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Found 598 results
  1. Content Article
    HPV is a common infection that is spread by skin-to-skin contact, including sexual contact, which can lead to the development of cancers affecting both women and men, including cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus, and oral cavity. In England, young people aged 12 to 13 years are offered immunisation against HPV as part of the NHS vaccination programme. Research has shown that in England cervical cancer has almost been eliminated among young women who were offered the HPV vaccine. However, research by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation at the University of Bristol has identified sustained inequalities in uptake by area and minority ethnic groups. It has also identified unmet information needs among young people in schools where vaccination uptake is low, with implications for obtaining consent and vaccination uptake. This web page contains a number of information videos to address information needs about HPV among young people. They were coproduced with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and diverse ethnic groups.
  2. Content Article
    This year, WHO's World Mental Health Day on 10 October will focus on the theme 'Mental health is a universal human right'. To mark World Mental Health Day, we’ve pulled together 10 resources, blogs and reports from the hub that focus on improving patient safety across different aspects of mental health services.
  3. Content Article
    Allergic reactions vary in severity. People with food allergy tend to have reactions which affect the skin or gut, but around one third of reactions involve the breathing: these more serious allergic reactions are known as anaphylaxis. Very rarely, anaphylaxis can be severe and therefore life-threatening. This leaflet created by Allergy UK and Anaphylaxis UK explains how you can reduce the risk of this happening. Anaphylaxis is unpredictable and can occur in people who have never had this type of reaction before, but most people will recover fully. 
  4. News Article
    The mother of a four-year-old boy with complex needs said she fears he could die waiting for life-changing surgery. Collette Mullan made the claim to BBC Spotlight as it examined the scale of hospital waiting lists. Northern Ireland has the worst waiting times in the UK, with more than half a million cases queued for an outpatient or inpatient appointment. The Department of Health has described current waiting lists as "entirely unacceptable". Óisín, from County Londonderry, has a number of health conditions including cerebral palsy, and is currently waiting for two procedures. He is fed with a tube that carries his food through his nose into his stomach, but since it was inserted six months ago, his mum Collette said he has struggled to breathe. Óisín is now waiting to have the nasogastric tube removed and replaced by a different feeding system which goes directly to his stomach. Collette said she was told it could be a three-year wait for the procedure. She is concerned that Óisín's cerebral palsy puts him at a greater risk of complications, saying she had been warned there was a danger he could aspirate. "He could die. Anything going into his lung really, it could be very dangerous," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 October 2023
  5. Content Article
    These videos posted by Melissa Sheldrick tell the story of her son Andrew, who died aged eight from a medication error. The investigation into Andrew's death found that he had been given baclofen by his pharmacy instead of the tryptophan he had been prescribed. When tested, the dose of baclofen in the bottle given to Andrew contained three times the lethal dose of baclofen for adults. PSMF Melissa's story. In this video, Andrew's mother Melissa talks about what happened to Andrew and how it led to her campaigning for mandatory reporting of medication errors by pharmacists across Canada, Australia and the US. Patients taking the lead: Collaborating for safer healthcare. This presentation was originally given at the World Health Organization's (WHO's) World Patient Safety Day conference on 12 September 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland. Melissa tells Andrew's story and talks about how she has raised awareness of gaps in accountability for pharmacies and pharmacists. She describes how she was invited to be part of a taskforce to improve safety in pharmacy by the pharmacy regulator in her home state of Ontario—this was the first time a member of the public had been included in such a taskforce.
  6. News Article
    Parents are being urged to get their children vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) after a “worrying” drop in uptake of key vaccines. Figures from NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show 92.5% of children had had the first dose of the MMR jab at five years old by 2022-23, the lowest since 2010-11. The proportion of five-year-olds who had had the second jab by 2022-23 was 84.5%, also the lowest level since 2010-11. Vaccination programmes across England failed to meet the uptake recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the year 2022-23. WHO recommends that, nationally, at least 95% of children should be inoculated for diseases that can be stopped by vaccines, in order to prevent outbreaks. NHS data showed no routine vaccine programme met the threshold during the 12-month period. Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, a consultant medical epidemiologist at UKHSA, said the downward trend was a “serious concern”. “The diseases that these vaccines protect against, such as measles, polio and meningitis, can be life-changing and even deadly,” she said. “No parent wants this for their child especially when these diseases are easily preventable. Please don’t put this off, check now that your children are fully up to date with all their vaccines due. Check your child’s red book and get in touch with your GP surgery if you are not sure.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 September 2023
  7. News Article
    The message that vaping is 95% safer than smoking has backfired, encouraging some children to vape, says a top health expert. Dr Mike McKean treats children with lung conditions and is vice-president for policy at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. He says the 2015 public messaging should have been clearer - vapes are only for adults addicted to cigarettes. Evidence on the possible health risks of vaping is still being gathered. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Dr McKean said: "Vaping is not for children and young people. In fact it could be very bad for you," although he stresses that it is not making lots of children very sick, and serious complications are rare. "Vaping is only a tool for adults who are addicted to cigarettes." He says the 95% safe messaging was "a very unwise thing to have done and it's opened the door to significant chaos". "There are many children, young people who have taken up vaping who never intended to smoke and are now likely addicted to vaping. And I think it's absolutely shocking that we've allowed that to happen." Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 September 2023
  8. Content Article
    On 3 August 2022 an investigation was carried out into the death of Allison Vivian Jacome Aules. Allison was 12 years old when she passed away on the 19 July 2022. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on the 17 August 2023. The conclusion was that Allison died as a result of suicide, contributed to by neglect.
  9. News Article
    The mother of Martha Mills, whose preventable death in hospital has led to calls for extra patients' rights, has said she is to meet the health secretary to discuss "Martha's Rule". If introduced, it would give families a statutory right to get a second opinion if they have concerns about care. Merope Mills said patients needed more clarity and to feel empowered. Her daughter, Martha, died two years ago after failures in treating her sepsis at King's College Hospital. She had entered hospital with an injury to her pancreas after falling off her bike. The injury was serious but should never have been fatal. Within days she had died of sepsis. In an interview on Radio 4's Today programme, Mrs Mills said she had raised concerns but doctors told her the extensive bleeding was "a normal side-effect of the infection, that her clotting abilities were slightly off". The King's College Hospital Trust said it remained "deeply sorry that we failed Martha when she needed us most" and her parents should have been listened to. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 September 2023
  10. News Article
    At the end of the COVID pandemic, more than half (54%) of US children were covered by Medicaid or CHIP; the vast majority by Medicaid. So, the lifting of the pandemic-related Medicaid continuous enrolment protection this spring is a really big deal, putting low-income children at risk of losing access to health care and/or exposing their families to medical debt. In fact, researchers at federal Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) projected that just shy of three-quarters of children losing Medicaid would be disenrolled despite remaining eligible. Children are most at risk of losing coverage during the unwinding despite being eligible and the likelihood that the child uninsured rate will go up if states do not take care in the process. Over half a million children have lost Medicaid already in 21 states where there is data. And that large number doesn’t include Texas, a state that disenrolled more than 500,000 people on June 1st, and where state agency employees recently blew the whistle on systems errors that caused inappropriate terminations. The Biden Administration must take swift and definitive action to pause all terminations in states with systemic problems. Governors who see large numbers of children losing coverage must pause the process. Coverage must be reinstated for those who lose coverage inappropriately. The time for action to protect children is now. Read full story Source: McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, 23 August 2023
  11. Content Article
    Two years after his 13-year-old child died needlessly in hospital, Paul Laity reflects on life without her. Martha Mills died of septic shock due to a series of serious failures in her care after she injured her pancreas in a cycling accident. Her father Paul talks about the ongoing pain of grief, and the additional burden of knowing that Martha's death was preventable, caused by the complacency of her doctors and a culture in the hospital that meant consultants were reluctant to ask expert advice from paediatric ICU. "Martha’s avoidable death was unusual in that the prime causes weren’t overwork or a lack of resources, but complacency, overconfidence and the culture on the ward. What upsets me most was that the consultants – a different one most days – took a punt that she was going to be OK over the weekend. No one assumed responsibility; they hoped for the best rather than playing safe. Was everything done for Martha that could have been done? Emphatically not. It’s very hard to live with this knowledge. But just as hard is the recognition that I, too, didn’t do enough." Further reading ‘We had such trust, we feel such fools’: how shocking hospital mistakes led to our daughter’s death (The Guardian, 3 September 2022) Prevention of Future Deaths Report: Martha Mills (28 February 2022)
  12. News Article
    In September last year, Ebrima Sajnia watched helplessly as his young son slowly died in front of his eyes. Mr Sajnia says three-year-old Lamin was set to start attending nursery school in a few weeks when he got a fever. A doctor at a local clinic prescribed medicines, including a cough syrup. Over the next few days, Lamin's condition deteriorated as he struggled to eat and even urinate. He was admitted to a hospital, where doctors detected kidney issues. Within seven days, Lamin was dead. He was among around 70 children - younger than five - who died in The Gambia of acute kidney injuries between July and October last year after consuming one of four cough syrups made by an Indian company called Maiden Pharmaceuticals. In October, the World Health Organization (WHO) linked the deaths to the syrups, saying it had found "unacceptable" levels of toxins in the medicines. A Gambian parliamentary panel also concluded after investigations that the deaths were the result of the children ingesting the syrups. Both Maiden Pharmaceuticals and the Indian government have denied this - India said in December that the syrups complied with quality standards when tested domestically. It's an assessment that Amadou Camara, chairperson of the Gambian panel that investigated the deaths, strongly disagrees with. "We have evidence. We tested these drugs. [They] contained unacceptable amounts of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, and these were directly imported from India, manufactured by Maiden," he says. Ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol are toxic to humans and could be fatal if consumed". Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 August 2023
  13. News Article
    The parents of a girl who died after failings by NHS 111 said they were horrified to learn coroners had already warned about similar shortcomings. Hannah Royle, 16, died in 2020 after the NHS phone service failed to realise she was seriously ill. BBC News found concerns had been raised about the call centre triage software in 2019 after three children died. The NHS said it had learnt lessons from each case, but said it had not established a link between the deaths. Hannah, who was autistic, had a cardiac arrest as she was driven to East Surrey Hospital by her parents. She had suffered a twisted stomach, but call handlers believed she had gastroenteritis. A coroner's report said NHS 111 staff failed to consider her "disabilities and inability to verbalise" when using the triage software. Known as NHS Pathways, the algorithm relies on answers being given over the phone to a set series of questions. The system guides call handlers, who are not medically qualified, to direct patients to other parts of the NHS for further assessment and treatment. In 2019, three coroners issued reports "to prevent future deaths" after serious abdominal illness in Myla Deviren, Sebastian Hibberd, Alexander Davidson and were missed by NHS 111. In all cases, coroners raised concerns about the ability of children to understand call handlers' questions or articulate their symptoms. Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 May 2022
  14. News Article
    "I knew I always felt different, but I didn't know I was autistic." For Rhiannon Lloyd-Williams, it would take until she was 35 to learn just why she felt different. Now research by Swansea University has found it takes on average six years longer to diagnose autism in women and girls than in males. A study of 400 participants found that 75% of boys received a diagnosis before the age of 10 - but only 50% of girls. It also found the average age of diagnosis in girls was between 10 and 12 - but between four and six for boys. Now charities in Wales are calling for greater investment into services to help better understand autism in females and speed up a diagnosis. "The parents responding to the study said there was a marked impact on the girls mental health while waiting for a diagnosis," said Steffan Davies, who carried out the research. "Girls represented in the study had a lot more pre-existing diagnosis, which suggests they are being misdiagnosed with anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and that tends to defer from the root diagnosis which tends to be autism." Autism UK said this gender gap has long been an issue and is the down to the diagnosis criteria and research used, which has been focused around young boys. "Many girls end up missing out on education, because the environment they're expected to learn in is just too overwhelming, while accessing healthcare can be difficult. Women are often not believed," said executive director Willow Holloway. Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 May 2022
  15. News Article
    More than 400,000 children and young people a month are being treated for mental health problems – the highest number on record – prompting warnings of an unprecedented crisis in the wellbeing of under-18s. Experts say Covid-19 has seriously exacerbated problems such as anxiety, depression and self-harm among school-age children and that the “relentless and unsustainable” ongoing rise in their need for help could overwhelm already stretched NHS services. The latest NHS figures show “open referrals” – troubled children and young people in England undergoing treatment or waiting to start care – reached 420,314 in February, the highest number since records began in 2016. The total has risen by 147,853 since February 2020, a 54% increase, and by 80,096 over the last year alone, a jump of 24%. January’s tally of 411,132 cases was the first time the figure had topped 400,000. Mental health charities welcomed the fact that an all-time high number of young people are receiving psychological support. But they fear the figures are the tip of the iceberg of the true number of people who need care, and that many more under-18s in distress are being denied help by arbitrary eligibility criteria. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 May 2022
  16. News Article
    A health worker has been arrested on suspicion of administering poison with intent to endanger life after a child died at Birmingham Children's Hospital. The 27-year-old woman was arrested on Thursday and has been suspended from her role at the hospital. The child was being treated in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, a spokesperson for the hospital said. Police said the woman had been released while investigations continued and forensic tests were being examined. A spokesperson for Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust said it was "supporting the infant's family at this distressing time and ask that privacy is respected during this process". "Following the death of an infant at our Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Birmingham Children's Hospital, we have asked West Midlands Police to examine what has happened, in line with our own safeguarding policy," it added. "The staff member involved has been suspended by the Trust following the national process on the sudden unexpected death of a child." Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 May 2022
  17. News Article
    A private hospital facing a police investigation following a patient’s death has been given an urgent warning by the care regulator due to concerns over patient safety. The Huntercombe Hospital in Maidenhead, which treats children with mental health needs, was told it must urgently address safety issues found by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an inspection in March. The CQC handed the hospital a formal warning due to concerns over failures in the way staff were carrying out observations of vulnerable patients. The move comes as The Independent revealed police are investigating the hospital in relation to the death of a young girl earlier this year. In a report published last week, the care watchdog said it had received “mainly negative” feedback from young people at the hospital’s Thames ward, a psychiatric intensive care unit which treats acutely unwell children. Commenting on the hospital overall, the report said: “Young people told us that staff did not follow the care plans in relation to their level of observations. They told us that if there was an incident the staff stopped doing intermittent observations. Staff in charge of shifts on wards asked new staff members to do observations before they understood how to do it. Staff had to ask the young person how to carry out their observations as they did not always understand what was expected of them in carrying out different levels of observations.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 May 2022
  18. News Article
    National NHS officials have proposed a major shift in the funding model for inpatient mental health beds for children and young people, information seen by HSJ reveals. A report on child and adolescent mental health services by Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT), an NHS England national programme, recommends a move away from the current ‘payment per bed day’ model to a system which funds particular outcomes or “therapeutic models”. It appears the proposal in the GIRFT recommendations seen by HSJ would apply to both NHS and independent provision, although some NHS providers are already less likely to receive funding on a ”per bed day” basis. Ananta Dave, consultant CAMHS psychiatrist at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust, told HSJ that having agreed therapy and outcome measures as recommended by the report would not only boost patient experience but also lead to better results. “One inpatient bed can actually be the equivalent of 100 young people being looked after in the community. So these are precious resources we are talking about, hence the quality of inpatient units is really important. “It should not just be a tick-box exercise that a bed exists. Instead, it is about the quality of that service. If you simply go by the number of bed days, you’re unlikely to meet your target or meet your ambition of reducing the spend on inpatient services.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 16 May 2022
  19. News Article
    Families are being ‘left without the support they need’, as overstretched services struggle to handle ‘a significant and growing minority’ of children not developing as expected. Figures published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities earlier this month show 79.6% of children who received a two-to-two-and-a-half year review with an ages and stages questionnaire during quarter three of 2021-22 met the expected level in all five areas of development measured. The five areas assessed by the screening questionnaire are communication skills, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem solving, and personal-social. A lower-than-expected score in any of the five areas will likely mean some sort of intervention, which may include further monitoring from health visitors or referral to a specialist service. However, health visitor numbers are declining. ber 2015. Alison Morton, Institute of Health Visiting executive director, said: “The latest national child development data highlight a worrying picture with fewer children at or above the expected level of development at two-to-two-and-a-half years. While the majority of children are developing as expected, a significant and growing minority are not. “The pandemic and its impacts are not over. In many areas, despite health visitors’ best efforts, they are now struggling to meet growing levels of need and vulnerability and a backlog of children who need support. In our survey, health visitors reported soaring rates of domestic abuse, mental health problems, child behaviour and development problems, poverty, and child safeguarding. “In addition, onward referral services like speech and language therapy, and mental health services, also have long waiting lists and families are left without the support that they need.” Read full story Source: HSJ, 16 May 2022
  20. News Article
    Children’s lives are being put at risk, charities warn, as waiting times for eating disorder services soar to record highs. The number of children waiting more than four months following an urgent referral for an eating disorder was more than seven times higher at the end of 2021-22 compared to the same period in the previous year. Data showed that at the end of quarter four of 2021-22, 94 children were waiting more than 12 weeks following an urgent referral, the highest on record, compared to just 13 at the end of 2020-21. The latest NHS data on waiting times for community eating disorder services for children also showed more than 1,900 children were waiting for treatment at the end of March. Of these, 24 were waiting to start urgent treatment - up from 130 last year. Sophie Corlett, director of external affairs at Mind, said: “Our government is shamefully failing children and young people with eating disorders at the time when they need help most. Eating disorders have one of the highest mortality rates of any mental health problem. Children in need of urgent NHS treatment for eating disorders should always be seen within one week yet some children are still waiting for treatment after twelve weeks. This is irresponsible and disgraceful.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 12 May 2022
  21. News Article
    The scope of the UK public inquiry into the handling of the Covid pandemic has widened to include a focus on children. When the draft terms were published in March, there was criticism that they failed to even mention the impact on children and young people. But after a public consultation, the final terms have been published and now incorporate the effect on the health, wellbeing and education of children. The final terms of reference were decided following a four-week public consultation on the draft terms. As well as expanding the terms to include the impact on the health, wellbeing and education of children and young people, the inquiry will also look at the wider mental health impact across the population. The focus on inequalities will also be strengthened, the inquiry said, so that the unequal impact on different sections of society will be considered at all stages. Alongside these issues, the UK-wide inquiry will also look at the following issues which were included originally: the UK's preparedness for the pandemic the use of lockdowns and other "non-pharmaceutical" interventions, such as social distancing and the use of face coverings the management of the pandemic in hospitals and care homes the procurement and provision of equipment like personal protective equipment and ventilators support for businesses and jobs, including the furlough scheme, as well as benefits and sick pay. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 May 2022
  22. News Article
    Parents whose children have mysteriously fallen ill with hepatitis and received a delayed diagnosis could be entitled to negligence claims, lawyers believe. Officials are no closer to explaining a recent and unusual outbreak in cases of liver inflammation recorded among young children across the UK. To date, a total of 163 children have been diagnosed. Eleven of these have received liver transplants, while 13 are currently in hospital. Globally in recent months, 300 children have been struck down by the illness, which has no clear cause. Because the UK cases have been identified retrospectively, there is potential that doctors and medics may have “missed signs” which would have led to earlier hepatitis diagnoses and treatment, lawyers say. “There are a significant number of these diagnoses which are actually retrospective,” said Jonathan Peacock, a partner at VWV specialising in clinical negligence. “The obvious issue there from a negligence point of view is if you have missed signs, which ought to have led you to a diagnosis of hepatitis earlier, as a result of which it’s gone untreated and the outcome is worse, then potentially you’re negligent. “There’s two stages: was the care diagnosis, treatment, intervention, was that of a reasonable standard? If the answer is no – there was clearly a negligent delay, or a breach of duty of care, then the second question that then arises is has the individual been harmed by that delay?” Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 May 2022
  23. News Article
    UK health officials say they are still no clearer on the cause of a rise in liver inflammation, or hepatitis, in children. A common adenovirus is thought to play a role, but other possibilities are still being investigated. In the UK, 163 cases have now been identified, and 11 children have received liver transplants. Cases have been detected in 20 countries worldwide, with nearly 300 children affected, and one death. "It's important that parents know the likelihood of their child developing hepatitis is extremely low," said Dr Meera Chand, from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). She said parents should still be alert to the signs - particularly jaundice, a yellow tinge in the whites of the eyes - and they should contact a doctor if concerned. Since last week, another 18 children in the UK with hepatitis have been identified - 118 live in England, 22 in Scotland, 13 in Wales and 10 in Northern Ireland. The children's most common symptoms were jaundice and vomiting - and most have been under five years old. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 May 2022
  24. News Article
    A school has brought in a dental charity to treat pupils with such bad toothache they have missed lessons. Staff at Trinity Academy Grammar in West Yorkshire have had to take pupils to hospital as they were in agony but unable to access an NHS dentist. The Department for Health said an extra £50m funding had been given to NHS dental services for more appointments. Charlie Johnson, headteacher of the school in Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, said as well as being forced to take days off, some students had been left in tears during lessons due to toothache. After becoming concerned, Mr Johnson said he had contacted public health officials who said there was a shortage of local NHS dentists taking on patients. The school was put in touch with Dentaid, a UK charity which normally provided dental treatment to people in developing countries who cannot access it, or to vulnerable people such as the homeless. As a result, a mobile clinic was brought to the school and volunteer dentists found around one in 10 of its 900 pupils needed treatment for conditions such as decay, cracked teeth and abscesses. The school said it was "frustrating" it had been forced to step in to provide dental treatment, but added that parents often found it "impossible" to access help. The British Dental Association said the fact that Trinity Academy had been forced to call on a charity for help illustrated that NHS dentistry was on its "last legs". Chairman Eddie Crouch said: "We salute these volunteers, but this isn't the Victorian era. "A wealthy 21st Century nation shouldn't be relying on charities to provide basic healthcare to our children." Read full story Source: BBC News, 28 April 2022
  25. News Article
    A spike in the number of measles cases around the world has sparked concerns over the potential for serious outbreaks this year. Almost 17,338 measles cases were reported worldwide in January and February 2022, compared to 9,665 during the first two months of last year – which represents a rise of 79%. Unicef and the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that there is a “perfect storm” for serious outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illnesses such as measles. As of this month, the agencies report 21 large and disruptive measles outbreaks around the world in the last 12 months. The five countries with the largest measles outbreaks since the past year include Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia. The coronavirus pandemic has seen much of health funding and resources diverted to deal with the spread of the virus since 2020. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, 23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines through routine health services, the highest number since 2009 and 3.7 million more than in 2019. These pandemic-related disruptions – as well as increasing inequalities in access to vaccines – has left many children without protection against contagious diseases while Covid restrictions are eased in most countries, the two organisations said. Read full story Source: The Independent, 28 April 2022
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