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Showing results for tags 'Consent'.
Found 179 results
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Content Article
Co-produced by young people and researchers from the University of Bristol and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, ‘EDUCATE’ will help teach students about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and provide reassurance about receiving the vaccine, which is usually offered to teenagers at school as part of the national vaccination programme. -
Content ArticleThe word 'controversy' almost always accompanies any reference to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). It has a dark history and remains a deeply contentious practice. For many, ECT is seen as outdated, forever linked with frightening images of medical abuse, cruelty and even punishment. In this programme for BBC Radio 4, Professor Sally Marlow met her friend Dr Tania Gergel at King’s College London, which forced her to reassess everything she thought she knew about ECT. Tania told Sally that ECT had saved her life on numerous occasions and that ECT is the only treatment that can bring her back to health after episodes of severe depression, psychosis and mania. Tania is Director of Research at Bipolar UK. She’s a philosopher and an internationally respected medical ethicist. She also lives with a serious mental illness; an unusual mixed type of bipolar disorder. During her last period of illness a year ago, Tania kept an audio diary., which she shares extracts from throughout the programme in order to break down stigma around both mental illness and ECT.
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Content ArticleIt is important that patients and their medical team work in partnership when making decisions about using antibiotics, whether that’s when a GP prescribes an antibiotic or if you’re in hospital and need antibiotics. The Patients Association has developed these resources to help patients make informed decisions about taking antibiotics. They were developed in partnership with patients, carers, healthcare professionals and Pfizer Ltd., who funded and supported the project. The information will help patients partner with their medical team when deciding about using antibiotics. These resources focus on when a patient is in the hospital, but they may also be used as a helpful reminder whenever you are considering taking antibiotics. The resources include a patient leaflet and animated video.
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Content ArticleSelf-binding directives instruct clinicians to overrule treatment refusal during future severe episodes of illness. These directives are promoted as having the potential to increase autonomy for individuals with severe episodic mental illness. Although lived experience is central to their creation, the views of service users on self-binding directives have not been seriously investigated. This study in The Lancet Psychiatry aimed to explore whether reasons for endorsement, ambivalence or rejection given by service users with bipolar disorder can address concerns regarding self-binding directives, decision-making capacity and human rights.
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Content ArticleThis report includes findings from a two-month-long study of data brokers and data on U.S. individuals’ mental health conditions. The report aims to make more transparent the data broker industry and its processes for selling and exchanging mental health data about depressed and anxious individuals. The research is critical as more depressed and anxious individuals utilise personal devices and software-based health-tracking applications (many of which are not protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), often unknowingly putting their sensitive mental health data at risk.
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Content ArticleHysteroscopy is a common and valuable intervention to diagnose and treat gynaecological conditions arising in the uterus. Many women have an acceptable experience of outpatient hysteroscopy, with pain levels tolerable to them and rapid recovery. However, it is important to recognise that hysteroscopy can cause severe pain and be traumatic for women. This is difficult to predict. Therefore, units need to share with women clear, accurate and relevant, written and verbal information. This Good Practice Paper from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has been written for healthcare professionals who are involved in providing outpatient hysteroscopy with the aim of achieving optimal outcomes for women.
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Content Article
This is a brief summary of a Westminster Hall debate in the House of Commons on the 31 January 2023 on NHS hysteroscopy treatment, tabled by Lyn Brown MP. -
Content ArticleIn this interview with the publisher Bloomsbury, freelance health journalist and founder of the Hysterical Women blog Sarah Graham talks about her book, Rebel Bodies: A guide to the gender health gap revolution. She discusses the recurrent themes she came across in her work as a health journalist which inspired her to set up her blog: women's experiences of gaslighting, dismissal and disbelief by the medical system. Sarah talks about how her book aims to bring together all the stories and ideas she has worked on for the last five or so years and highlight how closely they’re linked. The book also celebrates the resilience, determination, sisterhood and solidarity Sarah has witnessed from patient advocates and campaigners across the sphere of women’s health and trans health. Read Sarah's 2020 blog, Gender bias: A threat to women’s health, on the hub.
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Content ArticleIn this post, Amber Clour, author of the Diabetes Daily Grind blog, talks about her experience of managing her type 1 diabetes while attending the emergency room for suspected appendicitis. She describes the steps she took to make sure her blood sugar levels were managed safely and with her consent, including communicating clearly with all healthcare professionals, ensuring her continuous glucose monitor (CGM) was not removed and bringing her own supply of glucose tablets to manage hypoglycaemia. Further reading Blog - “I felt lucky to get out alive”: why we must improve hospital safety for people with diabetes
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Content ArticleThis blog published by the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) tells the story of Mark, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia 15 years ago, aged 15. It describes the issues he and his mother faced in getting him the care he needed, including being treated inappropriately and without dignity during emergency department visits, problems accessing ongoing community support and a reluctance to assist him with reducing his medication dosage. It also highlights how his family were not included in care plans and treatment decisions, and their needs as carers were rarely considered.
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News Article
Pandemic care home death: Family to sue over mother's end-of-life consent
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A man plans to sue a nursing home because, he says, during the pandemic his mother was put on end-of-life care without her family being told. Antonia Stowell, 87, did not have the mental capacity to consent because she had dementia, say the family's lawyers. Her son, Tony Stowell, said if end-of-life care had been discussed, he would not have agreed to it. Rose Villa nursing home in Hull says all proper process in Mrs Stowell's care was followed with precision. As a prelude to legal action, Mr Stowell's lawyers have obtained his mother's hospital records which, they say, show she was diagnosed with suspected pneumonia while living in the home. End-of-life drugs were then prescribed and ordered by medical professionals. In a statement, Rose Villa said: "We believe that our dedicated and professional team provided Antonia with the very best care under the direction of her GP and medical team, and all proper process in the delivery of this care was followed with precision." Mr Stowell's lawyers, Gulbenkian Andonian solicitors, said his mother's hospital records reveal the decision to put her on end-of-life care was made two days before the family was told. In their letter to the home announcing the planned legal action, they said Mrs Stowell could have had "48 additional hours on a ventilator with treatment… with the necessary implication that Antonia Stowell could still be with us today or at least survived". The lawyer dealing with the case, Fadi Farhat, told the BBC: "As a matter of law, there is a presumption in favour of treatment which would preserve life and prolong life, irrespective of one's age or condition. "Therefore to deviate from that presumption means a patient, or family members, should be consulted as soon as that decision is made or contemplated." He adds: "What is particularly concerning for me is this case occurred at the height of the pandemic. That should worry everybody because it demonstrates that rights can be suspended in times of crisis, when the very purpose of legal rights is to protect us during times of crisis." Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 January 2023 -
Content ArticleIn this blog for the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Jane London shares her account of how electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has affected her life since early adulthood, resulting in severe memory loss and heart problems. Jane shares how her physical medical problems including appendicitis and a severe heart attack were put down to depression, and how she was nearly forced to have ECT against her will in England in 1966. When her abusive marriage ended in 1968 and Jane returned to Australia her mother insisted she have ECT, despite her depression being temporary and related to her marriage ending. After 14 treatments, Jane left the treatment facility and received talking therapy to help her recover. Jane talks about the dramatic adverse effect ECT has had on the rest of her adult life.
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Content ArticleThis guide by the Patient Information Forum (PIF) provides practical support for translating health information. It offers tips on overcoming key challenges and links to useful resources. It is mainly focused on foreign language translation, but the principles can also be applied to British Sign Language and Braille. Research shows that in the UK, up to a million people cannot speak English well or at all, and these people have a lower proportion of good health than English speakers. Providing culturally appropriate, translated health information can help people manage their own health and take part in shared decision making. Translation is consistently raised as a key challenge by health information producers. Please note, you will need to join PIF to view this content.
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Content ArticleIn this blog for The Patients Association, Patient Safety Commissioner Henrietta Hughes looks at the importance of patient involvement in improving patient safety. She argues that patient voices should be embedded in the design and delivery of healthcare, and highlights that services and organisations need to seek feedback from patients from a wide variety of backgrounds. She also outlines why shared decision making and consent are vital to ensure patients are safe and have more control over their care and treatment.
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Content ArticlePlease help the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy uncover the circumstances, quantify the contributing factors, and evidence the consequences of painful and distressing hysteroscopies. The survey is anonymous. The results will be put in the public domain to be used to help improve hysteroscopy services for future patients.
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News ArticleHysteroscopy Action says thousands of women are in extreme pain during and following the invasive procedures to treat problems in the womb, with many suffering for days. It says some are left with symptoms of post-traumatic stress and subsequently feel unable to have intimate relationships with partners. Others avoid important examinations such as smear tests. The group has written to Women’s Minister, Maria Caulfield, to raise its concerns. In its letter, it claims women are not always given the choice of intravenous sedation or general anaesthetic to reduce pain because of an NHS drive to cut costs. Some are given local anaesthetic which is often painful and doesn’t work. Others are given no drugs at all and expected to cope with distraction techniques - known as “vocal locals.” Hysteroscopy Action has urged Ms Caulfield to open more theatre space for women to have procedures under general anaesthetic as well as offering women the choice of intravenous sedation. Yet Hysteroscopy Action, which has been in touch with thousands of patients who have undergone such examinations, says women are not made aware of this. Last week RCOG President Dr Edward Morris, said it was “working to improve clinical practice around outpatient hysteroscopy”. He added: “No patient should experience excruciating pain and no doctor should be going ahead with outpatient hysteroscopy without informed consent.” "Hysteroscopy Action has collated more than 3,000 accounts of “brutal pain, fainting and trauma during outpatient hysteroscopy.” Hysteroscopy Action's spokeswoman, Katharine Tylko said: “We are counselling hundreds of patients with PTSD, who for various medical reasons find the procedure extremely painful, some even find it torturous." “This does not happen for other invasive procedures such as colonoscopy. We urge the Women’s Minister to act and are demanding an end to this gender pain-gap.” The letter, which has over 20 signatories, including Helen Hughes, Chief Executive of the Patient Safety Learning charity, Baroness Shaista Gohir, civil rights campaigner, and women’s rights activist, Charlotte Kneer MBE, calls for women to be given informed consent and choice about whether and what type of sedation they want. Read full story Source: Express, 6 November 2022 Read hub members experiences of having a hysteroscopy in the Community thread and Patient Safety Learning's blog on improving hysteroscopy safety.
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Content Article
BD - Voices of safety videos
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Patient stories
This series of videos produced by pharmaceutical company BD features patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals telling their stories about patient safety. Each video highlights an experience of avoidable harm, with topics including sepsis, antimicrobial resistance, medication errors and healthcare associated infections. -
Content ArticleOn 19 October 2022, the long-awaited findings of Dr Bill Kirkup’s independent investigation into maternity services at East Kent were published. This blog outlines the response of the charity Birthrights to the investigation. It focuses on how breaches of mothers' human rights contributed to negative experiences of care and affected outcomes. Lack of informed consent, the use of disrespectful and discriminatory language and a failure to listen to mothers' concerns all contributed to many cases of avoidable harm. It argues that there is a desperate need for proper funding and real commitment to improving staff recruitment and retention, coupled with a culture shift in maternity care that embeds human rights at the centre of care.
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Content ArticleIn this blog, Luke Yamaguchi describes his experience of hernia mesh surgery and the impact the procedure had on his health. He tells his story of having laparoscopic hernia repair using polypropylene (PP) mesh, which left him with severe chronic pain. After nine years, he underwent mesh removal surgery. Alongside his story, he describes the risks associated with surgical mesh and the use of PP as a material, highlights the lack of research about its side-effects and draws attention to the role of industry in promoting the use of mesh.
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Content ArticleThis guideline describes good patient experience for babies, children and young people, and makes recommendations on how it can be delivered. It aims to make sure that all babies, children and young people using NHS services have the best possible experience of care. It includes recommendations on: overarching principles of care communication and information planning healthcare consent, privacy and confidentiality advocacy and support improving healthcare experience, including healthcare environments accessibility, continuity and coordination
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Content ArticleThis National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline covers the components of a good patient experience. It aims to make sure that all adults using NHS services have the best possible experience of care. It includes recommendations on: knowing the patient as an individual. essential requirements of care. tailoring healthcare services for each patient. continuity of care and relationships. enabling patients to actively participate in their care, including communication and information.
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Content ArticleThis article by Carrie Murphy looks at the practice of inserting a 'husband stich' or 'daddy stitch', where midwives or obstetricians make an unnecessary extra stitch when repairing episiotomies or tearing from birth. The belief is that it will make the vaginal opening tighter and therefore increase pleasure for the woman's sexual partner. The author highlights that this is a real practice that has been carried out on women for many years, and describes the ongoing impact it can have on women affected, many of whom don't realise they have been given too many stitches. This misogynistic and unethical practice can cause additional pain for women during sex. The women featured in this article state that they did not consent to the practice, being vulnerable after childbirth and in many cases unaware of what a 'husband stitch' was. Angela Sanford reports only finding out that she had a 'husband stitch' five years after birth at a cervical screening appointment where the nurse expressed concern. Murphy expresses her concern that the practice may still be carried out without women's consent, leaving them feeling violated and in pain.
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News ArticleThe Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued two fixed penalty notices to University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust totalling £8,000 for failing to seek consent to care and treatment of someone in their care. A 55-year-old gentleman who had diagnoses of epilepsy and autism was admitted to Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham on six occasions between 12 May 2019 and 6 October 2019. He had also been deaf since birth and communicated via British Sign Language (BSL) and lip reading. These fixed penalty notices relate to the trust’s care and treatment of the patient at Good Hope Hospital in relation to three medical procedures, which occurred in September, October and November 2019. CQC found that on these three occasions, the trust did not comply with Regulation 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, requiring registered persons to obtain the consent of the relevant person when providing care and treatment to them. Regulation 11 also states if someone is 16 or over and is unable to give consent because they lack capacity, the registered person must act in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The three procedures where CQC found consent failures, were feeding tubes, aimed at providing nutritional support to the patient, who was struggling with food. Read full story Source: CQC, 7 October 2022
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Content Article
Nine specialist mesh centres have been set up by NHS England to offer removal surgery and other treatment to women suffering from complications and pain as a result of vaginal mesh surgery, but women are reporting that they are not operating effectively. In this opinion piece, Kath Sansom highlights ten problems with these specialist mesh centres, evidenced by the real experiences of women who are part of the Sling the Mesh campaign Facebook group. -
Content ArticleThis cross-sectional survey in the BMJ Open aimed to examine the sociodemographic characteristics, activities, motivations, experiences, skills and challenges of patient partners working across multiple health system settings in Canada. This survey was the first of its kind to examine the characteristics, experiences and dynamics of a large sample of self-identified patient partners at a population level. Although patient partners who took part were from similar sociodemographic background, the scope, intensity and longevity of their roles varied. Respondents predominantly identified as female (76.6%), white (84%) and university educated (70.2%). Primary motivations for becoming a patient partner were the desire to improve the health system based on either a negative (36.2%) or positive (23.3%) experience. Respondents reported feeling enthusiastic (83.6%), valued (76.9%) and needed (63.3%) always or most of the time. Just under half felt they had always or often been adequately compensated in their role.
