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Sam

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  1. News Article
    New official guidance on treating menopause will harm women’s health, experts, MPs and campaigners have warned. Last month, new draft guidelines to GPs from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said that women experiencing hot flushes, night sweats, depression and sleep problems could be offered cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) “alongside or as an alternative to” hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to help reduce their menopause symptoms. But critics have castigated the guidance, saying it belittled symptoms through misogynistic language, and women’s health would suffer as a result of failing to emphasise the benefits of HRT on bone and cardiovascular health as opposed to CBT. In its response to the guidance, Mumsnet said NICE's recommendations used “patronising” and “offensive” language and would be “detrimental” to women’s health. Justine Roberts, the founder and chief executive of Mumsnet, said: “Women already struggle to access the HRT they are entitled to. We hear daily from women in perimenopause and menopause who are battling against a toxic combination of entrenched misogyny, misinformation and lack of knowledge among GPs. “Too often they are fobbed off or told they simply need to put up with severe physical and mental symptoms – often with life-changing effects. “By emphasising the negative over the positive, failing to include information about the safest forms of HRT and placing CBT on a par with hormone replacement therapy, this guidance will worsen that struggle. It will make doctors more reluctant to prescribe HRT and women more fearful about asking for or accepting it.” Carolyn Harris, the MP for Swansea East and the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on menopause, said the new guidance was “antiquated”, “naive” and “ill thought-out”. ”Talking can make you feel better, but it’s not going to take away the aches in your joints and it’s not going to change how you live your life,” she said. “Whatever a woman feels is what she needs to support her through the menopause should be readily and immediately available, and that’s not true currently [of HRT or CBT]." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 December 2023
  2. Event
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    Five people die with sepsis every hour in the UK. Sepsis is a serious complication of an infection. Without quick treatment it can lead to multiple organ failure and death. Sepsis often goes undiagnosed and it is important to raise awareness of the symptoms and what to look out for in order to reduce the number of sepsis-related death. This webinar will give attendees a chance to hear from Dr Ron Daniels, Founder & Joint CEO of the UK Sepsis Trust and Melissa Mead, whose son William died from sepsis in 2014 and has passionately campaigned to raise awareness of the issue ever since. The webinar is free to attend and there will be time for Q&A towards the end. Register
  3. News Article
    Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to provide evidence at the Covid Inquiry on the 6 and 7 of December. Long Covid is one of the most catastrophic consequences of the pandemic and it deserves a prominent place in the discussions during this critical phase of the inquiry. The Long Covid Groups will be delivering a letter to No.10 Downing Street today, urging attention to the unique challenges faced by those with Long Covid. Read the letter and sign the petition
  4. News Article
    Newborn babies could be at a higher risk of a deadly bacterial infection carried by their mothers than previously thought. Group B Strep or GBS is a common bacteria found in the vagina and rectum which is usually harmless. However, it can be passed on from mothers to their newborn babies leading to complications such as meningitis and sepsis. NHS England says that GBS rarely causes problems and 1 in 1,750 babies fall ill after contracting the infection. However, researchers at the University of Cambridge have found that the likelihood of newborn babies falling ill could be far greater. They claim one in 200 newborns are admitted to neonatal units with sepsis caused by GBS. Pregnant women are not routinely screened for GBS in the UK and only usually discover they are carriers if they have other complications or risk factors. Jane Plumb, co-founded charity Group B Strep Support with her husband Robert after losing their middle child to the infection in 1996. She said: “This important study highlights the extent of the devastating impact group B Strep has on newborn babies, and how important it is to measure accurately the number of these infections. “Inadequate data collected on group B Strep is why we recently urged the Government to make group B Strep a notifiable disease, ensuring cases would have to be reported. “Without understanding the true number of infections, we may not implement appropriate prevention strategies and are unable to measure their true effectiveness.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 November 2023 Further reading on the hub: Leading for safety: A conversation with Jane Plumb, Founder of Group B Strep Support
  5. News Article
    Patients are at risk of having serious health conditions missed because of the lack of continuity of care provided by GPs, the NHS safety watchdog says. Investigators highlighted the case of Brian who was seen by eight different GPs before his cancer was spotted as an example of what can go wrong. Brian had a history of breast cancer and had been discharged from the breast cancer service. Two years later he began to have back pain. Over the following eight months, he saw two out-of-hours GPs and six GPs based at his local practices as well as a physio and GP nurse, before he was sent for a hospital check-up in late 2020. A secondary cancer had developed on Brian's spine, but it was too late to offer him curative treatment and he was given end-of-life care. He has since died. The watchdog said the lack of continuity of care resulted in the diagnosis of Brian's cancer being missed. One of the key problems was that the different GPs he saw missed the fact he was attending repeatedly for the same issue. Senior investigator Neil Alexander said Brian's case was a "stark example" of what can happen when there is a breakdown in continuity of care. "He told our team 'when I am gone, no-one else should have to go through what I did'." Read full story Source: BBC News, 30 November 2023
  6. News Article
    The number of people with norovirus in hospital in England is 179% higher than the average at this time of year, official data shows, as the NHS comes under mounting winter pressure. Admissions caused by the vomiting and diarrhoea-causing norovirus have surged and cases of other seasonal viruses are also rising, according to NHS England figures. Health chiefs said the impact on hospitals from seasonal viruses was likely to be worsened by the current cold weather. “We all know somebody who has had some kind of nasty winter virus in the last few weeks,” said Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director. “Today’s data shows this is starting to trickle through to hospital admissions, with a much higher volume of norovirus cases compared to last year, and the continued impact of infections like flu and RSV in children on hospital capacity – all likely to be exacerbated by this week’s cold weather.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 November 2023
  7. Event

    IHI Forum

    Sam

    Sam posted an event in Community Calendar

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    The IHI Forum is a four-day conference that has been the home of quality improvement in health care for more than 30 years. Dedicated improvement professionals from across the globe will be convening to tackle health care's most pressing challenges: improvement capability, patient and workforce safety, equity, climate change, artificial intelligence, and more. Register
  8. Event
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    The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sets out a new approach to learning and improving following patient safety incidents across the NHS in England. PSIRF embedding webinars will feature presentations from NHS organisations and will focus on sharing experiences, adaptions and learning as the designed systems and processes put in place prior to transition are operationalised. Recordings, slides and Q&As from our transition webinars series can be found on Future NHS alongside other workshops and supplementary materials and resources: PSIRF Presentations - NHS Patient Safety - FutureNHS Collaboration Platform Audience: Embedding webinars are open to everyone to attend, including both NHS and arm’s length bodies. Presenters: Tracey Herlihey, Head of Patient Safety Incident Response, NHS England Further speakers TBC Register
  9. Event
    The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sets out a new approach to learning and improving following patient safety incidents across the NHS in England. PSIRF embedding webinars will feature presentations from NHS organisations and will focus on sharing experiences, adaptions and learning as the designed systems and processes put in place prior to transition are operationalised. Recordings, slides and Q&As from our transition webinars series can be found on Future NHS alongside other workshops and supplementary materials and resources: PSIRF Presentations - NHS Patient Safety - FutureNHS Collaboration Platform Audience: Embedding webinars are open to everyone to attend, including both NHS and arm’s length bodies. Presenters: Tracey Herlihey, Head of Patient Safety Incident Response, NHS England Further speakers TBC Register
  10. Event
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    The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sets out a new approach to learning and improving following patient safety incidents across the NHS in England. PSIRF embedding webinars will feature presentations from NHS organisations and will focus on sharing experiences, adaptions and learning as the designed systems and processes put in place prior to transition are operationalised. Recordings, slides and Q&As from our transition webinars series can be found on Future NHS alongside other workshops and supplementary materials and resources: PSIRF Presentations - NHS Patient Safety - FutureNHS Collaboration Platform Audience: Embedding webinars are open to everyone to attend, including both NHS and arm’s length bodies. Presenters: Tracey Herlihey, Head of Patient Safety Incident Response, NHS England Further speakers TBC Register
  11. Event
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    NHS Resolution’s Safety and Learning team, are hosting a virtual forum on perspectives on delivering health in the prison and justice system. The purpose is to raise awareness of the cost and scale of harm, discuss the realities, best practice, challenges and recommendations around collaborating to support healthcare delivery in the justice system. We will hear from a diverse range of experts in the field. The format is interactive, with presentations followed by questions and panel discussion. Event programme: Learning from prison claims - NHS Resolution The realities of delivering healthcare in prison - Practice Plus Group Good practice and themes from inspections - HM Inspectorate of Prisons The medico-legal aspect of prison health claims - Bevan Brittan Q&A panel discussion. Register
  12. News Article
    HSJ analysis of the NHS England data also found that 19,000 adults with a serious mental illness are waiting for longer than 18 months for a second contact with community mental health services. This is seen as a more meaningful metric for adults than the first contact. In total, almost 240,000 children and young people were waiting for treatment from community mental health services in August 2023, as well as more than 192,000 adults. The data revealed the median, or typical, waiting time for children and young people from referral to first contact was 178 days. The median wait time for adults from referral to “second contact” was 120 days. The NHS long-term plan set out proposals for a four-week waiting time standard for children and adults to access community mental health services. This approach was piloted and a consultation published, but the new standards are yet to be implemented. Sean Duggan, chief executive of the mental health network at the NHS Confederation, said leaders would be concerned – although “not surprised” – that patients were waiting so long for community services. He added: “We need access and waiting times standards for all mental health services, to help us improve national data and to direct and allocate resources effectively.”
  13. News Article
    World leaders, cervical cancer survivors, advocates, partners, and civil society came together last week to mark the third Cervical Cancer Elimination Day of Action. The Initiative, which marked the first time Member States adopted a resolution to eliminate a noncommunicable disease, has continued to gain momentum, and this year's commemoration promises to be a beacon of hope, progress, and renewed commitment from nations around the world. “In the last three years, we have witnessed significant progress, but women in poorer countries and poor and marginalized women in richer countries still suffer disproportionately from cervical cancer,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “With enhanced strategies to increase access to vaccination, screening and treatment, strong political and financial commitment from countries, and increased support from partners, we can realize our vision for eliminating cervical cancer.” Australia is on target to be among the first countries in the world to eliminate cervical cancer, which the country anticipates to achieve in the next 10 years. In Norway, researchers have recently reported finding no cases of cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) in 25-year-olds, the first cohort of women who were offered the vaccine as children through the national vaccination programme. Indonesia announced this week a declaration committing to reach the 90-70-90 targets for cervical cancer elimination through the national cervical cancer elimination plan (2023 to 2030). In the United Kingdom, England’s National Health Service (NHS) pledged this week to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040. Read full story Source: WHO, 17 November 2023
  14. News Article
    Patient safety is being put at risk by the “toxic” behaviour of doctors in the NHS, the health ombudsman has said. Rob Behrens, who investigates complaints about the NHS in England, warned that the hierarchical and high-handed attitude of clinicians was undermining the quality of care in some hospitals. He called for medical training to be redesigned to encourage a more empathetic and collaborative approach from doctors. Pointing to failings in the treatment of sepsis and the problems in maternity services, Behrens said he was “shocked on a daily basis” by what he saw as ombudsman. Too often, “organisational reputation has been put above patient safety”, he told The Times Health Commission. The ombudsman warned of a “Balkanisation” of health professionals, with rivalries between doctors and nurses or midwives and obstetricians harming patient care. “For all the brilliance of clinicians quite often they’re not very good at working together,” he said. “Time and again, the handover from one clinician to another, from one shift to another, or the inability to raise the issue at a senior level has been a key factor in what has gone wrong.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 18 November 2023
  15. News Article
    Two young people facing mental health crises were left on paediatric wards for months while different agencies across a health system struggled to find appropriate placements. The patients – who were both autistic and had learning disabilities, with special educational needs – were admitted to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust (MTW) last year after attending emergency departments more than 10 times within a two-month period. They were left on a paediatric ward – one of the patients for four months – as this was the “only available place of safety as opposed to the optimum setting to meet their needs,” according to Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board’s “learning review” of children and young people with complex needs, which the two cases prompted. The review, which HSJ obtained under a Freedom of Information request, revealed several problems with joint working, despite a multidisciplinary team meeting regularly to discuss the young patients’ needs. Since the review, a new escalation process has been introduced, urgent mental health risk assessments in the community have been enhanced and a three-month pilot of a self-harm service has been implemented at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, part of MTW. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 17 November 2023
  16. Event
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    The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sets out a new approach to learning and improving following patient safety incidents across the NHS in England. PSIRF embedding webinars will feature presentations from NHS organisations and will focus on sharing experiences, adaptions and learning as the designed systems and processes put in place prior to transition are operationalised. Recordings, slides and Q&As from our transition webinars series can be found on Future NHS alongside other workshops and supplementary materials and resources: PSIRF Presentations - NHS Patient Safety - FutureNHS Collaboration Platform Audience: Embedding webinars are open to everyone to attend, including both NHS and arm’s length bodies. Presenters: Tracey Herlihey, Head of Patient Safety Incident Response, NHS England Further speakers TBC Register
  17. Event
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    The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sets out a new approach to learning and improving following patient safety incidents across the NHS in England. PSIRF embedding webinars will feature presentations from NHS organisations and will focus on sharing experiences, adaptions and learning as the designed systems and processes put in place prior to transition are operationalised. Recordings, slides and Q&As from our transition webinars series can be found on Future NHS alongside other workshops and supplementary materials and resources: PSIRF Presentations - NHS Patient Safety - FutureNHS Collaboration Platform Audience: Embedding webinars are open to everyone to attend, including both NHS and arm’s length bodies. Presenters: Tracey Herlihey, Head of Patient Safety Incident Response, NHS England Peter Ledwith, Deputy Director of Governance, East Cheshire NHS Trust Liam Oliver, Senior Patient Safety Manager, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board Register
  18. Event
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    The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) encourages investigations across the NHS to apply SEIPS. This 3 hour masterclass will focus upon using Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) in Learning Disability, Social Care and Mental Health. SEIPS trainer Dr Dawn Benson has extensive experience of using and teaching SEIPS, as a Human Factors tool, in health and social care safety investigation. She will be joined in these masterclass sessions by clinical subject experts. The masterclass will be limited to a small group to ensure in-depth learning. Register
  19. News Article
    Treatment with isotretinoin for UK patients under 18 years of age must be approved by two prescribers in a series of regulatory changes announced by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to strengthen the safe use of this drug. Isotretinoin, also known by the brand names Roaccutane and Reticutan, is an effective treatment for severe acne or when there is a risk of permanent scarring. While the drug has helped many patients with severe acne, concerns have arisen among patients and members of the public regarding suspected mental health side effects, including depression, anxiety, psychotic symptoms, and suicide, as well as sexual side effects. Following an expert safety review, the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) agreed in April of this year to a number of recommendations to strengthen the safe use of the treatment. The safety review concluded that because of gaps in the available evidence, it was not possible to say that isotretinoin definitely caused many of the short-term or long-term mental health and sexual side effects. However, since the individual experiences of patients and families continued to cause concern, the experts recommended that action be taken to ensure patients were made aware of these potential risks and that they were carefully monitored during treatment. "The overall balance of risks and benefits for isotretinoin remains favourable," the authors of the report concluded, but further action should be taken to ensure patients were fully informed about isotretinoin and were effectively monitored during and after treatment, they recommended. Anna Rossiter, programme manager for Medicines for Children at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the information for young people and their families "needs to be written in a format that is easy to understand and must set out the possible side effects that might be experienced". Read full story Source: Medscape, 1 November 2023
  20. News Article
    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
  21. News Article
    The safety of people with learning disabilities in England is being compromised when they are admitted to hospital, a watchdog says. The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) reviewed the care people receive and said there were "persistent and widespread" risks. It warned staff are not equipped with the skills or support to meet the needs of patients with learning disabilities. The watchdog launched its review after receiving a report about a 79-year-old who died following a cardiac arrest two weeks after being admitted to hospital. As part of its investigation, HSSIB also looked at the care provided in other places to people with learning disabilities. It warned systems in place to share information about them were unreliable, and that there was an inconsistency in the availability of specialist teams - known as learning disability liaison services - that were in place in hospitals to support general staff. It also said general staff had insufficient training - although it did note a national mandatory training programme is currently being rolled out. Senior investigator Clare Crowley said: "If needs are not met, it can cause distress and confusion for the patient and their families and carers, and raises the risk of poor health outcomes and, in the worst cases, harm." Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 November 2023
  22. News Article
    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
  23. News Article
    NHS bosses are using misleading figures to hide dangerously poor performance by A&E units in England against the four-hour treatment target, emergency department doctors claim. Some A&Es treat and admit, transfer or discharge as few as one in three patients within four hours, although the NHS constitution says they should deal with 95% of arrivals within that timeframe. How well or poorly A&Es are doing in meeting the 95% target is not in the public domain because the data that NHS England publishes is for NHS trusts overall, not individual hospitals. That means official figures are an aggregate of performance at sometimes two A&Es run by the same trust or include data for any walk-in centres, minor injuries units or urgent treatment centres that a trust also operates. Forty-eight trusts have two A&Es and many also run at least one of the latter. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), which represents A&E doctors, wants that system scrapped. It is urging NHS England to start publishing data that shows the true performance of every individual emergency department against the 95% standard. “The current data is misleading,” Dr Adrian Boyle, the college’s president, told the Guardian. “It’s a good example of a lack of transparency and also of performance incentives. Being open about the long delays in some A&Es would shine a light in some dark places.” Read full story Source: The Guardian. 28 October 2023
  24. News Article
    The parents of a baby boy who died at seven weeks old after a hospital did not give him a routine injection have described the failure as “beyond cruel”. William Moris-Patto was born in July 2020 at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, where it was recorded in error that he had received a vitamin K injection – which is needed for blood clotting. The shot is routinely given to newborns to prevent a deficiency that can lead to bleeding. His parents, Naomi and Alexander Moris-Patto, 33-year-old scientists from Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, want to raise awareness about the importance of the vitamin after a coroner concluded William would not have died had the hospital administered the injection. On Friday, the coroner Lorna Skinner KC described the omission as “a gross failure in medical care amounting to neglect”. Alexander Moris-Patto, a researcher at the University of Cambridge who recently co-founded William Oak Diagnostics to test for deficiencies in babies, said: “What’s come out of the inquest for me is that the systems they [the trust] put in place to try to prevent this happening again are not satisfactory.” He stressed the importance of the vitamin K injection, adding that about 1% of the UK population opt out of it. “We want people to know more about it, to understand how critical it can be, and for hospitals to take seriously the responsibility they have in those first precious hours of a baby’s life,” he said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 October 2023
  25. News Article
    Record numbers of patients are complaining to the NHS Ombudsman about poor care, exorbitant fees and difficulty getting treatment from NHS dental services in England. Mistakes by dentists mean some patients are being left in agony – in some cases unable to eat – while others are being landed with huge bills for work on their teeth. “Poor dental care leaves patients frustrated, in pain and out of pocket,” said Rob Behrens, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman. The number of complaints he receives every year about NHS dental services has jumped from 1,193 in 2017-18 to 1,982 in 2022-23 – a rise of 66%. Behrens also disclosed that the proportion of complaints he upholds about NHS dentistry after an investigation has increased from 42% to 78% over the same period. That 78% figure for upheld complaints about dental services is “significantly more” than for any other area of NHS care, such as GP, hospital or mental health care, where the overall average is 60%, he said. Dentistry has become one of the public’s main concerns about the NHS, especially the obstacles many people face when trying to access NHS care. A BBC survey last year found that 90% of surgeries across the UK were not accepting new adult patients and 80% were not taking on children as new patients. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 October 2023 Related reading on the hub: “I’ve been mocked, scolded and gaslighted”: a harmed patient’s experience of orthodontic treatment A patient harmed by orthodontic treatment shares their story We want to hear from patients with experience of NHS and/or private orthodontists and dentists in any healthcare setting, including community practices and hospitals. Did the orthodontist/dentist give you the treatment and support you needed? If you had ongoing problems, how did the orthodontist/dentist and other healthcare professionals respond? Have you tried to make a complaint? Share your experience of orthodontist and dentistry services
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