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Found 124 results
  1. News Article
    Thousands of pests including rats, cockroaches and bedbugs have been found at NHS hospitals in England as the health service buckles under a record high repair bill. Hospital bosses are having to spend millions of pounds on pest control after discovering lice, flies and rodents in children’s wards, breast clinics, maternity units, A&E departments and kitchens, in the most graphic illustration yet of the dismal and dangerous state of the NHS estate. NHS bosses have repeatedly warned ministers of the urgent need to plough cash into fixing rundown buildings in order to protect the safety and dignity of patients and staff. The maintenance backlog now stands at £11.6bn in England. Figures obtained under freedom of information laws and reviewed by the Guardian suggest the NHS is struggling to cope with an army of pests plaguing decrepit hospitals. There were more than 18,000 pest incidents in the last three years, the NHS data reveals. There were 6,666 last year, equivalent to 18 a day. The figures also show NHS bosses are having to spend millions of pounds calling out pest control and dealing with infestations, with £3.7m spent in the last three years. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 April 2024
  2. News Article
    Eight hospitals in England have fire safety warnings attached to them, with half in place since 2022 or earlier, HSJ can reveal. All are enforcement notices issued by fire brigades when serious risks are not being managed. Issues raised include risk assessments, maintenance, and emergency routes. There were more than 1,300 fires across the NHS trust estate in 2022-23, according to official estates data, which was an increase of 18% on the year before. NHS Providers deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said the figures highlighted the “urgent need” to address maintenance backlog – which includes fire safety – across the NHS estate. The overall backlog figure has been growing yearly and is approaching £12bn. Ms Cordery said: “Greater capital investment is essential to enabling a safe environment for patients and staff.” Rory Deighton from NHS Confederation said more than a decade of underinvestment was behind the “dilapidated” state of the NHS estate. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 5 April 2024
  3. News Article
    There was an “unacceptable delay” and “failure to act with candour” in how a trust responded to a serious risk from staff nitrous oxide exposure, an independent investigation has found. Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust found levels of nitrous oxide far above the workplace exposure limit at Basildon Hospital’s maternity unit during routine testing in 2021. However, staff were only notified and a serious incident declared more than a year later. The exposure related to a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen, commonly known as gas and air, used during births. While short-term exposure is considered safe, prolonged exposure to nitrous oxide could lead to potential health issues. Chief executive Matthew Hopkins has apologised, after a report by the Good Governance Institute said: “The inquiry found that there was an unacceptable delay in responding to and mitigating a serious risk that had been reported… As a result of this failure to act on a known risk, midwives and staff members on the maternity unit were exposed to unnecessary risk or potential harm from July 6 2021 to October 2022." Read full story (paywalled) HSJ, 14 February 2024
  4. Content Article
    An otherwise healthy patient is taken to the operating room for the removal of a neck mole under monitored sedation. After the patient is given two litres of oxygen through nasal cannula and administered intravenous sedation, an alcohol-based skin preparation is applied to the surgical field. As the surgeon uses electrocautery to coagulate bleeding, a flash occurs, and the surgical drapes ignite. After extinguishing the fire by pouring water on the surgical field, assessment of the patient reveals second-degree burns on the patient’s face. Oxygen from the nasal canula had accelerated the fire and caused the nasal cannula to melt and adhere to the patient’s face. The patient was transferred to the burn unit for care, and ultimately required reconstructive plastic surgery. This case illustrates one type of injury that can be sustained during a surgical fire.  The Joint Commission issues this alert to help healthcare organizations recommit to surgical fire prevention.
  5. Content Article
    The helicopter, G-MCGY, was engaged on a Search and Rescue mission to extract a casualty near Tintagel, Cornwall and fly them to hospital for emergency treatment. The helicopter flew to Derriford Hospital (DH), Plymouth which has a Helicopter Landing Site (HLS) located in a secured area within one of its public car parks. During the approach and landing, several members of the public in the car park were subjected to high levels of downwash from the landing helicopter. One person suffered fatal injuries, and another was seriously injured. The investigation carried out by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch identified the following causal factors: The persons that suffered fatal and serious injuries were blown over by high levels of downwash from a landing helicopter when in publicly accessible locations near the DH HLS. Whilst helicopters were landing or taking off, uninvolved persons were not prevented from being present in the area around the DH HLS that was subject to high levels of downwash. Helicopters used for Search and Rescue and Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) perform a vital role in the UK and, although the operators of these are regulated by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, the many helicopter landing sites provided by hospitals are not. It is essential that the risks associated with helicopter operations into areas accessible by members of the public are fully understood by the HLS Site Keepers, and that effective communication between all the stakeholders involved is established and maintained. Therefore, nine Safety Recommendations have been made to address these issues.  
  6. Content Article
    Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust share their patient safety newsletters with the hub.
  7. Content Article
    Theatres are a high risk area. This poster from the Association for Perioperative Practice and BD illustrates how to plan and practise to manage a surgical fire. Download a pdf of the poster from the attachment below.
  8. Content Article
    Shift work can introduce additional health, safety and wellbeing challenges. This article explore some of these challenges, including the increased risk of injury or illness, sleep and fatigue problems, psychological health, and suggest ways you can ensure safe and healthy shift work.
  9. News Article
    Trusts have been told to check the safety of their helipads after an accident in a hospital car park left a pensioner dead. Jean Langan, 87, was blown over by the “downwash” of air from a helicopter at Derriford Hospital last year. She was walking through a car park at the hospital after an appointment when she fell and hit her head as an HM Coastguard helicopter landed on the hospital’s helipad. Another elderly woman broke her pelvis. Now the Health and Safety Executive has written to trust chief executives reminding them of their duty to manage health and safety risks around helipads. These risks include downwash from helicopters, the moving parts of helicopters, and the design and location of helipads. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 2 August 2023
  10. Content Article
    This resource from the Royal College of Nursing encourages health and social care managers to ensure that nursing staff are taking their at-work breaks, are well hydrated and have access to nutritional food. It outlines the case for making improvements and the legal responsibilities of employing organisations, and provides tips and case studies to support the implementation of improvements. The document is supported by a short guide for nursing staff and posters to encourage nursing staff to self-care and take steps to rest, rehydrate and refuel.
  11. Content Article
    This blog from Matthew Bacon, CEO of TCC-CASEMIX Ltd, looks at why a multi-factorial dataset is needed to create holistic understanding of medical device performance and is the only effective means for determining the multi-factorial causes of failure.
  12. Content Article
    As reported recently, the Scottish Healthcare Workers Coalition called upon the Scottish Government to reinstate 'universal masking' in health and social care settings.  In this statement written in support of their campaign, an occupational safety and health practitioner, David Osborn, explains the legal requirements for risk assessments that the Government ought to have undertaken before reaching such a decision that exposes healthcare staff to the life-changing consequences associated with repeat Covid-19 infections.  He also explains the legal duty of the Government to consult with workers before implementing changes that may affect their health and safety. Neither duty (risk assessment nor prior consultation with workers) appears to have been well met, putting the Scottish Government and Health Boards in breach of UK-wide health and safety law. 
  13. Event
    This session will focus on blood and bodily fluids exposure, including sharps injuries as well as their risk factors and prevention strategies. This webinar will present the 2020 RCN study and the 2022 UK NHS Trust study of sharps injury (SI) among UK HCW and, by comparing these results with other countries, question whether UK 2013 Sharps Regulations went far enough, and whether increased emphasis may be required on reporting, recording and implementation of effective prevention strategies. Learning outcomes: Define sharps injuries (SI); the four steps in sharps usage that place staff at risk; and the top two staff groups at risk of SI. Discuss the incidence of SI in the UK and UK HCW staff groups compared with international incidences. Appraise whether facility’s reporting and recording of SI enables benchmarking of the efficacy of their preventive strategies. Define three prevention strategies proven to reduce SI. Register
  14. Content Article
    I guess that a common feature linking most visitors to Patient Safety Learning is that they have a profound interest in two things. First, recognising and applauding innovations and ‘best practice’ in healthcare. Second, recognising, exposing and denouncing bad practice. The thing they have in common is the desire to learn from the mistakes in the past to do better in the future. When it comes to ‘bad practice’ in healthcare it is usually in connection with some adverse and damaging impact on patients. Our thoughts turn perhaps to certain medical failures, such as the ‘Mid‑Staffs scandal’. Seldom do we find the need to consider the adverse and damaging impacts on the doctors, nurses and all the other staff who work in the health and social care sector. However, those of you who watched the recent BBC Panorama programme, 'Forgotten heroes of the Covid frontline' will have been appalled at the scandal that now confronts so many frontline staff for whom we stood outside our front doors and clapped for so enthusiastically back in those dark days at the height of the pandemic. This blog is dedicated to those 'forgotten heroes'. I hope that it demonstrates that they are not, in fact, forgotten I hope that the resources linked to this blog may be of help to them.
  15. News Article
    NHS leaders and ministers face allegations of a “cover up”, as Byline Times reveals that almost two-thirds of NHS employers did not make a single, legally-required report of Covid being caught by staff working during the first 18 months of the pandemic. And four-fifths (82%) of NHS employers have not reported a single death of a worker from Covid caught while working in those first two waves. The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences (RIDDOR) rules mean that employers have a legal duty to report certain serious workplace accidents and occupational diseases – including Covid. The lack of acceptance of responsibility from NHS employers has left some families in limbo – and angry at what they consider to be deliberate “denial” of the experiences of those who died serving the public. David Osborn, a health and safety consultant and member of the Covid-19 Airborne Transmission Alliance (CATA), co-wrote the research. He said: “One wonders how many bereaved families who have been denied this payment did not have the benefit of [these reports] to support their case.” Osborn wrote to Sarah Albon, Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Executive, to raise his concerns after speaking with family members of NHS workers who had died of Covid, saying the reports of zero NHS worker deaths from Covid caught in the workplace are “difficult, nigh impossible, to believe.” Read full story Source: Byline Times, 6 April 2023
  16. Event
    Energy-based devices, lasers and diathermy are some of the most commonly used pieces of equipment in operating theatres today. Dangerous emissions can be produced that affect the respiratory systems of everyone in the operating theatre. This study day will look at the occupational hazards of exposure to surgical plume in the operating theatre, as well as the associated risks to the surgical team, patients and visitors. It will also highlight how to assess risk and mitigate against the dangers of surgical plume and how to implement changes. Topics Include: Electrosurgery/diathermy/laser. Anaesthetic airway fires. Laparoscopic surgery aerosolisation. Health and Safety and risk assessment. Surgical plume. Register
  17. News Article
    UK ministers should act to ensure Long Covid sufferers receive the support they need from employers, with as many as two-thirds claiming they have been unfairly treated at work, a report argues. The report, from the TUC and the charity Long Covid Support, warns that failing to accommodate the 2m people who, according to ONS data, may be suffering from long Covid in the UK will create, “new, long-lasting inequalities”. The analysis is based on responses from more than 3,000 long Covid sufferers who agreed to share their experiences. Two-thirds said they had experienced some form of unfair treatment at work, ranging from harassment to being disbelieved about their symptoms or threatened with disciplinary action. One in seven said they had lost their job. The report makes a series of recommendations, including urging the government to designate Long Covid as a disability for the purposes of the 2010 Equality Act, to make clear sufferers are entitled to “reasonable adjustments” at work; and to classify Covid-19 as an occupational disease to allow people who contracted it through their job to seek compensation. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 March 2023
  18. Content Article
    The Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact heavily on all our lives and one of the long-lasting, but unanticipated, impacts is the emergence of Long Covid. Whilst many people infected by Covid-19 may fully recover, significant numbers will experience varied, ongoing and debilitating symptoms that last weeks, months or years following the initial infection. This prolonged condition has been given the umbrella term Long Covid. Recognition of Long Covid was accelerated by people-led advocacy groups such Long Covid Support. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported that, as of 1 August 2021, 970,000 people in the UK were experiencing self-reported Long Covid. The most recent data from 2 January 2023, shows that this has increased to 2 million people This report summarises the findings of a self-selecting survey of 3,097 people with Long Covid in September and October 2022 on their experiences of work.
  19. Content Article
    In a series of blogs for the hub, we will be highlighting the impact fatigue has on staff and patients. In their first blog, Emma Plunkett and Nancy Redfern, part of the Joint Working Group on Fatigue, shared how they became involved in investigating night shift fatigue, setting up the Joint Working Group on Fatigue and the aims of the #FightFatigue campaign. In this second blog, Emma and Nancy are joined by Roopa McCrossan to highlight how tiredness can impact on our performance, the patient and staff implications of fatigue, and the actions that need to be taken not only at an organisational level to improve culture, but the effort required at national level too.
  20. Content Article
    Every year more than 12.7 million healthcare and veterinary workers in the European Union are potentially exposed to hazardous medicinal products (HMPs) which are carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR). HMPs are used mainly in cancer treatment, but also as antivirals, vaccines and immuno-suppressants, for treating such diseases as multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and systemic lupus erythematosus (an auto-immune disease) and in organ transplant. Studies show that hospital workers who handle these HMPs are three times more likely to develop malignancy and that nurses exposed are twice as likely to miscarry. Increased genetic damage has been demonstrated particularly among day-hospital nurses, who handle HMPs most during their administration. In an article for Social Europe, Ian Lindsley, Tony Musu and Adam Rogalewski examine the revised directive and new guidelines on hazardous medicinal products and discusses why awareness still needs to be raised to protect workers.
  21. News Article
    When Amy Fantis gave birth to her first child two years ago, the labour was rapid, lasting only about four hours, and she was reliant on gas and air. Her second baby is due in just a few days — but the hospital has, like others around Britain, imposed a ban on the popular form of pain relief. Fantis, 36, from Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, is one of many women affected by the decision of several NHS trusts to suspend the use of the gas because of fears that midwives and doctors have been exposed to unsafe levels for prolonged periods. In some hospitals, levels of the nitrous oxide and oxygen mix are more than 50 times higher than the safe workplace exposure limits. In a survey of more than 16,600 women who gave birth last year, the Care Quality Commission found that 76% of respondents used gas and air at some point during labour. Although short-term use of the gas in childbirth is harmless to women and their babies, long-term exposure for midwives and doctors can affect the body’s ability to absorb vitamin B12, damaging nerves and red blood cells and causing anaemia. It is not believed that any NHS staff have become ill as a result of long-term exposure to gas and air. NHS England and the Health and Safety Executive recently warned other hospitals that they need to check the ventilation on maternity wards and ensure staff are kept safe. NHS England is planning to send out new guidance to trusts on the issue after a series of hospitals had to stop using the gas. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 25 February 2023
  22. News Article
    Only half the recommended number of medical staff were on duty at the O2 Brixton Academy on the night of a crush at the south-west London venue. Industry guidelines suggest there should have been medical cover of at least 10 people, including a paramedic and a nurse, but no paramedics or nurses were present. Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, and security guard Gaby Hutchinson, 23, died in hospital following the crowd surge on 15 December 2022 at the concert. The medical provider, Collingwood Services Ltd, said it was "fully confident" its team had "responded speedily, efficiently and with best practice". Two whistleblowers who regularly work for Collingwood Services Ltd at Brixton told BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme that medical cover at the south London gig had been "inadequate". Neither of them was there when the crush happened, but one said he had spoken to colleagues who were. "[They] had two student paramedics, so they're basically unqualified," said one whistleblower. "They have to be supervised by a paramedic, not by anybody of a lower grade. They didn't have appropriate supervision." Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 February 2023
  23. News Article
    Nitrous oxide levels on Watford General Hospital's maternity suite far exceeded legal limits during peak periods, a BBC investigation has found. In February 2022, air monitoring showed levels of almost 5,000 parts per million (ppm) - 50 times what is safe. The hospital's trust said it had since installed machines to remove the gas. It was one of a number of nitrous oxide incidents reported by NHS trusts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Freedom of Information data has shown. The HSE disclosed the details following a request for its notifications under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). There were 11 notifications to the HSE between August 2018 and December 2022 from seven NHS trusts and one private hospital in relation to nitrous oxide - almost all relating to maternity units. Monitoring has led to a string of NHS trusts suspending the use of Entonox - a mixture of nitrous oxide and air used to assist women in labour with pain relief. NHS bosses acknowledge there is "limited research on the occupational exposure to Entonox, and the long-term health risks this may pose", though at least one expert has played down the risk. But staff working in maternity units face uncertainty due to prolonged periods of time spent in affected areas, with particular concerns over Vitamin B deficiency due to exposure. Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 February 2023
  24. Content Article
    This guidance from the Office of Rail and Road outlines how to manage the risk of fatigue that may arise from a working pattern. It defines 'fatigue factors', highlighting that the more a working pattern features these fatigue factors, the greater the likely need to assess, avoid and control potential fatigue risks.
  25. News Article
    East Kent Hospital University Foundation Trust has been criticised for failures in services by the Care Quality Commission, after an unannounced inspection last month, years after major problems began to come to light. The Care Quality Commission has highlighted: Issues with processes for fetal monitoring and escalation at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford. There had been “incidents highlighting fetal heart monitoring” problems in September and October, and the trust’s measures to improve processes were not “embedded and understood by the clinical team”; Slow maternity triage, due to staffing problems, and infection control problems at the William Harvey. The trust is reviewing how issues with infection prevention and control and cleanliness were not identified or escalated; and Fire safety issues at the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother Hospital, in Thanet with problems linked to fire doors and an easily accessible secondary fire escape route. Three years ago issues with reading and acting on fetal monitoring were highlighted at the inquest into baby Harry Richford, whose poor care by the trust led to an independent inquiry into widespread failings in its maternity services, led by Bill Kirkup. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 February 2023
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