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News Article
Women in healthcare sector earn 24% less than men, international report finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Women working in healthcare earn on average 24% less than their male peers and face a larger gender pay gap than in other economic sectors, a joint report by the International Labour Organization and the World Health Organization has found. The analysis, which looked at data from 54 countries across all geographic and income regions, found a raw gender pay gap of around 20%, which jumped to 24% when factors such as age, education, and working time were considered. Gender pay gaps also tended to be wider in higher pay categories, where men were over-represented, while women were over-represented in the lower pay categories. The authors said the findings highlighted that women, who accounted for 67% of the global health and care workforce in 2020, were underpaid and undervalued. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 13 July 2022 -
News ArticleArtificial intelligence (AI) could lead to UK health services that disadvantage women and ethnic minorities, scientists are warning. They are calling for biases in the systems to be rooted out before their use becomes commonplace in the NHS. They fear that without that preparation AI could dramatically deepen existing health inequalities in our society. A new study has found that AI models built to identify people at high risk of liver disease from blood tests are twice as likely to miss disease in women as in men. The researchers examined the state of the art approach to AI used by hospitals worldwide and found it had a 70% success rate in predicting liver disease from blood tests. But they uncovered a wide gender gap underneath – with 44% of cases in women missed, compared with 23% of cases among men. “AI algorithms are increasingly used in hospitals to assist doctors diagnosing patients. Our study shows that, unless they are investigated for bias, they may only help a subset of patients, leaving other groups with worse care,” said Isabel Straw, of University College London, who led the study. “We need to be really careful that medical AI doesn’t worsen existing inequalities.” Read full story Source: iNews, 9 July 2022
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News ArticleWhen Susan Sullivan died from Covid-19, her parents’ world fell quiet. But as John and Ida Sullivan battled the pain of losing their eldest, they were comforted by doctors’ assurance that they had done all they could. It was not until more than a year later, when they received her medical records, that the family made a crushing discovery. These suggested that, despite Susan being in good health and responding well to initial treatments, doctors at Barnet hospital had concluded she wouldn’t pull through. When Susan was first admitted on 27 March 2020, a doctor had written in her treatment plan: “ITU (Intensive therapy unit) review if not improving”, indicating he believed she might benefit from a higher level of care. But as her oxygen levels fell and her condition deteriorated, the 56-year-old was not admitted to the intensive unit. Instead she died in her bed on the ward without access to potentially life-saving treatment others received. In the hospital records, seen by the Observer, the reason Susan was excluded is spelled out: “ITU declined in view of Down’s syndrome and cardiac comorbidities.” A treatment plan stating she was not to be resuscitated also cites her disability. For John, 79, a retired builder, that realisation was “like Susan dying all over again”. “The reality is that doctors gave her a bed to die in because she had Down’s syndrome,” he said. “To me it couldn’t be clearer: they didn’t even try.” Susan is one of thousands of disabled people in Britain killed by Covid-19. Last year, a report by the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Programme found that almost half those who died from Covid-19 did not receive good enough treatment, including problems accessing care. Of those who died from Covid-19, 81% had a do-not-resuscitate decision, compared with 72% of those who died from other causes. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 July 2022
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News ArticleEmma Hardy MP has secured a Westminster debate on gynaecological wait times. Gynaecology waiting lists across the UK have now reached a combined figure of more than 610,000 – a 69% increase on pre-pandemic levels. New analysis by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) shows that in England, gynaecology waiting lists have grown the most by percentage increase of all elective specialties. Emma is co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) for Surgical Mesh and Endometriosis - both come under the heading of ‘gynaecological conditions’ and both are being impacted by increased waiting times. Through her involvement with these APPGs, Emma has heard the testimony of so many women whose lives have been impacted by conditions that can be so painful and debilitating that they impact on every aspect of family, social and work life. Emma will ask the minister to launch an investigation into possible gender bias in the prioritisation of gynaecology services and ensure that elective recovery will address the unequal growth of gynaecology waiting lists compared to other specialties. Emma said: "It is completely unacceptable that 610,000 women are waiting for gynaecological care across the UK. The reality is that many of these women will be in excruciating pain awaiting treatment, unable to go about their day-to-day lives." Read full story Source: Hull Daily Mail, 5 July 2022
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News ArticleThe number of knee replacement operations carried out has dropped in regions of England with restrictions on surgery for overweight patients, with people in more deprived areas worst affected, researchers have found. Patients needing surgery but unable to lose weight are being denied surgery that could ease pain and increase mobility, the team from the University of Bristol said. Health campaigners expressed alarm, claiming the policy was a “blunt tool” being used to replace conversations between doctors and patients and risked exacerbating health inequalities. Over the past decade, rules have been brought in by some clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) across England to restrict access to hip and knee replacement surgery for patients who are overweight or obese. The study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, suggests that regions that introduced policy changes for access to knee replacement surgery based on a patient’s weight or BMI have seen a decline in surgery. The lead author, Joanna McLaughlin, of the Bristol Medical School, said: “Our study raises the concern that these policies are linked with worsening health inequalities with fewer NHS operations for the least affluent groups. “We could see the rates of surgery dropped for those worst off but increased for those who are best off, which correlates with more private surgery going on in those areas.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2022
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News Article
USA: OBGYNs reacting to Roe Vs Wade fear for patient safety and health
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Reproductive health doctors are reacting to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs Wade, the 1973 case that allowed people to seek abortions with limited government intervention. On Friday, Justice Samuel Alito delivered his opinion on the case Dobbs vs Jackson Women's Health, saying he favoured the state of Mississippi in the case. Now, Roe vs Wade, which allowed abortion until about 24 weeks of pregnancy, is overruled, and individual states have the power to decide their residents' abortion rights. OBGYNs who provide abortion care and family-planning services told Insider they worry for their patients' health and safety, and the future of all reproductive healthcare including miscarriages, fertility treatments, and birth control. "This decision made by the SCOTUS is one that completely obliterates freedom from reproductive justice and women's health directly," Dr. Jessica Shepherd, a Texas-based gynecologist and Chief Medical Officer at Verywell Health, told Insider. Dr. Stephanie Ros, a Florida-based OBGYN, says she fears most for working-class abortion seekers. "I'm not worried about my wealthy patients – they will have the means to go 'visit an aunt' in Europe or elsewhere, and access abortion care if they so desire. I'm terrified for my middle class and poor patients, who don't have the means to pick up and travel on a moment's notice, and who often don't have access to medical care to even discover they're pregnant until later than their wealthy counterparts." Read full story Source: Insider, 24 June 2022 -
News Article
UK to strengthen regulation of medical devices to protect patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
New plans to strengthen the regulation of medical devices to improve patient safety and encourage innovation have been published. Following the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has a unique opportunity to improve how medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVDs) are regulated in the UK. The package of reforms will apply to medical devices such as hearing aids, x-ray machines and insulin pumps; new technologies such as smartphone apps and Artificial Intelligence (AI); as well as certain cosmetic products like dermal fillers. The new measures include: Strengthening the MHRA’s powers to act to keep patients safe. Giving the public and patients greater assurance on both the performance and safety of the highest-risk medical devices, such as those which need to be implanted. Increasing the scope and extent of regulation to respond to public need. Enhancing systems that are already in place to better protect users of medical devices and certain cosmetic products, and providing greater assurance of their performance and safety. Addressing health disparities and mitigating identified inequities throughout medical devices development and use. Mitigating against inequities in medical devices, ensuring they function as intended for diverse populations. The government has launched a review into the potential equity issues in the design and use of medical devices to tackle health inequalities and will update in due course. Making the UK a focus for innovation, and the best place to develop and introduce innovative medical devices. Ensuring the new regulatory framework encourages responsible innovation so that patients in the UK are better able to access the most advanced medical devices to meet their needs. Setting world-leading standards and building the new UKCA mark. Transforming a new stamp of certification, replacing the CE mark, into a trusted brand that signifies global safety, health and environment protection standards have been met for medical device products. This will in turn boost the MHRA’s global reputation and growing partnerships with other regulators. Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: "Now we have left the EU, these new changes will allow innovation to thrive and ensure UK patients are among the first to benefit from technological breakthroughs." "We are now able to introduce some of the most robust safety measures in the world for medical devices to ensure patients are protected." Read press release Source: Gov.UK, 26 June 2022 -
News Article
Covid vaccines cut global death toll by 20m in first year, study finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Covid vaccines cut the global death toll by 20 million in the first year after they were available, according to the first major analysis. The study, which modelled the spread of the disease in 185 countries and territories between December 2020 and December 2021, found that without Covid vaccines 31.4 million people would have died, and that 19.8 million of these deaths were avoided. The study is the first attempt to quantify the number of deaths prevented directly and indirectly as a result of Covid-19 vaccinations. “We knew it was going to be a large number, but I did not think it would be as high as 20 million deaths during just the first year,” said Oliver Watson, of Imperial College London, who is a co-first author on the study carried out by scientists at the university. Many more deaths could have been prevented if access to vaccines had been more equal worldwide. Nearly 600,000 additional deaths – one in five of the Covid deaths in low-income countries – could have been prevented if the World Health Organization’s global goal of vaccinating 40% of each country’s population by the end of 2021 had been met, the research found. “Our findings show that millions of lives have likely been saved by making vaccines available to people everywhere, regardless of their wealth,” said Watson. “However, more could have been done.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 June 2022 -
News ArticleWomen including refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants are being charged as much as £14,000 to give birth on the NHS in England, a report by Doctors of the World (DOTW) has found. The report, which examined inequalities in maternity care among migrant pregnant women and babies, gathered the experiences of 257 pregnant women accessing DOTW’s services from 2017 to 2021. It found that over a third (38%) who accessed its services had been charged for healthcare, often inappropriately. The women were charged £296 to £14 000, and half of them were billed over £7000. The report said that inequalities in access to antenatal care experienced by migrant women were likely to lead to poorer outcomes for their pregnancy and the health of their children. The evidence highlights the need for urgent action to address the inequalities experienced by migrant pregnant women and their babies. There is a pressing need for immigration status to be considered as part of the ethnic and racial health inequalities agenda and for independent action to be taken to review the impact of NHS charging policy. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 20 June 2022
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News Article
'More help needed' to make patient info accessible
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People with disabilities must be helped more by health providers to access information, a report has found. Over 300 people in North Yorkshire were asked about communication from GPs, hospitals, and healthcare providers in a survey by watchdog Healthwatch. The report said there is "some good practice" but many patients are not being contacted in their preferred format. This leads to missed appointments which "costs time and money". Since 2016, the Accessible Information Standard means health and care organisations must legally provide a "consistent approach to identifying, recording, flagging, sharing, and meeting the information and communication support needs of patients, service users, carers and parents with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss," Healthwatch said. But the report said some people receive printed letters which they are unable to read meaning they have to ask for private and confidential information to be relayed. Scarborough respondent Ian said it was "amazing" that in the 21st Century many are still facing such issues. "The [GP booking] system doesn't anticipate that not everyone can use the phone," he said. "The problem is a lot of organisations haven't moved with the times". Read full storyp Source: BBC News, 21 June 2022 -
News Article
Over half of ethnic minority NHS leaders consider quitting due to racism
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Just over half of senior ethnic minority leaders have considered leaving the NHS due to experiencing workplace racism a survey suggests. The survey was carried out by the NHS Confederation’s BME Leadership Network and its 123 respondents included chief executives, directors and senior managers. Responses were collected from network members online before three roundtables were held with senior ethnic minority leaders to understand their experiences and the challenges they have faced in relation to discrimination. The survey found: 51% of respondents said they had considered leaving the NHS in the past three years because of their experience of racist treatment while working. More than 20% said they had experienced verbal abuse or abusive behaviour targeting racial, national or cultural heritage five times or more in the last three years. 69% had experienced this behaviour from other leaders or managers within their organisation at least once in the same timeframe. 57% had experienced it from leaders or managers in another organisation at least once over the same period. Joan Saddler, NHS Confederation’s director of equality and partnerships, said the NHS was at risk of losing “committed, highly skilled and motivated talent to institutional racism and discrimination”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 17 June 2022 You may also be interested in reading: BMA: Racism in medicine -
News ArticleOnly half of healthcare professionals feel they have sufficient tools to manage the long-term damage that sickle cell disease brings, new research has revealed. The in-depth study by Global Blood Therapeutics - carried out across 10 countries including the UK, US and Canada - shows that patients living with the illness remain dramatically underserved by healthcare systems, while healthcare professionals don’t feel like they have the knowledge of the disease or their patients, to properly treat them. More than two in five (43%) doctors and nurses cited difficulties due to having different ethnic backgrounds from their patients, it was revealed, while almost three quarters (73%) stated patients of lower economic status can be more difficult to treat. Almost a third of healthcare professionals (31%) found it challenging to understand their patients’ needs. Sebastian Stachowiak, Head of Europe and GCC at Global Blood Therapeutics, told The Independent that the survey “confirms the lack of options for physicians” and expressed hope that, with recent advances in available treatment, patients can be better served in the future. The study also found that almost half (46%) of patients say that emergency room healthcare providers did not believe them about their symptoms, while 48% said that they have been treated like a drug seeker in the emergency room. Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 June 2022
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News Article
Child diabetes referrals in England and Wales jump 50% amid obesity crisis
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of children being treated at paediatric diabetes units (PDUs) in England and Wales has increased by more than 50% amid a “perfect storm” of rising obesity levels and the cost of living crisis, health leaders have said. Diabetes UK said alarming obesity levels among children had led to a “concerning climb” in the number diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and predicted that the cost of living crisis could lead to further problems in the years to come. Data from NHS Digital shows that almost one in seven children start primary school obese – a rise of almost 50% in just a year. More than a quarter are obese by the time they finish primary school. The high levels of obesity combined with the squeeze on personal finances are creating a “perfect storm which risks irreversible harm to the health of young people”, Diabetes UK said. It accused the government of “letting our children down” as it called for concerted action to tackle obesity. Chris Askew, the chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: “We are very concerned that this spike in childhood obesity will translate into an even greater increase in children with type 2 diabetes in the coming years, a crisis fuelled by longstanding health inequalities and made worse still by impacts of the cost of living crisis." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 15 June 2022 -
News Article
Cost of living: Soaring bills damaging people's health, say medics
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Rises in the cost of living are already having a negative impact of people's health, health professionals warn. BBC News has been told of people skipping meals or cutting back on medication, because of money worries. The Royal College of Nursing says people are having to make heart-wrenching choices that compromise their health and wellbeing. Along with GPs and hospital doctors, they warn health inequalities between rich and poor risk becoming worse. Laura Brant, 28, has already had to make some tough choices about a treatment keeping her alive. Having lived with kidney disease since the age of seven, she has already had two kidney transplants - and now needs another. Laura is dependent on a dialysis machine to carry out the filtering process usually performed by the kidneys. Without it, she could be dead in a week. Laura was having dialysis at home - but the machine used so much electricity and water the bills started to mount rapidly. "I'd say that it's the straw that broke the camel's back, really, with the cost of running the dialysis machine, the water it uses, the electric," she says. "And it was adding to my anxiety, like, 'How am I going to pay to do this treatment every month?'" Royal College of Physicians president Dr Andrew Goddard says some of his respiratory-medicine colleagues are hearing of patients choosing to turn off oxygen supplies to save money. "Respiratory disease disproportionately affects those least able to afford to improve their social circumstances," he says. "It seems likely the cost of living crisis will widen this disparity further." Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 June 2022 -
News Article
Messenger at odds with Javid over NHS diversity jobs
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Sajid Javid’s claim that the number of NHS roles dedicated to promoting equality and diversity should be cut is incorrect and not what the government-commissioned review into NHS management recommended, according to its author. The review by General Sir Gordon Messenger and Leeds Teaching Hospital chair Dame Linda Pollard was published Wednesday. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday evening, the health secretary said: “In my view, there are already too many working in roles focused solely on diversity and inclusion, and at a time when our constituents are facing real pressures around cost of living, we must spend every penny on patients’ priorities. “As this report sets out, it should be the responsibility of everyone to encourage fairness and equality of opportunity which is why we must reduce the number of these roles.” Speaking later to HSJ, Mr Javid was asked if there was any area of NHS management cuts should be made. He said: “I would like to see fewer managers in terms of diversity managers and things, because I think it should actually be done by all management and all leadership, and not contracted out as some kind of tick-box exercise.” However, when HSJ spoke to General Messenger he said: “The report does not recommend the reduction of EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) professionals. “What it does say though, is that if one successfully inculcates equality, diversity and inclusion to every leadership’s responsibilities then that becomes an accepted, instinctive, understood part of being a leader and a manager at every level then the requirement for dedicated EDI professionals should reduce over time." Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 8 June 2022 -
News Article
NHS waiting lists: Women, low earners and ethnic minorities worst affected
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Women, low earners and ethnic minorities are faring worse on NHS waiting lists, according to research. Healthwatch, a patient watchdog, warned there was a risk that those with “more demands on their lives” such as long hours or caring responsibilities could end up at the back of the queue. It urged hospitals to be proactive in managing waiting lists and communicate with patients who might otherwise be left in limbo. The Healthwatch survey found 54% of women had waited more than four months for treatment, compared with 42% of men. They were also more likely to have had treatment delayed or cancelled, and to feel that a delay to treatment had made an impact on their ability to work. Some 54% of people on lower incomes had been waiting more than four months for hospital care, compared with 34% of higher wealth individuals. They reported a greater impact on their mental health and their ability to work. And 57% of respondents from ethnic minorities had faced a delay to or cancellation of hospital treatment, compared with 42 per cent of white British people. Louise Ansari, Healthwatch England’s national director, said the factors could have a “layering effect” that meant people had a much poorer experience, calling for “an additional specific focus on those groups” so that they do not end up “in worse and worse health”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 8 June 2022 -
News Article
Duty of all NHS staff in England to fight discrimination, review says
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
All the NHS’s 1.5m staff in England should tackle discrimination against disadvantaged groups, not just bosses and specialist diversity teams, a major review has concluded. NHS trusts will need fewer equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) teams if action against discrimination does become “the responsibility of all”, according to the report. The review of NHS leadership said the health service should adopt a different approach to equality issues in order to overcome the widely recognised disadvantages faced by certain groups of its own staff, which include lower pay and chances of promotion among Black and ethnic minority doctors compared with white medics and low BAME representation in senior managerial ranks. The inquiry, undertaken by Genl Sir Gordon Messenger and Dame Linda Pollard, was commissioned last year by Sajid Javid, the health secretary. The report concluded that: “Most critically, we advocate a step-change in the way the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion are embedded as the personal responsibility of every leader and every member of staff. “Although good practice is by no means rare, there is widespread evidence of considerable inequity in experience and opportunity for those with protected characteristics, of which we would call out race and disability as the most starkly disadvantaged. “The only way to tackle this effectively is to mainstream it as the responsibility of all, to demand from everyone awareness of its realities and to sanction those that don’t meet expectations.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2022 -
News Article
Racial disparity in cancer diagnoses via screening in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Black people are more than a third less likely than white people to be diagnosed with cancer via screening in England, according to the first study of its kind, prompting calls for targeted efforts to improve their levels of uptake. Screening programmes save lives by preventing cancer from occurring or spotting it earlier, when treatment is more likely to be effective. In England, screening for cervical cancer is offered to women aged 25 to 64, breast cancer screening is offered to women aged 50 to 70, and everyone aged 60 to 74 is offered a bowel cancer screening home test kit every two years. The latest research, however, lays bare stark disparities in screening diagnosis rates between different ethnic groups for the first time. The study of more than 240,000 cancer patients over a decade found that 8.61% of patients were diagnosed via screening. Broken down by ethnicity, the figure for white people was 8.27%, almost exactly the same as the national average, but among black people it was 5.11%. The findings suggests that black people are 38% less likely to be diagnosed via screening than white people. Diagnosis via screening in mixed-race patients was much higher at 9.49%, and higher still in Asian patients at 10.09%, almost double the rate for black patients. The results were published in the British Journal of Cancer. Jabeer Butt, the chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, said the findings should prompt urgent action. “Cancer screening saves lives,” he said. “That’s why it is so important that effective outreach and culturally appropriate interventions are prioritised to reduce health inequalities. “We know that awareness of cancer symptoms is lower among minority ethnic groups, particularly black Africans, with higher reported barriers to seeking help. But we also know from previous research on colorectal cancer interventions that speaking to someone who explains the steps of the screening process ahead of time can lead to improvements in screening uptake in minority patients." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 June 2022 -
News ArticleDoctors’ routine dismissal of women’s debilitating health problems as “benign” has contributed to gynaecology waiting lists soaring by 60% to more than half a million patients, a senior health leader has said. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) president, Dr Edward Morris, told the Guardian that waiting lists for conditions such as endometriosis, prolapse and heavy bleeding had increased by a bigger proportion than any other area of medicine in the past two years. Many such conditions are defined as medically benign despite being life-limiting and progressive in some cases. In medicine, “benign” is traditionally used to indicate non-cancerous conditions, but Morris said institutionalised gender bias meant the term was used more widely in gynaecology, resulting in conditions being “normalised” by non-specialists and deprioritised within the NHS. We have to change the language. We have to call it what it is,” said Morris. “These conditions cause huge amounts of suffering to women. Being lumped in a topic called benign gynaecology downplays the importance and suffering.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 June 2022
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News Article
Ukraine refugees not accessing NHS despite need
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Many Ukraine refugees who were receiving regular care before leaving the country say they have not continued it since arriving in the UK, prompting warnings they have not been ‘empowered to seek support’. Data published by the Office for National Statistics earlier this month on the experiences of visa holders entering the UK under the Ukraine Humanitarian Schemes revealed 74 per cent of those surveyed who had been receiving regular treatment before they left Ukraine said this had stopped since arriving in the UK. Meanwhile, 65% of those who were receiving regular prescriptions for medications or drugs while in Ukraine had not accessed these since arriving in the UK. Refugee Council policy and research officer Kama Petruczenko warned refugees “are facing many barriers which are not currently being addressed”. Ms Petruczenko added: “As the ONS data shows, those who need to speak with health professionals are unable to because of the language barrier and it is very likely that many of the respondents who said they did not need medical assistance, are unable to understand how the UK health system works and are not empowered to seek support.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 June 2022 -
News Article
Covid’s effect on mental health not as great as first thought, study suggests
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Covid-19 may not have taken as great a toll on the mental health of most people as earlier research has indicated, a new study suggests. The pandemic resulted in “minimal” changes in mental health symptoms among the general population, according to a review of 137 studies from around the world led by researchers at McGill University in Canada, and published in the British Medical Journal. Brett Thombs, a psychiatry professor at McGill University and senior author, said some of the public narrative around the mental health impacts of Covid-19 were based on “poor-quality studies and anecdotes”, which became “self-fulfilling prophecies”, adding that there was a need for more “rigorous science”. However, some experts disputed this, warning such readings could obscure the impact on individual groups such as children, women and people with low incomes or pre-existing mental health problems. They also said other robust studies had reached different conclusions. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 March 2023 -
News ArticleNearly three-quarters of children detained under the mental health act are girls, a new report has found, amid warnings youngsters face a “postcode lottery” in their wait for treatment. Average waiting times between children being referred to mental health services and starting treatment have increased for the first time since 2017 with the children’s commissioner describing support across the country as “patchy”. In the annual report on children’s mental health services, the watchdog warned that, although the average wait is 40 days, some children are waiting as long as 80 days for treatment after being referred in 2021-22. The analysis, published on International Women’s day, also says young girls represented the highest proportion of children detained under the mental health act last year, highlighting “stark and worrying” gender inequalities. Read full story Source: The Independent, 7 March 2023 Further reading on the hub: Top picks: Women's health inequity
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News Article
Los Angeles hospital under investigation accused of ignoring Black woman’s pain
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
April Valentine planned to have a complication-free delivery and to enjoy her life as a first-time parent to a healthy baby girl. Instead, California’s department of health and human services is investigating the circumstances of the April's death during childbirth. April, a 31-year-old Black woman, went to Centinela hospital in Inglewood on 9 January and died the next day. Her daughter Aniya was born via an emergency caesarean section. Her family and friends say that staff at the hospital ignored the pregnant woman’s complaints of pain, refused to let her doula be in the hospital room during the birth and neglected Valentine as her child’s father performed CPR on her. “It’s hard to even sleep, to even look at my child after seeing what I saw in that hospital that night,” said Nigha Robertson, Valentine’s boyfriend and Aniya’s father, to the Los Angeles county board of supervisors during its 31 January meeting. “I’m the only one who touched her, I’m the one who did CPR. Nobody touched her, we screamed and begged for help … they just let her lay there and die.” During the 31 January board of supervisors meeting, people who spoke in support of Valentine said that Centinela hospital is known around the community for being one of the “worst hospitals in the county” for Black and Latina mothers and their infants. Since 2000, the maternal mortality rate in the US has risen nearly 60%, with about 700 people dying during pregnancy or within a year of giving birth each year. More than 80% of the deaths are preventable, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The US has the highest maternal mortality rate among industrialized countries and Black women are three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 March 2023 -
News Article
Race and deprivation set back medical trainees, GMC analysis finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
New research shared with HSJ has ‘laid bare’ the inequalities experienced by medical trainees, with black doctors more likely to perform worse in exams than any other ethnic group. The report published by the General Medical Council (GMC) highlights that UK medical graduates of black or black British heritage have the lowest specialty exam pass rate of all ethnic groups at 62%, which is almost 20 percentage points lower than that of white doctors (79%). It is the first time the medical regulator has split this data by ethnicity, it said. The GMC has pledged to “eliminate discrimination, disadvantage and unfairness” in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education by 2031 and the disproportionate number of fitness to practise complaints received about ethnic minority doctors and doctors who gained their medical qualification outside of the UK by 2026. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 2 March 2023 -
News Article
Covid inquiry: Race should be at its core, say campaigners
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Race should be made a central part of the UK's independent public inquiry into the pandemic, campaigners say. A letter seen by BBC News, sent to the chairwoman of the Covid-19 inquiry, calls for it to look at "racism as a key issue" at every stage. Ethnic minorities were significantly more likely to die with Covid-19, according to official figures. An inquiry spokesperson said the unequal impacts of the pandemic would be at the forefront of its work. People from ethnic minority backgrounds who lost loved-ones during the pandemic also told BBC News they felt "sidelined" by the process so far. The letter to Baroness Hallett, who is chairing the inquiry, has been co-ordinated by the group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice and race equality think tank Runnymede. It calls for ethnic minority communities to be "placed firmly at the centre" of the inquiry. Read full story Source: BBC News, 28 February 2023
