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Found 1,334 results
  1. News Article
    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning healthcare providers, parents and caregivers of pediatric patients (children) who receive enteral feeding that there is a risk of strangulation from the use of enteral feeding delivery sets. The feeding set tubing can become wrapped around a child’s neck and cause strangulation or death. The FDA has received reports of two toddlers who died after being strangled by the tubing. Recommendations for parents and caregivers of children who use enteral feeding delivery sets: Be aware that the feeding set tubing can get wrapped around a child’s neck, which can lead to strangulation or death. To the extent possible, avoid leaving the feeding set tubing where infants or children can become entangled. Discuss with your child's health care provider: If your child has been tangled in their tubing before. Steps you can take to help ensure that tubing does not get wrapped around your child’s neck, such as keeping the tubing away from the child as much as possible. Any other concerns you may have about the risk of strangulation from feeding set tubing. If your child is injured by feeding set tubing, please report the event to the FDA. Your report, along with information from other sources, can provide information that helps improve patient safety. Recommendations for healthcare providers: Review this topic and the information noted above with your colleagues, care teams, and caregivers of pediatric patients who use enteral feeding delivery sets, to ensure they are aware of the potential risk of strangulation with the associated tubing and are taking appropriate measures to keep the tubing away from the child as much as possible. When caring for pediatric patients who receive enteral feeding and as part of an individual risk assessment, be aware of the risk of strangulation from the feeding set tubing and follow protocols to monitor medical line safety. If a patient experiences an adverse event related to enteral feeding set tubing, you are encouraged to report the event to the FDA. Prompt reporting of adverse events can help the FDA identify and better understand the risks associated with medical devices. Read full story Source: FDA, 8 February 2022
  2. News Article
    An inquiry into allegations of abuse at Muckamore Abbey Hospital officially begins on Monday. The Co Antrim facility treats patients with severe learning difficulties and mental health problems. Allegations of abuse at Muckamore Abbey Hospital - which is run by the Belfast Trust and located on the outskirts of Antrim - first came to light in 2017. Police said they reviewed thousands of hours of CCTV footage as part of a major investigation. At present seven people are to be prosecuted and more than 20 have been arrested for a range of offences, including alleged ill-treatment and wilful neglect. The core objectives of the inquiry are "to examine the issue of abuse of patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital (MAH), to determine why the abuse happened and the range of circumstances that allowed it to happen and ensure that such abuse does not occur again at MAH or any other institution providing similar services in Northern Ireland". Read full story Source: Belfast Telegraph, 11 October 2021
  3. News Article
    A hospital trust has apologised to a mental health patient who reported being sexually assaulted in its A&E department – after it emerged in a safety review that staff wrote ‘this has not happened’ and dismissed her claims of the attack. The victim was admitted to West Suffolk Hospital’s emergency department following an overdose in January last year. While waiting in A&E for a mental health assessment from a specialist team employed by Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust, she reported being sexually assaulted by a male patient who had also been admitted to A&E. Yet a review into the incident, published several months later and shared with HSJ, reveals that after the victim reported the attack to a nurse, the staff member recorded “this has not happened”. They stated that the male suspect in the cubicle next to her had not left his bed and was under constant observation. However, the patient safety review, drawn up after a serious incident probe was launched, adds that this statement was “incorrect, as the [male] patient was not under constant observation”. “There were witnesses to this incident, and CCTV, and yet it was not escalated until I contacted the trust myself to complain,” the victim said. She added that she pursued the complaint, which resulted in a serious incident probe that took several months to conclude, “to prevent others from being failed” in the same way. She said she was left “shocked, confused and furious” to discover staff had dismissed her assault and claimed the male suspect had not been admitted for an assessment on the day of the attack. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 February 2022
  4. News Article
    Those harmed by the NHS will “have to pay again by losing access to justice” as a result of government plans to introduce fixed costs, campaigners have claimed. The Department of Health & Social Care has published long-awaited proposals for fixed recoverable costs for fast-track cases, and significantly chose to set the fees at levels recommended by defendant representatives, rather than higher ones proposed by the claimant side. Peter Walsh, chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA), noted that the government consulted on similar proposals in 2017 and received a thumbs down from the majority of respondents. He said: “It is shocking that the government is still pushing to bring in these illogical and potentially unfair proposals rather than looking at the root causes of high costs and addressing them… “The government seems to have ignored the fact that the likely effect of these proposals would be that many people whose lives have been devastated by perfectly avoidable, negligent treatment will not be able to challenge denials or get access to justice. “In effect, the very people that the NHS has harmed through lapses in patient safety will have to pay again by losing access to justice. If lawyers are unable to claim for time they spend overcoming denials of liability, injured people will not be able to get legal representation.” Mr Walsh argued that the best way to save the NHS money was to improve patient safety to prevent these incidents in the first place, “and when mistakes do happen investigate them properly and make early, fair and appropriate offers of compensation without costly litigation”. Read full story Source: Legal Futures, 1 February 2022
  5. News Article
    Lawyers’ fees for clinical negligence claims against the NHS could be capped under proposals being considered by ministers. Launching a consultation, the government said “tackling increasing and disproportionate legal fees” for cases worth less than £25,000 would protect NHS funding. The Department of Health said claimants’ legal costs for “lower value claims” were “currently more than four times higher on average” than the NHS’s legal costs in defending the claims. It cited a case in which lawyers claimed £72,000 in legal costs when the patient was awarded £3,000. Patient Safety Minister Maria Caulfield said: “I’m committed to making the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world. When harm does occur, it’s essential the NHS learns from what went wrong, and people who have been negligently harmed are entitled to claim compensation. “Unfortunately, we are seeing some law firms profiting at the NHS’ expense through legal costs that far outweigh the actual compensation awarded to patients. This diverts resources from the NHS frontline as staff work hard to tackle the COVID-19 backlogs. “Our proposals will cap legal costs for lower value claims to ensure they are fair and proportionate, and ensure patients’ claims are resolved as swiftly as possible without reducing the compensation they deserve.” A spokesman for Thompson’s Solicitors, which acts for patients in such claims, told iNews: “Costs already have to be reasonable, proportionate and necessary in order to be recoverable. The answer is for the NHS to admit fault quicker and not cause cases to drag on for years." Read full story Source: iNews, 31 January 2022
  6. News Article
    A mum says her life has been destroyed following a hernia repaired with a mesh implant – with pain so severe she considered ending her life. Roseanna Clarkin, 38, has suffered excruciating pain since medics used mesh products to repair the issue. Now she wants the use of mesh in hernia operations to be suspended, as it has for vaginal mesh following years of suffering by thousands of women. Revealing her own hell, Roseanna told how she was in so much pain last month she asked for ­guidance about how to legally end her own life. She added: "When I was going to the doctor's after my op, I wasn't believed. They told me it was all in my head and even told my husband Brendan 'Don't get roped into this'". Roseanna said: "I suspect the mesh has moved. But even the other week one of the GPs at my practice was suggesting it was in my head." Roseanna launched a petition calling for the suspension of mesh in hernia ops. It is going through the public ­petitions committee at Holyrood. To date, more than 70 patients or their families have written to the committee about their experiences with hernia mesh implants. Labour's health spokeswoman, Jackie Baillie, who campaigned for vaginal mesh ops to be suspended, called for an urgent review of the uses of mesh for other procedures. She said: "It has taken years for the serious problems caused for women who had transvaginal mesh used in their surgical treatment to be resolved but it appears to be affecting other conditions too." She warned: "We can't repeat the mistakes of the past." Read full story Source: Daily Record, 31 January 2022
  7. News Article
    The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has launched an investigation into community mental health care following the death of a 56-year-old woman. HSIB has begun examining how patients in crisis with severe mental health needs are assessed by NHS services. The investigation came after warnings from multiple coroners over the poor assessment of suicide risk in people in mental health crisis in the last year and followed the death of Frances Wellburn, who took her own life in August 2020 while under the care of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation NHS Trust (TEWV). Wellburn had long-term mental health problems but suffered a crisis and was admitted to hospital in September 2019. Following discharge, she was not referred to a specialist NHS service for people experiencing psychosis because clinicians incorrectly believed she was too old for the service, according to a TEWV investigation report seen by The Independent. Despite being assessed as a “medium risk”, Wellburn was not contacted by mental health teams for three months. In June 2020, she was admitted to an inpatient unit for three weeks, but her health deteriorated, and she later took her own life. Separately, coroner warnings in three prevention of future deaths reports published last year found mental health staff failing to risk assess people who later took their own lives. HSIB’s investigation will look into how patients’ risk is assessed when receiving care in the community and how services interact with families and other health services. It will also examine how mental health services consider menopause when assessing women’s mental health and referrals to early intervention psychosis services. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 January 2022
  8. News Article
    Injured NHS patients have spoken out about the human cost of clinical negligence in a new report published as MPs examine how to cut the health service’s bill for causing harm. The House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee is gathering evidence for its inquiry on NHS litigation reform. “There is a fixation on the financial cost of clinical negligence, rather than on the human cost and the reasons why injured patients have to make a claim for compensation at all,” said Guy Forster of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) a not-for-profit group which campaigns on behalf of injured patients and their families. “There are a lot of voices and opinions in any debate which concerns the NHS and patient safety, but they are almost never the voices and opinions of the patients. This is why APIL has commissioned The Value of Compensation report,” said Mr Forster. Patients who took part in the research cite mounting debt; uncertainty about their future health; isolation; abandoned careers; relationship breakdowns; and loss of independence, as some of the many far-reaching side effects of injuries sustained through failures in care. “Patients are devastated to have trusted the NHS with their health and then have to live with the pain and suffering of an injury which should have been avoided,” said Mr Forster. “This report provides new insight on how compensation can help rebuild their lives.” “None of them relish having to make a claim for compensation. I cannot stress enough that the money is never, ever a ‘windfall’ for an injured patient,” he went on. “It is obvious that full and fair compensation is critical for injured patients. It should go without saying that the cost of compensation would be cut if the harm were not caused in the first place. But it is critical that when things go wrong, injured people are cared for properly and have the chance to get back on track.” Read press release Source: APIL, 12 January 2022
  9. News Article
    A group of survivors and relatives of people who died in the infected blood scandal are suing a school where they contracted hepatitis and HIV after being given experimental treatment without informed consent. A proposed group action lodged by Collins Solicitors in the high court on Friday alleges that Treloar College, a boarding school in Hampshire that specialised in teaching haemophiliacs, failed in its duty of care to these pupils in the 1970s and 80s. The claim could result in a payout running into millions of pounds, and is based on new testimony given by former staff at the school to the ongoing infected blood inquiry. Gary Webster, 56, a former pupil who was infected with hepatitis C and HIV after being treated with contaminated blood at the school in the early 80s and gave evidence to the inquiry last year, is the lead claimant of the 22 survivors in the group. Speaking to the Guardian, he said: “We were lab rats or guinea pigs. We always thought that we may have been experimented on for research purposes, but we had no proof until the evidence given in the inquiry.” Last year in testimony to the inquiry, the former headteacher of Treloars, Alec Macpherson, confirmed that doctors at the school were “experimenting with the use of factor VIII”, an imported pooled plasma that was later discovered to be contaminated with HIV and hepatitis. He said he and other teaching staff did not question doctors about the trials. He told the inquiry: “We didn’t have any authority or reason to interfere. You can’t – doctors are god, aren’t they?” Macpherson said he consented to the treatment because he trusted the doctors, and he could not recall if parents were informed and consulted. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 January 2022
  10. News Article
    Hundreds of nurses, paramedics, health and care workers have been disciplined over allegations of sexual assault, including incidents involving child sexual abuse, The Independent can reveal. It comes as the government begins a year-long inquiry into the sexual abuse of dead patients by “morgue monster” David Fuller. Charities claim the true scale of the issue is likely to be hidden by “vast underreporting” while safeguarding experts say there is no “uniformity” in how NHS trusts handle such cases. The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), which regulates just under 300,000 workers including paramedics, occupational therapists, psychologists and physiotherapists, has taken action on 154 occasions following 293 investigations carried out into allegations of sexual assault or abuse since 2012, according to figures obtained by The Independent. Fifty-three clinicians were struck off, 20 were cautioned and a further 29 were either suspended, had restrictions placed on their practice or agreed to be removed from registration. More than half of the actions followed allegations of sexual abuse of a child patient. Separate data from Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which has more than 700,000 registered nurses and midwives. shows action was taken 113 times in the past four years against nurses and midwives who did not maintain professional boundaries; in more than 80 per cent of those cases, the clinician was struck off. Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 January 2022
  11. News Article
    There are serious concerns over the standards of specialist care being provided to patients with the most complex mental health needs, a BBC investigation has found. Patients sent by the NHS to stay in mental health rehabilitation units say they have been placed in unsafe environments, often far from home, with untrained staff. Experts say not enough is being done to regulate the sector, which costs the NHS half a billion pounds a year. Lissa had spent years struggling with her mental health, having experienced traumatic life events. She was diagnosed with mixed personality disorder, depression and high-functioning Asperger's. So when the NHS sent her to a unit in Coventry run by Cygnet Health Care for a specialist talking therapy, she agreed. The hospital, however, was in special measures. There had been two deaths in the previous 20 months. In both cases there was found to be a failure to follow the patient's care plan and carry out observations correctly. Lissa says staff failed to treat her with dignity and respect. The system in England is regulated by the Care Quality Commission, (CQC). Some rehabilitation wards haven't been inspected for four or more years. John Chacksfield, who was a CQC inspector until late 2020, says greater scrutiny is needed. "Sometimes the private sector provides really excellent service, but there are certain units that really do need regular inspections just to make sure staff are being trained enough, or are having enough clinical supervision. It does worry me," he says. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 January 2022
  12. News Article
    One in four doctors in the NHS are so tired that their ability to treat patients has become impaired, according to the first survey to reveal the impact of sleep deprivation on medics during the coronavirus pandemic. Growing workloads, longer hours and widespread staff shortages are causing extreme tiredness among medics, leading to memory problems and difficulty concentrating, according to the report by the Medical Defence Union (MDU), which provides legal support to about 200,000 doctors, nurses, dentists and other healthcare workers. The survey of more than 500 doctors across the UK, carried out within the past month and seen by the Guardian, uncovered almost 40 near misses as a direct result of exhaustion. In at least seven cases, patients actually sustained harm. Despite encouraging signs the Omicron wave may be fading, doctors admitted the constant pressure of the past 22 months spent fighting coronavirus on the frontline was taking a toll on their technical skills and even their ability to make what should be straightforward medical decisions. Medics admitted for the first time sleep deprivation was causing real harm to patients in the NHS. Almost six in 10 doctors (59%) reported their sleep patterns had worsened during the pandemic. More than a quarter (26%) of medics admitted being so tired that their ability to treat patients was “impaired”. Of these, one in six (18%) said a patient was harmed or a near miss occurred as a result. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 January 2022 Read MDU press release
  13. News Article
    More than £100 million has been paid out in damages by one hospital trust over 10 years after its maternity units were accused of being responsible for dozens of deaths and stillbirths, Channel 4 News has revealed. From April 2010 to March 2021, £103,097,198 was paid out by the Mid & South Essex NHS Foundation Trust involving 176 obstetrics claims, according to NHS Resolution figures obtained by a freedom of information request. Of those claims made against the trust, 36 related to mothers and children dying, 27 referred to stillbirths and 55 concerned babies born with brain damage or cerebral palsy. Gabriela Pintilie died in Basildon University Hospital, which is run by the trust, in 2019 after losing six litres of blood giving birth, and a coroner said there were “serious failings” in her care. Basildon University Hospital’s maternity unit was twice rated inadequate in 2020, following two separate inspections, with a report saying the service “did not always have enough staff to keep women safe”. The report also criticised “longstanding poor staff culture” which had “created an ineffective team”. In August 2020, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) issued a warning notice to the hospital as inspectors found six serious incidents occurred between March and April that year in which babies were born in a poor condition starved of oxygen and at risk of brain damage. Read full story Source: Channel 4 News, 14 January 2022
  14. News Article
    A care home with some of the highest Covid death rates recorded in the pandemic is facing whistleblower claims over unsafe conditions. Golfhill Nursing Home, in Dennistoun in Glasgow's East End, Scotland, is run by Advinia Healthcare, which confirmed a "large scale" investigation was taking place. A report by the Crown Office, published in April, showed Golfhill care home recorded 11 deaths related to coronavirus, among the highest rates. The Care Inspectorate investigation is said to have followed "months of complaints" about sub-standard and unsafe conditions at the home, including residents being admitted to hospital suffering from dehydration. The problems are said to centre on the intermediate care unit, where elderly residents are transferred after being discharged from hospital, requiring a higher level of care and remaining there for around a month before being sent home or into long-term care. According to a source, the unit has been short staffed "almost on a daily basis" because employees were being transferred to other areas of the home. Read full story Source: The Scotsman, 17 December 2021
  15. News Article
    London’s hospitals have been plunged into a “dangerous situation” as the Omicron wave has sent staff sickness levels soaring to around 10%, a top doctor has warned. Dr Katherine Henderson, a consultant at a central London hospital but speaking as President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said so many doctors and nurses are having to be off that it was already having an impact on patient safety. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are seeing increasingly that our staff are testing positive and that means that they have to go off." “Usually, staff sickness would last a couple of days but of course, if you test Covid positive, you are off for ten days. “People need to understand that this is a dangerous situation,” she added. “The acute problem is actually to do with staffing, with workforce. “Because there is so much in circulation, even if we are not seeing a big rise in hospitalisations yet, we are already seeing the effect on not having the staff to run shifts properly and safely." “So we are worried about patient harm coming about because we just don’t have the staff to keep the eye on the person on the trolley who is maybe a bit agitated.” Read full story Source: The Evening Standard, 16 December 2021
  16. News Article
    A trust will not face a second prosecution over the death of a baby seven days after a chaotic birth at one of its hospitals, unless new evidence emerges. Kent police had been looking into incidents at the maternity services department of East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust. These incidents include the death of Harry Richford, who was born at Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Hospital in November 2017. A coroner found a string of failures in his care amounted to neglect. The trust pleaded guilty to failing to meet fundamental standards of care and was fined £733,000 in a case brought by the Care Quality Commission earlier this year. But detective chief superintendent Paul Fotheringham, head of major crime at Kent Police, said: “After careful consideration and following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, we took the decision that a criminal investigation would not be undertaken at this time as there is no realistic prospect of conviction against any individual or organisation based on the evidence currently available." In a statement, Harry’s family said: “We are disappointed that Kent Police, in collaboration with the CPS special crime unit in London, have not been able to take forward a charge of corporate manslaughter for Harry at this time. They have assured us that they will keep an open mind on this matter, and any other appropriate charges as and when new evidence is brought before them. “We believe that the Kirkup inquiry and investigation may allow them to revisit a raft of charges on behalf of harmed babies in east Kent in due course. Only when senior leaders are properly held to account, will there be lasting change.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 December 2021
  17. News Article
    Incidents including a cardiac arrest where an ambulance took more than an hour to arrive and the patient died have prompted trust chiefs to suggest they cannot prevent patient harm under their current funding levels. A report to the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) said patients suffering harm due to delayed ambulance response times “is a continuing theme due to the unprecedented demand the service is currently experiencing”. The report said the trust is trying to secure additional funding from commissioners, which would “reduce the likelihood of a similar incident for other patients in future”. NEAS has upheld several recent complaints made by families or patients about the harm being caused by delayed response times, but suggested the levels of demand on the service meant there was nothing it could have done differently. In one example, a woman in her 50s died from a cardiac arrest shortly after arrival to hospital after NEAS took 62 minutes to respond to a 999 call. NEAS had designated the woman, who had a history of heart attacks, a category two response – which should aim to arrive within 18 minutes on average. "All ambulance trusts have been seeing significant patient harm and the mainstream press have been strangely silent about this." "That it has got the stage where patients are routinely dying and being harmed while the resources are available, but tied up waiting outside hospitals, is truly maladministration on a grand scale." Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 December 2021
  18. News Article
    A patient who suffered internal bleeding from surgery following an incorrect diagnosis, said he has "nightmares" about how he was treated. The public services ombudsman for Wales said it was "completely avoidable" and recommended health officials make a redress payment of £10,000. The man was initially referred to Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales with appendicitis. But, after a number of tests and scans, it was wrongly determined he had Crohn's disease, and colon surgery was recommended which led to a series of complications. The man, known as Mr D in the ombudsman's report, suffered internal bleeding from the initial surgery and required a stoma, despite being told the chances of that were "very, very slim". He also developed a hernia which required further surgery, and a mesh to be inserted. "I try and do things that wouldn't have been a problem for me years ago, and find I struggle," he said. "Sometimes I wake up still in pain from some of the scars. I sometimes have nightmares." The man, who has Asperger's syndrome, also said it was not taken into proper consideration during consultation. "I don't think there's a lot of things where people do take into account neurodiversity," he said. Ombudsman Nick Bennett called the case "regrettable" after investigating the man's complaint. "Physicians responsible for Mr D's care should have employed a watch and wait approach in which his condition would probably have settled without surgical treatment," he said. "Instead, Mr D, a vulnerable individual, faced completely avoidable trauma of unnecessary surgery and post-treatment complications - a trauma which saw him seek mental health support." Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said it accepted the findings. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 December 2021
  19. News Article
    The national patient safety watchdog has launched an investigation into the “significant patient harm” caused by ambulances being forced to wait with patients outside of A&E. The Health and Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has confirmed it intends to launch an investigation after it received several alerts expressing concerns over the issue of ambulance delays this year. The investigation comes after The Independent revealed 160,000 patients had either died or come to harm as a result of delayed ambulance response times during 2020-21, which were being driven by delays in paramedics being able to hand over patients to hospitals. The damning report, from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, included examples of severely ill patients not being treated properly, being forced to go to the toilet in ambulances, and being denied food and drink, as well as antibiotics and fluids. There have been multiple reports of patients dying while waiting for ambulances or while waiting outside of A&Es on the back of ambulances. In a statement to The Independent, HSIB said: “We recognise that handover delays pose a serious safety risk, potentially leading to significant patient harm and impacting on the wellbeing of NHS staff. We welcome the review by AACE as they have provided detailed insight and highlighted key safety concerns. HSIB has already received several referrals expressing similar concerns, which will be taken forward to a national investigation. We will work with AACE and others across the NHS to provide systemic safety learning to help address the challenges created by handover delays.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 2 December 2021
  20. News Article
    Changes must be made across services at one of England's biggest NHS trusts following its first wide-ranging inspection, a health watchdog said. Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust - which runs Basildon, Southend and Broomfield hospitals - has been rated as "requires improvement". The Care Quality Commission (CQC) turned up unannounced after concerns over standards were raised. Philippa Styles, the CQC's head of hospital inspection, said they "found a mixed picture" of positive improvements and areas of concern. "Following the trust's formation in 2020, leaders should now be able to work together effectively to ensure care is consistent across all services," she said. "I recognise the enormous pressure NHS services are under... and that usual expectations cannot always be maintained, especially in the urgent and emergency department, but it is important they do all they can to mitigate risks to patient safety." The report said: Patients had not always been protected from harm. Staff had not all received mandatory training. There had been nine "never-should-happen" medical events. Records were sometimes inaccurate and not kept securely. Nursing and medical staffing was a "challenge across the trust", with shifts regularly below planned staffing numbers. There had been a high number of whistle-blowers raising concerns. Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 December 2021
  21. News Article
    A focus on “reputation management” was a factor in how an acute trust failed to properly investigate serious safety concerns in a dysfunctional department where consultants were “divided along ethnic lines”. An external review into the urology services at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust has identified 520 cases where patients suffered “actual or potential harm”, including several cases where patients died. The review, commissioned by NHS England, has found there were “multiple individual, team, organisational, and regulatory shortfalls which have resulted in a systemic failure to deliver good urological care at all times”. Much of the report focuses on the trust’s failure to properly investigate concerns being raised, and to sort out poor relationships within the department which dated back 20 years. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 24 November 2021
  22. News Article
    Wales' Health Minister has rejected a suggestion that the NHS is “harming patients” due to the severe levels of pressure on its services. Eluned Morgan MS acknowledged that the speed at which patients were receiving treatment was being impacted but said she would “not accept for a moment” that the NHS was harming its patients. ITV Cymru Wales has spoken to a number of NHS staff and health sector bodies and heard concerns over the sustainability of the health service in its present form. Ms Morgan said: “I don’t think the NHS is harming patients, no. “I think our ability to get to patients quickly, that is perhaps compromised by the pressures that we’re under at the moment but no, I would not accept for a moment that the NHS is harming patients. “I think the situation is that maybe people have to wait a bit longer for care because of the pressures that have grown as a result of the pandemic and let’s be clear about that, that we’re seeing about 20% more people going to their GPs, we’ve got hugely long waiting lists because, of course, we had to be very careful about who was able to go into hospitals during the height of the pandemic. “We’re trying to reign all that back at the same time as dealing with Covid, because that hasn’t finished yet.” Speaking to ITV Cymru Wales for Wales This Week, looking at the challenges facing the NHS, Dr Pete Williams, a consultant in emergency medicine and paediatric medicine at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, said he felt the current pressures on services were causing harm to patients. He said: “This is not sustainable. We, this department, other departments around the country and the wider NHS, are harming patients because they’re not getting timely care." Read full story Source: ITV News, 22 November 2021
  23. News Article
    Researchers are to use artificial intelligence (AI) in the hope of reducing risk to pregnant black women. Loughborough University experts are to work with the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) to identify patterns in its recent investigations. Research has suggested black women are more than four times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than white women in the UK. The researchers plan to look at more than 600 of HSIB's recent investigations into adverse outcomes during pregnancy and birth. The research team will develop a machine learning system capable of identifying factors, based on a set of codes, that contribute to harm during pregnancy and birth experienced by black families. These include biological factors, such as obesity or birth history; social and economic factors such as language barriers and unemployment; and the quality of care and communication with the mother. It will look at how these elements interact with and influence each other, and help researchers design ways to improve the care of black mothers and babies. Dr Patrick Waterson, from the university, who is helping to lead the project, said: "Ultimately, we believe the outcomes from our research have the potential to transform the NHS's ability to reduce maternal harm amongst mothers from black ethnic groups." He added that in the longer term, the research could improve patient safety for all mothers. Read full story Source: BBC News, 17 November 2021
  24. News Article
    Ambulance handover delays could harm 160,000 patients a year, 12,000 of them severely, according to a structured clinical review of cases by service bosses earlier this year. The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives examined a sample of 470 cases where handover to A&E was delayed for an hour or more on 4 January this year. The review, whose findings were shared with HSJ, involved every mainland ambulance service in England. It found that 85% of those who waited more than an hour suffered potential harm, with nine per cent potentially severely harmed. Extrapolated across an entire year, using levels of delays up to September 2021, this suggests 160,000 patients are potentially harmed annually. Patients who waited the longest for handover were at greatest risk of some level of harm, and the risk of severe harm more than tripled for those waiting more than four hours compared with those waiting for 60 to 90 minutes. Read full story Source: HSJ, 14 November 2021
  25. News Article
    A loophole in the law is leaving vulnerable patients at risk of abuse and sexual assault by unregulated private ambulance staff, The Independent has revealed. While many private ambulance providers are regulated, a small number, such as those providing services at events, those providing first aid, and those who are subcontracted, fall outside the reach of the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This is due to a loophole in the legislation, which means that organisations providing healthcare at events are not required to be CQC registered. The Independent has learned that around 10,000 patients a day are seen by ambulance workers who are unregulated and not part of any registered professional body. Alan Howson, chief executive of the Independent Ambulance Association, said he was concerned about healthcare providers that “operate outside of the scope” of the care watchdog and in “plain sight and unchecked”, leaving patients at risk from staff who might “seek to misuse their power”. His concerns were in response to an internal report by the CQC, completed last year, which identified specific risks around sexual harm in relation to private providers, as well as “inconsistency” in providers’ recording of incidents. Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 November 2021
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