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Found 844 results
  1. News Article
    The NHS faces the threat of coordinated industrial action lasting several months, with results to be announced within days of strike ballots of ambulance crews and about 300,000 health workers. Junior doctors, paramedics, midwives, porters, cleaners, pharmacy technicians and physiotherapists are being balloted across the NHS. The government now faces the threat of waves of strikes across the public sector, from nurses and firefighters to civil servants and teachers. A ballot of 15,000 ambulance workers in England and Wales closes on Tuesday. The result of the GMB ballot could be announced as early as this week, with the prospect of the first national ambulance strike since the dispute of 1989-90, when police and army vehicles were brought in to transport patients. The RCN said on Saturday that the health secretary Steve Barclay had written to the union asking for officials to “come back to the table” before the planned strikes. RCN chief executive Pat Cullen said any talks needed to focus on the pay deal and that the position of her members was “negotiations or nothing”. Rachel Harrison, GMB public services national secretary, said: “Health service workers have suffered more than a decade of real-terms pay cuts, been on the frontline of a global pandemic and are now in the midst of the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. “This is as much about patient safety as it is about pay. A third of GMB ambulance workers think delays they’ve been involved with have led to the death of a patient.” Read full story Source: The Observer, 27 November 2022
  2. News Article
    Nurses across the UK will go on strike for the first time over two days in the fortnight before Christmas after ministers rejected their pleas for formal talks over NHS pay. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said its members would stage national strikes – the first in its 106-year history – on 15 and 20 December. Senior sources said the industrial action was expected to last for 12 hours on both days – most likely between 8am and 8pm. The unprecedented national industrial action will seriously disrupt care and is likely to be the first in a series of strikes over the winter and into the spring by other NHS staff, including junior doctors and ambulance workers. On Friday, RCN general secretary, Pat Cullen, said the UK government had chosen strikes over listening to nursing staff, adding: “If you turn your back on nurses, you turn your back on patients.” The RCN said that despite a pay rise of about £1,400 awarded in the summer, experienced nurses were worse off by 20% in real terms due to successive below-inflation awards since 2010. It said the economic argument for paying nursing staff fairly was clear when billions of pounds were being spent on agency staff to plug workforce gaps. It added that in the last year, 25,000 nursing staff around the UK had left the Nursing and Midwifery Council register, with poor pay contributing to staff shortages across the country, which it warned were affecting patient safety. There are 47,000 unfilled NHS registered nurse posts in England alone. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 November 2022
  3. News Article
    A major acute trust says it plans to move away from its significant use of agency doctors from overseas, who have been reported to be working on terms and conditions far below their NHS-employed counterparts. East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust has a contract with the NES Healthcare agency to supply 47 “resident medical officers (RMO)” across its three main sites to cover trauma and orthopaedics, medical and surgical rotas. HSJ has been told of concerns that RMO's are reporting substantial overworking, and poor terms and conditions, although some of these claims are disputed by NES. East Kent chief medical officer Rebecca Martin has told HSJ: “The well-being of all our colleagues is one of our top priorities and we are working with the agency about how they cover the rota safely". “We are committed to providing a safe workplace environment, where RMOs feel comfortable communicating their feedback and we review working patterns to ensure adequate rest periods between shifts. We are actively working to use substantive staff to fill vacancies, and have already been able to offer some of those positions to current RMOs.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 22 November 2022
  4. News Article
    GPs are leaving UK practice over workplace incidents rather than due to falling ‘out of love’ with the profession, the General Medical Council (GMC) has warned. Speaking to the NHS Providers conference (16 November), chief executive Charlie Massey said that many specialty and associate specialist (SAS) and locally employed (LE) doctors feel their careers are being ‘curtailed’ and that they ‘can’t tolerate the environments’ in which they work. He cited new GMC research into doctors’ migration which identified poor workplace conditions and ‘negative experiences with colleagues’ as a ‘far more impactful’ as a trigger compared to poor experiences with patients. According to the research, bullying at work, lack of respect from line managers and experiences of favouritism ‘provided the nudge for them to consider making a change and migrating abroad’. Mr Massey said: "This is a senseless waste of talent, not least because these issues are preventable. With a focus on compassionate, supportive cultures, they can be put right. This will not only improve doctors’ wellbeing, but also their productivity. Happier workers are better workers, and they deliver better results." Read full story Source: Healthcare Leader, 16 November 2022
  5. News Article
    Children say they were “treated like animals” and left traumatised as part of a decade of “systemic abuse” by a group of mental health hospitals, an investigation by The Independent and Sky News has found. The Department of Health and Social Care has now launched a probe into the allegations of 22 young women who were patients in units run by The Huntercombe Group, which has run at least six children’s mental health hospitals, between 2012 and this year. They say they suffered treatment including the use of “painful” restraints and being held down for hours by male nurses, being stopped from going outside for months and living in wards with blood-stained walls. They also allege they were given so much medication they had become “zombies” and were force-fed. Through witness testimony, documents obtained by Freedom of Information request and leaked reports, the investigation has uncovered: The CQC has received more than 700 whistleblowing and safeguarding reports, including “incidents of concern” and several “sexual safety” concerns. NHS England was notified of 195 safeguarding reports between 2020 and 2021. A 2018 internal report at Meadow Lodge hospital in Newton Abbot (now closed) found staff members using sexually inappropriate language in front of patients. 160 reports investigated by Staffordshire police about Huntercombe Staffordshire between 2015 and 2022. Between March 2021 and 2022, the CQC gave permission for 29 patients to be admitted to Maidenhead hospital after it was placed in special measures. Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 November 2022
  6. News Article
    The national director for mental health has said she was shocked to discover how many ward managers do not work at weekends, adding this could contribute to abuse and poor care going undetected. Asked at the NHS Providers conference about recent reports into care scandals, NHS England’s director for mental health Claire Murdoch said it was crucial to listen to frontline staff, such as healthcare assistants, who spend most of their time with patients. But she added: “[It’s also] making sure your ward managers do work of a night and at the weekend. “I’ve been a bit shocked to hear that we’ve moved with agenda for change and quite often ward managers are Monday to Friday people.” Her comments come amid a string of high-profile care scandals, such as at the Edenfield Centre in Greater Manchester, as well as an ongoing debate around seven-day working across the NHS. It is understood Ms Murdoch is concerned managers are spending too much time on bureaucratic tasks, which typically happen during Monday to Friday shifts, meaning they are then not working night or weekend shifts. In September, the national director ordered all trusts to carry out safety reviews, warning in a letter they should leave “no stone unturned” in seeking to eradicate and prevent poor care. She also urged all boards to urgently review safeguarding of care in their organisations, and identify any immediate issues requiring action now. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 15 November 2022
  7. News Article
    Directors of a major hospital have ordered their accident and emergency staff to continue receiving ambulance patients into their department “in all instances”, following angry exchanges with paramedics. Hospital staff and ambulance crews have clashed at the new Royal Liverpool Hospital since its opening last month, after ambulance crews were prevented from bringing patients inside accident and emergency department when it was deemed to be full to capacity. The problems were escalated to hospital directors and North West Ambulance Service Trust earlier this month, resulting in new instructions being issued to the emergency department. In a letter to managers in A&E and the other divisions, seen by HSJ, the three most senior directors at the Royal Liverpool, wrote: “As you are aware we are currently experiencing long delays in accepting handover of patients from ambulance crews. “This phenomenon is not unique to us at the Royal Liverpool, nor is it particularly new, but our recent challenges have undoubtedly been exacerbated due to teams still familiarising themselves with working in a new environment and the patient flow challenges we have been experiencing on site. “However, what has changed has been the extent to which we have managed these pressures by continuing to hold patients in the back of ambulances, which we collectively agree is an unacceptable situation. Whilst providing corridor care is not what any of us would aspire to, we have to recognise and respond to the risk of patients awaiting response in the community. “We have therefore today met with NWAS colleagues and agreed that, with immediate effect, we will, in all instances, continue to receive crews from NWAS into the hospital building.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 16 November 2022
  8. News Article
    Whistle-blowers have described neglect, patient-on-patient assault and staff who bully colleagues and sleep on the job at a troubled mental health ward. Sources told a BBC investigation that a patient of 25-bed, mixed-gender Hill Crest Ward in Redditch, Worcestershire, suffered a broken jaw during one clash. They also claimed three nurses were "forced out" amid bullying behaviour. The NHS trust that runs Hill Crest said it believed changes there were having a positive impact. Accounts have been corroborated via five independent sources to whom the BBC spoke. They follow reports earlier this year of a fire and an incident in which staff locked themselves in an office when a patient ran around armed with boiling water and sugar. Additionally, one patient has provided the BBC with images alleged to show the effects of her battering herself out of desperation - without staff intervening. Sources also described staff being bullied, with one saying a nurse who particularly suffered had her resignation letter read out and mocked by tormentors. Sources independently complained of the workplace culture, with the BBC aware of explicit images bearing lewd comments about colleagues. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 November 2022
  9. News Article
    Trust leaders have raised concerns about other major unions striking on the same dates as the Royal College of Nursing in co-ordinated action, which would make avoiding disruption and harm ‘more hairy’. The concerns were raised after the Royal College of Nursing confirmed members at various trusts had voted in favour of unprecedented action last week, with Unison and a raft of other unions also balloting members on strike action this month and in December. Unison told HSJ co-ordinated action between itself, the RCN and the other health unions was “the best way to ensure industrial action is effective”. One senior trust leader said that while the RCN strike days would prove a major challenge, they predicted their trust would be able to cope with the fallout. But they said the challenge would get even “more hairy” if Unison members also walked out on the same dates – a prospect they feared likely. HSJ also understands that trust bosses have concerns about what will and won’t be classified as urgent and also about the emergency work to be carried out throughout a strike. One senior provider figure used the example of insulin injections, which are at present to be part of the urgent and emergency care activities to continue throughout a strike, and wound treatment services, which, at this stage, are not. They said: “If people don’t get those [insulin] injections twice a day, that person, by the end of 24 hours, will be in hospital [but] we are negotiating on [other areas] for example wound care. If you don’t dress people’s wounds at the right time, the worst situation is that a [deteriorating] wound means your leg has to be chopped off. At the moment, doing wound care is not being considered urgent care.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 15 November 2022
  10. News Article
    NHS bosses are increasingly paying premium rates for agency staff to plug holes in rotas, the BBC has found. Spending in this area rose by 20% last year to hit £3bn in England. For many shifts, bosses have been so short-staffed they have been willing to breach the government pay caps for these agency workers, most of whom are doctors and nurses. Separate data supplied by Labour showed some NHS trusts had paid as much as £2,500 to nurses to fill shifts. Out of 60 responses from trusts, 10 reported the most expensive shift cost over £2,000, and for another 13 it was between £1,000-2,000. The BBC spoke to one cancer doctor who was offered work for £130 an hour - well above the cap for his role - and described the fees available as "astonishing" and a reflection of "desperation by management". Chief executive of Colchester hospital, Nick Hulme, says a combination of factors is playing a role, including the need to open extra wards to cope with rising demand, as well as staffing shortages. Some people are even leaving their jobs, only to return later as agency workers. He says while many agency workers do fantastic work on the wards, he would still prefer to be able to use his own staff. "We know that's best for patient care, best for patient experience. Agency staff require more supervision and tasks such as handovers take longer." Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 November 2022
  11. News Article
    The death of a three-day-old baby could have been avoided if medical professionals had acted differently, a coroner concluded. Rosanna Matthews died three days after being delivered at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Kent in November 2020. The hospital trust apologised, saying the level of care for Ms Sala and her daughter “fell short of standards”. Ms Sala told the inquest midwives were "bickering" and appeared confused during her labour. She claimed that if she had been allowed to start pushing when she wanted to, instead of waiting as midwives advised, Rosanna would have lived. Rachel Thomas, then deputy head of gynaecology and midwifery, said there had been "errors in communication". Following the conclusion of the inquest, the coroner ruled Rosanna died following a “prolonged period of avoidable hypoxia”, which led to brain damage. The coroner, sitting in Maidstone, also found midwives at the hospital failed to recognise that Rosanna was already unwell with congenital pneumonia. Ms Sala said her daughter could have lived had medical professionals acted differently on the day of her birth. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 November 2022
  12. News Article
    Thousands of hospital surgeries are likely to be cancelled as NHS leaders prepare for unprecedented strike action, The Independent has been told. Most operations apart from cancer care are likely to be called off when nurses take to the picket line, with NHS trusts planning for staffing levels to be similar to bank holidays. Multiple sources say they are almost certain that the upcoming Royal College of Nursing ballot will result in strike action. Results are expected to be finalised on Wednesday. “Trusts are looking at the totality of it. It’s the waiting list that is going to be hit, massive questions over waiting lists, and we’re going to lose days of activity in terms of addressing that growing pressure. “The more we see strike action the harder it is, the risk is [that] the rate of recovery [of waiting list] slows.” They added: “The unions normally provide bank holiday cover and maintain emergency service basically.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 7 November 2022
  13. News Article
    A whistleblower at a mental health trust criticised over the deaths of three teenagers has said bosses ignored workers when they raised concerns. Christie Harnett and Nadia Sharif, both 17, and Emily Moore, 18, who were friends, all took their own lives within eight months of each other. The whistleblower said agency workers fell asleep on duty at Middlesbrough's West Lane Hospital and staff struggled "to keep children alive". The trust has apologised for failings. Reports into the women's care found 120 failings at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV), which ran the hospital, and other agencies. Speaking after the reports were published, the health trust worker, who did not wish to be identified, told the BBC staff were "ignored" when they tried to warn bosses about conditions in the hospital. "Staff repeatedly raised concerns with managers, some of the time we just didn't have enough staff to keep the children safe," the worker said. "We warned them something serious was going to happen, but they just ignored us. "Senior managers looked at numbers, rather than the skillset that staff actually had. "The agency staff would sometimes fall asleep on duty or watch the telly rather than engage with patients." Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 November 2022
  14. News Article
    A damning new report has exposed numerous lapses in nursing care on wards at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust amid a culture which left patients at risk of “unsafe and uncaring” treatment, the care watchdog has said. Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) cited multiple examples of nurses at the scandal-hit trust lacking the knowledge to look after patients safely and failing to record key information needed to keep patients safe during an inspection of medical wards in June this year. The inspectors found poorly completed nursing records, equipment unavailable and nurses not following procedures. This meant some patients developed pressure sores, fell from their beds and were injured or suffered pain at the end of their life. Other patients were at risk of suffering similar harm. Inspectors ruled the trust, which was rated inadequate and put into special measures in 2018, was unsafe and criticised the hospital leadership for what it said was a “collective failure” that was perpetuating the problems at the hospital. Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 August 2020
  15. News Article
    MPs have launched an inquiry examining workforce burnout across the NHS and social care, and the system’s ability to manage staff stress amid increased pressures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The House of Commons health and social care committee said it aims to produce a report showing the levels of staff needed in health and social care to tackle exhaustion and meet future challenges. The committee is calling for evidence on how workforce shortages impacted staff well-being and patient care during the pandemic and the areas that need to see recruitment most urgently. Read full story Source: Pulse, 3 August 2020
  16. News Article
    The Parliament and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) been working with the NHS and other public service organisations, members of the public and advocacy groups to develop a shared vision for NHS complaint handling. We've called this the Complaint Standards Framework. Now they want to hear from you. Have your say in shaping the future of NHS complaint handling by taking part in their survey. Read the Complaint Standards Framework: Summary of core expectations for NHS organisations and staff
  17. News Article
    There has been a sharp rise in the number of nurses considering quitting the profession compared to this time last year, suggest results from a new survey. The research also found that “existing tensions” among the workforce appeared to have been “exacerbated” by the COVID-19 crisis. The survey findings feature in a new report published by Royal College of Nursing and cover the views of almost 42,000 of its members across the UK and Channel Islands. Of those who responded to the survey, 36% of nurses were thinking of leaving the profession, an increase from 27% reported in a similar piece of research carried out at the end of last year. When considering the reasons for quitting, 61% of staff indicated that the level of pay was the “main driver”, while others said they were dissatisfied with the way nursing staff had been treated during the pandemic (44%). Meanwhile, 43% of nurses cited low staffing levels and 42% a lack of management support as key reasons for wanting to leave nursing. Read full story Source: Nursing Times, 17 July 2020
  18. News Article
    Regulators have uncovered multiple examples of patients being put at risk when junior doctors are left with tasks they are not trained for, lacking support, and facing bullying and inappropriate behaviour. Inspection teams have had to intervene – in some cases contacting senior trust staff – to ensure urgent issues are addressed, after the inspections. Health Education England oversees training nationally, which includes making the checks at trusts which have been put under “enhanced monitoring” by the professional regulator, the General Medical Council, because of concerns from trainees. HSJ has obtained and examined 20 reports, all produced since the beginning of 2019. Themes running through the reports included: Lack of support from consultants. Trainees struggled to contact consultants out of hours. Bullying and inappropriate behaviour was reported at several trusts. Inspectors found a reluctance to report concerns and/or a lack of knowledge of how to do it. Teaching was often of poor quality or cancelled – and sometimes trainees struggled to attend sessions because of how their shifts and rotations were scheduled. Trainees in several trusts reported IT problems, such as being locked out of systems so being unable to access clinical notes and blood tests, and IT systems taking up to 30 minutes to start up, sometimes delaying patient care. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 29 June 2020
  19. News Article
    Inspectors have placed a women’s mental health service into special measures after patients were said to have been subjected to “inappropriate” and “derogatory” treatment by staff. St Andrew’s Healthcare, which runs the women’s inpatient facility in Northampton, has received a series of damning reports among its services over the past two years. The inspectors noted during visits between February and March that staff reportedly used language to describe patients on a medium secure ward such as “self-harmers”, “attention seeking”, and “kicking off”. Patients said staff used “inappropriate restraint techniques that caused pain” with reports they “bent the patient’s wrist and arm behind their back.” They also said staff spoke to them in a “derogatory manner, for example telling them to sort themselves out when engaging in self harm behaviour.” Inspectors rated the service “inadequate” overall, noting concerns elsewhere including “forensic failure incidents due to staff shortages”, that staff were not reporting all safeguarding concerns and that “managers did not ensure safe and clean environments in the long stay rehabilitation service and learning disability service.” Read full story Source: HSJ, 10 June 2020
  20. News Article
    Intensive care units (ICU) will be advised how to improve their staffing-to-patient ratios shortly as the number of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 falls across the country. In expectation that the pandemic would put intense pressures on ICUs, staff ratios were relaxed. NHS England told trusts to base their staffing models on one critical care nurse for every six ICU patients, supported by two non-specialist nurses, and one senior ICU clinician for every 30 patients, supported by two middle-grade doctors. Before the pandemic, guidance from the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine recommended a ratio of one non-specialist nurse per patient. For senior clinicians the ratio was 1:10 New guidance, expected as early as next week, will encourage trusts to reduce the number of patients per ICU specialist nurses and senior clinicians on a localised basis as part of “transitional arrangements” aimed at moving staffing models back towards normal standards of care, HSJ has been told. The new guidance, drawn up by NHS England, the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and the British Association of Critical Care Nurses, will give trusts recommended staffing ratios based on the occupancy rates of their ICUs. It will tell trusts the existing ratios should be applied if their ICUs are running at four times their normal capacity. For ICUs running at double capacity, this ratio would be reduced to 1:2 for ICU nurses, and 1:15 for senior clinicians. Read full story Source: HSJ, 8 May 2020
  21. News Article
    The government could be significantly underestimating the number of medics going off work due to the coronavirus, according to a survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said on Sunday that 5.7% of hospital doctors were off sick or absent because of Covid-19, but a doctors’ survey of more than 2,500 medics found the rate was almost three times that – 14.6%. In recent weeks in London, nearly a third of hospital doctors said they were off work for Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 reasons, according to the RCP’s poll of members, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday. Prof Andrew Goddard, the president of the RCP, said the number who had been off work in London “should be a sobering wake-up call” for the rest of the country, with the largest rises in confirmed cases now being outside the capital including in the West Midlands. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 April 2020
  22. News Article
    Several trust procurement leads have expressed frustration with the government’s response to covid-19, with HSJ being told of shortages of crucial personal protective equipment, unpredictable deliveries and a lack of clarity from the centre NHS Supply Chain, which procures common consumables and medical devices for trusts, has been “managing demand” for an increasing number of PPE and infection control products for since the end of February to ensure “continuity of supply”. Some products, like certain polymer aprons, are unavailable altogether because of the increased demand and disrupted supply caused by the covid-19 outbreak. One procurement lead told HSJ: “They aren’t supplying enough, they aren’t fulfilling orders. It’s completely chaotic.” Another said his trust had “just enough to manage for the time being.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 20 March 2020
  23. News Article
    Help is arriving for overworked NHS staff as a growing number of hospitals bring in sleep pods for doctors and nurses to grab power naps during their shifts. Pods have been installed or are being trialled by a dozen hospitals in England. Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust was the first to try them, in June 2018. “Too many staff end up exhausted because they have long, busy, sometimes stressful shifts, often with little chance to grab a break because pressure on the NHS is so intense,” said Prof Steve Field, the trust’s chair. “We know that doctors provide better, safer care when they are fresh and alert. We have found [the pods] to be very popular with staff and also very effective in helping them get more rest,” said Field, a former GP. Dr Mike Farquhar, a consultant in sleep medicine at the Evelina children’s hospital in London, who has persuaded NHS chiefs to take staff slumber more seriously, said hospitals were finally taking practical action. “Air traffic controllers are only allowed to work for two hours and then they must take a 30-minute break, because if they were tired and made a mistake, bad things could happen,” he said. “But in the NHS, where the pressure is often high and sustained, the problem is that the people delivering care will usually choose to prioritise everything else – especially patients – over themselves and sacrifice things like breaks and sleep.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 February 2020
  24. News Article
    Warring between two surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital could put patients at risk, a review suggests. A board paper released by the leading children's hospital said a "fractured" relationship between two consultants in the paediatric surgical urology team was affecting the service last year. The London hospital said steps were being taken to resolve the problems. This has included mediation, mentoring and away days. The board paper from a meeting in November set out the findings of a two-day inspection by the Royal College of Surgeons last May. The college was invited in by the trust itself after reports of problems. The summary of the report said there were "significant difficulties" between two surgeons in the team. It described a "lack of trust and respect" which meant they did not work collaboratively and led to significant competition for work. If this continued it would have the "potential to affect patient care and safety" as well as longer waits for surgery, it said. The "dysfunction" between the two senior doctors caused problems for the wider team with evidence support staff had also been treated inappropriately. Great Ormond Street said it took the issue "extremely seriously" and good progress was being made. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 January 2020
  25. News Article
    Family doctors are under intense pressure and general practice is running on empty, warns the Royal College of GPs (RCGP). It says severe staff shortages are causing "unacceptable" delays for patients in England. In a letter to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, its chairman says ministers must take urgent action to deal with the lack of GPs. The government said it had recruited a "record number" of GP trainees. Ministers are committed to recruiting 6,000 more GPs in England by 2025. Prof Martin Marshall, who took over as RCGP chairman in November, says GPs are struggling with an escalating workload, which is causing many to burn out and leave the profession. Dr Andrew Dharman, who works at the The Avenue surgery in Ealing, said the stress has got worse because of the enormous workload placed on GPs. He said: "Sometimes it feels like you're drowning. You know you're trying to stay afloat and on top of all the workload. And you're trying to make sure you're providing the kind of care that you envisage when you go to medical school." "You feel frustrated sometimes that you can't necessarily do that because of the amount of work and patients." Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 January 2020
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