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Found 964 results
  1. News Article
    An advanced nurse practitioner working in primary care services at Grimsby Hospital has called on the hospital senior leadership to ‘see for themselves how unsafe it is’. The nurse, who has penned a letter to bosses at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust says they are having “worst experience to date” in their career and fears somebody will die unnecessarily unless something is urgently done. “I have never in my whole career seen patients hanging off trolleys, vomiting down corridors, having ECGs down corridors, patients desperate for the toilet, desperate for a drink. Basic human care is not being given safely or adequately," says the nurse. Hospital bosses say they are taking the letter seriously and are investigating. Earlier this month it was revealed that some hospitals were being forced to deploy ‘corridor nurses’ in a bid to maintain patient safety while dealing with unprecedented demand. Dr Peter Reading, Chief Executive, said: “I can confirm we have received this email and that the hospital and North East Lincolnshire CCG are taking these concerns seriously. The person who raised the concerns with us has been contacted and informed that we are jointly investigating what they have told us. Read full story Source: Nursing Notes, 22 January 2020
  2. News Article
    Heart attack, stroke and burns victims are among the seriously ill and injured patients waiting over an hour for an ambulance to arrive in England and Wales, a BBC investigation shows. The delays for these 999 calls - meant to be reached in 18 minutes on average - put lives at risk, experts say. The problems affect one in 16 "emergency" cases in England - with significant delays reported in Wales. NHS bosses blamed rising demand and delays handing over patients at A&E. Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said patients were being "let down badly at their moment of greatest need" and getting a quick response could be "a matter of life or death". She said the delays were "undoubtedly" related to the sustained underfunding of the NHS. Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 January 2020
  3. News Article
    Dementia patients are being dumped in hospitals in England because of a lack of community care, a charity says. The Alzheimer's Society called for action, highlighting data showing one in 10 dementia patients spends over a month in hospital after being admitted. The figures also suggested the overall number of emergency admissions among people with dementia is rising - with some patients yo-yoing back and forth. Ministers said they were "determined" to tackle the problems. Central to this, the government said, would be plans for reforming the social care system, which encompasses care home places and support in people's homes. Alzheimer's Society Chief Executive Jeremy Hughes said people were falling through the "cracks of our broken social care system". "People with dementia are all too often being dumped in hospital and left there. Many are only admitted because there's no social care support to keep them safe at home. They are commonly spending more than twice as long in hospital as needed, confused and scared." Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 January 2020
  4. News Article
    Almost half of hospitals have a shortage of specialist stroke consultants, new figures suggest. One charity fears "thousands of lives" will be put at risk unless action is taken, with others facing the threat of a lifelong disability. In 2016, Alison Brown had what is believed to have been at least one minor stroke, but non-specialist doctors at different hospitals repeatedly told her she did not have a serious health condition. One even described it as an ear infection. Ten months later, aged 34, she had a bilateral artery dissection - a common cause of stroke in young people, where a tear in a blood vessel causes a clot that impedes blood supply to the brain. She was admitted to hospital - but again struggled for a diagnosis. A junior doctor found an issue with blood flow to the brain but she says their comments were dismissed and she was told it was a migraine. It was only when she collapsed again, days later, and admitted herself to a hospital with a dedicated stroke ward that a specialist team was able to give her the care she needed. Alison's case highlights the importance of being seen by stroke specialists. However, according to new figures from King's College London's 2018-19 Snapp (Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme) report, 48% of hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have had at least one stroke consultant vacancy for the past 12 months or more. This has risen from 40% in 2016 and 26% in 2014. The Stroke Association charity - which analysed the data - says the UK is "hurtling its way to a major stroke crisis" unless the issue is addressed. Read full story Source: BBC News, 17 January 2020
  5. News Article
    A major NHS hospital is under such pressure that it has decided to discharge people early even though it admits that patients may be harmed and doctors think the policy is unwise. The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS trust has told staff to help it reduce the severe overcrowding it has been facing in recent weeks by discharging patients despite the risks involved. In a memo sent on 8 January, three trust bosses said the Royal Cornwall hospital in Truro, which is also known as Treliske hospital and has the county’s only A&E department, “has been under significant pressure for the last two weeks and it is vital that we are able to see and admit our acutely unwell patients through our emergency department and on to our wards”. The memo added: “One of these mitigations was to look at the level of risk that clinicians are taking when discharging patients from Treliske hospital either to home or to community services, recognising that this may be earlier than some clinicians would like and may cause a level of concern. “It was agreed, however, that this would be a proportionate risk that we as a health community were prepared to take on the understanding that there is a possibility that some of these patients will be readmitted or possibly come to harm.” Read full story Source: 14 January 2020
  6. News Article
    Plans to scrap the four-hour A&E target have sparked a furious backlash from doctors and nurses, with some claiming it is driven by ministers’ desire to avoid negative publicity about patients facing increasingly long delays. A&E consultants led a chorus of medical opposition to the move. They pointedly urged NHS leaders and ministers to concentrate on delivering the long-established maximum waiting time for emergency care rather than finding “ways around” it. Under the target, 95% of people arriving at A&E in England are meant to be treated and then discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours. But performance against the target plunged to a new record low of just 68.6% last month in hospital-based A&E units as a result of staffing problems, the decade-long squeeze on the NHS budget and the dramatic growth in the number of patients seeking care. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), which represents A&E doctors, was responding to Wednesday’s apparent confirmation by the health secretary, Matt Hancock, that the target is set to be axed because it is no longer deemed to be “clinically appropriate”. “So far we’ve seen nothing to indicate that a viable replacement for the four-hour target exists and believe that testing [of alternatives to the target] should soon draw to a close,” said Dr Katherine Henderson, the President of the RCEM. “Rather than focus on ways around the target, we need to get back to the business of delivering on it.” The Emergency Care Association, to which 8,000 A&E nurses belong, said ministers should exercise “extreme caution” in decisions about the target because “it could cause significant detriment to patient safety within our emergency departments if the four-hour target was abolished”. There are fears that patients thought to have only minor ailments could come to harm by having to wait a lot longer than four hours because they also have a more serious condition. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 15 January 2020
  7. News Article
    Hospitals are having to redeploy nurses from wards to look after queues of patients in corridors, in a growing trend that has raised concerns about patient safety. Many hospitals have become so overcrowded that they are being forced to tell nurses to spend part of their shift working as “corridor nurses” to look after patients who are waiting for a bed. The disclosure of the rise in corridor nurses comes days after the NHS in England posted its worst-ever performance figures against the four-hour target for A&E care. They showed that last month almost 100,000 patients waited at least four hours and sometimes up to 12 or more on a trolley while hospital staff found them a bed on the ward appropriate for their condition. “Corridor nursing is happening across the NHS in England and certainly in scores of hospitals. It’s very worrying to see this,” said Dave Smith, the Chair of the Royal College of Nursing’s Emergency Care Association, which represents nurses in A&E units across the UK. "Having to provide care to patients in corridors and on trolleys in overcrowded emergency departments is not just undignified for patients, it’s also often unsafe.” A nurse in south-west England told the Guardian newspaper how nurses feared the redeployments were leaving specialist wards too short of staff, and patients without pain relief and other medication. Some wards were “dangerously understaffed” as a result, she claimed. She said: “Many nurses, including myself, dread going into work in case we’re pulled from our own patients to then care for a number of people in the queue, which is clearly unsafe. We’re being asked to choose between the safety of our patients on the wards and those in the queue." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 January 2020
  8. News Article
    Family doctors are under intense pressure and general practice is running on empty, warns the Royal College of GPs (RCGP). It says severe staff shortages are causing "unacceptable" delays for patients in England. In a letter to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, its chairman says ministers must take urgent action to deal with the lack of GPs. The government said it had recruited a "record number" of GP trainees. Ministers are committed to recruiting 6,000 more GPs in England by 2025. Prof Martin Marshall, who took over as RCGP chairman in November, says GPs are struggling with an escalating workload, which is causing many to burn out and leave the profession. Dr Andrew Dharman, who works at the The Avenue surgery in Ealing, said the stress has got worse because of the enormous workload placed on GPs. He said: "Sometimes it feels like you're drowning. You know you're trying to stay afloat and on top of all the workload. And you're trying to make sure you're providing the kind of care that you envisage when you go to medical school." "You feel frustrated sometimes that you can't necessarily do that because of the amount of work and patients." Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 January 2020
  9. News Article
    A health board has cancelled planned operations at four of its hospitals "in the interest of patient safety". Hywel Dda University Health Board made the decision after "an extraordinary weekend" of "critical pressures". On Monday, inpatient operations were cancelled at Bronglais, Glangwili, Prince Philip and Withybush hospitals in mid and west Wales. The health board said it had contacted the patients affected and outpatient appointments continued as normal. No decisions have been taken yet to cancel more non-emergency operations on Tuesday, it added. Dr Philip Kloer, the health board's medical director, said the weekend saw hospitals "at a level of escalation not seen before". "It is in the interest of patient safety that we have postponed planned operations today," he added. Plaid Cymru's shadow minister for health, Helen Mary Jones, said the decision to cancel operations was "deeply concerning". She said that patients in Wales "deserve so much better". Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 January 2020
  10. News Article
    Cancer patients are being pushed to “breaking point” because of a lack of support from overstretched nurses and carers, a leading charity has warned. Almost half of specialist cancer nurses have told the Macmillan Cancer Support charity that their high workload was having a negative impact on patient care, while one in five people diagnosed with the disease say the staff responsible for their care have unmanageable demands. Now the charity says this is affecting patients, with thousands calling its specialist support helpline in distress and worried because they feel they can’t get answers from their health workers. Read full story Source: The Independent, 31 December 2019
  11. News Article
    Hospital wards across the country are having to look after an unsafe number of patients, with hundreds of beds closed due to an outbreak of norovirus. NHS England has said that on average almost 900 beds were closed each day during the week to Sunday 15 December. Hospitals have reported fewer empty beds with bed-occupancy rates reaching as high as 95 per cent, 10 per cent higher than the recommended safe level. Read full story Source: The Independent, 20 December 2019
  12. News Article
    Patients are more likely to die on wards staffed by a high number of temporary nurses, a study has found. Researchers say the findings, published in the Journal of Nursing Scholarship, are a warning sign that the common practice by many hospitals of relying on agency nurses is not a risk-free option for patients. The University of Southampton study found that risk of death increased by 12 per cent for every day a patient experienced a high level of temporary staffing – defined as 1.5 hours of agency nursing a day per patient. For an average ward, this increased risk could apply when between a third and a half of the staff on each shift are temporary staff, according to Professor Peter Griffiths, one of the study’s authors. He told The Independent: “We know that patients are put at risk of harm when nurse staffing is lower than it should be. “One of the responses to that is to fill the gaps with temporary nursing staff, and that is an absolutely understandable thing to do, but when using a higher number of temporary staff there is an increased risk of harm. “It is not a solution to the problem.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 December 2019
  13. News Article
    A hospital in Greater Manchester has declared a "black alert" due to "heightened pressure," the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust has said. The Royal Bolton Hospital triggered the alert on Monday, which is the highest level of escalation in the NHS for measuring demand against capacity. NHS chief Rae Wheatcroft said patient safety remained a "top priority". "We have been busier than we would have expected across the hospital," the deputy chief operating officer added. "We are working hard to ensure that everyone who needs a bed is admitted and treated as quickly as possible." Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 December 2019
  14. News Article
    Half of the unexpected deaths in Belgian hospitals are due to a shortage of nurses, according to a study by the University of Antwerp. Researchers from the University of Antwerp show the link between the number of nurses in hospitals and the death of the patients they care for, based on data from 34,567 patients’ medical records in four Flemish, one Walloon and two Brussels hospitals. The records showed that, on average, three out of every thousand patients in the hospital died ‘unexpectedly’. A death is considered as unexpected when a patient suddenly dies during active treatment, with no care plan for the end of their life having been started. “We know from previous research that part of these unexpected deaths can be avoided, which is always heartbreaking for the family as well as the staff,” said Filip Haegdorens, a researcher at the university. “As a sector, we must do everything we can to prevent this,” he added. The average nurse in Belgium is responsible for 9.7 patients at a time. For 89% of all departments, the number of nurses per hospital department was too low to be able to ensure good quality care. “Compared to, for example, Australian hospitals, where legal minimums exist, our Belgian figures could be improved,” said Haegdorens. The study also shows a link between the training level of nurses and the number of unexpected deaths in the hospital. “In some hospital services, we found that more nurses with a high level of education would reduce the risk of unexpected deaths,” Haegdorens added. Read research paper Read full story Source: The Brussels Times, 4 December 2019
  15. News Article
    The first publication of data from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s 2019-20 Winter Flow Project shows that existing data does not reflect the true scale of the problem of 12 hour stays in A&E. RCEM data shows that in the first week of December over 5,000 patients waited for longer than 12 hours in the Emergency Departments of 50 Trusts and Boards across the UK. The sample of trusts and boards from across the UK is the equivalent to a third of the acute bed base in England. From the beginning of October 2019 over 38,000 patients have waited longer than 12 hours for a bed at the sampled sites across the UK – yet data from NHS England reports that in England alone a total of only 13,025 patients experienced waits over 12 hours since 2011-12. President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Katherine Henderson said: “In a nine-week period, at only a third of trusts across the UK, we’ve seen nearly three times the number of 12 hour waits than has been officially reported in eight years in England. This must be fixed." Read full story Source: Royal College of Emergency Medicine, 9 December 2019
  16. News Article
    Maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust were 50 midwives short of what was safe, hospital inspectors have said. A new report by the Care Quality Commission, published today, revealed the trust, which is at the centre of the largest maternity scandal in the history of the NHS, had a 26% vacancy of midwives in April this year. An independent investigation has been examining poor maternity care at the hospital since 2017 and the trust was put into special measures and rated inadequate by the CQC in 2018. Read full story Source: The Independent, 6 December 2019
  17. News Article
    A “critical” shortage of lung specialists may leave the NHS struggling to cope with a spike in hospital admissions related to complications of pneumonia and flu this winter, the British Thoracic Society (BTS) has warned. At its winter meeting this week (taking place 4-6 December), the society presented results from a survey it conducted of almost 250 UK NHS respiratory specialists. Some 83% of respondents (199) thought respiratory healthcare staff shortages would impair the ability of the NHS to cope with the increase in lung disease hospital admissions this winter. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 4 December 2019
  18. News Article
    Industrial action by healthcare workers is intensifying as Northern Ireland's nurses take part in 24 hours of action. Health workers are staging industrial action in protest at pay and staffing levels which they claim are "unsafe". In an unprecedented joint statement, the five health trusts said the action was likely to result in "a significant risk to patient safety". Last week, the Royal College of Surgeons warned NI's healthcare system was "at the point of collapse". On Tuesday, members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) are refusing to do any work that is not directly related to patient care. Full details and advice on current health care services can be found on the Health and Social Care Board website. Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 December 2019
  19. News Article
    Georgina Day works as an A&E nurse in a London hospital. Every shift, her team of just over 20 starts four nurses short because there are posts it cannot fill. "It can be worse - if people are sick or agency staff don't turn up. It makes providing good patient care difficult." She says the demands are huge - her department sees more than 400 patients a day. But the shortages mean patients face delays or have to be given care, such as intravenous antibiotics, in corridors instead of in cubicles. She says that can make patients angry, recounting the experience of one father shouting at her and saying she didn't care about his sick son. "I care massively," she says. "When patients are angry it makes me really sad. I want more for them." Georgina's experience is not unique. A survey by the Royal College of Nursing found six in 10 nurses felt they could not provide the level of care they wanted to. Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 December 2019
  20. News Article
    Patients are facing a week of disruption, with more than 10,000 outpatient appointments and surgeries cancelled in Belfast. Some people referred by their GPs on suspicion of cancer could have their diagnosis delayed, the head of the Belfast Trust has said. The trust apologised, blaming industrial action on pay and staffing. Martin Dillon said outpatient cancellations "could potentially lead to a delay in treatment" for cancer. The Department of Health said the serious disruption to services was "extremely distressing". Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 Decmeber 2019
  21. News Article
    The NHS is relying on less qualified staff to plug workforce gaps because of a huge shortage of nurses, according to a new report. Support staff, such as healthcare assistants and nursing associates, have been used to shore up staffing numbers, said the Health Foundation charity. The NHS has relied upon overseas recruitment, but a lack of EU nurses because of Brexit means it is now taking more nurses from countries such as India and the Philippines. At present, there are almost 44,000 nursing vacancies across the NHS (12% of the nursing workforce), but this could hit 100,000 in a decade, the report said. The report said most changes to the skill mix – meaning the ratio of fully qualified to less qualified staff – are implemented well and led by evidence, but added: “It is important that quality and safety are at the forefront of any skill mix change.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 November 2019
  22. News Article
    Hospitals are so short of doctors and nurses that patients’ safety and quality of care are under threat, senior NHS leaders have warned in a dramatic intervention in the general election campaign Nine out of 10 hospital bosses in England fear understaffing across the service has become so severe that patients’ health could be damaged. In addition, almost six in 10 (58%) believe this winter will be the toughest yet for the service. The 131 chief executives, chairs and directors of NHS trusts in England expressed their serious concern about the deteriorating state of the service in a survey conducted by the NHS Confederation. The findings came days after the latest official figures showed that hospitals’ performance against key waiting times for A&E care, cancer treatment and planned operations had fallen to its worst ever level. However, many service chiefs told the confederation that delays will get even longer when the cold weather creates extra demand for care. “There is real concern among NHS leaders as winter approaches and this year looks particularly challenging,” said Niall Dickson, the chief executive of the confederation, which represents most NHS bodies, including hospital trusts, in England." “Health leaders are deeply concerned about its ability to cope with demand, despite frontline staff treating more patients than ever." Read full story Source: 19 November 2019
  23. Content Article
    Recently the Financial Times health and data reports produced an incisive piece showing the world what is all too readily apparent to people in the NHS: bed capacity has been stretched to breaking point. The report said this “calls into question [the NHS’s] ability to meet a commitment to increase non-urgent hospital treatment by 30 per cent above pre-pandemic levels over the next three years”. It also demonstrates the dangerous congestion that is causing ambulances to stack up outside emergency departments and medically fit patients to languish in vital beds past their due time for discharge. This congestion is causing dangerous delays, leading to a rising number of serious incidents in ambulances queuing to get to the front door of the ED. There is doubtless much that can be done inside hospitals to improve efficiency, alleviate bottlenecks and improve patient flow.
  24. Content Article
    A large proportion of avoidable harm and adverse events occur in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable (FCV) settings. This article in the BMJ Open outlines the online Delphi study approach that will be taken to generate a consensus on the most relevant patient safety interventions for FCV settings. The results of this study will create a list of the most relevant patient safety interventions, based on the consensus reached among a range of experts including frontline clinicians and administrators, non-governmental organisations, policymakers and researchers. The study aims to increase awareness of the issues in this area, and identify priority interventions as well as areas for further evaluation and research.
  25. Content Article
    This analysis in the Financial Times highlights that in early April 2022, the number of vacant NHS hospital beds in England was 5.4%, the lowest figure since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The joint pressures of dealing with the backlog of elective care and ongoing high rates of Covid-19 infections are leaving the health service dangerously close to capacity. The authors highlight that this is likely to cause longer waits in accident and emergency and the potential for patients to be sent to wards that cannot effectively cater for their needs.
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