Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'UK'.
Found 185 results
-
News Article
US health officials monitor the rising cases of UK Covid hospitalisations
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
US health officials are monitoring an unusual situation in the UK, where COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations are simultaneously climbing due to the BA.2 subvariant, CNN reports. COVID-19 cases were up 52% in the UK last week compared with the week prior, and hospitalisations were up 18%t over the same period, according to the UK Coronavirus Dashboard. The seemingly in-tandem ascent of cases and hospitalisations is unusual, given that increases in COVID-19 cases preceded increases in hospitalisations by about 10 days to two weeks in previous waves. "So we're obviously keenly interested in what's going on with that," Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN. Dr Fauci said in conversation with his U.K. counterparts, they attribute the rising cases and hospitalisations to three things, listed in order of contribution: the BA.2 variant, which is more transmissible than the original omicron; the opening of society, with people socializing indoors without masks; and waning immunity from vaccination or prior infection. Hospitalisations in the U.K. raise questions, given that BA.2 doesn't appear to cause more severe disease. "The issue with hospitalization is a little bit more puzzling, because although the hospitalizations are going up, it is very clear their use of ICU beds has not increased," Dr. Fauci said. "So are the numbers of hospitalizations a real reflection of COVID cases, or is there a difficulty deciphering between people coming into the hospital with COVID or because of COVID?" Read full story Source: Becker Hospital Review, 16 March 2022 -
Content Article
In this blog, Clare Rayner, an occupational physician, describes how an international collaboration to help understand Long Covid was established by harnessing the power of technology and social media. This collective, between a group of UK doctors experiencing prolonged health problems after Covid-19 infection and a globally renowned rehabilitation clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, aims to help both patients and healthcare professionals by disseminating learning about Long Covid from both sides of the Atlantic. -
Content ArticleIn this HSJ article, workforce correspondent Annabelle Collins looks at the workforce issues facing the NHS as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spreads rapidly across the UK. She highlights that staff absences are at their highest since March 2020, with the situation particularly worrying in London, where 1 in 13 doctors are currently off sick. The author discusses the role of PPE in protecting staff and reducing absences and quotes Patient Safety Learning's Chief Executive Helen Hughes, who highlights "inconsistencies" in the UK approach, saying the IPC guidance needs to be “urgently updated” so HEPA/FPP3 masks are provided for NHS staff, in line with World Health Organization recommendations: “Today the World Health Organisation is issuing updated guidance for health workers, recommending the use of either a respirator or a medical mask, in addition to other personal protective equipment, when entering a room where there is a patient with suspected or confirmed covid.” The article also examines the government's lack of workforce plans and the Treasury’s unwillingness to publish workforce predictions, despite repeated calls for them over the past few years.
-
Content ArticleThis study in the British Journal of General Practice aims to identify and understand the unintended consequences of online consultations in primary care. The authors interviewed 19 patients and 18 general practice staff at eight general practices using online consultation tools in South West and North West England between February 2019 and January 2020. The study found the following unintended consequences of online consultation: Creation of difficulties for some patients in communicating effectively with a GP. The system disadvantaged digitally-excluded patients. Patient uncertainty about how their queries were dealt with, and whether practices used online consultations as their preferred method for patients to contact the practice. Creation of additional work for some staff. Isolation and dissatisfaction for some staff.
-
Content Article
Responding to patient alarms in single patient rooms
katepym posted an article in Equipment and facilities
This survey for health and care staff looks at how quickly staff are aware of alarms emitted by bedside monitoring equipment in single patient rooms, and their ability to respond. Doors to single patient rooms are often kept shut for long periods of time for reasons of privacy, dignity and (at the moment especially) infection control. With the UK Government targeting a growth in the proportion of NHS hospital rooms which have a single bed, is this a risk to the health and wellbeing of patients? This is not a specific issue where data is collected, so an online survey has been created to gather feedback and opinions. -
Content ArticleThis analysis uses data from the Office for National Statistics UK Coronavirus (Covid-19) Infection Survey data to estimate the prevalence of self-reported Long Covid in the UK.
-
Content ArticleIn 2020, all NHS organisations were instructed to name a single executive board member as their senior responsible person for tackling health inequalities. Across the NHS, there should now be over 450 dedicated health equality named leads in healthcare organisations. This report published by the independent NHS Race & Health Observatory in collaboration with The King’s Fund sets out recommendations to help ensure senior NHS officials responsible for improving health inequalities are able to make a difference.
-
Content ArticleThis census of the consultant physician workforce in the UK conducted by the Royal College of Physicians shows that the number of doctors needed to meet patient demand continues to significantly outnumber the supply.
-
Content ArticleThis guidance from the General Medical Council sets out the how doctors should raise and act on concerns about patient care, dignity and safety.
-
Content ArticleEach year, Carers UK carries out a survey of carers to understand the state of caring in the UK, and this is the largest State of Caring survey carried out by Carers UK to date. Over 8,500 carers and former carers shared their experiences.
-
Content ArticleThis manifesto was created by the Community Rehabilitation Alliance, a collective of 50 charities, trade unions and professional bodies coming together to call on all political parties to ensure there is equal access to high quality community rehabilitation services for all patients.
-
Content ArticleThis study in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology involved searching electronic health records to uncover how many people in prisons have been affected by a potential problem related to their prescribed medication. Researchers looked at published studies and worked with prison healthcare staff to develop and implement prescribing safety indicators (PSIs) for prison electronic health records. The authors found that PSIs provide a significant opportunity to measure and improve medication safety for people in prisons and that more patients were affected by some PSIs than others. The study also investigated how the searches could be used more widely in prisons and interviewed 20 prison health care staff to explore this topic. The staff they spoke to said that it was important to have people who can take on leadership of the searches and to promote team-based responses to them.
-
Content ArticleChristopher Collinson was admitted to the Medical Assessment Unit at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital with suspected deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. He was admitted at 1.28pm on 14 June 2021, but was not seen by a Doctor until 9.33pm. He was later prescribed a prophylactic dose of Enoxaparin, rather than the therapeutic dose which the doctor had intended to prescribe. He collapsed at 11.00pm suffering a cardiac arrest and could not be revived. He died at 2.14am on 15 June 2021.
-
News Article
Research confirms impact of COVID-19 on doctors’ mental health
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The COVID-19 crisis triggered high levels of anxiety and depression among doctors in the UK, Italy and Spain, a new study has found The research of 5,000 survey responses, across the three countries, found Italian doctors were most likely to have suffered during the crisis last year. The study, published in PLOS ONE, measured the mental wellbeing of doctors in Catalonia (Spain), Italy and the UK during June, November and December 2020. It found that around one in four medical doctors in Italy had experienced symptoms of anxiety in June and December 2020, with around one in five reporting symptoms of depression over the same period. In Catalonia around 16% of doctors reported anxiety and around 17% experienced depression. In the UK around 12% of doctors reported anxiety and around 14% had symptoms of depression. The study is among the first cross-country analysis of mental wellbeing among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the first to focus on medical doctors. Across all countries, female doctors and doctors under 60 were more likely to have anxiety or depression. Professor Quintana-Domeque, professor of economics at the University of Exeter Business School, who carried out the study said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has been classified as a traumatic event, with healthcare workers arguably having the most direct and longest exposure to this disease." “The results of this study suggest that institutional support for healthcare workers, and in particular doctors, is important in protecting and promoting their mental health in the current and in future pandemics.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 3 November 2021 -
Content ArticleHealthcare workers have had the longest and most direct exposure to COVID-19 and consequently may suffer from poor mental health. Quintana-Domeque et al. conducted one of the first repeated multi-country analysis of the mental wellbeing of medical doctors at two timepoints during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the prevalence of anxiety and depression, as well as associated risk factors. Rates of anxiety and depression were highest in Italy (24.6% and 20.1%, June 2020), second highest in Catalonia (15.9% and 17.4%, June 2020), and lowest in the UK (11.7% and 13.7%, June 2020). Across all countries, higher risk of anxiety and depression symptoms were found among women, individuals below 60 years old, those feeling vulnerable/exposed at work, and those reporting normal/below-normal health.
-
Content ArticleTCC-CASEMIX has created a unique infrastructure to provide total traceability of medical device performance. This infrastructure is supported by The Association of British HealthTech Industries [ABHI]. We refer to it as an 'Open Registry Infrastructure' for medical devices. It is 'open', because unlike existing clinically focused registries, which are 'closed', we enable wide searches across the registries connected into it. It is 'open' because registries will 'declare the content' (I don't know what I don't know, so how can I search for what I don't know?) Access to this infrastructure is through a Data Access Portal which is being configured for the specific needs of each stakeholder group. We are seeking interest from patient groups who would like to join an Advisory Board to help specify how data should be presented to patients in a way that is relevant and meaningful. Our vision is to link this portal into an enhanced pre-operative assessment process, and to transform patient informed consent.
-
Content ArticleThis is a presentation given by the Quality and Safety Department at the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust to the Patient Safety Management Network on 22 October 2021. It provides an overview of how they have been developing the Trust’s approach to patient safety, focusing on safety culture, learning for improvement and aiming to raise the profile of patient safety within their organisation.
-
Content ArticleIn this blog for The BMJ Opinion, John Middleton argues that the Government must act now, or be faced with much tougher decisions and less popular choices as the winter kicks in. He describes the increasing rates of Covid-19 in the UK and the need for action to avoid a healthcare crisis this winter, highlighting that the NHS and the BMA have both called for urgent action to protect the NHS. He urges the Government to take a multi-faceted approach and use the 'Swiss Cheese' model to combat the spread of coronavirus, rather than focusing on single measures. Living with the virus involves changes to normal life, but they are a small price to pay to save lives, protect people from the long term effects of Covid and prevent the evolution of new virus strains.
-
Content ArticleToo often in healthcare, when effective solutions to prevent avoidable harm are found, there is a lack of means to share these more widely. This gap between learning and implementation means that while we may we know what improves patient safety, this information can often remain siloed in specific organisations and health care systems. This results in patients continuing to experience harm from problems that have already been addressed by others. This article published in the Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management describes how the charity Patient Safety Learning created the hub, a platform to encourage and support shared learning for patient safety. Designed by and for patient safety professionals, clinicians and patients, the hub offers a powerful combination of tools, resources, stories, ideas, case studies and good practice to anyone who wants to make care safer for patients.
-
Content ArticleThe national Perinatal Mortality Review Tool (PMRT) was developed with clinicians and bereaved parents in 2017 and launched in England, Wales and Scotland in early 2018; it was subsequently adopted in Northern Ireland in autumn 2019. The aim of the PMRT programme is to support standardised perinatal mortality reviews across NHS maternity and neonatal units. Unlike other reviews or investigation processes, the PMRT makes it possible to review every baby death after 22 weeks’ gestation, and not just a subset of deaths. This report presents data from the 3,981 reviews which were completed between March 2020 and February 2021.
-
Content ArticleThis article in BMJ Quality & Safety looks at letters of compliment from patients to NHS staff, recognising their role in identifying and encouraging high quality healthcare. The authors examined compliment letters from patients and identified: why patients wrote them which activities they complimented which members of staff the feedback was aimed at. The study found that 77% of letters complimented staff on their relationship with the patient, 50% on clinical work and 30% on management. Many letters commented on staff going above and beyond their role to help patients and most letters had the joint aims of acknowledging and promoting good practice. The authors conclude that by acknowledging, rewarding and promoting positive practice, compliment letters can contribute to healthcare services by promoting positive behaviours and giving staff social recognition.
-
Content ArticleThis article in Age & Ageing describes a quality improvement project at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) that aimed to achieve timely Parkinson’s disease medication administration.
-
Content ArticleClinical guidelines advise GPs in England which patients need urgent referral for suspected cancer. This study in BMJ Quality & Safety used linked primary care, secondary care and cancer registration data to assess: how often GPs follow the guidelines on cancer referral whether certain patients are less likely to be referred how many patients were diagnosed with cancer within one year of non-referral. The study included patients who presented for the first time with blood in the urine, breast lump, difficulty swallowing, iron-deficiency anaemia and post-menopausal or rectal bleeding during 2014–2015. The authors found that the majority of patients presenting with common possible cancer symptoms were not being referred by GPs in line with clinical guidelines. They also found that a significant number of these patients went on to develop cancer within a year, and suggest that improvement is needed in the cancer diagnosis process.
-
Content ArticleHealth Education England, Loughborough University and a range of partners have developed the new Human Factors Healthcare Learning Pathway in response to the NHS Patient Safety Syllabus 2021. It is the first ever system-wide Patient Safety Syllabus and is available as e-learning short courses that can be completed as a Learning Pathway (Levels 1-3) or individually. Fully accredited by the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF) and the CPD Certification Service, the Pathway offers a complete programme for health and social care staff to: develop competence and capability in Human Factors (Ergonomics) focus their knowledge on patient safety and staff wellbeing. Level 1 is available for free on the NHS Education for Scotland TURAS system and Health Education England's e-Learning for Healthcare platform Selected Level 2 modules are available to book on the Loughborough University Healthcare Learning Pathway webpage
-
Content ArticleThis research by the Nuffield Trust, commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement, explores the business case for overseas recruitment and looks at the factors that attract or deter nurses from choosing to work in the UK. With a current NHS nursing vacancy rate of 10% and ambitious national goals to expand the workforce, recruiting nurses from overseas is an essential part of the picture. In this research, the authors look at the costs and benefits of overseas recruitment and present their findings as a briefing paper, research report and review on factors that attract or deter staff from moving to the UK.
