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Patient_Safety_Learning

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News posted by Patient_Safety_Learning

  1. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A heart failure patient has become the first in the UK to be fitted with an early warning sensor the size of a pen lid which gives off an alert if their condition deteriorates.
    Consultant cardiologists Dr Andrew Flett and Dr Peter Cowburn have pioneered the procedure to fit the FIRE1 System during trials at University Hospital Southampton (UHS), Hampshire.
    Dr Flett said: “This innovative new device has the potential to improve patient safety and outcomes in the management of patients with chronic heart failure and we are delighted to be the first site in the UK to implant as part of this ground-breaking study".
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 12 February 2023
  2. Patient_Safety_Learning
    GPs are attempting to deal with up to 3,000 patients each, amid worsening staff shortages, according to new analysis.
    The research shows that the number of patients per GP has risen sharply, as rising numbers of doctors reduce their hours, or opt for early retirement.
    Daisy Cooper, spokeswoman for Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care, said:
    “This ever-worsening GP shortage is having a terrible human cost, as people face delayed or missed diagnoses and A&Es fill up with desperate patients looking for treatment."
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: Telegraph, 14 February 
  3. Patient_Safety_Learning
    More than 1 million people in England died prematurely in the decade after 2011 owing to a combination of poverty, austerity and Covid, according to “shocking” new research by one of the UK’s leading public health experts.
    The figures are revealed in a study by the Institute of Health Equity at University College London led by Sir Michael Marmot. They demonstrate the extent to which stark economic and social inequalities are leading to poorer people dying early from cancer, heart problems and other diseases.
    Using Office for National Statistics figures, the report’s author Prof Peter Goldblatt looked at the life expectancy of people across England who do not live in the wealthiest 10% of areas.
    The report, titled Health Inequalities, Lives Cut Short, found that between 2011 and 2019, 1,062,334 people died earlier than they would have done if they lived in areas where the richest 10% of the population reside. A further 151,615 premature deaths were recorded in 2020, although this number was higher than expected because of the coronavirus pandemic.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian, 8 January 2024
  4. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The government is spending £5.5bn less on health in England than it suggested it would be at this stage, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says.
    Plans set out in the 2019 election campaign indicated the budget would increase by 3.3% a year above inflation during this Parliament, the IFS said.
    But despite extra being put in to cover the high inflation seen, spending had risen by only 2.7% a year on average.
    Read full story
    Source. BBC News, 14 May 2024
  5. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A coroner has issued a warning over a hospital’s new computer system after the death of a 31-year-old woman.
    Emily Harkleroad collapsed on 18 December 2022 and was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham, where she died the next morning from a pulmonary embolism – a clot on the lung.
    The assistant coroner for County Durham and Darlington concluded, on balance, that Ms Harkleroad’s death could have been prevented, external. She also noted computer system concerns had been raised by a number of clinicians.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 24 February 2024
  6. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A&E waiting times have deteriorated so much this winter that at some hospitals in England more than half of patients have had to wait more than four hours.
    BBC analysis of data for December and January shows Hull University Hospitals, Wye Valley and Shrewsbury and Telford were worst for A&E waits.
    The best trust out of the 107 providing data, Northumbria Healthcare, had fewer than 10% waiting more than four hours.
    NHS England said plans were being put in place to support struggling trusts.
    Source: BBC, 13 February 2023
    Read full story
  7. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Portable X-ray machines "can literally be the difference between life and death", says radiographer Sam Pilkington.
    For most of us, if we need to be X-rayed the procedure is done in a hospital. But for acutely unwell patients, or for infection control, Ms Pilkington says that portable machines are very helpful.
    This is because "they remove the excess burden of transportation from the patients", says the final-year student at the University of the West of England in Bristol, who is also a member of the Institute of Physics. Instead the X-ray equipment goes to them.
    There are obvious advantages for remote locations, including battlefields, roadsides and disaster zones.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 8 January 2024
  8. Patient_Safety_Learning
    NHS figures obtained by Labour reveal 11,507 women sought care but did not get any last year.
    Almost 20,000 women a year living with mental health problems triggered by being pregnant or giving birth are being denied support by the NHS, the Guardian can reveal.
    Furthermore, those who do receive mental health help for their trauma are having to wait up to 19 months to start treatment in some parts of England because specialist services are so overstretched.
    The situation has been described as “an absolute scandal” and sparked warnings that “rationing” of such vital care could leave women who do not get it in a very vulnerable state and risk their children facing lifelong health problems and stop mothers bonding with their baby.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian, 5 December 2023
  9. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A senior doctor who won a record £3.2m payout says her boss tried to "break" her after she raised concerns about how Covid was being handled.
    Rosalind Ranson, medical director on the Isle of Man during the pandemic, experienced months of humiliation, an employment tribunal found.
    Dr Ranson has given BBC News her first interview since the hearing.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 5 December 2023
     
  10. Patient_Safety_Learning
    An integrated care system has terminated a private provider’s contract to run four urgent treatment centres following performance concerns.
    Two local acute trusts were expected to take over from provider Greenbrook Healthcare this week, following the decision by North West London ICS.
    The impacted sites include Hillingdon UTC, which is co-located with the Hillingdon Hospitals Foundation Trust, as well as the Ealing, Central Middlesex and Northwick Park sites that are near to the respective hospitals run by London North West University Healthcare Trust.
    Read full article (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 24 January 2023
  11. Patient_Safety_Learning
    An inquest into the death of a baby has been adjourned after a whistleblower claimed hospital inspectors ignored safety concerns about a NHS trust.
    Ian Kemp has raised concerns the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust was "covering up" the death.
    The former health watchdog inspector said he had been asked to investigate maternity care at the trust in December 2019 after the death of Ida Lock.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 19 February 2024
  12. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Covid vaccines have been linked to small increases in heart, blood, and neurological disorders, according to the largest global study of its kind.
    An international coalition of vaccine experts looked for 13 medical conditions among 99 million vaccine recipients across eight countries in order to identify higher rates of those conditions after receiving the shots.
    They confirmed that the shots made by Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca are linked to significantly higher risk of five medical conditions - including a nerve-wasting condition that leaves people struggling to walk or think.
    Read full story
    Source: Daily Mail, 19 February 2024
  13. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The parents of a teenager who died in hospital two years ago are calling for patients to be given the right to an urgent second opinion, if they feel their concerns are not being taken seriously by medical staff.
    Martha Mills, who would have been 16 on Monday, died after failures in treating her sepsis at King's College Hospital. An inquest said she could have survived had her care been better.
    Martha's mother, Merope, has helped the think tank Demos write a report which is calling on NHS England to urgently put in place Martha's rule.
    This would "effectively formalise the idea of asking for a second opinion, from a different team outside the team currently looking after you if you feel you are not being listened to", she said.
    She added that asking for a second opinion when there is a deterioration "shouldn't be a problem and it shouldn't involve confrontation".
    It might be that a patient or family could escalate to another team over the phone to get an urgent critical care review.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 4 September 2023
     
  14. Patient_Safety_Learning
    MPs have backed a move to speed up compensation for victims of the NHS infected blood scandal, delivering the prime minister his first Commons defeat.
    Ministers will now have to set up a body to run the scheme within three months of a new bill becoming law.
    The vote was passed by 246 votes to 242 after 22 Conservatives rebelled.
    The Haemophilia Society said Rishi Sunak "should be ashamed" he had been forced "to do the right thing".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 5 December 2023
  15. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Families of people with complex medical needs are warning the NHS system that funds their care at home is struggling to provide sufficient support.
    Despite recent significant increases in spending on Continuing Healthcare, experts say staff shortages and rising prices mean families are lacking help.
    Some say at times they are so exhausted from providing care, they worry about the safety of their relatives.
    The government says it has invested billions into health and social care.
    The BBC followed 24-year-old Declan Spencer for 10 months, witnessing how the repeated breakdown of his care has left his mother having to provide it by herself, day and night.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC 7 August 2023
  16. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Another inquiry has been launched into the sudden death of a second teenage girl in the Accident and Emergency department of University Hospital Limerick three weeks ago.
    The 16-year-old girl died suddenly on January 29, hours after she was rushed to UHL suffering from breathing difficulties.
    The girl, a much-loved only child, died in front of her mother in what an informed source described as “deeply traumatic circumstances”.
    It is the latest tragedy under review at UHL following the death of Aoife Johnston (16) from Shannon, Co Clare,
    Read full story
    Source: Irish Independent, 20 February 2024
  17. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) is leading a new project to examine the causes of the growing challenge of medicines shortages and help tackle their impact on patients and pharmacy practice.
    A new advisory group, convened by RPS and chaired by RPS Fellow Dr Bruce Warner, will meet later this month and bring together experts from primary and secondary care, patients, the pharmaceutical industry, suppliers, regulators, government and the NHS.
    Read full press release
    Source: The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, 13 March 2024
  18. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A woman who suffered chronic abdominal pain for 18 months after undergoing a caesarean section was found to have a surgical instrument the size of a dinner plate inside her abdomen.
    The Alexis retractor, or AWR, was left inside the New Zealand mother after her baby was delivered at Auckland City Hospital in 2020.
    Following initial investigations into the case, Te Whatu Ora Auckland, formerly Auckland District Health Board, claimed it had not failed to exercise reasonable skill and care towards the patient, who was in her 20s.
    But on Monday, New Zealand’s Health and Disability Commissioner, Morag McDowell, found Te Whatu Ora Auckland in breach of the code of patient rights.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian, 4 September 2023
  19. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A ransomware group has carried out its threat to NHS Dumfries and Galloway and released a "large volume" of patients' data on the dark web.
    A small amount of details were released in March as "proof" that the cyber criminals had accessed confidential information, with a warning that more would be published if a payment was not made to stop it.
    The new chief executive of NHS Dumfries and Galloway health board, Julie White, called the release an "utterly abhorrent criminal act".
    She said work was now beginning to with other national agencies including the Scottish government, police and National Cyber Security Centre to assess what has been published.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 7 May 2024
  20. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) was abolished in every hospital and hospice in the country just under a decade ago. This end-of-life-care protocol was scrapped by the Government as a “national disgrace”, in the words of Norman Lamb, then Care Services Minister, after a review by Baroness Neuberger found widespread failings and abuses.
    But troubling evidence since the scrapping suggests that the practises established under the LCP are in fact still continuing today in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).
    Read full story
    Source: Catholic Herald, 18 February 2024
  21. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Thousands of people who are unknowingly living with hepatitis C in England could be identified and treated due to an expanded NHS testing initiative.
    The initiative includes new liver scanning and portable testing units to be rolled out in communities where people may be at a higher risk of contracting the infection.
    Also included in the initiative are testing events happening at GP surgeries and community outreach at drug and alcohol support services.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian 8 April 2024
  22. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The chair of the major inquiry into rogue surgeon Ian Paterson has raised concerns over a separate patient recall process conducted by Salford Royal Hospital, and suggested NHS England should intervene.
    Leaders in Salford have been resisting pressure to expand a review of patients treated by the former head of its spinal division, John Williamson, over his 23-year career at the hospital.
    A review of his last five years established clear problems with his surgical techniques and found multiple cases of avoidable harm.
    Read full story
    Source: HSJ, 7 May 2024
  23. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Capitalizing on the pandemic explosion in telehealth and therapy apps that collect details of your mental health needs, data brokers are packaging that information for resale, a new study finds. There’s no law stopping them.
    In a study published Monday, a research team at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy outlines how expansive the market for people’s health data has become.
    After contacting data brokers to ask what kinds of mental health information she could buy, researcher Joanne Kim reported that she ultimately found 11 companies willing to sell bundles of data that included information on what antidepressants people were taking, whether they struggled with insomnia or attention issues, and details on other medical ailments, including Alzheimer’s disease or bladder-control difficulties.
    Justin Sherman, a senior fellow at Duke who ran the research team, says that mental health data should be treated especially carefully, given that it could pertain to people in vulnerable situations — and that, if shared publicly or rendered inaccurately, could lead to devastating results.
    Source: Washington Post, 13 February 2023
    Read full story
  24. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A third of those with a women’s health condition have been made to wait three years or longer for a diagnosis, damning new research has revealed.
    The same study found half of those women took a year or more to be given their diagnosis.
    Srdjan Saso, a consultant gynaecologist and surgeon who works with King Edward VII’s Hospital, told The Independent: “A delayed diagnosis can mean a severe impact on quality of life both professionally and personally.
    “It can have a significant impact on a woman’s day-to-day life and hence needs to be addressed properly and seriously. From a more sinister perspective, in certain cases, it can be cancer and we are picking it up late.”
    Source: Independent, 14 February 2023
    Read full story 
  25. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Desperately ill people with eating disorders are being refused NHS treatment for “not being thin enough”, as new figures reveal the health service is in the grips of a growing eating disorder crisis.
    Shocking figures obtained by The Independent show at least 5,385 patients – the overwhelming majority, 3,896, of whom are children – were admitted to general wards for conditions such as anorexia and bulimia in 2021-22, more than double the number in 2017-18.
    It comes as separate analysis of NHS figures suggests the number of children being treated for eating disorders more than doubled from 5,240 in 2016-17 to 11,800 in 2022-23.
    Read full story
    Source: Independent 1 August 2023
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