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Found 179 results
  1. News Article
    The NHS’ mental health director has branded abuse exposed at a city inpatient unit as “heartbreaking and shameful” and ordered a national review of safety across all providers. In a letter to all leaders of mental health, learning disability and autism providers, shared with HSJ, Claire Murdoch responded to BBC Panorama’s exposure of patient abuse at the Edenfield Centre run by Greater Manchester Mental Health FT by warning trusts they should leave “no stone unturned” in seeking to eradicate and prevent poor care. An investigation by the programme found a “toxic culture of humiliation, verbal abuse and bullying” at the medium-secure inpatient unit in Prestwich near Manchester. In response, Ms Murdoch said the mindset that “it could happen here” must be at the front and centre of national and local approaches, adding that trusts which already adopt this outlook are most likely to identify and prevent toxic and closed cultures. She also urged all boards to urgently review safeguarding of care in their organisations and identify any immediate issues requiring action now, such as freedom to speak up arrangements, complaints, and care and treatment reviews. A separate national probe into the quality of inpatient care is due to launch imminently. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 30 September 2022
  2. News Article
    Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust said a number of staff at its Edenfield Centre had been suspended after an undercover investigation found what was described as a "toxic culture" of humiliation, verbal abuse, and bullying of patients. BBC Panorama reporter, Alan Haslam, spent 3 months as a support worker at the Centre in Prestwich. Wearing a hidden camera, he said he observed staff swearing at patients, mocking them, and falsifying observation records. A consultant psychiatrist, Dr Cleo Van Velsen, who was asked by the BBC to review its footage, said it showed a "toxic culture" among staff at the Centre with "corruption, perversion, aggression, hostility, [and a] lack of boundaries". Dr Van Velsen told the BBC that staff members at the Edenfield Centre acted "like a gang, not a group of healthcare professionals". Patients at the Centre told the undercover reporter that they felt "bullied and dehumanised". Greater Manchester Police said it was working with the Crown Prosecution Service with a view to prosecuting anyone who had committed a crime. In a statement, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust said: "We are taking the allegations raised by Panorama very seriously since the BBC sent them to us earlier this month. We have put in place immediate actions to protect patient safety, which is our utmost priority. "Since then, senior doctors at the Trust have undertaken clinical reviews of the patients affected, we have suspended a number of staff pending further investigations, and we have also commissioned an independent clinical review of the services provided at the Edenfield Centre. " Read full story Source: Medscape. 29 September 2022
  3. News Article
    An ambulance trust accused of withholding key evidence from coroners was previously warned its staff needed training to ‘understand the real risk of committing criminal offences’ in relation to inquests into patient deaths. North East Ambulance Service, which has been accused by whistleblowers of withholding details from coroners in more than 90 deaths, was told by its lawyers in 2019 about serious shortcomings in its processes for disclosing information, according to internal documents obtained by a campaigner. According to the documents, the lawyers said trust staff could “pick and choose” documents to release to coroners “regardless of relevance.” The following year, an audit report said the issues had not been addressed. Whistleblowers’ concerns about the trust were first reported by The Sunday Times in the spring, with a review highlighting several cases between 2018 and 2019 where key facts were omitted in disclosures to coroners. But campaigner Minh Alexander has since obtained new details of warnings that were being made to internally, from lawyers and auditors who were advising the trust. Read full story Source: HSJ, 20 September 2022
  4. News Article
    A legal bid to suspend the public inquiry into alleged abuse at Muckamore Abbey hospital has been dismissed by a High court judge. The applicant in the case has been granted anonymity. They challenged Health Minister Robin Swann's refusal to suspend the public inquiry until criminal proceedings against them had concluded. Lawyers argued that the applicant's article six right to a fair trail had been jeopardised. The applicant's lawyers cited "adverse and prejudicial" commentary already in the media. Rejecting the application the judge, Mr Justice Colton, said that the applicant's article six rights were fully protected within the criminal trial process. The judge referred to submissions from the applicant's legal team who had argued that if the inquiry recommences as planned this month, it would consider evidence reported by the media which could affect the ability of a jury to act impartially. The judge told the court there was nothing to suggest that there had been a "virulent media campaign" about the applicant. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 September 2022
  5. News Article
    Police are preparing to investigate alleged mistreatment of patients at a mental health unit. The Edenfield Centre based in the grounds of the former Prestwich Hospital in Bury is at the centre of the claims. The unit cares for adult patients. The Manchester Evening News understands that action was taken after the BBC Panorama programme embedded a reporter undercover in the unit and then presented the NHS Trust which runs it with their evidence. A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: "We are aware of the allegations and are liaising with partner agencies to safeguard vulnerable individuals and obtain all information required to open an investigation." A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust said: "We can confirm that BBC Panorama has contacted the Trust, following research it conducted into the Edenfield Centre. We would like to reassure patients, carers, staff, and the public that we are taking the matters raised by the BBC very seriously". "Immediate action has been taken to address the issues raised and to ensure patient safety, which is our utmost priority. We are liaising with partner agencies and stakeholders, including Greater Manchester Police. We are not able to comment any further on these matters at this stage." Read full story Source: Manchester Evening News, 14 September 2022
  6. News Article
    A care home nurse has been struck off after he gave a brain tumour patient sugar and water instead of pain relief. Vijayan Rajoo said he felt the patient was "just being lazy" and did not need pain relief. Rajoo, 64, also failed to check supplies in the controlled drug cupboards at the start and end of his shifts, according to a misconduct panel. He was struck off for 18 months after a deputy manager at the home, St Fillans in Colchester, Essex, discovered 20ml of liquid morphine Oramorph was unaccounted for in June 2019. Rajoo later confessed to not giving the brain tumour patient a dose of Oramorph as a form of pain relief as he felt the patient "did not need it". It was reported the patient could immediately tell the sugar and water mix "didn't taste right". The misconduct panel found all charges against Rajoo proven. In their conclusions, the panel said Rajoo showed a "serious lack of compassion". Read full story Source: ITV News, 13 August 2022
  7. News Article
    Criminals have issued ‘demands’ to an NHS IT supplier targeted by a cyber attack, leading health chiefs to fear they have accessed confidential patient data, HSJ has learned. IT firm Advanced was targeted last week. The company provides electronic patient records to several trusts and most NHS 111 providers. Multiple government agencies – including the National Crime Agency and GCHQ – are now working to identify the extent of the damage caused by the attackers, while leaders of affected mental health trusts have warned of a “pretty desperate” situation as staff are unable to access vital patient records. In a statement issued last night, Advanced said: “With respect to potentially impacted data, our investigation is under way, and when we have more information about potential data access or exfiltration, we will update customers as appropriate.” Read full story (paywalled) Source HSJ, 11 August 2022
  8. News Article
    Medicines and medical devices valued at over £850,000, totalling more than 285,000 items, have been seized by officers from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as part of a global operation to tackle the illegal sale of medical products, with UK seizures estimated to be worth around 9% of the global total. In the UK, 48 social media accounts unlawfully offering to supply medicines were also shut down. Officers from the MHRA Criminal Enforcement Unit searched five premises in the West Midlands and London, with two suspects arrested. During the global week of action coordinated by Interpol, which ran from 23-30 June, this year’s ‘Operation Pangea’ saw countries across the world joining forces to seize non-compliant medical products. The operation also involved the arrests of several suspected organised criminals. In the UK, anti-depressants, erectile dysfunction tablets, painkillers, anabolic steroids and slimming pills were among the medicines seized. Andy Morling, Deputy Director (Criminal Enforcement) at the MHRA, said: "Criminals illegally trading in medicines and medical devices are not only breaking the law but they also have no regard for your health. Unlicensed medicines and non-compliant medical devices pose serious risk to public health as both their safety and efficacy can be compromised." Read press release Source: MHRA, 20 July 2022
  9. News Article
    A sexual assault survivor chooses sterilization so that if she is ever attacked again, she won’t be forced to give birth to a rapist’s baby. An obstetrician delays inducing a miscarriage until a woman with severe pregnancy complications seems “sick enough.” A lupus patient must stop taking medication that controls her illness because it can also cause miscarriages. Abortion restrictions in a number of states and the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade are having profound repercussions in reproductive medicine as well as in other areas of medical care. “For physicians and patients alike, this is a frightening and fraught time, with new, unprecedented concerns about data privacy, access to contraception, and even when to begin lifesaving care,” said Dr. Jack Resneck, president of the American Medical Association. Even in medical emergencies, doctors are sometimes declining immediate treatment. In the past week, an Ohio abortion clinic received calls from two women with ectopic pregnancies — when an embryo grows outside the uterus and can’t be saved — who said their doctors wouldn’t treat them. Ectopic pregnancies often become life-threatening emergencies and abortion clinics aren’t set up to treat them. It’s just one example of “the horrible downstream effects of criminalizing abortion care,″ said Dr. Catherine Romanos, who works at the Dayton clinic. Read full story Source: AP News, 16 July 2022
  10. News Article
    A doctor who killed a mother-of-three when he botched a procedure during a routine appointment has been jailed. Dr Isyaka Mamman, now thought to be 85, admitted gross negligence manslaughter over the death of Shahida Parveen, 48, at the Royal Oldham Hospital in 2018. He used the wrong needle and inserted it in the wrong place, piercing the sac holding Mrs Parveen's heart. Mrs Justice Yip at Manchester Crown Court said Mrs Parveen's death was his fault and sentenced him to three years. She also criticised the NHS trust, pointing to the fact that Mamman had both lied about his age and had been involved in two critical incidents similar to that which led to Mrs Parveen's death. The court heard Mrs Parveen attended Royal Oldham Hospital on 3 September, 2018, to give a bone marrow sample. This is usually taken from the hip bone but, after failing in his first attempt, Mamman tried to instead take it from her sternum. This was a "highly dangerous" procedure, the court was told, and one which had led to another of Mamman's patients being permanently disabled three years earlier. Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 July 2022
  11. News Article
    A mother was killed at her hospital appointment by a doctor who botched a routine procedure, a court has heard. Dr Isyaka Mamman, 85, was responsible for a series of critical incidents before the fatal appointment, Manchester Crown Court heard. Mamman, who admitted gross negligence manslaughter, had already been sacked by medical watchdogs for lying about his age but was re-employed by the Royal Oldham Hospital. He is due to be sentenced on Tuesday. Mother-of-three Shahida Parveen, 48, had gone to hospital with her husband for investigations into possible myeloproliferative disorder on 3 September 2018 and a bone marrow biopsy had been advised, Andrew Thomas QC, prosecuting, told the hearing. Normally, bone marrow samples are taken from the hip bone but Mamman, of Cumberland Drive, Royton, Oldham, failed to obtain a sample at the first attempt, he said. Instead, he attempted a rare and "highly dangerous" procedure of getting a sample from Ms Parveen's sternum - despite objections from the patient and her husband, the court heard. Mamman, using the wrong biopsy needle, missed the bone and pierced her pericardium, the sac containing the heart, causing massive internal bleeding. Ms Parveen lost consciousness as soon as the needle was inserted. She died later that day. Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 July 2022
  12. News Article
    A struggling mental health trust is being prosecuted over accusations it failed to protect a teenager at a children’s inpatient unit. Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust ran the former West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough until the Care Quality Commission (CQC) closed it in 2019. The CQC is now prosecuting the trust, alleging it breached the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in relation to the death of Christie Harnett, who took her own life at the facility in June 2019. In a statement, the regulator claimed TEWV “failed to provide safe care and treatment” by exposing the patient to a “significant risk of avoidable harm”. A CQC spokeswoman added: “Our main priority is always the safety of people using health and social care services, and if we have concerns we will not hesitate to take action in line with our regulatory powers. We will report further as soon as we are able to do so.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 30 June 2022
  13. News Article
    A doctor who attempted to cover up the true circumstances of the death in 1995 of a four-year-old patient has been struck off. Consultant paediatric anaesthetist Dr Robert Taylor dishonestly misled police and a public inquiry about his treatment of Adam Strain, who died at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, a medical tribunal found. The youngster was admitted for a kidney transplant at the hospital following renal failure but did not survive surgery in November 1995. Six months later an inquest ruled Adam died from cerebral oedema – brain swelling – partly due to the onset of dilutional hyponatraemia, which occurs when there is a shortage of sodium in the bloodstream. Two expert anaesthetists told the coroner that the administration of an excess volume of fluids containing small amounts of sodium caused the hyponatraemia. But Dr Taylor resisted any criticism of his fluid management and refused to accept the condition had been caused by his administration of too much of the wrong type of fluid. In 2004 a UTV documentary When Hospitals Kill raised concerns about the treatment of a number of children, including Adam, and led to the launch of the Hyponatraemia Inquiry. The tribunal found Dr Taylor acted dishonestly on four occasions in his dealings with the the public inquiry, including failing to disclose to the inquiry a number of clinical errors he made and falsely claiming to detectives he spoke to Adam’s mother before surgery. Read full story Source: The Independent, 22 June 2022
  14. News Article
    A hospital and one of its managers are facing a criminal investigation into the death of a vulnerable man who absconded by climbing a fence. An inquest concluded failings amounting to neglect contributed to the death of Matthew Caseby in 2020, after he fled from Birmingham's Priory Hospital Woodbourne and was hit by a train. The investigation will be carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Priory said it would co-operate fully "if enquiries are raised by the CQC". Mr Caseby, 23, climbed over a 2.3m-high (7ft 6in) courtyard fence on 7 September 2020. He was found dead the following day after being hit by a train near Birmingham's University station. The inquest in April heard other patients had previously climbed the fence and, despite concerns by members of staff, no action was taken to improve security in and around the courtyard until another patient absconded two months after Mr Caseby's death. Following the inquest, coroner Louise Hunt said she was concerned the fence and courtyard area may still not be safe and urged health chiefs to consider imposing minimum standards for perimeter fences at mental health units. She also criticised record-keeping and how risk assessments were carried out. Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 June 2022
  15. News Article
    Violence against ambulance staff in England has reached a record high, as the NHS crisis in emergency care continues to deepen. An estimated 12,626 incidents were reported in the 12 months to April 2022, according to nationwide data shared with The Independent – a 7% rise on the previous year. However, since 2016, the number of paramedics who have been verbally or physically assaulted, or threatened with assault, has nearly doubled, rising from 7,689. Adam Hopper, the national ambulance violence prevention and reduction lead for the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), which provided the data, said the findings “confirm the worrying trend of increasing violence against ambulance staff”. One paramedic told The Independent a bone was broken in his neck after he was strangled by a drunken patient he was attempting to treat. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, a membership body for trusts in England, said that alcohol is the most prominent factor in such assaults, followed by drugs and people being in mental health crisis. “Race and sexuality have also increased as exacerbating factors in these assaults, as have delays to treatment and arrival times,” he added. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 June 2022
  16. News Article
    A Swedish court has found an Italian surgeon, once hailed for pioneering windpipe surgery, guilty of causing bodily harm to a patient, but cleared him of assault charges. Paolo Macchiarini won praise in 2011 after claiming to have performed the world’s first synthetic trachea transplants using stem cells while he was a surgeon at Stockholm’s Karolinska University hospital. The experimental procedure was hailed as a breakthrough in regenerative medicine. But allegations soon emerged that the procedure had been carried out on at least one person who had not been critically ill at the time of the surgery. During the May trial, held in the Solna district court, prosecutors argued that the surgeries on three patients in Sweden constituted assault, or alternatively bodily harm due to negligence, as Macchiarini disregarded “science and proven experience”. The district court agreed with the prosecutors, but cleared Macchiarini on two counts as the patients’ health was in such a dire state. “Given the patients’ condition, the district court finds that the procedures on the first two patients were justifiable,” it said in a statement. However, in the third patient, the court found him guilty of "causing bodily harm". "At the time of the third procedure, the experience from the first procedures was such that the surgeon should have refrained from letting yet another patient go through the operation", the court said. Macchiarini was handed a suspended sentence. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 June 2022
  17. News Article
    Pharmacists say physical and verbal abuse against them has become unacceptably common and many now feel unsafe when at work. Police forces say they are being called out to handle pharmacy-based crimes. The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) says there have been reports of a stabbing and physical attacks in pharmacies around the UK and that more needs to be done to enforce the NHS's zero tolerance policy on worker abuse.. Pharmacist Conor McAreavey was stabbed in the hand with a knife at his pharmacy in Belfast in March. He told the BBC he was "very lucky" not to have suffered tendon damage. Glasgow pharmacist Chand Kausar was threatened with a knife by an agitated patient, who - after demanding non-prescribed medication - produced a six-inch knife and cornered her against a wall. "I just froze," explains Ms Kausar. "My hands were above my head and I could hear all the noise around me, but I actually felt very calm. In my head all was quiet. I remember thinking it was like a movie scene. I'd never seen a knife like that, and I never imagined I'd have one held to my throat." The PDA launched an online survey in April 2022 and nearly 550 community pharmacists, mostly staff working in England, have responded so far. Some 468 of them - 85% - say they, or someone they work with, experienced verbal or racial abuse in the previous month while at work. One respondent said: "I feel terrified going to work every single day, and yet management are ignoring the issue." Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 June 2022
  18. News Article
    A public inquiry has opened into allegations of extensive and repeated abuse of patients at Muckamore Abbey, a hospital for vulnerable adults in Northern Ireland. The inquiry’s chair, Tom Kark, said at the first hearing on Monday that the allegations of abuse and neglect at the psychiatric facility outside Belfast, in County Antrim, brought the medical, nursing and care professions into disrepute. “Many of the parents and relatives and carers who trusted the hospital have been let down and they are understandably furious and some feel guilty,” he said. Kark, a QC, said a civilised society had a duty to care for people with learning disabilities and mental illness. Police have arrested 34 people and more than 70 staff have been suspended as a precaution since the alleged abuse came to light in 2017. The police investigation will proceed in parallel to the inquiry. Detectives have viewed about 300,000 hours of CCTV footage from the hospital. Relatives of patients hope the inquiry will shed light on accounts of mental and physical abuse and neglect at what used to be considered one of the best facilities of its kind in Northern Ireland. The hospital currently has about 60 patients, down from about 1,500 in the 1980s. “Without pre-determining any issues, it’s quite obvious that bad practices were allowed to persist at the hospital to the terrible detriment to a number of patients,” Kark told the inquiry. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 June 2022
  19. News Article
    Two talented physicians, a patient who sacrificed his life and a selfless receptionist were the four people killed on 1 June 1 a shooting inside a medical office building on the Saint Francis Health System campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Police in Tulsa say the gunman, Michael Louis, had gone to the hospital for back surgery 19 May and was treated by Dr Preston Phillips. Louis was discharged from the hospital 24 May and subsequently called Dr Phillips' office several times complaining of pain and seeking additional treatment. The surgeon saw Mr. Louis on 31 May for more treatment, police said. On 1 June, Mr Louis called Dr Phillips' office again complaining about pain and seeking additional care. Mr Louis purchased an AR-15-style rifle that afternoon, just hours before the shooting, police said. Dr Phillips was killed in the shooting and was the gunman's primary target, police said. "He blamed Dr Phillips for the ongoing pain following surgery," Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said at a news conference. Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 2 June 2022
  20. News Article
    A retired consultant gastroenterologist has been struck off the UK medical register for “wide ranging failings” in treating young transgender patients and in prescribing testosterone for men. Michael Webberley, who was charged with failing to provide good care to 24 patients, acted outside the limits of his expertise, a medical practitioners tribunal concluded. Through the private online clinic GenderGP, which he ran with his wife Helen, a GP, Webberley prescribed puberty blockers to a child of nine and cross sex hormones to a teenager who died by suicide a few months later. He faced charges over his care of seven transgender patients, and the tribunal found that he had provided treatment that was not clinically indicated or that had been prescribed without adequate tests, assessments, or examinations. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 30 May 2022
  21. News Article
    Criminal acts of violence at GP surgeries across the UK have almost doubled in five years, new figures reveal, as doctors’ leaders warn of a perfect storm of soaring demand and staff shortages. Police are now recording an average of three violent incidents at general practices every day. Staff are facing unprecedented assaults, abuse and aggression by patients, with surgeries struggling to cope with “unmanageable levels of demand” after years of failure to recruit or retain sufficient numbers of family doctors. Security measures such as CCTV, panic buttons and screens at reception are now increasingly being rolled out across GP surgeries, the Guardian has learned, with senior medics claiming ministers perpetuate a myth that services are “closed”. Last night, Britain’s two most senior doctors condemned the wave of violence and called for urgent action to finally resolve the workforce crisis. “It is unacceptable that GPs and their staff are afraid and at risk of being verbally or physically abused, when they are working amid exceptional pressures and striving to do their best for patients,” said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association. “GP practices are facing unmanageable levels of demand with 2,000 fewer GPs than in 2015.” He added it was “no surprise” that patients were struggling to get appointments because of the national “lack of capacity” and “lack of historic investment in general practice”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 31 May 2022
  22. News Article
    "I shouldn't have to work out my escape route when I walk into a property." Paramedic Joanna Paskell was a victim of one of the near-3,000 attacks on emergency workers in Wales last year. The patient who punched her got a 12-month community order, but it left the 45-year-old suffering with anxiety and meant she was off work for four months. "It took four security guards to calm her down so she could be treated," said Mrs Paskell, who has worked with the ambulance service for more than 25 years. She said at first she tried to laugh it off, but it was only when getting ready for her next shift, five days later, that she felt the emotional toll. "All I want to do is make a difference - that's why I joined this job. We can't do that if we're working in fear of our own safety." Last year there were 2,838 assaults against police officers, firefighters, ambulance staff, NHS workers and prison staff - a 4.9% rise. Read full story Source: BBC News, 30 May 2022
  23. News Article
    More than 200 women were harmed when a rogue surgeon carried out operations on them unnecessarily, an NHS inquiry has found. Some of the women were left with life-changing physical problems or unable to work, while many also suffered trauma and serious psychological harm as a result. Overall, 203 women on whom Anthony Dixon performed procedures between 2007 and 2017 came to harm, according to a review by the North Bristol NHS trust (NBT). Dixon, who for years was Britain’s most influential pelvic surgeon, worked for both the trust and the private Spire hospital in the city. In 2017, NBT launched a review of Dixon’s performance and suspended him after dozens of women he had performed procedures on complained that they had experienced appalling consequences, including unmanageable pain and incontinence. The Guardian revealed in late 2017 that 100 women were suing him for medical negligence. Some cases have since been settled, but dozens are ongoing. NBT sacked Dixon in 2019 and he is currently banned from practising in the UK. During the review, 378 women were recalled and asked to set out their dealings with Dixon. All had undergone a procedure called laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy (LVMR), in which plastic mesh is inserted to repair weakened tissue in the pelvic floor. In papers presented to NBT’s board on Thursday, board members were told that the inquiry had concluded. “The trust has notified 203 NHS patients that, although their LVMR operation was carried out satisfactorily, they should have been offered alternative treatments before proceeding to surgery. We have defined these patients as suffering ‘harm’ as a result,” it said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 May 2022
  24. News Article
    RaDonda Vaught has spoken out about her criminal case for the first time last week in an exclusive interview with ABC News. Ms. Vaught, 38, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation on 13 May. She was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult for a fatal medication error she made in December 2017 after overriding an electronic medical cabinet as a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. The error, in which vecuronium, a powerful paralyser, was administered instead of the sedative Versed, led to the death of 75-year-old Charlene Murphey. "I will never be the same person," Ms. Vaught told ABC News, "It's really hard to be happy about something without immediately feeling guilty. She could still be alive, with her family. Even with all the system errors, the nurse is the last to check." Ms. Vaught immediately took responsibility for the medication error after it occurred but contends that her actions alone did not cause the error. Her case has spurred an outcry from nurses across the country, many of whom have expressed concerns about the likelihood of similar mistakes under increasingly difficult working conditions. "So many things had to line up incorrectly for this error to have happened, and my actions were not alone in that," Ms. Vaught said. When Ms. Pilgrim asked her if she felt like a scapegoat, Ms. Vaught said, "I think the whole world feels like I was a scapegoat." "There's a fine line between blame and responsibility, and in healthcare, we don't blame," she said. "I'm responsible for what I failed to do. Vanderbilt is responsible for what they failed to do." Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 23 May 2022
  25. News Article
    Contractors could be required to provide trusts with the findings of criminal records checks on their employees, an update from Michael inquiry into mortuary security has suggested. The independent inquiry, chaired by Sir Jonathan Michael, was set up to examine the implications of the sexual assaults on the bodies of women and children in hospital mortuaries by maintenance supervisor and convicted murderer David Fuller. A progress report published this month by the inquiry highlighted “responsibilities between trusts and contractors” as an area of concern. The report said expectations around information sharing should be made clear in policy and, if sharing is deemed necessary, consideration should be given to what checks and evidence is needed to show this is taking place. HSJ understands that Mr Fuller did not declare previous convictions for burglary when he was first employed at the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells in 1989. Other issues flagged to NHS England by the inquiry included how access to “high-risk areas” is monitored and who requires access to these areas. It added that consideration should be given to monitoring access, involving a review of CCTV and swipe card use. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 20 May 2022
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