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Found 1,491 results
  1. News Article
    Health leaders have called for the routine recording of ethnicity and faith during the registration of deaths to help fight COVID-19, but the government appears to have rejected the idea. Leaders at West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership, the second largest integrated care system in England, wrote to registrar general Abi Tierney last month and said the lack of routine collection and analysis of this data “means there is a structural barrier to understanding of inequalities in mortality”. The Home Office replied and said it is considering “a range of reliable and proportionate ways to collect the necessary information”. But HSJ understands the Home Office has indicated no immediate action will be taken on the issue. The letter said: “This absence has undoubtedly led to delays in identifying the inequalities of COVID-19 mortality and means that we remain unclear about the disparities in deaths outside of hospital. These delays have risked contributing to further loss of life in our places in recent weeks, as we have not had robust data to enable us to address impacts at sufficient pace as we have been dealing with this crisis.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 8 July 2020
  2. News Article
    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) staged an unannounced inspection after two deaths at a mental health unit which it had condemned as “not fit for purpose.” Two earlier CQC inspections – in 2017 and 2018 – had also been prompted by deaths on the same unit. The CQC visited the Abraham Cowley Unit, which is at St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey and run by Surrey and Borders Partnership Foundation Trust, on 26 June. Two inpatients died in April and May on an inpatient ward for working age men. The deaths both involved “ligature harm” and have led to the trust reviewing its ligature minimisation strategy, according to board papers. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 8 July 2020
  3. News Article
    Former patients of rogue breast surgeon Ian Paterson may have died of “unnatural deaths” two senior coroners have said. Senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, Louise Hunt, and area coroner Emma Brown have said they believe there is evidence to suspect victims of Ian Paterson, who was jailed for 17 counts of wounding with intent in 2017, died unnaturally as a result of his actions. They now plan to open four inquests into the deaths of patients who died from breast cancer after being treated by Paterson. “Following preliminary investigations, the senior and area Coroner believe there is evidence to have reason to suspect that some of those deaths may be unnatural. In accordance with the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, inquests will now be opened in relation to four former patients of Mr Paterson.” Deborah Douglas, a victim of Paterson who leads a support group in Solihull, told The Independent: "I have spoken to so many women over the years who have since died. This is what I have always known and fought for. "Paterson lied about pathology reports and people did develop secondary cancers." Read full story Source: The Independent, 4 July 2020
  4. News Article
    Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that about two-thirds of fatalities from this disease during its peak from start of March to mid-May were people with disabilities. That is more than 22,000 deaths. Then dig down into the data. It indicates women under 65 with disabilities are more than 11 times more likely to die than fellow citizens, while for men the rate is more than six times higher. Even for older people the number of deaths was three times as high for women and twice as high for men. There are some explanations for such alarming figures, although they tend to reveal other profound concerns. Yet the report showed even when issues such as economic status and deprivation are taken into account, people with disabilities died at about twice the rate of their peers. So where was the fury over this obvious and deep inequality, even in death? Where was the fierce outcry over persistent failures that left many citizens and their families at risk, lacking even the most basic advice, support or protection from the state? Chris Hatton, the dedicated professor of public health and disability at Lancaster University, delved into all available data. He found people with autism and learning disabilities were in reality at least four times more likely to die at the peak of pandemic than other citizens. They also died at far younger ages. “Information released about deaths of autistic people and people with learning disabilities has been minimal, grudging and seems deliberately designed to be inaccessible,” he says. This adds up to one more shameful episode in the scandal of how Britain treats such citizens. Read full story Source: iNews, 5 July 2020
  5. News Article
    Parents of babies who died at a hospital trust at the centre of a maternity inquiry say a police investigation has come "too late". West Mercia Police said it was looking at whether there was "evidence to support a criminal case" at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospital Trust. An independent review, contacted by more than 1,000 families, said it was working with police to identify relevant cases. "It's bittersweet," one mother said. "It's come too late for my daughter, she should still be here," said Tasha Turner, whose baby, Esmai, died four days after she was born at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in 2013. Ms Turner's case is part of the Ockenden Review, an independent investigation into avoidable baby deaths at the trust, which runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal. LaKamaljit Uppal, 50, from Telford, who is also part of the review following the death of her son Manpreet in April 2003 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, said she hoped the police inquiry would bring some closure. "The trust put me through hell, someone should be held accountable," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 July 2020
  6. News Article
    NHS England and NHS Improvement have ordered urgent reviews into the deaths of people with a learning disability and autism during the pandemic, HSJ has learned. In May, the regulators said the COVID-19 death rates among this population were broadly in line with the rest of the population. But in early June, the Care Quality Commission published data which suggested death rates of people with learning disabilities and/or autism had doubled during the pandemic. In an announcement posted on a social media group for Royal College of Nursing members last week, NHSE/I said they were “urgently seeking clinical reviewers with experience in learning disability”. The message to the private Facebook group, seen by HSJ, added: “The effects of coronavirus are having a far-reaching impact on all our lives. As we learn more about the virus, we are taking steps to make changes to safeguard our well-being. “For people with a learning disability, the number of deaths has doubled during the covid pandemic. (compared to data on the number of deaths recorded during the same period last year). As a result, we have a large number of deaths of people with a learning disability who have died during the pandemic whose deaths we want to review.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 July 2020
  7. News Article
    Police in Bristol have launched investigations into the circumstances that led to the death of a teenager with autism and learning disabilities. Avon and Somerset Police told HSJ they are investigating the circumstances behind the death of Oliver McGowan in 2016, at North Bristol Trust. They said: “As part of the enquiry [officers] will interview a number of individuals as they seek to establish the circumstances around Oliver’s death before seeking advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.” Oliver died in 2016 at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital after being admitted following a seizure. He had mild autism, epilepsy and learning difficulties. During previous hospital spells he experienced very bad reactions to antipsychotic medications, prompting warnings in his medical records that he had an intolerance to these drugs. Despite this Oliver was given anti-psychotic medication by doctors at Southmead against his own and his parents’ wishes. This led him to suffer a severe brain swelling which led to his death. His death has since prompted a national training programme for NHS staff on the care of people with autism and learning disabilities. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 July 2020
  8. News Article
    Delays in going to the emergency department because of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown may have been a contributory factor in the deaths of nine children, a snapshot survey of consultant paediatricians in the UK and Ireland has shown. Three of the reported deaths associated with delayed presentation were due to sepsis, three were due to a new diagnosis of malignancy, in two the cause was not reported, and one was a new diagnosis of metabolic disease. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 30 June 2020
  9. News Article
    The NHS has kept secret dozens of external reviews of failings in local services – covering possible premature deaths, unnecessary and harmful operations, and rows among doctors putting patients at risk – an HSJ investigation has found. At least 70 external reviews by medical royal colleges were carried out from 2016 to 2019, across 47 trusts, according to information provided by NHS trusts, but more than 60 of these have never been published – contrary to national guidance – while several have not even been shared with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and other regulators. These include reviews which uncovered serious failings. Bill Kirkup’s review into the Morecambe Bay scandal in 2015 recommended trusts should “report openly” all external investigations into clinical services, governance or other aspects of their operations, including notifying the CQC. Since then the CQC has asked trusts for details of external reviews when it reviews evidence, and in July 2018 it began to ask for copies of their final reports, but HSJ’s research suggests this does not always happen. James Titcombe, the patient safety campaigner whose son’s death led to the inquiry by Bill Kirkup into the Morecambe Bay maternity care scandal, said a review was now needed of whether its recommendations had been implemented. “It is not acceptable that five years [on], there are still secretive royal college reports and patients are kept in the dark,” he said. Read full story Source: HSJ, 25 June 2020
  10. News Article
    At least another 130,000 people worldwide have died during the coronavirus pandemic on top of 440,000 officially recorded deaths from the virus, according to BBC research. A review of preliminary mortality data from 27 countries shows that in many places the number of overall deaths during the pandemic has been higher than normal, even when accounting for the virus. These so-called "excess deaths", the number of deaths above the average, suggest the human impact of the pandemic far exceeds the official figures reported by governments around the world. Some will be unrecorded COVID-19 victims, but others may be the result of the strain on healthcare systems and a variety of other factors. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 June 2020
  11. News Article
    There should be independent reviews of the NHS’ readiness for a potential second major outbreak of coronavirus in the UK, senior doctors are arguing. The Royal College of Anaesthetists said a series of reviews should be carried out, overseen by an independent group formed from clinical royal college representatives, independent scientists and academics. It would encompass investigation of what happened to care quality during the peak of infection and demand through March, April and May — there are major concerns that harm and death was caused by knock of effects, with some health services closed and people being afraid to use others. Hospitals were unable to provide many other services as staff, including most anaesthetists, were redeployed to help with critical care. Ravi Mahajan, president of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, told HSJ areas such as capacity, workforce and protective equipment were key issues to be reviewed. He said: “We can’t wait for [the pandemic] to finish and then review. [The reviews] have to be dynamic, ongoing, and the sooner they start the better. Read full story Source: HSJ, 17 June 2020
  12. News Article
    A patient almost died after being misdiagnosed and sent home from hospital on the first day of the lockdown as the NHS curtailed many normal services to focus on COVID-19. The NHS trust involved has admitted that its failings led to the man suffering excruciating pain, developing life-threatening blood poisoning, and contracting the flesh-eating bug necrotising fasciitis. He needed eight operations to remedy the damage caused by his misdiagnosis. The man, his wife and his GP spent three weeks after his discharge trying to get him urgent medical care. However, St Mary’s hospital on the Isle of Wight rejected repeated pleas by them for doctors to help him, even though his health was deteriorating sharply. The man, who does not want to be named, said his experience of seeking NHS care for something other than COVID-19 during the pandemic had been “debilitating and exhausting” and that feeling the NHS “was not there” for him had been “very distressing” for him and his wife. Mary Smith, of the solicitors Novum Law, who are representing the man in his complaint against the trust, said his plight highlighted the growing number of cases that were emerging of people whose health had suffered because they could not access normal NHS care in recent months. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 June 2020
  13. News Article
    A woman whose father died in a care home has launched a judicial review case in the High Court over the government’s “litany of failures” in protecting the vulnerable elderly residents who were most at risk from COVID-19. Cathy Gardner accuses England’s health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, NHS England, and Public Health England of acting unlawfully in breaching statutory duties to safeguard health and obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, including the right to life. Her father, Michael Gibson, who had Alzheimer’s disease, died aged 88 of probable COVID-19 related causes on 3 April at Cherwood House Care Centre, near Bicester, Oxfordshire. She claims that before his death the care home had been pressured into taking a hospital patient who had tested positive for the virus but had not had a raised temperature for about 72 hours. “I am appalled that Matt Hancock can give the impression that the government has sought to cast a protective ring over elderly residents of care homes, and right from the start,” Gardner said. “The truth is that there has been at best a casual approach to protecting the residents of care homes. At worst the government has adopted a policy that has caused the death of the most vulnerable in our society.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 15 June 2020
  14. News Article
    Relatives of 450 people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic are demanding an immediate public inquiry. The families want an urgent review of "life and death" steps needed to minimise the continuing effects of the virus and a guarantee that documents relating to the crisis will be kept. A full inquiry would take place later, says lawyer, Elkan Abrahamson, who is representing the families. The government has said its current focus is on dealing with the pandemic. But the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group say immediate lessons need to be learned to prevent more deaths, and that waiting for ministers to launch an inquiry will cost lives. The call for an inquiry comes as a report from the National Audit Office - assessing the readiness of the NHS and social care in England for the pandemic - has shown it is not known how many of the 25,000 people discharged from hospitals into care homes at the peak of the outbreak were infected with coronavirus. Health and Social Care Select Committee chairman Jeremy Hunt said it seemed "extraordinary that no one appeared to consider" the risk. The Department of Health says it took the "right decisions at the right time". Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 June 2020
  15. News Article
    Thousands of people lost their lives “prematurely” because care homes in England lacked the protective equipment and financial resources to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, according to council care bosses. In a highly critical report, social care directors say decisions to rapidly discharge many vulnerable patients from NHS hospitals to care homes without first testing them for COVID-19 had “tragic consequences” for residents and staff. In many places, vulnerable people were discharged into care facilities where there was a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) or where it was impossible to isolate them safely, sometimes when they could have returned home, the report says. “Ultimately, thousands have lost their lives prematurely in social care and were not sufficiently considered as part of wider health and community systems. And normality has not yet returned,” James Bullion, the president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass), said in a foreword to the report. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 June 2020
  16. News Article
    Senior doctors repeatedly raised concerns over safety and staffing problems at a mental health trust before a cluster of 12 deaths, an HSJ investigation has found. The deaths all happened over the course of a year, starting in June 2018, involving patients under the care of the crisis home treatment services at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust. The causes of the deaths included suicides, drug overdoses, and hanging. Coroners found several common failings surrounding the deaths and have previously warned of a lack of resources for mental health services in the city. HSJ has now seen internal documents which reveal senior clinicians had raised repeated internal concerns about the trust’s crisis home treatment teams during 2017 and early 2018. The clinicians warned of inadequate staffing levels, long waiting lists, and a lack of inpatient bed capacity. In the minutes of one meeting in February 2018, just two months before the first of the 12 deaths, a consultant is recorded as saying he had “grave concerns over safety in [the home treatment teams]”. Read full story Source: HSJ, 9 June 2020
  17. News Article
    Care home residents are on course to make up more than half the deaths caused directly or indirectly by the coronavirus crisis in England, according to a new analysis. The study warns that the death toll by the end of June from OVID-19 infections and other excess deaths is “likely to approach 59,000 across the entire English population, of which about 34,000 (57%) will have been care home residents”. The estimate, produced by the major healthcare business consultancy LaingBuisson, includes people who list a care home as their primary residence, wherever they died – including those who died in hospital. It is based on data from the Office for National Statistics, as well as the analyst’s own modelling of the number of care home resident deaths likely to have occurred in the absence of the pandemic. The new study coincides with mounting concerns over the failure to protect care homes earlier in the pandemic. Senior care industry figures point to the decision to move some hospital patients back to care homes in mid-March. There have also been complaints that non-Covid-related healthcare became less accessible to homes during the height of the pandemic, leading to extra deaths. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 7 June 2020
  18. News Article
    Large numbers of staff could have been unknowingly spreading coronavirus through care homes, according to the UK's largest charitable care home provider. Data from MHA shows 42% of its staff members who recently tested positive were not displaying symptoms. Nearly 45% of residents who had a positive test were also asymptomatic. MHA operates in England, Scotland and Wales and has fully tested staff and residents in 86 of its 90 homes so far. A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Our priority is to ensure care workers and those receiving care are protected, and the latest statistics show over 60% of care homes have had no outbreak at all. "We've set out a comprehensive support package for residents and staff, including a £600m infection control fund, testing regardless of whether you have symptoms, and a named clinical lead to support every care home." In total, 7% of MHA staff and 13% of residents received a positive test result. Routine testing is not yet under way. MHA CEO Sam Monaghan told BBC Newsnight: "It is not difficult to imagine that a lot of people may not have ended up dying if we'd had earlier testing and we'd been therefore better able to manage infection control in our homes." Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 June 2020
  19. News Article
    The government removed a key section from Public Health England’s review (published Tuesday) of the relative risk of COVID-19 to specific groups, HSJ has discovered. The review reveals the virus poses a greater risk to those who are older, male and overweight. The risk is also described as “disproportionate” for those with Asian, Caribbean and black ethnicities. It makes no attempt to explain why the risk to BAME groups should be higher. An earlier draft of the review which was circulated within government last week contained a section which included responses from the 1,000-plus organisations and individuals who supplied evidence to the review. Many of these suggested that discrimination and poorer life chances were playing a part in the increased risk of COVID-19 to those with BAME backgrounds. HSJ understands this section was an annex to the report but could also stand alone. Typical was the following recommendation from the response by the Muslim Council of Britain, which stated: “With high levels of deaths of BAME healthcare workers, and extensive research showing evidence and feelings of structural racism and discrimination in the NHS, PHE should consider exploring this in more detail, and looking into specific measures to tackle the culture of discrimination and racism. It may also be of value to issue a clear statement from the NHS that this is not acceptable, committing to introducing change.” One source with knowledge of the review said the section “did not survive contact with Matt Hancock’s office” over the weekend. Read full story Source: HSJ, 2 June 2020
  20. News Article
    At least 25 people have died at a care home amid claims from an industry body that a council's actions "caused" or "increased COVID-19 deaths". Melbury Court in Durham is thought to be the care home with the highest number of deaths in the UK. County Durham has had the highest number of care home deaths in England and Wales. Durham County Council said it "strongly refuted" the claim by the County Durham Care Home Association (CDCHA). Some patients went from the nearby University Hospital of North Durham to Melbury Court without being tested for coronavirus or after a positive test. A BBC investigation has discovered that in a conference call in late March, council officials were told plans to move hospital patients into care homes without testing would be disastrous. The CDCHA offered to find a specific home or homes where COVID-19 positive or untested people could be cared for rather than have them spread around the network, but this was never acted on and now the CDCHA has calculated there has been an outbreak of coronavirus in 81 of the county's 149 care homes. Maria Vincent, who runs Crosshill Care Home in Stanhope, told the council in March that care homes were not set up to accept COVID-19 patients, and described it as "neglect pure and simple". Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 June 2020
  21. News Article
    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) have looked at how the number of people who have died during the coronavirus outbreak this year compares to the number of people who died at the same time last year. They looked at information about services that support people with a learning disability or autism in the 5 weeks between 10 April to 15 May in 2019 and 2020. These services can support around 30,000 people. They found that in that 5 weeks this year, 386 people with a learning disability, who may also be autistic, died. Data for the same 5 weeks last year found that 165 people with a learning disability, who may also be autistic, died. This information shows that well over twice as many people in these services died this year compared to last year. This is a 134% increase in the number of death notifications this year. This new data should be considered when decisions are being made about the prioritisation of testing at a national and local level. Kate Terroni, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said: "Every death in today's figures represents an individual tragedy for those who have lost a loved one." "While we know this data has its limitations what it does show is a significant increase in deaths of people with a learning disability as a result of COVID-19. We already know that people with a learning disability are at an increased risk of respiratory illnesses, meaning that access to testing could be key to reducing infection and saving lives." "These figures also show that the impact on this group of people is being felt at a younger age range than in the wider population – something that should be considered in decisions on testing of people of working age with a learning disability." Read full story Source: Care Quality Commission, 2 June 2020
  22. News Article
    Care homes are the focus of the COVID-19 outbreak in England and Wales. At least 40% of all coronavirus deaths have occurred in the very places dedicated to keeping people safe in their later years. The under-reporting of deaths, the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing available to staff, and the total focus on the NHS at the expense of the social care sector have all contributed to an estimated 22,000 deaths in care homes – places that government had originally advised were “very unlikely” to experience infection. But how could care homes have been failed so badly, and what checks and balances should have been in place to prevent this? Care homes in England are regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). One of its key responsibilities is to carry out inspections and visits to ensure providers meet fundamental standards of quality and safety; however, as of 16 March, the regulator stopped all routine inspections to “focus on supporting providers to deliver safe care during the pandemic”. Had the CQC continued its inspections, it would have been in a position to challenge cases where PPE was being diverted away from care homes to the NHS, and to aid struggling homes in their battle to secure tests for staff and residents. Instead, care homes have effectively been left to fend for themselves. On top of this, the CQC joined similar bodies in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in refusing to publish detailed data on care home deaths, arguing instead for a need to “avoid confusion” and to protect “the privacy and confidentiality of those who have died and their families”. Families and the wider public have a right to know when and where COVID-19 outbreaks are happening, and this lack of transparency is deeply troubling. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 June 2020
  23. News Article
    The coronavirus pandemic is a “magnifier of inequality” that threatens the wellbeing of women, children, and adolescents worldwide, a roundtable of influential female leaders has heard. The United Nations has predicted that 47 million women could lose access to contraception resulting in 7 million additional unintended pregnancies over the next six months1 because of “deadly and disabling” COVID-19, the virtual event was told. There could also be 31 million additional cases of gender based violence in low and middle income countries. Policy makers have a clear duty to protect the most vulnerable and disadvantaged and to tackle the root causes of inequality with targeted policies and resources, the participants concluded. Henrietta Fore, executive director of Unicef, said that, in countries with already weak health systems, COVID-19 was disrupting medical supply chains and straining financial and human resources. Visits to healthcare centres are declining owing to lockdowns, curfews, and transport disruptions, and as communities remain fearful of infection. She cited recent research that indicated there could be an increase in child deaths amounting to an additional 6000 a day over the next six months, and 56 700 more maternal deaths. “This is a statistic we want to avoid. We are concerned about access to services,” she said. Read full story Source: BMJ, 29 May 2020
  24. News Article
    A hospital trust under the spotlight over avoidable baby deaths provided inadequate antenatal care, with inexperienced junior midwives working alone and doctors not always available to assess high risk women, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found. The latest CQC report on maternity services at East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust follows a report last month by the NHS Healthcare Services Investigation Branch on 24 maternity care investigations at the trust. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 28 May 2020
  25. News Article
    Deaths resulting from COVID-19 infection account for only half of the number of excess deaths taking place in private homes, expert analysis of latest data suggests. Figures from the Office for National Statistics from the seven weeks to 15 May show that more than 40 000 COVID-19 deaths have now taken place in hospitals, care homes, and private homes in England and Wales. The figures also show 14 418 excess non-covid deaths. Although COVID-19 was mentioned on death certificates 13 500 times in care homes and private homes over the past seven weeks, some 23 500 more non-covid deaths have taken place in the community than would be expected. Discussing the data, David Spiegelhalter, chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge, said that “as soon as the pandemic started we saw a huge immediate spike in non-covid deaths in [private] homes that occurred close to the time hospitals were minimising the service they were providing." “Over the seven weeks up to 15 May, as the NHS focused on covid, around 8800 fewer non-covid deaths than normal occurred in hospitals.” He added that these had not been “exported” to care homes, since fairly few care home residents normally died in hospitals. Instead, he said, it seemed that these deaths had contributed to the huge rise in extra deaths in private homes during this period. Read full story Source: BMJ, 27 May 2020
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