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Sam

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  1. Sam
    In 2016, Kettering General Hospital (KGH) became the focus of a major criminal inquiry. Documents seen by the BBC reveal detectives looked for evidence of gross negligence manslaughter over the treatment of Jorgie Stanton-Watts, a vulnerable toddler.
    Seven years of investigations followed, by the hospital, regulators and a coroner. The family has struggled to hold people to account.
    Since Jorgie's death, a BBC investigation has heard from more than 50 parents with serious concerns about the treatment of their children, many of whom died or suffered injury.
    The Northamptonshire hospital has also been inspected regularly.
    In April the Care Quality Commission (CQC) downgraded the hospital's children's services to inadequate, the lowest possible rating.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 10 January 2024
  2. Sam
    The family of a man who died after being given infected blood have called on the UK government to pay their compensation immediately.
    Randolph Peter Gordon-Smith, who had haemophilia, learned in 1994 that he had been infected with hepatitis C.
    His daughter said the family were "abandoned" to care for him without support before his death in 2018.
    The chairman of the UK infected blood inquiry has said parents and children of victims should receive compensation.
    Sir Brian Langstaff wants to see a final compensation framework set up by the end of the year.
    Ms Gordon-Smith, who lives in Edinburgh, says compensation would provide an acknowledgement of "what they did to our family" as his daughters cared for him when he was dying.
    "I think the government needs to get their chequebook out, do the right thing and pay [the compensation]," she added. "Not when the inquiry rules, but now."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 22 June 2023
  3. Sam
    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), announced nine grant awards of $1 million each for up to 5 years to support existing multidisciplinary Long COVID clinics across the country to expand access to comprehensive, coordinated, and person-centered care for people with Long COVID, particularly underserved, rural, vulnerable, and minority populations that are disproportionately impacted by the effects of Long COVID.
    The grants are a first of their kind. They are designed to expand access and care, develop, and implement new or improved care delivery models, foster best practices for Long COVID management, and support the primary care community in Long COVID education. This initiative is part of the Biden-Harris Administration's whole-government effort to accelerate scientific progress and provide individuals with Long COVID the support and services they need.
    “The Biden-Harris Administration is supporting patients, doctors and caregivers by providing science-based best practices for treating long COVID, maintaining access to insurance coverage, and protecting the rights of workers as they return to jobs while coping with the uncertainties of their illness,” said Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Treatment of Long COVID is a major focus for HHS, and AHRQ is helping lead the way through grants to investigate best practices and get useful guidance to doctors, hospitals, and patients.”
    Read full story
    Source: AHRQ, 20 September 2023
  4. 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
  5. Sam
    ADHD patients around the UK are finding they can't get hold of medication since a national shortage was announced.
    Three different medicines are affected, and the government says some supply issues could last until December.
    The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) says "increased global demand and manufacturing issues" are behind the shortages.
    Medication helps to manage symptoms, which can include difficulty concentrating and focusing, hyperactivity and impulsiveness.
    Dr Saadia Arshad, a consultant psychiatrist, who specialises in diagnosing and treating people with ADHD.
    She says the shortage of medication is "not a new issue, but it's a recurring one".
    Dr Saadia says suddenly stopping meds can lead to patients "feeling jittery, finding it difficult to pay attention, staying focused and feeling restless".
    Even though she understands the shortage can be worrying, Dr Saadia says it's important that people don't take measures into their own hands.
    "These medicines can be quite potent and the response to medication for two individuals is not the same," she says.
    "So please do not take any action without discussing it with your clinician."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 6 October 2023
  6. Sam
    The health secretary is set to signal a major delay to one of the headline promises in the last Conservative manifesto by suggesting the delivery of 40 new hospitals in England is likely to be pushed back until after 2030.
    In a move that will spark anger among MPs who wanted “spades in the ground” before the next election, government sources said Steve Barclay would make the announcement today.
    The pledge to build and fund “40 new hospitals over the next 10 years” was one of the major headlines of Boris Johnson’s pitch to the electorate in 2019.
    Sources indicated the government had been ready to make the announcement about the probable delay for some time, but it was repeatedly pushed back because of fears about a backlash from Tory MPs.
    Rundown NHS hospitals have become a danger to patients, warn health chiefs
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 25 May 2023
  7. Sam
    A struggling trust has been warned by regulators that it could see its junior doctors removed, after concerns about clinical supervision and safety at a hospital whose A&E closes at night.
    NHS England inspectors who visited Cheltenham General Hospital found emergency patients – including potential surgical patients – became the responsibility of the overnight medical team when its accident and emergency closed in the evening.
    One night, 26 patients had been handed across, the inspectors were told, and some patients were felt to be inappropriate for medical referral. A surgical registrar could be telephoned at Gloucester Royal Hospital about surgical patients.
    They were told that although there were no incidents of serious harm, there had been many “near misses” and juniors felt “unsafe and unsupported in terms of consultant clinical supervision, overall clinical/nursing staffing support or logistically in managing patients in this setting or arranging transfers”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 7 July 2023
  8. Sam
    Sarah was only allowed to see her 78-year-old mother through a small, double-glazed window that opened 2in at the bottom. There had been a Covid outbreak in her care home and her family were barred from entry, contrary to government guidelines.
    But this was not December 2020. It was two months ago.
    “It was just horrific,” said Sarah. “Mum said, ‘I feel like I’m in prison.’ And it was hard for us to disagree.” Sarah and her sisters kept pushing for visitor rights, offering to wear full PPE, but the home, which charged £1,050 a week, instead issued a 28-day eviction notice, saying they “could not meet the family’s needs”.
    In March this year, all restrictions on care homes were lifted. In a Covid outbreak — two or more positive tests — “visits should happen in all circumstances”. Each resident is allowed one visitor, and this does not need to be the same person throughout the outbreak. However, privately run homes are not following government guidelines. 
    “We saw a massive, tragic loss of life at the beginning of the pandemic among this demographic,” said Helen Wildbore, director of Relatives and Residents Association. “But now care homes have swung dramatically to the other extreme and they have become medically risk averse at the cost of people’s mental health and quality of life. We know people in isolation who have just given up the will to live, who feel like they have been abandoned.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, 23 October 2022
    You may also be interested to read these two original blogs posted on the hub:
    Visiting restrictions and the impact on patients and their families: a relative's perspective It’s time to rename the ‘visitor’: reflections from a relative
  9. Sam
    Women are waiting too long for abortions, according to a major review into a leading UK provider.
    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) review of the leadership at the abortion provider the British Pregnancy Advisory Service found there were “delays” in “investigating incidents”.
    The remains of some pregnancies were sometimes not stored properly and there were issues were record keeping, patient monitoring and safe care, the review found.
    The watchdog also noted “women did not always receive care in a timely way to meet their needs”.
    The health watchdog said: “In August 2021 we found significant concerns in we found that safe care was not being provided; ineffective safeguarding processes; incomplete risk assessments were not fully completed; observations were not monitored or recorded; records were not fully completed, clear or up to date.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 2 June 2023
  10. Sam
    A rise in hip fractures last year could be a symptom of a wider increase in general physical deconditioning in older and vulnerable people following the pandemic, senior clinicians have warned.
    Around 72,000 hip fractures were recorded in 2022 compared to 66,000 in 2020 and 67,000 in 2021, according to the 2023 National Hip Fracture Database report, published this month.
    The report, published by the Royal College of Physicians, said: “These additional hip fractures happened despite a fall in the size of the ‘at risk’ older population over the preceding three years, as a result of Covid-19-related mortality among older people and those living in care homes.”
    “Our casemix run chart shows a slight increase in the proportion of hip fractures occurring in people aged under 80.
    “This is perhaps an early indication of Public Health England’s [now the UK Health Security Agency] predictions that physical deconditioning and increased risk of falling due to the pandemic may lead to an increase in the number of people who are at risk of fragility fracture.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ. 25 September 2023
  11. Sam
    More than 1 in 10 sexual harassment complaints against doctors are not investigated by the General Medical Council because of an “arbitary” rule, the Observer has revealed.
    According to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, 13% of sexual misconduct complaints made between the years 2017-18 and 2021-22 were closed without investigation because the GMC is prevented from considering alleged incidents more than five years after the event.
    As part of the council’s remit to protect patient safety and improve medical education and practice across the UK it investigates any kind of complaint against doctors.
    The figures show the GMC refused to investigate 170 complaints relating to sexual assault, attempted rape, and rape in the period analysed. In 22 of those cases the five-year rule was cited. It received 566 sexual harassment complaints in the same period.
    Anthony Omo, the GMC’s general counsel and director of fitness to practise, told the Observer: “We can and do waive the five-year rule where there are grave allegations involving sexual assault or rape. In many cases involving sexual allegations, the GMC’s position will be that such serious misconduct is incompatible with continued registration.”
    A government consultation in February heard that the five-year-rule was “arbitrary” and “a barrier to public protection” as it allowed doctors who may be guilty of inappropriate behaviour to continue practising. However, despite commitments from the Department of Health and Social Care to scrap the limitation as a “top priority”, no date has been set.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 30 September 2023
  12. Sam
    Forty children were hospitalised for vaping last year, prompting NHS bosses to warn we risk “sleep-walking into a crisis”.
    Amanda Pritchard, NHS England boss, said it was "right" for paediatricians to call for action on vaping among young people, as the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health called for an outright ban on disposable vapes.
    She said the 40 children admitted to hospital in England in 2022 due to “vaping-related disorders” was up from 11 two years before.
    The RCPCH’s call for action comes as NHS data revealed one in five 15-year-olds said they used e-cigarettes in 2021, while charity Action on Smoking (ASH) reported the experimental use of e-cigarettes among 11 to 17-year-olds had risen by 50 per cent compared to last year.
    The college warned: “Youth vaping is fast becoming an epidemic among children, and I fear that if action is not taken, we will find ourselves sleep-walking into a crisis.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 16 June 2023
  13. Sam
    A key government pledge to reduce the size of the NHS’s record-breaking care backlog has been broken, the health secretary has admitted.
    Steve Barclay slipped out the news in a Commons statement on Tuesday about a totally unrelated area of NHS policy – his new plan to improve access to GP care.
    He disclosed to MPs that the NHS in England had missed its target to ensure that all patients who had been waiting 18 months for an operation in hospital would be treated by April.
    It is thought that about 10,000 people who had been waiting for at least 78 weeks were still languishing on the 7.2 million-strong waiting list at the end of April.
    The failure to eradicate 18-month waits for care is embarrassing for Rishi Sunak, who made “cut waiting lists” one of his five key pledges and insisted as recently as January that the promise, which NHS England and the then health secretary Sajid Javid first made in the elective surgery recovery plan last year, would be honoured.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 9 May 2023
  14. Sam
    The Royal College of Midwives says the need for a maternity strategy in Northern Ireland has gone beyond urgent and is now critical.
    The warning comes as the RCM is publishing a report on Northern Ireland's maternity services at Stormont on Tuesday.
    The report will highlight growing challenges as more women across the country with additional health needs are being cared for by maternity services.
    The RCM report will outline three steps to deliver high quality and safe services for women and families.
    Develop, publish and fund the implementation of a new maternity and neonatal strategy for Northern Ireland. Sustain the number of places for new student midwives at their recent, higher level. Focus on retaining the midwives in the HSC. Read full story
    Source: ITV News, 30 May 2023
  15. Sam
    An integrated care board (ICB) has advised its GP practices not to give patients automatic access to their records, contradicting NHS England national requirements. 
    Instead, North East London ICB has suggested practices only allow access where patients request it, and subject to conditions.
    The national go-live date for patients to be allowed automatic access to future entries in their records has been repeatedly delayed since initially being set at December 2021. GPs have argued they needed more time to redact sensitive information, ensure records are not inappropriately shared, and train staff. They have cited workload and safeguarding concerns.
    The ICB’s chief clinical information officer Osman Bhatti, who is a GP, told HSJ the ICB instead “wanted a process where patients could access both prospective and retrospective records safely, with less workload for GPs and so patients who actually want access can have it”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ. 1 June 2023
  16. Sam
    More than a quarter of million people dipped into their savings or took a loan to pay for a private hospital operation or appointment last year — a record high. This year could exceed that.
    And who can blame them? With the NHS waiting list at a staggering 7.6 million and monthly strikes by doctors lengthening waiting times, patients are increasingly prepared to jump the queue and pay hard cash to do so.
    In an effort to cut waits and expand choice for patients, Rishi Sunak is funnelling thousands more NHS patients into the private sector.
    Yet private healthcare is not without risks, many of which are not fully understood. There is a difference between the NHS, which — for all its faults — has been a dependable, free at the point of use health service for more than 75 years, and the sometimes murky world of private doctors and hospital companies who use them.
    Can you trust your private doctor? When you look under the bonnet of private healthcare, beyond the glossy adverts, things can get a little uncertain.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, 10 September 2023
  17. Sam
    A leading surgeon says a major drop-out rate of trainee doctors is "an accident waiting to happen" for the NHS.
    Nigel Mercer was tasked with prioritising surgery across the NHS during the pandemic when services were under intense pressure.
    His biggest fear with what he sees as an up to 40% drop-out rate is whether there will be enough doctors to replace his generation of medics.
    The government said the majority of trainees go on to work in the NHS.
    "[But] at the moment everyone is so fed up with the system," Mr Mercer said
    Concerns over pay and conditions are leading many trainees to consider moving to other countries, he said.
    "You can get much more pay over in Australia and New Zealand and we reckon it's now 40% of medical graduates who are going to leave after their training and that's criminal," he continued.
    "That's an accident waiting to happen, but if we don't produce high-quality paramedical staff there won't be the ability to train anybody.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 12 April 2023
  18. Sam
    Patients diagnosed with cancer in 2020 had “significantly lower” survival rates in Scotland a year after having their cases confirmed compared with the previous year, a report has found.
    The increase in deaths was an indirect result of the pandemic as coronavirus dissuaded people from getting check-ups or visiting physicians.
    Many cancer screening programmes were also paused and infection control measures in healthcare settings caused delays in both diagnosis and treatment.
    Andrew Elder, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said the government’s decision to pause screening programmes was “understandable in the extreme circumstances”, but added that the figures were “concerning”. He said: “Fewer and later presentations by patients who may have had more advanced disease clearly have had sometimes tragic consequences that are now being identified in the data.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, 31 May 2023
  19. Sam
    A scheme in which ‘category 2’ 999 calls are validated by clinicians will be extended nationally after reducing journeys by 4%in a pilot, with no adverse incidents, NHS England has told HSJ.
    NHSE also confirmed that one ambulance trust in the scheme, the West Midlands, has begun delaying the dispatch of ambulances for some category 2 calls by up to 23 minutes so that the validation can take place. 
    At three other trusts – London, South Western and the East Midlands – about 40% of category 2 calls receive clinical validation, but an ambulance is dispatched to them as soon it is available, as normal.
    Officials said they believe the demand benefit could be greater if ambulance trusts are able to devote more clinical capacity to the validation process. About 40% of category 2 calls are judged suitable for validation, but not all of them complete the process before an ambulance arrives.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 11 July 2023
  20. Sam
    Senior doctors say female medics have felt pressured into sexual activity with colleagues.
    Four women who head up medical royal colleges in Wales have written an open letter describing misogyny, bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace.
    They told BBC Wales that female staff had been asked for sex by male colleagues while on shift.
    The Welsh government said: "Harassment and sexual violence is abhorrent and has no place in our NHS."
    Chairwoman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Wales, Dr Maria Atkins, said: "I've heard from multiple women over the years that during night-time shifts, they've been propositioned by male colleagues and felt pressured to engage in sexual acts.
    "When they've refused they are penalised.
    "It can be very damaging to some less experienced or younger women, because they will be discouraged from engaging with a team, which might have been the specialty of medicine that they wanted to progress their career in."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 22 September 2023
  21. Sam
    Researchers have completed the first successful in-patient trial of liver dialysis.
    The DIALIVE device, invented by researchers at UCL’s Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, was found to be safe and effective, research suggests.
    According to a new study, the device is associated with substantial improvement in the severity of symptoms and organ function in a greater proportion of patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), when compared with patients receiving standard of care.
    The next step would be a larger clinical trial, which if successful could see DIALIVE approved for clinical use within the next three years.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 1 June 2023
  22. Sam
    The mayor of London is independently reviewing NHS England plans to reconfigure children’s cancer services in the capital, which were triggered when the commissioner finally accepted the current arrangements are unsafe.
    In a letter to NHSE London director Caroline Clarke, Sadiq Khan’s health adviser said the mayor would apply his six tests for major reconfigurations to both the options proposed for the “principal treatment centre” for paediatric cancer in south London.
    NHSE London is currently running a process to decide the principal treatment centre's location. An earlier assessment put the bid from the Evelina Hospital, part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust, ahead of the other bidder, St George’s University Hospitals FT.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 5 June 2023
  23. Sam
    The majority of trust leaders have reported an increase in the ‘burden’ put on them by regulators, citing more demanding ‘ad hoc’ requests during heightened operational pressure.
    In NHS Providers’ latest survey of NHS trust leaders’ experiences of regulation, a little over half of respondents – 52% – said the burden from NHS England and the Care Quality Commission had increased in the past year.
    The percentage was higher among acute/community and community trusts, and all ambulance and specialist trust respondents said the burden had increased. 
    An even higher overall share of trusts – 59% – said “ad hoc requests” from regulators had increased during the same time period. This includes requests for information or meetings at short notice, diverting staff from day-to-day operational duties.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 20 July 2023
  24. Sam
    More than 120,000 died waiting for NHS treatment, as backlog hits all-time high. 
    The number of NHS patients dying while waiting for treatment has doubled in five years, new figures suggest.
    More than 120,000 people died while on waiting lists last year, according to an analysis of health service data. The total is even higher than it was in lockdown, with health leaders saying the pandemic and NHS strikes have made clearing backlogs more difficult.
    Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “These figures are a stark reminder about the potential repercussions of long waits for care. They are heartbreaking for the families who will have lost loved ones and deeply dismaying for NHS leaders, who continue to do all they can in extremely difficult circumstances."
    “Covid will have had an impact on these figures – but we can’t get away from the fact that a decade of under-investment in the NHS has left it with not enough staff, beds and vital equipment, as well as a crumbling estate in urgent need of repair and investment.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Telegraph, 31 August 2023
  25. Sam
    A public inquiry into the deaths of at least 2,000 mental health inpatients has been relaunched with new powers.
    The Essex Mental Health Independent Inquiry was established in 2021 to investigate the deaths of people on mental health wards in the county.
    The number of initial responses to the inquiry from current and former staff was described as "disappointing".
    The inquiry has converted to a statutory inquiry meaning witnesses can be forced to give evidence.
    It is understood the new chairwoman is considering extending the inquiry's timeframe to include deaths from the start of 2000 until the end of 2023.
    Baroness Kate Lampard, leading the inquiry, said: "I am determined to conduct this inquiry in a fair, thorough and balanced manner.
    "I am also concerned to ensure that I do not take any longer than necessary - the recommendations from this inquiry are urgent and cannot be delayed."
    She added: "To be clear from the outset, I will not be compelling families to give evidence.
    "Evidence from staff, management and organisations will be gathered in a proportionate, fair and appropriate manner."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 1 November 2023
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