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Found 218 results
  1. News Article
    A patient who was left scarred for life when a botched operation left him with horrific burns has received a payout after suing the NHS. Paul Hickman, 44, underwent routine surgery to improve circulation in his legs when medics at Russell Hall Hospital in Dudley, West Midlands, wrongly used a heated mattress. He ended up with significant burns on his buttocks after an alcohol-based solution came into contact with the back of both thighs and his backside. Mr Hickman, of Walsall, West Midlands, said: “I hoped that the surgery would go well and would improve my health. “However, all I remember afterwards was being in severe pain. “To be told I had suffered burns was a complete shock and at first was difficult to try and take in. I couldn’t understand how that had happened". An NHS investigation found the use of heated mattresses was stopped in the type of procedure Mr Hickman underwent after another patient was burnt in 2016. The report found the use of alcohol-based solution during Mr Hickman’s preparation for surgery and the “inappropriate use” of a heated mattress in surgery led to his burns. Read full story Source: The Independent, 4 May 2023
  2. Content Article
    Medical equipment, supplies, and devices (ESD) serve a critical function in healthcare delivery and how they function can have an impact on patient safety. ESD-related safety issues include malfunctions, physically missing ESDs, sterilisation and usability. Describing ESD-related safety issues from a human factors perspective that focuses on user interactions with ESDs can provide additional insights to address these issues. This article in the journal Patient Safety reviewed ESD patient safety event reports submitted to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System to identify ESD-related safety issues.
  3. News Article
    The medical device complaint management market is experiencing significant growth due to the increasing focus on patient safety and regulatory compliance. As medical devices become more complex and the regulations governing them become more stringent, it has become essential for manufacturers to have effective complaint management systems in place to ensure the safety and satisfaction of their customers. The global medical device complaint management market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% from 2021 to 2026. One of the key factors driving the growth of the medical device complaint management market is the increasing emphasis on patient safety. In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the potential risks associated with medical devices, and patients are increasingly demanding higher levels of safety and quality. This has led to a greater focus on complaint management among medical device manufacturers, who are now investing in advanced complaint handling systems to ensure that they are able to identify and address issues before they become major problems. Read full story Source: Digital Journal, 20 April 2023
  4. News Article
    Four in 10 NHS hospitals in England are using outdated medical equipment including 37-year-old X-ray machines, according to research from the Lib Dems, who are calling for extra funding to replace outdated devices. NHS hospitals are using hundreds of old X-ray machines, CT scanners and radiotherapy machines, with some dating back to the 1980s, according to research based on freedom of information requests to 69 hospital trusts. Of these, 41 said they had at least one X-ray machine that was more than 20 years old. The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, said he would call for urgent government investment in medical equipment at the party’s spring conference. “It beggars belief that NHS staff are having to rely on results from decades-old hospital scanners, machinery that may have been built before they were even born. Understaffed and exhausted NHS staff are being pushed to breaking point, while patients are treated in crumbling hospitals with outdated equipment,” he said. “The potential for error from poor-quality machines doesn’t bear thinking about. People up and down the country will be worried about whether they will get an accurate reading from these decades-old machines.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 20 March 2023
  5. News Article
    Hospitals are being asked to offer a wider range of gown sizes to better protect patients' dignity. It follows the experience of a patient from Wiltshire who said she was offered a gown that was "far too small" during a hospital stay in Bristol. Barbara Gale said it gaped at the back and made her feel "embarrassed". The experience sparked calls for more sizing options.. An independent study conducted by the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow in 2019 asked patients across the UK for their thoughts on the issue of hospital gowns. Consultant clinical psychologist for the NHS, Nicola Cogan, led the research and said the findings showed Ms Gale's experience was not an isolated case. She said: "We spoke to a 1,000 patients and found over two thirds reported they struggled to get a gown on themselves and 70% reported the gown did not fit". "It's not cost effective for the NHS, but also it shows that the gown is currently not fit for purpose." Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 March 2023
  6. Content Article
    ECRI’s Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2023 list identifies the potential sources of danger they believe warrant the greatest attention for the coming year and offers practical recommendations for reducing risks. Since its creation in 2008, this list has supported hospitals, health systems, ambulatory surgery centres, and manufacturers in addressing risks that can impact patients and staff. Their executive now includes specific calls to action for industry.
  7. News Article
    Thousands of severely disabled children's lives are at risk because of long waits for ambulances, doctors and other experts have warned. Emergency care is a vital part of their everyday lives, the British Academy of Childhood Disability says. Almost 100,000 children have life-limiting conditions or need regular ventilator support in the UK. They often rely on ambulances as part of their healthcare plan, because their condition can become life-threatening in an instant. Dr Toni Wolff, who chairs the British Academy of Childhood Disability, told BBC News some families with severely disabled children had "what are essentially high-dependency units" of medical equipment at home. "As part of their healthcare plan, we would normally say, 'If the child starts to deteriorate, call for an ambulance and it will be there within 10 or 20 minutes,'" she said. "Now, we can't give that reassurance." Despite their child being classed as a priority, parents have told BBC News they face the difficult decision to wait for an ambulance or take them, often in a life-threatening condition, to hospital themselves - a risk because of the huge amounts of equipment needed to keep them alive, Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 February 2023
  8. Content Article
    Dr Gordon Caldwell shares how he changed his whole approach to ward rounds after seeing spaghetti maps of where a nurse walked during a shift. He cut down walking distance on rounds by creating a mobile office on wheels out of an old electricians trolley. See also: Making the ward a more efficient place: a qualitative evaluation of the impact of the Vista 90 trolley  
  9. News Article
    Patients across the UK are set to benefit from access to safe, effective and innovative equipment and medical devices as part of the first ever medical technology (medtech) strategy published today. The blueprint for boosting NHS medtech will focus on accelerating access to innovative technologies, such as the latest generation of home dialysis machines that enable patients to manage their own health at home and in their day to day lives. It also sets out steps which need to be taken to ensure patients can access safe, effective and innovative technology through the NHS, which can help diagnose, treat and deliver care more quickly, freeing up clinician time. The NHS spends £10 billion a year on medtech including syringes, wheelchairs, Minister of State for Health Will Quince said: "The UK’s innovative spirit delivered revolutionary technology during the pandemic - from COVID tests and ventilators - and we want to harness this in promoting cutting-edge medical advancements to improve patient care. The NHS spends around £10 billion a year on medical technology and I’m looking forward to working with industry to use this as we focus on reducing hospital stays, enhancing diagnosis, preventing illness and freeing up staff time. This new medtech strategy will help build a sustainable NHS with patients at the centre so people can continue to access the right care at the right time." The key aims of the strategy are to: boost the supply of the best equipment to deliver greater resilience to health care challenges, such as pandemics, and enhance NHS performance through modernised technology which will enable faster diagnosis, treatment and ultimately discharge to free up hospital beds. encourage ambitious, innovative research to secure the UK’s position as a global science superpower and attract vital investment for the UK economy and create jobs across the country. In 2021, there were already around 60 different research programmes supporting innovative technologies, representing over £1 billion of funding. increase understanding and awareness of medtech by clinicians which will lead to more informed purchasing on new products and deliver better value for taxpayer money and better services for patients. build on the Life Sciences Vision to improve collaboration between the NHS, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as an innovation partner to ensure patients can access the right products safely. Read full story Source: DHSC, 3 February 2023
  10. Content Article
    Medical technology, or ‘medtech’, is of vital importance to the UK health and care system. The Government's first Medical technology strategy outlines how it will ensure the health and social care system can reliably access safe, effective and innovative medical technologies that support the continued delivery of high-quality care, outstanding patient safety and excellent patient outcomes in a way that makes the best use of taxpayer money.
  11. Content Article
    The purpose of this assessment is to ensure that all Theatre Practitioners are fully compliant with current Trust Policy with regard to swabs, instruments, sharps and disposables items. All Theatre staff must be assessed and deemed competent.
  12. News Article
    Complications after a procedure to treat IBS left Jennifer Hill in pain – and fighting for compensation. Earlier this year, an NHS inquiry found surgeon Anthony Dixon had caused women to “suffer harm” as a result of the mesh operations he carried out between 2007 and 2017. Dixon, who is now banned from practising in the UK, carried out hundreds of laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy (LVMR) operations for both the North Bristol NHS Trust and privately at Bristol’s Spire Hospital. Mesh is used to repair the pelvic floor, but the inquiry concluded that women should have been offered alternative treatments first. Jennifer Hill, from Herefordshire, is one of those women. She wishes she could go back in time and not have her mesh operation, which took place in May 2012. “I was totally unaware of the controversy surrounding mesh,” she says. “I still kick myself that I didn’t get a second opinion or ask more questions.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 11 January 2023
  13. Content Article
    In this blog, published by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch, Laura Pickup talks about the importance of considering the design of healthcare equipment and how it impacts on risk to patient safety. She highlights that there is a confusion between ‘use error’ and ‘abnormal use’ and questions whether it is really fair to hold NHS staff accountable when the use of equipment or devices has led to a safety incident.
  14. News Article
    A record number of "foreign objects" have been left inside patients' bodies after surgery, new data reveals. Incidents analysed by the PA news agency showed it happened a total of 291 times in 2021/22. Swabs and gauzes used during surgery or a procedure are one of the most common items left inside a patient, but surgical tools such as scalpels and drill bits have been found in some rare cases. A woman from east London described how she "lost hope" after part of a surgical blade was left inside her following an operation to remove her ovaries in 2016. The 49-year-old, who spoke to PA on condition of anonymity, said: "When I woke up, I felt something in my belly. "The knife they used to cut me broke, and they left a part in my belly." She added: "I was weak, I lost so much blood, I was in pain, all I could do was cry." The object was left inside her for five days, leading to an additional two-week hospital stay. Commenting on the analysis, Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "Never events are called that because they are serious incidents that are entirely preventable because the hospital or clinic has systems in place to prevent them happening. "When they occur, the serious physical and psychological effects they cause can stay with a patient for the rest of their lives, and that should never happen to anyone who seeks treatment from the NHS. "While we fully appreciate the crisis facing the NHS, never events simply should not occur if the preventative measures are implemented." Read full story Source: Sky News, 4 January 2022
  15. News Article
    Ambulance staff are being urged to conserve oxygen supplies because of a national shortage of small cylinders used both on ambulances and in some A&E departments. South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust has told staff the shortage is caused by the high number of patients with respiratory conditions and “the suppliers are reporting that this is higher than during the first wave of the covid pandemic”. In a message to staff last week, East of England Ambulance Service Trust said: “Oxygen suppliers, including BOC, are currently unable to supply sufficient numbers [of small cylinders] to fulfil our orders. “This has been escalated nationally and NHS Procurement are working to support ambulance trusts with supplies.” But it added that over the next few days it would need to “carefully manage” supplies. The type of cylinder affected typically provides about 30 minutes of oxygen on full flow and is widely used on ambulances and also where patients are cohorted in accident and emergency departments or kept in corridors waiting to be passed to hospitals, without access to the normal piped supply. Many ambulances will carry several smaller cylinders, and sometimes they also carry one larger one. However, if a patient requiring oxygen can’t be handed over quickly at A&E, ambulance supplies may start to run low. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 30 December 2022
  16. News Article
    The reform of the UK’s Medical Device regulation offers a golden opportunity to drive innovation and growth in the UK’s Life Science sector while ensuring patient safety remains at the heart of the regulatory approach. But there is an urgent need for action to ensure we do not lose this opportunity. Senior members of the Life Sciences Council, Will Quince MP, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, Dr June Raine, CEO, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Peter Ellingworth, CEO, Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI) have today announced a new agreement to accelerate the delivery of the future UK HealthTech regulatory system. Acknowledging the Chancellor’s priorities of stability and growth supported by regulatory reforms, and the importance of the success of the system to UK patients and the Life Science sector, they have formed an advisory group on behalf of the Life Sciences Council to drive the delivery of the ambition of the Life Sciences Vision to have a best in class regulatory system. The advisory group has agreed that aligned proposals will be published on three priority areas: international recognition routes for innovation system capacity. Read full press release Source; Gov.UK, 16 December 2022
  17. Event
    until
    This conference from the Westminster Health Forum will focus on the future for diagnostics and medical devices in England - looking at developments and next steps for strategy and regulation. The discussion takes place in the context of the upcoming MedTech strategy from DHSC, and will be an opportunity to examine priorities for improving flexibility and transparency in MedTech supply and procurement, securing value for money, and supporting the adoption of innovation in healthcare settings. Delegates will discuss implementation of the MHRA update to the regulation of medical devices, as well as priorities for safety, assessment and contribution to better patient outcomes. Overall, areas for discussion include: Regulation and evaluation: transition to the new medical device regulations and the updated evaluation process - implementation of the new MHRA medical device regulation proportionate regulation and support for businesses - addressing capacity constraints of authorisation of Approved Bodies patient access: establishing new device frameworks for supporting adoption of innovative medical technology - supporting patient access to devices currently on the market the supply chain: flexibility, transparency and responsiveness in the procurement and supply of medical technology collaboration between healthcare providers and suppliers - engaging healthcare professionals in procurement. Supporting the NHS: workforce efficiency and earlier diagnosis - innovation in diagnostic pathways to address backlogs and wait times - improving patient outcomes and the speed of recovery the role of the new community diagnostic centres - encouraging adoption of new diagnostic methods in the centres and across the NHS. Register
  18. Content Article
    JETS is the JAG Endoscopy Training System. It supports high quality endoscopy training in the UK by offering training courses for endoscopists and an ePortfolio for trainees to record their procedure data. JETS is an online framework for trainee certification in a number of endoscopy modalities including OGD, colonoscopy, and flexible sigmoidoscopy.
  19. Content Article
    Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) are medical devices often used for medium-to-long-term intravenous therapy, but they are often associated with morbid and potentially lethal complications. This multi-centre study in the journal Plos One aimed to identify barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based appropriateness criteria to improve PICC safety and patient outcomes in a pay-for-performance model. The authors found that structured quality improvement (QI) efforts led to sustained PICC appropriateness and improved patient safety. These interventions included a multidisciplinary vascular access committee, clear targets, local champions and support from an online education toolkit.
  20. News Article
    Performance failings at NHS Supply Chain are impacting patient care, staff wellbeing and retention, and local procurement teams are struggling to mitigate their impact, local procurement chiefs have claimed. The group of senior NHS buyers have raised their concerns in a highly critical letter to NHS Supply Chain chief executive Andrew New and NHS England’s chief commercial officer Jacqui Rock. The letter, seen by HSJ, was signed by 22 heads of procurement at trusts and integrated care systems. It raises concerns about the NHSSC’s core functions, like delivering products on time and in full, its governance, and highlights unanswered questions about how it interacts with NHSE’s new central commercial function. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 22 November 2022
  21. Content Article
    This is part of our series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, where we talk to people working for patient safety about their role and what motivates them. Tracey talks to us about the role of NHS Supply Chain in ensuring the products procured through the NHS Supply are of high quality and are safe for healthcare organisations to use. She also highlights the vital importance of complaints and the need for staff who don’t work in direct care delivery to recognise their role in patient safety.
  22. News Article
    Research led by Trinity College in Ireland has found that a regulation which came into effect in May 2021 with the aim of improving the oversight of medical devices in Ireland is leading to unintended consequences which may put some surgeries for children, and the treatment of rare diseases, at risk. The study has been published in the journal Pediatric Cardiology. Medical devices include a great diversity of technologies, which are evaluated and approved in the European Union (EU) according to a revised law that came into effect on 26 May 2021, known as the Medical Device Regulation or MDR (EU 745/2017). It has a transition period that allows products that were approved under the previous rules (the EU Medical Device Directives) to continue to be marketed until 26 May 2024 at the latest. As a result of a series of unforeseen factors, there is a possibility that the MDR may result in products becoming unavailable, with the consequent risk of a loss of some interventions that are reliant upon those devices. Devices that are used for orphan or paediatric indications are particularly vulnerable to this. The paper provides an example of one device, the Rashkind balloon catheter, first developed by Dr William Rashkind in 1966 to open the upper chambers in the heart in neonates with congenital heart disease. A number of these balloons were once available in Europe and now there is only one. This device may become unavailable next year. If this happens, it will not be possible to continue this procedure, and alternative surgeries or treatments are far less optimal. The paper also describes the timeline and cost of bringing the device to market in the EU, the US and Canada, and the cost and time needed to access the EU market has become much greater. Researchers believe there is now an urgent need for policy to be developed to protect essential medical devices for orphan indications and for use in children, to ensure that necessary interventions can continue, and to ensure a more sustainable system in Europe over the longer term. Read full story Source: Trinity College Dublin, 20 October 2022
  23. Content Article
    A safety alert from the US Patient Safety Authority and ECRI.
  24. News Article
    Rolling power cuts enforced this winter if gas supplies run extremely low could endanger thousands of people who use life-saving machines at home, health leaders have warned. They spoke out after National Grid warned on Thursday that households could experience a series of three-hour electricity outages this winter to manage extreme gas shortages, for example if Vladimir Putin shuts off supplies from Russia and cold weather sends demand soaring. Such an event would mean consumers in different parts of the country being notified a day in advance of three-hour blocks of time during which their power would be cut off. The prospect of rolling power outages caused alarm among some health groups, with particular concerns for the thousands of vulnerable patients who rely on electrical devices to keep themselves alive and healthy. Laurie Cuthbert, a director of Kidney Care UK, a health charity, said thousands of adults and children depended on a constant source of power to provide life-saving dialysis at home. Andy Fletcher, the chief executive of Together for Short Lives, which advocates for the UK’s 99,000 seriously ill children and their families, said: “For seriously ill children a three-hour blackout could deprive them of vital life-saving equipment such as ventilators, oxygen and temperature control. Families would be forced to decide whether to admit their child to hospital, which would be extremely disruptive and distressing.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 October 2022
  25. Content Article
    On 5 October 2022, the Safety for All campaign hosted a webinar on the prevention of sharps injuries and theatre safety. There were over fifty people in attendance and there was a lively discussion throughout in person and on the chat. The webinar featured five presentations which are summarised below.
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