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This Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) investigation explores the impact of ambulance delays on the emergency treatment of heart attack. The current preferred model of care in the NHS in England is for patients to receive primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), a procedure which involves widening a blocked artery and inserting a stent to keep the artery open. The effectiveness of PPCI is dependent on the timescale in which it can be carried out. National figures have identified increasing delays in ambulances taking people with a type of heart attack known as ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to hospital so that PPCI can be provided within target timescales. This may lead to worse outcomes for these patients. Alternative treatment using thrombolytic medicine (medicines used to dissolve blood clots) is advised where specific timescales for providing PPCI may not be met. This investigation started after a patient notified HSIB of a delay in an ambulance attending him after suffering a heart attack (STEMI).

From early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) and Centre for Mental Health were concerned about the increased mental health challenges that women during and after pregnancy were likely facing as a result of the pandemic and government-imposed restrictions introduced to tackle it. Thanks to Comic Relief ‘Covid Recovery’ funding, the MMHA commissioned the Centre to explore just how much of a challenge the pandemic has placed on perinatal mental health and the services that support women, their partners, and families during this time. This report draws together all of the available data collected during the pandemic for the first time.

This national learning report from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) will highlight the themes emerging from their contact with families during their patient safety investigations. It is due to be published in spring 2020. HSIB's national learning reports describe common themes and findings that come out of their national investigation programme and their maternity investigation programme. The information in these reports is used to inform future HSIB investigations or programmes of work.

Since To Err is Human was published in 1999, the patient safety evidence-base has expanded exponentially in alignment with continued maturity of the field. This publication is the 4th in a series of reports from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US-based), that reviews research supporting established patient safety practices to reduce patient harms. The current report is being published as updates are finalised to provide recommendation and share strategies highlighted in the literature to drive implementation of the practices discussed in areas such as:  opioid stewardship patient and family engagement telehealth implicit bias failure to rescue computerised decision support deprescribing.