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Sam

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  1. Sam
    Dr Max Pemberton, columnist for the Daily Mail, gives his opinion of the app that offers patients a GP consultation via their mobile phone. In theory, it sounds great: the patient can dial up, speak to and (via phone camera) see a doctor, who could be anywhere. However, how effective can such consultations be?  "I have been able to test this service for myself — and what I have experienced left me worried", says Dr Pemberton.
    Read full story
    Source: The Spectator, 20 July 2019
  2. Sam
    Antidepressants can cause severe, sometimes irreversible, sexual dysfunction that persists even after discontinuing the medication. 
    Sufferers have described it as ‘chemical castration’ – a type of genital mutilation caused by antidepressants, mainly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
    The condition is known as post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD), a condition largely unrecognised, and the true incidence of which is unknown.
    David Healy, psychiatrist and founder of RxISK.org said, “I saw my first patient with PSSD in 2000, a 35-year-old lady who told me that three months after stopping treatment, she could rub a hard-bristled brush across her genitals and feel nothing.”
    David Healy, psychiatrist and founder of RxISK.org said, “I saw my first patient with PSSD in 2000, a 35-year-old lady who told me that three months after stopping treatment, she could rub a hard-bristled brush across her genitals and feel nothing.”
    Josef Witt-Doerring, psychiatrist and former FDA medical officer said, “This condition is so devastating that it will cause serious changes to your life and to those around you.”
    Read full story
    Source: Maryanne Demasi, 13 June 2023
  4. Sam
    Patients will be able to anonymously log concerns about their NHS treatment, via a phone app, as part of efforts to boost safety. The new strategy will see the creation of a centralised portal, allowing patients, their families and staff to record problems with medical devices, errors in medicines administration, or difficulties in spotting a patient’s condition deteriorating. Officials said that swift recording of such information would enable them to alert the rest of the NHS more quickly to risks of serious harm, and prevent tragedies being repeated.
    Full story
    Source: The Telegraph, 29 June 2019
  5. Sam
    A review of a clinical commissioning group has discovered “microaggressions and insensitivities” towards Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff, and the use of derogatory slurs about other groups.
    The report into Surrey Heartlands CCG also uncovered incidents of shouting, screaming and bullying among other inappropriate behaviour. And it was reported some staff were unwilling to accept Black Lives Matter events as important, stating “all lives matter”.
    The review also discovered a culture of denial and turning a blind eye to consistent concerns, with staff fearful of speaking up. In particular, the HR department was said to have been repeatedly told about the behaviour of one staff member but had chosen to ignore or delay dealing with the issues. 
    However, the review found “no evidence for widespread discriminatory practices” and “no clear evidence for a widespread culture of bullying and ill-treatment” — but it added the systems to deal with concerns had failed and there was a sense of “organisational inaction”. 
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 27 November 2020
  6. Sam
    More than one in five ‘covid deaths’ were both probably hospital-acquired, and caused at least in part by the virus, at several trusts, according to analysis released to HSJ.
    HSJ obtained figures from more than 30 trusts which have looked in detail at cases where patients died after definitely, or probably, catching covid in hospital. 
    Thirty-two acute trusts provided HSJ with robust data, out of the total 120 in England. Across all 32, they had recorded 3,223 covid hospital deaths which were either “definitely” or ‘probably’ nosocomial — making up around 17% of their total reported 19,020 hospital deaths.
    The trusts said 2,776 of the 3,223 deaths also had covid listed on their death certificate, either as an “immediate cause” or as a contributory factor. That constitutes about 15% of all the hospitals’ covid deaths, and 86% of the nosocomial deaths.
    When approached by HSJ, these trusts said they followed robust infection control practices, and that high community covid prevalence, and covid admissions, were the main cause of hospital-acquired infection. Some trusts also cited their ageing infrastructure.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 6 September 2021
     
  7. Sam
    The Becker's Clinical Leadership & Infection Control editorial team chose the top 10 patient safety issues for healthcare leaders to prioritise in 2021, presented below in no particular order, based on news, study findings and trends reported in the past year.
    COVID-19 Healthcare staffing shortages Missed and delayed diagnoses Drug and medicine supply shortages Low vaccination coverage and disease resurgance Clinical burnout Health equity Healthcare-associated infections Surgical mistakes Standardising safety efforts. Read full story
    Source: Becker's Healthcare, 30 December 2020
  8. Sam
    Twenty hospitals in England due to receive an extra £850m funding for upgrades to outdated facilities and new equipment have been revealed. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will formally announce the plans – part of NHS spending pledges totalling £1.8bn – at a Lincolnshire hospital today. Ahead of his visit to Lincolnshire, Mr Johnson said the new money – less than 1% of the annual NHS budget – would mean "more beds, new wards, and extra life-saving equipment".
    But responding to the funding announcement, the Health Foundation said "years of under-investment in the NHS's infrastructure means this extra money risks being little more than a drop in the ocean". Ben Gershlick, from the charity, added that NHS facilities in England were "in major disrepair", with a £6bn maintenance backlog.
  9. Sam
    Deep-rooted relationship problems between consultants in a major trust’s neurosurgery department distracted from patient care, according to a review leaked to HSJ.
    A review by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) into neurosurgery services at University Hospitals Birmingham FT last year found serious concerns over consultant “cliques” and relationship problems across the department.
    It comes as a new review has been launched into the care of 23 patients in the deep brain stimulation service, which is a sub-speciality in the department.
    According to the RCS report, which was completed in May last year, there have been wide-ranging problems within the department for several years.
    The report said: “Poor team working and inter-relational difficulties, which had been deep-rooted and recognised to have existed for some time, have had the potential to compromise patient care and will be likely to continue to do so if these issues remain unresolved.”
    It suggested some consultant neurosurgeons had prioritised their personal or professional differences over patient care, with the relationship issues being “amplified” within the wider surgical workforce.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 7 April 2021
  10. Sam
    After two decades of keeping the public in the dark about millions of medical device malfunctions and injuries, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published the once hidden database online, revealing 5.7 million incidents publicly for the first time.
    The newfound transparency follows a Kaiser Health News investigation that revealed device manufacturers, for the past two decades, had been sending reports of injuries or malfunctions to the little-known database, bypassing the public FDA database that’s pored over by doctors, researchers and patients. Millions of reports, related to everything from breast implants to surgical staplers, were sent to the agency as “alternative summary” reports instead.
    Read full story
    Source: Kaiser Health News, June 27 2019
  11. Sam
    The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has been criticised by the national health ombudsman for the ‘maladministration’ of a 2018 review into the death of a teenage girl under the care of one of England’s top specialist hospitals, HSJ can reveal.
    The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) came to the conclusion after investigating a DHSC review into the 1996 death of 17-year-old Krista Ocloo which had been requested by her mother.
    Krista died at home of acute heart failure in December 1996. She had been admitted to the Royal Brompton Hospital with chest pains in January of that year. The PHSO report states her mother was told “there was no cause for concern” and that another appointment would be scheduled in six months. This follow-up appointment did not happen.
    The young woman’s death was considered by the hospital’s complaints process, an independent panel review and an inquiry into the hospital’s paediatric cardiac services. They concluded the doctor involved was not responsible for Krista’s death – though the paediatric services inquiry criticised the hospital for poor communication. A coroner declined to open an inquest into the case.
    Civil action against the hospital, brought by Ms Ocloo, found Krista’s death could not have been prevented. However, a High Court judge found that the failure to arrange appropriate follow-up by the RBH was “negligent”.
    A spokeswoman for PHSO said: “Our investigation found maladministration by the Department for Health and Social Care, which should have been more transparent in its communication. The department’s failure to be open and clear compounded the suffering of a parent who was already grieving the loss of her child.”
    A DHSC spokeswoman said: “We profoundly regret any distress caused to Ms Ocloo.
    “[The PHSO] report found that in communicating with Ms Ocloo the department’s actions were – in places – not consistent with relevant guidance. The department has writen to Ms Ocloo to apologise for this and provide further information about the review.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 12 November 2020
  12. Sam
    The NHS has erroneously written to thousands of patients who have had glandular fever in the past asking them to get a flu jab from their GP.
    The error left some GPs with practice phone lines blocked last week while reception staff have had to explain to patients they are not actually eligible for free flu vaccination.
    Nearly 40,000 letters were sent out to patients with a past history indicating glandular fever because of a coding error at NHS Digital. This was meant to identify patients with suppressed immune systems which would include those who currently have glandular fever and encourage them to contact their GP practice to arrange vaccination.
    However, the historical cases were not excluded, leading to the letters being automatically generated even when the glandular fever diagnosis was decades old.
    When NHS Digital realised the error, it contacted NHS England – which was responsible for posting out the letters – and managed to stop others being sent out.
    An NHS Digital spokesman said: “During a process to identify patients eligible for a flu vaccination, glandular fever was incorrectly included in a complex list of conditions that cause persistent immunosuppression. This led to some patients incorrectly receiving a letter encouraging them to seek a flu vaccination.
    “There has been no adverse clinical impact for patients and the issue was quickly resolved before the majority of letters were sent.” NHSD said patients who had received the letter would receive another one to explain and to reassure them."
    Read full story (paywalled) 
    Source: HSJ, 4 November 2020
  13. Sam
    The chairman of an inquiry that has confirmed a 20-year cover-up over the avoidable death of a baby has warned there are other families who may have suffered a similar ordeal.
    Publishing the findings of his investigation into the 2001 death of Elizabeth Dixon, Dr Bill Kirkup said he wanted to see action taken to prevent harmed families having to battle for years to get answers.
    Dr Kirkup, who has been involved in multiple high-profile investigations of NHS failures in recent years, said: “There has been considerable difficulty in establishing investigations, where events are regarded as historic. I don't like the term historic investigations. I think that these things remain current for the people who've suffered harm, until they're resolved, it’s not historic for them.  
    “There has been significant reluctance to look at a variety of cases. Mr and Mrs Dixon were courageous and very persistent and they were given help by others and were successful in securing the investigation and it worries me that other people haven't been.
    “I do think we should look at how we can establish a proper mechanism that will make sure that such cases are heard."
    “It's impossible to rule out there being other people who are in a similar position. In fact, I know of some who are. I think it's as important for them that they get heard, and that they get things that should have been looked at from the start looked at now, if that's the best that we can do.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 27 November 2020
  14. Sam
    Trusts’ infection control measures will be put under greater scrutiny by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), HSJ has been told. 
    In an effort to cut hospital-acquired COVID-19, the CQC will carry out focused inspections which will assess “in more detail the leadership and delivery of infection prevention control”.
    According to NHS England/Improvement figures, around 9% of covid inpatients definitely caught the virus in hospital. However, the number could be higher as NHSE/I figures — released on Friday — showed 21% of COVID-19 patients in hospitals were “probably” acquired in hospitals. 
    HSJ understands the CQC plans to carry out up to 20 infection control focused inspections in the early part of 2021. 
    The CQC told HSJ it is reviewing local nosocomial infection rates on a weekly basis, using the data alongside “wider intelligence” from other sources to monitor trusts’ risk, with inspections carried out at providers where specific concerns are picked up.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 14 December 2020
  15. 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
  16. Sam
    In a recent BMJ 'Head to head', the authors argue whether the World Health Organization's (WHO) surgery safety checklist saves lives.
    Studies show that the WHO's surgery checklist saves lives around the world, say Alex Haynes and Atul Gawande. But David Urbach and Justin Dimick argue that there’s not enough evidence to say for sure.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: BMJ, 5 August 2019
     
  17. Sam
    A regulator has admitted “concerns” over the software Babylon Healthcare uses in one of its digital health solutions and is exploring how to address this.
    The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority’s (MHRA) concerns relate to Babylon’s symptom checker “chatbot” tool. This is used by thousands of patients, including those registered with digital primary care practice GP at Hand.
    Two senior figures within the agency set out the MHRA’s concerns about the tool in a letter, seen by HSJ, which was sent to consultant oncologist David Watkins following a meeting between the parties last October.
    Dr Watkins has raised doubts over the tool’s safety for several years, including repeatedly documenting alleged flaws in the chatbot through videos posted online. However, last year, Babylon said only 20 of Dr Watkins’ 2,400 tests resulted in “genuine errors” being identified in the software.
    In the letter, dated 4 December, the MHRA’s clinical director for devices Duncan McPherson and head of software related device technologies Johan Ordish said Dr Watkins’ “concerns are all valid and ones that we share”. 
    In the letter to Dr Watkins, the two MHRA directors also said the regulator is further exploring some of the issues highlighted and the work could “be important as we develop a new regulatory framework for medical devices in the UK”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 4 March 2021
  18. Sam
    People have been put at risk because the NHS has stopped funding the automatic investigation of all killings by mental health patients, according to psychiatrists and victims’ families. Experts who had looked into every such homicide for 20 years had to stop doing so last year after NHS England stopped paying the £100,000-a-year cost involved, the Guardian has reported.
    Previously, for 26 years until last year, researchers from Manchester University had looked into the mental health history and NHS care received by the perpetrator of every such homicide to try to identify patterns and flaws which could be tackled to reduce the risk of similar attacks in the future. Their findings had led to improved care of potentially dangerous mental health patients.
    “This is a risky and reckless decision.... It’s outrageous,” said Julian Hendy, the founder of Hundred Families, a charity that helps bereaved families. 
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 17 July 2019
  19. Sam
    A police investigation has been launched into an alleged assault against an elderly patient with Alzheimer’s by NHS staff at the troubled East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.
    The Independent can reveal nurses and carers at the William Harvey Hospital have been suspended after being filmed by hospital security staff for eight minutes allegedly holding down the man’s arms and legs as well as his face while they inserted a catheter.
    The trust has confirmed it has launched an investigation and alerted police after the incident on 15 December on the Cambridge J ward at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford. A spokesperson “apologised unreservedly” for the incident and said it was being treated with the “utmost seriousness”.
    A whistleblower spoke out to The Independent about the incident, fearing it was being covered up by the trust after staff were told “don’t discuss it, don’t refer to it at all”.
    The senior clinician said they had decided to go public after the “horrific” incident because of the trust’s toxic culture and concerns for the welfare of other patients on wards.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 7 February 2020
  20. Sam
    A key player in the junior doctor disputes with Jeremy Hunt has now joined the former health secretary’s patient safety charity.
    Jeeves Wijesuriya, former chair of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee, is among the nine people who will serve on the advisory board of the Patient Safety Watch charity.
    Mr Hunt has also announced that Sir Robert Francis, who led the Mid Staffs inquiry; England’s former chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies; former medical director of the NHS, Sir Bruce Keogh; and Dame Marianne Griffiths, chief executive of Western Sussex Hospitals Foundation Trust, will also serve on the advisory board.
    Mr Hunt announced Patient Safety Watch last year to establish data to report on levels of patient safety and avoidable harm in healthcare, and commission research from leading universities. He has previously said he will invest hundreds of thousands of pounds in the charity over several years. 
    He told HSJ: “Patient safety has moved massively up the agenda because of the issue of nosocomial infections that have affected both staff and patients during covid."
    “This high powered advisory board will help Patient Safety Watch make measured but decisive interventions so that we get better at learning from what inevitably goes wrong - not just in a pandemic but in normal times as well.”
    Read full story
    Source: HSJ, 8 October 2020
  21. Sam
    A world-leading children’s hospital has been accused of a “concerted effort” to cover up the mistakes that led to the death of a toddler.
    Jasmine Hughes died at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital aged 20 months after suffering acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), a condition in which the brain and spinal cord are inflamed following a viral infection.
    Doctors said that her death in February 2011 had been caused by complications of ADEM. But an analysis of detailed hospital computer records shows the toddler died after her blood pressure was mismanaged – spiking when she was treated with steroids then allowed to fall too fast. Experts say this led to catastrophic brain damage. 
    Although the detailed computer records were supplied to the coroner who carried out Jasmine’s inquest, crucial information concerning her blood pressure was not included in official medical records that should hold the patient’s entire clinical history.  
    Dr Malcolm Coulthard, who specialises in child blood pressure and medical records examination, carried out the analysis of the files, comprising more than 350 pages of spreadsheets. Dr Stephen Playfor, a paediatric intensive care consultant, examined the computer records and came to the same conclusion as Dr Coulthard, that mismanagement of Jasmine’s blood pressure by Great Ormond Street and Lister Hospital, in Stevenage, was responsible for her death.
    Dr Coulthard told The Independent: “As a specialist paediatrician, it is with great regret and disappointment that I have concluded that the doctors' records in Jasmine Hughes’ medical notes fail to reflect the truth about her diagnosis and treatment.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 20 November 2020
  22. Sam
    Whitehall investigators have launched an inquiry into allegations of serious misconduct during the official review of the Gosport hospital scandal. They are examining claims that civil servants working on the £13m inquiry bullied staff, buried evidence and went on taxpayer-funded “working retreats” to Spain.
    An independent panel last year linked Dr Jane Barton to the premature deaths of up to 656 elderly people given opiate overdoses at Gosport War Memorial Hospital between 1989 and 2000.
    Whistleblowers have alleged that the panel ignored concerns about the hospital’s culture and use of faulty medical equipment to deliver a “clean hit” and “draw a line under it all”.
    The Department of Health said last night: “We take all and any allegations of wrongdoing very seriously. An investigation is being undertaken and it would be inappropriate to comment further until it is concluded.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Sunday Times, 11 August 2019
  23. Sam
    Most patients who want to see their own GP can no longer get an appointment with them, according to new figures suggesting the days of the family doctor are over. The statistics show record numbers of patients struggling to even get through on the telephone, and increasingly long waits for an appointment. For the first time, the majority of patients who wanted to see a particular doctor were unable to do so, the survey of more than 770,000 patients shows. The research comes amid mounting evidence of a wider NHS crisis, with waiting lists reaching an all-time high.  
    Read full story
    Source: The Telegraph, 11 July 2019
  24. Sam
    Documents released in an Ohio court case last month, in a landmark, multi-district opioid lawsuit, gave new insight into an unparalleled opioid epidemic in the United States. It revealed that between 2006 and 2012, some 76 billion opioid pills were distributed in the United States — more than 200 pills for every man, woman and child.
    It paints a damning picture of the tension between drug company profits and patient safety during the time opioid sales were climbing dramatically. In one 2009 exchange, a pharmaceutical company representative emailed a colleague at another company to alert him to a pill shipment. “Keep ’em comin’!” was the response. “Flyin’ out of there. It’s like people are addicted to these things or something. Oh, wait, people are.”
    According to Charles L. Bennett et al. in an editorial published in the Los Angeles Times, the failings are at every point in the system, starting with drug approvals. But the authors believe there is a particularly serious problem with the mechanisms for identifying, monitoring and disseminating information about issues with a drug after its release.
    They suggest a good starting point for reforming the system would be increased transparency about drugs already recognised as particularly dangerous. These drugs, currently numbering about 70 (including opioids), carry the FDA’s so-called 'black box warning,' intended to alert patients and their doctors to the high risks associated with the drugs. But that is not enough. The authors propose a 'black box' database or 'registry,' publicly available and simple to use, that would contain extensive information about where, by whom and for what purpose black box drugs are prescribed, as well as where and in what quantities such drugs are being distributed and sold. Information about adverse side effects, culled from the myriad of government databases that now collect them, would also be consolidated in an open form and format.
    Read full story
    Source: Los Angeles Times, 8 August 2019
  25. Sam
    People across England have told BBC News they are struggling to access coronavirus tests.
    Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last week that no-one should have to travel more than 75 miles for a test, after the BBC revealed some were being sent hundreds of miles away.
    But dozens have now reported being unable to book a swab at all.
    The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said testing capacity was targeted at the hardest-hit areas.
    A significant rise in demand for testing led the government to reduce the number of appointments available in areas of lower prevalence, to prioritise areas with outbreaks. This in turn led to people applying for tests being directed to centres sometimes hundreds of miles away.
    But last Thursday Mr Hancock pledged to put in "immediate" solutions to make sure people did not have to travel more than 75 miles, effective from last Friday. Since then, postcodes entered into the government's booking system return a message suggesting there are no testing centres or home kits available - even if you are an essential worker with symptoms.
    Frances, in Suffolk, tried to apply for a test when her daughter developed a high temperature. She didn't think it was coronavirus but "the rules are the rules". She had understood that anyone with a temperature should apply for a test, and was not able to send either of her children to school until she did.
    "Their teachers need to be kept safe, their classmates need to be kept safe, we need to do the right thing," she said.
    But Frances was also not able to get a home kit, and when she tried to get an appointment at a drive-through centre was told no test sites were found.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 12 September 2020
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