, having experienced traumatic life events. She was diagnosed with mixed personality disorder, depression and high-functioning Asperger's. So when the NHS sent her to a unit in Coventry run by Cygnet Health Care for a specialist talking therapy, she agreed.
    The hospital, however, was in special measures. There had been two deaths in the previous 20 months. In both cases there was found to be a failure to follow the patient's care plan and carry out observations correctly. Lissa says staff failed to treat her with dignity and respect.
    The system in England is regulated by the Care Quality Commission, (CQC). Some rehabilitation wards haven't been inspected for four or more years.
    John Chacksfield, who was a CQC inspector until late 2020, says greater scrutiny is needed.
    "Sometimes the private sector provides really excellent service, but there are certain units that really do need regular inspections just to make sure staff are being trained enough, or are having enough clinical supervision. It does worry me," he says.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 18 January 2022
  3. Sam
    One in four doctors in the NHS are so tired that their ability to treat patients has become impaired, according to the first survey to reveal the impact of sleep deprivation on medics during the coronavirus pandemic.
    Growing workloads, longer hours and widespread staff shortages are causing extreme tiredness among medics, leading to memory problems and difficulty concentrating, according to the report by the Medical Defence Union (MDU), which provides legal support to about 200,000 doctors, nurses, dentists and other healthcare workers.
    The survey of more than 500 doctors across the UK, carried out within the past month and seen by the Guardian, uncovered almost 40 near misses as a direct result of exhaustion. In at least seven cases, patients actually sustained harm.
    Despite encouraging signs the Omicron wave may be fading, doctors admitted the constant pressure of the past 22 months spent fighting coronavirus on the frontline was taking a toll on their technical skills and even their ability to make what should be straightforward medical decisions. Medics admitted for the first time sleep deprivation was causing real harm to patients in the NHS.
    Almost six in 10 doctors (59%) reported their sleep patterns had worsened during the pandemic. More than a quarter (26%) of medics admitted being so tired that their ability to treat patients was “impaired”. Of these, one in six (18%) said a patient was harmed or a near miss occurred as a result.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 17 January 2022
    Read MDU press release
  4. Sam
    The number of Covid patients in hospitals in England and Scotland has continued to rise this week, as NHS England reached a deal with private hospitals to free up beds amid the outbreak of Omicron cases.
    Meanwhile, Covid staff absences in England rose to their highest level since the introduction of the vaccine. The number of NHS workers in England off sick because of Covid was up by 41% in the week to 2 January, according to the latest figures.
    Five health workers describe some of the challenges they are facing, including understaffing, waiting times and bed-blocking.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 14 January 2022
  5. Sam
    NHS organisations have been told to prepare for redeploying or dismissing thousands of unvaccinated staff without an exit payment, and to raise the alarm about services which may be rendered unsafe.
    NHS England today issued guidance on ‘phase two’ of the government’s “vaccination as a condition of deployment”, which requires all patient-facing staff to have had two covid vaccinations by 1 April. 
    Tens of thousands of staff are believed to still be unvaccinated, and the cut off for having a first dose is 3 February.
    The guidance said efforts should be made to adjust roles or redeploy staff, but added: “From 4 February 2022, staff who remain unvaccinated (excluding those who are exempt) should be invited to a formal meeting chaired by an appropriate manager, in which they are notified that a potential outcome of the meeting may be dismissal.”
    It continued: “Whilst organisations are encouraged to explore deployment, the general principles which apply in a redundancy exercise are not applicable here, and it is important that managers are aware of this.”
    Employers will “not be concerned with finding ‘suitable alternative employment’ and there will be no redundancy entitlements, including payments, whether statutory or contractual, triggered by this process”.
    Trusts also do not have to “collectively consult” with staff being dismissed — as they would with a restructure — although this is “ultimately a decision for each organisation to take”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 14 January 2022
  6. Sam
    NHS England has encouraged trusts to consider taking legal action against patients who refuse to leave hospital beds when step-down care is made available.
    NHSE guidance sent to trusts late last year, seen by HSJ, advised clinicians that where people “with mental capacity” refuse to vacate a bed because they do not accept NHS-funded short-term care offers, the “local discharge choice policy” should be followed, which could involve legal action.
    The guidance said the process “may include seeking an order for possession of the hospital bed” under civil law, and that “appropriate formal notification of the process must be given to the person and their representatives/carers”.
    These legal powers were open to trusts prior to covid, but the memo from NHSE comes amid increasing pressure on trusts to improve discharge rates, as waits for emergency and elective care continue to soar.
    Helen Hughes, chief executive of Patient Safety Learning, said: “Given the current pressures posed by covid, it is understandable that the NHS is seeking to ensure that the hospital discharge process is as swift and effective as possible.
    “However, hospital discharges are complex processes and can potentially result in avoidable harm if patients are discharged before they are clinically ready. It only takes one element of this complex process failing to put a patient’s safety at risk.
    “We would be particularly concerned if patients and their carers were put under pressure to accept potentially unsafe discharge options due to the threat of possible legal action by an NHS trust.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 14 January 2022
  7. Sam
    A nurse who was struck off for refusing to admit a woman to a mental health unit before she killed herself said 'leave her, she will faint before she dies' before he kicked her out of the facility.
    Paddy McKee allegedly made the comment as Sally Mays, 22 - who had mental health issues - tried to strangle herself when she was refused admission.
    Ms Mays killed herself at home in Hull in July 2014 after being refused a place at Miranda House in Hull by McKee and another nurse.
    Despite her being a suicide risk, they would not give her a place at the hospital after a 14-minute assessment.
    Her parents Angela and Andy have fought for several years for improvements to be made and lessons to be learnt from her death.
    McKee was this month struck off following a Fitness to Practice hearing conducted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The report by the NMC was this week published and condemned McKee, saying 'he treated her in a way that lacked basic kindness and compassion'.
    The NMC found his actions to refuse Ms Mays' admission had contributed to her death.
    Read full story
    Source: Mail Online, 12 January 2022
  8. Sam
    Hospitals across Kent, Sussex and Surrey are being asked to discharge hundreds of patients who are well enough to leave by Friday.
    The head of NHS South East, Anne Eden, said the beds are needed to deal with an expected surge in admissions of people ill with the Omicron variant.
    The NHS nationally has agreed to a reduction of 30% of such patients based on the baseline figure of 13 December.
    South East hospitals are being asked to make a 50% reduction by 31 January.
    In a letter seen by the BBC, Ms Eden said: "This is in order to create the headroom to manage any further Covid pressures, with current modelling indicating a peak in Covid activity in mid-January."
    She wrote: "It is now critical that we redouble our efforts to discharge those patients who no longer require bedded care, to create capacity, improve flow and reduce the pressure on staff."
    Ms Eden said staff absences and the need to maintain delivery of critical care for patients mean the NHS "must continue to focus on creating the necessary capacity to meet demand".
    "Failure to do this will significantly increase the risk of a further rise in patient harm," she said.
    She said hospitals must work with partners, including social care providers, to achieve the reduction in the number of patients in hospital who were well enough to be discharged.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 10 January 2022
  9. Sam
    Dying patients are going without care in their own homes because of a collapse in community nursing services, new data shared with The Independent reveals.
    Across England a third of district nurses say they are now being forced to delay visits to end of life care patients because of surging demand and a lack of staff. This is up from just 2% in 2015. The situation means some patients may have to wait for essential care and pain medication to keep them comfortable.
    Other care being delayed includes patients with pressure ulcers, wounds which need treating and patients needing blocked catheters replaced.
    More than half of district nurses said they no longer have the capacity to do patient assessments and psychological care, in an investigation into the service.
    Professor Alison Leary, director of the International Community Nursing Observatory, said her study showed the country was “sleepwalking into a disaster,” with patients at real risk of harm.
    She said the situation was now so bad that nurses were being driven out of their jobs by what she called the “moral distress” they were suffering at not being able to provide the care they knew they should.
    “People are at the end of their tether. District nurses are reporting having to defer work much more often than they did two years ago. What they are telling us is that the workload is too high. This is care that people don’t have time to do.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 29 November 2021
  10. Sam
    A hospital in Devon has been told it "requires improvement" as patient safety has been put at risk by staff shortages.
    The North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple was inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in July 2021 following concerns about its staffing levels.
    The CQC found the hospital’s medical care services were limited because there were not enough members of medical or nursing staff available.
    But staff were praised for treating patients with compassion and kindness.
    The report added that care was not always provided "in a timely manner" and the CQC’s head of hospital inspection, Cath Campbell, believes the situation is concerning.
    She said: "When we inspected the medical care services at North Devon District Hospital, we found a high number of vacancies with a reliance on agency staff, and not addressing issues around the availability and responsiveness of medical staff for deteriorating patients. This put patients at risk of harm.
    "Although nursing staff were quick to identify and act when they spotted patients who were at risk of deteriorating, medical staff did not always attend to these patients quickly."
    Read full story
    Source: ITV News, 3 November 2021
     
  11. Sam
    From next month, patients will be able to access all new entries in their online health records, if their GP practice use TPP or EMIS IT systems.
    According to NHS Digital, patients who use online accounts – such as the NHS App – and whose surgery uses TPP, will be able to view entries from December 2021 onwards. While, patients on an EMIS system should expect to see theirs from ‘early 2022’. Practices which use the Vision system are still currently in discussions over access.
    NHS Digital says that patients will not be able to see specific personal information, such as positive test results, until they have been ‘checked and filed’, so that GPs have the opportunity to contact them first. The body adds that the move, ‘supports NHS Long Term Plan commitments to provide patients with digital access to their health records’, and also shares its aim for patients to be able to request their historic coded records from 2022, through the NHS App.
    As ’80 per cent of the 18 million NHS App users’ are said to want ‘easy access to their health records and personal information’, it’s hoped that the initiative will reduce queries around negative test results and referrals, and encourage patient awareness and empowerment in regards to their health.
    However, NHS Digital does advise General Practice staff to ‘be aware that patients will be able to see their future records’, and to ensure ‘sensitive information is redacted as it is entered’ into systems, with a support package and training sessions available to guide clinicians and staff in these areas.
    Read full story
    Source: Health Tech Newspaper, 5 November 2021
  12. Sam
    Long waiting times in emergency departments are becoming normal, with some patients spending days in A&E wards before they can be moved into other hospital beds, emergency physicians have warned.
    Leaders of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) and the Society for Acute Medicine (SAM) said that some hospitals had effectively run out of space, meaning patients could not receive the right care until a bed became free.
    NHS figures for September show that 5,025 patients waited for more than 12 hours to be admitted to hospital in England. That is only 1% of the 506,916 admitted via A&Es, but it is more than 10 times as many as the 458 waiting more than 12 hours in September 2019 and nearly twice as many as the January peak of 2,847.
    Scientists at the Zoe Covid study said last week that UK cases of coronavirus may have peaked. But the React study at Imperial College found that the R number was between 0.9 and 1.1 with Covid cases at their highest levels.
    Pressures on hospitals have prompted the Royal College of Nursing to call for a return to compulsory mask-wearing, while Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said that ministers should reimpose a legal obligation to wear masks on public transport, allowing police to enforce the law.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 7 November 2021
  13. Sam
    Countries must set ambitious national climate commitments if they are to sustain a healthy and green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
    The WHO COP26 Special Report on Climate Change and Health, spells out the global health community’s prescription for climate action based on a growing body of research that establishes the many and inseparable links between climate and health.
    “The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the intimate and delicate links between humans, animals and our environment,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The same unsustainable choices that are killing our planet are killing people. WHO calls on all countries to commit to decisive action at COP26 to limit global warming to 1.5°C – not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s in our own interests. WHO’s new report highlights 10 priorities for safeguarding the health of people and the planet that sustains us.”
    The WHO report was launched at the same time as an open letter, signed by over two thirds of the global health workforce - 300 organisations representing at least 45 million doctors and health professionals worldwide, calling for national leaders and COP26 country delegations to step up climate action.
    “Wherever we deliver care, in our hospitals, clinics and communities around the world, we are already responding to the health harms caused by climate change,” the letter from health professionals reads. “We call on the leaders of every country and their representatives at COP26 to avert the impending health catastrophe by limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and to make human health and equity central to all climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.”
    Read full story
    Source: World Health Organization, 11 October 2021
  14. Sam
    Pfizer’s oral antiviral drug paxlovid significantly reduces hospital admissions and deaths among people with COVID-19 who are at high risk of severe illness, when compared with placebo, the company has reported.
    The interim analysis of the phase II-III data, outlined in a press release, included 1219 adults who were enrolled by 29 September 2021. It found that, among participants who received treatments within three days of COVID-19 symptoms starting, the risk of covid related hospital admission or death from any cause was 89% lower in the paxlovid group than the placebo group.
    Commenting on the announcement, England’s health and social care secretary, Sajid Javid, said, “If approved, this could be another significant weapon in our armoury to fight the virus alongside our vaccines and other treatments, including molnupiravir, which the UK was the first country in the world to approve this week.”
    Read full story
    Source: BMJ, 8 November 2021
  15. Sam
    Patient safety in the NHS in England is being put at “unacceptably high” risk, with severe staff shortages leaving hospitals, GP surgeries and A&E units struggling to cope with soaring demand, health chiefs have warned.
    The health service has hit “breaking point”, the leaders say, with record numbers of patients seeking care.
    Nine in 10 NHS chief executives, chairs and directors have reported this week that the pressures on their organisation have become unsustainable. The same proportion is sounding “alarm bells” over staffing, with the lack of doctors, nurses and other health workers putting lives of patients at risk.
    Sajid Javid, the health secretary, has come under fire for recently claiming, at a No 10 press conference, that he did not believe the pressure on the NHS was unsustainable.
    But the survey of 451 NHS leaders in England finds the health service already at “tipping point”. The results of the poll, conducted by the NHS Confederation, which represents the healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, show that 88% of the leaders think the demands on their organisation are unsustainable, and 87% believe a lack of staffing in the NHS as a whole is putting patient safety and care at risk.
    Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “Almost every healthcare leader we’ve spoken to is warning that the NHS is under unsustainable pressure, and they are worried the situation will worsen, as we head into deep midwinter, unless action is taken. They are also sounding alarm bells over risks to patient safety if their services become overwhelmed, on top of a severe workforce crisis."
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 10 November 2021
  16. Sam
    London’s fragmented children’s cancer services will finally be reformed following a decade of delays and allegations of cover-up by senior officials.
    NHS England has said it will adopt recommendations that will see the capital’s services brought up to standards already common across the rest of the country, with children’s cancer centres needing to be based in hospitals with full paediatric intensive care units.
    The changes will be imposed “with no exceptions or special arrangements permitted,” it said in a letter yesterday.
    This means the Royal Marsden’s children’s service at its base in Sutton, south London, will have to move to a new hospital. Currently sick children who deteriorate at the Marsden’s site have to be rushed by ambulance to St George’s Hospital 40 minutes away.
    More than 330 children were transferred from the Marsden to other hospitals between 2000 and 2015 and in one year 22 children were transferred for intensive care a total of 31 times, with some experiencing at least three transfers individually.
    The changes will also affect cancer care at University College London Hospital which links with Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.
    The world-renowned Royal Marsden trust, whose chief executive Dame Cally Palmer is also NHS England’s national cancer director, was at the centre of a cover-up scandal before the COVID-19 pandemic.
    In 2019, the Health Service Journal revealed a major report, commissioned by NHS bosses in London following the deaths of several children, had been “buried” by NHS England.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 12 November 2021
  17. Sam
    Pakistanis and Bangladeshis over the age of 30 experience the same level of poor health as their white counterparts that are 20 years older.
    Those from the subcontinent face stark ethnic health inequalities across the population, according to a new study.
    It means the group has the worst health out of any ethnicity.
    London-based Aideen Young, Senior Evidence Manager at the Centre for Ageing Better, has called on the Government to do more to address these inequalities.
    She said: “This study reveals really shocking health inequalities between different ethnic groups, with some groups experiencing the rates of poor health that White people typically see at much older ages.
    “It’s also depressing to see that these inequalities haven’t changed for the last 25 years. In the wake of the pandemic, we risk seeing them widen – so it’s vital that government makes tackling health inequality a priority in the recovery.
    “To properly address the problem we need much better data, which is why we are calling for ethnicity data reporting to be mandatory for all official data monitoring.
    Read full story
    Source: My London, 11 November 2021
  18. Sam
    When 60-year-old Milind Ketkar returned home after spending nearly a month in hospital battling COVID-19, he thought the worst was over.
    People had to carry him to his third-floor flat as his building didn't have a lift. He spent the next few days feeling constantly breathless and weak. When he didn't start to feel better, he contacted Dr Lancelot Pinto at Mumbai's PD Hinduja hospital, where he had been treated.
    Dr Pinto told him inflammation in the lungs, caused by Covid-19, had given him deep vein thrombosis - it occurs when blood clots form in the body and it often happens in the legs.
    Fragments can break off and move up the body into the lungs, blocking blood vessels and, said Dr Pinto, this can be life-threatening if not diagnosed and treated in time.
    Mr Ketkar spent the next month confined to his flat, taking tablets for his condition. "I was not able to move much. My legs constantly hurt and I struggled to do even daily chores. It was a nightmare," he says.
    He is still on medication, but he says he is on the road to recovery.
    Mr Ketkar is not alone in this - tens of thousands of people have been reporting post-Covid health complications from across the world. Thrombosis is common - it has been found in 30% of seriously ill coronavirus patients, according to experts. These problems have been generally described as "long Covid" or "long-haul Covid".
    Awareness around post-Covid care is crucial, but its not the focus in India because the country is still struggling to control the spread of the virus. It has the world's second-highest caseload and has been averaging 90,000 cases daily in recent weeks.
    Dr Natalie Lambert, research professor of medicine at Indiana University in the US, was one of the early voices to warn against post-Covid complications.
    She surveyed thousands of people on social media and noticed that an alarmingly high number of them were complaining about post-Covid complications such as extreme fatigue, breathlessness and even hair loss.
    The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in the US reported its own survey results a few weeks later and acknowledged that at least 35% of those surveyed had not returned to their usual state of health.
    Post-Covid complications are more common among those who were seriously ill, but Dr Lambert says an increasing number of moderately ill patients - even those who didn't need to be admitted to hospital - haven't recovered fully.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 28 September 2020
  19. Sam
    Researchers have launched a major clinical trial investigating whether people on long-term immune-suppressing medicines can mount a more robust immune response to COVID-19 booster jabs by interrupting their treatment.
    The VROOM trial will have implications for people on immune-suppressing medicines, who are among the millions of clinically vulnerable patients advised to ‘shield’ during the pandemic. The study is funded by an NIHR and the Medical Research Council (MRC) partnership, and led by a team at the University of Nottingham.
    Approximately 1.3 million people in the UK are prescribed the immune-suppressing drug methotrexate for inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, and skin conditions such as psoriasis. Many of them were among the 2.2 million clinically extremely vulnerable people advised to shield during the first phase of the pandemic, depending on specialist advice and on their risk factors.
    While methotrexate is effective at controlling these conditions and has emerged as first line therapy for many illnesses, it reduces the body’s ability to generate robust responses to flu and pneumonia vaccines.
    Researchers will recruit 560 patients currently taking methotrexate, to investigate whether taking a two week break in this drug immediately after they receive the COVID-19 booster jab improves their immune response to vaccination, while preventing flare-ups of their long-term illness. The study will take between one to two years to complete. All participants will have had the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as their third jab, as part of the national vaccination programme against COVID-19.
    Professor Andy Ustianowski, NIHR Clinical Lead for the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme and Joint National Infection Specialty Lead, said: “Although the vaccine rollout has saved many lives and helped drive down the effects of the pandemic, there are still groups of vulnerable people who can’t always mount robust immunity against the virus. "
    “It’s important to establish if people can safely improve protection from their booster jabs by taking a break from their immune-supressing medicines, and this pivotal study will help develop our understanding of immune responses in people taking this widely prescribed medicine."
    Read full story
    Source: NIHR, 12 November 2021
  20. Sam
    Wales' Health Minister has rejected a suggestion that the NHS is “harming patients” due to the severe levels of pressure on its services. 
    Eluned Morgan MS acknowledged that the speed at which patients were receiving treatment was being impacted but said she would “not accept for a moment” that the NHS was harming its patients.
    ITV Cymru Wales has spoken to a number of NHS staff and health sector bodies and heard concerns over the sustainability of the health service in its present form.
    Ms Morgan said: “I don’t think the NHS is harming patients, no.
    “I think our ability to get to patients quickly, that is perhaps compromised by the pressures that we’re under at the moment but no, I would not accept for a moment that the NHS is harming patients. 
    “I think the situation is that maybe people have to wait a bit longer for care because of the pressures that have grown as a result of the pandemic and let’s be clear about that, that we’re seeing about 20% more people going to their GPs, we’ve got hugely long waiting lists because, of course, we had to be very careful about who was able to go into hospitals during the height of the pandemic. 
    “We’re trying to reign all that back at the same time as dealing with Covid, because that hasn’t finished yet.”
    Speaking to ITV Cymru Wales for Wales This Week, looking at the challenges facing the NHS, Dr Pete Williams, a consultant in emergency medicine and paediatric medicine at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, said he felt the current pressures on services were causing harm to patients. 
    He said: “This is not sustainable. We, this department, other departments around the country and the wider NHS, are harming patients because they’re not getting timely care."
    Read full story
    Source: ITV News, 22 November 2021
     
     
  21. Sam
    One hundred people with learning disabilities and autism in England have been held in specialist hospitals for at least 20 years, the BBC has learned.
    The finding was made during an investigation into the case of an autistic man detained since 2001. Tony Hickmott's parents are fighting to get him housed in the community near them.
    Mr Hickmott's case is being heard at the Court of Protection - which makes decisions on financial or welfare matters for people who "lack mental capacity".
    Senior Judge Carolyn Hilder has described "egregious" delays and "glacial" progress in finding him the right care package which would enable him to live in the community. He lives in a secure Assessment and Treatment Unit (ATU) - designed to be a short-term safe space used in a crisis. It is a two-hours' drive from his family.
    This week, Judge Hilder lifted the anonymity order on Mr Hickmott's case - ruling it was in the public interest to let details be reported. She said he had been "detained for so long" partly down to a "lack of resources".
    Like many young autistic people with a learning disability, Mr Hickmott struggled as he grew into an adult. In 2001, he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He is now 44.
    In addition to the 100 patients, including Mr Hickmott, who have been held for more than 20 years - there are currently nearly 2,000 other people with learning difficulties and/or autism detained in specialist hospitals across England.
    In 2015, the Government promised "homes not hospitals" when it launched its Transforming Care programme in the wake of the abuse and neglect scandal uncovered by the BBC at Winterbourne View specialist hospital near Bristol. But data shows the programme has had minimal impact.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 24 November 2021
  22. Sam
    Plans to scrap tens of millions of “unnecessary” hospital follow-up appointments could put patients at risk and add to the overload at GP surgeries, NHS leaders and doctors are warning.
    Health service leaders in England are finalising a radical plan under which hospital consultants will undertake far fewer outpatient appointments and instead perform more surgery to help cut the NHS backlog and long waits for care that many patients experience.
    The move is contained in the “elective recovery plan” which Sajid Javid, the health secretary, will unveil next week. It will contain what one NHS boss called “transformative ideas” to tackle the backlog. Thanks to Covid the waiting list has spiralled to a record 5.8 million people and Javid has warned that it could hit as many as 13 million.
    Under the plan patients who have spent time in hospital would be offered only one follow-up consultation in the year after their treatment rather than the two, three or four many get now.
    “While it is important that immediate action is taken to tackle the largest ever backlog of care these short-term proposals by the health secretary have the potential to present significant challenges for patients and seek to worsen health disparities across the country,” said Dr David Wrigley, the deputy chair of council at the British Medical Association.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 25 November 2021
  23. Sam
    Incidents including a cardiac arrest where an ambulance took more than an hour to arrive and the patient died have prompted trust chiefs to suggest they cannot prevent patient harm under their current funding levels.
    A report to the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) said patients suffering harm due to delayed ambulance response times “is a continuing theme due to the unprecedented demand the service is currently experiencing”.
    The report said the trust is trying to secure additional funding from commissioners, which would “reduce the likelihood of a similar incident for other patients in future”.
    NEAS has upheld several recent complaints made by families or patients about the harm being caused by delayed response times, but suggested the levels of demand on the service meant there was nothing it could have done differently.
    In one example, a woman in her 50s died from a cardiac arrest shortly after arrival to hospital after NEAS took 62 minutes to respond to a 999 call. NEAS had designated the woman, who had a history of heart attacks, a category two response – which should aim to arrive within 18 minutes on average.
    "All ambulance trusts have been seeing significant patient harm and the mainstream press have been strangely silent about this."
    "That it has got the stage where patients are routinely dying and being harmed while the resources are available, but tied up waiting outside hospitals, is truly maladministration on a grand scale."
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 9 December 2021
  24. Sam
    A trust will not face a second prosecution over the death of a baby seven days after a chaotic birth at one of its hospitals, unless new evidence emerges.
    Kent police had been looking into incidents at the maternity services department of East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust. These incidents include the death of Harry Richford, who was born at Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Hospital in November 2017. A coroner found a string of failures in his care amounted to neglect.
    The trust pleaded guilty to failing to meet fundamental standards of care and was fined £733,000 in a case brought by the Care Quality Commission earlier this year.
    But detective chief superintendent Paul Fotheringham, head of major crime at Kent Police, said: “After careful consideration and following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, we took the decision that a criminal investigation would not be undertaken at this time as there is no realistic prospect of conviction against any individual or organisation based on the evidence currently available."
    In a statement, Harry’s family said: “We are disappointed that Kent Police, in collaboration with the CPS special crime unit in London, have not been able to take forward a charge of corporate manslaughter for Harry at this time. They have assured us that they will keep an open mind on this matter, and any other appropriate charges as and when new evidence is brought before them.
    “We believe that the Kirkup inquiry and investigation may allow them to revisit a raft of charges on behalf of harmed babies in east Kent in due course. Only when senior leaders are properly held to account, will there be lasting change.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 9 December 2021
  25. Sam
    NHS bosses have warned the high prevalence of long Covid among staff is adding to rising healthcare pressures, amid growing concern that the new omicron variant could further drive infections and absences in the workforce.
    Some 40,000 (3.26%) of healthcare workers in the UK are estimated to have long Covid, according to the Office for National Statistics. This figure has risen by 5,000 since July.
    Many will be unable to work, though others are continuing to work despite their debilitating symptoms, experts say.
    “Trust leaders have told us they are concerned about the prevalence of long Covid amongst health and care staff,” said Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers.
    “Staff who are unwell need time to recover with support. But this may worsen unavoidable absences and sickness levels in the NHS at a time when pressures on the health service are mounting.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 9 December 2021
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