Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Treatment'.
Found 457 results
-
News Article
Trust declares its cancer waiting list ‘unmanageable’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
One of the NHS’s biggest hospital trusts has declared its cancer waiting list is now at an ‘unmanageable size’. Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust leaders set out the stark judgement in a paper for its July board meeting, held last week. The report said: “The 62-day [referral to treatment backlog as of 3 July] has increased for the second consecutive week to 1,055. “[The cancer patient tracking list] is getting bigger and has reached an unmanageable size. Referral rates have plateaued from March 2021 [but] treatment rates have not increased in line with PTL growth. “This points to a noisy PTL, where the hospital is extremely busy managing patients who do not have cancer.” The paper also said NHS England had recognised the trust’s 62-day cancer target needed to be delivered “in more realistic and achievable stages”. It highlighted particular concerns around a “serious” demand and capacity problem in its dermatology department which contributed to almost half of its 62-day backlog. The trust had 445 62-day RTT cancer breaches in dermatology alone in May, the latest data reported. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 22 July 2022 -
News ArticleA cross-party group of MPs and peers have written to the health secretary requesting an “urgent” meeting to discuss “unregulated” and “untested” treatments that are being offered to Long Covid patients in the UK. It comes after The Independent uncovered a wide range of unproven and “dangerous” therapies being touted to patients, few of which have been approved for use in the NHS – or rigorously tested – for alleviating persistent coronavirus symptoms. Patients with Long Covid are also travelling abroad to clinics in Europe to receive treatments such as “blood washing”, often at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds, according to an ITV and BMJ investigation. In a letter to health secretary Steve Barclay, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus expressed concern that patients “desperately” awaiting treatment through the NHS are being exploited by private clinics, and urged the government to launch an investigation into the provision of unproven care. The group wrote: “It has come to the attention of the APPG that a number of unregulated long Covid clinics are operating in the UK, offering untested and unscientific treatments to people living with long Covid. “The evidence our parliamentary group has heard makes it clear that in some parts of the country the current NHS long Covid care pathways are unfit for purpose, with access to NHS long Covid clinics being described as a ‘postcode lottery’.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 July 2022
-
News ArticlePaul Pettinger’s trip to Cyprus came because he felt the NHS had no treatments to offer him. Paul got Covid in the first wave in 2020. After the initial illness, he was left with extreme tiredness and 10% of the energy he once had. “I have a very small amount of energy and when I use up my energy, I end up with headaches, brain fog and with cognitive issues. It's very hard to think. And also I can't walk very far,” he says. His life then fell apart and he lost his job. “I have been almost housebound for over two years.” he says adding: “I’ve become a burden on family and friends.” A joint investigation between ITV News and the BMJ has found that Paul is 1 of around 120 people with Long Covid symptoms who have travelled to Cyprus for treatment. But thousands more have had the treatment in countries spending life changing sums of money. The Long Covid Center is one of several private clinics offering this treatment - others are in Germany and Switzerland. This is Paul’s seventh session. And, he says, he notices a difference and has confidence in the process. “After each treatment, I experienced a small improvement,” he says. “It is the only treatment out there at the time being and so far it's working.” However, experts have raised concerns over whether such invasive and expensive therapies should be offered without sufficient evidence. “I am worried these patients have been offered therapies which have not been assessed by modern scientific methods – well-designed clinical trials,” said Beverley Hunt, medical director of the charity Thrombosis UK. “In this situation, the treatment may or may not benefit them but, worryingly, also has the risk of harm.” Read full story Source: ITV News, 12 July 2022
-
News Article
NHS Scotland deal signed for mesh removal surgery in US
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Scottish government has signed a contract to allow NHS patients to visit a US expert for mesh removal surgery. Patients can book appointments with Dr Dionysios Veronikis in Missouri with their travel and accommodation costs paid for by the NHS. The cost of each procedure is estimated to be £16,000 to £23,000. Transvaginal implant use was stopped in Scotland after hundreds of women were left with painful, life-changing side effects. NHS National Services Scotland said it would work with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and local health boards to take forward arrangements for those who wish to travel to the US for the procedure. Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: "I fully understand that women want mesh removal surgery undertaken by surgeons who enjoy their full confidence and a range of measures are now in place to ensure this happens. "I am determined to ensure that those with mesh complications get the treatment they want and need." Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 July 2022 -
News ArticleEmma Hardy MP has secured a Westminster debate on gynaecological wait times. Gynaecology waiting lists across the UK have now reached a combined figure of more than 610,000 – a 69% increase on pre-pandemic levels. New analysis by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) shows that in England, gynaecology waiting lists have grown the most by percentage increase of all elective specialties. Emma is co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) for Surgical Mesh and Endometriosis - both come under the heading of ‘gynaecological conditions’ and both are being impacted by increased waiting times. Through her involvement with these APPGs, Emma has heard the testimony of so many women whose lives have been impacted by conditions that can be so painful and debilitating that they impact on every aspect of family, social and work life. Emma will ask the minister to launch an investigation into possible gender bias in the prioritisation of gynaecology services and ensure that elective recovery will address the unequal growth of gynaecology waiting lists compared to other specialties. Emma said: "It is completely unacceptable that 610,000 women are waiting for gynaecological care across the UK. The reality is that many of these women will be in excruciating pain awaiting treatment, unable to go about their day-to-day lives." Read full story Source: Hull Daily Mail, 5 July 2022
-
News Article
Calls grow for government to order Covid drug to boost protection for vulnerable
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The UK must urgently procure stocks of a drug that can boost vulnerable people’s protection against Covid, experts have urged in a letter to The Times. Evusheld, made by AstraZeneca, was licensed by the UK regulator the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in March. Some people with immune system problems, such as blood cancer patients or organ transplant patients do not get sufficient protection from vaccinations and many are continuing to shield. Campaigners believe that offering Evusheld to those people could allow them to resume normal life. Evusheld is being used in countries including the United States and Israel but the UK government has yet to ask AstraZeneca for supplies. In a letter published in The Times, Gemma Peters, chief executive of Blood Cancer UK, and Lord Mendelsohn, co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Vulnerable Groups to Pandemics, say that this represents a failure of a promise made at the start of the pandemic that the government would “do everything in its power to protect the vulnerable”. They write: “People who are immunocompromised are still dying from Covid at much higher rates than the rest of the population. They cannot afford to wait. They deserve better.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 6 July 2022 -
News Article
NHS to test using drones to fly chemotherapy drugs to Isle of Wight
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS plans to use drones to fly chemotherapy drugs to cancer patients in England to avoid the need for long journeys to collect them. The devices will transport doses from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight in a trial that, if successful, will lead to drones being used for similar drops elsewhere. They will take 30 minutes to travel acrss the Solent, which will save patients on the island a three to four-hour round trip by ferry or hovercraft. On Tuesday, Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive, unveiled the move to help mark the 74th anniversary of the health service’s creation by the postwar Labour government. “Delivering chemo by drone is another extraordinary development for cancer patients and shows how the NHS will stop at nothing to ensure people get the treatment they need as promptly as possible, while also cutting costs and carbon emissions,” she said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 July 2022 -
Content ArticleThere was a national roll out of ‘COVID Virtual Wards’ (CVW) during England's second COVID-19 wave (Autumn 2020 – Spring 2021). These services used remote pulse oximetry monitoring for COVID-19 patients following discharge from hospital. A key aim was to enable rapid detection of patient deterioration. It was anticipated that the services would support early discharge, reducing pressure on beds. This study from Georghiou et al. evaluated the impact of the CVW services on hospital activity. The study found no evidence of early discharges or changes in readmissions associated with the roll out of COVID Virtual Wards across England.
-
Content ArticleThe government has published a draft Mental Health Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. The bill aims to modernise the Mental Health Act for the 21st century.
-
News ArticleThe NHS is wasting time and money due to a ‘culture of overtreatment’ in cancer care, a report has revealed. An All-Party Parliamentary Group paper released on Tuesday on minimally invasive cancer treatments (MICTs) found only 10 per cent of cancer patients are offered non-invasive treatments. This is despite many of these treatments being recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). And many doctors and patients remain in the dark about some of the newer treatments due to ‘a severe lack of education’ . The APPG, which is made up of different political parties and peers, was formed to drive awareness of Minimally Invasive Cancer Therapies - proven cancer treatments that provide similar outcomes to cancer surgery but are more targeted and less invasive than traditional surgery. Paul Sayer, founder of charity Prost8, which launched its ‘ONE in EIGHT’ campaign to help men with prostate cancer get better access to minimally invasive treatment, said: “The report has identified a culture of overtreatment even when it’s not the best or safest option. Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 June 2022
-
Content ArticleDr Harsha Master, Dr Ashish Chaudhry, Dr Nicholas Gall, Dr Louise Newson, Dr Sarah Glynne, and Dr Paul Glynne present their experiences of diagnosing, managing, and referring patients with long COVID and associated conditions. Read this article to learn more about: the definition, prevalence, and symptoms of long COVID exclusion of alternative diagnoses, and identification of red-flag symptoms the authors’ experiences of managing long COVID and its complications.
-
Content Article
Extravasation: a patient safety priority
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Extravasation
Extravasation injuries occur when some intravenous drugs leak outside the vein into the surrounding tissue causing trauma. This leaflet describes the risks posed by extravasation to patients, the extent of the problem in the NHS and what is currently being done to reduce the risk of avoidable harm. The leaflet sets out the action to prevent, recognise, treat and report extravasation which is urgently needed. It emphasises the importance of all suspected extravasation injuries being reported and investigated, with reviews undertaken to learn and take action to prevent harm to future patients. -
Content Article1 in 6 people in the UK live with a neurological condition, but there simply isn’t the workforce or services in place to provide the support they need. Every two years, The Neurological Alliance runs My Neuro Survey to give a picture of the experience of care, treatment and support for people with neurological conditions. From a lack of mental wellbeing support, delays to life changing treatment and care and a lack of information and support at diagnosis, over 8,500 people living with or affected by neurological conditions across the UK shared their experiences in the 2021/22 My Neuro Survey.
-
News ArticleThousands of women in England with mental health problems are being given electric shock treatment despite concerns the therapy can cause irreparable brain damage. NHS data seen by The Independent reveals the scale of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) prescribed disproportionately to women, who make up two-thirds of patients receiving the treatment. Health professionals have warned the therapy can cause brain damage so severe recipients are unable to recognise family and friends or do basic maths. While some patients say the therapy profoundly helped them, leading mental charities have branded it “damaging” and “outdated” and called for its use to be halted pending an urgent review or banned entirely. Statistics obtained through Freedom of Information requests by Dr John Read, a professor at the University of East London and leading expert on ECT, showed 67% of 1,964 patients who received the treatment in 2019 were female. ECT was given to women twice as often as men across 20 NHS trusts in the UK, his research found. The trusts also said some 36% of their patients in 2019 underwent ECT without providing consent. A spokesperson added patients should be fully informed of the risks associated with ECT and the decision to deploy the treatment “should be made jointly with the person with depression as far as possible”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 June 2022
-
News Article
Almost 100,000 facing excessive wait for serious cardiac care in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Almost 100,000 people with serious heart problems, including some “living on borrowed time”, are enduring long waits for potentially life-saving NHS care because hospitals are so busy. Some of them are in such poor health they will have a heart attack and die as a consequence of facing such “dangerous” long delays, the British Heart Foundation has warned. The number of patients in England being forced to wait more than the supposed maximum 18 weeks for cardiac treatment has trebled since Covid-19 struck, from 32,186 in February 2020 to an unprecedented 96,321, a BHF analysis of published NHS England data shows. They are waiting for procedures such as having a stent or balloon inserted to reopen a blocked artery, a pacemaker or implantable defibrillator fitted, or open heart surgery, including bypasses or valve replacement operations. Others urgently need to have an echocardiogram, CT or MRI scan to help doctors decide on treatment. Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, a consultant cardiologist who is also the BHF’s associate medical director, said: “Cardiac care can’t wait. Without timely treatment, heart patients may be living on borrowed time.” “Tens of thousands of people feel in limbo, waiting many months or even years for cardiac surgery, invasive heart procedures or important diagnostic tests. During this time they could quite quickly become much sicker, and tragically some could even die before they can receive the heart care they so desperately need,” she added. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 June 2022 -
News Article
Cost of living: Soaring bills damaging people's health, say medics
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Rises in the cost of living are already having a negative impact of people's health, health professionals warn. BBC News has been told of people skipping meals or cutting back on medication, because of money worries. The Royal College of Nursing says people are having to make heart-wrenching choices that compromise their health and wellbeing. Along with GPs and hospital doctors, they warn health inequalities between rich and poor risk becoming worse. Laura Brant, 28, has already had to make some tough choices about a treatment keeping her alive. Having lived with kidney disease since the age of seven, she has already had two kidney transplants - and now needs another. Laura is dependent on a dialysis machine to carry out the filtering process usually performed by the kidneys. Without it, she could be dead in a week. Laura was having dialysis at home - but the machine used so much electricity and water the bills started to mount rapidly. "I'd say that it's the straw that broke the camel's back, really, with the cost of running the dialysis machine, the water it uses, the electric," she says. "And it was adding to my anxiety, like, 'How am I going to pay to do this treatment every month?'" Royal College of Physicians president Dr Andrew Goddard says some of his respiratory-medicine colleagues are hearing of patients choosing to turn off oxygen supplies to save money. "Respiratory disease disproportionately affects those least able to afford to improve their social circumstances," he says. "It seems likely the cost of living crisis will widen this disparity further." Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 June 2022 -
News ArticleWhen Jenny* had a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she believed the major surgery to remove her breast, although traumatic, had saved her life. She described feeling “rage” when at a follow-up appointment three years later, she said to her surgeon, “I would probably be dead by now” if she had not received the surgery, to which he replied: “Probably not.” It was only then, after she had already undergone invasive and life-changing treatment, that Jenny learned about “overdiagnosis”. While breast cancer screening programs are essential and save lives, sometimes they also detect lumps that may never go on to cause harm in a woman’s lifetime, leading to overtreatment, and psychological and financial suffering. Jenny is 1 of 12 women from the UK, US, Canada and Australia whose stories were published in the medical journal BMJ Open. It is the first study to interview breast cancer patients who believe they may have received unnecessary and harmful treatment, highlighting the effect this has had on their lives. “The usual story of breast cancer screening is ‘screening saves lives’,” an author of the study and a professor of public health at the University of Sydney in Australia, Alexandra Barratt, said. “This study reports the other side of the story – how breast cancer screening can cause harm through overdiagnosis and overtreatment.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2022
-
Content ArticleThis study from Pickles et al. explores experiences of women who identified themselves as having a possible breast cancer overdiagnosis.
-
News Article
Innovative Medicines Fund launched to fast-track drugs
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients in England can get early access to more cutting-edge medicines through a new fund. The Innovative Medicines Fund (IMF) works like the existing Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), fast-tracking promising treatments, even if they are expensive and have not yet been approved for routine NHS use. It will cover potentially life-saving drugs for rare and genetic diseases. The government has allocated up to £680m a year to be shared by the funds. The IMF, like the CDF, will mean a newly approved medicine could be prescribed immediately, before final recommendations on it are drawn up by the advisory body that weighs the cost versus benefit of drugs used by the NHS - an organisation called NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence). Patients would be able to access the treatment while data is collected for NICE to determine whether the medicine is affordable and effective enough to offer more widely. A similar fund for innovative treatments - the New Medicines Fund - already exists in Scotland. Wales has a New Treatments Fund that helps pay for high-cost drugs which have been recommended as cost-effective by NICE. Experts hope funds like these will improve the lives of many who might otherwise miss out. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 June 2022 -
Content ArticleUnequal distribution of Covid-19 antivirals means patients are buying pills online that may not be safe when taken without medical supervision, Gabriel G Plata reports in this BMJ investigation.
-
News Article
Retired consultant is struck off over treatment of young transgender patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A retired consultant gastroenterologist has been struck off the UK medical register for “wide ranging failings” in treating young transgender patients and in prescribing testosterone for men. Michael Webberley, who was charged with failing to provide good care to 24 patients, acted outside the limits of his expertise, a medical practitioners tribunal concluded. Through the private online clinic GenderGP, which he ran with his wife Helen, a GP, Webberley prescribed puberty blockers to a child of nine and cross sex hormones to a teenager who died by suicide a few months later. He faced charges over his care of seven transgender patients, and the tribunal found that he had provided treatment that was not clinically indicated or that had been prescribed without adequate tests, assessments, or examinations. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 30 May 2022 -
Content ArticleFollowing the the COVID-19 virus, a new condition known as Long Covid has emerged. Find out what people told Healthwatch about their experiences of getting treatment for this new condition. Healthwatch looked at a sample of 122 people’s experiences, shared with them between September 2020 and March 2022, to explore what it is like for people seeking help with symptoms of Long Covid.
-
News Article
Fears of Long Covid crisis as demand for rehabilitation services surges
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Health officials are calling for urgent intervention from the government to meet the steep surge in demand for occupational therapy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to healthcare professionals from both the NHS and the private care system, demand for occupational-therapy-led rehabilitation services in Britain has increased by a staggering 82 per cent over the past six months alone. Swelling pressure on already “overloaded” rehabilitation services has stirred up stark warnings from members of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT), who say the level of demand for the service they provide “isn’t sustainable” as there isn’t a large enough workforce to meet the need. A revealing survey carried out by the college has raised grave questions about the prospect of providing timely rehabilitation for people recovering from short and long-term illnesses who need urgent support to enable them to carry out their daily activities. The survey of of 550 occupational therapists working in the UK found that 84 per cent are now supporting people whose needs have become more complex because of delays in treatment brought about by the pandemic. As a result of this, coupled with a wider increase in the number of people requiring help, 71 per cent of the RCOT’s respondents felt there were not enough occupational therapists to meet the demand. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Independent, 22 May 2022 -
News Article
One in five patients leave some A&E departments in England without treatment
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More than one in five patients at some hospitals are leaving accident and emergency departments before completing treatment, and in some cases before being seen for assessment at all, with the rate across England trebling since before the pandemic. Experts told the Observer that the increase was probably driven by a combination of long A&E waiting times and by difficulties accessing NHS facilities such as GPs, community health services and NHS 111. The figures apply to patients who left A&E before an initial assessment; after an assessment but before treatment started; or before treatment was completed. They include patients who left to find treatment elsewhere. David Maguire, a senior analyst with the King’s Fund health thinktank, linked the rise to patients having difficulty accessing other parts of the NHS and going to A&E instead. “We’re probably talking about things that won’t require an admission, but it’s important that you get seen by someone,” he said. “So for example, somebody’s got a chest pain, somebody’s got some sort of adverse indication that you would want to seek attention for. It’s a perfectly rational thing to do. But it’s a struggle to access at other points [in the NHS], so you default towards A&E.” He added that staff shortages and social care capacity were also contributing factors. “I think it’s a lot of the NHS not functioning properly. Pre-pandemic, there was a certain amount of flex in the system – even with the problems that we were seeing around performance – that meant you could come to A&E with some of these issues. That flex in the system has gone – the capacity has been absorbed by other issues.” Read full story Source: The Observer, 21 May 2022 -
EventThis Westminster Health Forum conference will discuss the next steps for diagnosis, treatment and management of conditions that cause chronic pain, and the priorities for supporting people living with its effects. Delegates will examine the development of integrated healthcare in local communities and developing best practice for delivering patient-centred care - as well as the support required for the health workforce to deliver quality care and pain management for patients. It will be an opportunity to evaluate the recent updates to NICE’s guidance for chronic pain management, and the development of integrated care systems in the context of the Health and Care Bill. There will also be discussion on alternative approaches to chronic pain management including psychological therapies, social prescribing and complementary medicine, with NICE commencing medical cannabis clinical trials for people with chronic pain. Overall, areas for discussion include priorities and next steps for: long-term management of chronic pain conditions improving diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain, and developing person-centred community care widening awareness and understanding of chronic pain conditions understanding risk factors for developing chronic pain conditions, and approaches to prevention supporting the wellbeing of people living with chronic pain, and improving access to mental health services new, diverse treatment programmes for sufferers of chronic pain regulation and guidance for new treatments for chronic pain. Register
