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Showing results for tags 'Children and Young People'.
Found 602 results
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News Article
Children may be COVID-19 ‘collateral damage’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Children may have died from non-coronavirus illnesses because they are not coming to hospital quickly enough, amid concerns NHS 111 may be giving flawed advice to stay away, according to senior paediatricians. HSJ understands the concern about 111 giving the wrong advice to parents who should travel to hospital had been “escalated” to national leaders. Several senior paediatric leaders in London raised serious concerns to HSJ. They said several children in the past week had been admitted to intensive care in London, and had been harmed — and, in some cases, died — because of the issue, though they did not want to identify particular hospitals or cases. The sources said it was a national problem. Read full story Source: HSJ, 3 April 2020 -
News ArticleHospitals should allow parents to be with children who are being treated for the coronavirus, NHS England has confirmed, after a 13-year-old boy died without any family members beside him. Under its national guidance to hospitals, parents are considered essential visitors, but hospitals do have discretion to suspend visitors if it is “considered appropriate”. Anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19 should not be allowed to visit a hospital. NHS England confirmed the position after 13-year-old Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab died at King’s College Hospital in south London in the early hours of Monday without any family members present. A statement by his family suggested he was alone because of the risk of infection. On its website the hospital repeated the guidance sent to trusts by NHS England that states children are allowed one parent or carer as a visitor, but declined to explain why his family were not with him. The end-of-life charity Marie Curie has also called on doctors to allow families to be with their loved ones, describing it as an “important part of their duty of care”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 2 April 2020
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News Article
Infant mortality rate in Northern Ireland is the worst in the UK, report finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Northern Ireland's infant mortality rate remains the highest of any UK region although it has decreased, according to a new report. Infant mortality is a measure of deaths of children under one year of age. The report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) shows the current rate is 4.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. In 2017, the figure stood at 4.8 deaths. Infant mortality rates decreased in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but remained unchanged in England, which has the second highest rate of 3.9 deaths per 1,000. The report also highlights an increase in the suicide rate among young people aged 15–24 years. Responding to the figures, Health Minister Robin Swann said the physical and mental health of children and young people was a "priority" for the for the Northern Ireland Executive. "My department is already investing in a number of programmes and strategies which seek to address child health inequalities and improve the wellbeing of our children." Dr Ray Nethercott, RCPCH officer for Ireland acknowledged the current healthcare crisis as well as concerns about waiting lists and standard of care but added that "children's health and wellbeing should not be seen as being in competition with adult services or health provision". "Acting early to treat and prevent conditions, and reducing the impact of factors such as poverty, can really improve health outcomes. A healthier population of children and young people will reduce many of the pressures on adult services in the long term." Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 March 2020 -
News Article
Young people put at risk by delays for treatment
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More than 70 children and young people have been put at risk by long delays in treatment by mental health services in Kent and Medway, HSJ has learned. According to a response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by HSJ, 205 harm reviews have been carried out for patients waiting for treatment following a referral to the North East London Foundation Trust, which runs the child and adolescent mental health services in Kent and Medway. Of those, 76 patients, who had all waited longer than the 18 week target time for treatment, were found to be at risk of harm. One patient had to be seen immediately as they were judged to be at “severe” risk. Seven were found to be at “moderate” risk and 68 at “low” risk. The trust said “risk” meant a risk of harm to themselves or others. But it said none of the 76 patients had come to actual harm. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 25 February 2020 -
News Article
Fall in school nurses prompts fears that children’s lives are ‘at risk’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of nurses in schools has fallen in recent years, prompting fears that pupils’ lives are being put “at risk”. Teaching assistants are being asked to carry out medical interventions, such as injections, without adequate training or support, the GMB union, which represents school staff, has said. Data, obtained by the GMB union through a Freedom of Information request, shows the number of school nurses has fallen by 11 per cent in four years – from 472 in 2015 to 420 in 2018. Karen Leonard, National Schools Officer at the GMB union, said: “The uncomfortable truth is that in too many schools children are not getting the medical support they need.” Ms Leonard added: “School staff should not administer medicine unless they feel fully confident in their training and lines of accountability, but often they are placed in uncomfortable situations." “This is a highly stressful state of affairs for children, parents, and staff, who fear they will be blamed if something goes wrong. It is not alarmist to say that lives are at risk.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 23 February 2020 -
News Article
Children with arthritis 'facing delays to diagnosis'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Delays diagnosing and treating children with arthritis are leaving them in pain and at a higher risk of lifelong damage, a national charity has warned. Arthritis is commonly thought to affect only older people, but 15,000 children have the condition in the UK. Versus Arthritis says many children are not getting help soon enough. The NHS said: "Arthritis in young people is rare and diagnosing it can be difficult because symptoms are often vague and no specific test exists." Zoe Chivers, Head of Services at Versus Arthritis, said: "We know that young people often face significant delays getting to diagnosis simply because even their GPs don't recognise that it's a condition that can affect people as young as two. It's often considered that they're just going through growing pains or they've just got a bit of a viral infection and that's not the case." Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 February 2020 -
News Article
Doctors in row with HSE over claims children's transgender care is 'unsafe'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A number of doctors have claimed a service under which adolescents with gender dysphoria can be given puberty-suppressing hormone blockers is "unsafe" and must be immediately stopped, but their concerns were suppressed. The service is provided in Ireland by flying in two clinicians from an NHS trust in London to run clinics at Crumlin Children's Hospital. But the Irish Independent has learned at least three doctors working in the gender area expressed grave concerns over the service provided by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust at Crumlin. The concerns over standards of clinical care and governance were raised at a meeting of doctors and hospital officials in Crumlin last March. These included that children had been started on hormone treatment when they did not appear to be suitable. However, the issues raised and calls by the doctors for the service to be "terminated with immediate effect" were omitted from draft minutes of the meeting. News of their concerns comes days after it emerged a lawsuit was being taken by a former nurse, a parent, and a former patient against the trust in the London High Court. The action is challenging the clinic's practice of prescribing hormone blockers and cross-sex hormones to children under the age of 18. The trust has also been hit by a series of resignations by psychologists amid disquiet about the alleged "over-diagnosis" of gender dysphoria. Read full story Source: Irish Independent, 3 February 2020 -
News ArticleA quarter of children referred for specialist mental health care because of self-harm, eating disorders and other conditions are being rejected for treatment, a new report has found. The study by the Education Policy Institute warns that young patients are waiting an average of two months for help, and frequently turned away. It follows research showing that one in three mental health trusts are only accepting cases classed as the most severe. GPs have warned that children were being forced to wait until their condition deteriorated - in some cases resulting in a suicide attempt - in order to get to see a specialist. Read full story Source: The Telegraph, 10 January 2020
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News Article
NHS use of puberty blockers legal challenge begins
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Legal action is being launched against the NHS over the prescribing of drugs to delay puberty. Papers have been lodged at the High Court by a mother and a nurse against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which runs the UK's only gender-identity development service (Gids). Lawyers will argue it is illegal to prescribe the drugs, as children cannot give informed consent to the treatment. The Tavistock said it had a "cautious and considered" approach to treatment. The nurse, Sue Evans, left the Gids more than a decade ago after becoming increasingly concerned teenagers who wanted to transition to a different gender were being given the puberty blockers without adequate assessments and psychological work. Ms Evans said: "I used to feel concerned it was being given to 16-year-olds. But now, the age limit has been lowered and children as young as perhaps 9 or 10 are being asked to give informed consent to a completely experimental treatment for which the long-term consequences are not known." Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 January 2020 -
News Article
'Breaking point': fears over lack of intensive care beds for children
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Critically ill children are being rushed from one part of England to another because NHS hospitals are running short of intensive care beds in which to treat them, the Guardian has revealed. An increase in severe breathing problems in children driven by winter viruses and infections, including flu, means some are having to be transferred sometimes many miles from their home area because there are not enough paediatric intensive care (PICU) beds locally. Specialist doctors who staff the units say the situation is “dangerous and rotten for the families” involved and that staff are firefighting to handle the number of children needing sometimes life-saving care, many of whom are on a ventilator to help them breathe. In the past few weeks, young patients have been sent from the Midlands to Sheffield, from London to Cambridge, and from one side of the Pennines to the other in order to get them a place in a PICU. One doctor at a PICU in the Midlands said: “PICU beds are always in high demand. But since winter hit this year, around six weeks ago, the situation feels like we are simply firefighting. Many days I come on shift to find there are no beds in [our] region and the patients referred to us end up in Southampton, Sheffield, Oxford and other centres far away." “The PICU network is overstretched. There aren’t enough beds, nurses or skilled doctors.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 December 2019 -
News Article
Patients harmed after doctors ‘failed to respond’ to nurse concerns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Two patients at a hospital in West Lancashire came to “avoidable harm” after medical staff failed to act on concerns raised by nurses, according to a health watchdog. The issue was highlighted by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an inspection of children and young people’s services at Ormskirk Hospital in July and August. In there report CQC stated: “In children and young people’s services we found evidence that there had been occasions when medical staff had not responded to nursing concerns, which led to avoidable harm occurring to two patients.” The document added that the two serious incidents, which had both been reported by staff, were "relating to babies". Read full story Source: The Nursing Times, 3 December 2019 -
Content Article
This blog is written in time for the WHO's World Immunisation Week. It explores vaccination programmes, in particular that for COVID-19 – it's uptake, both in the UK and globally, and the negative impact the pandemic has had on vaccination programmes for other diseases. -
Content ArticleYoung people with type 1 diabetes experience higher rates of psychological distress, periods of burnout and feelings of being unable to cope with the daily burden of living with diabetes, than those who are diagnosed as adults. This article in The BMJ considers approaches to reduce anxiety and stress in young people with diabetes including: family, peer, and psychological support and education on living with diabetes. psychological screening assessment tools at diagnosis and annually. ensuring there are adequate local mental health support pathways. psychological and behavioural interventions, such as solution focused therapy, coping skills training, motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioural therapy.
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Content ArticleThe National Paediatric Diabetes Audit (NPDA) is performed annually in England and Wales and aims to provide information that leads to improved quality care for children and young people affected by diabetes. The audit is funded by the Department of Health through the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). Key messages in this 2020-21 annual report on care processes and outcomes include: There was an increase of an increase of 20.7% in the number of children aged 0-15 diagnosed with type 1 diabetes compared with 2019-20. Completion rates on recommended health checks were lower than in previous years due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. There was wide variation between paediatric diabetes units in the completion rates of all key annual health checks. A smaller percentage of newly-diagnosed children and young people started insulin pump therapy compared to previous years. The national median HbA1c (a measure of blood glucose control) reduced from 61.5 mmol/mol to 61.0mmol/mol between 2019/20 and 2020/21, following several years of year on year decreases (improvement) in the national median. Children from ethnic minorities were less likely to be using insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) than white children. However, the highest percentage increase between audit years in the use of CGMs was seen in black children and young people with type 1 diabetes.
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Content ArticleThe Schools for Health in Europe network foundation (SHE) aims to improve the health of children and young people in Europe, including reducing health inequalities, through a specific setting focus on schools. This factsheet by SHE provides an overview of current evidence on health literacy with a specific focus on schools, pupils, and educational staff. It contains information and data on: Health literacy among school-aged children The interplay between health literacy, health and education Health literacy in schools in the WHO European Region A future avenue for health literacy in schools
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Content ArticleThis Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) investigation explores the care of patients who present to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) with questions about their gender identity and are referred to specialised gender dysphoria services. Gender dysphoria is a sense of unease, distress or discomfort that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. For example, a child who is registered as male at birth might feel or say that they are a girl, or feel that neither ‘boy’ nor ‘girl’ are the right word to describe how they feel about themselves. Gender dysphoria is not identified as a mental illness by the NHS, but some people may develop mental health problems because of gender dysphoria.
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Content Article'Cautious Tortoise' is an easy to follow flow chart that aims to guide parents and caregivers through the early steps of their child's recovery from Covid-19 and Long Covid, while supporting them to preserve energy to aid ongoing recovery. Alongside an infographic flow-chart, this webpage contains frequently asked questions about Covid-19 and Long Covid in children, including: What does the government advise? Long Covid Kids urge families to proceed cautiously When can a child be referred to a Long Covid Paediatric Hub? How many children get Long Covid? Long Covid Symptoms In Children What is post exertional malaise/post exertional symptom exacerbation? When is the right time to return to school?
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Content ArticleThis article in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood examines patient safety theories and suggests principles to tackle safety challenges specific to paediatric care. The authors provide an overview of the evolution of patient safety theories and tools such as huddles and electronic prescribing. They look at the example of Paediatric Early Warning Systems (PEWS), highlighting that the organisational context and culture in which PEWS is used will dramatically affect its effectiveness as a tool. They conclude that approaches to patient safety must see it as a complex interconnected whole, rooted in the culture and environment in which safety interventions act. They also argue that paediatricians must take a lead in improving the safety of the care they deliver on a systems basis.
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Content ArticleThis report by Save the Children's Global Medical Team (GMT) shares the results of independent audits conducted in 2021. The audits aimed to assess the safety and quality of clinical and pharmacy services delivered by the organisation across seven countries. The team strategically focused on higher-risk programmes where Save the Children staff deliver services directly, with an aim to ensure that services remain safe and fully assured.
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Content ArticleThis preprint study aimed to assess whether there is a change in the incidence of cardiac and all-cause death in young people following Covid-19 vaccination or SARS-CoV-2 infection in unvaccinated individuals. The authors concluded that there is no evidence of an association between Covid-19 vaccination and an increased risk of death in young people. By contrast, SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with substantially higher risk of cardiac related death and all-cause death.
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Content ArticleSky Rollings had been diagnosed with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD) and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. She was transferred from a Children and Adolescent Mental Health Hospital to the Acute Adult Unit at the Harplands Hospital on 4 November 2019. She died on 9 November at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
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Content ArticleRebecca Romero was 15 years old and had a long history of self-harm and mental health problems. On 19 July 2017 she was found dead at her home, with a ligature around her neck. Rebecca had left Pebble Lodge psychiatric unit for a period of leave on 6 July 2017, but never returned to the unit after her leave. The original plan was to transfer her to an alternative unit, Riverside, but as there were no inpatient or day patient places available, a discharge meeting was held on 14 July where a community care package was put in place. She was under the community team at the time of her death, but had not been seen since her discharge.
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Content Article
Belfast Healthy Cities: Pharmacy Schools Programme (2021)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Medication
The Pharmacy Schools Programme is an innovative teaching resource developed by Belfast Healthy Cities. Using a health literacy approach, it is designed to be used in primary schools in Northern Ireland to help educate children about self-care, medication safety and community pharmacy services. -
Content ArticleThis article in the Italian Journal of Pediatrics discusses existing knowledge about paediatric Long Covid and looks at how to identify and manage Long Covid in children. The authors recommend three-month primary care follow up for all children who have had Covid-19, to determine whether each child is experiencing ongoing effects after the acute phase of the virus. They highlight the need for relevant medical investigations when symptoms remain to give the best chance of successful recovery, and recommend that psychological support be offered to children where appropriate.
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Content ArticleHealthcare professionals need clearer guidance on responding to racism in paediatric settings, argue Zeshan Qureshi and colleagues.
