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Found 820 results
  1. Content Article
    This article* is an update from Dr Henrietta Hughes, Patient Safety Commissioner for England.
  2. News Article
    Unconscious bias in the UK healthcare system is contributing to the stark racial disparity in maternal healthcare outcomes, a conference has heard. The Black Maternal Health Conference UK, also heard that black women not being listened to by healthcare professionals was also a contributing factor. The conference, organised by The Motherhood Group, was arranged to highlight the racial inequality in maternal healthcare and the disparity in maternal mortality between white, ethnic minority and black women in the UK. Black women in the UK are four times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth than white women, according to a report published by MBRRACE-UK. Asian women are twice as likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth. Sandra Igwe, who founded the NGO The Motherhood Group in 2016 after the traumatic birth of her daughter, told the PA Media that the event was an opportunity to “bridge the community, stakeholders, professionals, [and] government”, de-stigmatise mental health and bring about change to improve black maternal health. “There are so many stats – so why wouldn’t we have a whole day’s conference dedicated to addressing these, just scratching the surface of some of the stats?” Charities and activists have been raising alarm bells about the dangerous consequences of unconscious bias in maternal healthcare for many years. Igwe co-chaired the Birthrights inquiry, a year-long investigation into racial injustice in the UK maternity services, which heard testimony from women, birthing people, healthcare professionals and lawyers and concluded that “systemic racism exists in the UK and in public services”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 20 March 2023 Sandra Igwe is our hub topic lead for Black Maternal Health. Read our recent interview with Sandra.
  3. News Article
    Women have been left in extreme pain from an invasive procedure that’s been described as the “next big medical scandal”. The Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy (CAPH) has collated more than 3000 accounts of “pain, fainting and trauma during outpatient hysteroscopy” throughout the UK – including more than 40 so far from Scotland. CAPH said female patients are being subjected to barbaric levels of pain and claim hospitals prioritise efficiency and cost-cutting over their needs and welfare. The group believes the issue could become as bad as the vaginal mesh scandal, which saw women left in severe pain and with life-changing side effects after being treated with polypropylene mesh implants for stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Katharine Tylko, of CAPH, said: “Severely painful outpatient hysteroscopy is the next medical scandal after vaginal mesh. Cheap, quick and easy-ish NHS outpatient hysteroscopy without anaesthesia/sedation causes severe pain/distress/trauma to approximately 25 per cent of patients.” Margaret Cannon, from Rutherglen in Lanarkshire, told how she had an “excruciatingly painful” hysteroscopy at Stobhill Hospital in April 2020 without anaesthetic or analgesia. She said: “I am a qualified nurse and midwife, so have good insight into how all the medical and nursing professionals failed me. I had been told to expect mild cramp and I kept thinking, ‘What’s wrong with me that I can’t tolerate the pain?’ I felt violated and assaulted.” She felt so strongly about her experience that she complained. When she finally received a response, she said it “was dismissive and none of my points were addressed”. Read full story Source: Daily Record, 19 March 2023 See also our 'Painful hysteroscopy' thread in the hub Community.
  4. Event
    Join the British Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy for an endometriosis Q&A session with experts from across the UK. Hosted by Carla Cressy, questions can be put to the panel via the @theBSGE instagram page and the Endometriosis Foundation website. It will cover a wide range of topics from diagnosis to fertility to thoracic and adolescent endometriosis. Register
  5. News Article
    A woman was denied the chance to have children with her husband after a contraceptive coil was accidentally left in place for 29 years. Jayne Huddleston, from Crewe, had eight rounds of fertility treatment she did not need because the correct checks were not carried out by her doctor. She said the mistake happened in 1990. "The GP said it couldn't be seen, so I was sent for a scan and the scan didn't pick anything up, the GP recommended another coil was fitted," she told the BBC. She was told the coil she had fitted around a year earlier had probably fallen out. When she and her husband, David, then decided they wanted to have a child, the second coil was removed, but the first coil, which had gone undetected, remained inside her. They tried for years to have a baby, with no success, including IVF treatment which cost them thousands of pounds. The mistake was only discovered when she went for an X-ray in 2019 after complaining of back pain and the original coil was revealed. Mr and Mrs Huddleston were awarded a six-figure out of court settlement after taking their case to Irwin Mitchell solicitors. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 March 2023
  6. News Article
    Some hospitals are suspending supplies of gas and air, after it was found to pose health risks to midwives. What can be done to ensure pregnant women still get the help they need? When Leigh Milner was expecting her first baby, she knew exactly how she wanted her labour to go. Her birth plan included an epidural for the pain and she was hoping, she says ruefully, for “all the drugs”. But that is not how things worked out. Milner, 33, a BBC presenter, ended up giving birth to Theo at Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow last month with nothing but paracetamol for pain relief, in what she calls a positively “Victorian” experience. “I kept begging over and over again – ‘I need something for pain relief’ – and the only thing they could give me was paracetamol because they didn’t have gas and air. I was quite frightened, I didn’t know what else to do,” says Milner. "Birth is painful, but it shouldn’t be traumatic.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 March 2023
  7. Content Article
    In this Guardian article, Sarah Kendell describes her experience of maternity care in Australia, highlighting the stark difference in care offered before and after a woman has given birth. She says "at the most difficult transition of our lives–after childbirth–the healthcare system leaves us to fend for ourselves," and argues that the impact this can have on the health and wellbeing of women and their babies needs to be considered. She asks whether reallocating some resource from antenatal care to postnatal care would produce health benefits for new mothers and babies.
  8. Content Article
    This article in BBC Science Focus looks at the factors driving an increase in testosterone prescribing for women in the UK. The author, Dr Michelle Griffin, highlights the need to ensure that there is a strong evidence base for prescribing testosterone to women. While there have been some clinical trials and studies around testosterone as a treatment for low libido, there is concern that patients, doctors and pharma companies are relying on anecdotal accounts of its effectiveness to treat symptoms such as low mood, poor concentration and tiredness. She also highlights that testosterone prescribing is just one example of the lack of research going into women's health issues and treatments, and argues that this is contributing to health inequity.
  9. Content Article
    This is Patient Safety Learning’s submission to the consultation by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists seeking views on a draft Green-top Guideline on outpatient hysteroscopy. The aim of this guideline is to provide clinicians with up to date, evidence-based information regarding outpatient hysteroscopy, with particular reference to minimising pain and optimising the patient experience. The consultation is now closed.
  10. News Article
    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is providing an update on reports of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in the scar tissue (capsule) that forms around breast implants. Previously, on 8 September 2022, the FDA released a safety communication informing the public of reports of cancers, including SCC and various lymphomas, in the capsule that forms around breast implants. The various lymphomas are not the same as the lymphomas described previously by the FDA as breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL). This update includes information from the FDA’s review of literature and medical device reports (MDRs). The FDA is aware of 19 cases of SCC in the capsule around the breast implant from published literature. There have been reports in the literature of deaths from progression of the disease. While the FDA continues to believe that occurrences of SCC in the capsule around the breast implant may be rare, the cause, incidence and risk factors remain unknown. Read full story Source: US FDA, 8 March 2023
  11. Content Article
    To mark International Women’s Day, host Helen McKenna speaks with Professor Dame Lesley Regan and Dr Janine Austin Clayton about women’s health journeys from start to finish. They explore why women can struggle to get medical professionals to listen to them and the impact this has on diagnosis and treatment, as well as the mental and physical effects on women themselves.
  12. News Article
    Lisa Hague, 38, was diagnosed with endometriosis at the age of 17 after being in such severe pain that she resorted to taking a powerful painkiller, dihydrocodeine, that had been prescribed to her partner for a sports injury. She had an allergic reaction to the codeine and was taken to hospital. After speaking to a doctor about why she had taken such a risk, she was referred for a laparoscopy and diagnosed. “I’d never heard of endometriosis before and didn’t know anyone that had it,” she says. The diagnosis was a relief, but there were few treatment options available and she has had to manage intense pain and very heavy bleeding for a few days each month. At times, she has resorted to sitting against hot radiators or taking scalding baths to “as a distraction from the internal pain”. “It is very dismissed still at the doctors,” she says. Hague says there is a “desperate need” for better treatments so that her teenage daughter’s generation do not face the same struggle. “Things have got to have changed since I was 17,” she says. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 March 2023
  13. News Article
    Five women who say they were denied abortions in Texas despite facing life-threatening health risks have sued the state over its abortion ban. Texas bars abortions except for medical emergencies, with doctors facing punishment of up to 99 years in jail. According to the lawsuit, doctors are refusing the procedure even in extreme cases out of fear of prosecution. The Center for Reproductive Justice has filed the legal action on behalf of the five women and two healthcare providers that are also plaintiffs. "It is now dangerous to be pregnant in Texas," said Nancy Northup, the centre's president. One of the women, Amanda Zurawski, said she had become pregnant after 18 months of fertility treatments. She had just entered her second trimester when she was told she had dilated prematurely and that the loss of her foetus, whom she and her husband had named Willow, was "inevitable". "But even though we would, with complete certainty, lose Willow, my doctor could not intervene while her heart was still beating or until I was sick enough for the ethics board at the hospital to consider my life at risk," Ms Zurawski said. For three days, trapped in a "bizarre and avoidable hell", Ms Zurawski was forced to wait until her body entered sepsis - also known as blood poisoning - and doctors were allowed to perform an abortion, according to the lawsuit. Ms Zurawski spent three days in intensive care, leaving the hospital after a week, the legal action says. The ordeal has made it harder for her to conceive in future, she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 March 2023
  14. Content Article
    Today (8 March 2023) is International Women’s Day and this year’s theme is #embraceequity. Sex and gender-based inequities in health are widely recognised, with much work needed to improve care, treatment and outcomes for women. In this blog, we’ve selected seven resources to highlight and evidence some of the key patient safety issues and the need for greater investment in this area.
  15. Content Article
    Sex and gender bias in health and social care results in poor outcomes for patients and has a negative impact on safety during care and treatment. For the last two International Women’s Days, Patient Safety Learning has highlighted patient safety concerns on this topic, considering the broader risk to safety posed by this bias and the impact on outcomes and safety of women being historically underrepresented in clinical trials and medication research.[1] [2] The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is #EmbraceEquity. In support of this aim, there are seven different missions which have been identified to help forge a gender-equal world, including one focused specifically on health: “To assist women to be in a position of power to make informed decisions about their health”[3] This year we will focus on this mission, considering the relationship between women’s health, informed consent and patient safety. We will first set out what we mean by informed consent, before discussing how failures in consent can have a negative impact on women’s health. Then we will consider the UK Women’s Health Strategy in relation to these issues, and discuss what is needed to improve patient safety.
  16. Content Article
    In this opinion piece, Kath Sansom, founder of Sling the Mesh, looks at why an audit of pelvic mesh outcomes due to be published in April 2023 has again failed to capture the true extent of the harm caused by the procedure. She outlines why the approach taken by the Government and NHS Digital was flawed and why it is so important to understand both the proportion of women who have experienced harm as a result of the procedure, and the nature of their injuries and side effects.
  17. News Article
    April Valentine planned to have a complication-free delivery and to enjoy her life as a first-time parent to a healthy baby girl. Instead, California’s department of health and human services is investigating the circumstances of the April's death during childbirth. April, a 31-year-old Black woman, went to Centinela hospital in Inglewood on 9 January and died the next day. Her daughter Aniya was born via an emergency caesarean section. Her family and friends say that staff at the hospital ignored the pregnant woman’s complaints of pain, refused to let her doula be in the hospital room during the birth and neglected Valentine as her child’s father performed CPR on her. “It’s hard to even sleep, to even look at my child after seeing what I saw in that hospital that night,” said Nigha Robertson, Valentine’s boyfriend and Aniya’s father, to the Los Angeles county board of supervisors during its 31 January meeting. “I’m the only one who touched her, I’m the one who did CPR. Nobody touched her, we screamed and begged for help … they just let her lay there and die.” During the 31 January board of supervisors meeting, people who spoke in support of Valentine said that Centinela hospital is known around the community for being one of the “worst hospitals in the county” for Black and Latina mothers and their infants. Since 2000, the maternal mortality rate in the US has risen nearly 60%, with about 700 people dying during pregnancy or within a year of giving birth each year. More than 80% of the deaths are preventable, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The US has the highest maternal mortality rate among industrialized countries and Black women are three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 March 2023
  18. News Article
    Sam Hindle has 23cm of polypropylene mesh in her body and lives in constant fear that it will become unstable and cause irreversible damage. "You are in your own Battle Royale, strapped to a time bomb, and thinking when is it going to go off," she told the BBC. Sam, 46, is one of hundreds of women in Scotland who have suffered life-changing symptoms since they had a transvaginal mesh implant. After years of campaigning by the women, the Scottish government has promised it will cover the costs of mesh removal at private clinics in the UK and US. But Sam has been waiting more than two years just for a referral to the Complex Mesh Surgical Service in Glasgow to start the process. The Scottish government announced last year that it had signed a contract to allow NHS patients to visit a US expert for mesh removal surgery The contract with Gynaecologic and Reconstructive Surgery of Missouri, where Dr Dionysios Veronikis operates, follows a similar contract agreed with Spire Healthcare in Bristol. The cost of each removal procedure is estimated to be £16,000 to £23,000. But in order to access such treatment, women have to be assessed by the national service in Glasgow. Women like Sam say there are waiting years to just get referred for assessment. With further delays for appointments and then waits for surgery. Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 March 2023
  19. Content Article
    Midurethral tapes (MUTs) were the most common surgical treatment for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) between 2008 and 2017. Transobturator tapes were introduced as a novel way to insert MUTs. Some women have experienced life-changing complications, and opt to undergo a total excision of transobturator tape (TETOT). This study, published in Neurourology and Urodynamics, aims to report clinical outcomes of all women who underwent TETOT in a specialist mesh centre.
  20. Content Article
    Hysteroscopy is a procedure used as a diagnostic tool to identify the cause of common issues such as abnormal bleeding, unexplained pain or unusually heavy periods. It involves a long, thin tube being passed through the vagina and cervix, into the womb, often with little or no anaesthesia.  Studies indicate that some women do not find hysteroscopy procedures painful. However, it is now widely recognised that many women experience severely painful and traumatic hysteroscopies.[1-5]  At Patient Safety Learning, we have worked with patients, campaigners, clinicians and researchers to understand the barriers to safe care and call for improvements.[6] We believe that no woman should have to endure extreme pain or trauma when accessing essential healthcare.  In this blog we will:  outline the key safety concerns around hysteroscopy procedures summarise recent national discussions highlighting these concerns reflect on the new national guidance outline six calls for action. 
  21. News Article
    Women are being misled and manipulated about abortion by some crisis pregnancy advice centres in the UK, according to evidence from a BBC Panorama investigation. The centres operate outside the NHS and tend to be registered charities. Most say they don't refer women for abortions, but offer support and counselling for unplanned pregnancies. But the BBC's investigation reveals more than a third of these services give misleading medical information or unethical advice, and sometimes both. Pregnancy counselling is available through the NHS and regulated abortion providers, but searching online, Panorama identified 57 crisis pregnancy advice centres advertising. The BBC decided to investigate after hearing from women who had been to these centres. One said she had been "traumatised" and that the centre had tried to "manipulate" her into not having an abortion. Some 21 centres gave misleading medical information and/or unethical advice about abortion Seven centres said having a termination could lead to "post-abortion syndrome" - a mental health condition likened to post traumatic stress disorder, which is not recognised by the NHS. Eight centres linked abortion to infertility and problems carrying future pregnancies to term. Five centres linked abortion to an increased risk of breast cancer. Leading medic in the field of obstetrics, and director of an abortion provider, Dr Jonathan Lord, said women needed an "informed choice" which required "good quality unbiased information". Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 February 2023
  22. News Article
    Progress to cut the number of women dying in pregnancy or childbirth has stalled or even reversed in recent years, with a death recorded every two minutes, the United Nations has said. Years of gains had begun to plateau even before the pandemic and there had been “alarming setbacks for women’s health,” according to a new report from several UN agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO). Maternal mortality rates had fallen widely in the first 15 years of the century, but since 2016, they had only dropped in two UN regions: Australia and New Zealand, and in Central and Southern Asia. The rate went up in Europe and North America by 17% and in Latin America and the Caribbean by 15%. Elsewhere it stagnated. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 23 February 2023
  23. Content Article
    Every day in 2020, approximately 800 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth - meaning that a woman dies around every two minutes. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.1 is to reduce maternal mortality to less than 70 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births by 2030. This report presents internationally comparable global, regional and country-level estimates and trends for maternal mortality between 2000 and 2020.
  24. News Article
    Hundreds of thousands of women could benefit from cheaper hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as part of a scheme to cut prescription costs. The Department of Health said that from April, women prescribed HRT as part of menopause treatment will be able to access a new scheme to enable access to a year’s worth of treatment for just under £20. The announcement follows the publication of the government’s women’s health strategy for England last summer. Minister for Women Maria Caulfield said: “Around three-quarters of women will experience menopause symptoms, with one-quarter experiencing severe symptoms, which can seriously impact their quality of life. “Reducing the cost of HRT is a huge moment for improving women’s health in this country, and I am proud to be announcing this momentous step forward. “In our Women’s Health Strategy, we made menopause a top priority – by making HRT more accessible, we’re delivering on our commitment to women.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 February 2023
  25. Content Article
    Dr Freya Smith, a Specialty Trainee in General Practice, reflects on the sinister and toxic side of medicine, using the recent Paterson and vaginal mesh scandals to demonstrate how patients have been let down by the system. In an honest and personal account, she shares with us the horror and sadness she felt at learning of these scandals and how she aspires to keep her future patients safe.
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