Jump to content

Search the hub

Showing results for tags 'Patient death'.

More search options

  • Search By Tags

    Start to type the tag you want to use, then select from the list.

  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • All
    • Commissioning, service provision and innovation in health and care
    • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Culture
    • Improving patient safety
    • Investigations, risk management and legal issues
    • Leadership for patient safety
    • Organisations linked to patient safety (UK and beyond)
    • Patient engagement
    • Patient safety in health and care
    • Patient Safety Learning
    • Professionalising patient safety
    • Research, data and insight
    • Miscellaneous

Categories

  • Commissioning, service provision and innovation in health and care
    • Commissioning and funding patient safety
    • Digital health and care service provision
    • Health records and plans
    • Innovation programmes in health and care
    • Climate change/sustainability
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Blogs
    • Data, research and statistics
    • Frontline insights during the pandemic
    • Good practice and useful resources
    • Guidance
    • Mental health
    • Exit strategies
    • Patient recovery
    • Questions around Government governance
  • Culture
    • Bullying and fear
    • Good practice
    • Occupational health and safety
    • Safety culture programmes
    • Second victim
    • Speak Up Guardians
    • Staff safety
    • Whistle blowing
  • Improving patient safety
    • Clinical governance and audits
    • Design for safety
    • Disasters averted/near misses
    • Equipment and facilities
    • Error traps
    • Health inequalities
    • Human factors (improving human performance in care delivery)
    • Improving systems of care
    • Implementation of improvements
    • International development and humanitarian
    • Safety stories
    • Stories from the front line
    • Workforce and resources
  • Investigations, risk management and legal issues
    • Investigations and complaints
    • Risk management and legal issues
  • Leadership for patient safety
    • Business case for patient safety
    • Boards
    • Clinical leadership
    • Exec teams
    • Inquiries
    • International reports
    • National/Governmental
    • Patient Safety Commissioner
    • Quality and safety reports
    • Techniques
    • Other
  • Organisations linked to patient safety (UK and beyond)
    • Government and ALB direction and guidance
    • International patient safety
    • Regulators and their regulations
  • Patient engagement
    • Consent and privacy
    • Harmed care patient pathways/post-incident pathways
    • How to engage for patient safety
    • Keeping patients safe
    • Patient-centred care
    • Patient Safety Partners
    • Patient stories
  • Patient safety in health and care
    • Care settings
    • Conditions
    • Diagnosis
    • High risk areas
    • Learning disabilities
    • Medication
    • Mental health
    • Men's health
    • Patient management
    • Social care
    • Transitions of care
    • Women's health
  • Patient Safety Learning
    • Patient Safety Learning campaigns
    • Patient Safety Learning documents
    • Patient Safety Standards
    • 2-minute Tuesdays
    • Patient Safety Learning Annual Conference 2019
    • Patient Safety Learning Annual Conference 2018
    • Patient Safety Learning Awards 2019
    • Patient Safety Learning Interviews
    • Patient Safety Learning webinars
  • Professionalising patient safety
    • Accreditation for patient safety
    • Competency framework
    • Medical students
    • Patient safety standards
    • Training & education
  • Research, data and insight
    • Data and insight
    • Research
  • Miscellaneous

News

  • News

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start
    End

Last updated

  • Start
    End

Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End

Group

First name

Last name

Country

Join a private group (if appropriate)

About me

Organisation

Role

Found 1,489 results
  1. News Article
    A London hospital has launched an investigation after a woman whose baby died in the womb had to deliver her son at home due to lack of beds and keep his remains in her fridge when A&E staff said they could not store them safely. Laura Brody and her partner, Lawrence, said they were “tipped into hell” after being sent home by university hospital Lewisham to await a bed when told their baby no longer had a heartbeat but no beds were immediately available to give birth, the BBC reported. Two days later, after waking up in severe pain, Brody, who was four months into her pregnancy, gave birth in agony on the toilet in their bathroom. “And it was then,” she told the broadcaster, “I saw it was a boy”. The couple, who wanted investigative tests to be carried out at a later time, dialled 999 but were told it was not an emergency. They wrapped their baby’s remains in a wet cloth, placed him in a Tupperware box, and went to A&E where they were told to wait in the general waiting room, they said. She was eventually taken into a bay and told she would require surgery to remove the placenta. But, with the waiting room hot and stuffy and staff refusing to store the remains or even look inside the Tupperware box, they decided as it got to midnight they had no option but for her partner to take their baby’s remains home. Brody said the whole experience “felt so grotesque”. “When things go wrong with pregnancy there are not the systems in place to help you, even with all the staff and their experts – and they are working really hard – the process is so flawed that it just felt like we had been tipped into hell,” she told Radio 4’s Today programme. The case is said to have raised wider concerns among campaigners who argue that miscarriage care needs to be properly prioritised within hospitals including A&E. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 May 2022
  2. News Article
    Dozens of patients died or suffered ‘severe harm’ after long waits for ambulances during a three-month period in a health system facing ‘extreme pressure’ on its emergency services. The 29 serious incidents in Cornwall included patients waiting many hours for assistance despite being in “extreme pain”, patients having suspected sepsis, patients in cardiac arrest, and patients experiencing a stroke. The incidents were reported to the Care Quality Commission by staff at South Western Ambulance Service Foundation Trust during an inspection of the Cornwall integrated care system’s urgent and emergency care services. According to the CQC, the pressures on the ambulance service were “unrelenting”, while “significant work” was needed to “alleviate extreme pressure”. This meant there was a “high level of risk to people’s health when trying to access urgent and emergency care in the county”, the report said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 27 May 2022
  3. News Article
    Donna Ockenden, the midwife who investigated the Shopshire maternity scandal, has been appointed to lead a review into failings in Nottingham following a dogged campaign by families. The current review will be wound up by 10 June after concerns from NHS England and families that it is not fit for purpose. It was commissioned after revelations from The Independent and Channel Four News that dozens of babies had died or been brain-damaged following care at Nottingham University Hospitals Foundation Trust. In a letter to families on Thursday, NHS England chief operating officer David Sloman said: “I want to begin by apologising for the distress caused by the delay in our announcing a new chair and to take this opportunity to update you on how the work to replace the existing Review has been developing as we have taken on board various views that you have shared with us.” “After careful consideration and in light of the concerns from some families, our own concerns, and those of stakeholders including in the wider NHS that the current Review is not fit for purpose, we have taken the decision to ask the current Review team to conclude all of their work by Friday 10 June.” “We will be asking the new national Review team to begin afresh, drawing a line under the work undertaken to date by the current local Review team, and we are using this opportunity to communicate that to you clearly.” Ms Ockenden said: “Having a baby is one of the most important times for a family and when women and their babies come into contact with NHS maternity services they should receive the very best and safest care." “I am delighted to have been asked by Sir David Sloman to take up the role of Chair of this Review and will be engaging with families shortly as my first priority. I look forward to working with and listening to families and staff, and working with NHS England and NHS Improvement to deliver a Review and recommendations that lead to real change and safer care for women, babies and families in Nottingham as soon as possible.” Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 May 2022
  4. News Article
    The former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has claimed the government snubbed bereaved families’ requests for Donna Ockenden to chair a review into maternity services in Nottingham as she is “too independent”. Hundreds of families involved in the Nottingham maternity scandal review have called for Ms Ockenden, chair of the Shrewsbury maternity scandal inquiry, to take over the investigation. NHS England had attempted to appoint a former healthcare leader, Julie Dent to chair the review. However, following pressure from families not to accept, Ms Dent announced shortly after she would be declining the role. Following the families’ calls for Ms Ockenden, Mr Hunt, chair of the government’s health committee, said on Wednesday: “I can’t see any other barriers to appointing her but sounds like she still won’t be. For some reason the Department of Health appears to think she is too independent – which is of course precisely why Nottingham families do have confidence in her. It feels like another own goal.” Families involved in the Nottingham maternity review, which will now cover almost 600 cases, have said they’ve been left in limbo by NHS England after if informed them of an interim report which has been completed by the review team. This follows several letters from families to health secretary Sajid Javid raising concerns over the review and calls for it to be overhauled. Speaking with The Independent, a couple whose son died under the care of Nottingham University Hospitals Foundation Trist said: “The key to successful long term change is developing a relationship with harmed families, built on trust, sensitivity and understanding. The current review does not command this. The relationship is untenable.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 May 2022
  5. News Article
    RaDonda Vaught has spoken out about her criminal case for the first time last week in an exclusive interview with ABC News. Ms. Vaught, 38, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation on 13 May. She was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult for a fatal medication error she made in December 2017 after overriding an electronic medical cabinet as a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. The error, in which vecuronium, a powerful paralyser, was administered instead of the sedative Versed, led to the death of 75-year-old Charlene Murphey. "I will never be the same person," Ms. Vaught told ABC News, "It's really hard to be happy about something without immediately feeling guilty. She could still be alive, with her family. Even with all the system errors, the nurse is the last to check." Ms. Vaught immediately took responsibility for the medication error after it occurred but contends that her actions alone did not cause the error. Her case has spurred an outcry from nurses across the country, many of whom have expressed concerns about the likelihood of similar mistakes under increasingly difficult working conditions. "So many things had to line up incorrectly for this error to have happened, and my actions were not alone in that," Ms. Vaught said. When Ms. Pilgrim asked her if she felt like a scapegoat, Ms. Vaught said, "I think the whole world feels like I was a scapegoat." "There's a fine line between blame and responsibility, and in healthcare, we don't blame," she said. "I'm responsible for what I failed to do. Vanderbilt is responsible for what they failed to do." Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 23 May 2022
  6. News Article
    The parents of a girl who died after failings by NHS 111 said they were horrified to learn coroners had already warned about similar shortcomings. Hannah Royle, 16, died in 2020 after the NHS phone service failed to realise she was seriously ill. BBC News found concerns had been raised about the call centre triage software in 2019 after three children died. The NHS said it had learnt lessons from each case, but said it had not established a link between the deaths. Hannah, who was autistic, had a cardiac arrest as she was driven to East Surrey Hospital by her parents. She had suffered a twisted stomach, but call handlers believed she had gastroenteritis. A coroner's report said NHS 111 staff failed to consider her "disabilities and inability to verbalise" when using the triage software. Known as NHS Pathways, the algorithm relies on answers being given over the phone to a set series of questions. The system guides call handlers, who are not medically qualified, to direct patients to other parts of the NHS for further assessment and treatment. In 2019, three coroners issued reports "to prevent future deaths" after serious abdominal illness in Myla Deviren, Sebastian Hibberd, Alexander Davidson and were missed by NHS 111. In all cases, coroners raised concerns about the ability of children to understand call handlers' questions or articulate their symptoms. Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 May 2022
  7. News Article
    The government is to investigate claims an ambulance service covered up details of the deaths of patients following mistakes by paramedics. It follows the Sunday Times report that North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) withheld information from coroners. Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting described the alleged cover-up as "a national disgrace". Health minister Maria Caulfield said she was "horrified" and there would be a further investigation. The newspaper reported that concerns were raised about more than 90 cases and whistleblowers believed NEAS had prevented full disclosure to relatives of people who died in 2018 and 2019. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Streeting asked why the regulator - the Care Quality Commission (CQC) - had failed to take action. Ms Caulfield said that while both the NEAS and the CQC had both reviewed the allegations, further investigation was required. The minister said non-disclosure agreements have "no place in the NHS", adding: "Reputation management is never more important than patient safety." Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 May 2022
  8. News Article
    Quinn Evie Beadle died in 2018. Her parents later found out that the “kind, caring” 17-year-old had been failed by a paramedic at the scene of her death — and that the ambulance service altered documents to try to stop them finding out the truth. The teenager, who dreamt of becoming a medic but suffered poor mental health, was found after she hanged herself near her home in Shildon, Co Durham, on the evening of 9 December 2018. The paramedic who attended the scene made basic mistakes, and made no effort to clear her airway or continue with basic life support — despite the fact her heart was still active. But instead of attempting to learn lessons, bosses at the North East Ambulance Trust (NEAS) set out to prevent the family learning what happened. They changed a key witness statement given to the coroner at her first inquest, removing references to mistakes the paramedic had made and inserting the claim that any life support offered would “not have had a positive outcome”. They also withheld from the coroner a key piece of evidence — a reading from a heart monitor — which demonstrated Quinn’s heart activity. It is thought Quinn’s death could be one of more than 90 cases in the past three years in which the NEAS failed to provide families with the whole truth about how their relatives died. Senior managers repeatedly withheld key evidence from coroners about deaths linked to service failures, an internal report shows. In some cases, bosses doctored or suppressed evidence to cover up failures by staff. An independent report into a small number of the cases, including Quinn’s, raised by whistleblowers found that, as in her case, statements were changed or suppressed and pieces of key evidence not disclosed. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Sunday Times, 22 May 2022
  9. News Article
    A health worker has been arrested on suspicion of administering poison with intent to endanger life after a child died at Birmingham Children's Hospital. The 27-year-old woman was arrested on Thursday and has been suspended from her role at the hospital. The child was being treated in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, a spokesperson for the hospital said. Police said the woman had been released while investigations continued and forensic tests were being examined. A spokesperson for Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust said it was "supporting the infant's family at this distressing time and ask that privacy is respected during this process". "Following the death of an infant at our Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Birmingham Children's Hospital, we have asked West Midlands Police to examine what has happened, in line with our own safeguarding policy," it added. "The staff member involved has been suspended by the Trust following the national process on the sudden unexpected death of a child." Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 May 2022
  10. News Article
    Respiratory syncytial virus is killing 100,000 children under the age of five every year worldwide, new figures reveal as experts say the global easing of coronavirus restrictions is causing a surge in cases. RSV is the most common cause of acute lower respiratory infection in young children. It spreads easily via coughing and sneezing. There is no vaccine or specific treatment. RSV-attributable acute lower respiratory infections led to more than 100,000 deaths of children under five in 2019, according to figures published in the Lancet. Of those, more than 45,000 were under six months old, the first-of-its-kind study found. More children are likely to be affected by RSV in the future, experts believe, because masks and lockdowns have robbed children of natural immunity against a range of common viruses, including RSV. “RSV is the predominant cause of acute lower respiratory infection in young children and our updated estimates reveal that children six months and younger are particularly vulnerable, especially with cases surging as Covid-19 restrictions are easing around the world,” said the study’s co-author, Harish Nair of the University of Edinburgh. “The majority of the young children born in the last two years have never been exposed to RSV (and therefore have no immunity against this virus).” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 19 May 2022
  11. News Article
    Families involved in a major review into maternity failings at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH) have criticised the decision of the review team to press ahead with the publication of an interim report, despite serious concerns about its terms of reference and methodology. A “thematic review” into NUH was first announced last year after reports that dozens of babies died or were brain damaged after errors were made at the trust over the last decade. More than 460 families have since contacted the review team. The review has been overseen by NHS England and local commissioners, but, in April, the families called for an independent inquiry and asked for it to be carried out by Donna Ockenden, the senior midwife who chaired the high-profile review of Shropshire maternity services, which reported in March. Last month, NHSE chief operating officer Sir David Sloman wrote to families and said former strategic health authority chair Julie Dent would be brought in to chair the review. However, Ms Dent stepped down from the role weeks later, citing “personal reasons”. A new chair is yet to be appointed. Despite these uncertainties, families have been told by the review team that an interim report will be issued shortly. Gary Andrews, whose daughter Wynter died after being delivered by caesarean section at NUH’s Queens Medical Centre in 2019, said to issue an interim report “seems at odds with the current situation” and risked causing “significant distress” to families. He added: “We need government to get to grips with this review. Put the brakes on, ensure its structure and design and objectives are fully supported by families, before any interim report can be issued.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 May 2022
  12. News Article
    Doctors are receiving "inadequate" training about the risk of sepsis after a mother-of-five died following an abortion, a coroner has warned. Sarah Dunn, 31, died of "natural causes contributed to by neglect" in hospital on 11 April 2020, an inquest found. Assistant coroner for Blackpool and Fylde, Louise Rae, said Ms Dunn had been treated as a Covid patient even though the "signs of sepsis were apparent". Her cause of death was recorded as "streptococcus sepsis following medical termination of pregnancy". In her record of inquest, the coroner noted Ms Dunn was admitted to Blackpool Victoria Hospital in Lancashire on 10 April 2020. She was suffering from a streptococcus infection caused by an early medical abortion on 23 March, which had produced sepsis and toxic shock by the time she was admitted to hospital. The coroner said "signs of sepsis were apparent" before and at the time of Ms Dunn's hospital admission but she was instead treated as a Covid-19 patient. "Sepsis was not recognised or treated by the GP surgery, emergency department or acute medical unit and upon Sarah's arrival at hospital, the sepsis pathway was not followed," she added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 19 May 2022
  13. News Article
    A hospital trust has pleaded guilty to failures in care that contributed to the deaths of two patients. One of the charges related to the death of patient Mohammed Ismael Zaman in 2019 at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. The 31-year-old died of severe blood loss while undergoing dialysis, Telford Magistrates' Court heard. Max Dingle, in his 80s, died after his head became trapped between a mattress and bed rail while he was being treated at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) admitted three counts of failing to provide treatment and care in a safe way, resulting in harm or loss, between October 2019 and May 2020. Representing the CQC, Ryan Donoghue said the failures in Mr Zaman's care "were the legal cause of his death, for which the trust is responsible". He said Mr Dingle, who had been admitted with chronic lung disease, died from a cardiac arrest after he was freed. "The basis [of the guilty plea] is that the failures exposed him to a significant risk of avoidable harm," Mr Donoghue said. As well as the two deaths, the CQC accused the trust of exposing other patients to significant risk of avoidable harm. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 May 2022
  14. News Article
    Fourteen patients with autism or learning disabilities have died since 2015 while detained in psychiatric facilities in Scotland, figures reveal. The statistics were released for the first time by Public Health Scotland (PHS) following a parliamentary question by Scottish Conservative MSP Alexander Burnett, who has campaigned to end the “national scandal” of otherwise healthy people being locked up for months or years due to a lack of community-based support. The PHS report does not detail the causes of death, but does show that seven of the deaths occurred in patients who had been resident at an inpatient psychiatric facility for between 91 and 365 days, with six (43%) in patients whose stay had exceeded at least one year. Rob Holland, acting director of the National Autistic Society Scotland, said the data was a “step forward in understanding the experience of autistic people and people with a learning disability within inpatient psychiatric facilities”. He added: “While it does not shine a light on the reasons for the deaths it does highlight how almost all of those that died had been within institutional care for more than 30 days with 6 people having been there for more than a year. “Hospitals are not homes and it adds further impetus to the Scottish Government’s ‘Coming Home’ strategy to reduce delayed discharge and support people to live in homes of their own choosing.” Read full story Source: The Herald, 18 May 2022
  15. News Article
    RaDonda Vaught was sentenced to three years of supervised probation on the 13 May for a fatal medication error she made in 2017 while working as a nurse at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the USA. In remarks made during the sentencing hearing, Ms. Vaught expressed concerns over what her case means for clinicians and patient safety reporting. "This sentencing is bound to have an effect on how [nurses] proceed both in reporting medical errors, medication errors, raising concerns if they see something they feel needs to be brought to someone's attention," she said. "I worry this is going to have a deep impact on patient safety." Numerous medical organisations expressed similar concerns in statements circulated after Ms. Vaught's sentencing. "To achieve our goal of zero patient harm and death from preventable medical errors, we need to foster a culture where leadership of hospitals and healthcare organizations support healthcare workers and encourage them to share near misses," the Patient Safety Movement Foundation said in a statement. "Healthcare workers are human and healthcare systems need to ensure there are appropriate processes in place to provide their staff with a safe and reliable working environment so they can provide their patients with the best care. Only by identifying potential problems and learning from them can change occur." Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 16 May 2022
  16. News Article
    Junior doctors have been prevented from returning to scandal hit heart surgery unit previously criticised over “toxic” culture, The Independent has learned. A coroner defended cardiac surgery at St George’s University Hospital, criticising an NHS-commissioned review into 67 deaths that warned of poor care. However, The Independent has learned the unit received a critical report from Health Education England (HEE), the body responsible for healthcare training, just last year. The NHS authority was so concerned about culture problems and “inappropriate behaviour” within the unit that it took away the junior doctors working there. This is the third time HEE has intervened since 2018, when the unit was criticised in an independent review for having a “toxic” culture. In a statement, Professor Geeta Menon, postgraduate dean for South London at Health Education England, said: “HEE carried out a review of cardiac surgery at St George’s University Hospital in July 2021 and concluded that further improvements were required to create a suitable learning environment for doctors in training. "Unfounded’ NHS criticism and investigation caused unnecessary deaths at London heart surgery unit “We continue to work closely with the trust to implement our requirements and recommendations and will reassess their progress this summer. HEE is committed to ensuring high quality patient care and the best possible learning environment for postgraduate doctors at St George’s.” The Independent understands that a report issued in December, following the HEE visit, identified problems of “inappropriate behaviour”, poor team working from consultants and raised concerns the culture problems previously identified at the unit persisted. Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 May 2022
  17. News Article
    Nurses from across the country are heading to Washington, D.C., and Nashville, Tenn., this week to march for better working conditions and to show support for nurse RaDonda Vaught. Ms. Vaught, 38, was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult for a fatal medication error she made in December 2017 after overriding an electronic medical cabinet as a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Her case has spurred a national outcry from nurses who argue the ruling sets a dangerous precedent for the profession and will discourage nurses from speaking up about errors. Ms. Vaught's sentencing is scheduled for 13 May in Nashville, and she faces up to eight years in prison. Hundreds of nurses are planning to march in Nashville the day of the hearing to show their support for Ms. Vaught and to fight for better protection for nurses against criminal prosecution of errors. "We expect a large number of people to show up … just to show our strength in numbers and hope that the judge takes this into consideration and makes it slightly better by not sentencing her to any prison time," said Erica, a Las Vegas-based hospice nurse who is attending the sentencing. Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 13 May 2022
  18. News Article
    More than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, setting another tragic record in the nation’s escalating overdose epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated Wednesday. The provisional 2021 total translates to roughly one U.S. overdose death every 5 minutes. It marked a 15% increase from the previous record, set the year before. The CDC reviews death certificates and then makes an estimate to account for delayed and incomplete reporting. Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called the latest numbers “truly staggering.” The White House issued a statement calling the accelerating pace of overdose deaths “unacceptable” and promoting its recently announced national drug control strategy. It calls for measures like connecting more people to treatment, disrupting drug trafficking and expanding access to the overdose-reversing medication naloxone. Experts say the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem as lockdowns and other restrictions isolated those with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get. Read full story Source: AP News, 11 May 2022
  19. News Article
    Three Senegalese midwives involved in the death of a woman in labour have been found guilty of not assisting someone in danger. They received six-month suspended sentences, after Astou Sokhna died while reportedly begging for a Caesarean. Her unborn child also died. Three other midwives who were also on trial were not found guilty The case caused a national outcry with President Macky Sall ordering an investigation. Mrs Sokhna was in her 30s when she passed away at a hospital in the northern town of Louga. During her reported 20-hour labour ordeal, her pleas to doctors to carry out a Caesarean were ignored because it had not been planned in advance, local media reported. The hospital even threatened to send her away if she kept insisting on the procedure, according to the press reports. Her husband, Modou Mboup, who was in court, told the AFP news agency that bringing the case to light was necessary. "We highlighted something that all Senegalese deplore about their hospitals," "If we stand idly by, there could be other Astou Sokhnas. We have to stand up so that something like this doesn't happen again." Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 May 2022
  20. News Article
    Heart surgery patients in London have died “unnecessarily” and faced increased risk of death as botched NHS investigations into dozens of deaths reduced a hospital’s ability to treat people, a coroner has warned. “Unnecessary” patient deaths have occurred as a result of heart surgery at St George’s University Hospital Trust being restricted and emergencies diverted to other “over stretched” hospitals, following investigations by national NHS bodies. The warning that deaths have occurred and may occur in the future, comes following the conclusion of a series of inquest hearings in March, during which it was found the NHS’ wrongly blamed a team of cardiac surgeons for the deaths of dozens of patients. Coroner Fiona Wilcox, in a report published on Wednesday, has now said the “inadequate” NHS led investigations, which criticised the care of 67 patients, led to people being put increased risk of death. The NHS’ investigations into the deaths of 67 patients ruled there were “shortcomings” in care. It led to complex operations being diverted elsewhere and doctors being referred to the General Medical Council. Two doctors have sinced been exonerated following GMC hearings. According to the coroner’s findings, capacity within cardiac surgery at the unit is down by 60% and staff are becoming “deskilled.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 11 May 2022
  21. News Article
    A baby died after maternity staff repeatedly missed chances to intervene to save his life, an official investigation has found. Giles Cooper-Hall was just 16 hours old when he died after a catalogue of errors in the maternity care of his mother, Ruth Cooper-Hall, at Derriford hospital in Plymouth. A Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) report into the incident has exposed how inexperienced and overstretched staff failed to carry out proper checks, recognise there was an emergency or seek help from senior doctors until it was too late. It comes just weeks after the independent Ockenden report into more than 1,800 cases revealed serious failings in the maternity care provided at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital NHS Trust. It revealed how Ruth Cooper-Hall, then aged 37, was not personally seen by a consultant when she went into labour in October last year, despite recommendations made in the interim Ockenden report published in December 2020. The HSIB report also suggested Giles’ death could have been avoided if staff had known about the care plan for his mother’s labour. Instead, vital messages were not passed on, with the investigation finding this was likely to be because the staff responsible were “distracted” by other tasks. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 May 2022
  22. News Article
    A coroner has expressed ‘serious concern’ after a trust-wide safety review – prompted by the death of a young mother – was delayed by up to nine months due to ‘staff holidays’. An inquest heard that 25-year-old Natasha Adams, who died by suicide in August 2021, had had her level of care downgraded by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust a month earlier, in July, something her family suggested had a “dramatic impact”. She was moved from a “care programme approach” (known as CPA, which involves enhanced care for people with complex needs and/or safety concerns) to “care support” (a non-clinical programme for people with lower-level concerns and complexities). An earlier investigation into her death by the trust, finalised in December, said the trust should audit other cases to check whether the trust’s 2019 “care management and CPA/care support policy” was being complied with. Now Birmingham and Solihull coroner James Bennett has criticised a delay in carrying out the trust-wide audit – writing in a prevention of future deaths report that, as of last month, four months after the report investigating Ms Adams’ care was completed, “no action has been taken”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 5 May 2022
  23. News Article
    Almost 15 million people have died as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic around the world, new figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveal. Estimates from the WHO show that the number of excess deaths associated directly or indirectly with the pandemic between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 was approximately 14.9 million – 13% more deaths than normally expected over a two-year period. Excess mortality is calculated as the difference between the number of deaths that have occurred and the number that would be expected in the absence of the pandemic, based on data from earlier years. WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “These sobering data not only point to the impact of the pandemic but also to the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems." Most of the excess deaths (84%) are concentrated in southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas, the WHO said, while some 68% of excess deaths are concentrated in just 10 countries globally. It also found that middle-income countries account for 81 per cent of the 14.9 million excess deaths (53% in lower-middle-income countries and 28% in upper-middle-income countries) over the 24-month period, with high-income and low-income countries each accounting for 15% and 4%, respectively. Read full story Source: The Independent, 5 May 2022
  24. News Article
    A woman whose baby died after sustaining severe brain damage during labour was not seen by an obstetrician during her pregnancy, an inquest heard. It meant his mother Eileen McCarthy was unable to discuss her birthing options. Walter German was starved of oxygen during a long labour at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. Lawyers at Fieldfisher are pursuing a civil negligence case, claiming a C-section should have been offered due to a previous third-degree tear. Walter was born in December 2020. His life-support was turned off after nine days, as his injuries were unrecoverable. Recording a narrative verdict, coroner Sarah Clarke said Walter died as a result of his brain being starved of oxygen, likely due in part to an umbilical cord obstruction. She said: "Walter's mother was not seen by an obstetrician during her pregnancy and this led to her being unable to discuss birth options regarding delivery given her previous third degree tear. "Walter's mother was in the advanced stages of labour for a prolonged period of time with an indication for an earlier obstetric review being apparent." Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 May 2022
  25. News Article
    Obesity has reached “epidemic proportions” in Europe, the World Health Organization says, as a major report shows the disease is causing 200,000 cancer cases and 1.2 million deaths a year. In the first such study for 15 years, the WHO said overweight and obesity rates had hit deadly levels and were “still escalating”. No country in the region was on track to meet the WHO global noncommunicable disease (NCD) target of halting the rise of obesity by 2025, it said. Across Europe, 59% of adults are overweight or obese as well as 8% of children under five and one in three children of school age. Obesity prevalence in Europe is higher than in any other part of the world except the Americas, according to the report presented at the European Congress on Obesity. Obesity is linked to a string of other diseases, including musculoskeletal complications, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and at least 13 types of cancer. The report said excess body fat led to premature death and was a leading risk factor for disability. “Across the WHO European region, obesity is likely to be directly responsible for at least 200,000 new cancer cases annually, with this figure projected to rise in the coming decades,” the report said. “For some countries within the region, it is predicted that obesity will overtake smoking as the main risk factor for preventable cancer.” Dr Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, said reversing the obesity epidemic in Europe was still possible. “By creating environments that are more enabling, promoting investment and innovation in health, and developing strong and resilient health systems, we can change the trajectory of obesity in the region.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 May 2022
×
×
  • Create New...