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Showing results for tags 'Children and Young People'.
Found 600 results
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Content ArticleInstitute of Health Visiting executive director Alison Morton warns national policy has developed a “baby blind spot” amid the NHS crisis, with many young children missing out on government’s promise of the “best start in life”, and calls for a shift towards prevention and early intervention.
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Content ArticleYoung people and expert mental healthcare staff say patients are unlikely to receive in-patient mental health care unless they “have attempted suicide multiple times”, according to a new report published by Look Ahead Care and Support. Launched in the House of Lords, the report – funded by Wates Family Enterprise Trust and produced by experts Care Research – argues Accident and Emergency departments have become an ‘accidental hub’ for children and young people experiencing crisis but are ill-equipped to offer the treatment required. Based on in-depth interviews with service users, parents and carers, and NHS and social care staff from across England, the findings from the Look Ahead Care and Support report draws on experience of treating depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, eating disorders, addiction and psychosis.
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Content ArticleThis study examined the risks and patterns of childhood deaths before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this cohort study, there were 3409 childhood deaths from April 2019 to March 2020, 3035 deaths from April 2020 to March 2021, and 3428 deaths from April 2021 to March 2022. Overall risk of death was significantly lower from 2020 to 2021, but not from 2021 to 2022 when compared with the reference year of 2019 to 2020. These findings suggest that there was a significant reduction in all-cause child mortality during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021), which returned to near prepandemic levels the following year (2021-2022).
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Content ArticleGlobally, the under-five mortality rate (U5MR) fell to 38 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021, while under-five deaths dropped to 5.0 million. Although this demonstrates a decrease, this immense, intolerable and mostly preventable loss of life was carried unequally around the world , and children continue to face widely differing chances of survival based on where they are born. In contrast to the global rate, children born in sub-Saharan Africa are subject to the highest risk of childhood death in the world with a 2021 U5MR of 74 deaths per 1,000 live births – 15 times higher than the risk for children in Europe and Northern America and 19 times higher than in the region of Australia and New Zealand This report outlines and analyses figures from The United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) to examine levels and trends in child mortality around the world during 2022.
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Content ArticleIn this video published by Patient Safety Movement, Kimberly Cripe, CEO of the Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), discusses how her hospital has incorporated Actionable Evidence-Based Practices to improve patient safety culture in a paediatric setting. She describes the many benefits of the approach including for staff morale and making financial savings.
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Content ArticleIn November 2021, 15-year old Alice Tapper nearly died due to a missed diagnoses of a perforated appendix. In this opinion piece, Alice shares her experience of being admitted to hospital with intense abdominal pain and other serious symptoms. In spite of her parents' requests for imaging to rule out appendicitis, doctors diagnosed that Alice had a viral infection and refused to prescribe antibiotics. Alice's condition severely deteriorated, leading her father to call the hospital and beg a gastroenterologist for further investigation. Fortunately, the hospital granted his request and after an x-ray and ultrasound, Alice was found to have a perforated appendix. She was going into hypovolemic shock, when severe blood or other fluid loss makes the heart unable to pump enough blood to the body. Thankfully, emergency surgery and antibiotics saved Alice's life, but she reflects on the fact that without her father's intervention, she would probably have died. She describes how her doctors failed to take the concerns she and her parents repeatedly expressed seriously, and that this lack of responsiveness could have been fatal. She highlights research that shows that appendicitis is missed in up to 15% of paediatric patients, and that missed diagnosis is most common in children under five, and is more common in girls than boys.
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Content Article
This online comic has been developed by the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland to help children aged 7-11 understand what it’s like to have a general anaesthetic, using familiar Beano characters to help reduce any anxiety they may have about surgery. It is a fun and playful way to help children understand more about their operation and how to prepare for it, and includes links to other resources. Readers can accompany Dennis on a fun-filled journey as he prepares to have his tonsils removed, from diagnosis to discharge from hospital. The comic answers children's questions, including: what is a general anaesthetic and is it safe? how will I feel when I wake up? how can I prepare for my operation? what should I do if I am worried or have questions? 'Dennis has an anaesthetic' will also help children and their parents and carers understand what happens in the run-up to an operation, the care children will need afterwards and how they can best prepare. -
Content ArticleThis case study published by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) highlights the Epilepsy12 Audit’s approach to working with children and young people to improve paediatric epilepsy care. Epilepsy12 Youth Advocates are epilepsy experienced or interested children, young people, families and an epilepsy specialist nurse. They volunteer together to shape Epilepsy12 and to lead improvement activities with families and epilepsy services. The audit won the Richard Driscoll Memorial Award (RDMA) 2022. The RDMA asks HQIP commissioned programmes to describe how patients and carers influence the production of the patient-focused outputs of the programme.
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Content ArticleGomes et al. report the utilisation and impact of a novel triage-based electronic screening tool (eST) combined with clinical assessment to recognise sepsis in paediatric emergency department. An electronic sepsis screening tool was implemented in the paediatric emergency departments of two large UK secondary care hospitals between June 2018 and January 2019. Patients eligible for screening were children < 16 years of ages excluding those with minor injuries or who were brought directly to resuscitation. Utilisation of a novel triage-based eST allowed sepsis screening in over 99% of eligible patients. The screening tool showed good accuracy to recognise sepsis at triage in the ED, which was augmented further by combining it with clinician assessment. The screening tool requires further refinement through multicentre evaluation to avoid missing sepsis cases.
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Content ArticleThis report from the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) covers the two-year period from 2019 to 2021, and is unique in two ways. It is the first national report to have investigated all unexpected deaths of infants and children—not just those that remained unexplained. It is also the first national review of the 'multi-agency investigation process' into unexpected deaths. The report found that, of all infant and child deaths occurring between April 2019 and March 2021 in England, 30% occurred suddenly and unexpectedly, and of these 64% had no immediately apparent cause. Other key findings relating to sudden and unexpected infant deaths (under 1 year) include: 70% were aged between 28 and 364 days, and 57% were male Infant death rates were higher in urban areas and the most deprived neighbourhoods For sudden and unexpected infant deaths that occurred during 2020 and had been fully reviewed, 52% were classified as unexplained (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) and 48% went on to be explained by other causes such as metabolic or cardiac conditions.
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Content ArticleDeveloped in 2020, this Picker survey aims to understand the experiences of cancer and tumour care among children and their parents/carers. The results will help improve children’s cancer services across England. The survey, conducted by the charity Picker on behalf of NHS England, included children, young people, and their parents – with separate questions designed to be appropriate to different age groups. Children and young people were included in the survey if they had a confirmed cancer or tumour diagnosis, received inpatient or day case care from an NHS Principal Treatment Centre (PTC) in 2021, and were under 16 years of age at the time of their discharge.
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Content ArticleDeaths from Covid-19 are rare in children and young people, and the high rates of asymptomatic and mild infections complicate assessment of cause of death in this group. This study assessed the cause of death in all children and young people with a positive Covid-19 test since the start of the pandemic in England. The authors concluded that:Covid-19 deaths remain extremely rare in CYP, with most fatalities occurring within 30 days of infection and in children with specific underlying conditions.Covid-19 was responsible for 1.2% of all deaths in <20 year-olds in this period.
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Content ArticleCore20PLUS5 is NHS England's approach to reducing health inequalities at both national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort and identifies five focus clinical areas that require accelerated improvement. This infographic outlines the specific Core20PLUS5 approach to reducing health inequalities for children and young people.
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Content ArticleThe number of children and young people admitted to children’s wards with an eating disorder has increased significantly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the most extreme cases, those with severe malnutrition may need to be fed via a nasogastric tube without their consent. Children’s nurses working on hospital wards may therefore care for children and young people who need to receive nasogastric tube feeding under physical restraint. This article offers an overview of eating disorders and their detrimental effects as well as practical advice for children’s nurses, supporting them to provide safe, compassionate and person-centred care to their patients.
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News ArticleChildren say they were "treated like animals" and left traumatised as part of a decade of “systemic abuse” by a group of mental health hospitals, an investigation by The Independent and Sky News has found. The Department of Health and Social Care has now launched a probe into the allegations of 22 young women who were patients in units run by The Huntercombe Group, which has run at least six children’s mental health hospitals, between 2012 and this year. They say they suffered treatment including the use of “painful” restraints and being held down for hours by male nurses, being stopped from going outside for months and living in wards with blood-stained walls. They also allege they were given so much medication they had become “zombies” and were force-fed. But despite reports to police and regulators dating back seven years, and findings by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that the units were inadequate, the NHS has still handed Huntercombe nearly £190m since 2015-16 to admit children to its mental health beds. Through witness testimony, documents obtained by Freedom of Information request and leaked reports, the investigation has uncovered: The CQC has received more than 700 whistleblowing and safeguarding reports, including “incidents of concern” and several “sexual safety” concerns. NHS England was notified of 195 safeguarding reports between 2020 and 2021. A 2018 internal report at Meadow Lodge hospital in Newton Abbot (now closed) found staff members using sexually inappropriate language in front of patients. 160 reports investigated by Staffordshire police about Huntercombe Staffordshire between 2015 and 2022. Between March 2021 and 2022, the CQC gave permission for 29 patients to be admitted to Maidenhead hospital after it was placed in special measures. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 October 2022
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News Article
Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust fined for exposing babies to 'serious harm'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A hospital trust has been fined £200,000 for putting four babies at "serious risk"of harm. Staff at Rotherham Hospital failed to spot non-accidental injuries during admissions, Sheffield Magistrates' Court heard. District Judge Naomi Redhouse criticised failures in the hospital's systems and processes. Health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), had earlier highlighted problems with safeguarding training at the trust prior to the babies' admissions between January 2019 and February 2020. The court was told how one eight-day-old baby was brought into the hospital on 23 December 2019 suffering from breathing difficulties and bleeding from the nose and mouth. It was only on the child's fifth visit to hospital - after a GP raised concerns - that a child safety examination took place, revealing rib and leg fractures that were deemed non-accidental. Ms Redhouse also heard how a month-old baby brought in with a mouth injury on 20 January 2019 was on a child protection plan but this was not spotted by the paediatric nurse who examined the baby. This child was twice released from hospital, with no safeguarding concerns, before a scan and other examinations revealed multiple fractures, the court heard. Prosecutor Ryan Donohue said failings had been identified in areas including policy implementation, training, reporting, auditing and governance. Eleanor Sanderson, mitigating for the trust, said: "The trust wishes to express to the court its deep regret for the circumstances which gave rise to these offences and the risk posed to those who required safeguarding." Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 October 2022 -
News Article
RSV, other viruses making it hard to find a bed in children’s hospitals
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Children’s hospitals are under strain in the United States as they care for unusually high numbers of kids infected with RSV and other respiratory viruses. Respiratory syncytial virus, a common cause of cold-like illness in young children known as RSV, started surging in late summer, months before its typical season from November to early spring. This month, the United States has been recording about 5,000 cases per week, according to federal data, which is on par with last year but far higher than October 2020, when more coronavirus restrictions were in effect and very few people were getting RSV. Jesse Hackell, a doctor who chairs the committee on practice and ambulatory medicine for the American Academy of Pediatrics, said, "It’s very hard to find a bed in a children’s hospital — specifically an intensive care unit bed for a kid with bad pneumonia or bad RSV because they are so full.” Read full story Source: The Washington Post, 21 October 2022 -
News Article
Cough syrup banned in Indonesia after spate of child deaths
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Indonesia has temporarily banned all syrup-based and liquid cough medicines after the death of nearly 100 children from acute kidney failure since the start of this year. Most of those affected are said to be below the age of six. Muhammad Syahril Mansyur, the country’s health ministry spokesman, said: “Until today, we have received 206 reported cases from 20 provinces with 99 deaths.” He added: “As a precaution, the ministry has asked all health workers in health facilities not to prescribe liquid medicine or syrup temporarily … we also asked drug stores to temporarily stop non-prescription liquid medicine or syrup sales until the investigation is completed.” The ban, announced by the health ministry on Wednesday, applies to prescription and over-the-counter medicines. It comes after nearly 70 children died of acute kidney failure this year in the Gambia, linked to four brands of paracetamol cough syrup manufactured by India’s Maiden Pharmaceuticals. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 20 October 2022 -
News Article
Warning for parents after rise in hospitalisations for flu in children under 5
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Parents are being told to urgently bring their children forward for flu vaccinations as new data reveals the rate of hospitalisation and ICU admission for people with the virus is rising fastest among those under five years old. New figures published in the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) National flu and Covid-19 surveillance report show that cases of flu have climbed quickly in the past week, indicating that the season has begun earlier than normal. According to the UKHSA, vaccination for flu is currently behind last season for pre-schoolers (12.1% from 17.4% in all two-year-olds and 12.8% from 18.6% in all three-year-olds). It has also fallen behind in pregnant women (12.4% from 15.7%) and under 65s in a clinical risk group (18.2% from 20.7%). Dr Mary Ramsay, director of public health programmes at the UK Health Security Agency, said: “Our latest data shows early signs of the anticipated threat we expected to face from flu this season. “We’re urging parents in particular not to be caught out as rates of hospitalisations and ICU admissions are currently rising fastest in children under 5. “This will be a concern for many parents and carers of young children, and we urge them to take up the offer of vaccination for eligible children as soon as possible.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 20 October 2022 -
News Article
Eating disorders: Toolkit to help schools cope developed
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Mental health professionals have unveiled a "toolkit" to help school nurses support pupils with eating disorders. Bath-based campaigner Hope Virgo developed the strategy with the School and Public Health Nurses Association (Saphna) after a rise in cases. The toolkit aims to equip school nurses with techniques to discuss eating disorders, and also "what not to say". Ms Virgo has called on the government to deal with the backlog those waiting for treatment, which totalled 1,946 at the beginning of March, data from eating disorder charity Beat shows. Sharon White, Saphna's chair, said the organisation had been promoting the toolkit among its members. "We can't solve the huge waiting lists and reduced services, but what we can do is inform ourselves better," she said. The toolkit provides "the hints, the tips, the language, the stock phrases, and importantly, what not to say", Ms White added. The Department of Health and Social Care has been supportive of the scheme, Ms White said, adding it may adopt it as part of its own guidance in future. Read full story Source: BBC News, 17 October 2022 Read a recent blog Hope Virgo wrote for the hub: People with eating disorders should not face stigma in the health system and barriers to accessing support in 2022 -
News Article
Sudden unexplained death in childhood: Charity hails new NHS efforts
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS England has "never shown so much support" to stop children dying without explanation, a charity which works to prevent unexplained deaths has said. Sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC) is a rare category of death in which the cause remains unknown even after thorough investigation. Currently there is very little awareness or research into its causes. NHS England has said it will now begin a series of measures to change this, a move welcomed by the charity SUDC UK, including: Piloting systems to improve education of health professionals and gather data to help identify modifiable factors which will go on to establish processes to help manage the deterioration of children. Improve information given to families and professionals about SUDC. Separately, data from every child whose death has been put down as SUDC since 2019 will being reviewed by the National Child Mortality Database. Dr Nikki Speed, from the charity SUDC UK, described the plans as revolutionary. "This is such positive historic progress, a landmark moment. Never has the NHS shown such support to stop sudden unexplained death in childhood," she said. "Never has there been such a clear statement to review public information on SUDC, optimise data collection and learn how we could prevent future tragedies. "We finally have confidence that things will progress in our fight to stop SUDC." Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 October 2022 -
News ArticleThe mother of a bullied 12-year-old girl has said her daughter struggled to get mental health support on the NHS in the months before she killed herself, and accused her school of failing to deal with inappropriate messages circulating among pupils. The mother of Charley-Ann Patterson, Jamie, told a hearing that despite being seen by three medical professionals, Charley-Ann had been unable to get mental health support in the months before her death. In a statement read at an inquest at Northumberland coroner’s court on 12 October, Jamie said her daughter had changed halfway through her first year of secondary school, when she was sent “inappropriate” and “shocking” messages by other pupils. The inquest heard that Jamie first took her daughter to a GP over self-harm concerns in June 2019, but she said she “did not believe that the GP took Charley-Ann’s self-harm seriously, potentially due to her age”. She took Charley-Ann to A&E in May 2020 after a second episode of self-harm, where she was referred to a psychiatric team and given a telephone appointment in which she was told Charley-Ann would be referred to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), but that “it was likely that she would not be seen for three years”. In an appointment with a nurse she was told that she would be referred to the Northumberland mental health hub for low mood and anxiety, but later learned “that this referral was never made”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 October 2022
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News Article
Children with Down Syndrome at up to 10-fold higher risk of diabetes
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
New research led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and King's College London (KCL) has shown that children with Down Syndrome (DS) are up to 10 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes. Although elevated rates of both type 1 diabetes and obesity in DS were already recognised, this is the first time that the incidence of these comorbidities has been mapped across the life span, in one of the biggest DS cohorts in the world. The authors concluded: "Our study shows that patients with DS are at significantly increased risk of diabetes at a younger age than the general population, with more than four times the risk in children and young adults and more than double the risk in patients aged 25–44 years." They added: "The underlying mechanisms for this increased susceptibility for diabetes in DS still need further investigation. A combination of factors, including genetic susceptibility, predisposition to auto- immunity, mitochondrial dysfunction, increased oxidative stress, and cellular dysfunction, are thought to contribute to this risk." Corresponding author Andre Strydom, professor in intellectual disabilities at KCL, said: "This is the largest study ever conducted in Down Syndrome patients to show that they have unique needs with regards to diabetes and obesity, and that screening and intervention – including a healthy diet and physical activity – at younger ages is required compared with the general population. "The results will help to inform the work of NHSE's LeDeR programme to reduce inequalities and premature mortality in people with Down Syndrome and learning disabilities." Read full story Source: Medscape UK, 5 October 2022 -
News Article
We must challenge 'doctor knows best' attitude, bereaved mother says
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Merope Mills, an editor at the Guardian, has questioned doctors' attitudes after her 13-year-old daughter Martha's preventable death in hospital. Martha had sustained a rare pancreatic trauma after falling off a bike on a family holiday, and spent weeks in a specialist unit where she developed sepsis. An inquest concluded that her death was preventable, and the hospital apologised. Ms Mills said her daughter would be alive today if doctors had not kept information from the parents about her condition, because they would have demanded a second opinion. She added that doctors' attitudes "reeked of misogyny", citing a moment when her "anxiety" was used as an argument to not send critical care to Martha. In a statement, Prof Clive Kay, chief executive of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said he was "deeply sorry that we failed Martha when she needed us most". "Our focus now is on ensuring the specific learnings from her case are used to improve the care our teams provide - and that is what we are committed to doing." Watch video Source: BBC News, 6 October 2022 Further reading on the hub ‘We had such trust, we feel such fools’: how shocking hospital mistakes led to our daughter’s death (The Guardian) “Are you questioning my clinical judgement?” Suppressing parents’ concerns is a serious patient safety risk -
News Article
WHO alert over India-made cough syrups after deaths in The Gambia
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A global alert has been issued over four cough syrups after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned they could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia. The syrups have been "potentially linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children", it said. The products were manufactured by an Indian company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, which had failed to provide guarantees about their safety, the WHO added. The WHO identified the medicines as Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup. The four products had been identified in The Gambia, but "may have been distributed, through informal markets, to other countries or regions", the WHO added, in the alert published on its website. It warned that their use may result in serious injury or death, especially among children. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 October 2022
