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Showing results for tags 'Children and Young People'.
Found 452 results
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News Article
Self-harm hospital admissions up 22% for children aged eight to 17
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Self-harm hospital admissions for children aged eight to 17 in the UK jumped 22% in one year. The age group is now the largest for self-harm admissions, with all others seeing a drop, according to NHS data. Charities say early access to support is vital, but high thresholds and long waiting lists mean more young people are ending up in hospital. Emily Nuttal, 29, first struggled with self-harm when she was 12. At 13, she was first admitted to A&E. At that time, she was struggling with changes at school, bullying and troubles at home. Over the years, she said she had had varied experiences in accident and emergency departments. "It's been times where it's been really empathetic and passionate people, understanding, supportive. And there's been times where there's been that stigma and judgement." She said being labelled as "attention-seeking" was really difficult and made it harder to reach out for help again. "I would then only go if I was forced upon by the crisis service, or if somebody else noticed, and they got people involved," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 March 2023 -
News ArticleYoung people with eating disorders are coming to harm and ending up in A&E because they are being denied care and forced to endure long waits for treatment, GPs have revealed. NHS eating disorders services are so overwhelmed by a post-Covid surge in problems such as anorexia that they are telling under-19s to rely on charities, their parents or self-help instead. The “truly shocking” findings about the help available to young people with often very fragile mental health emerged in a survey of 1,004 family doctors across the UK by the youth mental health charity stem4. The shortage of beds for children and young people with eating disorders is so serious that some are being sent hundreds of miles from home or ending up on adult psychiatric wards, GPs say. “The provision is awful and I worry my young patients may die,” one GP in the south-east of England told stem4. Another described the specialist NHS services available in their area as “virtually non-existent and not fit for purpose”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 March 2023
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News Article
Polio vaccine catch-up push to launch in London
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
London primary-school pupils not fully vaccinated against polio are to be offered catch-up jabs after Easter. The disease, common in the UK in the 1950s, was eliminated by 2003. But poliovirus traces were found in north and east London sewage in early 2022. An emergency vaccination-booster campaign in London last summer reached more than 370,000 children. And in early November, the latest tests found less of the virus - but officials say there is no room for complacency. Dr Vanessa Saliba, from the UK Heath Security Agency, told BBC News: "We have early signs that there's less spread of poliovirus in London - but we will need 12 months of no detections before the World Health Organization could declare that the UK is no longer an infected country." Polio causes paralysis in a very small number of cases where the virus attacks the nerves in the spine and base of the brain - but most are asymptomatic. Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 March 2023 -
News Article
Bristol children must be in crisis before autism referral, say parents
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Children must now be in crisis before they can be referred for an autism diagnosis, parents claim. The strict new eligibility criteria in the Bristol region comes after a 350% rise in the number waiting more than two years for assessment. Changes made by the NHS mean children will only be referred with "severe and enduring" mental health issues. The Integrated Care Board (ICB) said it meant resources could now focus on those with "the highest clinical need". Some parents have launched the campaign Assess for Autism in protest against the rule change. An Assess for Autism spokesperson said children would now have to be at crisis point before being referred, describing the policy as "deeply concerning" and "regressive". However, healthcare provider Sirona, which provides autism diagnosis services, and the Integrated Care Board (ICB), which formally approved the new policy, insist it is necessary because families are waiting too long. They said resources can now be focused on those with the "highest clinical need or are the most vulnerable". Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 March 2023 -
Content ArticleKey findings One in four teenagers aged 17-19 have a mental health difficulty, an increase from one in six in 2021. Poverty continues to have a strong link to young people’s poor mental health. Reversed patterns of probable mental health difficulty for boys/young men and girls/young women highlights the need for specific gender-specific approaches. Young people with a mental health difficulty are more likely to have negative experience of social media. Young people with a mental health difficulty are more likely to miss school and feel unsafe while at school.
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News Article
Children getting ‘conveyor belt’ care due to waiting list pressure
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The pressure to tackle long waiting lists in children’s community services is impacting care quality, clinical leaders have warned. It comes after community health services waiting list figures were published for the first time by NHS England last week. They revealed more than 200,000 children were waiting, of whom 12,000 had been waiting more than a year, and 65,000 more than 18 weeks. While adult community services lists have been coming down fairly steadily since the autumn, children’s services are failing to make progress. The children’s services with the longest lists are community paediatrics (which mostly deals with neurological development issues such as autism and ADHD), speech and language therapy, and children’s occupational therapy. Specialists in those areas told HSJ it was the result of staffing gaps, rising and more complex demand, Covid backlog, and years of underfunding. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 20 March 2023 -
News Article
No one kept data on Tavistock children — it’s a monumental scandal
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Twenty years ago, David Freedman helped to conduct an audit of the first 124 young people referred to the gender clinic, now he discovers it was never followed up. David Freedman, 73, helped to conduct a clinical audit of the first 124 young people referred to the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) from its inception in 1989. The London-based service, part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, is the only dedicated NHS clinic for transgender children. When he discovered his clinical audit from two decades ago remained the only one conducted by the service, Freedman said he was “gobsmacked”, adding: “This was a service that was sailing into uncharted territory with vulnerable children and adolescents, where one has an extra duty of care, and the failure to collect any data in a coherent form to look at what they were doing . . . it’s pretty mind-boggling.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 19 March 2023 -
Content ArticleHere are the 10 patient safety concerns for 2023, according to the report: The paediatric mental health crisis. Physical and verbal violence against healthcare staff. Clinician needs in times of uncertainty surrounding maternal-fetal medicine. Impact on clinicians expected to work outside their scope of practice and competencies. Delayed identification and treatment of sepsis. Consequences of poor care coordination for patients with complex medical conditions. Risks of not looking beyond the "five rights" to achieve medication safety. Medication errors resulting from inaccurate patient medication lists. Accidental administration of neuromuscular blocking agents. Preventable harm due to omitted care or treatment.
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News Article
USA: Top 10 patient safety concerns for 2023
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The US Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI) has said the paediatric mental health crisis is the most pressing patient safety concern in 2023. ECRI, which conducts independent medical device evaluations, annually compiles scientific literature and patient safety events, concerns reported to or investigated by the organization, and other data sources to create its top 10 list. Here are the 10 patient safety concerns for 2023, according to the report: 1. The pediatric mental health crisis 2. Physical and verbal violence against healthcare staff 3. Clinician needs in times of uncertainty surrounding maternal-fetal medicine 4. Impact on clinicians expected to work outside their scope of practice and competencies 5. Delayed identification and treatment of sepsis 6. Consequences of poor care coordination for patients with complex medical conditions 7. Risks of not looking beyond the "five rights" to achieve medication safety 8. Medication errors resulting from inaccurate patient medication lists 9. Accidental administration of neuromuscular blocking agents 10. Preventable harm due to omitted care or treatment For the number one spot, ECRI said the COVID-19 pandemic raised the situation, which includes high rates of depression and anxiety among children, to crisis levels. ECRI President and CEO Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, said social media, gun violence and other socioeconomic factors were fueling the issue, but COVID-19 pushed it into a crisis. "We're approaching a national public health emergency," Dr. Schabacker said in a statement. Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 13 March 2023 -
News ArticleA scandal-hit hospital group has been sanctioned by inspectors after The Independent revealed “systemic abuse” at a string of children’s mental health units. England’s safety watchdog issued an official warning to Ivetsey Bank Hospital in Staffordshire, run by The Huntercombe Group, after an extensive investigation by this newspaper found the private hospital had put the safety of young mental health patients at risk. The Care Quality Commission also downgraded the hospital’s rating to “inadequate”. If improvements are not made in line with the warning notice, the hospital could be forced to close. An inspection was carried out two weeks after The Independent revealed widespread allegations of abuse and excessive restraint across The Huntercombe Group’s hospitals. The investigation revealed the provider, which also runs Taplow Manor children’s hospital in Maidenhead, was facing allegations from more than 50 former patients as well as claims of poor care from staff whistleblowers and dozens of negligence claims. Read full Source: The Independent, 15 March 2023
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Content ArticleKey findings The increase in incidence of Type 1 diabetes observed in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic was followed by a continuing increase in the numbers newly diagnosed with the condition in 2021/22. Almost all of those with Type 2 diabetes were overweight or obese, and almost half had a diastolic or systolic blood pressure in the hypertensive range Despite reductions in the percentages recorded as requiring additional support between 2020/21 and 2021/22, over a third of children and young people were assessed as requiring additional psychological support outside of multidisciplinary meetings Inequalities persist in terms of the use of diabetes related technologies in relation to ethnicity and deprivation. Recommendations Commissioners should ensure adequate staffing of full multidisciplinary diabetes teams to manage the increasing numbers of cases of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes observed since 2020, who are trained to facilitate the optimal use of new diabetes-related technologies. Children and young people with Type 1 diabetes should have equitable access to diabetes care, irrespective of social deprivation, ethnicity or geography. They should be offered a choice of diabetes technology that is appropriate for their individual needs with families being made aware of the potential differences in outcome with different modalities of insulin delivery and blood glucose monitoring. Health checks for children and young people with diabetes are essential for early recognition of complications. The need for tests and the results should be clearly communicated to families as part of their individual care package, and completion rates of checks should be monitored through the year. Awareness of diabetes symptomatology amongst the public should be enhanced to avoid newly diagnosed children and young people presenting with Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Studies should be funded to derive evidence for interventions supporting pre-diabetic children young people to avoid progression to Type 2 diabetes.
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Event
Priorities for children and young people’s health in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a calendar event in Community Calendar
untilThis Westminster conference will discuss next steps for improving health outcomes for children and young people in England. Delegates will assess the future of the new network of Family Hubs, with discussion on improving the coordination and accessibility of children’s care, as well as shifting focus towards early intervention and prevention, and improving the provision of support to families. It will be an opportunity to review progress on and next steps for The best start for life: a vision for the 1,001 critical days, which looks at providing support for local authorities in addressing the needs of children and their families, and consider the future of children’s health data. Further sessions will examine measures that were included in the Plan for Patients, which sets out to improve access to children’s mental health services, and enhance funding and regulation to reduce care backlogs. Overall, areas for discussion include: Family Hubs: progress made so far in implementation - addressing challenges in the transition to the family hub service model the role of community support - delivering long-term improvements to the lives of families - improving engagement and communication with families utilising the Family Hubs to improve coordination across support services - developing and sharing best practice across local authorities. Impact of poverty and cost of living pressures: latest thinking on approaches to mitigating the impact of poverty on child development understanding the economic pressures on families - addressing their impact children’s health implementing early intervention and prevention programmes - applying lessons learnt from the Surestart programme. Developing child health services: addressing waiting times and care backlogs - returning service provision to pre-pandemic levels. next steps for regulation and funding - the role of integrated care systems in supporting local needs. Mental health support: developing the community-based offer for mental health support - enabling service coordination meeting the increased demand for services - evaluating resource allocation early years development: progress made following publication of the final Leadsom Review - acting on the recommendations - the future for health visiting and child development checks. Digital health and data sharing: opportunities and issues arising from the use and sharing of child health data - increasing the quality of NHS records to improve outcomes - faster identification of health and social concerns latest thinking on data sharing practices - evaluating digital security provisions, Register -
News ArticleA staffing crisis in children’s dentistry has prompted the urgent removal of junior doctors from Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH. GOSH has struggled to recruit consultants for its paediatric dentistry services for at least two years, which has led to trainee doctors going unsupervised, according to a new report by regulator Health Education England. A report seen by The Independent said the service was running with just one part-time consultant but needed at least two. The news comes amid a national “crisis” in dentistry, with the latest data from the government showing that half of all children’s tooth extractions in 2021-22 were due to “preventable tooth decay”. GOSH told The Independent it was struggling with a “limited pool” of paediatric dentists and, as a result of shortages, many patients were waiting longer than the 18-week standard. Read full story Source: The Independent, 8 February 2023
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News ArticleNearly three-quarters of children detained under the mental health act are girls, a new report has found, amid warnings youngsters face a “postcode lottery” in their wait for treatment. Average waiting times between children being referred to mental health services and starting treatment have increased for the first time since 2017 with the children’s commissioner describing support across the country as “patchy”. In the annual report on children’s mental health services, the watchdog warned that, although the average wait is 40 days, some children are waiting as long as 80 days for treatment after being referred in 2021-22. The analysis, published on International Women’s day, also says young girls represented the highest proportion of children detained under the mental health act last year, highlighting “stark and worrying” gender inequalities. Read full story Source: The Independent, 7 March 2023 Further reading on the hub: Top picks: Women's health inequity
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Content ArticleThe Office of the Children’s Commissioner The Office of the Children's Commissioner promotes the rights, views and interests of children in policies or decisions affecting their lives. They particularly represent children who are vulnerable or who find it hard to make their views known. The Office of the Children's Commissioner is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Education. Report findings This report outlines its main findings in understanding children’s access to mental health services in England in financial year 2021-22 as follows: Of the 1.4 million children estimated to have a mental health disorder, less than half (48%) received at least 1 contact with Children and young people’s mental health services (CYPMHS) and 34% received at least 2 contacts with CYPMHS. The percentage of children who had their referrals closed before treatment has increased for the first time in years. In 2021-22, 32% of children who were referred did not receive treatment compared to lower numbers in 2020-21 (24%), 2019-20 (27%) and 2018-19 (36%). There remains wide variation across the country in how many children’s referrals were closed without treatment, from as low as 5% of referrals in NHS East Sussex to 50% in NHS North Cumbria. The average waiting time between a child being referred to CYPMHS and starting treatment increased from 32 days in 2020-21 to 40 days in 2021-22. The average waiting time for children to enter treatment (defined as having two contacts with CYPMHS) varies widely by CCG from as quick as 13 days in NHS Leicester City to as long as 80 days in NHS Sunderland. Spending on children’s mental health services has increased every year, after adjusting for inflation, since 2017-18. CCGs spent £927 million on CYPMHS in 2021-22, equal to 1% of the total budget allocated to them. This compares to £869 million in 2020-21 – an increase of 7% in real terms. The share of CCGs spending over 1% of their total budget increased from 30% in 2020- 21 to 45% in 2021-22. The number of children admitted to inpatient mental health wards continues to fall, as does the number of detentions of children under the Mental Health Act each year. Of the 869 detentions of children under the Mental Health Act in 2021-22, 71% were of girls An increasing number of children, many of whom have mental health difficulties but are not admitted to hospital, are being deprived of their liberty in other settings. These children are hidden from view as they do not appear in any official statistics, but research suggests that over ten times as many children are being deprived of liberty in this way in 2023 as in 2017-18. Children in inpatient mental health settings who we spoke to wanted more, earlier intervention to prevent crisis admissions – sometimes children are presenting multiple times at A&E before an inpatient admission is considered. Much more can be done to make inpatient mental health wards feel safe and familial. Children reported a huge variation in the quality of relationships they had with staff. For example, while some children felt they knew staff genuinely cared about them, one child described how staff would only refer to children by their initials, rather than their name. There appears to be a particularly acute issue with the quality of night staff. Education was viewed very positively by most of the children spoken to for this report, and highlights the importance of high-quality education in these settings for children’s recovery as well as their learning. The data collected on children in inpatient settings, including demographic information and information about key safeguards for children, is patchy and makes it harder to improve quality.
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News Article
Nursing shortages are delaying spinal operations
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Nursing shortages are contributing to children waiting up to three times longer for spinal surgery than pre-pandemic, a top surgeon has claimed. Chris Adams says up to one in four operations are cancelled at NHS Lothian, with staffing the main reason. Mr Adams also claims that some children are not being put on waiting lists as early as they should be. NHS Lothian disputes some of Mr Adams' statements but says "significant pressures" are affecting waiting times. The senior clinician, one of Scotland's three paediatric spinal surgeons, said he was speaking out of behalf of spinal patients and their families The surgeon's claims appear in a new BBC Disclosure investigation into Scotland's NHS, which reveals that some children are waiting up to three times longer than pre-pandemic for spinal surgery, with some waiting more than a year. At least 51 out of a possible 190 planned spinal surgeries at RHCYP were cancelled at short notice in 2022, with nursing shortages understood to be the main cause Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 March 2023 -
Content Article
The lesson pack includes: Teacher guidance PDF and PowerPoint lesson plan Accompanying student worksheets and resources Parent/Carer letter template Frequently Asked Questions for teachers -
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News Article
Misplaced tube contributed to first UK child Covid death, coroner rules
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A misplaced medical tube contributed to the death of the first child in the UK to die after contracting Covid, a coroner has found. Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, 13, of Brixton, south London, died of acute respiratory distress syndrome, caused by Covid-19 pneumonia, on 30 March 2020, three days after testing positive for coronavirus. He had a cardiac arrest before he died. Ismail’s death prompted widespread alarm about the potentially lethal impact of Covid on children. Hours before Ismail died, an endotracheal tube (ET) used to help patients breathe was found to be in the wrong position. A consultant in paediatric intensive care decided to leave it and monitor him. Giving his judgment on Thursday, senior coroner Andrew Harris said: “I am satisfied that he [Ismail] would not have died when he did were it not for the tube misplacement.” On Wednesday, the inquest at London Inner South London coroner’s court heard evidence from Dr Tushar Vince, a consultant in paediatric intensive care at King’s College hospital who treated Ismail on 29 March after he had been intubated. Asked by Harris if it would be reasonable to put the positioning of the ET on the death certificate as one of the causes, Dr Vince said: “I think it would be reasonable to consider it, yes.” She said: “I was so focused on the lungs I just didn’t see how high this tube was and I’m so sorry that I didn’t see it.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 March 2023 -
Content ArticleThe SPSP has three core components, as follows: 1. The Essentials of Safe Care: a practical package of evidence based guidance and support that enables Scotland’s health and social care system to deliver safe care for every person, within every setting, every time. Person centred care Safe communications Leadership and culture Safe clinical and care processes 2. The SPSP Programmes of Work: SPSP Acute Adult SPSP Primary Care SPSP Maternity and Children Quality Improvement Collaborative (MCQIC) SPSP Medicines SPSP Mental Health 3. Scottish Patient Safety Programme Learning System: aims to accelerate the sharing of learning and improvement work across all care services and underpins all our activities. Through collaborative working, sharing good practice and signposting to training resources, it encourages continuous learning at all levels, in every care setting. Evidence Summaries and Case Studies.
