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News Article
Cold homes will cost children’s lives and cause long-term damage, warn experts
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Cold homes will damage children’s lungs and brain development and lead to deaths as part of a “significant humanitarian crisis” this winter, health experts have warned. Unless the next prime minister curbs soaring fuel bills, children face a wave of respiratory illness with long-term consequences, according to a review by Sir Michael Marmot, the director of University College London’s Institute of Health Equity, and Prof Ian Sinha, a respiratory consultant at Liverpool’s Alder Hey children’s hospital. Sinha said he had “no doubt” that cold homes would cost children’s lives this winter, although they could not predict how many, with damage done to young lungs leading to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema and bronchitis for others in adulthood. Huge numbers of cash-strapped households are preparing to turn heating systems down or off when the energy price cap increases to £3,549 from 1 October, and the president of the British Paediatric Respiratory Society, also told the Guardian that child deaths were likely. “There will be excess deaths among some children where families are forced into not being able to heat their homes,” said Dr Simon Langton-Hewer. “It will be dangerous, I’m afraid.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 September 2022 -
News ArticleThe mother of a seven-year-old girl who died at Perth Children's Hospital says she pleaded with staff to help her daughter but was not taken seriously. Aishwarya Aswath died in April last year after attending the Perth Children's Hospital (PCH) with a high temperature and cold hands. The Perth Coroner's Court on Wednesday heard a statement from Aishwarya's mother Prasitha Sasidharan, who described how she grew increasingly worried about her daughter while in the hospital waiting room. She approached staff five times while they were in the waiting room for almost two hours. "I feel like I was ignored and not taken seriously," she said. The court heard from both parents on Wednesday, the start of an eight-day inquest. After Aishwarya died her father wanted to hold her but was only allowed to do so for a brief time. In his statement, read to the court, he said there were "many missed opportunities to save her." Former PCH chief executive Aresh Anwar said the hospital was grappling with a rise in mental health presentations and a shortage of staff when Aishwarya died. Read full story Source: ABC News (24 August 2022)
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News ArticleVaccine coverage continued to decline worldwide in 2021, with 25 million children missing out on lifesaving vaccines, according to data published by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. "The largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in approximately 30 years has been recorded," the organisations have said. Between 2019 and 2021, there was a 5-point drop in the percentage of children who got three doses of DTP3, the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. This took the coverage down to 81%. DTP3 coverage is used as a marker for broader immunization coverage, WHO and UNICEF said. "As a result, 25 million children missed out on one or more doses of DTP through routine immunization services in 2021 alone. This is 2 million more than those who missed out in 2020 and 6 million more than in 2019, highlighting the growing number of children at risk from devastating but preventable diseases," they said. Eighteen million of these children didn't get a single dose of the vaccine, the majority of whom lived in low- and middle-income countries. Other decreases were seen in HPV, with which over a quarter of the coverage achieved in 2019 was lost, and measles, with which first-dose coverage dropped to 81% in 2021. WHO notes that this is the lowest level since 2008 and means 24.7 million children missed their first dose in 2021. Read full story Source: CNN, 14 July 2022
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Content ArticleThis article in The BMJ examines the case for vaccinating children under five against Covid, following the US recently recommending that children aged six months to five years should receive Covid-19 vaccines. It looks at the risks and benefits of vaccination for young children, citing recent Moderna and Pfizer trials. It highlights that children are more likely than adults to experience asymptomatic Covid-19 or very mild illness, and are much less likely to have severe disease requiring hospital admission. But for children with underlying health conditions, such as long term neurological disease, vaccination may be beneficial in preventing severe disease.
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Content Article
AYPH Youth health data website
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Children, young people and families
This website from the Association for Young People's Health (AYPH) aims to provide useful data about young people’s health for healthcare professionals, researchers and other professionals working with young people. At its heart is a data compendium called ‘Key Data on Young People’s Health’ produced AYPH, which gives up to date national data on key health outcomes for 10-24 year olds. The website also include links to other resources and sources of data about the key issues facing young people. -
News Article
Urgent polio boosters for London children
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
All children aged one to nine and living in Greater London will be offered a polio vaccine after the virus was detected in sewage. The virus, which can cause paralysis, has been found 116 times in London's wastewater since February. The urgent immunisation campaign will see nearly a million children offered the vaccine - including those already up to date with their jabs. Parents and carers will be contacted by their GP within the next month. Polio is seen as a disease of the past in the UK after the whole of Europe was declared polio-free in 2003. Dr Vanessa Saliba, a consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA, said: "All children aged one to nine years in London need to have a dose of polio vaccine now - whether it's an extra booster dose or just to catch up with their routine vaccinations." She said the risk for the majority of the population who are vaccinated remains "low" but said it was "vital" parents ensure their children are fully vaccinated. Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 August 2022 -
News Article
Child deaths expose mental health unit pressures
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Deaths, staff shortages and a culture of life-threatening self-harm are exposing deep fears about the quality of mental health care in hospitals for children and young people. Since 2019, at least 20 patients aged 18 or under have died in NHS or privately-run units, the BBC has found. A further 26 have died within a year of leaving units, amid claims of a lack of ongoing community support. The NHS said it had "invested record amounts... to meet record demand". Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) units look after about 4,000 patients with many different diagnoses each year. The aim is to help them recover over a period of weeks or months through specialist care. Some patients are in and out of the units for years. The BBC has also heard serious claims regarding the unsafe discharge of patients sent home from CAMHS hospitals. Several former patients told the BBC they had serious self-harm incidents or tried to take their own life within days of returning home. Parents have described being on "suicide watch" 24 hours a day, to ensure their child's safety. Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 August 2022 -
Content ArticleRecent data shows that people aged 10–25 in the poorest areas of the UK will die earlier than those in richer areas. It’s also predicted that people aged 10–14 living in the most deprived areas will live 18 more years in ill health than their peers in the least deprived areas. In this blog for The Health Foundation, Association for Young People's Health (AYPH) policy fellow Rachael McKeown outlines data recently published by AYPH that shows the scale and complexity of young people’s health inequalities, and the need for action.
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Content ArticleThe Commission on Young Lives (COYL) was set up in September 2021, to propose a new settlement to prevent marginalised children and young people from falling into violence, exploitation and the criminal justice system, and to support them to thrive. Its national action plan will include ambitious practical, affordable proposals that government, councils, police, social services and communities can put into place. This detailed report by COYL examines the state of children and young people's mental health, describing the current situation as "a profound crisis." It examines the impact of the pandemic on young people's mental health, as well highlighting the lack of capacity and inequalities present in children and young people's mental health services. It then looks in detail at factors that contribute to mental health issues in children and young people and prevent marginalised groups from accessing mental health support.
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Content ArticleThis National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) report highlights the results of a study into quality of care received by people aged 0-24 receiving long-term ventilation (LTV). It aimed to identify remediable factors in the care provided to children and young people who were receiving, or had received, LTV.
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Content ArticleYoung people from different backgrounds with different lived experiences can have different physical and mental health outcomes. This briefing document by the Association for Young People’s Health (AYPH) offers a definition for health inequalities that is specific to young people, and a conceptual framework to help identify key causes and factors that influence health outcomes. As well as highlighting the impact of Covid-19 on young people's health and wellbeing, the paper focuses on different factors that will affect young people's health outcomes now and in the future, including education, employment, housing, geographical area, development of behaviours and relationships.
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Content ArticleOur home is a place where we spend so much more time. However, this is one place where there may be fewer safeguards and less protection from the risks of serious injury, especially to young children. Preventable accidental injury remains a leading cause of death and acquired disability for children in the UK. Moreover, it affects deprived children more. Hospital admission rates from unintentional injuries among the under-fives are significantly higher for children from the most deprived areas compared with those from the least deprived. This short article from Ian Evans highlights what healthcare professionals working with children and families need to know about accidents and accident prevention in a higher income setting.
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News Article
Failing gender service for children to be replaced by local hubs
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS’s only gender identity clinic for children has been found to be neither “safe nor viable” and is set to be replaced by regional hubs. A damning report into gender identity services run by the Tavistock and Portman Foundation Trust has found that the model is putting children at “considerable risk”. An interim report by Dr Hilary Cass said that children and young people are being subjected to “lengthy” waits for access to gender dysphoria services, and are not receiving support during this time. The report said a “fundamentally different” service model that can provide timely and appropriate care for children is needed, and recommended that the NHS launch local specialist centres. Her full report is due to be published next year, but has so far warned that the long waiting lists for gender-questioning children and young people are “unacceptable”. The review said it was not yet able to provide recommendations on the use of puberty blockers and feminising or masculinising hormones, due to gaps in the evidence. A report from safety watchdog the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch in April warned that CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) had been forced to “hold the risk” while caring for children who are waiting to access specialist gender-dysphoria (GID) services. It added: “There is a lack of capacity and capability to ensure proactive risk assessment of the health of patients waiting on the GIDS waiting list.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 28 July 2022 -
News Article
Likely cause of mystery child hepatitis outbreak found
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
UK experts believe they have identified the cause of the recent spate of mysterious liver problems affecting young children around the world. Investigations suggest two common viruses made a comeback after pandemic lockdowns ended - and triggered the rare but very serious hepatitis cases. More than 1,000 children - many under the age of five - in 35 countries are thought to have been affected. Some, including 12 in the UK, have needed a lifesaving liver transplant. The two teams of researchers, from London and Glasgow, say infants exposed later than normal - because of Covid restrictions - missed out on some early immunity to an adenovirus, which normally causes colds and stomach upsets, and adeno-associated virus 2. Noah, three, who lives in Chelmsford, Essex, needed an urgent liver transplant after becoming dangerously ill with hepatitis. His mother, Rebecca Cameron-McIntosh, says the experience has been devastating. "He'd previously had nothing wrong with him," she says. "And for it to suddenly go so quickly. I think that's what kind of took us by surprise. "We've just assumed it was one little problem that will get easily sorted out - but actually it just kept on snowballing." Noah's recovery has been good - but he will need to take immunosuppressant drugs fo life, to stop his body rejecting the new liver he received. Rebecca says: "There is something really heartbreaking about that because you go along following the rules, do what you are supposed to do to protect people that are vulnerable and then, in some horrible roundabout way, your own child has become more vulnerable because you did what you were supposed to do." Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 July 2022 -
Content ArticleThis report draws on data from the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) to investigate how illness around the time of birth affects the health of children up to the age of 10, and to draw out learning and recommendations for service providers and policymakers. This report aims to understand patterns and trends in child deaths where an event before, or around, the time of birth had a significant impact on life, and the risk of dying in childhood.
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News ArticleCare waiting lists for children are rising at double the rate of the adult backlog, a top doctor has warned. The waiting list for children’s care, including surgeries, hit 360,000 in May, the latest NHS data shows, and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) warned it is set to get worse amid worsening summer pressures. In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Dr Camilla Kingdon, president of RCPCH, said children’s services hadn’t been adequately prioritised since taking a hit during the pandemic, which was compounded by an “extremely busy summer”. She said children’s services now faced a “perfect storm” as they struggled to meet demand due to the increased pressure of viruses not previously seen at high levels during summer, and staff being off sick with Covid. Dr Kingdon said: “I don’t think it’s a surprise at all, that the waiting lists are rising. I think the truth is that the rate of rise of the waiting list for children is more than double the rate of rise for adults.” An NHS spokesperson said: “It is right that hospitals have been prioritising patients with the most urgent clinical need. The number of people waiting the longest – which includes many children – has dropped by more than 80 per cent since January.” But Dr Kingdon warned the official waiting list data, published by NHS England, was a “gross underestimation” of the actual number of children waiting for care overall. She said: “We’re not even collecting the data adequately to be able to truly understand the extent of the problem.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 July 2022
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News ArticleHundreds of children suffering from mental health issues are attending A&E each day, with some waiting up to five days in emergency departments, The Independent can reveal. Internal NHS data leaked to The Independent, shows the number of young patients waiting more than 12 hours from arrival has also more than doubled in the last year. A national survey of senior A&E doctors by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) found in some areas children’s mental health services have worsened in the last three years, while the majority of respondents warned there were no children’s crisis services open after 5pm. One NHS trust chief executive has warned his hospital’s A&Es have seen a “real surge” in both attendances of people with severe mental health issues and a sharp increase in long waits in recent months. One parent, Lee Pickwell, told The Independent his daughter was admitted to paediatric wards several times and stayed days in an emergency “section 136” unit while she waited more than two months for a mental health bed. Dr Mark Buchanan, RCEM’s lead for children’s mental health, told The Independent that despite improvements, children’s mental health services still fall short of what is needed. Dr Buchanan said: “I’ve seen children who have been not seen by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), who been refused the referrals, despite the fact that the mum and dad were taking it in turns to sleep outside their bedroom door because they were scared that they’d run away and do some harm.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 13 July 2022
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News Article
NHS is ‘not doing a very good job’ on children’s mental health
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS's approach to tackling children’s mental health is “threatening to overwhelm the social care system”, the president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services has warned. Steve Crocker believes the NHS is “not doing a very good job” for children, describing how children are typically now waiting four months for a mental health assessment and over a year for treatment as being “simply not good enough”. He admitted he was being “deliberately provocative” around children’s mental health at the opening of the ADCS conference yesterday, as he wants to see “more collaboration” from the new Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), which were put on a statutory footing this month. Mr Crocker warned delegates that under the ICS reforms, there is an “ongoing risk that the needs of children are sidelined by the ongoing pressure in acute adult services”. “The House of Lords amendment ensuring each ICS has a children’s strategic lead was a welcome development, but does it go far enough?” he asked. Mr Crocker told LGC: “Children's mental health should be a priority for every ICS in the country. I can't imagine any reason why any ICS would not do that." Read full story Source: Local Government Chronicle, 8 July 2022 -
EventuntilEntrenched health inequalities have come to the fore over the past couple of years and we have seen some of the sharpest declines in health and wellbeing for our children, young people and their families. Never has there been a more urgent need to address the link between wider social, economic and environmental causes to the increased risk of poor public health and mental health. These are best understood and addressed at a local level by people and organisations that have relationships and knowledge of the nuances and cultures of individuals and communities. The formation of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) represents a significant opportunity for Boards to engage the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector in order to enable a truly integrated Health and Social Care System to be delivered. These new arrangements which will bring together local system partners should serve to strengthen relationships between the NHS and VCSE sector and promote greater equity. This free webinar, co-produced and sponsored by Barnardo’s, brings together an esteemed panel of experts to discuss how we make the most of these opportunities at this critical time, as well as showcasing innovative VCSE projects that are delivering improved outcomes for children, young people and their families. Register for the webinar
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Content ArticleThis storyboard poster explains the aims, methods and results of No Wrong Door, a project run by North Yorkshire County Council to ensure young people access the right services, at the right time and in the right place to meet their needs. Young people who enter care during their teenage years tend to spend considerable periods in residential care. They are more likely to have placement breakdowns and can follow a path of multiple placements, over time becoming distrusting of positive relationships, disengaging from education and training and falling into patterns of risky behaviour. No Wrong Door is an integrated service for complex and troubled young people. Their needs are addressed within a single team. Operating from two Hubs, No Wrong Door brings together a variety of accommodation options, a range of services and outreach support under one management umbrella. It is a partnership between seven district councils, nine housing providers, health services (including child and adolescent mental health services) and the police.
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News Article
Race to find children without full vaccination against polio in London
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS is urgently tracking down the parents of 35,000 five-year-old children in London who are not fully vaccinated against polio. Health officials are hoping to contain the spread of the virus after detecting the first outbreak since 1984. They are trying to trace it back to a “single household or street” after identifying polio in a sewage plant serving four million people in northeast London. Experts are concerned polio, which had been eradicated in Britain in the 1980s, could take off again due to relatively low vaccination uptake in London. Latest NHS data shows 101,000 five-year-olds in England — 15% of the total — have not had their booster polio dose, offered when they reach the age of three. One third of these, 34,104 in total, live in London. Jane Clegg, the chief NHS nurse for London said they are “reaching out to parents of children aged under five in London who are not up-to-date with their polio vaccinations to invite them to get protected.” Read full story Source: The Times, 23 June 2022 -
Content ArticleThe NHS Confederation has published a new report, 'The unequal impact of COVID-19: investigating the effect on people with certain protected characteristics', which maps existing research into COVID-19 inequalities onto some of these protected characteristics, showing how the pandemic has interacted with them. The report then showcases four case studies of how different health and care systems have put in place interventions to respond to these inequalities when designing their COVID-19 response. It focuses on a number of key areas including the impact of COVID-19 on: BAME communities people with disabilities older and younger people. The report concludes with a series of recommendations for health and care systems across the UK.
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News Article
'Urgent' changes needed for child disability care
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The mothers of two teenage boys who died after failures in their care have called on the government to make "urgent improvements" to how children with disabilities are assessed. Sammy Alban-Stanley, 13, and 14-year-old Oskar Nash both died in 2020. Inquests for both boys recorded they had received inadequate care from local authorities and mental health services. The calls were made in an open letter to the secretaries of state for health and social care, and education. Patricia Alban and Natalia Nash asked Sajid Javid and Nadim Zahawi to make fundamental changes to several care areas to prevent future deaths. The pair said they both experienced problems with support for disabled children and families. Services lacked understanding of neurological conditions like autism, they said. The pair also pointed to a lack of access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and failure to assess or review the severity of a child's developing needs. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 June 2022 -
News Article
USA: Four-year-old accidentally given vasectomy
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A family in Texas is suing a Houston-based doctor after their 4-year-old on son underwent an "unintended vasectomy" during a surgery. The child was reportedly in the hospital for a hernia surgery at the time of the incident, according to Randy Sorrels, the family's personal injury attorney. He told Fox4 that part of the procedure involved work near the child's groin. The attorney claimed the surgeon "cut the wrong piece of anatomy." “The surgeon, we think, cut accidentally the vas deferens, one of the tubes that carries reproductive semen in it. It could affect this young man for the rest of his life,” Mr Sorrels told the broadcaster. The surgeon who operated on the boy has no history of malpractice and has otherwise never received any negative reports on their work. Mistakes like the one made on the toddler are generally very rare due to safety precautions built into the surgery process. “It’s not a common mistake at all,” Mr Sorrels said. “Before a doctor transects or cuts any part of the anatomy, they are supposed to positively identify what that anatomy is and then cut. Here, the doctor failed to accurately identify the anatomy that needed to be cut. Unfortunately, cut his vas deferens. That wasn’t found out until it was sent in for pathology.” The attorney said his and the family’s top concern is for the boy’s health. They are considering options for reversing the procedure, but the attorney noted that doing so would require the boy to undergo more surgery. Read full story Source: The Independent, 15 June 2022 -
News Article
National Deaf Children’s Society urges NHS trusts to use clear face masks
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The National Deaf Children’s Society has written to every NHS trust in England urging them to start using transparent face masks because standard ones create a “serious communication barrier” for deaf patients. The letters, co-signed by the British Academy of Audiology, said deaf patients could “miss vital information about their health” as opaque masks make lip reading impossible and facial expressions difficult to read. It is likely that face masks will remain widespread in the NHS, as new guidance issued at the start of June states they will still be required in a number of settings, including cancer wards and critical care units, and staff may wear them in other areas depending on personal preference and local risk assessments. Susan Daniels, the chief executive of the National Deaf Children’s Society, said: “Transparent face masks are fully approved and they could transform the healthcare experience for deaf people. However they communicate, almost all deaf people rely on lip reading and facial expressions. Opaque face masks make these techniques much more difficult and this could seriously affect communication at a time when they might need it the most.” Three types of transparent masks, designed not to fog up, are now approved for use as PPE in healthcare settings, and although they are not currently available on the NHS supply chain, they can be bought direct from suppliers. The government previously delivered 250,000 clear masks to frontline NHS and social care workers in September 2020. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 15 June 2022
