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Found 803 results
  1. News Article
    Patients are not always getting the care they deserve, says the head of NHS England. Amanda Pritchard told a conference the pressures on hospitals, maternity care and services caring for vulnerable people with learning disabilities were of concern. She even suggested the challenge facing the health service now was greater than it was at the height of the pandemic. Despite making savings, the NHS still needs extra money to cope, she said. Next year the budget will rise to more than £157bn, but NHS England believes it will still be short of £7bn. Ms Pritchard told the King's Fund annual conference in London that demand was rising more quickly than the NHS could cope with. "I thought that the pandemic would be the hardest thing any of us ever had to do," she said. "Over the last year, I've become really clear.... it's the months and years ahead that will bring the most complex challenges." Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 November 2022
  2. News Article
    A baby was left "severely disabled" after a delay during his delivery by Caesarean section, a High Court judge has been told. Betsi Cadwaladr health board will pay £4m in compensation after a negligence claim was brought by one of the boy's relatives. He has required 24-hour care since his birth in 2018 at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Denbighshire. The hospital apologised, saying doctors are "working hard" to learn lessons. "We are extremely sorry," barrister Alexander Hutton KC, representing the health board, told Mr Justice Soole. "[Betsi Cadwaladr] is working hard to learn lessons from this case," he added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 November 2022
  3. News Article
    A majority of pregnant women who died from coronavirus during the peak of the pandemic were from an ethnic minority background, it has emerged. A new study of more than a dozen women who died between March and May this year also heavily criticised the reorganisation of NHS services which it said contributed to poor care and the deaths of some of the women. This included one woman who was twice denied an intensive care bed because there were none available, as well as women treated by inexperienced staff who had been redeployed by hospitals and who made mistakes in their treatment of the women. The report, by experts at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, based at the University of Oxford, also criticised mental health services after four women died by suicide. The report said women were “bounced” between services which had stopped face-to-face assessments during the crisis. The report looked at 16 women’s deaths in total. Eight women died from COVID-19, seven of whom had an ethnic minority background. Two women with Covid-19 died from unrelated causes, four died by suicide and two were victims of homicide. In the report, published on Thursday, the authors concluded improvements in care could have been made in 13 of the deaths they examined. In six cases, improvements in care could have meant they survived. Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 August 2020
  4. News Article
    High-risk women at a maternity unit were not monitored closely enough and there was a "lack of learning" from a mother's death, inspectors found. A Care Qualtiy Commission (CQC) report rated the unit at Basildon University Hospital as inadequate with "failings" found in six other serious cases. Inspectors carried out unannounced checks in June after a whistleblower voiced fears about patient safety. The unit was criticised following the deaths of baby Ennis Pecaku in September 2018 and mother Gabriela Pintilie, 36, in February 2019. The CQC previously carried out an inspection of the department the month Mrs Pintilie died and said the unit, which had once been rated outstanding, required improvement. Inspectors returned for the surprise "focused" inspection after being contacted by an anonymous whistleblower. The report found babies were born in a poor condition and then transferred for cooling therapy, which can be offered for newborn babies with brain injury caused by oxygen shortage during birth. During their visit, inspectors found: High-risk women giving birth in a low-risk area. Not enough staff with the right skills and experience. "Dysfunctional" working between midwives, doctors and consultants, which had an impact on the "increased number of safety incidents reported". Concerns over foetal heart monitoring. Women being referred to by room numbers instead of their names. A "lack of response by consultants to emergencies" resulting in delays The CQC also referred to issues relating to the death of Mrs Pintilie, who was not named in the report, and said five serious incidents "identified the same failings of care". Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 August 2020 "This demonstrated there had been a lack of learning from previous incidents and actions put in place were not embedded."
  5. News Article
    Hospital bosses at scandal-hit Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust were more concerned with reputation management than addressing patient safety concerns in its maternity department, according to a new NHS investigation. Families harmed by poor care at the trust have called for chairman Ben Reid to resign after the report by NHS England revealed how senior figures in the trust, including the former chief executive, tried to soften a report into maternity services that raised serious concerns over safety. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) report was not published until after the college had agreed to an “unprecedented” addendum report 12 months after its inspection in 2017, that presented the trust in a more positive light. When the final report was made public in July 2018 the addendum was placed at the front of the report. The original RCOG report warned: “Neonatal and perinatal mortality rates will not improve until areas of poor / substandard care are addressed.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 22 July 2020
  6. News Article
    Hundreds more cases of potentially avoidable baby deaths, stillbirths and brain damage have emerged at an NHS trust, raising concerns about a possible cover-up of the true extent of one the biggest scandals in the health service’s history. The additional 496 cases raise further serious concerns about maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital NHS trust since 2000. The cases involving stillbirths, neonatal deaths or baby brain damage, as well as a small number of maternal deaths, have been passed to an independent maternity review, led by the midwifery expert Donna Ockenden. They bring the total number of cases being examined to 1,862. They will also be passed to West Mercia police, which last month launched a criminal investigation into the trust’s maternity services. Detectives are trying to establish whether there is enough evidence to bring charges of corporate manslaughter against the trust or individual manslaughter charges against staff involved. The extra 496 cases had not emerged until now because an “open book” initiative led by the NHS in 2018 asked only for digital records of cases identified as a cause for serious concerns. The vast majority of the 496 further cases were recorded only in paper documents. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 July 2020
  7. News Article
    Babies are at risk of dying from common treatable infections because NHS staff on maternity wards are not following national guidance and are short-staffed and overworked, an investigation has revealed. The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB), a national safety watchdog, has warned that NHS staff on maternity wards face sometimes conflicting advice on treating women who are positive for a group B streptococcus (GBS) infection. They are also making errors in women’s care because of the pressure of work and a lack of staff, with antibiotics not being administered when they should be. HSIB’s specialist investigators examined 39 safety incidents in which GSB had been identified, and found that the infection had contributed to six baby deaths, six stillbirths and three cases of babies being left with severe brain damage. In its report, the watchdog warned that the problems on maternity wards meant that even in cases where mothers were known to be positive for GBS infection, this wasn’t shared with the mother or noted in the record, resulting in the standard care and antibiotics not being provided. It added: “The identification and escalation of care for babies who show signs of GBS infection after birth was missed. This has resulted in severe brain injury and death for some of the affected babies.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 July 2020
  8. News Article
    A hospital trust at the centre of Britain’s largest ever maternity scandal has widespread failings across departments and is getting worse, the care regulator has warned as it calls for NHS bosses to take urgent action. Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals, urged NHS England to intervene over the “worsening picture” at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, which is already facing a criminal investigation. There are as many as 1,500 cases being examined after mothers and babies died and were left with serious disabilities due to poor care going back decades in the trust’s maternity units. Now, in a leaked letter seen by The Independent, Prof Baker has warned national health chiefs that issues are still present today across wards at the trust – with inspectors uncovering poor care in recent visits that led to “continued and unnecessary harm” for patients. He raised the prospect that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) could recommend the trust be placed into special administration for safety reasons, which has only been done once in the history of the NHS – at the former Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, where a public inquiry found hundreds of patients suffered avoidable harm and neglect because of widespread systemic poor care. In a rarely seen intervention, Prof Baker’s letter to NHS England’s chief operating officer, Amanda Pritchard, warned there were “ongoing and escalating concerns regarding patient safety” and that poor care was becoming “normalised” at the trust, which serves half a million people with its two hospitals – the Royal Shrewsbury and Telford’s Princess Royal. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 July 2020
  9. News Article
    Only two out of 23 recommendations from a royal college review into a trust’s troubled maternity services can be shown to be fully implemented, a new investigation has revealed. A learning and review committee, set up by East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, found that 11 more of the recommendations from a 2016 review by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) were “partially” implemented. But it said there was either no evidence the remaining 10 had been delivered, or there was evidence they were not implemented. The original RCOG review looked at a number of cases where babies had died as well as broader issues within the maternity service at the trust. The committee was set up after an inquest into the death of Harry Richford, who died a week after his birth in 2017 at the trust’s Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Hospital in Thanet. Many of the issues which came to light at his inquest echoed those from the RCOG report. Committee chair Des Holden, medical director of Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network, highlighted the difficulties in tracking evidence and action plans during a time when the trust had significant changes in leadership. But he said the committee felt cases where evidence could not be found or the standard of evidence gave concern, the recommendations could not be said to be met. Derek Richford, Harry’s grandfather, said on behalf of the family: “We are saddened and shocked to find that over four years after the RCOG found fundamental systemic failings and made 23 recommendations, only two have been completed. It is not good enough for them to now say ‘leadership has changed’. The main board must take responsibility and be held to account.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 July 2020
  10. News Article
    Parents of babies who died at a hospital trust at the centre of a maternity inquiry say a police investigation has come "too late". West Mercia Police said it was looking at whether there was "evidence to support a criminal case" at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospital Trust. An independent review, contacted by more than 1,000 families, said it was working with police to identify relevant cases. "It's bittersweet," one mother said. "It's come too late for my daughter, she should still be here," said Tasha Turner, whose baby, Esmai, died four days after she was born at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in 2013. Ms Turner's case is part of the Ockenden Review, an independent investigation into avoidable baby deaths at the trust, which runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal. LaKamaljit Uppal, 50, from Telford, who is also part of the review following the death of her son Manpreet in April 2003 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, said she hoped the police inquiry would bring some closure. "The trust put me through hell, someone should be held accountable," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 July 2020
  11. News Article
    Inspectors have raised “new and ongoing” patient safety concerns at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust, it has emerged. The Care Quality Commission has issued a new warning notice to the Midlands trust after an inspection of the hospital earlier this month sparked concerns for the welfare of patients on its medical wards. These concerns are separate from the trust’s maternity service, which, it was revealed on Tuesday, is now facing a police investigation alongside an NHS inquiry into more than 1,200 allegations of poor maternity care dating back to the 1970s. In October, a patient at the hospital bled to death after a device used to access his bloodstream became inexplicably disconnected while he was receiving care on the renal unit. The Health Service Journal reported the latest concerns related to the inappropriate use of bed rails and risks of patients falling from beds after several incidents. The CQC is also concerned about the trust’s use of powers to detain elderly or vulnerable patients on wards. The concerns also include patients being at risk of abuse and learning from past incidents not being shared with staff. Read full story Source: The Independent, 1 July 2020
  12. News Article
    A hospital trust under the spotlight over avoidable baby deaths provided inadequate antenatal care, with inexperienced junior midwives working alone and doctors not always available to assess high risk women, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found. The latest CQC report on maternity services at East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust follows a report last month by the NHS Healthcare Services Investigation Branch on 24 maternity care investigations at the trust. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 28 May 2020
  13. News Article
    A hospital A&E department has been rated "inadequate" after inspectors found patients at "high risk of avoidable harm". The Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported a "range of regulation breaches" and a shortage of nurses at Stepping Hill hospital's A&E unit. It also criticised maternity and children's services. Stockport NHS Foundation Trust's chief executive said the trust had taken "immediate steps" to improve. The CQC inspected Stepping Hill Hospital in January and February and found A&E performance "had deteriorated significantly" since its last inspection in 2018. Inspectors found shortcomings "relating to patient-centred care, dignity and respect, safe care and treatment, environment and equipment, good governance, and staffing". Their report said the service "could not assure itself that staff were competent for their roles" and patient outcomes "were not always positive or met expectations in line with national standards". Read full story Source: BBC News, 19 May 2020
  14. News Article
    Concerns for the wellbeing of babies born in lockdown are being raised, as parents struggle to access regular support services. England's children's commissioner is highlighting pressures facing mothers caring for babies without the usual family and state support networks. Playgroups are closed and health visitor "visits" are being carried out remotely in most cases. The NHS said adaptations had been made to keep new mothers and babies safe. The briefing paper from Anne Longfield's office says an estimated 76,000 babies will have been born in England under lockdown so far. But births are not being registered, because of temporary rules tied to the virus pandemic, so even basic information about new babies is not being gathered. At the same time, support services provided by health visitors and GPs are not readily accessible, with many taking place via phone and video calls or not at all. There are concerns many babies may have missed their developmental health checks, due in the first few weeks of life to pick up urgent developmental needs. "In some areas, the six-week GP baby check hasn't been available or parents haven't wanted to attend it due to a potential risk of infection," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 May 2020
  15. News Article
    Pregnancy support helplines are experiencing a massive spike in distressed pregnant women asking for urgent help as charities warn coronavirus upheaval is placing pregnant women at risk. Frontline service providers warn mothers-to-be are anxious about whether they will be denied pain relief options and be separated from their newborn babies due to them being put in neonatal units. Birthrights, a maternity care charity, found enquiries to its advice line in March were up by 464 per cent in comparison to March last year. Women getting in touch also raised concerns about home birth services being withdrawn, midwifery-led birth centres shutting their doors and elective caesareans being discontinued due to the COVID-19 crisis. Baby charity Tommy’s experienced a 71% surge in demand for advice from midwives on its pregnancy helpline last month. The organisation warned coronavirus turmoil is placing pregnant women at risk after their midwives answered 514 urgent calls for help in April which is a sizeable rise from the 300 enquiries they would generally get. Jane Brewin, the charity’s chief executive, said: “Antenatal care is vital for the wellbeing of mother and baby – but the coronavirus outbreak means that many don’t know who they can ask for help, or don’t want to bother our busy and beloved NHS." “Although services are adapting, they are still running, so pregnant women should not hesitate to raise concerns with their midwife and go to appointments when invited. The large increase in people contacting us demonstrates that coronavirus is creating extra confusion and anxiety for parents-to-be, making midwives’ expert advice and support even more important at this time.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 5 May 2020
  16. News Article
    “Recurrent safety risks” around clinical care at an embattled NHS trust’s maternity service have been identified in a report published on Tuesday. The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has been investigating East Kent hospitals university NHS foundation trust since July 2018 after a series of baby deaths. Among those treated at the trust was Harry Richford, whose death was “wholly avoidable”, seven days after his emergency delivery in November 2017, an inquest found. Speaking on Tuesday, Harry’s grandfather Derek Richford said it is clear that sufficient lessons were not learned from his death. The independent report, published on Tuesday by the Department of Health and Social Care, discusses 24 maternity investigations undertaken since July 2018, including the deaths of three babies and two mothers. It said: “These investigations have enabled HSIB to identify recurrent safety risks around several key themes of clinical care in the trust’s maternity services.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 April 2020
  17. News Article
    A campaign to reduce stillbirths, brain injury, and avoidable deaths in babies has failed to have any effect in the past three years, findings from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists show. The president of the college, Edward Morris, has urged maternity units across the UK to learn from the latest report and act on its recommendations. “We owe it to each and every person affected to find out why these deaths and harms occur in order to prevent future cases where possible,” he said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 19 March 2020
  18. News Article
    As part of the NHS Digital Child Health programme, Personal Child Health Records or “Redbook” will receive a digital makeover. NHS Digital has considered the limitations of the physical Redbook and decided that digitalisation is the way forward for parents to easily access important health and development information. Nurturey has been evolving its product to align with NHS' Digital Child Health programme. It aims to be an app that can make the digital Redbook vision a reality and currently in the process of completing all the necessary integrations and assurances. It is hoped that by using smart digital records, parents will be more aware of their child’s health information like weight, dental records, appointments and other developmental milestones. Tushar Srivastava, Founder and CEO of Nurturey, said: “Imagine receiving your child's immunisation alert/notification on the phone, clicking on it to book the immunisation appointment with the GP, and then being able to see all relevant immunisations details on the app itself. As a parent myself, I see the huge benefit of being able to manage my child’s health on my fingertips. We are working hard to deliver such powerful features to parents by this summer.” Read full story Source: National Health Executive, 5 February 2020
  19. News Article
    Lives may be at risk unless the NHS reviews how stand-in doctors are recruited, a coroner has warned. Harry Richford's death after a series of failings at a hospital in Margate, Kent, was ruled "wholly avoidable". An inquest heard he was delivered by an "inexperienced" locum doctor who was new to the hospital. A national review into the recruitment, assessment and supervision of locums should be carried out, Christopher Sutton-Mattocks said in a report. The coroner wrote that particular emphasis should be considered upon the scope of locums' activities before they are left responsible for out-of-hours labour care. He issued 19 recommendations to prevent future deaths, including a request that NHS England and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists consider such a review, warning "there may be a risk to other lives both at this trust and at other trusts in the future". Read full story Source: BBC News, 19 February 2020
  20. News Article
    The government has announced an independent review into maternity services at an NHS trust where a number of babies have died. “Immediate actions” have also been promised and an independent clinical team has been placed “at the heart” of East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. It comes amid reports that at least seven preventable baby deaths may have occurred at the trust since 2016, including that of Harry Richford. Harry died seven days after his emergency delivery in a “wholly avoidable” tragedy, contributed to by neglect, in November 2017, an inquest found. Speaking in the House of Commons, the health minister Nadine Dorries confirmed the independent review would be carried out by Dr Bill Kirkup, who led the investigation into serious maternity failings at Morecambe Bay. It will look at preventable and avoidable deaths of newborns to ensure the trust learns lessons from each case and will put in place appropriate processes to safeguard families. The review is expected to begin shortly and work in partnership with affected families. Read full story Source: 13 February 2020
  21. News Article
    The boss of an NHS trust at the centre of concerns about preventable baby deaths has claimed the scale of the failings is not clearly defined. Susan Acott, Chief Executive of East Kent Hospitals Trust, said there had only been "six or seven" avoidable deaths at the trust since 2011. However, the BBC revealed on Monday that the trust previously accepted responsibility for at least 10. Ms Acott said some of the baby deaths were "not as clear-cut". A series of failings came to light during the inquest of Harry Richford who died seven days after his birth at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate in November 2017. A coroner ruled Harry's death was "wholly avoidable" and was contributed to by hospital neglect. Ms Acott added she had not read a key report from 2015 drawing attention to maternity problems at the trust until December 2019. Ms Acott claims that from 2011 to 2020 there were "about six or seven" baby deaths that were viewed as preventable. She says the other deaths were being investigated adding "these things aren't always black and white". Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 February 2020
  22. News Article
    An NHS trust has been criticised for advising pregnant women to stay at home for as long as possible during labour to increase the chances of a “normal birth”. University Hospitals Bristol NHS Trust also suggested mothers should avoid having epidurals or inductions and should try to have a home birth. The advice has been described as “shocking” by experts, who said the guidance was contrary to evidence and could be “dangerous” for mothers and babies. Others criticised the language used by the trust which suggested women who needed medical help were somehow “abnormal”. Earlier this month, the Bristol trust paid out £5.8m in compensation to the family of a six-year-old boy after he was left brain damaged at birth following complications during labour. After being contacted by The Independent, the trust deleted the childbirth advice from its website and accepted it was “outdated”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 13 February 2020
  23. News Article
    A BBC News investigation has uncovered more preventable baby deaths at an NHS trust that has already been criticised for its maternity services. Four families said their babies would have survived had East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust provided better care. The NHS's Healthcare Safety Branch is investigating 25 maternity cases at the hospitals in Margate and Ashford. The trust has apologised for the care provided in two of the cases and said they were investigating a third. It has denied any wrongdoing in the fourth case. The government is due to receive the Healthcare Safety Branch's report into the 25 cases later, as well as a Care Quality Commission report from an inspection carried out in January. Last month, the BBC discovered at least seven preventable deaths may have occurred at the trust since 2016. Four further families have now spoken out, saying their babies would not have died if medics had provided better care. In two of the cases, the mothers said the actions of the trust left them feeling they were to blame for their babies' deaths. In a statement, East Kent Hospitals Trust it had set up a board sub-committee "to ensure we are complying with national safety standards and ensure we are implementing the coroner's recommendations fully and swiftly". "We are deeply saddened by the stories of families who have suffered the death of a much-loved baby, and we are extremely sorry for their loss," it added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 February 2020
  24. News Article
    The failure to pass a damning report about a scandal-hit hospital trust to the care watchdog has been criticised by the man who led the inquiry into baby deaths at Morecambe Bay. On Friday, a coroner ruled that the death of baby Harry Richford in 2017 resulted from neglect in the maternity unit of East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust. A report by the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists (RCOG) completed a year earlier had warned of issues that contributed to Harry’s death, including senior doctors not showing up for their shifts. However, the report was never passed on to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), despite the recommendation of the Morecambe Bay inquiry in 2015 that relevant external reviews should be passed on to the watchdog. Bill Kirkup, who chaired the inquiry into deaths of mothers and babies at Furness General Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness, told The Independent: “When there is sufficient concern about a service to prompt an external review, the report must be available immediately to those responsible for assuring the quality of the service. That was the reason for the recommendation of the Morecambe Bay investigation, and it is disappointing that the Care Quality Commission apparently had no sight of this report until now.” Read full story Source: 26 January 2020
  25. News Article
    Women in labour are being denied epidurals by NHS hospitals, amid concern that a “cult of natural childbirth” is leaving rising numbers in agony. Last night, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, promised an investigation, and action to ensure women’s choices were respected, pledging to make the NHS maternity services the world-leader. An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph found hospitals refusing clear requests from mothers-to-be, in breach of official guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Mr Hancock said all expectant mothers should be able to make an informed choice, knowing their choice would be fully respected. “Clinical guidance clearly state that you can ask for pain relief at any time – before and during labour – and as long as it is safe to do so this should never be refused. I’m concerned by evidence that such requests are being denied for anything other than a clinical reason,” he said. “It's vital this guidance is being followed right across our NHS, as part of making it the best place in the world to give birth. Women being denied pain relief is wrong, and we will be investigating.” One mother, describing her experience at one NHS Hospital said: "It made me feel unsafe psychologically - I couldn't speak up, I couldn’t say what I wanted to say, I couldn’t advocate for myself medically because people were ignoring or belittling me. It feels that in childbirth, it’s a given that the doctor is taking their personal beliefs with them to the table, whereas in any other area of healthcare that would be unacceptable." Read full story Source: The Telegraph, 26 January 2020
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