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Showing results for tags 'Transparency'.
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Content Article
This is part of our series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, where we talk to people working for patient safety about their role and what motivates them. Paul talks to us about how AvMA helps people who have suffered direct or indirect medical harm and to help them to seek justice, why upcoming changes to the legal system could restrict access to clinical negligence claims and the importance of compassionate engagement in improving harmed patients’ experiences of the healthcare system. -
Content ArticleGood patient communication strategies are an essential prerequisite for developing an effective NHS patient safety culture and the NHS needs to improve on its efforts, writes John Tingle in an article for the British Journal of Nursing.
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Content ArticleIn this episode of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)’s new podcast Turn on the Lights, Sue Sheridan of Patients for Patient Safety US describes how she strives for transparency and champions the patient role in developing solutions. This conversation with IHI President and CEO Kedar Mate and IHI President Emeritus and Senior Fellow Don Berwick explores actions being taken to bring patient safety to the forefront.
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Content ArticleThis policy paper from the Department of Health and Social Care sets out the Government’s response to the recommendations of the investigation into the death of Elizabeth Dixon in respect of the failures of care she received from the NHS.
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Content ArticleIn 2002, a dedicated group from Pennsylvania passed the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act, the most robust state-level legislation of its kind. Its legacy remains 21 years later. In this interview with the journal Patient Safety, Pennsylvania's Patient Safety Authority chair, Dr Nirmal Joshi, discusses ways care has improved, what challenges persist, and how to achieve the unachievable—true culture change.
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Content ArticleThe US Roadmap to Health Care Safety for Massachusetts sets five goals that will be reached through a sustained, collective state-wide effort among provider organisations, patients, payers, policymakers, regulators, and others.
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Content ArticleThe Operating Room Black Box (OR Black Box) is a system that collects, stores and analyses a large amount of data from the operating room beyond just surgical video, such as video and audio of the operating room and patient physiology data. In this episode of the Behind the Knife podcast, Dr. Teodor Grantcharov, one of the creators of the OR Black Box, talks about how the technology can be used to enhance surgical training. Using the system for feedback through self-directed review, coaching and integrated AI analysis has changed the way we can learn and teach in surgery, and may have implications for the future of evaluation and assessing credentials.
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News Article
Cover-ups and lies in maternity care keep happening, says Donna Ockenden
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A week after Donna Ockenden published her damning report on the catastrophic failures in maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in March last year, she was contacted by families in Nottingham asking her to investigate how dozens of babies had died or been injured in their city hospitals. Six months later, Ockenden — herself a senior midwife — was put in charge of another inquiry by the government and yet again she is finding a culture of cover-ups and lies in maternity care. “Of the families that I have met in Nottingham to date, some of them have expressed concerns to me that the trust were not truthful in discussions around their cases,” she tells the Times Health Commission. “We have all the systems and structures in place that should be able to spot maternity services in difficulty and here we are again. Families are having to fight to get answers.” The woman who has done more than anyone to highlight the problems with maternity care is reluctant to use the word “crisis” but she warns: “I think that without urgent and rapid action, from central government downwards — on funding and workforce and training — mothers and their babies are not going to be able to receive the safe, personalised maternity care that they deserve and should expect". Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 21 April 2023 -
Content Article
In this blog, Steve Turner reflects on why genuine patient safety whistleblowers are so frequently ignored, side-lined or victimised. Why staff don't speak out, why measures to change this have not worked and, in some cases, have exacerbated the problems. Steve concludes with optimism that new legislation going through Parliament offers a way forward from which everyone will benefit.- Posted
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Content Article
In this blog, Olivia Lounsbury, Committee Lead for Patients for Patient Safety US's National Patient Safety Oversight committee, looks at a new Bill calling for the creation of a US National Patient Safety Board (NPSB). She outlines why the NPSB is needed and demonstrates the importance of engaging patients and families in its design and processes. Olivia also look at existing healthcare safety organisations in other countries, highlighting the opportunity that the NSPB has to benefit from their approaches. -
News Article
‘Cover-up’ fears over trust’s toxic culture
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
An independent group overseeing the reviews into a toxic culture at University Hospitals Birmingham have raised concerns over a possible ‘cover up’ of key reports. The cross-party reference group, which includes MPs, council and Healthwatch officials, has demanded transparency over key decisions, and says there are continuing concerns over the trust’s leadership. It has been scrutinising a review into patient safety concerns at UHB, which found the trust’s executive had become “overzealous and coercive”. On the day this review was released, it was revealed that UHB’s former CEO David Rosser had decided to retire. The group, chaired by MP Preet Gill, said in a statement: “The allegations made by whistleblowers were not isolated incidents, but the result of a deep-seated and toxic culture. While Dr Rosser has recently announced his retirement, one member of staff, albeit a chief executive, cannot be responsible for this alone. Feedback from staff has made it clear that there must be collective accountability by the senior leadership for the distressing culture afflicting the trust." Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 5 April 2023 -
Content ArticleOn 1 July 2022, Integrated care systems (ICSs) were placed on a statutory footing. ICSs are partnerships of organisations that come together to plan and deliver joined up health and care services, and to improve the lives of people who live and work in their area. Following their introduction, on the 18 November 2022, the Government announced that it would commission an independent review into the oversight of ICSs, considering how to best enable them to succeed, balancing greater autonomy and robust accountability, to be led by former Secretary of State for Health, the Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt. This report sets out the findings of this review.
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Content ArticleEasyFOI is an email address compiler designed to help you send identical freedom of information requests to multiple organisations. Journalists, researchers and ordinary members of the public use the FOI act every day to request all kinds of information from statutory public bodies. You may want to request the same information from different organisations. But it can be hard to find a central list of every public body in the country, let alone their FOI inboxes (which don't tend to follow a standard format). EasyFOI is here to make that easier. Instead of searching for each organisation's contact details, or compiling your own database, you can use this simple tool to copy the appropriate email address for every relevant organisation straight into your device's clipboard. You can also use the EasyFOI generator to help you write your request in seconds. The EasyFOI database doesn't yet cover all public bodies. But it's expanding all the time, and currently includes more than 1,000 organisations.
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News Article
Cancer drug leaflets for patients in Europe omit important facts
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Cancer drug information leaflets for patients in Europe frequently omit important facts, while some are “potentially misleading” when it comes to treatment benefits and related uncertainties, researchers have found. Cancer is the biggest killer in Europe after heart conditions, with more than 3.7m new cases and 1.9m deaths every year, according to the World Health Organization. Medicines are a vital weapon against the disease. But critical facts about them are often missing from official sources of information provided to patients, clinicians and the public, according to a study led by researchers from King’s College London, Harvard Medical School and the University of Sydney, among others. “Regulated information sources for anticancer drugs in Europe fail to address the information needs of patients,” the study’s authors wrote in The BMJ journal. “If patients lack access to such information, clinical decisions may not align with their preferences and needs.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 March 2023 -
Content ArticleTo receive and participate in medical care, patients need high quality information about treatments, tests, and services—including information about the benefits of and risks from prescription drugs. Provision of information can support ethical principles of patient autonomy and informed consent, facilitate shared decision making, and help to ensure that treatment is sensitive to, and meets the needs and priorities of, individuals. Patients value high quality, written information to supplement and reinforce the verbal information given by clinicians. This is the case even for those who do not want to participate in shared decision making. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency with which relevant and accurate information about the benefits and related uncertainties of anticancer drugs are communicated to patients and clinicians in regulated information sources in Europe. The findings of this study highlight the need to improve the communication of the benefits and related uncertainties of anticancer drugs in regulated information sources in Europe to support evidence informed decision making by patients and their clinicians.
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Content ArticleThis article by Till Bruckner of Transparimed outlines how a new UK law will affect how clinical trial results are reported. The UK Government will introduce a legal requirement to make the results of all clinical trials public within 12 months of trial completion. Any company or university breaking the law will be refused permission to start new trials.
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News Article
Trust fears medics will be ‘harassed’ if it publishes surgery report
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Two external reviews have been carried out into a trust’s general surgery services amid concerns about whether it is a ‘safe interpersonal working environment’. But University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust has refused to make the reviews – which were both completed last year – public, partly because of what it says are concerns that they could lead to “harassment” of doctors who spoke to the authors. Both reviews were into aspects of the general surgery services at the Royal Sussex County Hospitals in Brighton. The trust has had a series of highly critical Care Quality Commission reports into some of its surgical services and a “well led” report is expected to be released in the next few weeks. The trust has refused HSJ’s Freedom of Information Act request to release the reviews, arguing that those interviewed had been promised confidentiality, and the issues involved are “emotive and sensitive matters”. “Disclosure could cause those involved in the reviews damage, distress and upset and could even lead to harassment,” it said. Read full story Source: HSJ, 27 March 2023 -
Content ArticleWhistleblowing is synonymous with the exposure of wrongdoing by informed insiders, and is recognised by organisations and governments as an important and positive act in the fight against crime, corruption and cover up. This report was produced by WhistleblowersUK as secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Whistleblowing and sets out the case for an Independent Office of the Whistleblower. It outlines how this can address the failure of the UK to make whistleblowing work for society. Working with groups of experts and specialists including those from academia and law from around the world, the APPG has drawn up the “Whistleblowing Bill”.
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News Article
Patient safety concerns over 'toxic culture' hospital probe
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An NHS England investigation into claims of a toxic culture at a hospital trust has been described as lacking transparency and undermining trust. The Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman also said there were "very serious" patient safety issues at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB). Criticism is contained in letters seen by the BBC between the ombudsman, the trust and NHS England. The inquiries, commissioned by the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board and the local NHS, were begun in response to an investigation by BBC Newsnight and BBC West Midlands which heard from current and former clinicians from the trust, who accused it of being "mafia-like". One of England's biggest hospital trusts, UHB has been in the spotlight for months after three probes were started following allegations doctors there were threatened for raising safety concerns. The trust denies this and says its "first priority is patient safety". The ombudsman, however, said he was sceptical about the reviews' transparency and independence. His finding of "very serious" patient safety issues at UHB is based on the trust's response to the ombudsman's recommendations and findings, including a case of an avoidable patient death. Read full story Source; BBC News, 14 March 2023 -
News Article
Revealed: experts who praised new ‘skinny jab’ received payments from drug maker
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The drug giant behind weight loss injections newly approved for NHS use spent millions in just three years on an “orchestrated PR campaign” to boost its UK influence. As part of its strategy, Novo Nordisk paid £21.7m to health organisations and professionals who in some cases went on to praise the treatment without always making clear their links to the firm, an Observer investigation has found. Among the vocal champions of the Wegovy jabs was a clinical expert who gave evidence to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and others who publicly praised the so-called “skinny jabs” as a “gamechanger”. The revelations come as the Danish drug giant is investigated by the UK’s pharmaceutical watchdog after it was found to have breached the industry code seven times in relation to a “disguised promotional campaign” of another of its weight loss drugs via online webinars for healthcare professionals. Prof Allyson Pollock, professor of public health at Newcastle University, said Novo’s campaign was “not unusual” in the drugs industry and called for measures to improve trust. “The public really aren’t being made aware enough about the potential for bias and over-claiming,” she said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 March 2023 -
News Article
Medical records changed as hospitals cover up mistakes, watchdog warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hospitals are still covering up serious mistakes in patient care and fobbing off families that raise concerns, the head of the watchdog that investigates complaints against the NHS has warned. Rob Behrens told The Times he had seen cases of medical records being changed after a death and spoken to doctors who were too scared to speak out about failings in their hospitals. He called on ministers to change the law to introduce a “duty of candour” on health and other public service staff to “transform” the system and make it more accountable to patients. He warned: “There is a deep reluctance to explain and give an account of what you do in the health service or the public service for fear of retribution. The things that really get to me are the avoidable deaths of babies in the health service — dying because there’s been poor coordination or they’d been wrongly diagnosed or the parents hadn’t been listened to. That is shocking.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times. 6 March 2023 -
Content ArticleThe Harmed Patients Alliance (HPA) was founded to highlight and promote restorative approaches to healthcare harm. To support their campaign for action, HPA carried out a survey of 44 people asking how those harmed by their contact with healthcare felt about the response, and what impacts this had on them. They were also asked what could have been done differently.
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Content ArticleThis guide by the National Patient Safety Agency offers guidance for junior doctors on what to do if they are involved in a patient safety incident. It includes case studies on: medication error competence communication patient identification reporting It also includes guidance on how to deal with a complaint.
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Content ArticleThe new NHS recovery plan accepts that data on long delays in emergency departments must be published monthly to help improve patient care and hold systems to account, writes Katherine Henderson in this BMJ opinion piece.
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Content Article
When patients are left to blow the whistle on unsafe care
Steve Turner posted an article in Whistle blowing
This short blog highlights the situations where patients, carers, parents and relatives are failed by healthcare systems and by the leadership. They are left to stand alone against powerful institutions, because when staff speak up and 'blow the whistle' it often results in retaliation. Investigating and resolving the patient safety issue then becomes buried under an employment issue.
