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News Article
Hospital doctor accused of sexual assaults on patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The National Crime Agency and Interpol has been drafted in by detectives investigating a junior doctor accused of multiple sexual assaults on children and adults in A&E departments. Last year, Staffordshire police began an investigation into a 35-year-old medic's work at two hospitals, the Royal Stoke University Hospital in Staffordshire and the Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, West Midlands. Source: Sunday Times Shared by Shaun Lintern Tweet, 29 January 2023- Posted
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NHS faces ‘alarming’ exodus of doctors and dentists, health chiefs warn
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS faces an alarming mass exodus of doctors and dental professionals, health chiefs have said, as a report reveals 4 in 10 are likely to quit over “intolerable” pressures. Intense workloads, rapidly soaring demand for urgent and emergency healthcare and the record high backlog of operations are causing burnout and exhaustion and straining relationships between medics and patients, according to the report by the Medical Defence Union (MDU), which provides legal support to about 200,000 doctors, dental professionals and other healthcare workers in the UK. In an MDU survey of more than 800 doctors and dental professionals across the UK, conducted within the last month and seen by the Guardian, 40% agreed or strongly agreed they were likely to resign or retire within the next five years as a direct result of “workplace pressures”. Medical leaders called the report “deeply concerning”. There are already 133,000 NHS vacancies in England alone. NHS chiefs said it laid bare the impact of the crisis in the health service on staff, and MPs said it should serve as a “wake-up call” to ministers on the urgent need to take action to persuade thousands of NHS staff heading for the exit door to stay. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 January 2023- Posted
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Content Article
The census had responses from all 12 major Emergency Departments in Wales and found: There is one WTE Consultant per 7784 annual attendances, considerably less than the RCEM recommended figure of 1:4000. Of these 101 consultants, 19 are planning to retire in the next six years – a fifth of the consultant workforce. There were 90 gaps in the consultant rota, 33 in the middle grade rota and eight in the junior rota. Inability to recruit was the primary reason for rota gaps. This is leading to departments in Wales not meeting RCEM best practice recommendations of having an EM consultant presence for at least 16 hours a day in all medium and large systems. When asked for future staffing needs, departments across Wales reported needing an increase of 75% consultants, 120% increase in the ACP/ANP/PA workforce, 44% increase in the ENP workforce, 30% increase in the Higher Specialist Trainees/ Non-consultant Senior Decision Maker and a 50% increase in Junior Doctors in the next six years. The census also found that junior doctors were also being overstretched: At the time of collection there were 52 trainees in the ST1-6 programme as well as 95 non- Emergency Medicine trainees working in EDs across Wales Junior doctors work one weekend every three weekends, consultants work one weekend every 6.2 weekends. Junior doctors in training also do the most night shifts with an average of 52 per year.- Posted
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Changes in the way staff work, including staff taking on new roles and responsibilities, is a well-known policy solution in the NHS, and there are some really good instances where skill mix works well and has real benefits. But are there downsides to the drive to employ new types of staff to help doctors and nurses? What are the implications for continuity of care, staff experience and outcomes? Is the idea of ‘top of the licence’ working a reason for concern in terms of burnout, the fragmentation of care or is it an unavoidable response to the workforce crisis? Chair: Nigel Edwards, Chief Executive, Nuffield Trust Prof Alison Leary, Chair of Healthcare and Workforce Modelling, London South Bank University Dr Louella Vaughan, Senior Clinical Fellow, Nuffield Trust- Posted
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USA: 48% of physicians are happy at work, survey finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Physicians' happiness fell amid the pandemic and is not rebounding easily, according to Medscape's 2023 Physician Lifestyle and Happiness Report. The report is based on survey responses from 9,175 U.S.-based physicians in 29 specialties polled last year between 28 June and 3 October. The report found: 1. 59% of physicians said they were "somewhat" or "very happy," down from 84% before the pandemic. These figures mirror percentages seen in Medscape's same report conducted last year. 2. The percentage of physicians who are happy at work, specifically, fell from 75% before the pandemic to 48% today. 3. Four in 10 physicians said they regularly look after their own health and wellness, up from 33% who said the same in Medscape's 2022 report. 4. 53% said they would take a pay decrease in return for better work-life balance. Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 20 January 2023- Posted
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Content Article
University of Maine Patient Safety Petition
US Patient Safety posted an article in Whistle blowing
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"Doctors discuss my daughter like she's nothing"
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A doctor in Cambridge is spearheading a project to help to reform "blunt" medical language that patients and their families can find upsetting. Ethicist Zoe Fritz said language that "casts doubt, belittles or blames patients" was long overdue for change. Sixteen-year-old Josselin Tilley from Wiltshire has charge syndrome that reduces her life expectancy. Her mother Karen said Josselin's death was often referred to in correspondence "like she's not a person. "It's not person-centred at all, it's like she's just nothing." The example she gave was an extract from a typical letter in November that she was copied in to by a community paediatrician addressed to colleagues. "Death below 35: On discussion with Josselin's mum early death has been discussed with her, and there is plan, discussed with Josselin's mother about a wishes document being done." Mrs Tilley, from Westbury, said she objected to the use of language that "very bluntly discusses Josselin's death like she's something going off in the fridge". Doctor Fritz said the reason she and doctor Caitriona Cox were running the campaign at Cambridge University was because they recognised language regularly used by clinicians was often problematic for anyone outside of medical practice. "Even just (the term) presenting [a] complaint. Patients coming into hospital with whatever's bothering them we [doctors] talk about as a complaint and I think that infantilises the patient. They're not complaining when telling us what's going on." Read full story Source: BBC News, 17 January 2023 Further reading on the hub: Presenting complaint: use of language that disempowers patients- Posted
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Fraudster posed as doctor in UK for 19 years, court hears
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
A “most accomplished fraudster” was paid between £1m and £1.3m by the NHS during the nearly two decades she posed as a qualified doctor after forging a degree certificate, a court has heard. Zholia Alemi, believed to be 60 years old, worked as a psychiatrist in the UK for 19 years after claiming to have qualified at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, a trial at Manchester crown court heard. The defendant is accused of 20 offences, including forgery and fraud, which she denies. The jury heard Alemi’s case was that she was appropriately qualified and documents demonstrating her qualifications were genuine. She denies 13 counts of fraud, three counts of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, two counts of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument. Read full story Source: The Guardian (paywalled) -
News Article
Doctors union plans 72-hour strike
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Junior doctors across England will walk out for 72 hours in March if a ballot for industrial action is successful, the British Medical Association has told ministers. The BMA confirmed the move ahead of the opening of its ballot on Monday (9 January). The union is calling for real terms pay cuts over the past decade to be reversed, claiming the last 15 years have led to a 26 per cent decline in the value of junior doctors’ pay. Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said: “Pay erosion, exhaustion and despair are forcing junior doctors out of the NHS, pushing waiting lists even higher as patients suffer needlessly.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 8 January 2023 -
News Article
TV doctor Hilary Jones blasts Government over ‘at risk of collapse’ NHS
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
TV presenter Dr Hilary Jones has blasted the Prime Minister over his handling of the NHS, warning it is at risk of collapse. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, the GP shared the experiences of “heartbroken” frontline doctors and said if the situation “doesn’t change very quickly, the NHS is finished”. Dr Jones referred to a group chat between 13,000 doctors who work on the front line and in primary care, where members are sharing stories that show patients experiencing very long delays in receiving treatment. He described how staff are in tears at the end of their shift “and when they return to the next shift, the same patient is still waiting to be seen after 24 hours”. He added: “For Rishi Sunak and the Government to pretend that this is not a crisis when more than a dozen trusts have announced critical incidents is not only delusional, as the BMA say, I would say at the very best it’s ill-informed misjudgment, at the very worst it’s total irresponsibility and incompetence. I have never known anything like this.” Read full story Source: Independent, 5 January 2023 -
News Article
Pupils should learn what health problems they must not bother the NHS with, doctors and pharmacists have said. In a new strategy paper they call for a “wholesale cultural shift” towards more self-care, insisting this could both empower patients and reduce demand. Conditions like lower back pain, the common cold and acute sinusitis can generally be treated without the need for GPs or hospital visits, experts said. They called for the national curriculum to include requirements for both primary and secondary pupils to be taught to treat and manage common health problems at home. Medical students or pharmacists could go into school to offer lessons on “self-care techniques and signposting to appropriate use of NHS services”, they said. The paper is from the Self-Care Strategy Group, a coalition of pharmacy bodies and GP and patient groups. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 9 January 2023- Posted
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Junior doctors threaten three-day strike with no A&E cover
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Junior doctors have threatened to stage a “full walkout” for three consecutive days in March in which they would not treat A&E patients. The British Medical Association told the government this morning that junior doctors would strike for 72 hours if it is supported in a ballot that opens next week. The association said that “doctors will not provide emergency care during the strike”, which is likely to worsen deadly accident and emergency delays. Hospital bosses said they were “deeply worried” by the BMA’s announcement, urging the government to start negotiating rather than “sitting back and letting more strikes happen”. NHS bosses fear that the BMA will co-ordinate strike action with the nursing and ambulance unions if the dispute is allowed to rumble on. Nurses will strike on January 18 and 19, and ambulance workers are due to walk out on January 11 and 23. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 6 January 2023- Posted
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Content Article
Roy Lilley eLetter - Helpless (12 December 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Safe staffing levels
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Hospitals in England pay £5,200 for one agency doctor's shift
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hospitals in England have paid out as much as £5,200 for a shift by a doctor through an agency, according to figures obtained by Labour through Freedom of Information requests. That is the latest in an intensifying debate over workforce shortages in the NHS in England. Labour blamed the high agency fees on Conservatives, arguing they had failed to train enough doctors and nurses. A Conservative spokesperson said "record numbers" had been recruited. The most expensive reported shift was £5,234 - paid by a trust in northern England. This covers the agency fee and other employer costs as well as the money going to the doctor. The NHS Confederation said the "staffing crisis" was so "desperate" that NHS trusts were being forced to pay large fees to make sure rotas were "staffed safely". Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: "Trusts are having to breach the caps on how much they pay for agency doctors because of the extremely high levels of demand they are facing for their services. "The staffing crisis is so desperate that they either pay these fees or find that their rotas cannot be staffed safely, leading to reduced services for patients. This is particularly true in parts of the country where the NHS can struggle to recruit new staff." Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 December 2022- Posted
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Medical jargon putting patients in harm's way
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients are struggling to understand their doctors because of confusing medical jargon, a study has found. Almost 80% of people do not know that the word 'impressive' actually means 'worrying' in a medical context. Critics said using the word borders on 'disrespectful' because 'we're describing something as impressive that is causing real harm for patients'. More than one in five of respondents could not work out the phrase 'your tumour is progressing', which means a patient's cancer is worsening. And the majority of participants failed to recognise that 'positive lymph nodes' meant the cancer had spread. The word 'impressive' means something admirable to most people. But when physicians describe a chest X-ray as impressive, they actually mean it is worrying. Some 79% of study participants did not get this meaning. Only 44 participants correctly understood that a clinician was actually giving them bad news. Read full story Source: Mail Online, 1 December 2022- Posted
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Content Article
Related reading Medication delays: A huge risk for inpatients with Parkinson’s Keeping patients with Parkinson’s safe in hospital: 4 key actions for staff- Posted
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Survey highlights Across the 10 high-income countries included in this study, most doctors reported increases in their workload since the beginning of the pandemic. Younger doctors (under age 55) were more likely to experience stress, emotional distress, or burnout and, in nearly all countries, were more likely to seek professional help compared to older doctors. Doctors who experienced stress, emotional distress, or burnout were more likely to report providing worse quality of care compared to before the pandemic. Half or more of older doctors in most countries reported they would stop seeing patients within the next three years, leaving a primary care workforce made up of younger, more stressed, and burned-out doctors.