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Found 55 results
  1. Content Article
    The Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman investigates unresolved complaints about public bodies in Northern Ireland.   Before you make a complaint to us you should normally have: Complained directly to the organisation  Gone through its complaints process Received a final response to your complaint. Their website will give you more information on what Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman do, how to make a complaint, and their investigations.
  2. Content Article
    The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) are an independent health and social care regulator in Northern Ireland. RQIA aim to assure public confidence in health and social care through their independent, proportionate and responsible regulation. Through inspections, reviews and audits, RQIA provides assurance about the quality of care, challenges poor practice, promotes improvement and safeguards the rights of service users. RQIA informs the public of their findings through the publication of reports. They are committed to working closely with service providers so that they can deliver improved care and are dedicated to hearing and acting on the experiences of patients, clients, families and carers. This leaflet provides more information about RQIA.
  3. Content Article
    The Patient and Client Council’s role with respect to health and social care services is to: represent the interests of the public promote the involvement of the public; assist people making or intending to make a complaint through advocacy; promote the advice and information by HSC bodies to the public about the design, commissioning and delivery of services; undertake research into the best methods and practices for consulting and engaging the public.
  4. News Article
    Staff whistleblowers have raised concerns over patient safety at one of Northern Ireland's biggest health trusts. Information received by UTV under Freedom of Information shows that most of the worries from health workers at the Belfast Health Trust relate to the Royal Victoria Hospital. Belfast Health Trust said any concerns raised by staff are investigated. The Royal College of Nursing NI was due to hold a webinar with members on Tuesday evening to discuss concerns members have about safety of patients being treated on corridors. The RCN's Rita Devlin said that the number of concerns raised with health trusts through the whistleblowing policy is only the tip of the iceberg. The concerns included unsafe staffing levels, bed shortages, boarding of patients, ED overcrowding, alleged drug dealing on a hospital site, staff sleeping on night duty, lack of mental health beds and the quality of staff training. The Belfast Trust said all staff are encouraged to make management aware of issues giving them concern through the whistleblowing process. The Trust added: "Any concern we receive is subject to a fair and proportionate process of investigation. "Whistleblowing investigations are of a fact finding nature and all relevant learning is shared as appropriate and taken forward by the Trust." Read full story Source: ITVX. 12 March 2024
  5. News Article
    Health service dentistry in Northern Ireland could be caught in a "death spiral" without radical action, more than 700 dentists have warned. They say a combination of factors could make the service unsustainable. These include a potential ban on dental amalgam metals used in fillings, budget pressures and a "financially unviable contractual framework". The dentists have called on the Department of Health (DoH) "to show leadership and take action now". A DoH spokesperson said the department "valued the important role" of dentists and was "aware of the ongoing pressures on dental practices". In an open letter to Peter May, the top civil servant at the DoH, dentists from the British Dental Association (BDA) Northern Ireland warned that services were under "intolerable pressure". The letter said: "Despite clear evidence and repeated warnings issued by the BDA about the death spiral health service dentistry in Northern Ireland appears to be in, we have seen inaction from the authorities." The dentists added that a move away from health service dentistry was "well and truly underway" and dentists would "be increasingly driven out of health service dentistry to keep their practices afloat". Read full story Source: BBC News, 30 January 2024
  6. Content Article
    The framework has been produced to guide organisations providing residential or supported living accommodation to adults with a learning disability who may have been impacted by a trauma history. Whilst it can be difficult to assess the impact of trauma for many people with a learning disability, particularly those with a more severe/profound learning disability, it is important to recognise the possibility of the impact of psychological trauma. Providing care practices that are trauma informed, person-centred and growth promoting are less likely to be re-traumatizing for those already exposed to trauma.
  7. News Article
    A fresh inquest into the death of Raychel Ferguson has found she died of a cerebral oedema, or swelling in the brain, due to hyponatraemia. He said the "inappropriate infusion of hypertonic saline fluid" was the most significant factor. The nine-year-old died at the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in June 2001. Coroner Joe McCrisken said her death was due to a series of human errors and not systemic failure. He outlined three causes of the hyponatraemia but said he was satisfied the "inappropriate infusion of hypertonic saline fluid... played the most significant part". The new inquest into Raychel's death was first opened in January 2022 after being ordered by the attorney general but was postponed in October when new evidence came to light. Raychel was one of five children whose deaths over the course of eight years at the same hospital prompted a public inquiry. In 2018 the Hyponatraemia Inquiry - which examined the deaths of five children in Northern Ireland hospitals, including Raychel - found her death was avoidable. The 14-year-long inquiry was heavily critical of the "self-regulating and unmonitored" health service. In his report in 2018, Mr Justice O'Hara found there was a "reluctance among clinicians to openly acknowledge failings" in Raychel's death. Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 December 2023
  8. News Article
    Living with seizures and crippling pain, Zara Corbett says she's "begging for help" as she copes with endometriosis. The 21-year-old told BBC News NI that if she had any other condition she would be receiving help. "With gynae problems, particularly endometriosis, you are left waiting for years." "Women should not be left suffering this pain, it's not good enough," the beautician said. Zara has been put into early menopause - which is one potential treatment for endometriosis. The County Down woman said Northern Ireland needed a dedicated centre to provide specialist support. "I am begging for help from medical professionals including support from a multi-agency network because we are at our wits end - life cannot go on like this," she said. Endometriosis UK, an organisation that helps women with the condition, said it was shocked and saddened that it does not see "good, prompt care" in Northern Ireland. Its chief executive, Emma Cox, who visited Belfast in May, said services in Northern Ireland were "lagging behind" the rest of the UK. "We hear of the very long waiting lists to access gynaecologists to get a diagnosis but also waiting lists to access surgeons, it's about the disease being taken seriously," Ms Cox said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 December 2023
  9. Content Article
    This report published by the National Vascular Registry (NVR) contains information on emergency (non-elective) and elective procedures for the following patient groups: patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) who undergo either (a) lower limb angioplasty/stent, (b) lower limb bypass surgery, or (c) lower limb amputation patients who have a repair procedure for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) patients who undergo carotid endarterectomy or carotid stenting.
  10. News Article
    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
  11. News Article
    Women affected by a review of cervical smears in the Southern Health Trust have said they are "angry, frustrated and scared" for their future. About 17,500 patients in the trust are to have their previous smears re-checked as part of a major review of cervical screening dating back to 2008. Some of these women will be recalled to have new smear tests carried out. But the process has not started yet and will take at least six months to complete. Letters were sent out by the trust earlier this month to those affected. The Southern Trust says it expects to recall around 4,000 women for a new smear test after it reviews 17,368 historic slides. The Trust's medical director, Dr Steve Austin, told its board meeting that the review of slides was expected to start next week. It also emerged that the number of calls from concerned women has increased with many asking for more "specialist" answers. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 October 2023
  12. Content Article
    Urgent funding is required to clear waiting list backlogs and drive Northern Ireland's long-term healthcare transformation, the Northern Ireland Audit Office has said in a new report which outlines the health service's "critical situation" after almost a decade of worsening waiting lists for elective care. The NI Audit Office looked at waiting list data from 2014 to 2023. It found the number of patients waiting for elective care has risen by 452,000 during that nine-year period. The Audit Office also said: "Available information suggests waiting list performance levels are significantly worse in Northern Ireland compared with the other UK regions."
  13. News Article
    The mother of a four-year-old boy with complex needs said she fears he could die waiting for life-changing surgery. Collette Mullan made the claim to BBC Spotlight as it examined the scale of hospital waiting lists. Northern Ireland has the worst waiting times in the UK, with more than half a million cases queued for an outpatient or inpatient appointment. The Department of Health has described current waiting lists as "entirely unacceptable". Óisín, from County Londonderry, has a number of health conditions including cerebral palsy, and is currently waiting for two procedures. He is fed with a tube that carries his food through his nose into his stomach, but since it was inserted six months ago, his mum Collette said he has struggled to breathe. Óisín is now waiting to have the nasogastric tube removed and replaced by a different feeding system which goes directly to his stomach. Collette said she was told it could be a three-year wait for the procedure. She is concerned that Óisín's cerebral palsy puts him at a greater risk of complications, saying she had been warned there was a danger he could aspirate. "He could die. Anything going into his lung really, it could be very dangerous," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 October 2023
  14. News Article
    A new regional centre which promotes the reporting of suspected safety concerns associated with healthcare products has been launched in Northern Ireland. The Yellow Card centre for Northern Ireland will bring together a dedicated team to increase awareness, educate, and promote reporting of suspected adverse events to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Yellow Card scheme. The Yellow Card scheme provides a mechanism for patients, care givers and healthcare staff to report suspected safety concerns associated with healthcare products. Speaking at the launch of the new service, Northern Ireland Chief Pharmaceutical Officer Professor Cathy Harrison said: “Collecting and monitoring information on possible adverse effects of medications and healthcare products is vital to ensuring patient safety. "It is fitting that the launch of the Yellow Card centre for Northern Ireland coincides with World Patient Safety Day on 17 September, with this year’s theme of "Engaging patients for patient safety". "The Yellow Card scheme puts the patient voice at its heart. By voluntarily reporting issues, patients, families and care givers can play a crucial role in their own care, and the safety of healthcare as a whole. I welcome the launch of the new regional centre and would encourage anyone who has suspected safety concerns to report them.” Read full story Source: Department of Health (Northern Ireland), 13 September 2023
  15. News Article
    Northern Ireland's health system cannot expect its staff to "step up time and time again" to provide patient care and ensure their safety. That is according to the head of Northern Ireland's Confederation for Health and Social Care, which is marking the NHS's 75th anniversary. A long-term funding plan, political leadership and transformation are all overdue, Michael Bloomfield said. "There is a clear vision for what needs to happen, the leaders across the health and social care system know what needs to happen - we just need political leadership to make sure it happens," he told BBC News NI. Amid all the celebrations, there are mixed feelings about the current condition and future of health and social care. The director of the Royal College of Nursing NI, Rita Devlin, described the idea of not having an NHS as "unthinkable". "We need to make sure that the environment that we are asking our nurses to work in is one that values the work that they do and fairly pays and rewards them for what they do," she said. Other issues that need addressing, she added, were career pathways, training and ensuring that "when a nurse wants to stay at the bedside, that that is valued equally as the nurses who want to go into management". Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 July 2023
  16. News Article
    Northern Ireland’s chief pharmaceutical officer has said that the use of prescribed medicines and the associated costs remains too high, exceeding £800m a year. In a blog to reflect on the 75th anniversary of the NHS, Professor Cathy Harrison added that medicine costs in NI are the second largest single investment made in the health service, after staff. “The average number of prescription items a year is 21 per person, at a cost of £227. This cost is the highest in the UK and the volume of prescription items is still rising each year,” she said. “There is an uncomfortable truth that manifests in the prescribing data for medicines. In Northern Ireland, we continue to use more of almost every type of medicine than other parts of the UK. “That includes more antibiotics, more painkillers, more baby milks, more nutritional supplements, even more oxygen.” Read full story Source: Belfast Telegraph, 27 June 2023
  17. Content Article
    In April 2022, an investigation commenced into the communications provided to patients and/or their carers following placement on a waiting list in Northern Ireland. The primary focus of the investigation is the adequacy of Trust communications to patients, and/or their carers, across various stages of the waiting list process, with significant consideration being given to the content of the Integrated Elected Access Protocol (Department of Health guidance), and its application by the Trusts. The objective was to determine whether or not systemic maladministration has arisen within the communication practices of the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trusts (the Trusts) and whether improvements are required. It also aims to publicise what patients and/or their carers should expect from waiting list communications. The Investigative Methodology drew evidence from a wide range of sources. This included extensive queries and information requests to the Trusts and the Department; a General Public survey (with 646 responses); a General Practitioner (GP) survey (with 321 responses); follow up interviews with a number of General Public and GP survey respondents; and a number of Case Study reviews. 
  18. News Article
    The system for communicating with patients on healthcare waiting lists in Northern Ireland is in disarray, the Public Services Ombudsman has found. Its year-long investigation found that significant and repeated failures in updating patients amounted to "systematic maladministration". The ombudsman urged the Department of Health (DoH) to work with trusts, GPs and others to address the failings. DoH said it appreciated the distress and frustration of patients on lists. The investigation found that failures by trusts across Northern Ireland to follow guidance meant that patients were given little or no information once a referral had been made. Commenting on the findings, Ombudsman Margaret Kelly said the investigation found a waiting list system "which is in disarray and sometimes even chaos". "There is a lack of coherence between the different parts of the system, a lack of clear communication, and a lack of an overall agreed plan for improvement." Read full story Source: BBC News,15 June 2023
  19. Content Article
    European guidelines advise that patients suffering ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) should be revascularised within 120 minutes of diagnosis. The preferred method of revascularization is primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). This study in BMJ Heart analysed the Northern Irish STEMI database to establish the proportion of pPCI delivered within the recommended treatment window. It aimed to determine whether there was any difference in long-term survival for patients treated beyond the recommended time window. The authors found that delays that result in primary PCI beyond 120 minutes from diagnostic ECG are associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality following STEMI in Northern Ireland.
  20. News Article
    Waiting times for gynaecology services in Northern Ireland are so bad that an independent and rapid review is taking place, BBC News NI has learned. It is being conducted by the Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) programme which helps improve the quality of care within the NHS. A GIRFT team spent a week this month visiting all five health and social care trusts. In October 2022, 36,900 women in NI were on a gynaecology waiting list. A report from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said that figure was a 42% increase since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and that Northern Ireland had the longest gynaecological waiting lists in the UK. While waiting lists show that some women are waiting about 110 weeks to see a consultant gynaecologist for the first time, consultants have told BBC News NI that the reality is women depending on their medical issue are waiting much longer. Read full story Source: 31 May 2023
  21. News Article
    Northern Ireland GPs are being hit with bills of thousands of pounds as they are sued by patients coming to harm on hospital waiting lists. Family doctors are being taken to court by their patients as a result of spiralling hospital waiting lists — even though GPs are not responsible for the crisis. It comes as official figures show 14% of the population — around one in seven — had been waiting longer than a year for an outpatient or inpatient appointment at the end of March. The growing risk to patient safety, as the health service struggles to cope with demand, and the potential for primary care doctors to be held accountable have been blamed as reasons for the rising number of GPs who are handing back their contracts. Sixteen GP surgeries in Northern Ireland have handed back contracts in recent months, bringing the key NHS service closer to collapse. Read full story Source: Belfast Telegraph, 30 May 2023
  22. News Article
    The Royal College of Midwives says the need for a maternity strategy in Northern Ireland has gone beyond urgent and is now critical. The warning comes as the RCM is publishing a report on Northern Ireland's maternity services at Stormont on Tuesday. The report will highlight growing challenges as more women across the country with additional health needs are being cared for by maternity services. The RCM report will outline three steps to deliver high quality and safe services for women and families. Develop, publish and fund the implementation of a new maternity and neonatal strategy for Northern Ireland. Sustain the number of places for new student midwives at their recent, higher level. Focus on retaining the midwives in the HSC. Read full story Source: ITV News, 30 May 2023
  23. News Article
    Patients who fail to turn up for surgical day case procedures are costing the health service thousands of pounds. It is a problem across Northern Ireland's five health trusts. Over a 10-month period in the South Eastern area 14,000 patients did not attend or cancelled review appointments on the day they were due to turn up. Assistant Director of Elective Surgery at the South Eastern Trust Christine Allam said it was "frustrating". The South Eastern trust review showed between April 2022 and January 2023, 7,755 people did not attend or cancelled new outpatient appointments on the day. During the same period, 14,003 or 10% of patients didn't show for review appointments. Ms Allam said the situation was "frustrating for those patients who are waiting to be seen". "Those slots where people don't turn up are lost capacity because we haven't been given notice - and this only lengthens the waiting lists," she added. It is a problem that all health trusts are experiencing. Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 May 2023
  24. News Article
    A woman who had a hysterectomy has said she was discharged without sufficient information on its impact on her physical and mental health. Mechelle Davis, from County Down, said it was crucial women left hospital with appropriate medication and advice. Her operation involved removal of her womb, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and cervix. Ms Davis was 48 when she had her operation and said she had no option but to look online for advice, something she described as "unsatisfactory". "I had the operation in October 2022 and didn't go on HRT until the following February," she told BBC News NI. "Every woman who is going through the menopause - including surgically induced - needs support. In its online tool for clinicians, British Menopause Society advise that HRT plays a significant role in managing surgical menopause, especially in women under 45 - provided there are no contradictions such as personal history of hormone dependant cancer. It also adds that "all women undergoing surgical menopause should have counselling and be provided with information about the hormonal consequences of surgery and the role of HRT, both before surgery and before leaving hospital with clear communication to the primary care team." BBC News NI has spoken to other women who, after having a hysterectomy, were discharged without advice or a HRT prescription. Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 May 2023 Further reading on the hub: World Menopause Day 2022: Raising awareness of surgical menopause
  25. News Article
    The amount of government money spent on medical negligence cases and legal fees in Northern Ireland doubled within a year. Just over £20m was paid out during 2020-21 but that increased to more than £40m in the 2021-22 financial year. Last year, £30.7m was paid out in damages, while £5.9m went on plaintiff costs and £3.7m in defence costs. The increase in cost is being attributed to the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, 3,987 clinical negligence cases were open. Almost half (1,813) of all cases open in 2021-22 related to four specialties: Obstetrics - 564 Accident and emergency - 456 Neurology - 407 General surgery - 386 There has been a stark increase in the number of cases relating to neurology in the past five years from 23 in 2017-18 to 407 in 2021-22. Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 April 2023
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