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Showing results for tags 'Staff safety'.
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News Article
Updated PPE guidance puts NHS staff at risk of infection, say medics
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS staff face unacceptable health risks as a result of “retrograde” changes to the government’s guidance on preventing spread of Covid-19, doctors’ leaders have warned. The BMA said on 16 March it was concerned over updated guidance issued by the UK Health Security Agency covering use of personal protective equipment. It said the guidance failed to properly acknowledge that SARS-CoV-2 infection can spread in the air during the routine care of patients as they cough or sneeze and not just when specific processes known as aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) are being undertaken. “This is a retrograde step as it once again means that healthcare workers will not be routinely provided the right level of protective masks and equipment they need to be safe at work when looking after covid patients,” said Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s chair of council. The BMA said it was crucial that any staff looking after patients with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, or in other situations where a local risk assessment required it, had access to respiratory protective equipment such as filtering face piece (FFP3) masks. Nagpaul said, “All healthcare workers who are caring for Covid-19 patients are putting themselves at risk, each and every day, and the very least the government should do is to provide surety that staff will be given the best protection possible.” Respirators such as FFP3 masks are designed to protect the wearer from ingress of contaminated air and are fitted to ensure no gaps. They offer higher protection than surgical masks, which block the outward escape of droplets from the wearer. The BMA’s concern follows a supposed clarification of the main messages regarding airborne transmission in the latest infection and prevention and control guidance issued on 15 March 2022. The guidance said that respiratory protective equipment (FFP3 masks) are recommended when caring for patients with a suspected or confirmed infection spread “predominantly” by the airborne route (during the infectious period). The word “predominantly” has been added to the previous guidance update, which was issued on 17 January 2022, and is the crux of doctors’ concern, one leading scientist said. Read full story Source: BMJ, 18 March 2022 -
News Article
Abuse of staff at ‘dangerous level’, say NHS bosses
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Healthcare leaders have written an open message to NHS staff, drawing attention to “the dangerous level” of abuse many are confronted with, “simply for going to work”. In the message, more than 40 NHS leaders in London said that every year “tens of thousands” of NHS staff are “confronted with violence and aggression from patients”. “Now, the abuse is at a dangerous level, with many of our once hailed heroes fearing for their safety,” they said. “We, leaders of the NHS in London, are speaking with one voice to say that aggression and violence towards our staff will not be tolerated.” Signatories include Andrew Ridley, the NHS England London interm regional director, integrated care system leaders, leaders from general practice and community pharmacy, and many trust bosses from the capital, including Central and North West London FT chief executive and national director for mental health Claire Murdoch. The message thanked NHS staff for continuing to care for people and encouraged the reporting of “all forms of verbal and physical abuse from patients, their families and friends so that we may take action”. They also sent a message to patients and their families: “We will strive to do our best for you and your loved ones. People who are most unwell do need to be seen most urgently, but all our patients are important to us and will receive the care needed. While we are thankful for the support shown by so many, to those who show violence and aggression let it be known: abusing our staff is never ok.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 March 2022 -
EventSensemaking, according to Karl Weick, is the process through which the complex and unpredictable world is given order, within which people can orient themselves, find purpose, and take effective action. Organisations unravel when sensemaking collapses, when they no longer supply meaning, and when they cling to interpretations that no longer work. As we enter the third year of a global COVID-19 pandemic, when nearly every aspect of our care and caring has faced disruption, how do we make sense of and take action to prevent the unraveling of organisations and sustainably reverse setbacks in patient and workforce safety? Join IHI’s annual Patient Safety Awareness Week webinar on March 16, 2022 from 11:00 AM to 11:50 AM ET with speakers Don Berwick, MD, MPP, and Jessica Berwick, MD, MPH, for a conversation on sensemaking during times of uncertainty, complexity, and chaos. This session will provide insights and perspective to foster sensemaking and action to reinforce patient and workforce safety in your organisation. Register
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Content ArticlePeople like being treated well. A civil approach to relationships in the healthcare workplace – any workplace – has merit, but there are many questions to explore. While most doctors interact with others in a civil manner most of the time, anyone can experience lapses occasionally. When the many dimensions of civility are considered more closely, it appears that there is much that can be learned about the causes of incivility and the strategies that can be adopted to foster civil behaviour, even at times of risk. Physician Health Programme offers a series of articles below as Five Fundamentals of Civility for Physicians.
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Content ArticleThe Covid-19 pandemic has stretched healthcare staff like never before. Tom Moberly reports on a roundtable discussion hosted by The BMJ as part of the 2022 Nuffield Trust summit, looking at why workers leave the NHS and how staff wellbeing and retention can be improved.
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Content ArticleThis systematic review in the BJGP aimed to review literature published up to December 2020 on the prevalence of burnout among GPs in general practice, and to determine GP burnout estimates worldwide. The review found: there is moderate to high GP burnout around the world. substantial variations in how burnout is defined, which has resulted in considerable variation in GP burnout prevalence estimates. that this variation presents a challenge in developing a uniform approach that considering GPs' work contexts will allow better understanding and definition of burnout.
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Content Article
TAKE STOCK – Hot debrief tool (29 October 2019)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Emergency medicine
Debriefing after a patient death or serious incident is important for staff wellbeing, especially in the emergency medicine environment. While on placement in an emergency department, medical student Max Sugarman realised there was no debrief for staff or students involved in critical incidents. This led him to develop the TAKE STOCK hot debrief tool, which is an adaption of the STOP5 model created by Edinburgh EM and the Scottish Centre for Simulation and Clinical Human Factors. In this blog, Max talks about how critical incidents affect staff, how to make time for debriefs and how the TAKE STOCK tool works in practice. -
News Article
Ambulance staff experiencing ‘horrific’ abuse and attacks, NHS warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Ambulance staff are experiencing “horrific” abuse from the public as attacks on workers increased by 23% in the wake of the pandemic. Assaults against female ambulance staff have risen by 48% in the last five years, according to a new report from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE). In response to rising attacks, the NHS has launched a #workwithoutfear campaign to prevent abuse of ambulance staff. Last year there were 11,749 attacks against ambulance staff, equating to 32 workers being abused or attacked every day. AACE said incidents included kicking, slapping, headbutting and verbal abuse, and ranged from common assault to serious attacks involving knives and weapons. Daren Mochrie, chair of AACE and chief executive of North West Ambulance Service said ambulance staff “face the possibility of violence, assault and aggression” on every shift. “When they occur, these attacks have a significant and lasting impact on the team member, affecting every aspect of their life." Read full story Source: The Independent, 28 February 2022 -
Content ArticleA letter to the Chair of the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee expressing concern that written evidence provided to the Committee's “Coronavirus: Lessons Learned to Date" inquiry was not properly considered and opportunities to protect healthcare workers from disease were missed.
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Content ArticleEmployees—physicians and fast-food workers, teachers and hotel staff—are resigning in unprecedented numbers, often in distress. Managers are at a loss for how to respond. Attempts to address employee dissatisfaction and burnout with bonuses, mindfulness, and extra time off do not seem to be working well enough; employees continue to quit, sometimes angrily and dramatically, airing a range of grievances on social media. But what if the problem we typically call “burnout” is not just burnout? What if it is not the other “usual suspects”—depression or anxiety—either? What if it is something that may appear similar, but has a different cause and, if incorrectly addressed, can make individuals feel increasingly worse? Appropriately dealing with the epidemic of employee anguish and quitting requires correctly identifying its causes and using precise terminology to describe it. And while burnout is by far the most popular explanation of employee distress, in many cases, the problem might be a less known, but more insidious: moral injury.
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Content ArticleEvidence submitted outlining the issues relating to the protection of health and care workers. It explains how surgical masks are not 'protective' against airborne disease and represent a breach of COSHH Regulations.
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Content Article
Open Letter to the Chief Executive, Health and Safety Executive
SafeDavid3 posted an article in Regulatory issues
Letter outlining potential legal non-compliance by persons involved in issuing Infection Prevention and Control Guidance. -
Content ArticleThe Safer Healthcare and Biosafety Network (SHBN) is seeking input from occupational health managers based in the UK to support the establishment of a new annual UK national database of blood and body fluid exposures in healthcare workers.
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Content Article
BMA Blog - PPE: A right to protection
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Blogs
This blog for the British Medical Association (BMA) by Tim Tomkin looks at growing frustration among doctors that the national guidelines concerning the use of respirators in Covid-19 infection control are still not robust enough, and do not fulfil legal health and safety obligations. He highlights examples of trusts that have led the way in implementing robust personal protective equipment (PPE) policies to protect staff, and research that demonstrates that the use of FFP3 masks reduces infection rates in staff on Covid-19 wards. He calls for more to be done to provide adequate PPE for staff across the health service, including GPs. -
News Article
Government rejects calls to address nurse burnout and shortage
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The government has rejected calls for an overhaul of NHS workforce planning amid concerns of staff shortages and a mounting backlog of patients. It comes after a House of Commons health and social care committee report in 2021 found burnout among nurses and other healthcare professionals had reached an emergency point. MPs had called for immediate action to support exhausted staff through a plan to cover staffing needs for the next two decades, led by Health Education England. But in a government response to the report, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) rejected calls for independent annual reports on workforce shortages and future staffing requirements. Instead, a new duty in the recently introduced Health and Care Bill will require the health and social care secretary to publish reports on workforce planning in England every five years. The duty is intended to compliment ‘investment on workforce planning and supply already underway’, the government’s response states. But UNISON national nursing officer Stuart Tuckwood said a lack of an independent view on what is needed to support the NHS workforce risked the government focusing on cost ‘above all else’. "The urgent focus for this year must be on preventing further gaps from appearing in the workforce, including nursing teams." "The failure to grade staff properly for the jobs they do, ensure fair pay for additional hours and deliver flexible work patterns are all reasons cited by nurses, healthcare assistants and other staff for leaving." Read full story Source: Nursing Standard, 17 February 2022 -
News ArticleA doctor who has suffered violent shakes and hallucinations during her ongoing 15-month battle with long COVID has criticised the government's plan to "live with the virus". Dr Kelly Fearnley told Sky News she contemplated ending her own life due to the debilitating long-term effects of coronavirus, which she caught while working on a COVID ward in November 2020. The 35-year-old from Leeds, who was previously fit and healthy, initially had flu-like symptoms before she suffered shortness of breath and painful rashes over her body, as well as swelling around her eye. More than a year later, she is still unable to return to work due to the effects of long COVID, which have included violent shakes lasting up to 14 hours at a time, hallucinations, night terrors, severe pins and needles in her arms and legs, and a resting heart rate of 140 beats per minute. With Prime Minister Boris Johnson set to unveil his "living with COVID" plan on Monday, Dr Fearnley branded it a "strategy of denial, driven by the need to cut costs" and she felt "angry and let down". Read full story Source: Sky News, 20 February 2022
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Content ArticleA doctor describes why they left clinical practice for the sake of their mental health and how healthcare organisations can create more supportive environments.
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News Article
‘Don’t overwork staff’, says trust with just one 52-week waiter
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Allowing staff enough rest has been ‘the key’ to elective recovery for an acute trust which has the lowest number of 52-week waiters in England, it has said. Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells (MTW) Trust currently has just one patient who has waited 52 weeks or more on its lists, compared with a high of 976 at one point in April 2021. MTW is one of a handful of trusts with very few long waiters. All are relatively small trusts – and are not regional centres for specialist/tertiary patients – but their 52-week-waiters also represent less than 1% of their total list. MTW chief of service for the surgery division Greg Lawton told HSJ its success in tackling long waiters was down to “attention to detail” in tracking each patient, and not expecting staff to run too many extra sessions. “Any problems patients are having getting through their pathways are identified early and addressed,” he said. "Treatment had been prioritised on the grounds of clinical need, he added, with cancer treatments still going ahead and cancer targets being met." The trust, in the South East, has put on extra operating sessions to clear some of its backlog of patients but these had been limited in number, Dr Lawton said. “What we have never done is try to run too many and I think that may be the key. If you try to do too much you will burn staff out,” he said. The trust had “been mindful that staff need a break,” he added. “Morale is very important.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 16 February 2022 -
News ArticleRegistered nurses at Alhambra Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratifying a new three-year contract yesterday, winning protections to improve patient safety and nurse retention.. The collective bargaining agreement was the result of an almost six-month fight, which included an informational picket for patient safety and multiple other actions. So Hee Park, an ICU nurse at Alhambra, said, “We are so thrilled that after months of negotiations, we have ratified an agreement that provides substantial measures to ensure nurses feel supported and can continue to provide optimal patient care, as well as numerous provisions that will improve recruitment and retention of experienced nurses.” The contract includes several highlights that will help nurses create better outcomes for their patients, such as provisions for ensuring hospital compliance with existing registered nurse-to-patient safe staffing laws. The agreement also establishes a new Infectious Disease Task Force that will offer new protections against communicable diseases and guarantee levels of PPE supplies. The contract also expands workplace violence prevention plans for all hospital units, as well as stating that quality care be provided to all patients regardless of their immigration status. Under the contract, nurses will also receive proper orientation when they’re floated to new hospital units, improving care for patients. And, rather than being sent home at management's whims, RNs will be able to remain at work to provide meal and break relief to other nurses, bolstering safe staffing. These measures will ensure nurses are prepared to provide patients with the highest and safest levels of care possible, resulting in improved nurse retention at Alhambra, which will benefit the entire community long term. Read full story Source: National Nurses United, 10 November 2022
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Content ArticleThis blog for The Kings Fund looks at how chronic excessive workload is damaging staff health, patient care and healthcare workers' long-term ability to provide high-quality and compassionate care for people in their communities. The authors argue that the issue of excessive workload is the major barrier preventing improvements in patient satisfaction, staff retention, financial performance and care outcomes.
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Content ArticleThis is a video recording of a Health Service Journal (HSJ) Patient Safety Congress webinar, in association with BD, considering some of the key emerging patient safety issues for 2022. The panel discuss the legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic patient and staff safety, what needs to be done to ensure that patient safety is designed into elective care recovery plans and the important role for co-production as part of this.
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Content Article
BBC Sounds podcast - The Backlog (9 February 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Exit strategies
This is the first episode in a series of podcasts by Natasha Loder, Health Policy Editor at The Economist, about the care backlog currently facing the health service. After more than two years battling Covid-19, the NHS is struggling through its worst winter crisis in living memory and is facing a daunting task to clear the huge backlog exacerbated by the pandemic. Nearly six million people are on the NHS waiting list for routine treatment in England alone. As patients, often with worsening conditions, pour back into the NHS after putting off treatment, health secretary Sajid Javid warns waiting lists could top thirteen million. In this first episode, Natasha speaks to frontline workers, managers, policy experts, and patients to assess the pressure created by the unprecedented demand on the different areas of the NHS from emergency services to GP surgeries. -
News ArticleA formal complaint accuses the British Government of facilitating ‘the largest single health and safety disaster to befall the United Kingdom workforce since the introduction of asbestos products’. An expert letter to the UK Government’s Health & Safety Executive (HSE) from one of its own advisors accuses the agency of failing to use its statutory authority to correct “seriously flawed” guidance on infection protection and control (IPC), imperilling “the health and safety of healthcare workers by failing to provide for suitable respiratory protection”. The continued failure to protect healthcare workers by ensuring they are wearing the appropriate form of PPE (personal protective equipment) to minimise the risk of infection from COVID-19 airborne transmission, the letter says, has led to thousands of avoidable deaths. The failures amount both to “gross negligence” and serious “criminal offences”, claims the letter seen by Byline Times. The letter addressed to HSE chief executive Sarah Albon is authored by 27-year chartered health and safety consultant David Osborn, who is a ‘consultee member’ of the HSE’s COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) Essentials Working Group, where he has helped HSE to prepare guidance for employers and employees. Written in his own personal capacity, the letter is a formal complaint accusing the members of the Government’s “IPC Cell” – a group of experts behind official guidance on infection protection and control – along with other senior Government officials of committing a “criminal offence… ultimately punishable by fine and/or imprisonment” by breaching Section 36 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The letter argues that a police investigation is needed. The guidance, Osborn writes in his letter, has failed to ensure that healthcare workers understand that they should wear and have access to respiratory protection equipment (RPE) designed to protect from COVID-19 airborne transmission. “There is sufficient prima-facie evidence to suggest that the offence has led to the potentially avoidable deaths of hundreds of healthcare workers and the debilitating disease known as Long COVID in thousands of other healthcare workers,” the letter says. “I firmly believe that the primary source of infection was the inhalation of aerosols whilst caring for infected patients at close quarter,” says Osborn in his letter. Read full story Source: Byline Times, 10 February 2022
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Content ArticleThis qualitative study in Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control aimed to identify institutional actions, strategies and policies related to healthcare workers’ safety perception during the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic at a tertiary care centre in Switzerland. The authors interviewed healthcare workers from different clinics, professions, and positions. The study identified transparent communication as the most important factor affecting healthcare worker's safety perceptions during the first wave. This knowledge can be used to help hospitals better prepare for future infectious disease threats and outbreaks.
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Content ArticleThis study in Occupational Medicine examined the impact of the introduction of face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic on D/deaf healthcare professionals (HCPs). The study found that D/deaf HCPs felt left behind, isolated and frustrated by a lack of transparent masks and reasonable adjustments to meet their communication needs. This resulted in some leaving their roles, and loss of experienced, qualified HCPs has a significant economic and workforce impact, particularly during a pandemic. The authors call for urgent action to ensure D/deaf HCPs are provided with the workplace support required under the Equality Act (2010).
