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Found 538 results
  1. News Article
    NHS chiefs have issued an extraordinary plea for families to help them discharge loved ones even if they are Covid-19 positive as the health service faces a “perfect storm” fuelled by heavy demand, severe staff shortages and soaring Covid cases. Hospitals and ambulance services across England are under “enormous strain”, health leaders have warned, after NHS trusts covering millions of patients declared critical incidents or issued stark warnings to residents. Dr Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, which represents the whole healthcare system, said the situation had become so serious that “all parts” of the health service were now becoming “weighed down”. This will have a “direct knock-on effect” on the ability of staff to tackle the care backlog, she added, as well as the current provision of urgent and emergency care. On Wednesday evening, the crisis became so acute in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight that its chief medical officer urged relatives of patients well enough to be discharged to collect them immediately – even if they were still testing positive for coronavirus. Dr Derek Sandeman, of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System, revealed that almost every hospital in the two counties was full, and said the number of people with Covid-19 being cared for in hospitals across the area was 650 – more than 2.5 times higher than in early January. He added that 2,800 staff working for local NHS organisations were off sick, half of which absences were due to Covid-19. “With staff sickness rates well above average, rising cases of Covid-19 and very high numbers of people needing treatment, we face a perfect storm – but there are some very specific ways in which people can help the frontline NHS and care teams,” said Sandeman. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 April 2022
  2. News Article
    An independent investigation into the death of a man with autism and learning difficulties in NHS care may never be published in full as his sister has rejected several drafts as inaccurate, telling NHS England they were ‘totally unethical’. Anthony Dawson died from a burst gastric ulcer in Ashmount, a residential care home run by Surrey and Borders Partnership Foundation Trust, in May 2015. The jury at an inquest into his death found there were gross failings in his care and his death was contributed to by neglect. NHS England commissioned an independent investigation into the incident from Sancus Solutions in June 2017. But seven years after Mr Dawson’s death the investigation’s report has yet to be published, despite several reports being submitted. His sister, Julia Dawson, has written to NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard in recent weeks saying: “The investigation has not had my brother at its heart which we were assured would be the case” and that its reports had been “totally unethical”. Ms Dawson has asked that only the executive summary of the latest draft of the investigation be published, alongside a statement saying that she feels it has inaccuracies and misses out important points. She says that successive drafts have misrepresented her brother’s situation and failed to address what she believes was the real cause of his death – the frequent use of NSAIDs (ibuprofen) without any measures taken to protect his stomach. This ultimately led to the undiagnosed gastric ulcer bursting. An expert witness told the inquest into his death that treatment with proton pump inhibitors and stopping NSAIDs would have eradicated the ulcer. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 4 April 2022
  3. News Article
    Healthcare leaders have written an open message to NHS staff, drawing attention to “the dangerous level” of abuse many are confronted with, “simply for going to work”. In the message, more than 40 NHS leaders in London said that every year “tens of thousands” of NHS staff are “confronted with violence and aggression from patients”. “Now, the abuse is at a dangerous level, with many of our once hailed heroes fearing for their safety,” they said. “We, leaders of the NHS in London, are speaking with one voice to say that aggression and violence towards our staff will not be tolerated.” Signatories include Andrew Ridley, the NHS England London interm regional director, integrated care system leaders, leaders from general practice and community pharmacy, and many trust bosses from the capital, including Central and North West London FT chief executive and national director for mental health Claire Murdoch. The message thanked NHS staff for continuing to care for people and encouraged the reporting of “all forms of verbal and physical abuse from patients, their families and friends so that we may take action”. They also sent a message to patients and their families: “We will strive to do our best for you and your loved ones. People who are most unwell do need to be seen most urgently, but all our patients are important to us and will receive the care needed. While we are thankful for the support shown by so many, to those who show violence and aggression let it be known: abusing our staff is never ok.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 March 2022
  4. News Article
    A man died after an NHS trust failed to diagnose and treat sepsis quickly enough, a Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigation has found. Stephen Durkin died after suffering organ failure from sepsis. Stephen’s wife Michelle made a complaint to the Ombudsman after she was left floored by his sudden death which she believed was avoidable. Stephen was an otherwise healthy 56-year-old when he attended Wye Valley Trust A&E in July 2017 with chest pain. Hospital staff suspected he had a major blood vessel blockage and admitted him to a ward overnight. The next morning his overall condition had worsened but staff did not monitor him more closely, as national guidance advises, and he continued to deteriorate throughout the day. The next day Stephen was admitted to intensive care and treated for sepsis but tragically died later that evening. In the space of 48-hours his condition deteriorated rapidly but staff did not act quickly enough and the critical care team attended Stephen ten hours too late. His wife Michelle arrived at the hospital to visit Stephen, only to find that he was critically ill and unresponsive. She was left devastated by his death and turned to the Ombudsman to look into what had happened with his care. Ombudsman Rob Behrens said: "Stephen’s tragic death could so easily have been avoided. His case shows why early detection of sepsis, as set out in national guidelines, is crucial." "Sadly, this is not the first time we have had to highlight this issue. There is clearly more the NHS needs to do. It is vital that NHS trusts ensure their staff are sepsis-aware to reduce the number of avoidable deaths from this life-threatening condition." Read full story Source: PHSO, 3 March 2022
  5. News Article
    More than a dozen families are seeking compensation following "significant failures" at NHS Lothian's hearing service for children. The health board apologised to more than 155 families after an independent investigation found serious problems diagnosing and treating hearing loss. Sophie was born partly deaf and failed repeated hearing tests for years. Her family say no help was offered by the paediatric audiology department at NHS Lothian who kept saying she would be fine. But her parents say she is not. Sophie is now seven. Her speech and language has not developed fully and is sometimes hard to understand. Her confidence has been affected. Her mum Sarah said: "They failed Sophie. You kind of trust what they were doing, you thought maybe she doesn't need hearing aids, maybe she will just catch up and now she's almost eight years old and she's still not caught up and you think 'OK, maybe there were mistakes made then'." An independent investigation by the British Academy of Audiology (BAA), published in December last year, found "significant failures" involving 155 children over nine years at NHS Lothian. Several profoundly deaf children were diagnosed too late for vital implant surgery. The health board has "apologised sincerely" to those affected. The BAA looked at more than 1,000 patient records finding "significant failures" in almost 14% of them. The BAA said it found "no evidence" that national guidelines and protocols on hearing tests for children had been followed or consistently applied "at any point since 2009". Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 March 2022
  6. News Article
    Next month, a report will be published into one of the biggest scandals in the history of the NHS, the failures of maternity care at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. The BBC's Michael Buchanan who helped uncover the problems examines why so many failures were allowed to happen for so long. Kayleigh Griffiths' baby, Pippa, died at 31 hours old. The cause of death, the couple were later told, was an infection - Group B Strep. The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust told the family they would carry out an investigation. But after several weeks of silence, Kayleigh contacted the trust to be told it was an internal investigation and the couple's input wouldn't be required. Kayleigh, an NHS auditor at a different trust, feared the truth was being hidden from her. That's when she decided to send the email to Rhiannon Davies, whose baby, Kate, also died at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust As the bond between the mothers deepened, their conversations morphed into something else. Armed with little more than a gnawing suspicion, they started to scour the internet, coroner's records and death notices to see if any other families had received poor maternity care at the Shropshire trust. They collated 23 cases dating back to 2000 - including stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and babies born with brain injuries. Appalled by what they had found, they wrote to the then health secretary Jeremy Hunt in December 2016, asking him to order an investigation. He agreed and in May 2017, senior midwife Donna Ockenden was appointed to lead the review. One of the themes the inquiry has already noted, in an interim report published in December 2020, is that in many cases the trust failed to investigate after something went wrong, or simply carried out its own inquiry. Panorama has discovered the trust even developed its own investigation system, what they called a High Risk Case Review. It was outside any national framework that has been used to help learn lessons from incidents and doesn't appear to be a system that's used in any other NHS organisation. Another consequence of the unorthodox system was that fewer incidents were reported to NHS regulators, limiting the opportunity to learn lessons. One of the earliest cases on the original list of 23 compiled by the two couples was the death of Kathryn Leigh in 2000. Panorama has investigated the case and discovered that a theme identified almost two decades ago was to come up repeatedly in subsequent incidents. The publication of the final report by Donna Ockenden next month will be a watershed moment in the history of the NHS - the revelation of multiple instances of maternity failures in a rural corner of England. Pippa Griffiths and Kate Stanton-Davies lived fewer than 40 hours between them, but their legacy, in terms of improved maternity care, could last decades. Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 February 2022 Source:
  7. News Article
    Patients face limits on visitors in every hospital trust in England, The Telegraph has revealed, with restrictions set to continue even once the country moves to "living with Covid". It comes as Boris Johnson announces that all Covid regulations including self-isolation will be abolished at the end of February. The health service supports keeping some visiting restrictions in place while Covid remains in circulation among the general population, it is understood. A spokesman said: "The NHS regularly reminds hospitals that visits for patients should continue to go ahead as much as possible and extra measures should already be in place so that this can be done safely." NHS England encourages trusts to facilitate visits "wherever possible, and to do so in a risk-managed way", but it is up to individual trusts to set their own policies based on UK Health Security Agency guidelines. Analysis by The Telegraph found that at least 34 hospital trusts across England still have routine visits suspended, with exceptions such as those for patients receiving end-of-life care and people with dementia. All 125 trusts have some form of visiting restriction in place. The most common policy is to have one named visitor per patient for the entirety of a patient's stay, who can only visit for one hour once a day. Helen Wildbore, the director of the Relatives and Residents Association, said limiting patients to one nominated visitor put pressure on families, leaving the carer "exhausted". She added: "If you’re going into hospital and you're not able to have your family with you, you're going to come out worse." In some cases, patients who needed hospital care had chosen not to go because they were worried about being isolated from family, she said. Caroline Abrahams, the Charity Director at Age UK, said it was "imperative that hospitals open their doors to visitors again as wide as they possibly can" as the pandemic eases. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 18 February 2022 You may also be interested in reading: Visiting restrictions and the impact on patients and their families: a relative's perspective
  8. News Article
    Seventy families have come forward to be a part of an independent review into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH). The aim of the review is to "drive rapid improvements to maternity services". It comes after an investigation found 46 babies suffered brain damage and 19 were stillborn between 2010 and 2020. The Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS England are jointly leading the review of maternity incidents, complaints and concerns at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH). Cathy Purt, programme director of the review, said during a Nottingham City Council Health Scrutiny Committee meeting on Thursday: "We have had 70 families come forward 19 families have had their first interview with us." "We have secured via the CCG specialist psychological support for the rest of the families so they will now be able to come forward and have their interviews as well. "40 staff have come forward so far and more are coming as we go." The review will cover information dating back to 2006, and is expected to be completed by November 30 2022. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 February 2022
  9. News Article
    Bereaved families in Scotland questioned the credibility of the Covid-19 inquiry on its opening day. Proceedings started with a presentation in Dundee by the public health physician Dr Ashley Croft, who talked about the scientific and medical understanding of the virus as it existed in late 2019 and how it developed up to the end of last year. Members of the Scottish Covid Bereaved group were said to be “bewildered” by the choice of Croft as first speaker of the inquiry, having previously raised concerns about his being used as an expert witness. The lawyer Aamer Anwar, who is representing the group, highlighted a High Court judgment that reportedly described Croft as providing “flawed, unreliable” and “unconvincing” evidence and displaying “a cavalier approach to important evidence”. Pointing out that no respects were paid to the many people who lost their lives during the pandemic during the presentation either, Anwar described the inquiry’s start as “embarrassing” and “deeply disrespectful”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 27 July 2023
  10. News Article
    Rishi Sunak says the government will wait for the Infected Blood Inquiry's final report before responding to questions around victim compensation. Bereaved families heckled the prime minister when he told the inquiry the government would act as "quickly as possible". Mr Sunak told the inquiry people infected and affected by the scandal had "suffered for decades" and he wanted a resolution to "this appalling tragedy". But although policy work was progressing and the government in a position to move quickly, the work had "not been concluded". He indicated there was a range of complicated issues to work through. "If it was a simple matter, no-one would have called for an inquiry," Mr Sunak said. Campaign group Factor 8 said Mr Sunak had offered "neither new information not commitments" to the victims and bereaved families, which felt "like a betrayal". Haemophilia Society chief executive Kate Burt said: "This final delay is demeaning, insulting and immensely damaging. "We urge the prime minister to find the will to do the right thing and finally deliver compensation which recognises the suffering that has been caused." Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 July 2023
  11. News Article
    An ambulance service has apologised to families following a review into claims it covered up errors by paramedics and withheld evidence from coroners. The families of a teenager and a 62-year-old man were not told paramedics' responses were being investigated by North East Ambulance Service (NEAS). The deaths, in 2018 and 2019, were raised by a whistleblower last year. Among the findings of the independent review carried out by Dame Marianne Griffiths, were inaccuracies in information provided to the coroner, employees who were "fearful of speaking up" and "poor behaviour by senior staff". The study, commissioned by the former health secretary Sajid Javid in August, examined four of the five cases that were highlighted by the whistleblower, initially in The Sunday Times. It found two bereaved families were left in the dark about investigations into the response of paramedics called to help their loved ones. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 July 2023
  12. News Article
    A review into failings in maternity care in hospitals in Nottingham is set to become the largest in the UK, the BBC understands. Donna Ockenden, chair of the inquiry, is expected to announce that 1,700 families' cases will be examined. She was in charge of the probe into services in Shropshire, which found at least 201 babies and mothers might have survived had they received better care. The review comes after dozens of baby deaths and injuries in Nottingham and focuses on the maternity units at the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital. So far, 1,266 families have contacted the review team themselves directly and to date, 674 of these have given consent to join it. But Ms Ockenden has called for a "radical review" to ensure "women from all communities" were being contacted by the trust and "felt confident" to come forward. Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 July 2023
  13. News Article
    The government’s national review of mental health hospitals must urgently address the “lack of sympathy and compassion” towards patients if safety is to improve, the health ombudsman has said. Rob Berhens said the investigation, prompted by The Independent’s reporting on deaths and abuse of vulnerable patients, must look at three key issues, including a lack of empathy for those with mental health challenges, a lack of resources and poor working conditions for staff. Health Secretary Steve Barclay announced last week that a new safety body, the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSIB), would look into the care of young people, examine staffing levels and scrutinise the quality of care within mental health units. Mr Berhens said: “I trust [HSIB] to be able to understand what are the key issues, they’re about the lack of sympathy and compassion for people who have mental health challenges, which to me is a human rights issue." Read full story Source: The Independent, 1 July 2023
  14. News Article
    The midwife leading a review into failings by Nottingham's maternity services said the scope was wider than the UK's biggest maternity scandal. Donna Ockenden previously led the review at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust that found failings led to the deaths of more than 200 babies. The terms of reference for the review in Nottingham were set out on Tuesday. A category of severe maternal harm has been added to include cases that did not lead to a death or injury. Earlier this year Ms Ockenden completed her inquiry into the UK's biggest maternity scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust. She said the scope of the review in Nottingham was wider because an additional category had been added to the investigation. It aims to identify cases of severe maternal harm, like an unexpected admission to intensive care or a major obstetric haemorrhage. Ms Ockenden said: "We felt adding in the category of severe maternal harm would help us to understand women's experiences and help us to learn and help the trust to learn from those cases as well. "So actually there's been a widening of the scope which our review team felt was important and when we tested it out with some families they felt it was important too. "Perhaps there's a mum out there saying 'well I'm ok, and my baby's ok, but x,w,z of my maternity experience really worried me or frightened me' then she can send in her experiences." She said fathers could also send in their experiences. Read full story Source: BBC News, 14 September 2022
  15. News Article
    Merope Mills’s recent article in the Guardian should be mandatory reading for all medical and nursing students. All of us who are senior doctors or nurses will recognise only too well the dangerous conditions that Merope describes: the senior doctors with overinflated egos; the internecine warfare between departments; the nursing staff and junior doctors who are rendered impotent by repeated attempts to galvanise action from off-site but know-it-all seniors; the lack of integrated thinking that results when there is no consistent lead clinician; and, most dangerous, not listening to the patient or their relatives, and not directly examining the patient. Candour and co-production are terms much used in healthcare, but for some staff these aspects of care are a million miles away from the ego-driven practice in which they engage. This is why Merope’s advice is so important. Do not have blind faith in your clinician. Do not leave all the thinking to them. Do equip yourself with knowledge and, most of all, do demand to be treated as an equal partner in the care of your body or your loved one. Current and former healthcare professionals respond to Merope Mills’s account of losing her daughter after a series of catastrophic medical errors. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 September 2022
  16. News Article
    More than 350 families have already contacted a review team which is examining failings at maternity units in two Nottingham hospitals. The review was opened on 1 September by Donna Ockenden, who previously led an inquiry into the maternity scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust. She will examine how dozens of babies died or were injured in Nottingham. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has apologised for "unimaginable distress" caused by its failings. More affected families, as well as staff with concerns, have been asked to come forward. Ms Ockenden said: "We are really pleased with the large numbers of families and staff that have already come forward in the first week of the review, and we actively encourage others to do the same." Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 September 2022
  17. News Article
    The midwife leading a review into Nottingham's maternity services has urged families and staff to come forward with their experiences. Donna Ockenden was appointed in May to head the inquiry into the services at Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital. It was launched after more than 100 families with experiences of maternity failings wrote to former Health Secretary Sajid Javid demanding the action. A much-criticised initial review was subsequently scrapped. Ms Ockenden, who uncovered 200 avoidable baby deaths at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust across two decades, said the review is now open to families, NHS workers and others who wish to contribute. "By September 1 we'll be ready to receive contact from families," she told Nottinghamshire Live. "In the mean time if there are either families or members of the NHS that want to get in touch they can use our new email. And also those who represent communities, whether that's safe communities or women's groups in Nottingham." People can contact the review through the email nottsreview@donnaockenden.com, which was launched last week. Ms Ockenden said that positive steps were being made in putting in place the "building blocks" for the review, which is due to start on 1 September 2022. Read full story Source: Nottinghamshire Live, 17 August 2022
  18. News Article
    Almost 75 years since its foundation, the NHS is struggling with delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the “greatest workforce crisis” in its history. A report from MPs on the health committee this week showed 105,000 vacancies for doctors, nurses and midwives, as thousands quit owing to burnout, bullying, pension rules and low pay. Jeremy Hunt, the committee’s chairman, said that the “persistent understaffing in the NHS poses a serious risk to staff and patient safety”. Lawyers warned that the crisis risked increasing the number of negligence claims. Spending on claims by NHS Resolution rose to £2.5 billion in 2021-22 compared with £2.3 billion in the previous year, according to its annual report published last week. The bill increased despite initiatives to cut the number of cases going to court and foster greater collaboration with claimant lawyers. Claimant lawyers welcomed NHS Resolution’s more collaborative approach and desire to resolve cases sooner. They argued, however, that the defensive culture remained and suggested there should be a greater focus on patient safety and learning from mistakes. John McQuater, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said that NHS Resolution’s denials and delays meant that injured patients had to turn to lawyers to find answers. He said that earlier investigation into patient safety incidents and earlier admissions of liability by NHS trusts would speed up the system, cutting costs and human misery. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 28 July 2022
  19. News Article
    Families who lost loved ones during the pandemic have demanded to play a central role in the UK’s Covid-19 inquiry, which launches its investigative phase tomorrow. The inquiry has already consulted with different groups, businesses, academics and officials from a variety of sectors involved in the pandemic response to review which areas warrant scrutiny and how to structure proceedings. This includes Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, a campaign group of over 6,000 people who have lost a loved one to coronavirus. The group has repeatedly sought assurances from the inquiry it will be granted a ‘core participant’ status once applications open. This which would allow families to give evidence, ask questions during proceedings, access all disclosed documents, and recommend people to be interviewed. However, Elkan Abrahamson, a lawyer who is representing the group in the inquiry, said it was unclear how the inquiry would select core participants and expressed concern that the bereaved families won’t play a central role. “The feeling from the bereaved at the consultation stage was that the chair was sympathetic. They were happy with how that went,” Mr Abrahamson said. “[But] given we represent the largest group of bereaved in the UK, we’re not experiencing a sense of co-operation that we would normally expect to have reached by this stage. Their lawyers are happy to meet with us, but the questions we ask them aren’t being properly answered.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 20 July 2022
  20. News Article
    A paediatrician has been struck off for falsely diagnosing children with cancer to scare their parents into paying for expensive private treatment. Dr Mina Chowdhury, 45, caused "undue alarm" to the parents of three young patients - one aged 15 months - by making the "unjustified" diagnoses so his company could cash in by arranging tests and scans, a medical tribunal found. Chowdhury, who worked as a full-time consultant in paediatrics and neonatology at NHS Forth Valley, provided private treatment at his Meras Healthcare clinic in Glasgow. But the clinic made losses, despite "significant" potential income from third-party investigations and referrals for treatment – with patients charged a mark up fee of up to three times the actual cost. In all three cases, Chowdhury gave a false cancer diagnosis, without proper investigation, before recommending “unnecessary and expensive” private tests and treatment in London. Parents previously told the tribunal of their shock and upset at receiving Chowdhury’s diagnoses during consultations between March and August 2017. He told the parents of a 15-month-old girl - known as Patient C - that a lump attached to the bone in her leg was a "soft tissue sarcoma" and a second lump had developed. Chowdhury urged them to see a doctor in London who could arrange an ultrasound scan, a MRI scan and biopsy in a couple of days, saying: "If things are happening it is best to get on top of them early." He also warned that it would be "confusing" to return to the NHS for treatment. But the parents spoke to an A&E doctor and an ultrasound scan revealed that the lumps were likely fat necrosis. Patient C later was discharged after her bloods tests came back as normal. The child’s mother told the tribunal that she and her husband had been "very upset" at Chowdhury’s diagnosis. She was also left "angry" after she later read Dr Chowdhury’s consultation notes and realised they were a "total falsification" of what was discussed. Read full story Source: Medscape, 18 July 2022
  21. News Article
    A couple whose baby died in Nottingham say they are "furious" at a memo to hospital staff criticising media coverage of the city's maternity units. Jack and Sarah Hawkins, whose daughter Harriet died in 2016, have led calls for an inquiry into failings. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) is at the centre of a review into failings at the city's maternity units. After years of campaigning and an earlier review which was abandoned, experienced midwife Ms Ockenden was appointed in May. On Tuesday it emerged Ms Wallis had sent a memo to NUH maternity staff which read: "Yesterday, (Monday 11th) Donna Ockenden met with families as part of the new independent review process. "Some of you will no doubt have seen some of the media fall out." "Yet again they painted a damning picture of our maternity services, leaving out of their reports the great work that has been done, the improvements that have been introduced and the passion and commitment of all of the staff." Mr and Mrs Hawkins told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "It's not just the families and the press ganging up - there is very real concern about safety. For senior leadership to not be saying that they have a problem is beyond us." Hospital bosses have "wholeheartedly apologised" for offence caused. Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 July 2022
  22. News Article
    A two-day old baby died just days after his mother begged doctors to assess her ahead of a c-section despite her pregnancy being deemed high risk. Davi Heer-Do Naschimento was born via emergency caesarean section during the early hours of 29 September 2021, after doctors at Royal London Hospital failed to communicate crucial details during handover meetings. An inquest at Poplar Coroners Court heard that his parents, Ruth Heer and Tiago Do Naschimento, had asked numerous times for assistance and were not seen by the obstetrics team the day before her planned caesarean. Tragically, after becoming "feverish" during the night, she was rushed into theatre with Devi sadly dying two days later. Speaking on behalf of the family, Francesca Kohler said that there had been “multiple occasions” throughout the day when Ms Heer and her partner had called for assistance and had raised concerns, but were not attended. She had also not been seen by the obstetrics team and had not been spoken to about the upcoming caesarean section. Read full story Source: My London, 4 July 2022
  23. News Article
    Patients will not be able to directly contact Scotland’s new Patient Safety Commissioner under the role’s proposed remit, according to the Sunday Post. Officials drawing up the job description for the position are proposing patients with concerns and complaints should go through their local health boards instead of dealing directly with the commissioner. Last week, Henrietta Hughes was named as the government’s preferred candidate for the role of Patient Safety Commissioner in England. In that role, Hughes will be able to be directly contacted by the public. Despite being the first UK country to announce the intention to appoint a commissioner two years ago the role in Scotland is not yet filled. The decision not to allow patients to directly contact the commissioner in Scotland has been criticised by Baroness Julia Cumberlege, author of the report, First Do No Harm. She said: “Of course, patients must be able to communicate directly with the commissioner and their office. In our review we said the healthcare system is not good enough at spotting trends in practice and outcomes that give rise to safety concerns. Listening to patients is pivotal to that. “This is why one of our principal recommendations was the appointment of an independent Patient Safety Commissioner, a person of standing who sits outside the healthcare system, accountable to parliament through the Health and Social Care Select Committee." Read full story Source: The Sunday Post, 26 June 2022
  24. News Article
    The mothers of two teenage boys who died after failures in their care have called on the government to make "urgent improvements" to how children with disabilities are assessed. Sammy Alban-Stanley, 13, and 14-year-old Oskar Nash both died in 2020. Inquests for both boys recorded they had received inadequate care from local authorities and mental health services. The calls were made in an open letter to the secretaries of state for health and social care, and education. Patricia Alban and Natalia Nash asked Sajid Javid and Nadim Zahawi to make fundamental changes to several care areas to prevent future deaths. The pair said they both experienced problems with support for disabled children and families. Services lacked understanding of neurological conditions like autism, they said. The pair also pointed to a lack of access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and failure to assess or review the severity of a child's developing needs. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 June 2022
  25. News Article
    The language used around childbirth should be less judgemental and more personal, a report led by midwives has found. Most women consulted said terms such as "normal birth" should not be used, it says. The report recommends asking pregnant women what language feels right for them. Maternity care has been under the spotlight after a recent review found failures had led to baby deaths. The new guidance "puts women's choices at its heart, so that they are in the driving seat when it comes to how their labour and birth are described", Royal College of Midwives chief executive Gill Walton said. About 1,500 women who had given birth in the past five years gave their views. Most preferred the term "spontaneous vaginal birth" to "normal birth", "natural birth" or "unassisted birth". Words suggesting "failure", "incompetence" or "lack of maternal effort" should also be avoided, they said. They wanted labour and birth to be a positive experience and for the language used to be non-judgemental, accurate and clear. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 June 2022
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