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Showing results for tags 'Mental health'.
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News Article
Michael Watt hearing: Lawyers withdraw over mental health concerns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Lawyers for a doctor at the centre of Northern Ireland's biggest patient recall have withdrawn from his new fitness to practise hearing. Legal representatives for Michael Watt said they are "concerned about his serious mental health condition". They told the Medical Practice Tribunal Service that the continuation of the hearing in public "presents a real risk to his mental health". A new fitness to practise hearing began in September. The legal team has also formally withdrawn an application to the tribunal for Michael Watt to remove himself from the medical register. It followed a ruling by the High Court earlier this year to quash a decision where he previously was voluntary erased from the medical register. The tribunal is inquiring into the allegation that, between 7 and 22 of October 2018, Michael Watt underwent a General Medical Council assessment of the standard of his professional performance. It is alleged that that performance was unacceptable in the areas of maintaining professional performance, assessment, clinical management, record keeping and relationship with patients. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 October 2023 -
News ArticleNo senior NHS England director is prepared to take responsibility for ADHD services — which are facing waits of up to a decade and severe medication shortages — HSJ has discovered. Despite soaring demand for assessments and widespread drug shortages recently triggering a national patient safety alert, responsibility for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder services does not sit within any NHS England directorate. HSJ understands that none of NHSE’s mental health, learning disability, or autism programmes have been given any resources for ADHD. It is also claimed that the medical and long-term conditions teams “are not very interested” in taking responsibility, and “assumed someone else was doing it”. A senior source, very close to the issue, told HSJ that no NHS senior director had taken “ownership” of the issue, and there was a widespread misapprehension that responsibility for ADHD services was part of the autism remit given to the mental health directorate. “We haven’t got the attention we need around ADHD,” said the source, “we need a [dedicated] neurodiversity programme.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 26 October 2023
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News Article
NHS psych ward period provision criticised by patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Imagine being on your period and "forced to beg for pads and tampons". According to 24-year-old Lara, that's common for her and others on mental health hospital wards in the UK. When she posted about her experience online, people from across the country responded with their own similar stories. Mental health hospitals have various rules in place for safety reasons, including access to certain items. However, NHS guidance states that period products should be available to anyone who needs them. Lara says this hasn't always been the case for her. "I've had a number of hospital admissions to psychiatric units and on one of my first they confiscated my period products," she says. Lara's currently on one-to-one observations for her own safety, which means someone has to escort her to the toilet and watch her change a pad or tampon. But she says her worst experience was when she's had to wear anti-ligature clothing - again for safety reasons. "I was forced to remove my pants and sanitary pad - which meant I just had to bleed into the clothing," she says. "I understand the need for safety to come first, but this experience was unhygienic, traumatising and embarrassing for people to see." Eleanor is 20 years old and recently spent time in a mental health hospital. At her "most unwell", she says she didn't have access to her own clothing and had to wear the same special clothing Lara spoke about. "I'd have two or three people watching me changing and even though I know it's for my own safety, it's dehumanising," she says. Newsbeat asked a number of unions, organisations and charities to comment on the experiences described but none wanted to provide one. But one mental health professional, Kasper, did agree to discuss it. Kasper agrees that safety is always a top priority but adequate period provision is often overlooked."I'm sure all trusts have a policy, but don't think it's always applied - and my observation is that it very much depends on what staff are on shift, especially when there can be lots of agency workers," Kasper says."We do keep products on my ward, but there's not much of a range. "Patients can't access them and some staff don't know where they are either - so the onus is very much on patients, which can be tricky when they're unwell." Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 October 2023 -
News Article
Over 17 000 serious incidents reported in mental healthcare last year
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The UK’s largest mental health charity, Mind, has published previously unseen data laying bare the full scale of the emergency in mental healthcare, with staff reporting 17,340 serious incidents in 12 months. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) figures shows mental healthcare staff across England reported an incident two times every hour in the last year, where people are treated for issues including self-harm, eating disorders and psychosis. Incidents included: injuries to patients that caused likely long term sensory, movement or brain damage, or physically damaged their body prolonged physical pain or psychological harm, or shortened life expectancy cases of abuse, including those involving the police injuries for which the patient needed treatment to prevent them dying. All of these incidents involved care providers raising concerns with the CQC under their statutory duty under Regulation 18. Dr Sarah Hughes, Chief Executive of Mind, says: “It is deeply worrying that healthcare staff across the country are so concerned about the situation in mental health settings that they are reporting a serious incident once every half an hour. We knew this was a crisis – now we know the scale of this crisis. People seek mental healthcare to get well, not to endure harm. Families are being let down by a system that’s supposed to protect their loved ones when they are most sick. The consequences can be and have been fatal". Read full story Source: Mind, 10 October 2023 -
News Article
Mental healthcare in England is a national emergency, say hospital bosses
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Mental healthcare in England has become “a national emergency”, with “overwhelmed” services unable to cope with a big post-Covid surge in people needing help, NHS bosses say. Care is so stretched that thousands of people undergoing a mental health crisis are having to be admitted every year to acute hospitals, even though they are not set up to deal with them. Hospital bosses claim mental health in England has been “forgotten” by ministers who are giving priority to tackling the record 7.7m-strong care backlog, access to GPs and ongoing NHS strikes. “Mental health has slipped down the government’s set of priorities and patients and services are being forgotten. This is a national emergency which is now having serious consequences across the board, not least for those patients in crisis,” said Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 October 2023 -
News ArticleAn NHS trust and ward manager have appeared in court charged with the manslaughter of a 22-year-old mental health patient who died in hospital in July 2015. Alice Figueiredo was found dead at Goodmayes Hospital in east London, and an investigation into her death was opened in April 2016. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorised the Met Police to charge North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) with corporate manslaughter last month following a five-year investigation. It is just the second NHS Trust to face manslaughter charges. The Trust is additionally charged with an offence under section three of the Health and Safety at Work Act in connection with mental health patient Ms Figueiredo's death. Ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa also faces a charge of gross negligence manslaughter and an offence under section seven of the Health and Safety at Work act. NELFT is just the second ever NHS Trust believed to have been charged with corporate manslaughter, after Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust was charged over the death of a woman who underwent an emergency Caesarean in 2015. Read full story Source: Mail Online, 6 October 2023
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News Article
Mental health help for under-fives overlooked - report
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
More support is needed to prevent babies and young children developing mental health problems in later life, leading doctors say. Their report shows there is growing evidence that intervening very early on - from conception to the age of five - may help stop conditions arising or worsening. The Royal College of Psychiatrists is calling for more specialist services. The government says the mental health of children and parents is paramount. Officials say they are investing more in expanding NHS services, alongside funding programmes designed to support children and caregivers. NHS data shows about 5% of two to four-year-olds struggle with anxiety, behavioural disorders and neurodevelopmental conditions including ADHD. The Royal College of Psychiatrists' report suggests half of mental health conditions arise by the age of 14, and many start to develop in the first years of life, making early action "vital". Dr Trudi Seneviratne, from the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), said the majority of under-fives with mental health conditions were not receiving the level of support needed "to help them become productive, functioning adults and reach their full potential. The period from conception to five is essential in securing the healthy development of children into adulthood. Unfortunately, these years are often not given the importance they should be, and many people are unaware of what signs they should be looking out for. Parents, carers and society as a whole have a critical role to play. This includes securing positive relationships and a nurturing environment that supports the building blocks of a child's social, emotional and cognitive development." Read the RCPsych report Infant and early childhood mental health: the case for action Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 October 2023 -
News Article
NHSE warns new policy creates risk for service ‘already under enormous pressure’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS England has warned the decision by police forces to respond to far fewer incidents involving people in mental distress could pose ‘risks’ to both patients and a service “already under enormous pressure”. National mental health director Claire Murdoch has written to integrated care board leaders and mental health trust CEOs about the possible impact of the “right care, right person” policing model which is being rolled out across England. In July, policing minister Chris Philp gave all forces the green light to implement the RCRP model. The approach was first trialled in Humberside and involves officers only attending mental health calls where there is a risk to life or serious harm. Now, in a letter seen by HSJ, Ms Murdoch has admitted the new model is a “major change for services already under enormous pressure” and warns that implementing all of the actions set out in the national partnership agreement may take time between the police and the NHS. This took three years in Humberside, she notes. Ms Murdoch wrote: “I know you will all be doing your best to make this work, but I am so mindful of the risks to services and people with mental health problems, as I am sure you are too.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 15 September 2023 -
News ArticleWomen are being "failed at every stage" when it comes to maternity care, say campaigners, as they call for more support for those experiencing traumatic births. Mumsnet found 79% of the 1,000 women who answered their questionnaire had experienced some form of birth trauma, with 53% saying it had put them off from having more children. And according to the snapshot of UK mothers, 44% also said healthcare professionals had used language implying they were "a failure or to blame" for what happened. Conservative MP Theo Clarke is leading calls for more action after her own experience, where she thought she was "going to die" after suffering a third degree tear and needing emergency surgery. Now, she has set up an all party parliamentary group on birth trauma. She said: "[It is] clear that more compassion, education and better after-care for mothers who suffer birth trauma are desperately needed if we are to see an improvement in mums' physical wellbeing and mental health. "It is vitally important women receive the help and support they deserve." Chief executive of Mumsnet, Justine Roberts, said the trauma had "long-lasting effects", adding: "It's clear that women are being failed at every stage of the maternity care process - with too little information provided beforehand, a lack of compassion from staff during birth, and substandard postnatal care for mothers' physical and mental health." Read full story Source: Sky News, 15 September 2023
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News ArticleA private healthcare provider has been ordered to pay more than £1.5m – the largest fine issued for such a case – after pleading guilty in a criminal prosecution brought by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) over the death of a young woman at Cygnet Hospital Ealing in July 2019. It is the highest ever fine issued to a mental health service following a prosecution by the CQC. The firm pleaded guilty to one offence of failing to provide safe care and treatment, acknowledging failures to: provide a safe ward environment to reduce the risk of people being able to use a ligature; ensure staff observed people intermittently in line with the company procedures; and train staff to be able to resuscitate patients in an emergency. The offences related to the case of a young woman who was admitted to a ward in Cygnet Hospital Ealing in November 2018. In July 2019, she took her own life while on the ward. CQC said Cygnet Ealing had been aware the young woman tried to harm herself in an almost identical way four months earlier, but had failed to mitigate the known environmental risk she was exposed to. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 September 2023
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News Article
NHSE director ‘concerned by 20% nursing gap’ amid push to tackle poor culture
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS England’s national mental health director admitted she was ‘concerned’ that 20% of mental health nurse roles were unfilled and about the impact this could have on a nationwide push to improve safety and tackle closed cultures. Claire Murdoch was speaking to HSJ a year on from a series of high-profile documentaries exposing abuse and poor care at mental health trusts. In their wake, Ms Murdoch urged providers to urgently review safeguarding, while a separate three-year quality programme was also launched to look at closed cultures and improve safety. Now in the middle of that programme, Ms Murdoch stressed that stability in staffing is “vital” to developing safe and therapeutic care, but that many services across the country are struggling with significant nursing vacancies. She said: “The bit that absolutely we need to acknowledge [around changing cultures] is there are some significant workforce and staffing challenges, which I’m concerned about, with a 20%t vacancy of qualified registered mental health nurses nationally. “There are new support roles, psychology assistant roles, physician associates – there are all sorts coming into being in inpatient care, but a lot of services are still struggling with staffing". Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 September 2023 -
News Article
Whistleblower denied mental health treatment after suing nearby trust
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A mental health provider has apologised after telling a whistleblower he was being declined treatment due to an employment tribunal he had brought against a neighbouring trust. Andrew Wardley was among a group of staff who raised concerns over a major research project at The Christie, a prominent cancer trust in Greater Manchester. Dr Wardley, a leading oncologist, has claimed he was sidelined and effectively bullied out after raising legitimate concerns. He has brought an employment tribunal against the specialist trust. The ongoing case has caused him severe stress and anxiety, prompting him to seek psychological treatment with South West Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust, which runs services near his home in Huddersfield. He told HSJ an initial phone conversation with trust staff had been positive and ended with an agreement he would benefit from treatment with the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies team. But he subsequently received a letter from the trust, which said: “Given the ongoing litigation IAPT would not be in a position to offer any therapy". Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 20 September 2023 -
Content ArticleResearch clearly demonstrates that from conception onwards, rapid brain development influences the cognitive, emotional and social development of babies and young children. Pre-conception to five years is an important time in a child’s life and critical for brain and psychological development, the formation of enduring relationship patterns, and emotional, social and cognitive functioning – all of which are foundations for healthy development, but which can also confer protection against mental health conditions. The establishment of sensitive, attuned and responsive relationships is essential for positive mental health and wellbeing and underpins interventions to address problems in social and emotional development, poor mental health and mental health conditions in under 5s. This report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) aims to outline the importance of mental health in babies and young children under 5 to policy makers, commissioner and healthcare practitioners.
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Content ArticleThis study aims to explore minority ethnic women’s experiences of perinatal mental health services during COVID-19 in London. Methods: Eighteen women from ethnic minority backgrounds were interviewed, and data were subject to a thematic analysis. Results: Three main themes were identified, each with two sub-themes: ‘Difficulties and Disruptions to Access’ (Access to Appointments; Pandemic Restrictions and Disruption), ‘Experiences of Remote Delivery’ (Preference for Face-to-Face Contact; Advantages of Remote Support); ‘Psychosocial Experiences’ linked to COVID-19 (Heightened Anxiety; Social Isolation). Conclusions: Women from ethnic minority backgrounds experienced disrupted perinatal mental health care and COVID-19 restrictions compounding their mental health difficulties. Services should take women’s circumstances into account and provide flexibility regarding remote delivery of care.
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Content ArticleThis study, published by BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, explored minority ethnic women's experiences of access to and engagement with perinatal mental health care.
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Content Article
Top picks for Mental Health Day
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Mental health
This year, WHO's World Mental Health Day on 10 October will focus on the theme 'Mental health is a universal human right'. To mark World Mental Health Day, we’ve pulled together 10 resources, blogs and reports from the hub that focus on improving patient safety across different aspects of mental health services. -
Content ArticleThe Restraint Reduction Network's mission is to eliminate the unnecessary use of restrictive practices in health, social care and education. They have a range of resources that people with lived experience, parents and carers may find helpful. As all forms of restrictive practice can result in harm, it is important that people are able to identify restrictive practices and challenge their inappropriate use. The resources are designed to support people to understand what restrictive practices are, when and why they might be used, people’s rights, and how to identify and challenge unacceptable and unethical practices.
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Content ArticleDoctors are dying by suicide at higher rates than the general population—somewhere between 300 to 400 physicians a year in the US take their own lives. This article in The Guardian looks at why so many surgeons are dying to suicide and what can be done to stop the trend. It examines how the culture of working long hours and the expectation to be 'superhuman' leads surgeons to suppress their symptoms and avoid seeking help for mental health issues. The article also tells the story of US surgeon and President of the Association of Academic Surgery Carrie Cunningham, who has lived with depression, anxiety and a substance abuse disorder for many years.
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Content ArticleIt is more important than ever that Integrated Care Systems (ICS) invest urgently in community mental health. The introduction of the Community Mental Health Framework in 2019 presented a once-in-a-generation opportunity for mental health systems. With ringfenced transformation funding coming to an end in April 2024 and in a climate of crisis and uncertainty, we need to ensure these changes are embedded. Rethink Mental Illness have launched their new report, 'Building Community into the Integrated Care System; A practical guide to developing robust community mental health', where they: Summarise the significant challenges facing mental healthcare. Provide a toolkit of practical, workable solutions to common barriers to transformation. Explore the role that the VCSE sector can have in pursuing the four core aims and future goals of ICSs.
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News Article
Doctors urged to ask patients about gambling in new NHS mental health guidance
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People who seek help for mental health issues should be asked about problem gambling in the same way they are asked about drugs, smoking and alcohol, new guidance has suggested. According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), those who visit an NHS health professional in England for depression, anxiety or thoughts about self-harm or suicide because of a possible addiction, such as alcohol or drugs, could be at a greater risk of harm from gambling. NICE said questions should be asked about patients’ gambling habits to ensure they could cope with their thoughts and urges. In new draft guidance, it suggested patients should be encouraged to assess the severity of their gambling by using a questionnaire available on the NHS website. Those who scored eight or higher should seek support and treatment from gambling services. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 October 2023 -
News Article
GP burnout: 'I was left feeling like a husk of a human'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of doctors seeking help for mental health issues has risen by more than three quarters within two years, according to figures from a specialist treatment service for NHS staff. For one GP, the relentless stress of the job led to him taking three months off work with burnout. David Triska is no stranger to high-pressure situations. As an army medic, he served two tours of Afghanistan. But mounting workloads at his village GP surgery left him feeling "hollowed out and spent". Simple tasks, like unlocking his car or making a meal, became a challenge - an experience he describes as leaving him feeling "like a husk of a human". "At that extreme point, I couldn't see why I needed to be here anymore," Dr Triska said. He is not alone. Since the year ending March 2021, there has been a 77% rise in the number of doctors seeking help for mental health issues, according to figures shared with the BBC by a confidential support service for NHS staff. More than 5,600 doctors used the NHS Practitioner Health programme in England in 2022/23, with about a third having thought about taking their own lives. Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 October 2023 -
Content ArticleThere are supply disruptions affecting various strengths of the following medications which are licensed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): methylphenidate (Equasym® XL) capsules, methylphenidate (Xaggitin XL® , Concerta XL® , Xenidate XL® ) prolonged-release tablets, lisdexamfetamine (Elvanse® ) capsules, and guanfacine (Intuniv® ) prolonged-release tablets. This is a safety critical and complex National Patient Safety Alert. Implementation should be co-ordinated by an executive lead (or equivalent role in organisations without executive boards) and supported by clinical leaders in pharmacy, community pharmacy, GP practices, mental health services and those working in the health and justice sector.
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Content ArticleCQC's completed programme, which started in 2014, of comprehensive inspections of all specialist mental health services in England.
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Content ArticleMental health in the UK is getting worse. Sickness absence due to mental illness is soaring, rates of mental health difficulties are increasing at an alarming rate, and already overstretched services are struggling to meet rising demands. Along with over 30 organisations with an interest in mental health, the Centre for Mental Health has developed a plan to address this and build a mentally healthier nation.
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News ArticlePolice forces in parts of the UK have stopped answering urgent calls related to mental health even before alternative support is available to people, under a policy designed to free up officers’ time, MPs were told last week. The move means many vulnerable people are being left without help in areas where the necessary services and arrangements with other agencies are not yet in place, warned Sarah Hughes, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind. Giving evidence to the House of Commons health select committee on Tuesday 19 September, Hughes said, “We know of local Mind and local trust partners who are already experiencing people having no response because the police are saying they no longer respond to mental health calls.” The policy, Right Care, Right Person, which was developed by Humberside Police over nearly three years, is being rolled out in England and Wales from the end of October at varying speeds. Backed by the government and police representative bodies, it aims to ensure that patients in a mental health crisis are treated by the most appropriate agency, rather than have police act as default responder, when they may not be best suited to help. But the Royal College of Psychiatrists is among the organisations to have raised concerns over the levels of preparation and resourcing for the policy and the absence of evaluation of clinical outcomes or benefits and harms to the population. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 25 September 2023
