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Found 1,491 results
  1. News Article
    When Susan Sullivan died from Covid-19, her parents’ world fell quiet. But as John and Ida Sullivan battled the pain of losing their eldest, they were comforted by doctors’ assurance that they had done all they could. It was not until more than a year later, when they received her medical records, that the family made a crushing discovery. These suggested that, despite Susan being in good health and responding well to initial treatments, doctors at Barnet hospital had concluded she wouldn’t pull through. When Susan was first admitted on 27 March 2020, a doctor had written in her treatment plan: “ITU (Intensive therapy unit) review if not improving”, indicating he believed she might benefit from a higher level of care. But as her oxygen levels fell and her condition deteriorated, the 56-year-old was not admitted to the intensive unit. Instead she died in her bed on the ward without access to potentially life-saving treatment others received. In the hospital records, seen by the Observer, the reason Susan was excluded is spelled out: “ITU declined in view of Down’s syndrome and cardiac comorbidities.” A treatment plan stating she was not to be resuscitated also cites her disability. For John, 79, a retired builder, that realisation was “like Susan dying all over again”. “The reality is that doctors gave her a bed to die in because she had Down’s syndrome,” he said. “To me it couldn’t be clearer: they didn’t even try.” Susan is one of thousands of disabled people in Britain killed by Covid-19. Last year, a report by the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Programme found that almost half those who died from Covid-19 did not receive good enough treatment, including problems accessing care. Of those who died from Covid-19, 81% had a do-not-resuscitate decision, compared with 72% of those who died from other causes. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 July 2022
  2. 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
  3. News Article
    A doctor who killed a mother-of-three when he botched a procedure during a routine appointment has been jailed. Dr Isyaka Mamman, now thought to be 85, admitted gross negligence manslaughter over the death of Shahida Parveen, 48, at the Royal Oldham Hospital in 2018. He used the wrong needle and inserted it in the wrong place, piercing the sac holding Mrs Parveen's heart. Mrs Justice Yip at Manchester Crown Court said Mrs Parveen's death was his fault and sentenced him to three years. She also criticised the NHS trust, pointing to the fact that Mamman had both lied about his age and had been involved in two critical incidents similar to that which led to Mrs Parveen's death. The court heard Mrs Parveen attended Royal Oldham Hospital on 3 September, 2018, to give a bone marrow sample. This is usually taken from the hip bone but, after failing in his first attempt, Mamman tried to instead take it from her sternum. This was a "highly dangerous" procedure, the court was told, and one which had led to another of Mamman's patients being permanently disabled three years earlier. Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 July 2022
  4. News Article
    A mother was killed at her hospital appointment by a doctor who botched a routine procedure, a court has heard. Dr Isyaka Mamman, 85, was responsible for a series of critical incidents before the fatal appointment, Manchester Crown Court heard. Mamman, who admitted gross negligence manslaughter, had already been sacked by medical watchdogs for lying about his age but was re-employed by the Royal Oldham Hospital. He is due to be sentenced on Tuesday. Mother-of-three Shahida Parveen, 48, had gone to hospital with her husband for investigations into possible myeloproliferative disorder on 3 September 2018 and a bone marrow biopsy had been advised, Andrew Thomas QC, prosecuting, told the hearing. Normally, bone marrow samples are taken from the hip bone but Mamman, of Cumberland Drive, Royton, Oldham, failed to obtain a sample at the first attempt, he said. Instead, he attempted a rare and "highly dangerous" procedure of getting a sample from Ms Parveen's sternum - despite objections from the patient and her husband, the court heard. Mamman, using the wrong biopsy needle, missed the bone and pierced her pericardium, the sac containing the heart, causing massive internal bleeding. Ms Parveen lost consciousness as soon as the needle was inserted. She died later that day. Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 July 2022
  5. News Article
    A baby suffered brain damage and died due to failings at a hospital where her mother spent hours alone in pain and suffered crucial delays, according to her family. Dominic and Ewelina Clyde-Smith told The Independent their daughter, Amelia, was otherwise healthy and poor care led to her being starved of oxygen at birth. The couple said they experienced a series of failings at Jersey General Hospital in 2018, including a lack of a doctor during a difficult labour and staff taking “too long” to resuscitate their child. They believe Amelia suffered further harm when a ventilator was not plugged in properly during a transfer. Amelia was left with brain damage and died aged one month after being put into palliative care. Her parents said they have spent years trying to get justice through official channels but are now speaking out for the first time as they believe the standard of care received should be public knowledge. “It happened nearly four years ago,” Ms Clyde-Smith says, adding: “But the whole maternity unit just failed us completely.” Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 July 2022
  6. News Article
    A struggling mental health trust is being prosecuted over accusations it failed to protect a teenager at a children’s inpatient unit. Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust ran the former West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough until the Care Quality Commission (CQC) closed it in 2019. The CQC is now prosecuting the trust, alleging it breached the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in relation to the death of Christie Harnett, who took her own life at the facility in June 2019. In a statement, the regulator claimed TEWV “failed to provide safe care and treatment” by exposing the patient to a “significant risk of avoidable harm”. A CQC spokeswoman added: “Our main priority is always the safety of people using health and social care services, and if we have concerns we will not hesitate to take action in line with our regulatory powers. We will report further as soon as we are able to do so.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 30 June 2022
  7. News Article
    The privatisation of NHS care accelerated by Tory policies a decade ago has corresponded with a decline in quality and “significantly increased” rates of death from treatable causes, the first study of its kind says. The hugely controversial shakeup of the health service in England in 2012 by the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, in the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government, forced local health bodies to put contracts for services out to tender. Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash has since been handed to private companies to treat NHS patients, according to the landmark review. It shows the growth in health contracts being tendered to private companies has been associated with a drop in care quality and higher rates of treatable mortality – patient deaths considered avoidable with timely, effective healthcare. The analysis by the University of Oxford has been published in the Lancet Public Health journal. “The privatisation of the NHS in England, through the outsourcing of services to for-profit companies, consistently increased [after 2012],” it says. “Private-sector outsourcing corresponded with significantly increased rates of treatable mortality, potentially as a result of a decline in the quality of healthcare services.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2022
  8. News Article
    A coroner has said Britain is failing young people and more will die because of under-resourced mental health services, as she ruled that neglect led to the death of a 14-year-old girl. Penelope Schofield, the senior coroner for West Sussex, said she would write to the health secretary, Sajid Javid, to raise concerns after the case of Robyn Skilton, who killed herself after being let down by “gross failures” in NHS mental health services. Robyn, from Horsham in West Sussex, disappeared from her family home and took her own life in a park on 7 May last year, her inquest in Chichester heard. Despite serious concerns about her mental health, Robyn did not get face-to-face consultations, was not seen by a child psychiatrist or assessed for mental health issues, and was discharged from an NHS service a month before her suicide though she was on its high-risk “red list”. Her father, Alan Skilton, told the inquest he pleaded for help, and he described the lack of care his daughter received as “astonishing”. He said he believed that if Robyn had been seen earlier, her mental health would have improved and she would not have killed herself. The coroner said: “As a society we are failing young people.” She said she was shocked to hear that the number of young people seeking mental health help had increased by 95%. “Trying to manage it without more resources means we are not providing the help that young people need. Robyn’s case is a testament to that. It’s a clear risk that more lives will be lost if we don’t address it.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2022
  9. News Article
    Former prime minister Sir John Major has described the contaminated blood scandal as "incredibly bad luck", drawing gasps from families watching him give evidence under oath to the public inquiry into the disaster. Up to 30,000 people contracted HIV and hepatitis C in the 1970s and 80s after being given blood treatments or transfusions on the NHS. Thousands have since died. Sir John later apologised for his choice of language. He said: "I obviously caused offence inadvertently this morning when I referred to the fact that it was awful that people had been fed infected blood and I referred to it as sheer bad luck. "I can only say to people it wasn't intended to be offensive. I was seeking to express the fact that I was concerned about what happened. "It was intended simply to say that it was a random matter and I perhaps expressed it injudiciously." The UK-wide inquiry was launched after years of campaigning by victims, who claim the risks were never explained and that the scandal was covered up. Campaigners say those infected decades ago are now dying at the rate of one every four days as a result. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 June 2022
  10. News Article
    Covid vaccines cut the global death toll by 20 million in the first year after they were available, according to the first major analysis. The study, which modelled the spread of the disease in 185 countries and territories between December 2020 and December 2021, found that without Covid vaccines 31.4 million people would have died, and that 19.8 million of these deaths were avoided. The study is the first attempt to quantify the number of deaths prevented directly and indirectly as a result of Covid-19 vaccinations. “We knew it was going to be a large number, but I did not think it would be as high as 20 million deaths during just the first year,” said Oliver Watson, of Imperial College London, who is a co-first author on the study carried out by scientists at the university. Many more deaths could have been prevented if access to vaccines had been more equal worldwide. Nearly 600,000 additional deaths – one in five of the Covid deaths in low-income countries – could have been prevented if the World Health Organization’s global goal of vaccinating 40% of each country’s population by the end of 2021 had been met, the research found. “Our findings show that millions of lives have likely been saved by making vaccines available to people everywhere, regardless of their wealth,” said Watson. “However, more could have been done.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 June 2022
  11. News Article
    A doctor who attempted to cover up the true circumstances of the death in 1995 of a four-year-old patient has been struck off. Consultant paediatric anaesthetist Dr Robert Taylor dishonestly misled police and a public inquiry about his treatment of Adam Strain, who died at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, a medical tribunal found. The youngster was admitted for a kidney transplant at the hospital following renal failure but did not survive surgery in November 1995. Six months later an inquest ruled Adam died from cerebral oedema – brain swelling – partly due to the onset of dilutional hyponatraemia, which occurs when there is a shortage of sodium in the bloodstream. Two expert anaesthetists told the coroner that the administration of an excess volume of fluids containing small amounts of sodium caused the hyponatraemia. But Dr Taylor resisted any criticism of his fluid management and refused to accept the condition had been caused by his administration of too much of the wrong type of fluid. In 2004 a UTV documentary When Hospitals Kill raised concerns about the treatment of a number of children, including Adam, and led to the launch of the Hyponatraemia Inquiry. The tribunal found Dr Taylor acted dishonestly on four occasions in his dealings with the the public inquiry, including failing to disclose to the inquiry a number of clinical errors he made and falsely claiming to detectives he spoke to Adam’s mother before surgery. Read full story Source: The Independent, 22 June 2022
  12. News Article
    A hospital and one of its managers are facing a criminal investigation into the death of a vulnerable man who absconded by climbing a fence. An inquest concluded failings amounting to neglect contributed to the death of Matthew Caseby in 2020, after he fled from Birmingham's Priory Hospital Woodbourne and was hit by a train. The investigation will be carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Priory said it would co-operate fully "if enquiries are raised by the CQC". Mr Caseby, 23, climbed over a 2.3m-high (7ft 6in) courtyard fence on 7 September 2020. He was found dead the following day after being hit by a train near Birmingham's University station. The inquest in April heard other patients had previously climbed the fence and, despite concerns by members of staff, no action was taken to improve security in and around the courtyard until another patient absconded two months after Mr Caseby's death. Following the inquest, coroner Louise Hunt said she was concerned the fence and courtyard area may still not be safe and urged health chiefs to consider imposing minimum standards for perimeter fences at mental health units. She also criticised record-keeping and how risk assessments were carried out. Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 June 2022
  13. News Article
    A leading NHS hospital failed to publicly disclose that four very ill premature babies in its care were infected with a deadly bacterium, one of whom died soon after, the Guardian has revealed. St Thomas’ hospital did not admit publicly that it had suffered an outbreak of Bacillus cereus in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of its Evelina children’s hospital in late 2013 and early 2014. It occurred six months before a well publicised similar incident in June 2014 in which 19 premature babies at nine hospitals in England became infected with it after receiving contaminated baby feed directly into their bloodstream. Three of them died, including two at St Thomas’. Leaked documents show that both the first outbreak and newborn baby’s death were investigated but never publicly acknowledged by the NHS trust that runs the hospital. GSTT insists that it did not acknowledge the baby’s death publicly in any reports because it believed the child had died of other medical conditions, not the bacteria. However, it declined to say if it had told the baby’s parents that it had become infected with Bacillus cereus. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 June 2022
  14. News Article
    More than 80% of UK medical certificates recording stillbirths contain errors, research reveals. More than half the inaccurate certificates contained a significant error that could cause medical staff to misinterpret what had happened. The study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, also shows that three out of four stillbirths certified as having an "unknown cause of death" could, in fact, be explained. A team from the Universities of Edinburgh and Manchester examined more than 1,120 medical certificates of stillbirths, which were issued at 76 UK obstetric units in 2018. Of the 421 which were resolved, 195 were re-designated as foetal growth restriction (FGR), and 184 as placental insufficiency. Dr Michael Rimmer, clinical research fellow at Edinburgh University’s MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, said: “This study shows some medical certificates of stillbirths contain significant errors. "Reducing these errors and accurately recording contributing factors to a stillbirth is important in shaping research and health policies aimed at reducing the number of stillbirths. Read full story Source: The Herald, 21 June 2022
  15. News Article
    Heather Lawrence was shocked at the state she found her 90-year-old mother, Violet, in when she visited her in hospital. "The bed was soaked in urine. The continence pad between her legs was also soaked in urine, the door wide open, no underwear on. It was a mixed ward as well," Heather says. "I mean there were other people in there that could have been walking up and down seeing her, with the door wide open as well. My mum, she was a very proud woman, she wouldn't have been wanted to be seen like that at all." Violet, who had dementia, was taken to Tameside General Hospital, in Greater Manchester, in May 2021, after a fall. Her health deteriorated in hospital and she developed an inflamed groin with a nasty rash stretching to her stomach - due to prolonged exposure to urine. She died a few weeks later. Heather tells BBC News: "I don't really know how to put it into words about the dignity of care. I just feel like she wasn't allowed to be given that dignity. And that's with a lot of dementia patients. I think they just fade away and appear to be insignificant, when they're not." New research, shown exclusively to BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme, has found other dementia patients have had to endure similar indignity. Dr Katie Featherstone, from the Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory, at the University of West London, observed the continence care of dementia patients in three hospitals in England and Wales over the course a year for a study funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. She found patients who were not helped to go to the toilet and instead left to wet and soil themselves. "We identified what we call pad cultures - the everyday use of continence pads in the care of all people with dementia, regardless of their continence but also regardless of their independence, as a standard practice," Dr Featherstone says. Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 June 2022
  16. News Article
    The COVID-19 crisis has both divided and galvanised Canadians on healthcare. While the last three years have presented new challenges to healthcare systems across the country, the pandemic has also exacerbated existing challenges, most notably the high levels of errors and mistreatment documented in Canadian health care. According to a 2019 report from the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, Canada was already facing a public health crisis prior to the pandemic: a crisis of patient safety. As the report details, patient safety incidents are the third leading cause of death in Canada, following cancer and heart disease. Few studies calculate national data on this topic, but a 2013 report found that patient safety events resulted in just under 28,000 deaths. Many Canadians who have experienced these errors have shared their experiences with media in an effort to raise awareness and demand change. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has created a moment of dual crises. First, the pre-existing crisis of patient safety, and second, healthcare overall is now at a breaking point after three years of COVID-19, according to healthcare workers. Edmonton physician Dr. Darren Markland, for example, recently closed his kidney specialist practice after making a few "profound mistakes." In an interview with Global News, he explains he could no longer work at the current pace. He is not alone in this decision. Across the country, there have been waves of resignations in health care, leaving some areas struggling with a system that is "degrading, increasingly unsafe, and often without dignity." Read full story Source: MedicalXpress, 17 June 2022
  17. News Article
    A clinical trial to test pregnant women for Group B Strep (GBS) – the most common cause of life-threatening infection in newborn babies – will fail unless the Government intervenes, experts have warned. Some 80 hospitals are needed for the trial to go ahead but only 32 have committed to it, with a deadline for registering of September. The trial is being funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and will look at whether testing women for Group B Strep reduces the risk of babies dying or suffering harm. Now Dr Jane Plumb, chief executive of Group B Strep Support, who lost her son Theo to the infection, is calling on the Government and NHS England to intervene to make sure the trial goes ahead. She said: “The reality is that unless a further 48 hospitals sign up for this trial, then it will fail. “The Government is waiting for the results from this trial to determine whether to test pregnant women for Group B Strep. “Yet there seems to be little acknowledgement that this trial is heading towards failure. “We need more hospitals on board and we need to make sure that the investment in this trial is not wasted. “This is about saving the lives of babies, and it really is now or never.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 20 June 2022
  18. News Article
    An 80-year-old woman with coeliac disease died within days of being fed Weetabix in hospital, an inquest has heard. Hazel Pearson, from Connah’s Quay in Flintshire, was being treated at Wrexham Maelor hospital and died four days later on 30 November from aspiration pneumonia. Although her condition was recorded on her admission documents, there was no sign beside her bed to alert healthcare assistants to her dietary requirements. Coeliac disease is a condition where the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues after consuming gluten, a type of protein found in wheat, rye and barley, causing damage to the small intestine. The hospital’s action plan to avoid similar fatal incidents lacked detail and had “narrow vision”, the coroner said. The hospital’s matron, Jackie Evans, told the inquest that changes, including placing signs above the beds of patients with special dietary requirements, had been implemented since Pearson’s death. But Sutherland raised concerns that the hospital had yet to carry out a formal investigation into what went wrong. She said: “The action plan lacks detail. What has happened locally is commendable, but it lacks detail and it has narrow vision.” She added that the plan that had been put in place was “amateurish with no strategic vision”. The assistant coroner said she would be unable to make a decision on a prevention of future deaths report until the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) provided a witness to answer further questions about changes. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 June 2022
  19. 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
  20. News Article
    Delays unloading ambulances at busy hospitals are causing serious harm to patients, a safety watchdog is warning. The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch has been investigating how the long waits are delaying 999 emergency response times across England. Kenneth Shadbolt, 94, waited more than five hours for an ambulance after a bad fall - an accident that proved fatal. Logs show that in his final 999 call he asked: "Can you please tell them to hurry up or I shall be dead." Ken Shadbolt had been in good shape for his age. On the night of Wednesday, 23 March 2022, just before 03:00, he got out of bed to go the bathroom and fell, hitting a wardrobe before collapsing on the floor. He had hurt his hip - how badly he didn't know - and couldn't get up. He could reach his mobile on his bedside, though, and dialled 999 for help. The BBC has seen transcripts of the three separate phone calls he made to South Western Ambulance Service that night. The first was short and factual, covering the basic details of his injury. He seemed calm and lucid but made clear he was in pain and needed an ambulance. Internal call logs seen by the BBC show that at this point Ken was triaged as a category two emergency, meaning paramedics should arrive in 18 minutes, on average. About 15 minutes later, Ken called 999 for a second time. An internal ambulance service log seen by the BBC shows that South Western Ambulance Service was indeed busy that night. It talks about "high demand" in the Gloucester area, with more than 60 patients waiting for help, some for more than eight hours. Another hour passed before Ken made his third and final call to 999. It was clear now that he was in serious pain. He felt "terrible sick" and said his "breathing is going too". "I need an ambulance because I'm going to fade away quite quickly," he said. The same reply came back: "The ambulance service is just under a lot of pressure at the moment... we are doing our best." An ambulance finally got to Kenneth Shadbolt's house at 08:10 that morning, four hours after that final call. Ken died at 14:21 that afternoon, with the cause of death given as a "very large subdural haematoma" or bleed on the brain. His son Jerry Shadbolt said: "The doctors were saying his injuries were non-survivable but would they have been non-survivable if he'd arrived at hospital four hours earlier? I'd like an answer to that question. "He was on his own and he knew he was on his own. He must have felt abandoned and alone on his bedroom floor. That's the most troubling part of it for me." Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 June 2022
  21. News Article
    A couple whose baby died after he was starved of oxygen during a home birth are campaigning for risky breech deliveries to be spotted earlier. Arthur Trott was an undiagnosed breech baby, born after a planned home birth in Burgess Hill on 24 May 2021. A breech delivery is when a baby's bottom or feet will emerge first. An inquest into his death found a delay in transfer to hospital "materially contributed" to his brain injury. The South East Coast Ambulance Service Trust said it welcomed "any changes to national breech birth guidance". Arthur's parents believe a breakdown in communication between the paramedics who attended and their control room meant Mrs Trott was kept at home too long. Arthur's father, Matt Trott, said: "You could hear the panic and confusion in everyone's voices. One minute they were told to go to hospital, the next minute to stay." As a result of Arthur's death, all planned home births in Sussex are being offered a presentation scan at 38 weeks. Read full story Source: BBC News, 14 March 2023
  22. News Article
    Bereaved families are having to report maternity blunders because watchdogs and hospitals are unable to spot failings, an expert has warned. Bill Kirkup said avoidable deaths were "a badge of shame" but would continue without urgent change. Eight years on from his report into the Morecambe Bay maternity scandal, he said the failure of officials to act had needlessly cost more lives. "I am very disappointed – and surprised – that we're still where we are", he said. "That's a terrible badge of shame for the health service that it takes families to come and tell us what's wrong. "Yet just about every tragedy that I've ever been involved with investigating has come to light when there's a group of families who say 'You've got a problem here'. "People are lying, they're not being open and they're concealing what's happening. "If we can't bring this change, I'm not confident that there won't be another East Kent, Morecambe Bay or Nottingham, somewhere else." Read full story Source: Mail Online, 10 March 2023
  23. News Article
    A review into the culture at Birmingham's biggest hospitals trust amid allegations of bullying and undue pressure on staff has found 'substantial issues' of concern, a brief report has revealed. A short briefing for councillors by NHS Birmingham and Solihull chief executive David Melborne offers the first insight into the findings of Professor Mike Bewick and his review team who were tasked with investigating damning allegations made by current and former staff at University Hospitals Birmingham. More than 50 medics, including some with decades of experience, came forward to criticise a 'toxic' working culture at the trust, many sharing their experiences with MP Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham Edgbaston). Among the most serious claims that emerged were that whistleblowers concerned about patient safety were silenced with threats of disciplinary action. In a written report to Birmingham and Solihull councils' joint health overview and scrutiny committee, meeting Monday, Mr Melborne says the rapid review into the Newsnight allegations and subsequent complaints has found 'no fundamental safety issues at the Trust'. However, he goes on: "That said, there are substantial issues around culture, behaviour, leadership and governance that will need to be addressed". Read full story Source: Birmingham Live, 10 March 2023
  24. News Article
    More than 500 seriously ill patients died last year before they could get treatment in hospital after the ambulance they called for took up to 15 hours to reach them, an investigation by the Guardian reveals. The fatalities included people who had had a stroke or heart attack or whose breathing had suddenly collapsed, or who had been involved in a road traffic collision. In every case, an ambulance crew took much longer to arrive than the NHS target times for responding to an emergency. Bereaved relatives have spoken of how the pain of losing a loved one has been compounded by the ambulance crew having taken so long to arrive and start treatment. Coroners, senior doctors and ambulance staff say the scale of the loss of life illustrates the growing dangers to patients from the implosion of NHS urgent and emergency care services. “These 500-plus deaths a year when an ambulance hasn’t got there in time are tragic and avoidable,” said Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which represents A&E doctors. “These numbers are deeply concerning. This is the equivalent of multiple airliners crashing.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 March 2023
  25. News Article
    The crisis in the NHS is leading to continued higher-than-usual death levels in England and Wales, experts have said. Figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that almost 170,000 more people than normal died in England and Wales between March 2020, when coronavirus was declared a pandemic, and the end of 2022 – 11% higher than the five-year average. However, the new data also shows that the number of excess deaths has continued, even as the virus’s fatality rate has declined thanks to vaccinations and weaker strains, with 90% of the excess deaths in 2022 occurring in the second half of the year, coinciding with recent NHS pressures and the impact of a cold winter. Prof David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University said that “analyses have suggested that delays in ambulance arrivals and in A&E will have had a substantial impact, as well as the cold weather and the early flu season”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 March 2023
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