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Content ArticleThe Homecare Association calls on central government to invest properly in homecare, so we can address unmet need, reduce inequalities, extend healthy life expectancy of older and disabled people and reduce pressure on the NHS. To gain an up-to-date view of the additional funding required for homecare to ensure an adequate supply of good quality, sustainable services, the Homecare Association submitted enquiries under Freedom of Information legislation to 340 public organisations which purchase homecare across the United Kingdom. These consisted of local authorities, Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts in Northern Ireland and NHS bodies. Each public organisation was asked to provide several pieces of information, including the prices (lowest, highest, average) it pays to independent and voluntary sector homecare providers for the provision of regulated homecare services, delivered to people aged 65 years or above in their own home, during a sample week in April 2021. The Homecare Deficit 2021 report presents the analysis of the data received, and thus exposes the continued deficit in funding for homecare services in the United Kingdom.
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Content Article
Top 21 Chronic Pain & Illness Blogs (20 August 2021)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Patient stories
This article lists some of the top chronic pain and illness blogs on the internet, with a short description of each one.- Posted
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Content ArticleThis report by Roger Kline brings together a range of research evidence to suggest practical steps NHS employers can take to reduce inequalities in staff recruitment and career progression. It specifically focuses on the treatment of female, disabled and BAME staff. Written for practitioners, it summarises some of the research evidence on fair recruitment and career progression. It highlights principles drawn from research that underpin the suggestions made for improving each stage of recruitment and career progression.
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News Article
Social care charges: Disabled and vulnerable adults hit by steep rises
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
BBC News Research has revealed disabled and vulnerable adults in England will face a steep rise in the amount they have to pay towards their care, with Directors of council services blaming years of government funding cuts. One woman, Saskia Granville earlier this year was shocked when she found her care charges had increased from £92 to £515 per month. A sum of almost £1,500 was also taken out of Saskia's bank account as a backdated payment, in March, leaving her in debt. Her mother, Bobbie, says: "Without my intervention, she wouldn't have had any food that week. She wouldn't have been able to pay her gas, electricity or water bills." Read full story. Source: BBC News, 24 August 2021 -
Content ArticleThe use of digital health services has risen over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital divide and the resulting impact on people’s experiences of the pandemic have disproportionately affected certain groups of society. Age UK analysis suggested that only 24% of those aged 75+ were using the internet more during the pandemic, and 9% were using it less. And although the population has become better connected since the start of the pandemic, still 6% of homes (around 1.5 million households) in the UK lack home internet access. People in the poorest households are four times more likely to not use the internet at home than those in the wealthiest households. Disability, impairment, and health conditions also correlate with lower levels of digital access and use. In this article, Emma Stone, Director of design, research and communications at the Good Things Foundation, discusses the implications of digital health services on inequalities.
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News Article
Abuse of disabled patients forces watchdog to close hospital
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
The Care Quality Commission has closed mental health hospital, Eldertree Lodge, in Staffordshire after inspectors saw evidence of patients being abused. The hospital, which looked after 40 adults with learning disabilities and autism, was found to have unprofessional and abusive staff members, with incidents being recorded on CCTV where staff slammed doors on patients. Staff were also found to pull or drag a patient in an attempt to move them to a ward seclusion room. Commenting on the latest report, Debbie Ivanova, CQC deputy chief inspector for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said, “In some cases, people were subjected to abuse and interactions that lacked compassion, dignity or respect. This is unacceptable and people deserved better. Additionally, the environment was unhygienic and poorly maintained, as well as blighted by blind spots, which undermined staff observation of patients. Read full story. Source: The Independent, 11 August 2021 -
Content Article
University of Plymouth: Telerehab Toolkit
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Telemedicine
The Telerehab Toolkit is a patient and practitioner guide to remote appointments for people with movement impairment and disability. -
News Article
Long-term effects of Covid-19 can be considered a disability says Biden
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
US President Biden has said people suffering from long-term effects if Covid-19 could be considered a disability under federal civil rights laws. The administration does make clear however that having long covid doesn't automatically mean disability and that an individual assessment may be needed to determine whether a person’s long-term symptoms “substantially limits a major life activity.” President Biden has said the classification of long covid as a possible disability would “help Americans grappling with long-term effects of covid-19 that doctors call long covid.” Read full story. Source: The Washington Post, 26 July 2021 -
News Article
BBC research reveals people with disabilities forgotten during pandemic
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Research by the BBC finds thousands of people with disabilities had been forgotten about during the pandemic, revealing most participants experienced worsening of their disability and many said their vital appointments had been cancelled. The research found some reported attempting suicide due to the sudden changes, being isolated or not being able to access their care or support networks. Scope, one of the UK's biggest disabilities charities have said the research conducted by the BBC confirms the government failed to support people with disabilities during the pandemic. Read full story. Source: BBC, 30 June 2021 -
News Article
Medical treatment denied to sick and disabled people in hotel quarantine
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
It has been reported that people in quarantine due to having flown in from overseas, were denied medical treatment when they needed it. Among them, included a baby needing urgent treatment and was stopped from going to Accident and Emergency and a man who had suffered a heart attack. In what has been described as a breach of the law, people quarantined in the hotels in the London area were denied basic facilities and medical treatment. After legal intervention, the government has issued an order to release certain individuals from the hotel after it was found their health was impacted by the quarantine. Read full story. Source: The Independent, 20 June 2021 -
News Article
‘If we catch Covid, we die’: UK shielders reflect on still feeling unsafe
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Sarah Spoor and her two adult sons have spent the past 14 months shielding in a one-bedroom apartment, with no garden, in west London. Her youngest sleeps in the bedroom, his brother has a pull-out bed in the kitchen, while Spoor takes the living room in another fold-out bed. All three have complex medical conditions that leave them vulnerable to Covid, and despite the strain of living in such close quarters, they don’t feel safe leaving home any time soon. “If we catch it, we die; it’s that simple. In the 14 months, I have probably been out about four times, and that’s usually in some dire emergency,” said Spoor, who provides round-the-clock care for her sons, 20 and 24, after their medical team decided it was too risky for their usual carers to continue visiting. The family has yet to be vaccinated as their medical conditions, which include type 1 diabetes, adrenal insufficiency, pernicious anemia and thyroid failure, mean they are likely to experience a severe reaction leading to hospital admission, and they are concerned about the risk of catching Covid in hospital when cases are still prevalent. Spoor is not alone in fearing a return to life after lockdown, with disability charity Scope estimating 75% of disabled people plan to continue shielding until after their second vaccine dose, and some for longer. “I think there is a potential long-term impact that groups of people become squirrelled away and it’s potentially easy for governments and local authorities to forget about them,” said James Taylor, executive director of strategy and social change at Scope. “We’re really worried that, in the long-term, lots of the rights that disabled people have fought for, the visibility, the recognition of disabled people as equal, that all falling away and going backwards.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 19 April 2021 -
News Article
Disabled woman who died in Sheffield hospital ‘ignored’, parents tell inquest
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The parents of a young disabled woman who died after she went into hospital for a routine eye operation have told a coroner that doctors ignored their daughter’s attempts to communicate. Laura Booth, 21, stopped eating after she was admitted to the Royal Hallamshire hospital in Sheffield, her mother told an inquest hearing in the city on Monday. Patricia Booth, from Sheffield, said her daughter was ignored by clinicians after she went into the hospital in October 2016 despite her being able to communicate to some extent, including using Makaton signing. She said this was in contrast to her treatment at the Children’s hospital in the city. Sitting next to her husband, Ken, on a remote link, Booth told the inquest: “They never discussed anything with Laura. They just ignored her. She couldn’t speak but she could understand everything.” Booth explained how her daughter could make herself understood to her family and would hold her hands out to the doctors, but did not get a response. “They never gave her a chance,” she said. “They never spoke to her. “It’s really heartbreaking. Laura was trying to communicate with them but they just wouldn’t listen … It just upset Laura that the doctors ignored her.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 April 2021 -
News Article
Covid: Lack of ventilator supplies 'hit' disabled people
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Some disabled people in the UK have been struggling to obtain essentials such as medication and breathing equipment during the Covid pandemic, research for the BBC suggests. Some 60% of those who rely on social care told a YouGov survey they were finding it hard to obtain at least one of their necessities. Charity WellChild said people felt more "forgotten than they ever have been". But ministers say the needs of disabled people were being considered. The Department of Health and Social Care says it has sufficient stocks and patients should contact their local care provider. Like one in 20 of those survey respondents who receive social care, Fi Anderson, a mother of two with muscular dystrophy from Bolton in Greater Manchester, said she has faced problems obtaining breathing apparatus. Her local hospital told her to re-use the filter for her portable ventilator, recommending she boil it, because supplies were so short. Disabled people who rely on social care - which funds equipment and other support to allow them to live independent lives - also said they had struggled to obtain personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks. Many of them receive funding directly to employ carers in their home, so they also need to provide them with PPE during the coronavirus crisis. The survey, which the BBC commissioned to mark the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act, asked more than 1,000 people about life in the UK with a disability and how it has changed in the shadow of a pandemic. More than 65% felt their rights had regressed, and 71% said disabled people's needs had been overlooked. The Coronavirus Act, which granted the government emergency powers, gave local councils the ability to reduce care, education and mental health provision for disabled people if it became necessary during the pandemic. According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, nearly six out of 10 deaths from COVID-19 were of disabled people. Read full story Source: BBC News, -
News Article
After scandals like Winterbourne View, why is basic decency still remarkable?
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
In late July 2019, Sara Ryan tweeted asking families with autistic or learning disabled children to share their experience of “sparkling” actions by health and social care professionals. She was writing a book about how professionals could make a difference in the lives of children and their families. "These tweets generated a visceral feeling in me, in part because of the simplicity of the actions captured. Why would you not ring someone after a particularly difficult appointment to check on them? Isn’t remembering what children like and engaging with their interests an obvious way to generate good relationships? Telling a parent their child has been a pleasure to support is commonplace, surely?" Sara's own son, Connor, was left to drown in an NHS hospital bath while nearby staff finished an online Tesco order. "Certain people, children and adults, in our society are consistently and routinely positioned outside of 'being human', leading to an erasure of love, care and thought by social and healthcare professionals. They become disposable." What has become clear to Sara is how much the treatment of people and their families remains on a failing loop, despite extensive research, legislative and policy change to make their lives better, and potentially transformative moments like the exposure of the Winterbourne View scandal. At the heart of this loop are loving families and a diverse range of allies, surrounded by a large cast of bystanders who, instead of fresh eyes, have vision clouded by ignorance and sometimes prejudice. "To rehumanise society, we need more people with guts and integrity who are prepared to step up and call out poor practice, and to look afresh at how we could do things so much better with a focus on love and brilliance." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 October 2020 Sara Ryan's book: Love, learning disabilities and pockets of brilliance: How practitioners can make a difference to the lives of children, families and adults -
Content Article
Independent Living: Keeping in touch (14 October 2020)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Blogs
In this article for Independent Living, Philip Anderson reflects on the significance of touch, and possible impact of COVID-19 for those who are deprived of touch. Philip is an advocate for barrier-free accessibility, equality, and inclusiveness for persons with disabilities. He is involved in several initiatives in the NHS, and with various disability, and accessibility advisory groups. -
Content ArticleIn this guest blog for mumsnet, Nadine Montgomery talks about her journey to the Supreme Court to cement patients’ right to make an informed decision. Nadine highlights the lack of information she was given around potential birth risks as a diabetic pregnant women and how, if better informed, she would have made different choices which could have prevented her baby from suffering harm.
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News ArticleThousands of stroke patients have suffered avoidable disability because NHS care for them was disrupted during the pandemic, a report claims. Many people who had just had a stroke found it harder to obtain clot-busting drugs or undergo surgery to remove a blood clot from their brain, both of which need to happen quickly. Rehabilitation services, which are vital to help reduce the impact of a stroke, also stopped working normally as the NHS focused on Covid, the Stroke Association said. It is concerned “many could lose out on the opportunity to make their best possible recovery”. Juliet Bouverie, the charity’s chief executive, said: “Strokes didn’t stop because of the pandemic. Despite the tireless efforts of frontline clinicians who have gone to herculean efforts to maintain services under extremely difficult conditions, some treatments still became unavailable and most stroke aftercare ground to a halt. This means more stroke survivors are now living with avoidable, unnecessary disability.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 September 2020
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News Article
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Content ArticleThe Accessible Information Standard directs and defines a specific, consistent approach to identifying, recording, flagging, sharing and meeting individuals’ information and communication support needs by NHS and adult social care service providers.
