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Found 1,490 results
  1. News Article
    The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is facing being taken to court over an inquiry it launched into the deaths of dozens of mental health patients in Essex. Last year, the government said it would commission an independent inquiry into at least 36 inpatient deaths in Essex, which had taken place over the last two decades. However, more than 70 families are calling for a full statutory public inquiry, which can compel witnesses to give evidence. They have lodged judicial review proceedings at the High Court against the government to that effect. The DHSC said it could not comment on ongoing legal proceedings. The current inquiry was launched in response to a highly critical report from the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman, published in June 2019, into the deaths of two patients at North Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust, which has since merged to form Essex Partnership University FT. There has also been an investigation by Essex Police into 25 of the deaths. This concluded in 2018, when the force said there had been “clear and basic” care failings, but there was not enough evidence to prosecute the trust for corporate manslaughter. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 11 May 2021
  2. News Article
    A nurse accused of murdering eight babies in an alleged year-long killing spree at an NHS hospital has appeared in court. Lucy Letby, aged 31, appeared at Manchester Crown Court via videolink from HMP Peterborough on Monday morning. She has been charged the murder of five boys and three girls at the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital. The babies all died between June 2015 and June 2016. Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 May 2021
  3. News Article
    The highest number of alcohol-related deaths in England and Wales since records began was seen in 2020, official data shows. A survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that alcohol killed more people in 2020 than in any of the previous 20 years. The data also showed a rise of 20 per cent compared to 2019. Overall, there were 7,423 deaths from alcohol misuse last year, compared to 6,209 in 2019. Deaths increased from March 2020 onwards, when the coronavirus pandemic forced the UK into a series of national lockdowns. Read full story Source: The Independent, 6 May 2021
  4. News Article
    Police are investigating allegations around the death of a patient who was under the care of Hertfordshire Partnership University Foundation Trust. The probe by Hertfordshire Constabulary relates to the case of Margaret Molyneux, 69, who according to a review by the trust’s commissioners, was prescribed doses of anti-psychotic medication which were significantly higher than recommended limits. Police said the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made. Ms Molyneux had been admitted to the trust’s mental health unit in Radlett in 2017, after which her physical health declined and she was admitted to Watford General Hospital with pneumonia and dysphagia, which relates to difficulties swallowing. She was discharged back to the Radlett unit, but died several weeks later at Watford General Hospital, after choking on her food and developing aspiration pneumonia. An inquest in February 2018 ruled she died from natural causes, but an investigation into her case commissioned by East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, seen by HSJ, subsequently suggested high doses of Olanzapine, an anti-psychotic drug, were “likely to have at least contributed to some of the physical problems she experienced… including low blood pressure, falls and dysphagia”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 May 2021
  5. News Article
    The critical finding at the inquest into Laura Booth’s death raises alarming concerns about the failing system of investigation into the deaths of people with learning disabilities. Initially, Laura’s death was said to be expected and was attributed to natural causes on the basis of a death certificate signed by a hospital doctor. Without the determination of Laura’s family and the intervention of the media, this inquest would never have happened, and the truth about her death from malnutrition and neglect would not have been uncovered. The concerns about how many other avoidable deaths have not been scrutinised because there is no one to speak up on behalf of those who died or because families are obstructed in their search for answers by the prevailing assumption that people will die early. The premature deaths of people with learning disabilities (on average 30 years before their non-disabled peers) demand robust scrutiny particularly as when inquests do take place, they so often reveal basic failings in healthcare. The way in which the Booth family were so nearly failed by the coronial system is a sharp reminder of how urgently reform of these processes is needed. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 May 2021
  6. News Article
    A man who died from lung cancer might have been saved if a hospital trust had not "failed to act" on two abnormal chest X-rays, an investigation found. Growths identified in the patient's examinations were not followed up for three years and were then untreatable, the health ombudsman said. North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust also failed to correctly handle a complaint from the man's daughter. The trust, which runs hospitals in Carlisle and Whitehaven, apologised. The investigation was carried out by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), which deals with unresolved NHS England complaints. The patient, referred to only as Mr C, was admitted twice to hospital with stroke-like symptoms in 2014 and 2015. On both occasions X-rays were carried out which found abnormal growths in his lungs, but no action was taken. In July 2017, Mr C was found to have advanced lung cancer and he died weeks later. Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 April 2021
  7. News Article
    The suicide of a woman with severe mental illness has prompted a review into the care of hundreds of other patients, according to her family. Frances Wellburn, 56, was under the care of Tees, Esk and Wear Valley Foundation Trust’s community mental health team in York, which before the coronavirus pandemic had categorised her as “medium risk”. This meant she should have had regular contact from the service, but an internal serious incident report into her death, seen by HSJ, found no contact was made with her for three months. In June 2020 she required admission to an inpatient unit for three weeks, but she deteriorated again after being discharged and took her own life in August. Her family have said Ms Wellburn was making a “good recovery” from episodes of psychosis prior to the pandemic, but the lack of support in the spring of last year had contributed to a major deterioration in her condition. According to sister, Rebecca Wellburn, the trust’s director of nursing Elizabeth Moody confirmed in a meeting with the family that a wider review had now been launched into the care of hundreds of patients under its York-based community services. Read full story Source: HSJ, 28 April 2021
  8. News Article
    The death of a young disabled woman following a routine eye operation was partly caused by malnutrition as a result of neglect, a coroner has ruled. Laura Booth, 21, was admitted to the Royal Hallamshire hospital in Sheffield in September 2016 for a routine eye operation. She died the next month, on 19 October. Booth had a number of learning difficulties and life-limiting complications, having been diagnosed with partial trisomy 13, a rare genetic disorder, shortly after she was born. Her mother, Patricia Booth, told the inquest that her daughter stopped eating shortly after she was admitted to hospital, and that doctors ignored Laura’s attempts to communicate with them. She said her daughter consumed only rice milk and blackcurrant juice in hospital, and she kept telling doctors: “This isn’t right, she can’t survive on no food.” The coroner, Abigail Combes, concluded that Laura Booth became unwell while a patient at the hospital and, among other illnesses, “developed malnutrition due to inadequate management for her nutritional needs”. Combes said that Booth’s death “was contributed to by neglect”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 April 2021
  9. News Article
    Infant mortality is not "openly discussed" among some communities, a charity worker in Birmingham said, as the city attempts to tackle a long-standing problem. For the last decade, Birmingham has had one of the highest rates of infant mortality in England. The city council has set up a taskforce in a bid to halve the number of deaths. It heard rates were highest in deprived areas and among Black, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi heritage families. Shabana Qureshi is the women wellbeing manager for the Ashiana Community Project, a charity which works to improve quality of life for those living in Sparkbrook. Figures from the 2011 census show 87% of its population identified as being from an ethnic group other than White British, with the largest ethnic group being Pakistani. Many of women she works with, she said "don't know how to ask the right questions" and so are "not informed" about issues. Many people in the communities they work with, she said, have low education levels and are more likely to suffer with maternity health issues, but find it difficult to access services. "[Infant mortality] is not something that is discussed openly," she said. "A lot of women live within extended families and are sometimes not aware of the risks, they live with these conditions and health inequalities." She said any services which hope to tackle these problems need to involve communities, and be designed to be relatable, culturally sensitive and maintain trust. Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 April 2021
  10. News Article
    The mother of a man who died after suffering neglect said she felt "extreme distress and anger" at a critical new report into his care home. James Delaney, 37, died while he was a resident at Sapphire House in Bradwell, Norfolk, in July 2018. After an inadequate rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Mr Delaney's mother said she felt lessons had not been learned from her son's death. A spokeswoman for operator Crystal Care said it had "addressed all concerns". Mr Delaney, who died of a diabetes-related illness, was required to take insulin twice a day, but, despite staff noting he had not taken insulin for three days, they failed to take action. Jacqueline Lake, senior coroner for Norfolk, said at his inquest in 2019 there had been "a gross failure" by the care home to provide "basic medical attention". The home, which houses up to five people who have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, was inspected in January and February 2021 after two whistleblowers alleged that abusive practices were taking place - a claim which is being investigated by the local safeguarding team. CQC inspectors found "people were not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm", and while risk assessments for diabetes, medicines and behaviour management existed, information was often "lacking or inaccurate". After reading the report, Mr Delaney's mother, Roberta Conway, said her reaction was one of "extreme distress and anger". She said the coroner had "pointed out what needed to be done, and it hasn't been done". "It cost my son his life and I don't want to see anybody else's life being wasted," she added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 April 2021
  11. News Article
    An NHS trust has admitted failing to provide safe care and treatment for a mother and her baby boy, who died seven days after an emergency delivery. Mother Sarah Richford said it brought "some level of justice" for baby Harry's death in 2017. Lawyers for the East Kent Hospitals Trust pleaded guilty to the charge at Folkestone Magistrates Court. The trust said it had made "significant changes" and would "do everything we can to learn from this tragedy". Mrs Richford said: "Although Harry's life was short, hopefully it's made a difference and that other babies won't die". She added: "If somebody had done this before Harry was born he may be alive today." The prosecution by the Care Quality Commission followed an inquest in 2020, which found Harry's death was wholly avoidable and contributed to by neglect at Margate's Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital. The inquest found more than a dozen areas of concern in the care of Harry and his mother, including failings in the way an "inexperienced" doctor carried out the delivery, followed by delays in resuscitation. Coroner Christopher Sutton-Mattocks criticised the trust for initially saying the death was "expected", adding that an inquest was only ordered due to the family's persistence. Read full story Source: BBC News, 19 April 2021
  12. News Article
    Coronavirus death rates are twice as high in insecure jobs as in other professions, new research suggests. The TUC said workers on a contract that does not guarantee regular hours or income, such as zero-hours contracts or casual work, and those in low-paid self-employment, have been more at risk of infection. It’s thought that key workers such as those in social care and delivery driving, which cannot be done from home and require people to come into contact with others, are more insecure. The COVID-19 mortality rate among men in insecure occupations was 51 per 100,000 people aged 20-64, compared with 24 per 100,000 in more secure work, said the union organisation. The mortality rate among women in insecure jobs was 25 per 100,000 people, compared with 13 per 100,000 in more secure occupations. The TUC, which called the figures stark, said more research was needed to understand the links between precarious work and risk of infection and death. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 April 2021
  13. News Article
    A care home under investigation over a resident's death has been rated inadequate for the second time. Merseyside Police began investigating Prescot's Griffin House after the death of a 90-year-old man in June 2020. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated it inadequate in September, highlighting safety concerns and a report from February, released on 9 April, found it had not improved. The inspection on 24 February found management had failed to adequately address the problems previously identified by the CQC and there were new concerns relating to staff recruitment. Inspectors found medicines were not always administered safely, COVID-19 guidance was not always followed and there was not always enough staff on duty. They also noted some staff had not had proper background checks before starting work, but added that since the inspection, a new system had been introduced to ensure checks were carried out. The report said the home's management "refused to follow government guidelines and participate in lateral flow testing for visitors to the home as they did not believe these tests were accurate". Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 April 2021
  14. News Article
    A review sparked by the ‘unexpected’ deaths of 13 patients has found several shortcomings in the talking therapy services offered by a mental health trust. The internal review at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust followed a series of deaths between October 2019 and September 2020. The trust has said the key findings included a lack of family involvement in discussing risks, increased waiting times for face-to-face therapy, and a lack of contact or reassessment for patients on waiting lists. Eight of the 13 deaths, six of which were suicides, were escalated to serious incident reviews, according to a freedom of information response received by HSJ. However, when asked for the findings of the serious incident reviews, the trust said: “To break down the key issues and attribute any single one of them to an individual patient death would in itself lead to potentially identifying that person.” The trust’s improving access to psychological therapies service assessed 11,839 people between October 2019 and September 2020. It comes amid a series of separate investigations into concerns around the trust’s services. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 April 2021
  15. News Article
    The parents of a young disabled woman who died after she went into hospital for a routine eye operation have told a coroner that doctors ignored their daughter’s attempts to communicate. Laura Booth, 21, stopped eating after she was admitted to the Royal Hallamshire hospital in Sheffield, her mother told an inquest hearing in the city on Monday. Patricia Booth, from Sheffield, said her daughter was ignored by clinicians after she went into the hospital in October 2016 despite her being able to communicate to some extent, including using Makaton signing. She said this was in contrast to her treatment at the Children’s hospital in the city. Sitting next to her husband, Ken, on a remote link, Booth told the inquest: “They never discussed anything with Laura. They just ignored her. She couldn’t speak but she could understand everything.” Booth explained how her daughter could make herself understood to her family and would hold her hands out to the doctors, but did not get a response. “They never gave her a chance,” she said. “They never spoke to her. “It’s really heartbreaking. Laura was trying to communicate with them but they just wouldn’t listen … It just upset Laura that the doctors ignored her.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 April 2021
  16. News Article
    Increasingly strong evidence shows that the UK's vaccination programme is breaking the link between COVID-19 cases and deaths, scientists tracking the epidemic have said. A study found infections had fallen by roughly two-thirds since February, before beginning to level off. This is probably because people are beginning to mix more - but deaths have not followed the same pattern. This was not the case before January, when the vaccine rollout began. The research, commissioned by the government and run by Imperial College London, is based on swabs taken from 140,000 people selected to represent England's population. Of that group, who were tested for the virus between 11 and 30 March, 227 had a positive result, giving a rate of 0.2%, or one in 500 people. But in people over the age of 65, the infection rate was half that with one in 1,000 people testing positive for Covid. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 April 2021
  17. News Article
    An NHS trust has been charged over the deaths of two patients. The Care Quality Commission alleges Natalie Billingham, 33, and Kaysie-Jane Bland were exposed to "significant risk of avoidable harm" at Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital. The regulator has brought the charges against Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust over two alleged breaches of the Health and Social Care Act. This relates to the trust's duty to ensure safe care and treatment. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 April 2021
  18. News Article
    A young NHS patient suffering a sickle cell crisis called 999 from his hospital bed to request oxygen, an inquest into his death was told. Evan Nathan Smith, 21, died on 25 April 2019 at North Middlesex Hospital, in Edmonton, north London, after suffering from sepsis following a procedure to remove a gallbladder stent. The inquest heard Smith told his family he called the London Ambulance Service because he thought it was the only way to get the help he needed. Nursing staff told Smith he did not need oxygen when he requested it in the early hours of 23 April, despite a doctor telling the inquest he had “impressed” on the nurses he should have it. Smith’s sepsis is thought to have triggered the sickle cell crisis – a condition that causes acute pain as blood vessels to certain parts of the body become blocked. Barnet Coroner's Court heard Smith, from Walthamstow in east London, might have survived if he had been offered a blood transfusion sooner but the hospital’s haematology team were not told he had been admitted. Read full story Source: The Independent, 3 April 2021
  19. News Article
    A public inquiry into the infected blood scandal has been told some patients were used as "guinea pigs" at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital. The inquiry is looking at how haemophilia patients across the UK were treated with Hepatitis C infected blood or HIV in the 1970s and 1980s. Among the correspondence presented to the inquiry this week was a letter, dated 1988, sent by Dr Elizabeth E Mayne, consultant/director at the Department of Haematology in the Royal Victoria Hospital, to Professor Ludlam at the Royal Infirmary in Scotland. The letter was part of discussions about a potential switch between an NHS product and a commercial product, Profilate Factor 8. Dr Mayne explained that "complications may arise with this product or indeed a safer product may become available". She added: "I am happy for us to try this arrangement as long as the treatment of the children here and the small number of other patients is safeguarded." She concluded "It would be interesting to see the reactions of the patients to this change over and to see if the number of units consumed is reduced." After the letter was read into the record of the inquiry, the chairman, Sir Brian Langstaff, said: "There is also the implicit suggestion there that the patients will not have been asked in advance. "It is going to be given to them and they wait to see what the reaction is." Counsel to the inquiry, Jenni Richards QC, replied "Yes, there doesn't appear to have been an element of choice." Read full story Source: The Independent, 1 April 2021
  20. News Article
    A French court has fined one of the country’s biggest pharmaceutical firms €2.7m (£2.3m) after finding it guilty of deception and manslaughter over a pill linked to the deaths of up to 2,000 people. In one of the biggest medical scandals in France, the privately owned laboratory Servier was accused of covering up the potentially fatal side-effects of the widely prescribed drug Mediator. The former executive Jean-Philippe Seta was sentenced to a suspended jail sentence of four years. The French medicines agency, accused of failing to act quickly enough on warnings about the drug, was fined €303,000. The amphetamine derivative was licensed as a diabetes treatment, but was widely prescribed as an appetite suppressant to help people lose weight. Its active chemical substance is known as Benfluorex. As many as 5 million people took the drug between 1976 and November 2009 when it was withdrawn in France, long after it was banned in Spain and Italy. It was never authorised in the UK or US. The French health minister estimated it had caused heart-valve damage killing at least 500 people, but other studies suggest the death toll may be nearer to 2,000. Thousands more have been left with debilitating cardiovascular problems. Servier has paid out millions in compensation. “Despite knowing of the risks incurred for many years, … they [Servier] never took the necessary measures and thus were guilty of deceit,” said the president of the criminal court, Sylvie Daunis. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 March 2021
  21. News Article
    A 40-year-old mother of four took her own life at an NHSmental health unit after multiple opportunities were missed to keep her safe, an inquest has found, prompting her family to call for a public inquiry. Azra Parveen Hussain was allegedly the seventh in-patient in seven years to die by the same means while in the care of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (BSMHT). Despite this, an inquest at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court last week heard that the Trust had not installed door pressure sensor alarms, which could have potentially alerted staff to the fatal danger these patients faced. While BSMHT is now taking action to install pressure sensors at Mary Seacole House, where Hussain died on 6 May, Coroner Emma Brown noted a lack of national regulation or guidance on the risks presented by internal doors in patients’ bedrooms and is issuing a Prevention of Future Deaths report calling for this to be remedied across the country. Read full story Source: The Independent, 28 March 2021
  22. News Article
    Wards at a trust facing an inquiry over the deaths of vulnerable patients have been downgraded to ‘inadequate’ over fresh patient safety concerns. The Care Quality Commission said five adult and intensive wards across three hospitals run by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) Foundation Trust “did not manage patient safety incidents well”. It also criticised the trust’s leaders for failing to make sure staff knew how to assess patient risk. The watchdog rated the trust’s acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units as “inadequate” overall as well as for safety and leadership. The trust was also served a warning notice threatening more enforcement action if the patient safety issues are not urgently addressed. At the previous inspection in March 2020, the service was rated “good”. TEWV said it has taken “immediate action” to address the issues, including a rapid improvement event for staff and daily safety briefings, and will also spend £3.6m to recruit 80 more staff. The trust’s overall rating of “requires improvement” remains unchanged after this inspection. Brian Cranna, CQC’s head of hospital inspection for the North (mental health and community health services), said: “We found these five wards were providing a service where risks were not assessed effectively or managed well enough to keep people safe from harm." “Staff did not fully understand the complex risk assessment process and what was expected of them. The lack of robust documentation put people at direct risk of harm, as staff did not have access to the information they needed to provide safe care." Read full story (paywall) Source: HSJ, 26 March 2021
  23. News Article
    Two nurses whose failures contributed to the death of a disabled woman carried on working at a care home because they "knew residents well". Rachel Johnston died after an operation to remove all her teeth in 2018. Staff at Pirton Grange, near Worcester, failed to spot her decline and did not carry out basic checks. Worcestershire Coroner's Court heard that despite their actions amounting to misconduct, they were "consistent" and it was better if residents knew carers. Senior coroner David Reid concluded last month that neglect contributed to her death. and the 49-year-old would probably have survived if the staff acted sooner. Agency nurses Sheeba George and Gill Bennett failed to carry out routine checks and get emergency medical assistance, the inquest heard. Giving her delayed evidence on Friday, care home manager Jane Colbourn said she accepted their actions amounted to misconduct, but they were allowed to carry on working at the home and other residents were not at risk. "At the time I would say, although what's happened has happened, they were consistent nurses who knew those residents well and it's better to have those nurses rather than nurses that don't know the other 34 residents at all," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 March 2021
  24. News Article
    Miscarriage may be associated with an increased risk of early death, researchers have said. The BMJ published a study suggesting that this risk is particularly acute for those who have experienced repeated miscarriages, especially ones that occurred early on in a woman’s life. US-based researchers said that women who had experienced a miscarriage were 19% more likely to die prematurely. They pointed out that a miscarriage “could be an early marker of future health risk in women.” The authors of the paper hoped to see if there was any link between miscarriage and a risk of death before the age of 70. Data used was taken from 101,681 women as part of the Nurses’ Health Study in the US. This was made up of female nurses aged between 25 and 42 years. The researchers followed the women for 24 years and said that 2,936 premature deaths were recorded, this included 1,346 from cancer and 269 from cardiovascular disease. It appeared that death rates from all causes were comparable both for women with and without a history of miscarriage. However, rates were higher for women who had experienced three or more miscarriages as well as for women who had their first miscarriage under the age of 24. The study found that the association between miscarriage, or “spontaneous abortion,” and premature death was strongest for deaths from cardiovascular disease. Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 March 2021
  25. News Article
    A previously secret report into children’s services at a scandal-hit NHS hospital has revealed concerns over the safety of services including care of seriously ill babies were raised with managers back in 2015. A report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) raised serious concerns over children’s services at East Kent Hospitals University Trust in 2015 including senior consultants refusing to work beyond 5pm and a shortage of nurses and junior doctors. It also found the neonatal intensive care unit was being staffed by general paediatric doctors instead of specialist neonatal consultants. The confidential report was given to The Independent and posted on the trust’s website this week after being mentioned in the terms of reference for an independent inquiry examining dozens of baby deaths at the trust. It had never been published by the trust, which three years later had its children’s services rated inadequate. A second major report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2016 highlighted concerns that were not acted on and later featured in the avoidable death of baby Harry Richford, in 2017 which sparked the scandal into dozens more deaths and brain injuries. Bill Kirkup, who is leading the inquiry into East Kent’s maternity services, previously recommended Royal College reviews be registered with the CQC and shared openly by NHS trusts. In its report, the RCPCH said there was “resistance from some consultants to work extended hours” across the trust’s different services with signs of clinicians worked in silos at the different hospitals run by the trust. It warned that paediatric consultants were “spread too thinly across the service” and consultants were providing specialist clinics based on their interests rather than local need. There was “insufficient middle grade doctors to cover both sites” and there were “too few skilled nurses on the wards.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 24 March 2021
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