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Found 1,565 results
  1. News Article
    A woman who suffered six miscarriages lost her seventh baby after doctors delayed her caesarean section, a report has found. Chyril Hutchinson was admitted to hospital in February 2021 with high blood pressure when she was 37 weeks pregnant with her daughter Ceniyah Cienna Carter, and was told by doctors at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust she would need a caesarean. But the procedure was delayed as a result of staffing pressures and because Ms Hutchinson’s blood pressure stabilised. She was then told she would have to wait another two weeks for it to be carried out. Given her previous miscarriages, Ms Hutchinson said she pleaded for her baby to be delivered earlier, but her concerns were “dismissed” and she was sent home. Days later, a scan revealed that her baby had died. A trust investigation into Ms Hutchinson’s care found that staff had failed to properly monitor the growth of her baby, which could have indicated the need for an earlier delivery. The internal report, seen by The Independent, also revealed that on the day Ms Hutchinson was told she should have a casaerean, the hospital was six midwives short and the department was busy - a situation the trust said “places additional pressures and possible overload on medical staff”. However, the report concluded that staffing levels did not affect Ms Hutchinson’s care, and it did not state whether the wider failings had led directly to her child being stillborn. Read full story Source: The Independent, 5 June 2022
  2. News Article
    An NHS England investigation into claims of a toxic culture at a hospital trust has been described as lacking transparency and undermining trust. The Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman also said there were "very serious" patient safety issues at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB). Criticism is contained in letters seen by the BBC between the ombudsman, the trust and NHS England. The inquiries, commissioned by the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board and the local NHS, were begun in response to an investigation by BBC Newsnight and BBC West Midlands which heard from current and former clinicians from the trust, who accused it of being "mafia-like". One of England's biggest hospital trusts, UHB has been in the spotlight for months after three probes were started following allegations doctors there were threatened for raising safety concerns. The trust denies this and says its "first priority is patient safety". The ombudsman, however, said he was sceptical about the reviews' transparency and independence. His finding of "very serious" patient safety issues at UHB is based on the trust's response to the ombudsman's recommendations and findings, including a case of an avoidable patient death. Read full story Source; BBC News, 14 March 2023
  3. News Article
    The patient lay slumped next to a pile of pills and a personally signed note reading: 'do not resuscitate me'. His breathing was agonal, his skin mottled, his pupils fixed, no pulse discernible. The attending doctor, in agreement with both paramedics and family member, decided to respect his wishes. Yet, this GP was placed under investigation for gross negligence manslaughter by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for not resuscitating the patient, setting in motion a sequence of investigations, including by the coroner and the General Medical Council (GMC), that were triggered by the statement of one policeman at the scene. All investigations and allegations were eventually dismissed but not until the GP had been through years of significant physical and mental stress. Still today, questions remain unanswered – in particular, concerning the actions of the police and the CPS. Speaking under the condition of anonymity, the GP spoke to Medscape News UK, and said that now, over 7 years after that fateful home visit, she remained resolute that she made the correct clinical decisions at the time. "It has all been very stressful for me. What was behind this case? What was driving this potential prosecution? And throughout, the patient, the family and their concerns were completely forgotten in the pursuit of so-called justice," she pointed out. Read full story Source: Medscape News, 9 March 2023
  4. News Article
    Bereaved families are having to report maternity blunders because watchdogs and hospitals are unable to spot failings, an expert has warned. Bill Kirkup said avoidable deaths were "a badge of shame" but would continue without urgent change. Eight years on from his report into the Morecambe Bay maternity scandal, he said the failure of officials to act had needlessly cost more lives. "I am very disappointed – and surprised – that we're still where we are", he said. "That's a terrible badge of shame for the health service that it takes families to come and tell us what's wrong. "Yet just about every tragedy that I've ever been involved with investigating has come to light when there's a group of families who say 'You've got a problem here'. "People are lying, they're not being open and they're concealing what's happening. "If we can't bring this change, I'm not confident that there won't be another East Kent, Morecambe Bay or Nottingham, somewhere else." Read full story Source: Mail Online, 10 March 2023
  5. News Article
    A review into the culture at Birmingham's biggest hospitals trust amid allegations of bullying and undue pressure on staff has found 'substantial issues' of concern, a brief report has revealed. A short briefing for councillors by NHS Birmingham and Solihull chief executive David Melborne offers the first insight into the findings of Professor Mike Bewick and his review team who were tasked with investigating damning allegations made by current and former staff at University Hospitals Birmingham. More than 50 medics, including some with decades of experience, came forward to criticise a 'toxic' working culture at the trust, many sharing their experiences with MP Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham Edgbaston). Among the most serious claims that emerged were that whistleblowers concerned about patient safety were silenced with threats of disciplinary action. In a written report to Birmingham and Solihull councils' joint health overview and scrutiny committee, meeting Monday, Mr Melborne says the rapid review into the Newsnight allegations and subsequent complaints has found 'no fundamental safety issues at the Trust'. However, he goes on: "That said, there are substantial issues around culture, behaviour, leadership and governance that will need to be addressed". Read full story Source: Birmingham Live, 10 March 2023
  6. News Article
    The government’s response to the East Kent maternity scandal inquiry has been condemned as ‘very disappointing’ by its chair. More than four months on from the inquiry report, ministers this morning issued what they called an “initial response” to it, as a brief written statement to Parliament. It contained few specific proposals, instead saying government was kicking off a series of other reviews, and “working” with various other agencies. Inquiry chair Bill Kirkup, the well-regarded former medic and expert in care failures, told HSJ the response was poor and should have been “wider and deeper”. Dr Kirkup said the response showed government had “not grasped how fundamental” some of the issues outlined in his report were, and “what sort of initiative” was needed to address them. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 March 2023
  7. News Article
    The Covid-19 Inquiry is a public inquiry to examine the UK’s response to the pandemic, as well as its wide-sweeping impact. In the UK, at least 216,726 people have had Covid-19 mentioned on their death certificate since the start of the pandemic. Multiple lockdowns, school closures and furloughs later, a public inquiry aims to gauge what lessons can be learned for the future. Two preliminary hearings have already taken place on 28 February and 1 March. The next one will be on 21 March and will cover Scotland, including strategic issues, political governance, lockdowns and restrictions. The inquiry is chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett, a former Court of Appeal judge. The inquiry has been split into three modules: resilience and preparedness, core UK-decision making; political governance, and the impact of Covid-19 on healthcare systems across the UK. In Spring 2022, the inquiry held a public consultation on its draft terms of reference which allowed people to give their opinions on the topics the inquiry would cover. The public inquiry has come under heavy criticism after it was announced that structural racism will not be explicitly considered. Read full story Source: The Independent, 2 March 2023
  8. News Article
    A misplaced medical tube contributed to the death of the first child in the UK to die after contracting Covid, a coroner has found. Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, 13, of Brixton, south London, died of acute respiratory distress syndrome, caused by Covid-19 pneumonia, on 30 March 2020, three days after testing positive for coronavirus. He had a cardiac arrest before he died. Ismail’s death prompted widespread alarm about the potentially lethal impact of Covid on children. Hours before Ismail died, an endotracheal tube (ET) used to help patients breathe was found to be in the wrong position. A consultant in paediatric intensive care decided to leave it and monitor him. Giving his judgment on Thursday, senior coroner Andrew Harris said: “I am satisfied that he [Ismail] would not have died when he did were it not for the tube misplacement.” On Wednesday, the inquest at London Inner South London coroner’s court heard evidence from Dr Tushar Vince, a consultant in paediatric intensive care at King’s College hospital who treated Ismail on 29 March after he had been intubated. Asked by Harris if it would be reasonable to put the positioning of the ET on the death certificate as one of the causes, Dr Vince said: “I think it would be reasonable to consider it, yes.” She said: “I was so focused on the lungs I just didn’t see how high this tube was and I’m so sorry that I didn’t see it.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 March 2023
  9. News Article
    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
  10. News Article
    A trust chief executive has suggested an inquiry team looking at 2,000 deaths is lacking in “expertise” and has created a “disproportionate impression” of the problems at his trust. Essex Partnership University Trust is at the centre of a high-profile inquiry into the deaths of patients over a 20-year period, which was sparked after serious concerns were raised over specific cases. The inquiry, led by Geraldine Strathdee, a former national clinical director for mental health, is reviewing the cases of 2,000 people who died while they were patients on a mental health ward in Essex or within three months of being discharged. In a letter to the inquiry, obtained by HSJ through a freedom of information request, trust chief executive officer Paul Scott wrote: “The headline number of c.1,500 or c.2,000 deaths used in publicity by the inquiry is, in my opinion, not a fair reflection of the deaths that would be of interest to the inquiry.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 March 2023
  11. News Article
    A mother-of-one died after a breathing tube was put into her food pipe, despite staff raising concerns it was inserted incorrectly, an inquest heard. Emma Currell, 32, had just received dialysis and was heading home to Hatfield, Hertfordshire, in an ambulance when she had a seizure. An anaesthetic team was called to sedate her as her tongue had swelled and she was bleeding from the mouth. Dr Sabu Syed, who was a trainee anaesthetist, told the hearing: "I used suction to remove blood and I was able to push the tongue to the side and got a partial view." She said she believed she inserted the tube into the trachea - the windpipe - and had asked her senior colleague Dr Prasun Mukherjee to check the position of the tube. "Dr Mukherjee was busy doing other tasks," she added. Technician Nicholas Healey said he flagged his concerns when there was no carbon dioxide reading on the ventilator, which was not faulty. He said that both he and Dr Syed had raised concerns about the tube being in the wrong place. The court heard the hospital had drawn up a guideline checklist for trachea procedures since Ms Currell's death and staff were due to have "no trace = wrong place" training on the warning signs of incorrect insertion. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 February 2023
  12. News Article
    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
  13. News Article
    Urgent action is needed to prevent people dying from eating disorders, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman for England has warned, as he said those affected are being “repeatedly failed”. The NHS needs a “complete culture change” in how it approaches the condition, while ministers must make it a “key priority”, according to Rob Behrens. Little progress has been made since the publication of a devastating report by his office in 2017, which highlighted “serious failings” in eating disorder services, he said. Lives continue to be lost because of “the lack of parity between child and adult services”, and “poor coordination” between NHS staff involved in treating patients. There remain issues with the training of medical professionals, Behrens added. “We raised concerns six years ago in our ignoring the alarms report, so it’s extremely disappointing to see the same issues still occurring,” he said. “Small steps in improvements have been taken, but progress has been slow, and we need to see a much bigger shift in the way eating disorder services are delivered." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 February 2023
  14. News Article
    A mental health trust is to be prosecuted after three patients died in its care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is bringing charges against the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Trust. It is thought they relate to the deaths of Christie Harnett, 17, Emily Moore, 18, and a third person. The trust is said to have failed "to provide safe care and treatment" which exposed patients to "significant risk of avoidable harm". Both Christie Harnett and Emily Moore had complex mental health issues and took their own lives. The CQC said the trust "breached" the Health and Social Care Act, which relates to healthcare providers' responsibility to "ensure people receive safe care and treatment". In response, a spokesperson for the trust said: "We have fully cooperated with the Care Quality Commission's investigation and continue to work closely with them. "We remain focused on delivering safe and kind care to our patients and have made significant progress in the last couple of years." Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 February 2023
  15. News Article
    A US government watchdog called for greater federal oversight of ethics boards that sign off on scientific studies, finding that for-profit companies have taken an outsize role in approving certain research and questioning whether financial motivations could put human subjects at risk. Federal regulations require that certain research on human subjects — including those testing the safety of new drugs — first get approval from a registered institutional research board. These boards, which are made up of at least five members and can include researchers and academics, are designed to make sure that a study poses as little risk as possible and that participants have enough information to give consent. While the majority of these boards are affiliated with universities, a small number have no affiliation with institutions conducting research. But according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), these independent boards now account for the largest share of reviews of studies involving new drugs and biologics. The GAO found that federal agencies overseeing the ethics panels inspect relatively few of them and lack ways to evaluate how well they protect people participating in research. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Washington Post, 16 February 2023
  16. News Article
    Three women who died under the care of a hospital's maternity unit may have survived if earlier recommendations had been implemented, a report has said. The cases occurred at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) NHS Foundation Trust over 16 months. A review by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) also found a culture of intimidation and bullying. The report found that although there was no common theme to the deaths - and four other life-threatening cases that occurred in the same period - processes and leadership had been inconsistent and fragmented. HSIB said "robust action planning and prompt addressing of the learning" from previous recommendations from other investigations "may have had an impact on the outcome for the women who received care during the seven events included in this thematic review". Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 February 2023
  17. News Article
    Children's services could be forced to close at a hospital that is accused of leaving young patients traumatised and sick through poor care. The care regulator said it had taken action to "ensure people are safe" on Skylark ward at Kettering General Hospital (KGH) in Northamptonshire. Thirteen parents with serious concerns after their children died or became seriously ill have spoken to the BBC. A BBC Look East investigation has heard allegations spanning more than 20 years about the treatment of patients on Skylark ward, a 26-bed children's unit. The BBC discovered: An independent report found staff left a 12-year-old boy - who died at KGH in December 2019 - for four hours suffering seizures, and suggests little effort was made to obtain critical care support. In April 2019, nurses allegedly dragged a "traumatised" four-year-old girl down a corridor in agony, insisting that she could walk. Medics are accused of refusing to carry out an MRI scan, which would have detected a dangerous cyst on her spine. Mothers claim to have been threatened with safeguarding referrals, with one stating a referral was made against her after she complained her son was struggling to breathe, while another likened it to blackmail. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 February 2023
  18. News Article
    The trust at the centre of a maternity scandal has been ordered to report on urgent improvements in services for women and babies, amid ‘significant concerns’ about the risk of harm. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) used its enforcement powers to issue the conditions on East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, after it carried out an unannounced inspection last month. However, the “section 31” warning letter has just been made public, and the first deadline for the trust to report back to the CQC is Monday (20 February). The CQC said some of the problems it found were due to the labour ward environment – but others involved monitoring of women and babies whose conditions deteriorate and the risk of cross-infection due to poor cleanliness standards. “We have significant concerns about the ongoing wider risk of harm to patients and a need for greater recognition by the trust of the steps that can be taken in the interim to ensure safety and an improved quality of care,” Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC’s deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, said in a statement today. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 17 February 2023
  19. News Article
    A health watchdog has issued an unprecedented warning over patient safety, culture and leadership at a scandal-hit NHS trust,The Independent has learned. The Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman, the government body that investigates patients’ complaints, has used powers for the very first time to raise “serious concerns” about University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust. The body does not have its own powers to intervene but the warning has triggered an investigation by NHS England. Ombudsman Rob Behrens said there needed to be “significant improvements” in culture and leadership at the trust. He also raised concerns that the trust had failed to “fully accept or acknowledge” the impact of findings from investigations on patient safety. The decision to trigger the alert, known as the emerging concerns protocol, was “not taken lightly”, Mr Behrens said. Read full story Source: The Independent, 12 February 2023
  20. News Article
    Two health watchdogs have issued safety warnings after junior staff were left to work unsupervised on maternity wards previously criticised after a baby’s death. Training regulator, Health Education England (HEE), criticised the “unacceptable” behaviour of consultants who left junior doctors to work without any superiors at South Devon and Torbay Hospital Foundation Trust’s wards. The maternity safety watchdog Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) also raised “urgent concerns” over student midwives and “unregistered midwives” providing care without supervision. The latest criticism comes after the trust was condemned over the death of Arabella Sparkes, who lived just 17 days in May 2020 after she was starved of oxygen. According to a report from December 2022, seen by The Independent, the HEE was forced to review how trainees were working at the trust’s maternity department after concerns were raised to the regulator. It was the second visit carried out following concerns about the department, and reviewers found there had been “slow progress” against concerns raised a year earlier. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 February 2023
  21. News Article
    A government review into mental health hospitals will fail to prevent the “appalling” treatment of patients, campaigners have warned. The urgent inquiry into inpatient mental health services will focus solely on data, the government said on Tuesday. The “rapid review”, launched following investigations by The Independent into “systemic abuse” across a group of children’s mental health hospitals, will last 12 weeks and is being led by a former national NHS mental health director Dr Geraldine Strathdee. In an outline of what it will cover, the Department for Health and Social Care said it would look at what data is collected by the NHS on inpatient mental health services and whether it is used effectively to identify patient safety problems. It will also look at the quality of data and identify good examples of care but it won’t look at individual cases of abuse or community services. Major mental health charity Mind has warned the review “is not enough” and will not provide any learnings on how to prevent poor care. The charity is instead calling for a national statutory public inquiry into inpatient mental health services. Read full story Source: The Independent, 15 February 2023
  22. News Article
    A damning report last year from Dr Hilary Cass into the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) found that it was putting children at “considerable risk”. Her full report is due to be published later this year. Whistleblower Dr Anna Hutchinson, a senior clinical psychologist at GIDS, describes when she realised something was very wrong. “I just couldn’t comfortably keep being part of a process that was, I felt, putting children — but also my colleagues — at risk,” Hutchinson explains. Faced with no discernible action from the executive, staff began to look for other ways to raise their concerns, to other people who might listen — and act. Hutchinson approached the Tavistock’s Freedom to Speak Up guardian. At least four other colleagues did the same in 2017. That same year, another four clinicians took their concerns outside GIDS to the children’s safeguarding lead for the Tavistock trust." Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 13 February 2023
  23. News Article
    A Norfolk surgeon who left two patients with life-changing injuries has received a formal warning by a disciplinary panel. Camilo Valero Valdivieso was found guilty of "serious misconduct" by an independent medical panel after two operations went wrong in six days. One of his patients, Paul Tooth, 65, said his life was "a constant struggle" since his operation in January 2020. However, the panel found the surgeon had "learned from these events". The findings from the Medical Practitioners Service (MPTS) panel said that his actions had "risked damaging public confidence in the profession". It heard that he twice "misinterpreted the anatomy" - on one occasion severing a patient's gallbladder. The panel also concluded Mr Valero's fitness to practise was not currently impaired, allowing him to continue working. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 February 2023
  24. 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
  25. News Article
    Nurse Lucy Letby sent a sympathy card to the grieving parents of a baby girl just weeks after she allegedly murdered the infant, a court has heard. She is accused of trying to kill the premature baby, referred to as Child I, three times before succeeding on a fourth attempt on 23 October 2015. She denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others. Manchester Crown Court was shown an image of a condolence card Ms Letby sent to the family of Child I ahead of her funeral on 10 November. The card was titled "your loved one will be remembered with many smiles". Inside, Ms Letby wrote: "There are no words to make this time any easier. "It was a real privilege to care for [Child I] and get to know you as a family - a family who always put [Child I] first and did everything possible for her. "She will always be part of your lives and we will never forget her. "Thinking of you today and always. Lots of love Lucy x." It is alleged that before murdering Child I, Ms Letby attempted to kill the infant on 30 September and during night shifts on 12 and 13 October. The prosecution said she harmed the premature infant by injecting air into her feeding tube and bloodstream before she eventually died in the early hours of 23 October 2015. Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 February 2023
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