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Sam

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  1. Sam
    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has launched the first prosecution of an acute trust for failing to meet fundamental standards of care.
    East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust faces two charges relating to the death of Harry Richford and the risks posed to his mother during his birth. Both charges are under regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
    The trust is accused of failing to discharge its duty under regulation 12 in that it failed to provide safe care and treatment exposing Harry and his mother Sarah to a significant risk of avoidable harm.
    It is only the fourth prosecution of a trust over the “fundamental standards” which were brought in following the Mid Staffordshire care scandal and are meant to be enforced by the CQC. It is also thought to be the first related to the safety of clinical care.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 9 October 2020
  2. Sam
    Some acute trusts have failed to report large numbers of hospital-acquired covid infections as patient safety incidents, despite NHS England describing this as ‘fundamental’. 
    HSJ examined the numbers of “infection control” patient safety incidents reported to the national reporting and learning system in 2020-21, and compared this to separate NHS England data on covid infections most likely to have been acquired in hospital.
    The number of incidents reported to the NRLS in the 12-month period should in theory be higher, as it covers all types of hospital-acquired infections, while the NHSE data only covered covid infections in the last seven months of the year. 
    This appears to hold true nationally, with almost 59,000 incidents reported to the NRLS, compared to around 36,000 likely hospital-acquired covid infections suggested by the NHSE data. But for around a third of trusts, the incident numbers reported to the NRLS were smaller, with some appearing to report very low numbers.
    Helen Hughes, chief executive of patient safety charity Patient Safety Learning, said: “The scale of the under-reporting set out in these findings is particularly concerning.”
    “As this data informs assessment of performance at both organisational and national levels, it is possible that this could create a false assurance about the extent of harm in this period,” Ms Hughes said.
    “Where organisations are now retrospectively completing serious incident reports, there are obvious questions as to whether key insights will have been lost as memories of incidents fade over time and their causes.”
    “However, they rely on the capacity and commitment of staff behind them. The pandemic has placed an enormous strain on the health service and we have heard from staff the time constraints this has put on them to report patient safety incidents,” she added. 
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 15 October 2021
  3. Sam
    It has a plethora of symptoms, strikes the young and old, and lasts for months – maybe much longer. It’s also so new that scientists aren’t sure what they’re dealing with. For those whose lives have been deeply affected by long-term repercussions of Covid, the battle to be recognised is just the start.
    There are thousands of people in the UK dealing with the long-term effects of COVID-19, experiencing debilitating symptoms that last for weeks and months beyond the initial infection.
    One of the most commonly reported is fatigue, along with breathlessness, joint pain and muscle aches. Neurological issues are common, particularly brain ‘fog’ and a loss of memory and concentration. Some have chest pain or heart palpitations, skin rashes, diarrhoea, headaches, hearing or eyesight problems, or hair loss. Others have lost their senses of taste and smell. In online support groups, people are sharing stories of bone-crippling exhaustion, constant pain in their chest or heart, or the inability to remember a name or follow a conversation.
    These people don’t fit the binary model of the virus we thought we knew – that if you’re in the small minority who are seriously affected you might be hospitalised, end up in ICU or worse; otherwise you’ll likely be better after two weeks. Many only had mild cases originally and were not deemed to be in vulnerable categories.
    Widely varying symptoms have added to the confusion and fear surrounding the condition, which currently has no formal definition. For months, people with Long Covid had no one to turn to but each other. It’s only recently – through increasing research emerging, and sufferers publicly sharing their stories – that it has started to be taken more seriously. Earlier this month, NHS England announced a £10 million investment to set up one-stop services for physical and mental health issues caused by Covid alongside a Long Covid task force and, crucially, research on 10,000 patients.
    Not much is known about what causes Long Covid and there is little firm consensus. There are theories it occurs when a patient’s immune system overreacts to the infection, which can lead to widespread inflammation that theoretically affects any organ. Last week, a study by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) suggested Long Covid symptoms could actually be caused by four separate syndromes: post-intensive-care syndrome, post-viral fatigue syndrome, permanent organ damage to the lungs and heart, or lingering COVID-19 symptoms.
    Read full story
    Source: The Telegraph, 24 October 2020
  4. Sam
    The chief inspector of hospitals has called for honesty about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on patients warning poor care could become normalised.
    Professor Ted Baker told The Independent it was vital staff continued to report incidents and revealed the Care Quality Commission had seen a 60% rise in whistleblowing concerns during the last national lockdown in November.
    He said staff must report incidents and be free to speak up about any concerns as well as being transparent with families where things have gone wrong.
    He emphasised that where a patient was unable to get the care they clinically needed because of the demand on services, this would amount to a notifiable patient safety incident.
    Professor Baker’s comments follow multiple anonymous leaks from NHS staff to The Independent in recent weeks, showing how bad the situation has become in some hospitals. Many staff have only spoken out on condition of anonymity.
    Many hospitals have declared major incidents, cancelled operations and been forced to stretch staffing ratios to unsafe levels to cope with the increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 7 January 2021
  5. Sam
    There has been a sharp rise in the number of nurses considering quitting the profession compared to this time last year, suggest results from a new survey.
    The research also found that “existing tensions” among the workforce appeared to have been “exacerbated” by the COVID-19 crisis.
    The survey findings feature in a new report published by Royal College of Nursing and cover the views of almost 42,000 of its members across the UK and Channel Islands.
    Of those who responded to the survey, 36% of nurses were thinking of leaving the profession, an increase from 27% reported in a similar piece of research carried out at the end of last year.
    When considering the reasons for quitting, 61% of staff indicated that the level of pay was the “main driver”, while others said they were dissatisfied with the way nursing staff had been treated during the pandemic (44%).
    Meanwhile, 43% of nurses cited low staffing levels and 42% a lack of management support as key reasons for wanting to leave nursing.
    Read full story
    Source: Nursing Times, 17 July 2020
  6. Sam
    The parents of a three-year-old boy whose death was part of an alleged NHS cover-up have won a six year battle for the truth about how he died.
    Shropshire coroner John Ellery backed the parents of three-year-old Jonnie Meek in a second inquest into his death on Thursday and rejected evidence from nurses about what happened at Stafford Hospital in August 2014.
    Jonnie, who was born with rare congenital disability De Grouchy syndrome, died two hours after being admitted to hospital to trial a new feed which was being fed directly into his stomach. His parents, John Meek and April Keeling, from Cannock in Staffordshire, have always maintained their son died after a reaction to the milk feed caused him to vomit and suffocate.
    But they have been forced to battle what they believe was an attempt to hide what happened after they discovered attempts to alter their son’s medical history with claims he had experienced several cardiac arrests requiring resuscitation which never happened.
    In 2015, healthcare assistant Lauren Tew, who was with Jonnie and his mother when he died, told the HSJ that a statement in her name submitted to a child death overview panel stating Jonnie had died from a sudden cardiac arrest was false and she had never made such a statement.
    Another statement said Jonnie had been admitted to hospital for three weeks months before his death which also never happened.
    After his parents exposed the false statements an independent inquiry was launched, with three independent experts agreeing with Jonnie’s parents, and in April last year the High Court quashed the original inquest verdict that Jonnie died of natural causes and pneumonia.
    Speaking to The Independent Jonnie’s father said: “This does bring us some peace after six years. For the coroner to say he believes April over the nurses after all this time is a big weight lifted off her.
    “The hospital definitely decided to try and cover up what happened to Jonnie. We have always said we knew what happened and this has been a massive waste of resources. I am still very concerned about how these things can happen in the first place.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 15 October 2020
  7. Sam
    Incidents including a cardiac arrest where an ambulance took more than an hour to arrive and the patient died have prompted trust chiefs to suggest they cannot prevent patient harm under their current funding levels.
    A report to the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) said patients suffering harm due to delayed ambulance response times “is a continuing theme due to the unprecedented demand the service is currently experiencing”.
    The report said the trust is trying to secure additional funding from commissioners, which would “reduce the likelihood of a similar incident for other patients in future”.
    NEAS has upheld several recent complaints made by families or patients about the harm being caused by delayed response times, but suggested the levels of demand on the service meant there was nothing it could have done differently.
    In one example, a woman in her 50s died from a cardiac arrest shortly after arrival to hospital after NEAS took 62 minutes to respond to a 999 call. NEAS had designated the woman, who had a history of heart attacks, a category two response – which should aim to arrive within 18 minutes on average.
    "All ambulance trusts have been seeing significant patient harm and the mainstream press have been strangely silent about this."
    "That it has got the stage where patients are routinely dying and being harmed while the resources are available, but tied up waiting outside hospitals, is truly maladministration on a grand scale."
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 9 December 2021
  8. Sam
    National NHS leaders are to take action over growing fears that the “unintended consequences” of focusing so heavily on tackling covid-19 could do more harm than the virus, HSJ has learned. 
    NHS England analysts have been tasked with the challenging task of identifying patients who may not have the virus but may be at risk of significant harm or death because they are missing vital appointments or not attending emergency departments, with both the service and public so focused on covid-19. 
    A senior NHS source familiar with the programme told HSJ: “There could be some very serious unintended consequences [to all the resource going into fighting coronavirus]. While there will be a lot of covid-19 fatalities, we could end up losing more ‘years of life’ because of fatalities relating to non-covid-19 health complications.
    “What we don’t want to do is take our eye off the ball in terms of all the core business and all the other healthcare issues the NHS normally attends to."

    “People will be developing symptoms of serious but treatable diseases, babies will be born which need immunising, and people will be developing breast lumps and need mammograms.”
    HSJ understands system leaders are hopeful that in the coming days they will be able to assess the scale of the problem, and the key patient groups, and then begin planning the right interventions and communications programme to tackle it.
    Read full story
    Source: HSJ, 5 April 2020
  9. Sam
    Becton Dickinson (BD), which manufactures most of the blood tubes used by the NHS, has alerted NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) to a global shortage of some of its products, including two types of blood tubes: those with a yellow or purple top.
    BD says that the COVID-19 pandemic created the most unpredictable demand it has seen in the past 70 years. The company says that it has also been difficult for customers to predict the types and quantities of blood tubes they will be using from month to month, which affects manufacturers’ abilities to meet demand. “Adding to the issue are global transportation delays that have resulted in more products being tied up in transportation than is normal, creating additional delays in deliveries,” BD said in a statement. “Raw material suppliers are also challenged to keep up with demand for materials and components.”
    In the UK, BD has been authorised to import blood tubes that are approved for use in other regions of the world, including the United States. It plans to deliver nine million of these additional blood tubes to the NHS for immediate distribution. 
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: BMJ, 3 September 2021
  10. Sam
    Covid’s second surge has begun disrupting elective care at hospitals outside the north west, HSJ has learned.
    At Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, the number of patients with COVID-19 is “rising fast”, causing ward closures and elective care disruption, according to an internal memo seen by HSJ.
    The memo, sent by the trust’s divisional director for surgery Simon Parsons, said covid admissions to the trust “are way past 100 and rising fast”.
    “There are also outbreaks of covid on certain wards, which have resulted in closures of beds,” Mr Parsons said.
    “I am afraid the elective programme is going to be disrupted and we are doing everything we can to preserve as much elective work as possible,” said the memo to staff at the major teaching hospital.
    Mr Parsons called on clinicians to concentrate on “getting patients discharged in a timely way” and for them to escalate instances where patients were fit for discharge but not leaving the trust.
    “We are not asking you to make unsafe discharges but to keep length of stay as short as possible,” Mr Parsons said.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 14 October 2020
  11. Sam
    New research has suggested there are specific molecular responses found in some COVID-19 patients which could be used to determine their likelihood of suffering from severe or long Covid symptoms, very early on following infection.
    Researchers, supported by NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, had set out to increase our understanding of the relationship between the immune response and COVID-19 symptoms by recruiting individuals who tested positive for the virus into a cohort of the NIHR BioResource.
    Studying 207 people who had tested positive for COVID-19 over a three-month period, taking blood samples and measuring their symptoms, then comparing to samples taken from 45 healthy people, the researchers were able to uncover a number of interesting new findings.
    Their research showed that people with either an asymptomatic or mild case of COVID-19 mounted a robust immune response to the virus soon after getting infected. These individuals produced a greater number of T cells, B cells and antibodies than patients with more severe COVID-19 infections and within the first week of infection - after which these numbers rapidly returned to normal.
    The study also showed there was no evidence in these patients of widespread inflammation which can lead to damage in multiple organs.
    In contrast, people with severe COVID-19 who required hospitalisation showed an impaired immune response, which led to a delayed and weakened attempt to fight the virus and widespread inflammation from the time of symptom onset. In patients requiring admission to hospital, the early immune response was delayed, and profound abnormalities were present in a number of immune cells.

    Read full story
    Source: NHE, 22 January 2021
  12. Sam
    The Nightingale surge hubs cost more than £10.6 million to set up but have admitted roughly seven patients, it has emerged.
    Eight temporary sites were built at hospitals across the country during the height of the omicron wave, with the capacity to house about 100 patients each. However, it has now been revealed that the hubs cost £10,672,088 to build and only one has admitted a handful of patients.
    Announcing the hubs in December, NHS England said they would be used if “the record number of Covid-19 infections leads to a surge in admissions and outstrips existing capacity”.
    However, as of Jan 30, there were 1,285 daily admissions, an eight per cent decrease on the previous week.
    The chief executive of the William Harvey Hospital, in Ashford, Kent – the location of one of the eight omicron hubs – has expressed concerns that the structure “may adversely impact” other services and never be used.
    The cost of the hubs was revealed in response to a written question submitted by Damian Green, the Conservative MP Mr Green said that the temporary sites were an “insurance policy” and added “it looks like they won’t be needed”. He called on ministers to assess if they could be repurposed to help clear the backlog of patients waiting for treatment.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Telegraph, 2 February 2022
  13. Sam
    Increasing staff absence due to COVID-19 will have a ‘significant impact’ on the ability of the NHS to deliver critical care services and routine operations, leading intensive care doctors have said.
    The latest NHS England data has shown the number of COVID-19 related absences of staff, either through sickness or self-isolation, has risen from 11,952 on 1 September to 19,493 on 1 October. Staff absence has almost doubled in the North West in this time as well – from 2,664 to 5,142 during the same period.
    It peaked at 17,628 in the region on 11 April and means the October total accounts for nearly a third of that amount already (29%). 
    Alison Pittard, dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, confirmed increasing numbers of NHS critical care staff were absent from work. “I suspect this is due to having to be at home with children asked to isolate and therefore the parent needing to isolate, as was the case in the first wave," she told HSJ.
     “This will have an impact on our ability to deliver critical care services. We know that staff numbers are inadequate at the best of times, with a significant vacancy rate especially for critical care nurses.”
    Royal College of Anaesthetists council member Helgi Johannsson said the rising absence rate was “likely to have a significant impact”, particularly on routine operations.
    Dr Johannsson, a consultant anaesthetist at Imperial College Healthcare Trust, said: “In my hospitals, I have been aware of several doctors and nurses having to isolate due to their children being asked to self-isolate. These healthcare staff were otherwise well and would have been at work."
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 14 October 2020
  14. Sam
    A hospital in the South East today declared a level of critical care alert meaning that it may be forced into ‘refusal or withdrawal of critical care due to resource limitation’ because it has been ‘overwhelmed’ — but later claimed it was an ”administrative error”.
    Data from an internal NHS dashboard for critical care, seen by HSJ, showed today Darent Valley Hospital, near Dartford in Kent, declared it was at “CRITCON level four”. 
    CRITCON level four declarations are extremely rare. In guidance they are known as “Triage - emergency” and defined as: “Resources overwhelmed. Possibility of triage by resource (non-clinical refusal or withdrawal of critical care due to resource limitation).”
    The definition continues: “This must only be implemented on national directive from [NHS England] and in accordance with national guidance.”
    Dartford and Gravesham Trust, which runs the hospital, replied to HSJ more than five hours after it was contacted, and after publication of the story, to say: “This was a purely administrative error which was quickly rectified.” The level has not however been changed so far on the live dashboard, HSJ has confirmed.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 7 January 2021
  15. Sam
    A leading health expert has suggested ministers have “lost control of the virus”, after the UK recorded it’s largest 24-hour spike in COVID-19 cases since 23 May.
    Government figures showed there have been a further 2,988 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK as of 9am on Sunday. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the UK to 347,152.
    Sunday's figure is the highest since May 22 when 3,287 cases were recorded, and is also the first 24-hour period when cases passed 2,000 since the end of May. The tally was an increase on Saturday's figures of 1,813 new cases.
    Prof Gabriel Scally, a member of the Independent Sage group and a former NHS regional director of public health for the south-west, warned that government ministers had “lost control of the virus”.
    “It’s no longer small outbreaks they can stamp on,” he told The Guardian. “It’s become endemic in our poorest communities and this is the result.
    Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth called upon the government to respond to the sharp spike.
    He added that it was “a stark reminder that there is no room for complacency in tackling the spread of the virus”.
    “This increase, combined with the ongoing testing fiasco where ill people are told to drive for miles for tests, and the poor performance of the contact tracing system, needs an explanation from ministers,” he said on Sunday.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 7 September 2020
  16. Sam
    ‘Systemic’ problems within mental health services in Birmingham have caused the number of people waiting for an inpatient bed to reach ‘extremely concerning’ levels, according to documents leaked to HSJ.
    There are currently 41 people waiting to be admitted to a bed by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) , according to internal documents, while 36 people have already had to be sent to private sector facilities up to 150 miles away.
    The NHS in the area has indicated to HSJ  that it is due to need for “intensive levels of care” now growing because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    In an email thread, sent to 60 people in the trust including senior executives, one senior clinician wrote in response to the bed figures: “The number of patients with Mental Health Act assessments completed is extremely concerning. This needs to be escalated to commissioners. The problem is systemic.”
    It comes after an HSJ investigation earlier this year into the deaths of 12 patients under BSMHFT’s services. It revealed senior medics had repeatedly warned the trust about severe bed shortages and a lack of capacity within home treatment services.
    The trust said it was addressing the issues raised, but senior clinicians told HSJ this week the trust is still short of at least 80 adult mental health beds.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 15 October 2020
  17. Sam
    Consultants at a major tertiary centre have written to their chief executive, warning services are in ‘an extremely unsafe situation’ and calling for elective work to be diverted elsewhere.
    Surgeons and anaesthetists at the former Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust — now part of University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust — said: “We are devastated to report that the care we aspire to is not being provided at UHS… we are forced to contemplate that it is not safe to be open as a trauma tertiary centre and we feel elective activity must be proactively diverted elsewhere.”
    The letter from BSUH’s anaesthetist and surgical consultant body is dated yesterday and was sent to UHSussex chief executive Dame Marianne Griffiths. The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton — part of the trust — is the major trauma centre for the South East coast, from Chichester to parts of Kent.
    In the letter, seen by HSJ, the consultants claimed a shortage of theatre staff is leading to “clinical safety issues, gross operational inefficiencies and burnout within our remaining depleted staff groups”. 
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 21 September 2021
  18. Sam
    For more than two decades, Derek McMinn harvested the bones of his patients, according to a leaked report – but it was not until last year that anyone challenged the renowned surgeon.
    The full scale of his alleged collection was apparently kept from the care regulator until just days ago, and thousands of those who went under his knife for hip and knee treatment still have no idea that their joints may have been collected in a pot in the operating theatre, and stored in the 67-year-old’s office or home.
    Clinicians and managers at the BMI Edgbaston Hospital, where McMinn carried out the majority of his operations, actively took part in the collection of bones and – even after alarms were raised – the hospital did not immediately act to stop the tissue being taken away, according to a leaked internal report seen by The Independent.
    An investigation found operating theatre staff at the private hospital left dozens of pots containing joints removed from patients femurs during hip surgery in a storage area, in some cases for months. According to the report, there had been warnings about their responsibilities under the Human Tissue Act when an earlier audit between 2010 and 2015 identified the storage of femoral heads, the joints removed in the procedure.  
    The internal report said there was no evidence McMinn had carried out any research or had been approved for any research work – required by the Human Tissue Authority to legally store samples. It said one member of staff told investigators the samples were being collected for research on McMinn’s retirement.
    Although the Care Quality Commission knew about claims that a small number of bones being kept by McMinn, it is understood that the regulator received a copy of the BMI Healthcare investigation report only last Friday, after The Independent had made initial inquiries about the case. That report suggests a minimum of 5,224 samples had been taken by McMinn.
    The regulator confirmed to The Independent it had not been aware of the extent of McMinn’s supposed actions.
    An insider at BMI Healthcare accused the company of “covering up”, adding: “Quite senior staff at the hospital went along with it and just handed the pots over to his staff when they came to collect them.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 30 September 2020
  19. Sam
    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has called for ‘ministerial ownership’ to end the ‘inhumane’ care of patients with learning difficulties and autism in hospital – after finding some cases where people had been held in long-term segregation for more than 10 years.
    Following its second review into the uses of restraint and segregation on people with a learning difficulty, autism and mental health problems, the CQC has warned it “cannot be confident that their human rights are upheld, let alone be confident that they are supported to live fulfilling lives”.
    The review was ordered by health and social care secretary Matt Hancock in late 2018 in response to mounting concerns about the quality of care in these areas.
    According to the report, published today, inspectors found examples people being in long-term segregation for at least 13 years, and in hospital for up to 25 years. It also found evidence showing the proportion of children from a black or black British background subjected to prolonged seclusion on child and adolescent mental health wards was almost four times that of other ethnicities.
    Looking at care received in hospital the CQC found many care plans were “generic” and “meaningless” and patients did not have access to any therapeutic care.
    Reviewers also found people’s physical healthcare needs were overlooked. One women was left in pain for several months due to her provider failing to get medical treatment.
    The regulator also reviewed the use of restrictive practices within community settings. While it found higher quality care, and the use of restrictive practices was less common, it said there was no national reporting system for this sector.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 22 October 2020
  20. Sam
    PRESS RELEASE
    (London, UK, 11 September) – The charity Patient Safety Learning are calling on the NHS to publish details of post-COVID support clinics and clarify how these can be accessed by thousands of ‘Long COVID’ patients.
    Patient Safety Learning has written to Sir Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of the NHS, calling on him to take steps to publicise the locations and details of these services. This follows Matt Hancock MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, expressing concerns in the Health and Social Care Select Committee on Tuesday that not all GPs know how to access these services.
    Helen Hughes, Chief Executive of Patient Safety Learning, said: “We have heard from many Long COVID patients that they are not clear on the location of these clinics, what services they offer and who is eligible for support. Some patients have been advised by their GP that there are no post-COVID clinics available within their area. Though the NHS launched the ‘Your COVID Recovery’ online portal for patients recovering from COVID, there is no clear indication of how the clinics fit into this and how patients can access the support they need.”
    Long COVID patients are those with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 who continue to struggle with prolonged, debilitating and sometimes severe symptoms months later. In their letter, the charity has identified a series of steps needed to provide greater clarity for these patients, including:
    Publishing a list of all existing post-COVID clinics and contact details. Confirming whether these clinics are accessed by referral from your GP or self-referral. If by GP referral, publish the guidance issued to GPs on this process. Confirming who is eligible for these services, whether they are restricted to those hospitalised by COVID-19 or open to those who are managing their symptoms at home. Confirm what services are available from these clinics. Specifically, whether they can help patients access clinical investigations, as well as treatment and rehabilitation. Clarify whether these services are available to all patients or only those who have had a confirmed positive test for COVID-19. Notes to editors:
    Patient Safety Learning is a charity, which helps transform safety in health and social care, creating a world where patients are free from harm. We identify the critical factors that affect patient safety and analyse the systemic reasons they fail. We use what we learn to envision safer care. We recommend how to get there. Then we act to help make it happen. For more information: www.patientsafetylearning.org In the Health and Social Care Select Committee on Tuesday 8 September 2020, Matt Hancock commented that “The NHS set up Long COVID clinics and announced them in July. I am concerned by reports this morning from the Royal College of GPs that not all GPs know how to ensure that people can get into those services. That is something I will take up with the NHS and that I am sure we will be able to resolve.” The full transcript can be found here. Patient Safety Learning’s full letter to Sir Simon Stevens can be found here. Patient Safety Learning have previously set out patient safety concerns for Long COVID patients, outlining these issues in more detail. Read more here.  
  21. Sam
    A concise training programme aimed at informing healthcare staff about diabetes has the potential to significantly improve patient safety, according to researchers.
    The programme, which was developed by the North West London Collaboration of Clinical Commissioning Groups, has been linked with a reduction in diabetes-related errors.
    The Diabetes 10 Point Training Programme was initially created with the aim of improving inpatient safety by ensuring frontline staff have access to diabetes training.
    Researchers from the CCG collaboration noted that the annual National Diabetes Inpatient Audit (NaDIA) had made for “grim reading with errors, harm, increased length of stay and mortality”.
    They highlighted that a workforce with knowledge of diabetes was “crucial to inpatient safety”, and said that complex diabetes care could be delivered by non-specialists with adequate training.
    Read full story
    Source: Nursing Times, 29 April. 2021
  22. Sam
    More than 80 new clinics to assess patients suffering with symptoms of Long Covid are to be opened by the NHS by the end of this month with an extra investment of £24m.
    NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said the health service must “continue to expand its offer for Long Covid” adding there will be even more funding earmarked for the problem in the future.
    Speaking at the Health Service Journal’s leadership congress on Wednesday, Sir Simon said: “We have 69 clinics identified last year and we will have 83 long Covid clinics in place by the end of this month, so a significant expansion there.
    “We will be backing that with at least £24 million revenue funding going into this New Year, up from the £10 million announced last year, and there will be more to come on the back of that as well.”
    Recent estimates by the Office for National Statistics found more than a million people could be experiencing long Covid beyond four weeks with 674,000 people saying it was affecting their day to day lives. Almost 200,000 people have said their ability to carry out normal activities has been severely limited by the condition.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 14 April 2021
  23. Sam
    The second wave of COVID-19 has put doctors under huge pressure, the Royal College of Physicians has warned, as two thirds of physicians report feeling tired or exhausted.
    A survey of 25 500 members of the college from across the UK, conducted on 2 November, received 1890 responses. It found that two thirds (64%, 931) felt tired or exhausted, 48% (687) felt worried, and just under a third (29%, 424) felt demoralised. Almost a fifth (19%, 280) said they have sought informal mental health support, such as speaking to colleagues or friends, during the pandemic. Just 10% (155) said they had sought formal mental health support from either their employer, GP, or external services.
    College president Andrew Goddard said he was concerned about the mental health of doctors, “There is no way to dress it up—it is pretty awful at the moment in the world of medicine. Hospital admissions are at the highest ever level, staff are exhausted, and although there is light at the end of the tunnel, it seems a long way away.”
    He said that before the pandemic, few physicians would have expected to need formal mental health support during their career.
    After the pandemic, staff will be in desperate need of a break, Goddard said, and will need specific time away if they’re to be at their best. “Doctors have demonstrated remarkable resilience throughout the pandemic, working under the most challenging conditions the NHS has ever faced, but they can’t continue working this way forever,” he said.
    Read full story
    Source: The BMJ, 21 January 2021
  24. Sam
    A new state of the art institute for antimicrobial research is to open at Oxford University thanks to a £100 million donation from Ineos.
    Ineos, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, and the University of Oxford are launching a new world-leading institute to combat the growing global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which currently causes an estimated 1.5 million excess deaths each year- and could cause over 10m deaths per year by 2050. Predicted to also create a global economic toll of $100 trillion by mid-century, it is arguably the greatest economic and healthcare challenge facing the world post-Covid.
    It is bacterial resistance, caused by overuse and misuse of antibiotics, which arguably poses the broadest threat to global populations. The world is fast running out of effective antibiotics as bacteria evolve to develop resistance to our taken-for-granted treatments. Without urgent collaborative action to prevent common microbes becoming multi-drug resistant (commonly known as ‘superbugs’), we could return to a world where taken-for-granted treatments such as chemotherapy and hip replacements could become too risky, childbirth becomes extremely dangerous, and even a basic scratch could kill.
    The rapid progression of antibacterial resistance is a natural process, exacerbated by significant overuse and misuse of antibiotics not only in human populations but especially in agriculture. Meanwhile, the field of new drug discovery has attracted insufficient scientific interest and funding in recent decades meaning no new antibiotics have been successfully developed since the 1980s.
    Alongside its drug discovery work, the IOI intends to partner with other global leaders in the field of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) to raise awareness and promote responsible use of antimicrobial drugs. The academic team will contribute to research on the type and extent of drug resistant microbes across the world, and critically, will seek to attract and train the brightest minds in science to tackle this ‘silent pandemic’.
    Read full story
    Source: University of Oxford, 19 January 2021
  25. Sam
    Ministers have denied care home inspectors access to weekly testing for coronavirus – despite fears they could contribute to the spread of COVID-19 as cases rise across the country, The Independent can reveal.
    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) was told by the Department of Health and Social Care last month it could not have access to regular testing for inspection teams as the watchdog prepares for 500 inspections of care homes during the next six weeks.
    Officials said the teams, who are assessing care conditions for the vulnerable and elderly, did not get close enough to people to present a risk.
    During the first wave of the virus, after Public Health England initially said there was no risk to care homes, an estimated 16,000 residents died from the virus.  At the height of the crisis up to 25,000 NHS patients were discharged to care homes by the NHS, with many not having been tested for the virus.
    Labour MP Barbara Keeley said: “The refusal of the Department of Health and Social Care to treat CQC inspectors in the same way as other staff going into care homes puts lives at risk.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 20 October 2020
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