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News Article
Struggling trusts’ CEOs must ‘self certify’ to NHS England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Bosses at struggling trusts must sign new commitments to national leaders about how they are approaching the task of clearing their elective and cancer backlogs, under a new protocol drawn up by NHS England. National leaders have written to CEOs and chairs of trusts in NHSE’s bottom two “tiers” for elective and cancer performance, telling them they must fill out a new “board self certification” by 11 November. It requires them to sign that they have carried out a list of 12 separate actions to try to improve. In addition to some fundamental administrative requests, these include increased scrutiny around issues such as theatre productivity, list validation, especially for non-admitted lists, and cancer pathway redesign. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 October 2022 -
News Article
Board to get anti-racism training as CQC orders cultural improvements
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Regulators have told the agency that supplies blood to the NHS to develop a more inclusive culture, after hearing multiple reports of ethnic minority staff being ‘disrespected’ and discriminated against. “Many staff” at NHS Blood and Transplant also expressed fear of reprisal for raising issues and concerns, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said. The CQC carried out a “well-led” inspection of the agency over the summer, after receiving concerns about its culture and the behaviour of some senior leaders. Chief executive Betsy Bassis resigned after the inspection, although the CQC report does not refer to any specific allegations made against her. NHSBT has acknowledged it needs to improve its culture, particularly around diversity and inclusion issues. An internal memo sent to staff last week, seen by HSJ, said executives and board members would receive one-to-one training in “inclusive leadership and understanding racism”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 27 October 2022 -
News ArticleTrust chief executives risk becoming “prisoners” of organisations with poor cultures if they do not “step back and see the bigger picture”, a former chief inspector of hospitals has said. Ted Baker said he was “tired” of people getting angry about cultural problems in the NHS while doing nothing to change it, amid an appeal for “less anger and more thoughtful interventions”. He told HSJ’s Patient Safety Congress greater understanding was needed about what will change culture, and working to do so, rather than “rail against the culture in the way people do all the time”. Professor Baker said: “One of my real concerns is that we often end up criticising individuals in organisations because they, if you like, embody the ‘wrong’ culture. “But many individuals are often prisoners of the culture themselves, but we don’t see that. “You put a chief executive into an organisation with a poor culture, if they don’t have the wisdom and the vision to step back and see the bigger picture, they could become trapped in the culture themselves.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 24 October 2022
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News ArticleA patient flow model which involves moving A&E patients to wards “irrespective” of whether there are beds available, is under review for wider rollout by NHS England and is being endorsed by senior clinicians, despite safety fears, HSJ has learned. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has said it would be “unethical” for leaders not to at least consider implementing some form of “continuous flow” model for emergency patients. The approach has been been trialled recently by North Bristol Trust and at several London trusts. HSJ understands NHS England is considering the wider implementation of the continuous flow model, although no final decision has yet been made. The calls come despite patient safety concerns about the model being raised by the Nuffield Trust think tank, who said the evidence for the model is “poor” and could spread risk to other parts of the hospital. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 October 2022
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News Article
Further cuts will kill off NHS dental services, chancellor told
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Jeremy Hunt has been told that any cuts to the health budget will in effect “kill” dental services across the UK and deny millions of patients access to a dentist on the NHS. The chancellor has told members of the cabinet that “everything is on the table” as he seeks to find tens of billions of pounds in savings after ditching the economic plan of Liz Truss, who said on Thursday she was standing down as prime minister. Health is one key area expected to be hit. But in an email to Hunt seen by the Guardian, the head of the British Dental Association (BDA) said in plain terms that because NHS dentistry had already “faced cuts with no parallel anywhere in the health service” over the last decade, any further reduction in funding could trigger its collapse. “In blunt terms, NHS dentistry is approaching the end of the road,” Martin Woodrow, the BDA chief executive, wrote in the memo. “There is simply no more fat to trim, short of denying access to an even greater proportion of the population.” In the memo to Hunt, Woodrow wrote: “Recent NHS England board papers confirm officials are euphemistically ‘taking steps to maximise access from existing resources’. We know what that means. Yes, we recognise the unparalleled pressures on public spending. Equally, we cannot escape the hard fact that a service millions depend on materially lacks the resources to underpin any rebuild. “You have also spoken of the need for all departments to seek ‘efficiency savings’. Since the financial crash, NHS dentistry has faced cuts with no parallel anywhere in the health service, going into the pandemic with lower government contributions – in cash terms – than it saw a decade ago. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 October 2022 -
News Article
NHSE’s ‘institutionalised’ firing of CEOs contributed to ‘major service failure’
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
An “institutionalised” and “counterproductive” system of hiring and firing trust leaders was a contributory factor to care failings which caused the death of at least 45 babies an inquiry has concluded. The inquiry into maternity care at East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, chaired by Bill Kirkup, discovered what it described as the latest ”major service failure” in NHS maternity care. It concluded that successive chairs and chief executives were “wrong” to believe the trust had provided adequate care for more than a decade and urged they be held accountable. But he added the churn of senior management had been “wholly counterproductive” for the trust. His report said: “We have found at chief executive, chair and other levels a pattern of hiring and firing, initiated by NHS England. The practice may never have been an explicit policy, but it has become institutionalised. In response to difficult problems, pressure is placed on a trust’s chair to replace the chief executive, and/or to stand down themself." Read full story Source: HSJ, 20 October 2022 (paywalled) -
News Article
East Kent NHS inquiry finds better care might have prevented 45 babies’ deaths
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The deaths of at least 45 babies could have been avoided if nationally recognised standards of care had been provided at one of England’s largest NHS trusts, a damning inquiry has found. Dr Bill Kirkup, the chair of the independent inquiry into maternity at East Kent hospitals university NHS foundation trust, said his panel had heard “harrowing” accounts from families of receiving “suboptimal” care, with mothers ignored by staff and shut out from discussions about their own care. The inquiry’s report said: “An overriding theme, raised with us time and time again, is the failure of the trust’s staff to take notice of women when they raised concerns, when they questioned their care, and when they challenged the decisions that were made about their care.” Of 202 cases reviewed by the experts, the outcome could have been different in 97 cases, the inquiry found. In 69 of these 97 cases, it is predicted the outcome should reasonably have been different and it could have been different in a further 28 cases. Of the 65 babies’ deaths examined, 45 could have had a different outcome if nationally recognised standards of care had been provided. In nearly half of all cases examined by the panel, good care could have led to a different outcome for the families. Some of the bereaved parents accused the trust of “victim blaming” mothers for their children’s deaths. Kelli Rudolph and Dunstan Lowe, whose daughter Celandine died at five days old, said: “Doctors sought to blame Kelli for Celandine’s death. This victim blaming was the first in a long line of interactions with those in the trust who sought to delay, deflect and deny our search for the truth about what happened to our baby. “In isolation, these tactics traumatised us after the tragedy of our daughter’s death. But when seen in the light of 10 years of failures, they signal a concerted effort to cover up the trust’s responsibility for what happened to Celandine and the many others who lost their lives due to failures in clinical judgment.” Read full story Source: The Guardian. 19 October 2022 -
News Article
Leadership review launched at ‘outstanding’ trust
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Care Quality Commission has launched a review of leadership at an “outstanding”-rated specialist trust, after receiving multiple concerns from whistleblowers. The regulator is understood to have made an unannounced visit to The Christie Foundation Trust within the last week to inspect its medical services. The review will also cover the trust’s overall leadership. HSJ understands the review is, at least, partly in response to the regulator receiving a number of concerns from whistleblowers about the trust’s leadership culture and behaviour of senior staff. It comes after the trust came under scrutiny from NHS England last year, with independent reviews finding there had been multiple failings around the handling of a major research project. The reviews also criticised the trust’s reaction to staff who had raised concerns, but failed to answer a key accusation that was made about the detriment suffered by whistleblowers. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 October 2022 -
News ArticleThe former lead governor of East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust has resigned this morning, claiming there is “a cancer at the top of the organisation” and that its services won’t be safe until the government provides funding for critical estates work. His resignation as a governor came hours before the publication of what is expected to be a “harrowing” report into maternity services at the trust from an independent review led by Sir Bill Kirkup. He is also expected to raise concerns about national progress on maternity services safety in recent years. Alex Lister, who is chair of the council of governors’ membership engagement and communications committee, said in the letter: “I believe officials on six-figure salaries continue to mislead, obfuscate, bully and conceal vital information. I consider the way the trust communicates internally and externally to be completely unacceptable and utterly untrustworthy. “Without the valiant efforts of the brave families caught up in a tragedy of the trust’s making, the world may never have found out about the disastrous health failings at our trust.” In the letter to chair Niall Dickson, Mr Lister says he has seen a continuation “of the same apparent policy of manipulation and discrediting dissenting voices that existed prior to the scandal”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 October 2022
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News Article
Former trust CEO and medical director cleared over surgery scandal
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A major trust’s former chief executive and medical director have been cleared, after being accused of failing to protect breast patients from a rogue surgeon. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service has ruled neither Mark Goldman nor Ian Cunliffe’s fitness to practise was impaired, in a case brought by the General Medical Council. Mr Goldman was chief executive of the Heart of England Foundation Trust from 2001 until 2010, while Dr Cunliffe served as HEFT medical director between 2006 and 2010. Both held roles at HEFT while Ian Paterson was there. Mr Paterson was jailed for 20 years in 2017 after being convicted of 17 offences of wounding with intent while being employed at HEFT, while a later inquiry concluded he may have conducted up to 1,000 botched and unnecessary operations over a 14-year period. Mr Goldman and Dr Cunliffe are now pursuing the GMC for the costs of the case, which is expected to be heard over five days in January 2023. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 18 October 2022 -
News Article
Coffey’s ‘ultra-libertarian’ health stance risks lives, Tory ex-minister warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People could die because of Thérèse Coffey’s “ultra-libertarian ideological” reluctance to crack down on smoking and obesity, a Conservative ex-health minister has warned. The strongly worded criticism of the health secretary came from Dr Dan Poulter, a Tory MP and NHS doctor who served as a health minister in the coalition government from 2012 to 2015. Poulter claims Coffey’s “hostility to what the extreme right call ‘nanny statism’” is stopping her from taking firm action against the “major killers” of tobacco and bad diet. His intervention – in an opinion piece for the Guardian – was prompted by Coffey making clear that she opposed banning adults from smoking in cars containing children, even though the practice was outlawed in 2015 and is credited with reducing young people’s exposure to secondhand smoke. The government’s widely anticipated scrapping of measures to curb obesity such as the sugar tax and ditching of the tobacco control plan and health inequalities white paper – both of which previous health ministers had promised to publish – have led Poulter to brand Coffey’s stance “deeply alarming”. He writes: “More smoking and more obesity means more illness, more pressure on the NHS and shorter lives, particularly amongst the poorest in society. “I am acutely concerned that the health secretary’s ideological hostility to what history shows is government’s potentially very positive role in protecting us against these grave threats to our health will exacerbate the problems they already pose. “At its worst such a radically different approach to public health could cost lives, as it will inevitably lead to more people smoking and becoming dangerously overweight.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 October 2022 -
News Article
Hunt: Tax will need to rise to fund health and care
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Jeremy Hunt believes spending on the NHS will have to rise and that the increase should be funded through higher taxation. Mr Hunt was speaking at an event less than 48 hours before the prime minister asked him to replace Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor. In a discussion last Wednesday evening with HSJ editor Alastair McLellan and the audience at an event held as part of the Shoreham Literary Festival event, Mr Hunt also rejected the introduction of a social insurance model to fund the NHS and re-iterated the pressing need for the NHS to have a long-term workforce plan. Asked by HSJ if the voices in the Conservative Party calling for a change from the NHS to a social insurance model had gained ascendancy, Mr Hunt said: “The game is not up for the NHS – absolutely not. “We are all going to spend more on our health and care – if you’re in America you’re going to spend more through your insurance premiums – which are going to go up. If you’re in Holland and Germany you’re going to spend more through social insurance premiums. If you’re in Britain, Ireland or New Zealand you’re going to spend more through your taxes.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 17 October 2022 -
News Article
NHS boss Amanda Pritchard vows that victims of falls won’t wait hours in agony
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Elderly people who call for help after a fall at home will no longer be left waiting for hours on the floor, the head of the NHS has said, as she bids to keep patients out of hospital and stop the service being overwhelmed this winter. Amanda Pritchard said she would start a new national service within weeks under which community teams would offer immediate help to people who had had an accident but had avoided serious injury. Pritchard, who took over as chief executive of NHS England last year, said a quarter of less severe 999 calls in January involved falls. The new teams could stop 55,000 elderly people a year being taken to hospital, she said. All NHS areas will be told this week to establish the service before a “very, very, very challenging winter” for the health service. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 16 October 2022 -
News Article
‘Obfuscations and failures’ in trust’s handling of death, damning review finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
There were ’obfuscations, difficulties and failures’ in a scandal-hit trust’s handling of a baby’s death, a damning review has found, although it cleared the organisation’s former chair of ’serious mismanagement’. A fit and proper person review into the conduct of former Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust chair Ben Reid, who left in August 2020, has been published by the board. The report follows complaints about Mr Reid’s conduct from the family of baby Kate Stanton-Davies, who died in the trust’s care and whose case – alongside that of Pippa Griffiths – sparked the original Ockenden inquiry. In March 2022, the final Ockenden report into maternity services at Shrewsbury found poor maternity care had resulted in almost 300 avoidable baby deaths or brain damage cases in the most damning review of maternity services in the NHS’s history. Report author Fiona Scolding KC said she does not believe Mr Reid “lied” or acted unethically in his handling of complaints from the family and therefore this does not disqualify him from holding office within the terms of such a review. However, the report is highly critical of the trust, with Ms Scolding concluding it is “undoubtedly true” the provider had not dealt with Kate’s father Richard Stanton and her mother Rhiannon Davies in an “open and honest” way in respect of their daughter’s death. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 October 2022 -
News ArticleThe United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new Surgeon General’s Advisory highlighting the urgent need to address the health worker burnout crisis across the country. Health workers, including physicians, nurses, community and public health workers, nurse aides, among others, have long faced systemic challenges in the health care system even before the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to crisis levels of burnout. The pandemic further exacerbated burnout for health workers, with many risking and sacrificing their own lives in the service of others while responding to a public health crisis. Promoting the mental health and well-being of our nation’s frontline health workers is a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and a core objective of President Biden’s national mental health strategy, within his Unity Agenda. The Surgeon General’s Advisory Addressing Health Worker Burnout lays out recommendations that the whole-of-society can take to address the factors underpinning burnout, improve health worker well-being, and strengthen the nation’s public health infrastructure. “At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and time and time again since, we’ve turned to our health workers to keep us safe, to comfort us, and to help us heal,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. “We owe all health workers – from doctors to hospital custodial staff – an enormous debt. And as we can clearly see and hear throughout this Surgeon General’s Advisory, they’re telling us what our gratitude needs to look like: real support and systemic change that allows them to continue serving to the best of their abilities. I’m grateful to Surgeon General Murthy for amplifying their voices today. As the Secretary of Health and Human Services, I am working across the department and the U.S. government at-large to use available authorities and resources to provide direct help to alleviate this crisis.” “The nation’s health depends on the well-being of our health workforce. Confronting the long-standing drivers of burnout among our health workers must be a top national priority,” said Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. “COVID-19 has been a uniquely traumatic experience for the health workforce and for their families, pushing them past their breaking point. Now, we owe them a debt of gratitude and action. And if we fail to act, we will place our nation’s health at risk. This Surgeon General’s Advisory outlines how we can all help heal those who have sacrificed so much to help us heal.” Read full story Source: HHS, 23 May 2022
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News Article
WHO chief urges immediate action to tackle ‘devastating’ Long Covid
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Long Covid is “devastating” the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of people, and wreaking havoc on health systems and economies, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned as he urged countries to launch “immediate” and “sustained” efforts to tackle the “very serious” crisis. The world has never been in a better position to end the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is also “very clear” that many of those infected by the virus, which first emerged in China in late 2019, are still experiencing “prolonged suffering”, the WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said. With the absence of evidence about how best to treat it, Long Covid is turning people’s lives upside down, and many face “often lengthy” and “frustrating” waits for support or guidance, Tedros said. The large numbers of those cruelly affected by the long tail of Covid is also having a dangerous impact on health systems and economies still reeling from waves of infections. “While the pandemic has changed dramatically due to the introduction of many lifesaving tools, and there is light at the end of the tunnel, the impact of long Covid for all countries is very serious and needs immediate and sustained action equivalent to its scale,” Tedros said, writing for the Guardian. Countries must now “seriously ramp up” both research into the condition and access to care for those affected if they are to “minimise the suffering” of their populations and protect their health systems and workforces. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 October 2022 -
News ArticleAn ambulance service rated ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission has set out a wide-ranging improvement plan, including ‘civility training’ for senior leaders and ensuring board members hear a mix of ‘positive and negative’ stories from patients and staff. South Central Ambulance Service has been moved into the equivalent of “special measures” by NHS England, in the wake of the Care Quality Commission report in August which criticised “extreme positivity” at the highest levels of the organisation. This means 3 out of only 10 dedicated ambulance service trusts in England are now in segment four of NHSE’s system oversight framework, the successor to special measures. The other ambulance services in segment four are East of England and South East Coast. In a damning inspection report published in August, the care watchdog said that leaders were “out of touch” and staff had faced a “dismissive attitude” when they tried to raise concerns. One staff member told inspectors: “When sexual harassment is reported it seems to be brushed under the carpet and the person is given a second chance. Because of this, a lot of staff feel unsafe, unsupported and vulnerable when coming to work.” An improvement plan summary published at the start of last month included a large number of priorites and actions, including to “ensure [a] mix of positive and negative patient/staff stories are presented to [trust] board meetings” – an apparent attempt to address CQC concerns that its positive outlook could feel “dismissive of the reality to frontline staff”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 11 October 2022
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News Article
Bullying, misogyny and sexual culture at Royal College of Nursing, inquiry finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A damning inquiry into the Royal College of Nursing, the world’s biggest nurses’ union, has exposed bullying, misogyny and a sexual culture where women are at risk of “alcohol and power-related exploitation”. A 77-page internal report by Bruce Carr KC, leaked to the Guardian, lays bare how the RCN’s senior leadership has been “riddled with division, dysfunction and distrust” and condemns the male-dominated governing body, known as council, as “not fit for purpose”. Grave concerns are also raised about the RCN’s annual conference, known as congress, where Carr says an “inappropriate sexual culture” warrants further urgent investigation “to identify the extent to which [it] has actually resulted in exploitation of the vulnerable”. The eminent barrister reports that there is evidence to support the “impression” that senior individuals have been seeking to take sexual advantage of subordinates and “engaging in unwanted sexual behaviours”. He calls on those whose conduct is cited in the report, whom he does not name, to consider their positions in the light of testimony of groping, humiliation of female staff members and a refusal of those in positions of responsibility to reflect on the letters of resignation from women on the council, who have complained of “gaslighting and microaggressions”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 October 2022- Posted
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News Article
Six ICS chiefs to lead regional decision-making group
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Six integrated care boards across the West Midlands are proposing to establish a joint committee of chief executives to make shared decisions on key issues impacting the region, it has emerged. The CEOs of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICS, Black Country integrated care systems, Birmingham and Solihull ICS, Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICS, Coventry and Warwickshire ICS and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICS have each presented plans for a senior joint committee of the ICBs in their respective board papers. Chiefs say there are several areas where it will be “beneficial or necessary” for the six ICBs to collaborate and make joint decisions, and it is intended this committee will provide such a mechanism. HSJ understands it could also act as a forum to discuss performance. Proposed shared areas of action include primary care and specialised services, which ICBs will be responsible for from April 2023, commissioning for 111/999 services, mutual aid on elective/cancer recovery, and urgent and emergency care, including ambulance handover delays. According to draft terms of reference, an executive committee of CEOs would be accountable to the six ICB boards and would be required to report all decisions, actions and progress to their respective systems. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 October 2022 -
News Article
Number of NHSE whistleblowers tripled in 2021-22
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of concerns reported by NHS England staff through the freedom to speak up process almost tripled last year, the organisation’s latest board papers have revealed. There were 152 cases received by the internal freedom to speak up guardians in 2021-22 compared to 56 in 2020-21. This year 54 cases were received in quarter three alone. The most common concerns are related to allegations of bullying and harassment. These accounted for nearly 40% of the total. People and team management concerns accounted for a third of FTSU cases. Within the latter, there were sub-themes of breakdown in relationships, failure to offer role models and sanctioning or ignoring poor culture. This week’s report also set out the NHSE FTSU guardian’s next steps. These include appointing a lead guardian, finalising a strategy and continuing to engage with Health Education England and NHS Digital staff as they are brought into NHSE next year. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 October 2022 -
News Article
‘Sack poor NHS managers’, says new government adviser
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An MP who has just become a ministerial assistant in the Department of Health and Social Care has called for ‘underperforming’ NHS managers to be ‘sacked’, claiming some executives in the health service earn up to £500,000 per year. James Sunderland, who was made a Department of Health and Social Care parliamentary private secretary just days ago, told a Conservative party conference fringe event that money spent on executives should be reinvested into the coal face. Mr Sunderland, MP for Bracknell since 2019, also said the NHS is “better funded now than at any time in its history”. He said: “The solution is not more money, it’s better managers. We need to get to grips with the senior management of the NHS. People not performing need to be sacked. “We need to reinvest money spent on executives and management into the coalface. It’s about efficiency in how we do business.” Read full story Source: HSJ, 3 October 2022 -
News Article
Residents 'not safe' at four-inquest care home
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A care home that will close after admitting "shortcomings in care" and failures in leadership has been labelled "not safe" by inspectors. The Elms in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire will shut later this month, and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found the service to be inadequate. In May, the BBC first reported the concerns of relatives about The Elms after their loved ones died in 2019, weeks after a meeting in which worries were raised about "poor care". Inquests into the deaths of the residents - George Lowlett, Margaret Canham and David Poole - remain ongoing. HC-One also apologised to the family of Joyce Parrott, who died in April 2020. Inspectors found "people were not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm" and described multiple occasions when people had "not received their medicines as prescribed". Other findings included: Staff had not referred all potential safeguarding events to the local authority A failure to "establish systems to ensure people were effectively safeguarded from abuse" The provider had failed to learn when things went wrong "Widespread and significant shortfalls" in leadership No reliable record of the staff that had worked at the home and a reliance upon agency staff, which "resulted in people not receiving consistent care" Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 October 2022 -
News Article
Failing NHS hospitals to be boosted by Cobra-style meetings
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Underperforming hospitals face special measures before what ministers warn will be one of the worst winters in the history of the NHS. Thérèse Coffey, the health secretary, told a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference that there was too much “variation in what patients experience” as her department plans to impose closer control on failing hospitals. Robert Jenrick, the NHS minister, said that the government “shouldn’t be tolerant of those parts of the NHS which are underperforming” and had demanded quicker improvement from more than a dozen hospitals. He acknowledged that NHS staff were overstretched in the aftermath of the pandemic, saying that he wanted to “put boosterism to one side” and accept that the shortage of doctors and nurses was the biggest problem facing the health service. However, he also questioned why some hospitals were doing so poorly when other nearby hospitals with similar problems were seeing much shorter waits. “A very striking dynamic is the variability that we see within the NHS and I think this is where we as Conservatives have a message, which is that we shouldn’t be tolerant of those parts of the NHS which are underperforming.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 4 October 2022 -
News Article
Thérèse Coffey scraps promised paper on health inequality
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Thérèse Coffey is ditching the government’s long-promised white paper on health inequalities, despite the 19-year gap in life expectancy between rich and poor, the Guardian has been told. The health secretary has decided to not publish a document that was due to set out plans to address the stark inequalities in health that the Covid-19 pandemic exposed. It was meant to appear by last spring and be a key part of then prime minister Boris Johnson’s declared mission to level up Britain. It was due to set out “bold action” to narrow the wide inequalities in health outcomes that exist between deprived and well-off areas, between white and BAME populations, and between the north and south of England. "It’s dead. It’s never going to appear. The white paper is being canned,” said one source familiar with the situation. Health experts reacted with dismay to reports of the paper being scrapped. “We expect the government to keep its commitment to addressing health disparities in an upcoming white paper and would have grave concerns if this long-planned paper were delayed or shelved,” said Dr Habib Naqvi, director of the NHS Race and Health Observatory. “We need to see priorities and an action plan set out to address a number of serious and longstanding health inequalities. This should be a priority, particularly given the cost of living crisis and the impact this is having on diverse communities.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 September 2022 -
News Article
‘Appalled’ NHSE director orders safety review at all providers
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS’ mental health director has branded abuse exposed at a city inpatient unit as “heartbreaking and shameful” and ordered a national review of safety across all providers. In a letter to all leaders of mental health, learning disability and autism providers, shared with HSJ, Claire Murdoch responded to BBC Panorama’s exposure of patient abuse at the Edenfield Centre run by Greater Manchester Mental Health FT by warning trusts they should leave “no stone unturned” in seeking to eradicate and prevent poor care. An investigation by the programme found a “toxic culture of humiliation, verbal abuse and bullying” at the medium-secure inpatient unit in Prestwich near Manchester. In response, Ms Murdoch said the mindset that “it could happen here” must be at the front and centre of national and local approaches, adding that trusts which already adopt this outlook are most likely to identify and prevent toxic and closed cultures. She also urged all boards to urgently review safeguarding of care in their organisations and identify any immediate issues requiring action now, such as freedom to speak up arrangements, complaints, and care and treatment reviews. A separate national probe into the quality of inpatient care is due to launch imminently. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 30 September 2022
