Jump to content
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,568

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Sam

Administrators

 Content Type 

News posted by Sam

  1. Sam
    NHS-funded access to private autism and ADHD services is “unsustainable” and “up to three times more expensive than our local provision”, according to an integrated care board’s review.
    Northamptonshire ICB found the use of independent providers under “right to choose” rules for diagnosis and treatment of autism and ADHD was expected to cost it £3m in 2024-25, according to the document obtained by HSJ.
    This represents an additional 66% on top of its £4.5m budget for its commissioned autism and ADHD services.
    Extremely long waits, rocketing demand, and a growing market nationally have seen a big rise in people exercising choice rules, which require commissioners to pay for treatment if a provider has a contract with at least one other ICB.
    In its review of community paediatric services, the ICB said its spending growth on the independent sector is “unsustainable” as “costs are up to three times more expensive than our local provision”. 
    NHS funding of the same services is effectively capped as they are on “block” contracts. The review was completed in December and recently released after a Freedom of Information request.
    Government has deprioritised tackling long waits for these services, but NHS England last year launched a national taskforce on the issue. The ICB’s review warned any “national solution will almost certainly involve greater use of the independent provider market”, which it said was less cost-effective than its commissioned services. 
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 6 May 2025
  2. Sam
    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is a federal agency in the United States that administers major healthcare programmes, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Health Insurance Marketplace. 
    CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz has set out his vision for the agency, including a commitment to President Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda and modernisng Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA marketplace.
    As a first step, CMS will implement President Trump’s executive order from February aimed at boosting healthcare price transparency. The order directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Labor and Treasury departments to “rapidly implement and enforce” healthcare price transparency enforcement regulations that the president introduced during his first term.
    It will work to streamline access to life-saving treatments by “equipping providers with better patient information versus unnecessary paperwork.” The agency did not elaborate further on how it would streamline care access.
    Identifying and eliminating fraud, waste and abuse is a top priority for the agency. During his confirmation hearing process, Dr Oz promised scrutiny of the Medicare Advantage program amid allegations of widespread fraud, and expressed concerns about MA sales and brokers encouraging seniors to switch to MA policies for financial gain.
    CMS will focus on prevention, wellness and chronic disease management. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has identified chronic disease as a key priority under his leadership. He has criticised the influence of the pharmaceutical and food industries, linking issues like obesity and diabetes to ultra-processed foods, federal subsidies and dietary guidelines. He has called for reforms targeting food additives, pesticides and environmental health risks, alongside overhauls of agencies like the CDC and FDA.
    Read full story
    Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 10 April 2025
  3. Sam
    A growing number of healthcare workers and patients are demanding immediate legislative action to address rising workplace violence in hospitals, a survey by Black Book Research has found.
    The survey, which included responses from 240 individuals — emergency department physicians, nurses, hospital-based staff and 200 healthcare consumers — reveals widespread concern over increasing aggression toward medical professionals and overwhelming support for federal intervention.
    Key findings show that 98% of hospital staff and 93% of healthcare consumers support federal legislation mandating workplace violence prevention measures. All staff respondents said they had experienced or witnessed violence at work, with many expressing dissatisfaction with current safety protocols.
    According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average of 57 healthcare workers are injured daily due to workplace violence, resulting in lost workdays, job reassignment or medical care. Incidents range from verbal threats and physical assaults to chronic aggression, particularly in emergency departments and behavioral health units.
    “Technology is now a cornerstone of prevention strategies in hospital safety plans,” Doug Brown, founder of Black Book Research, said in the report. “Healthcare IT vendors play a vital role in safeguarding hospital staff by embedding safety-focused features into the software and services used every day.”
    Read full story
    Source: Becker's Health IT, 14 April 2025
  4. Sam
    Thousands of miles from a manufacturing plant in China, where the key active ingredient in heparin is sourced, Wanda Crowell receives a daily infusion of the drug in her bed at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
    Doctors give Crowell the inexpensive, essential anticoagulant every day, to prevent life-threatening blood clots from forming in her central line, a plastic tube inserted in her chest that delivers the nutrients she needs to live. A two-time cancer survivor, the 66-year-old has not been able to eat solid food since 2021. She also needs heparin to treat a history of blood clots.
    For Crowell, there is no suitable alternative. While other patients may have options, she cannot take oral medications.
    “If Wanda’s line is clotted off and we can’t get another line in, she would not get her nutrition,” said Peggy Kraus, a pharmacist on Crowell’s care team. “The drug is essential for her survival.”
    The main focus of President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff campaign has been high-profile industries such as steel, automobiles and consumer electronics. But on Tuesday, Trump warned that another target will soon be the wide variety of medications whose active pharmaceutical ingredients are largely made in China and India.
    No one knows how big a tariff is coming or what its effect on generic drugs like heparin may be. But along the supply chain that ends at Crowell’s bedside, many are worried.
    Health experts warn that the impact could be felt quickly. Tariffs could disrupt pharmaceutical supply chains, drive up costs for generic drugs and place additional strain on an already burdened healthcare system.
    Read full story
    Source: Washington Post, 13 April 2025
  5. Sam
    Wes Streeting has rejected the notion of merging the delivery or funding of social care with the NHS, arguing it is better “delivered and commissioned through local government”.
    Speaking at the Commons health and social care committee today on the reorganisation of NHS England, the health and social care secretary was definitive that health and adult social care are best as “distinct services”.
    Wes Streeting told MPs: “I am now even more strongly of the view as secretary of state for health and social care that social care has different roles and responsibilities than the NHS…
    “[Social care is] not all about treating or preventing ill health. It’s about promoting dignity, independence, quality of life, and a range of caring functions, which I think not only are not delivered by the NHS today, but are better delivered and commissioned through local government than they would be through the NHS.”
    His comments come despite an ongoing government commission on social care policy by Baroness Louise Casey, reporting to the prime minister, and the hopes of some in the Labour Party for its proposed “National Care Service” to result in a “free at the point of delivery” service combined with the NHS. Combining funding pots, accountability, and delivery across the two has also been a long-standing recommendation of experts and integration projects.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 8 April 2025
  6. Sam
    Postnatal mental health services are closing across the country due to a lack of funding despite record numbers of women seeking help, The Independent can reveal.
    One in five of the 600,000 women a year who give birth in the UK experience a mental health condition, NHS figures show – and a quarter have a negative birth experience.
    Mental health conditions are the leading cause of maternal death between six weeks and a year after birth – accounting for one in three deaths, according to the Oxford University-led group MBBRACE-UK, which records all maternal and baby deaths in the UK.
    Postnatal suicide rates rose by more than 50 per cent during the pandemic and have remained high ever since. Between 2017 and 2019, the rate of suicide was 0.46 for every 100,000 mothers who gave birth in that period, but between 2021 and 2023 - the latest figures available - the rate was 0.70 per 100,000 mothers.
    But in January, the Government announced it was scrapping funding for the nationwide rollout of Women’s Health Hubs, which aimed to improve access to services such as perinatal mental health support.
    “This is a completely neglected mental health crisis, on an extremely large scale,” Danny Chambers MP, the Lib Dem spokesperson on mental health, warned Parliament in February.
    "And now several charities which plug the gaps in NHS support, by helping parents unable to access NHS help or who are stuck on waiting lists, have been forced to close or suspend services because of funding cuts."
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent,  8 April 2025
  7. Sam
    The family of a man who died in hospital only discovered after his death that a Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) order had been put in place.
    An investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman (PHSO) found that Barts Health NHS Trust failed in its duty to tell Ali Asghar and his family about the order. 
    A DNACPR order means that, if someone’s heart or breathing stops, doctors will not attempt resuscitation. The decision is made by a doctor and does not require patient consent but a patient must be informed if they have capacity. If they do not have capacity their next of kin must be informed.
    The Ombudsman is urging all healthcare providers to make sure their teams are trained to have these crucial conversations about end-of-life care in a timely and sensitive manner.
    Read full story
    Source: PHSO, 11 March 2025
  8. Sam
    More than 1 in 10 school entry-age children in England are at risk of measles because they have not had their vaccine jabs, data reveals.
    Coverage for the two doses of MMR that helps protect five-year-olds against measles, mumps and rubella is currently at 85.5%.
    That is the lowest for a decade, and well below the 95% target recommended to stop a resurgence of measles.
    Measles is highly contagious, more than Covid, and can cause serious illness. Nine in every 10 people can catch it if they are unjabbed and exposed.
    As well as a distinctive rash, measles can lead to severe complications, such as pneumonia and brain inflammation, and sometimes can be fatal.
    Vaccination can remove almost all of these risks.
    Two doses of the MMR vaccine give 99% protection against measles and rubella and about 88% protection against mumps.
    When a high percentage of the population is protected through vaccination, it becomes harder for the disease to pass between people.
    But since the start of the Covid pandemic, there has been a concerning drop in the number of children receiving these vaccines on time.
    Experts say some parents may not have realised doctors were still offering appointments, or did not want to burden the NHS.
    Coverage of the first dose of the MMR vaccine in two-year-olds has now fallen below 90%. This means that more than one in 10 children under the age of five are not fully protected from measles and are at risk of catching it.
    Among all five-year-olds in England, 93.7% have had one dose and 85.5% have had the recommended two doses.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 1 February 2022
  9. Sam
    The abrupt withdrawal of Dr David Weldon’s nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights the ongoing political and financial entanglements that shape public health policy.
    Weldon, a former congressman and internist, was informed just twelve hours before his scheduled Senate confirmation hearing on 13 March that his nomination was being pulled due to insufficient support.
    The decision, reportedly made by the White House after realising they lacked the votes, raises critical questions about the rigidity of political gatekeeping in public health leadership.
    Weldon’s nomination was doomed by concerns over his past inquiries into vaccine safety. As he explained in his statement, he was repeatedly accused of being ‘anti-vax,’ despite never claiming that vaccines cause autism.
    In today’s political climate, however, even a small, measured scepticism about certain vaccines is enough to disqualify someone from holding public office.
    The issue of whether vaccines cause autism is considered settled by the medical establishment. As Senator Bill Cassidy stated during Jay Bhattacharya’s confirmation hearing, conducting further studies on the matter would be “wasting” resources on research that already confirms what we know.
    While this argument has some merit (since research funding is finite and often squandered), Bhattacharya countered with a crucial point: vaccines are a public health intervention, and the public must have confidence in them.
    If people do not trust the data, then the government has a responsibility to present more evidence to convince them. Refusing to engage in further study only fuels scepticism and deepens public distrust.
    Read full story
    Source: Maryanne Demasi, 14 March 2025
  10. Sam
    The hospital where Lucy Letby murdered babies is now being investigated for gross negligence manslaughter as well as corporate manslaughter, police have announced.
    Cheshire Constabulary has released a statement saying that its corporate manslaughter investigation into the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been “widened”.
    “We will not be confirming the number of people involved or their identity"
    The scope of the investigation now includes gross negligence manslaughter, which is where a death is caused by an otherwise lawful but grossly negligent “act or omission” by an individual or individuals.
    The corporate manslaughter investigation, which is looking into the actions of senior leaders at the hospital trust in relation to deaths at the neonatal unit, was launched in October 2023.
    This happened a few months after the conviction of 35-year-old Letby for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of six others while working as a neonatal nurse at the trust in 2015 and 2016.
    Letby was later found guilty of attempting to murder a seventh baby.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: Nursing Times, 14 March 2025
  11. Sam
    The rate of patients dying by suicide shortly after discharge from mental health units has increased in recent years, with researchers calling for better post-discharge support.
    According to the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health annual report – an audit published by the Health Quality Improvement Partnership – the number and rate of deaths after discharge from a ward have been gradually increasing since 2017, after falling from 2013-17.
    The rate in 2022, the most recent figures reported, was 14.1 per 10,000 discharges.
    Isabelle Hunt, senior research fellow at the Manchester University and report co-author, told HSJ  the most recent figures should be “treated with caution”, but added that the rise in post-discharge suicides could be attributed to the case mix of patients. A “reduction in inpatient beds” could mean “a higher-risk group of patients are being managed by services” and being discharged when more unwell.
    Dr Hunt said the increases could also be associated with changes in the circumstances patients are being discharged to.
    “Around a quarter of patients who died by suicide within three months of discharge were known to have been discharged to housing, financial or employment problems and a fifth were discharged to poor social support,” Dr Hunt said.
    “Awareness of the stressors patients may face after leaving hospital is a key element when judging the appropriateness of discharge, and greater involvement of families and carers is likely to provide a clearer picture of the circumstances a patient is returning to.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 12 March 2025
  12. Sam
    An interim national director of patient safety has been appointed, after the permanent postholder was seconded to the Care Quality Commission.
    Professor Ramani Moonesinghe will replace Aidan Fowler, who is to be the CQC’s interim chief inspector of healthcare. His secondment is expected to last six months and will be full time.
    Professor Moonesinghe has been NHSE’s clinical director for critical and perioperative care since 2020. She played a key part in the pandemic, leading on the NHS’s critical care response.
    She works as a consultant in anaesthetics, perioperative and critical care medicine at University College Hospitals London Foundation Trust and is a professor of perioperative medicine at University College London, where she leads on a patient safety research collaborative. She is also head of the Centre for Perioperative Medicine and the Research Department for Targeted Interventions at UCL.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 6 March 2025
  13. Sam
    NHS England has for the first time put a figure on the potential impact on A&E performance of eliminating discharge delays for patients going into adult social care packages.
    Amanda Pritchard told MPs NHSE’s analysis suggested eliminating discharge delays for patients who receive adult social care (ASC) packages when they leave hospital could “theoretically” improve the A&E four-hour target by 6 per cent points.
    She said the figures suggest “around two-thirds of bed days lost to delayed discharges are associated with individuals accessing adult social care, community care and/or care home services on discharge. A third of these delays – around a fifth overall - are for individuals accessing adult social care packages on discharge.”
    The outgoing NHSE CEO added: “Eliminating the lost bed days for just the third of delays for individuals accessing adult social care packages on discharge… if all other things were equal, including the rate of admissions and rate of flow through hospitals, theoretically… could potentially improve performance by up to 6 per cent.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 5 March 2025
  14. Sam
    Mental health patients subjected to abuse on wards do not formally complain as they "do not want to expose themselves to any risk of revenge" from staff, academics say.
    A study by Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, and the University of Hertfordshire, involving 21 patients and two carers, uncovered more than 750 incidents of violence and coercion by staff, few of which were reported.
    The researchers suggested social workers should be present on wards, with staff also required to wear body cameras to protect patients.
    The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said staff committing acts of violence should be removed and prosecuted.
    Claims of violence and coercion allegedly committed by staff included patients being physically restrained, verbally abused, being moved with force and being deliberately ignored.
    Eight patients told researchers that one or two staff were responsible for abuse against them, while 18 said acts were witnessed by other patients or staff.
    Only four official complaints were made, according to researchers, with just one upheld.
    Mr Munt said: "The preoccupation for many patients is that they do not want to expose themselves to any risk of revenge."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 6 March 2025
  15. Sam
    The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine is scrubbing pending reports of words such as “health equity,” “marginalized populations,” and “restorative justice” and replacing them with vaguer terms in an effort to appease the Trump administration, according to a letter protesting the actions sent to the organisation’s leaders and obtained by STAT. 
    The National Academies, or NASEM, are widely seen as the nation’s leading science organisation and to many, its conscience. The organisation has been responsible, over the past two decades, for creating and publishing some of the nation’s most seminal reports on health disparities, such as the 2003 report Unequal Treatment which unequivocally stated that racism within healthcare was one driver of the nation’s health disparities. 
    The letter, signed by 100 of the academy’s members, said those signing the letter were “deeply disturbed” by the accommodations and said they understood the academy was “taking unilateral action to remove specific words or concepts from pending reports” and such “excessive anticipatory censoring” impacted the scientific rigor and integrity of the reports. Many NASEM reports are a year or more in the making and require the time and expertise of academy members, who are considered leaders in their fields. 
    The letter specifically cited an upcoming report, “Blueprint for a National Prevention Infrastructure for Behavioral Health Disorders” that was scheduled to be released in early February but has not been released and said that authors had learned that staff have been instructed to replace words in the report including the term “health equity.” That replacement of certain words, the letter states, appears “designed to appease the current administration.”
    Removing the term equity was particularly upsetting to the letter’s authors. “Equity is a core part of NAM’s mission. Our understanding is that staff are being told that these terms are being deleted because equity is not a matter of science. Yet that term alludes to a core value to which we in medicine and public health are deeply committed,” the letter read. Stripping the term, the letter said, “goes against our values as members, the published principles of NAM/NASEM, and decades of scientific work on health inequities,” it continued. 
    Read full story
    Source: STAT, 20 February 2025
  16. Sam
    Some researchers who have published on a government patient safety website are refusing to alter their reports to comply with Trump administration executive orders around language, leaving them offline.
    Gordon Schiff, MD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the author of a 2022 case report and commentary on suicide risk assessment that includes a line noting several groups at high risk of suicide, including the LGBTQ community.
    Rather than remove the line, the piece remains off the Patient Safety Network, which is part of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
    "I think as a matter of principle, it's not a good idea to give into this," Schiff told MedPage Today.
    "We could find alternate ways of publishing it, I guess," he said. "And I think we don't want to legitimize this process of what's happened. I think it would be a mistake. It would be a disservice, actually, to cave in. I think people do need to stand up and say, this is not okay."
    Patrick Romano, MD, MPH, of the University of California Davis and co-editor-in-chief of the Patient Safety Network, told MedPage Today that five full-length, peer-reviewed cases and commentaries, at least one perspective interview, and about 15 short summaries of other published papers, remain offline. (However, they can still be accessed via the Internet Archive.)
    Removal of these resources occurred in the wake of a Trump administration Office of Personnel Management (OPM) memorandum, "Initial Guidance Regarding President Trump's Executive Order Defending Women."
    Each of the removed resources had a term, such as "transgender," "gender identity," "non-gender-conforming," "LGBTQ," or "LGBTQIA," that violated OPM guidance, according to Romano.
    Though Romano told MedPage Today that the authors of the resources have been given the opportunity to revise their work to have it republished on the site, all of them have declined to accept the required changes.
    Ultimately, concern has extended beyond the recently removed resources. There has been "some worry," with regard to the word "equity," Romano said.
    For instance, "when we talk about equity on [the Patient Safety Network site] we're talking about treating patients equitably," he said. "We're talking about making sure that patients get diagnosed in an equitable manner, and that, for example, people who live in rural communities don't suffer because of the lack of accessibility to sub-specialty providers."
    So, "it's different from talking about equity in the occupational context, or in the context of recruitment or admission to elite universities, and so forth," he said, adding that, "as these words are targeted, I think a lot of us are concerned about all the different ways in which those words are used, and the importance of the underlying concept that is really essential as we try to take better care of patients and communities."
    Read full story
    Source: MedPage Today, 20 February 2025
  17. Sam
    Superbugs are on the rise in the UK and the government is failing in its efforts to tackle them, ministers have been warned.
    The World Health Organization has described antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – where pathogens evolve and develop resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobials so the drugs usually used to fight them no longer work – as “one of the top global public health and development threats”.
    AMR is already contributing to more than 35,000 deaths a year in the UK, estimates suggest. But the government “remains a long way” from achieving its aim of containing and controlling AMR, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.
    If urgent action is not taken to stem the crisis, the consequences for health, life expectancy, the functioning of the NHS and the wider economy would be “huge”, the watchdog said.
    Read full story 
    Source: The Guardian, 26 February 2025
  18. Sam
    While the US declared its intention to leave the World Health Organization (WHO) on 20 January, the process of severing ties with the international public health body formally takes one year. Yet US health agencies have already retreated from nearly all coordinated global health efforts around influenza surveillance. The move could jeopardise the efficacy of the next batch of flu vaccines both for the US and the rest of the world.
    This comes as the US is in the midst of its most severe flu season in 15 years. At least 29 million people in the country have caught the illness since October and roughly 16,000 have died from it – and the season is only half over.
    Numerous factors are probably behind the surge, including lower vaccination rates, says Erin Sorrell at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. 
    All of this underscores the importance of an upcoming WHO meeting. Scheduled for 28 February, the meeting will bring together influenza experts from around the world to select which strains the next flu shot will target. The decision is based on influenza samples collected from 151 national laboratories across 127 countries. These samples are then further analysed at WHO collaborating centres to characterise how the virus spreads, evolves and interacts with vaccines and other treatments.
    These seven collaborating centres, two of which are based in the US, play a major role in global influenza surveillance and response preparedness, says Maria Van Kerkhove at WHO. The trouble is, the US centres stopped communicating with WHO. 
    WHO is currently working with other collaborating centres to fill the information gap left by the US, says Van Kerkhove. The halt in US communication shouldn’t impact the WHO’s ability to develop an effective flu vaccine for next season, she says. But it will certainly make it more challenging to do so in the future.
    It will also have ramifications for US public health. “We don’t get to provide our input on strains that we are most concerned about in the US and discuss mutations that we are observing here. Our technical experts, who are some of the best in the world, are not able to contribute to that conversation,” says Sorrell. “So, we are not only putting the world at a disadvantage, but absolutely the average American who would be looking to be vaccinated next year against seasonal flu.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The New Scientist, 21 February 2025
  19. Sam
    The number of patient deaths being investigated as possible manslaughter at a troubled NHS hospital has more than doubled to 90, the Guardian can reveal.
    The growing number of allegedly suspicious deaths, up from an initial total of 40, has forced Sussex police to ask the Home Office for extra resources in dealing with its expanding inquiry into University Hospitals Sussex (UHS), known as Operation Bramber.
    It is examining allegations of medical negligence and cover-up in the general surgery and neurosurgery departments of Brighton’s Royal Sussex County hospital, part of UHS, between 2015 and 2021.
    There are also growing internal concerns within the trust about surgeons who continue to operate at the hospital, despite their alleged negligence being reviewed by police.
    Earlier this month, a group of anaesthetists asked the trust’s medical director for guidance on what to tell patients who inquire about the safety of surgeons about to operate on them.
    A source at the trust said: “It’s a very valid question. The anaesthetists are in an awkward position of having to anaesthetise the patients before surgery with consultants under suspicion.”
    There have been calls to suspend some surgeons while police investigate. The source added: “I think the reason they have been allowed to continue, is that the trust does not want to show they have made any mistakes.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 25 February 2025
  20. Sam
    Sensitive patient information has allegedly been leaked on the dark web after Genea, one of Australia’s leading IVF and fertility services providers, was hacked a fortnight ago.
    The attack was allegedly carried out by the Termite ransomware group, prompting Genea to obtain a court injunction on Wednesday that criminalises access to the breached patient data.
    In a statement, Genea said: “Our ongoing investigation has established that on the 26 of February, data taken from our systems appears to have been published externally by the threat actor.”
    “We understand that this development may be concerning for our patients for which we unreservedly apologise.”
    Sensitive information including contact details, Medicare card numbers, medical histories, test results and medications may have been compromised in the data breach, Genea said, and it was “working to understand precisely what data has been published”.
    Read full story
    Source: the Guardian, 26 February 2025
  21. Sam
    A year ago Jessica Vaughan stepped into the emergency department (ED) as a newly qualified nurse, with a first class degree and a Nursing Times ‘student nurse of the year’ award under her belt. She was brimming with enthusiasm, but now feels depleted and disillusioned
    "As a previous student editor for the Nursing Times, I said I would write an article on my experiences. But words failed me. After my previous articles declaring hope, resilience, and the beauty of nursing, writing a litany of complaints felt shameful.
    "But the truth is, I am not achieving what I set out to. Maybe I was simply too idealistic and naive. But there is something fundamentally wrong if eager new nurses are burning out so quickly.
    "I do not know the answer but I do urge those of us on the frontline to keep using our voices to tell the truth about what is happening. We owe it to our patients but also ourselves."
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: Nursing Times, 25 February 2025
    Further reading on the hub:
    The crisis of corridor care in the NHS: patient safety concerns and incident reporting 
    Patient Safety Learning's response to RCN report: on the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis
    How corridor care in the NHS is affecting safety culture: A blog by Claire Cox
    A nurse's response to the NHSE guidance on their principles for providing safe and good quality care in temporary escalation spaces
    A silent safety scandal: A nurse’s first-hand account of a corridor nursing shift
  22. Sam
    A new snapshot survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) highlights the worsening crisis in NHS hospitals, where a lack of capacity is pushing vulnerable patients into undignified and unsafe conditions.
    The survey gathered responses from almost a thousand (961) physicians across the UK, spanning a wide range of specialties - including cardiology, respiratory medicine, and general internal medicine - who report firsthand the challenges of delivering care in temporary spaces.
    The findings show that 78% of respondents had provided care in a temporary environment in the past month. Of the 889 respondents who gave further details on where this care was delivered, locations included corridors (45%), additional beds or chairs in patient bays (27%), wards without dedicated bed space (13%), waiting rooms (9%), another location not designed for patient care e.g. bathroom (4.5%).
    The consequences of treating patients in unsuitable spaces are severe. 90% of doctors reported compromised patient privacy and dignity, while 81% faced physical difficulties delivering care. Additionally, 75% struggled with access to vital equipment or facilities, and 58% saw patient safety directly compromised. The impact on doctors themselves was also significant, with 61% reporting increased personal stress.
    Read full story
    Source: Royal College of Physicians, 26 February 2025
    Further reading on the hub:
    The crisis of corridor care in the NHS: patient safety concerns and incident reporting 
    Patient Safety Learning's response to RCN report: on the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis
    How corridor care in the NHS is affecting safety culture: A blog by Claire Cox
    A nurse's response to the NHSE guidance on their principles for providing safe and good quality care in temporary escalation spaces
    A silent safety scandal: A nurse’s first-hand account of a corridor nursing shift
  23. Sam
    Amanda Pritchard is standing down as chief executive of NHS England, in a development that will shock the health service.
    Her departure from the top job follows recent meetings she held with Wes Streeting, the health secretary, to discuss his plans to overhaul the service and her own future role.
    Her meeting with Streeting on Monday proved pivotal. Well-placed sources say her exit after three and a half years in the post is amicable and that she has not been forced out.
    It will be confirmed in an official announcement on Tuesday afternoon, which is expected to portray her stepping down as a voluntary decision after much consideration.
    But it comes less than a month after two influential House of Commons committees made unusual criticisms of her suitability to lead the NHS through a period of what Streeting and Keir Starmer have said will be the biggest overhaul since the service’s creation in 1948.
    The public accounts committee said that she, her deputy, Julian Kelly, and two senior civil servants at the Department of Health and Social Care were “complacent” and lacked dynamism.
    Barely 12 hours later, MPs on the health and social care committee went public with their doubts about Pritchard shortly after she had given two hours of evidence to them.
    In a statement, the cross-party committee said she had not demonstrated that she had the “drive and dynamism” to transform the NHS in the radical and urgent way the government wanted. A lack of “sharpness” in her answers had left committee members “exasperated”, it added.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 25 February 2025
  24. Sam
    Pregnant women in prison in England are three times more likely to be ­diagnosed with gestational ­diabetes than those on the outside, according to “alarming” new data.
    Figures obtained through freedom of information (FOI) requests to NHS trusts providing healthcare to women’s prisons in England found 12% of women receiving care relating to pregnancy in 2023 were diagnosed with the condition, triple the national figure of 4%.
    Laura Abbott, associate ­professor in midwifery at Hertfordshire University, said these figures were “alarming but not surprising”.
    “We have known for many years that preterm birth is more common among ­incarcerated pregnant women, and this ­further highlights the severe health risks they face,” she said. “Gestational diabetes increases the risk of high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia, serious conditions that require early detection, good nutrition and careful obstetric management, which is extremely difficult in a prison setting. It can also increase the risk of stillbirth.”
    There were 215 pregnant women in prison in England between April 2023 and March 2024, according to figures published by the Ministry of Justice. There were 52 births while in custody, 98% of which took place in hospital.
    The NHS and Prison Ombudsman categorise all pregnancies in prison as high risk. Pregnant women in prison are seven times more likely to have a stillbirth and twice as likely to go into premature labour, according to data from FOI requests in 2022. In 2019, newborn Aisha Cleary died at HMP Bronzefield after her mother, who was in prison on remand, was left to give birth alone in her cell.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 23 February 2025
  25. Sam
    Scores of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) have suffered debilitating side-effects after being put on to a cheaper new drug as part of an NHS drive to save money.
    About 170 MS patients at Charing Cross hospital in London have had complications, including a relapse of their illness, after being switched from Tysabri to a different drug called Tyruko, made by the pharmaceutical company Sandoz.
    In a handful of cases, the people affected developed such serious symptoms that they had to be taken to hospital for treatment. Patients have told doctors about side-effects including an inability to use their legs, other mobility problems, fatigue, pain and sudden weight gain.
    It is unclear how widespread the adverse reactions to Tyruko are. NHS England said the problem has only been seen at the London hospital. However, one of the patients there claimed to know of people with MS being treated at 15 other hospitals in England who have experienced similar setbacks to their health after being moved on to Tyruko after sometimes years taking Tysabri.
    Problems have arisen since NHS England began moving patients across the country with very active relapsing remitting MS from Tysabri on to Tyruko, a “biosimilar” drug, last April. A biosimilar is a version of a drug that has fallen out of patent, allowing other pharmaceutical firms to legally make a medicine that is as safe and effective as the original but on average 72% cheaper.
    The side-effects from Tyruko are causing so much concern within the health service that NHS England is in discussion with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) about what to do.
    A spokesperson for Sandoz said: “Patient safety is our first priority. We are seeking to understand the situation at Imperial healthcare NHS trust, which appears to contrast with the experience of patients at other UK hospitals. We believe it’s premature to draw conclusions at this point. We continue to work with the NHS and regulatory authorities to resolve this.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 24 May 2025

© 2026 Patient Safety Learning. All rights reserved.

Patient Safety Learning is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission Registration number 1180689.

×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.