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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
    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
  3. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A hospital trust is facing a fine in a criminal prosecution over the death of a baby.
    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is prosecuting Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust over the death of Wynter Andrews.
    Wynter died 23 minutes after she was born by Caesarean section in September 2019 at the Queen's Medical Centre. 
    The prosecution is one of only two the CQC has brought against an NHS maternity unit.
    The trust is due to face sentencing at Nottingham Magistrates' Court later.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 25 January 2023
  4. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A trust pressured into commissioning an external review of dozens of suicides faces fresh criticism and questions about the probe’s credibility after it emerged the investigation will not investigate each case but instead look to ‘identify themes’.
    Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust originally said it would carry out the review of more than 60 patient suicides internally. But following criticism, it U-turned on this decision and last month agreed to an externally-led process.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ
  5. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted doctors nationwide Monday about a limited availability of certain doses of a newly approved antibody drug given to infants to prevent RSV infection.
    Cases of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, have started to rise as cold and flu season begins.
    "RSV season is here," said Dr. Buddy Creech, a pediatric infectious disease doctor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. "We are seeing a substantial increase in the amount of RSV such that in many areas, it has become the most commonly identified respiratory virus causing disease in children.
    "This is one of the reasons why there's probably a lot of scrambling going on," he said, "to identify those babies at highest risk and to try to prioritize them, since it's such a limited resource right now."
    Read full story
    Source: NBC News, 23 October 2023
  6. Patient_Safety_Learning
    An ambulance spent 28 hours outside a hospital after an "extraordinary incident" was declared due to delays.
    The Welsh Ambulance Service said 16 ambulances had waited outside the emergency department at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, at one time.
    It said multiple sites across Wales were affected.
    The extraordinary incident, which asked people to only call 990 if their emergency was "life or limb threatening", is now over.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 23 October 2023
  7. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Thousands of patients in England and Northern Ireland are missing out on a life-extending prostate cancer drug that is more widely available on the NHS in Scotland and Wales, say experts.
    Charity Prostate Cancer UK said it was "unacceptable" that men in parts of the UK were facing a postcode lottery.
    Although not a cure, abiraterone can help stop prostate cancer spreading to other parts of the body.
    NHS England said it would review the drug's use for more men next year.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 23 October 2023
  8. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A hospital maternity service has dropped two ratings to ‘inadequate’ after the Care Quality Commission warned of a ‘chaotic environment’, where leaders normalised poor practices and failed to act on safety concerns.
    The Care Quality Commission inspected Hull Royal Infirmary’s maternity services earlier this year, and imposed urgent conditions on the service, requiring Hull University Teaching Hospitals Trust to make “rapid improvements” to keep people safe.
    The overall maternity rating fell from “good” to “inadequate”, the CQC announced today, although it only reviewed the “safe” and “well led” domains. The inspection was part of an ongoing national CQC maternity inspection programme, which has downgraded numerous services to “inadequate” over the last year. 
    The regulator said the antenatal day unit and triage department was a “chaotic environment which was not fit for purpose”, and found some staff described “unkindness” from peers. Women and service users waited long periods without an offer of food or water, it said.
    Significant concerns were raised about safeguarding, with staff unable to identify adults and children suffering or at risk of significant harm.
    Read full story
    Source: HSJ, 9 August 2023
  9. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Soaring use of private healthcare for tests and treatments is piling pressure on overstretched GP surgeries, with family doctors warning that standard NHS care is being squeezed as a result.
    Record numbers of people are paying for private healthcare, with some having procedures such as cataract surgery and hip replacements, amid mounting frustration at NHS hospital waiting lists. Others are opting for private health checks, genetic testing or cosmetic surgery such as liposuction.
    But the surge in private healthcare use is increasing the workload of GPs, many of whom say they are increasingly having to interpret questionable health checks done privately, organise blood tests or scans and manage additional administration related to private care. Some say more of their hours are being taking up providing follow-up appointments after patients paid for treatment or surgery abroad.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian, 29 October 2023
  10. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Trusts may be spared financial penalties if they fail to meet care quality standards under new proposals from NHS England. 
    NHSE is looking at “pausing” the financial element of the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme from next year according to information seen by HSJ. This states “a wider review of incentives for quality” is also under way.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 30 October 2023
  11. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The government could ban unlicensed providers of cosmetic treatments in England, in what industry bodies say would be the biggest shake-up in a generation.
    Under the plans, anyone carrying out Botox, breast or butt lift injections would have to be trained and licensed, with their premises also inspected.
    The proposals have been have been opened up for public consultation.
    At present, healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses and dentists carrying out non-surgical cosmetic procedures have to be trained and insured to do them as part of the requirements laid down by their regulatory bodies.
    But there is no set training for beauty therapists and other non-professionals.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 3 September 2023
  12. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Campaigners have expressed alarm at new analysis showing a sharp increase in new or expectant mothers waiting for mental health care, with one woman found to have waited 319 days for a first appointment.
    More than 30,000 women who are pregnant or have newly given birth are on waiting lists for mental health support, according to NHS England data analysed by Labour, with the party saying many of them were being left to “suffer in silence”.
    Amid rising demand for what are known as perinatal mental health services, during the period from August 2022 to March 2023 the numbers of women waiting rose by 40%. Over that same period, the numbers who accessed support also rose, but only by 8%.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian, 4 September 2023
  13. 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
  14. 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
     
  15. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Racism is a significant issue affecting recruitment, retention, and patient care. With this in mind, the Royal College of Psychiatrists launched the Act Against Racism campaign, offering guidance and actions to combat racism in the workplace for better staff well-being and patient care, writes Adrian James
    In June, HSJ revealed that mental health trusts in England are among the biggest users of locum doctors in the NHS. With one in seven medical posts in mental health trusts vacant, many providers now rely on locum doctors to deliver essential services to patients.
    Read full story
    Source: HSJ, 9 August 2023
  16. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Coroners have raised multiple warnings about the way a commonly-used medication is being prescribed to at-risk patients, HSJ has found.
    HSJ has identified at least nine ‘prevention of future deaths’ reports issued by coroners since 2017 which highlighted the way the deceased’s prescription for sertraline was handled, with two of these issued since the start of 2023.
    It comes as Open Prescribing data suggests sertraline prescriptions have increased by almost 40 per cent since 2019, which has led to concerns that GPs are struggling to meet the growing demand for follow-up checks.
    Read full story
    Source: HSJ, 9 August 2023
  17. Patient_Safety_Learning
    One of the most serious complications of a DVT is when a part of the clot breaks off and travels through the bloodstream to the lungs, leading to a blockage called a pulmonary embolism — this can cause chest pain, breathing difficulties, a faster heartbeat, coughing up blood, and can be life-threatening if not treated quickly.
    Worryingly, research suggests 40 per cent of patients who die from a pulmonary embolism complained of nagging symptoms for weeks before their death.
    For every pulmonary embolism diagnosed in time, there are at least another two where the diagnosis was missed and resulted in sudden death, according to the charity Thrombosis UK.
    Read full story
    Source: Daily Mail, 25 September 2023
  18. Patient_Safety_Learning
    About one in seven people in the UK now take medication to treat depression but some say they are not being given appropriate advice about the potential side-effects of the drugs they have been prescribed.
    Seonaid Stallan's son Dylan was a teenager when he began receiving treatment for body dysmorphia and depression.
    "He was struggling with the way he felt about himself, the way he looked," Seonaid said.
    "He was extremely anxious. He would be physically sick. He would be unable to leave the house."
    Dylan, from Glasgow, was treated with the antidepressant Fluoxetine from the age of 16.
    But when he turned 18, his medication was changed to Sertraline.
    Within two months of his prescription change he had taken his own life.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC, 9 August 2023
  19. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A ‘disappointingly slow’ transformation of community services means thousands of mental health patients are still presenting at emergency departments within weeks of being discharged from an inpatient facility.
    Experts said an NHS England-led community transformation programme, launched in 2019 as part of a £2.3bn investment in mental health services, should have helped reduce readmission rates, but internal data seen by HSJ suggests the rates have actually increased since then.
    The data reveals for the first time the proportion of patients discharged from inpatient care who then present to accident and emergency within two months.
    The proportion of adult patients was 11 per cent in 2018-19, when the investment programme was launched, and had increased to 12 per cent by 2022-23, representing around 6,000 adult cases.
    The situation appears worse for children, with an 18 per cent readmission rate within two months, up from 17 per cent in 2018-19.
    Read full story
    Source: HSJ, 8 August 2023
  20. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Almost three-quarters of babies born with a rare muscle-wasting disease are living longer thanks to advances in NHS treatment.
    Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a genetic condition that causes muscle weakness, along with progressive loss of movement and paralysis.
    There are three types of this disease that impact children. SMA1 manifests in babies under the age of six months and is the most severe, while SMA2 and SMA3 are less severe. They develop between the ages of seven and 18 months, and after 18 months of age, respectively. According to the NHS, about 70 babies are born in the UK with SMA each year.
    The NHS began rolling out new treatments in 2019, starting with injectable drug nurinersen – marketed as Spinraza – which targets the SMN2 gene in patients. Before 2019 there were no effective drugs for this condition.
    A study by SMA Reach UK claims patients with untreated SMA1 historically had a 50% survival probability at eight to 10 months, reducing to 8% at 20 months of age. However, data from the SMA Reach UK database analysed by NHS England found 73% of babies with SMA1 are now living beyond two years and without permanent ventilatory support.
    Read full story
    Source: Independent, 7 August 2023
  21. Patient_Safety_Learning
    One of the UK's most secretive centres of scientific research - Porton Down - is aiming to stop the next pandemic "in its tracks".
    James Gallagher, Health and science correspondent, passed through the incredibly tight security at this remote facility to get rare access to its scientists.
    They are based in the shiny new Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre.
    Their work builds on the response to Covid, and aims to save lives and minimise the need for lockdowns when a new disease next emerges.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC 7 August 2023
  22. 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
  23. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Jonathan Medland's voice crackles with anger and emotion when he talks about his beloved son Jon, who tragically took his own life aged just 22.
    'He was the most exuberant, engaging, funny and amazing young man you could ever wish to meet — nobody had a bad word to say about him — he was really going places,' says Jonathan, 66, a retired driving instructor from Barnstaple in Devon. 'But that drug did something terrible to his brain.'
    The drug he's referring to is isotretinoin — brand name Roaccutane — a pill first licensed in the UK for the treatment of severe acne in 1983 and since taken by hundreds of thousands of patients.
    Read full story
    Source: Mail Online 31 July 2023
  24. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Medical clinics are using fake Google reviews to boost their profiles online, a BBC investigation has found.
    Consumer groups say fake reviews are a "significant and persistent problem" and have called on internet firms to do more to remove them and fine companies.
    Which? has warned it could be a serious issue if someone chooses a treatment clinic based on reading a fake review.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC 2 August 2023
  25. Patient_Safety_Learning
    In the U.S., the prescribing label of Ozempic's sister drug, Wegovy, already warns of possible suicidal ideation because of similar side effects linked to other weight loss drugs.
    Following reports of self-injury and suicidal thoughts among a small number of people who’ve taken Ozempic or Wegovy in Europe and the United Kingdom, health regulators there are investigating whether the drugs carry a risk of these side effects.
    The European Medicines Agency said last month that it was reviewing 150 such reports from people who took drugs in this class, called GLP-1 receptor agonists, which lower blood sugar and suppress appetite by mimicking a hormone in the gut.
    Then last week, the U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency told Reuters that it was reviewing safety data about the drugs following similar reports.
    Neither Ozempic nor Wegovy, which are both versions of a drug called semaglutide at different dosages, carry warnings about suicidal ideation in Europe or the U.K., since clinical trials have not shown evidence of an increased risk.
    But in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration requires that medications for weight management that work on the central nervous system carry a warning about suicidal thoughts. Because the agency approved Wegovy as a weight loss treatment, its prescribing label asks medical professionals to monitor for these symptoms and to discontinue the medication if people develop them. Ozempic, which is only FDA-approved to treat diabetes, does not come with that warning.
    But some patients think it should.
    Read full story
    Source: NBC 1 August 2023
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