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Found 843 results
  1. News Article
    GPs are attempting to deal with up to 3,000 patients each, amid worsening staff shortages, according to new analysis. The research shows that the number of patients per GP has risen sharply, as rising numbers of doctors reduce their hours, or opt for early retirement. Daisy Cooper, spokeswoman for Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care, said: “This ever-worsening GP shortage is having a terrible human cost, as people face delayed or missed diagnoses and A&Es fill up with desperate patients looking for treatment." Read full story (paywalled) Source: Telegraph, 14 February
  2. News Article
    Ambulance staff will need to respond to category 2 calls during strike action under new government proposals. The Department of Health and Social Care has launched a consultation on minimum service levels in ambulance services. It comes as industrial action continues across the NHS and as legislation to ensure minimum services levels in key industries during strikes is making its way through Parliament. The consultation document read: “Our proposal is that calls classed as life-threatening and emergency incidents would always receive an appropriate clinical response when there is strike action. “In England, currently, these calls are classified as category 1 (immediately life-threatening) and category 2 (emergency) calls… “On strike action days, some workers would continue their work to ensure that these calls can be answered and responded to appropriately to protect the life and health of patients.” The proposals added services must also have “adequate capacity and resourcing” in call control rooms, to ensure all emergency 999 calls to ambulance services were answered. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 February 2023
  3. News Article
    Nurses in England are preparing to escalate their dispute with the government by involving staff from NHS A&E departments, intensive care and cancer wards in a series of 48-hour strikes. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is understood to be planning to announce walk outs for two consecutive days and nights, rather than limiting action from 8am to 8pm as they have done so far. NHS leaders warned the looming strike could be the “biggest impact” on patients yet seen, with the union preparing to end a process where the RCN had agreed to exemptions with hospitals. The RCN told NHS leaders on Friday it is preparing to step up its dispute by asking its members working in emergency departments, intensive care units and oncology to join the strike. But the union, expected to announce the strike this week, will make a very limited set of provisions for the most urgent clinical situations as part of a legal obligation not to endanger life. Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers said: “A continuous 48-hour strike that includes staff from emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care services would likely have the biggest impact on patients we’ve seen.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 12 February 2023
  4. News Article
    Mental health sick days cost the NHS almost half a million pounds as staff anxiety and stress levels haved skyrocketed. Costs have almost doubled compared to before the pandemic from £279 million to £468 million. The sickness data shared with The Independent by GoodShape, an employee well-being and performance analysis company, shows the number of staff sick days increased in 2022 to 12 million from 7.21 million in 2019. That is despite the overall number of people working in the NHS increasing from 1.2 to 1.3 million. The overall cost to the NHS of absences for the five most common reasons – which includes mental health – increased to a “staggering” £1.85 billion from £1.01 billion between 2019 to 2022, according to figures from GoodShape. Covid was still the most common reason for staff sickness last year, according to the analysis, accounting for 4.4 million lost days, while mental health was a close second driving 3 million days off due to illness. Pat Cullen, chief executive and general secretary for the Royal College of Nursing said in response: “These figures are shocking but not surprising. With 47,000 vacant nurse posts in England alone, the pressures on staff are unrelenting. Read full story Source: The Independent, 8 February 2023
  5. News Article
    NHS waiting lists are unlikely to fall in 2023, and the backlog is unlikely to be significantly tackled until mid-2024 despite being one of Rishi Sunak’s priorities for this year, research suggests. The NHS has struggled to increase the number of people it is treating from its waiting lists each month due to ongoing pressures from Covid-19, although there have been signs of improvement in the past month, analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found. Max Warner, an IFS economist and one of the report’s authors, said that although the NHS had made “real progress” to reduce the number of patients waiting a very long time for care, efforts to increase overall treatment volumes had “so far been considerably less successful”. The NHS Providers’ chief executive, Julian Hartley, urged the government to introduce a fully funded workforce plan and to talk to unions about pay for this financial year as strikes were causing huge disruption to services, and risked undoing hard-won progress made on care backlogs. “Mounting pressures on acute, ambulance, mental health and community services, such as chronic workforce shortages, could hamper efforts to cut the backlog further if left unchecked,” he said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 February 2023
  6. News Article
    East Kent Hospital University Foundation Trust has been criticised for failures in services by the Care Quality Commission, after an unannounced inspection last month, years after major problems began to come to light. The Care Quality Commission has highlighted: Issues with processes for fetal monitoring and escalation at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford. There had been “incidents highlighting fetal heart monitoring” problems in September and October, and the trust’s measures to improve processes were not “embedded and understood by the clinical team”; Slow maternity triage, due to staffing problems, and infection control problems at the William Harvey. The trust is reviewing how issues with infection prevention and control and cleanliness were not identified or escalated; and Fire safety issues at the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother Hospital, in Thanet with problems linked to fire doors and an easily accessible secondary fire escape route. Three years ago issues with reading and acting on fetal monitoring were highlighted at the inquest into baby Harry Richford, whose poor care by the trust led to an independent inquiry into widespread failings in its maternity services, led by Bill Kirkup. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 February 2023
  7. News Article
    Rana Abdelkarim died at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in March 2021 after suffering a bleed post-birth. The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) found there were delays in calling for specialist help. Her husband, Modar Mohammednour, said that in March 2021 his wife attended the maternity unit at 39 weeks into her pregnancy for what she thought was a routine check-up. Mr Mohammednour said due to language barriers his wife thought she was going "for a scan and to check on her health" and then "come back home", but in fact she was being sent to be induced. "Immediately" after the labour, Ms Abdelkarim suffered heavy bleeding and her condition deteriorated - something Mr Mohammednour said he was "unaware of", until he was eventually called into the hospital to speak to a doctor. According to the investigation by the HSIB, the obstetric team of senior doctors were not told about the drastic change in her condition for almost 30 minutes. An investigation into her death by the HSIB found that once Ms Abdelkarim had been given a drip to speed up labour, regular support from midwives and assessments could not be given to her because the maternity ward was so busy. It also found there was a 53-minute delay from the point of bleeding to administering the first blood transfusion. HSIB also found Ms Abdelkarim was "uninformed" about the reason for her admission, "consent to induce labour was not given" and because she was thin and small, staff underestimated how much relative blood volume she was losing. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 February 2023
  8. News Article
    Nurses could refuse to carry out any further strikes alongside other health workers because of fears over patient safety, The Independent has learnt. A mass walkout billed as the largest strike in NHS history is due to take place on Monday as tens of thousands of nurses, paramedics and 999 call handlers walk out in a bid to force ministers to the negotiating table. But the coordinated strikes could be a one-off if nurses feel that the decision to take part in direct action compromises patient safety, The Independent has been told. One union source said walkouts are not carried out on a “come what may” basis, and that the unions would have to assess whether striking together was “helpful” or not. Unions have been escalating their industrial action in recent weeks in an attempt to secure higher pay rises. Any de-escalation in tactics will be seen as a blow to their campaign and a boost to Rishi Sunak’s hopes of riding out the wave of protests. With patient safety the priority, sources insisted there are strong local controls that will pull nurses from picket lines if they think there is an issue. Read full story Source: The Independent, 5 February 2023
  9. News Article
    “Frustration with the system was why I went off in the end,” said Conor Calby, 26, a paramedic and Unison rep in southwest England, who was recently off work for a month with burnout. “I felt like I couldn’t do my job and was letting patients down. After a difficult few years it was challenging.” While he usually manages to keep a distinct divide between work and home life, burnout eroded that line. He also lost his sleep pattern and appetite. The final straw came when what should have been a 15-minute call resulted in three hours on the phone trying to persuade the services that were supposed to help a suicidal patient to come out. “I was on a knife edge. That was due to the system being broken. That’s the trigger.” Doctors and nurses are struggling under the strain too. After her third time with burnout - the last resulting in her taking six months off work – Amy Attwater, an A&E doctor, considered leaving the profession altogether. Attwater, 36, said in the Covid crisis, during which a colleague killed himself, she started having suicidal thoughts and doubting her own abilities. She twice reported that she was being bullied but said no action was taken. “The only thing I was left with was to take time off work. I ended up having therapy, seeing a psychiatrist and being on two antidepressants,” said Attwater, the Midlands-based committee member for Doctors’ Association UK. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 February 2023
  10. News Article
    Deadlock over NHS pay is putting patients in danger and risks hardening the position of unions, 10 chief nurses have warned. Unions have warned that the government is making no moves towards resolving the strikes, with one general secretary accusing the government of lying about the state of negotiations. In a joint statement shared with the Guardian, chief nurses from 10 leading hospitals known as the Shelford group highlighted their concern that patients’ health could suffer as a direct result of the increasing disruption the stoppages are causing. Tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance workers in England will stage what will be the biggest strike in the NHS’s 75-year history on Monday. In a plea to the government and health unions, but especially ministers, the 10 Shelford group chief nurses stress that they want both sides to end their standoff as a matter of urgency “because of the impact on the patients and communities we serve. “Industrial action means appointments cancelled, diagnostics delayed [and] operations postponed. The longer industrial action lasts, the greater the potential for positions to harden, waits for patients to grow, and risks of harm to accumulate.” This week will see just one day – Wednesday – when there are no NHS strikes. Nurses will strike again on Tuesday, physiotherapists will stage their second walkout on Thursday and ambulance personnel will stage a further stoppage on Friday. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 February 2023
  11. News Article
    A mental health trust has received a warning from the Care Quality Commission over staff sleeping on duty and other serious concerns. Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust was sent a “letter of intent”, which warns the CQC is considering taking urgent enforcement action, following an unannounced visit in November, according to a board report last week. The trust is already subject to a high-profile inquiry into hundreds of patient deaths. Natalie Hammond, executive nurse, said this would be “a fine tuning of our health roster which will be an early warning system that will determine and flag all staff members that may be at risk of working too much or their hours of working might perform a pattern that means they are at risk more of falling asleep on duty.” She added: “We’ve done learning lessons and videos that link the importance of being fit and alert for work and how when you’re not, what mitigation and what steps you should undertake and what risk there is to patient safety.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 February 2023
  12. News Article
    Thousands of ambulance staff across five services in England - London, Yorkshire, the South West, North East and North West - will walk out on Friday 10 February, Unison says. It means strikes over pay will now be happening across the NHS every day next week, apart from Wednesday. Life-threatening 999 calls will be attended to but others may not be. Downing Street says the continuing industrial action will concern the public. The NHS's biggest day of industrial action is set to happen on 6 February, when many nurses and ambulance crews across England and Wales will be on strike. Unison says the government must stop "pretending the strikes will simply go away" and act decisively to end the dispute by improving pay. The union warned that unless the government had a "major rethink" over NHS pay, and got involved in "actual talks" with unions, it would announce strike dates running into March. The government says the above-inflation pay rises requested are unaffordable. Read full story Source: BBC News, 31 January 2023
  13. News Article
    Over a third of doctors say they feel sleep deprived on at least a weekly basis and over a quarter have been in a position where tiredness has impacted their ability to treat patients, a new survey by the Medical Defence Union (MDU) has found. The UK's leading medical defence organisation carried out the survey among its doctor members. Of 532 respondents one in four doctors (26%) said tiredness had affected their ability to safely care for patients, including almost 40 near misses and seven cases in which a patient actually sustained harm. In addition, six in ten respondents said their sleep patterns had worsened slightly or significantly during the pandemic. Dr Matthew Lee, MDU chief executive, said: "Doctors and their healthcare colleagues are running on empty. Our members have come through a period of immense pressure caused by the pandemic and it is affecting all aspects of their life, including sleep patterns. Previous studies have shown that fatigue can increase the risk of medical error and affect doctors' health and wellbeing. In our survey, side effects doctors reported due to sleep deprivation included poor concentration (64%), decision making difficulties (40%), mood swings, (37%) and mental health problems (30%). "Taking regular breaks is vital in the interests of doctors and their patients yet in our survey, three in ten doctors got no breaks at all during the working day despite many working long shifts. In addition, 21% didn't have anywhere to go such as a staff room, or quiet area, to take a break. "Pressures on frontline healthcare workers are likely to get worse for doctors in the coming weeks. At a time of considerable staff absence in the NHS it is more important than ever that those staff who are fit to work are properly supported so they can care for patients safely." Read full story Source: MDU, 17 January 2022
  14. News Article
    Trusts are getting better at coping with industrial action and are still on track to hit the national target of eliminating the backlog of 78-week waiters, an NHS England director has told staff. Paul Doyle, NHS England’s programme director for elective recovery, said: “We continue to make really good progress [on elective recovery]… we are very much in the end game now of meeting the 78-week ambition for the end of March.” There have been concerns about the impact of recent strike action on eliminating the 78-week backlog, but Mr Doyle praised managers’ handling of the strikes and said administrative staff were doing an “incredible job”. He added: “Most organisations affected have got better and better as time has gone on about making sure that there are as few cancellations as possible and that cancellations are rebooked quickly or that clinical time is put to good use such as doing virtual outpatient appointments or doing validation of waiting list.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 30 January 2023
  15. News Article
    The NHS faces an alarming mass exodus of doctors and dental professionals, health chiefs have said, as a report reveals 4 in 10 are likely to quit over “intolerable” pressures. Intense workloads, rapidly soaring demand for urgent and emergency healthcare and the record high backlog of operations are causing burnout and exhaustion and straining relationships between medics and patients, according to the report by the Medical Defence Union (MDU), which provides legal support to about 200,000 doctors, dental professionals and other healthcare workers in the UK. In an MDU survey of more than 800 doctors and dental professionals across the UK, conducted within the last month and seen by the Guardian, 40% agreed or strongly agreed they were likely to resign or retire within the next five years as a direct result of “workplace pressures”. Medical leaders called the report “deeply concerning”. There are already 133,000 NHS vacancies in England alone. NHS chiefs said it laid bare the impact of the crisis in the health service on staff, and MPs said it should serve as a “wake-up call” to ministers on the urgent need to take action to persuade thousands of NHS staff heading for the exit door to stay. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 January 2023
  16. News Article
    Physicians' happiness fell amid the pandemic and is not rebounding easily, according to Medscape's 2023 Physician Lifestyle and Happiness Report. The report is based on survey responses from 9,175 U.S.-based physicians in 29 specialties polled last year between 28 June and 3 October. The report found: 1. 59% of physicians said they were "somewhat" or "very happy," down from 84% before the pandemic. These figures mirror percentages seen in Medscape's same report conducted last year. 2. The percentage of physicians who are happy at work, specifically, fell from 75% before the pandemic to 48% today. 3. Four in 10 physicians said they regularly look after their own health and wellness, up from 33% who said the same in Medscape's 2022 report. 4. 53% said they would take a pay decrease in return for better work-life balance. Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 20 January 2023
  17. News Article
    A third of Black and ethnic minority health staff have suffered racism or bullying as the NHS fails to address “systemic” levels of discrimination, The Independent can reveal. Levels of bullying and harassment of minority workers have not improved in the past five years with almost 30% saying they have been targeted in the past year, compared to 20%of white staff. Despite being one-quarter of the workforce, minority ethnic staff make up just 10% of the most senior positions, the NHS’s flagship report is set to reveal. One nurse told The Independent she was forced to leave her job following a campaign of bullying, while another, who has left for the private sector, said her mental health was hugely impacted by the discrimination she experienced. Another nurse said she was left “traumatised” by bullying and harassment and she was “gaslighted” by her employer. “This incident is going to affect me for the rest of my life … when I first joined [the NHS trust] I thought I was going to retire there but ... my career [has been cut] short and it’s not fair,” she said. Equality for Black Nurses, a membership organisation founded by Neomi Bennett in 2020, has launched 200 cases of alleged racism against a number of NHS trusts since it was set up. “Racism is driving nurses out of the NHS,” Ms Bennett, told The Independent, warning that this issue had reached “pandemic levels”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 24 January 2023
  18. News Article
    A trust that sacked a whistleblower who had warned them about potential patient harm from a new procedure has been told to pay her more than £200,000. Jasna Macanovic won her case against Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust last year after the employment tribunal found board members had broken employment rules, including by telling her she would get a good reference if she agreed to quietly resign. Earlier this month, an employment tribunal judgment to establish the compensation she was owed said the trust had subjected Dr Macanovic to “a campaign of harassment” and rejected Portsmouth’s claim she had contributed to her own dismissal. The consultant nephrologist, who had been at the trust for 17 years, raised concerns about a technique called “buttonholing” – carried out to make kidney dialysis more convenient and less painful – that she claimed had caused harm to patients. After the procedures continued, the dispute escalated, culminating with Dr Macanovic being dismissed in March 2018. The employment tribunal panel said Dr Macanovic had raised her concerns about buttonholing properly, adding: “She was not alone in her concerns. The consultant body were fairly evenly divided. “She, however, went further than others, and where she believed that risks were being downplayed she did not hesitate to describe this as a cover-up or an act of dishonesty. Most people would not use that language, and it did cause very serious offence, but it had a specific meaning. It was not a general slur.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 January 2023
  19. News Article
    Ministers have ordered an inquiry into the quality of care in mental health inpatient units in England after a series of scandals in which vulnerable patients were abused or neglected. Maria Caulfield, the mental health minister, announced the establishment of a “rapid review” in a written ministerial statement in the House of Commons on Monday. The inquiry “is an essential first step in improving safety in mental health inpatient settings”, she said. In recent years, coroners and the Care Quality Commission, the NHS care watchdog, have repeatedly raised concerns about dangerously inadequate care that inpatients have received. It will examine the evidence of “patient safety risks and failures in care” in units that hold and treat patients who have serious conditions including psychosis and personality disorder. It will look in particular at evidence of failings brought forward by patients and their families and how better use of data can help show that care has fallen below acceptable levels. The inquiry will be headed by Dr Geraldine Strathdee, a psychiatrist who used to be NHS England’s national clinical director for mental health. She is likely to look at problems including patients being subjected to controversial restraint techniques, left at risk of being able to take their own lives and segregated from fellow inpatients, and the impact of their experiences on their recovery. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 January 2023
  20. News Article
    Inspectors raised serious concerns around leadership and safety at Lister Hospital in Stevenage, run by East and North Hertfordshire Trust, when they visited in October. The maternity service was also rated inadequate for leadership. The CQC also raised concerns about staffing shortages, infection prevention control, care records, cleanliness, waiting times and training. The inspection did, however, find staff worked well together, managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and findings were used to make improvements. Carolyn Jenkinson, the CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said: “This drop in quality and safety was down to insufficient management from leaders to ensure staff understood their roles, and to ensure the service was available to people when they needed it.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 20 January 2023
  21. News Article
    Ambulance workers are to join nurses in taking strike action on 6 February in England and Wales in what will be the biggest NHS walkout in this dispute. The GMB announced four new stoppages for ambulance staff - one of which coincides with a nurses' strike date. It is the first time both ambulance staff and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have acted on the same day. GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said: "Ambulance workers are angry. Our message to the government is clear - talk pay now." The walkouts by staff including paramedics, call handlers and support workers in seven of the 10 English ambulance services along with the national Welsh service will take place on 6 and 20 February, and 6 and 20 March. Under trade union laws, both unions will have to provide emergency cover. But it raises the prospect of urgent 999 calls for falls not being responded to, and a huge chunk of pre-planned hospital care such as hernia repair, hip replacements or outpatient clinics not being done. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 January 2023
  22. News Article
    Two new nurses' strikes will be held on 6 and 7 February in England and Wales - unless there is movement on pay, the Royal College of Nursing says. The walkouts will be the biggest so far, with more than a third of NHS trusts in England and all but one Welsh health board affected. It comes as nurses prepare to walk out on Wednesday and Thursday, following the two strike days before Christmas. As required under trade union laws, emergency care will be covered. Most of the 73 NHS trusts involved in the new set of strike dates are hospitals. It means the biggest disruption is likely to be in pre-booked treatment such as hernia repair, hip replacements or outpatient clinics. Services such as chemotherapy, kidney dialysis and intensive care will be staffed, however, as part of the emergency cover. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 January 2023
  23. News Article
    The health secretary said "voluntary arrangements" for emergency cover during recent ambulance strikes could not "ensure patient and public safety". In a letter to the GMB, Steve Barclay acknowledged unions that walked out had agreed to answer the most serious category one 999 calls. But he said the lack of cover for category two calls, including strokes, in some areas put lives at risk. The GMB has accused the government of "demonising" its striking workers. In response, Mr Barclay wrote on Sunday that he recognised the right to strike and accepted "that a certain amount of disruption is inherent to any strike". He said he "greatly" valued the "vital work ambulance workers do" but criticised the "volatile" assurances given to him about cover by trade unions during December's industrial action. The government's anti-strike bill is due to be considered by MPs again on Monday. The legislation would set minimum service levels for fire, ambulance and rail services during industrial action and could leave unions at risk of legal action if they fail to comply. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 January 2023
  24. News Article
    Health secretary Steve Barclay has privately conceded that he will have to offer a higher pay rise to NHS staff. Mr Barclay has admitted that more than one million NHS staff members deserve more money despite previously insisting that existing pay increases were all the government could afford. But, he also made clear that any new pay rises would come from the current health budget meaning potential cuts to key services, according to The Guardian. His U-turn comes in advance of nurses in England staging two more strikes next week, which is likely to force hospitals to again work at a reduced capacity following previous industrial action. Read full story Source: The Independent, 13 January 2023
  25. News Article
    The chair of an inquiry into hundreds of deaths at a mental health trust has revealed she may not be able to deliver it in its current form following a ‘hugely disappointing’ lack of staff coming forward to give evidence. Former national clinical director for mental health, Geraldine Strathdee, chair of the non-statutory inquiry into deaths at Essex Partnership University Trust, has penned an open letter warning just 11 of 14,000 staff contacted said they will attend evidence sessions. It was meant to report in spring 2023. However, after raising concerns with ministers, Dr Strathdee said she believes the inquiry will not be able to meet its terms of reference with a non-statutory status. The inquiry was announced in 2021 and last year chiefs revealed they were probing 1,500 deaths of people in contact with Essex mental health services between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2020. However, without statutory powers, staff are not compelled to give evidence under oath. Many bereaved families, of which just one in four has engaged with the current probe, are campaigning for a statutory inquiry into deaths. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 January 2023
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