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News Article
Doctors and NHS could be sued for mistakes made by AI tools, report warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Doctors and the NHS could be sued for medical negligence over mistakes made by artificial intelligence tools used in diagnosing patients and suggesting their treatment, ministers are being warned. Under the law as it stands, medics and the health service can be held liable for patients being harmed or dying even if it was AI that made the errors that resulted in their suffering. The Medical Protection Society, which represents doctors accused of wrongdoing, says in a report that medics could become the “liability sink” – a target of clinical negligence lawsuits – for mistakes made by AI unless the law is overhauled. The NHS is using AI for more and more purposes, including to analyse scans and X-rays, generate summaries of doctors’ conversations with patients, and draft letters to patients. “The law has always struggled to keep up with technological change. But with AI, the pace of change is so rapid that this gap feels less like a step and more like a widening gulf,” said Dr Sarah Townley, the MPS’s deputy medical director. Giving an example of potential harm from AI errors, the MPS said AI could miss a tumour in a patient’s lung when reading an X-ray of their chest. This could result in the patient dying because the false reassurance from the AI would mean no treatment would be given and the cancer could then spread. Similarly, a patient could need surgery and treatment in intensive care for severe bleeding if an AI wrongly recommended increasing their dose of warfarin, a blood thinner used to treat the heart condition atrial fibrillation. In such scenarios there was a real and significant risk that a claim would be brought against a doctor in relation to the use of AI tools, the MPS said. “Under the current product liability framework in the UK, there is a risk that clinical negligence claims could be brought against the clinicians in these cases and that they would be held wholly liable,” it warns. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 June 2026 -
News Article
Streeting’s NHS home-working revolution ‘puts patients at risk’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients risk having serious conditions missed by doctors working from home under an NHS revolution championed by Wes Streeting. Doctors will deliver millions of virtual hospital appointments at their convenience – and from their own homes – as part of plans to tackle the NHS backlog that Mr Streeting set out when he was health secretary. However, health leaders and patient groups are concerned about patients falling through the cracks and the risk that serious conditions such as cancer could be missed. They also fear the creation of a “two-tier” health system in which the digitally capable are “fast-tracked” while others who are older or more vulnerable are forced to wait longer for care. The new “Online NHS Trust” will be officially formed on 1 June and start seeing patients from October 2027, The Telegraph can disclose. Patients facing some of the longest waits will be the first to test the new service, with the virtual hospital to be piloted on gynaecology, urology, gastroenterology and ophthalmology. Patients referred to a consultant will have the option to connect remotely to one of the specialists across the country via the NHS app – with more specialities and conditions added over time. But concerns gathered by Healthwatch, an official health service body that represents patients, have warned that serious conditions such as cancer could be missed in video calls. And one patient advocate said it was “described as being optional, but in reality, if there is a long waiting list for an in-person appointment, the patient may ‘choose’ the online appointment instead, eg if the GP says it’s a shorter waiting time to get seen online, it is not a fair choice”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 18 May 2026 -
News Article
AI outperforms doctors in Harvard trial of emergency triage diagnoses
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A groundbreaking Harvard study has found that AI systems outperformed human doctors in high-pressure emergency medicine triage, diagnosing more accurately in the potentially life and death moments when people are first rushed to hospital. The results were described by independent experts as showing “a genuine step forward” in the clinical reasoning of AIs and came as part of trials that tested the responses of hundreds of doctors against an AI. The authors said the results, published in the journal Science, showed large language models (LLMs) “have eclipsed most benchmarks of clinical reasoning”. One experiment focused on 76 patients who arrived at the emergency room of a Boston hospital. An AI and a pair of human doctors were each given the same standard electronic health record to read – typically including vital sign data, demographic information and a few sentences from a nurse about why the patient was there. The AI identified the exact or very close diagnosis in 67% of cases, beating the human doctors, who were right only 50%-55% of the time. It showed the AIs’ advantage was particularly pronounced in triage circumstances requiring rapid decisions with minimal information. The diagnosis accuracy of the AI – OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model – rose to 82% when more detail was available, compared with the 70-79% accuracy achieved by the expert humans, though this difference was not statistically significant. But it is not curtains for emergency doctors yet, the researchers said. The study only tested humans against AIs looking at patient data that can be communicated via text. The AI’s reading of signals, such as the patient’s level of distress and their visual appearance, were not tested. That means the AI was performing more like a clinician producing a second opinion based on paperwork. “I don’t think our findings mean that AI replaces doctors,” said Arjun Manrai, one of the lead authors of the study who heads an AI lab at Harvard Medical School. “I think it does mean that we’re witnessing a really profound change in technology that will reshape medicine.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 April 2026 -
News Article
Doctors ‘intimidated and belittled by colleagues’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Resident doctors face “intimidating” communications from nurses and have been reduced to tears by consultants in a hospital service with long-standing medical training concerns. Acute internal medicine at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust is one of a small number of services nationally under “enhanced monitoring” by the General Medical Council because of concerns over the training and treatment of resident doctors. BHRUHT has been subject to this status for seven years. But HSJ can reveal that an education quality review by an NHS England team last year found there were still major problems. The report, which was released to HSJ this month after a Freedom of Information request, said the NHSE team observed trainees working in acute internal medicine – known as the acute medical take – “crying as a direct result of inappropriate communication with emergency department consultants”. Corridor care was becoming “somewhat normalised”, according to the findings, with corridors set up like wards. There were cases of patients “going missing” or being transferred before being reviewed by a consultant, and there was poor communication between trainees and consultants. Some patients did not get a consultant review even if they had been there for 24 hours, and workload in the same day emergency care unit “felt unsafe and chaotic”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 31 March 2026 -
Content ArticleHospitalised patients in the US tended to have a lower chance of dying or being readmitted within 30 days when they were treated by female physicians rather than male clinicians, a recent study published in Annals of Internal Medicine found. The difference in outcomes for patients examined by female vs male physicians translated into 1 fewer death per 417 hospitalizations, and 1 fewer readmission per 208 hospitalizations, according to the researchers. The data were based on about 776 900 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older who were treated by more than 42 100 clinicians.
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News Article
NHS bosses say resident doctors’ strike will cause ‘maximum harm’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS bosses have accused resident doctors of seeking to cause “maximum harm” to patients by striking for six days next month over pay and jobs. Wes Streeting has given resident – formerly junior – doctors in England until 2 April to reconsider their rejection on Wednesday of his “generous” offer to end the dispute. It would have given them £700m in extra pay over the next three years. The British Medical Association’s decision to withdraw from talks with the government and NHS chiefs aimed at settling the long-running dispute has sparked a war of words. Glen Burley, NHS England’s financial reset and accountability director, said during NHS England’s board meeting on Thursday that the BMA’s decision was “really disappointing for patients. I mean, this is a point where we know we’ll be at a busy stage again. So it feels like it’s trying to push maximum harm and we will try and make sure that doesn’t happen.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 March 2026 -
News ArticleResident doctors in England to begin six-day strike after rejecting offer in pay dispute British Medical Association blame government for longest proposed walkout so far, with NHS leaders warning it could cost £300m Resident doctors in England will strike for six days after Easter after rejecting what they said was the final offer by the health secretary, Wes Streeting, to end the long-running pay and jobs dispute. The British Medical Association blamed the government for its decision to undertake its longest stoppage so far, from 7am on Tuesday 7 April to 6.59 on Monday 13 April. This will be the 15th industrial action that resident doctors have staged in their campaign for “full pay restoration” and means they will strike for the fourth year running. NHS leaders warned the strike would cost the health service an estimated £300m, lead to appointments being cancelled, and force patients to wait longer for tests, treatment and surgery. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 March 2026
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News Article
Do not impose personal views or beliefs on patients, doctors told
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Doctors have been issued new guidance stipulating they must not impose their personal views, beliefs, or values on others. The General Medical Council (GMC) has published the draft rules, currently open for consultation, which apply to all doctors, physician associates, and anaesthesia associates across the UK. The guidance explicitly states that medics should not treat colleagues poorly based on assumptions about their beliefs or due to disagreements with their views. It also makes clear that personal beliefs or values must not be imposed on patients. The doctors’ regulator clarified that these directives relate specifically to professional practice and do not cover healthcare workers expressing their beliefs or values outside of the workplace. This updated draft guidance follows a series of incidents involving healthcare professionals, both within and outside their professional duties. The regulator is seeking views on draft updates to its “personal beliefs and medical practice guidance”, which also includes information about conscientious objections to providing certain treatment or procedures – which could include abortions. The guidance states patients must be prioritised and that such an objection must not prevent a patient from being able to access the care or service they need. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 March 2026 -
News Article
Trust hired medic despite misconduct allegations
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A trust has admitted it was aware of misconduct allegations against a doctor when it hired him – a development described as “deeply troubling” by lawyers arguing that the consultant has since harmed other patients. Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust hired Ali Shokouh-Amiri in 2022. Dr Shokouh-Amiri, who continues to be employed as a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at MSE, was given a formal warning by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service last year over actions in 2017-18 in a past role. These included removing ovaries from two patients without consent. The General Medical Council is currently seeking further action against the doctor, after the MPTS decided against striking him off or suspending him. Following a seven-month Freedom of Information request battle, MSE has confirmed to HSJ that it was aware of misconduct allegations against Dr Shokouh-Amiri at the time of his appointment in 2022. Francesca Paul, a partner and medical negligence solicitor at Fletchers Solicitors, said it was “deeply troubling” to discover MSEFT was aware of allegations at the time of employment. She said: “For those affected, including a number of patients we are representing, the news that Dr Shokouh-Amiri could have been prevented from harming them will be unimaginably distressing. “It raises serious and legitimate questions about the trust’s recruitment and governance processes, particularly why it was considered appropriate to employ a clinician while such allegations were pending. “These are not minor failings; they reflect a fundamental disregard for patient dignity and safety.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 3 March 2026 -
News ArticleProgress has been made in reducing the “collective shame” of disproportionate employer referrals of doctors from ethnic minority backgrounds or who qualified outside the UK, the doctors’ regulator says. The General Medical Council says the proportion of employers with excess referrals in relation to a doctor’s ethnicity or place of qualification has now reduced by 48%—from 5.6% between 2016 and 2020 to 2.9% from 2020 to 2024. The difference in employer referral rates between ethnic minority and white doctors has also fallen by 61%—from 0.28% (0.58% ethnic minority doctors v 0.3% white doctors) to 0.11% (0.26% v 0.15%). For non-UK versus UK graduates, the difference in referral rates has dropped by 69%—from 0.42% (0.28% UK v 0.7% non-UK) to 0.13% (0.15% v 0.28%). The regulator says it is now on track to hit its target of eliminating disproportionate employer fitness to practise referrals by the end of 2026, a goal it set in 2021. Progress on eliminating discrimination in medical schools and training by 2031 has been much slower, however. Speaking to The BMJ, GMC chief executive Charlie Massey said, “Inequality and discrimination are pernicious and we should be ashamed collectively about the level of disadvantage that doctors from particular backgrounds face in the NHS.” He said, however, that the progress made so far is “pretty significant” and shows change is possible. “I don’t think any of us should be complacent. There’s still further distance to travel and we mustn’t let up now,” he said. Read full story Source: BMJ, 15 January 2026
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News ArticleThe General Medical Council (GMC) has placed conditions on the Anaesthetics training programme at Basildon University Hospital, part of Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, following serious issues relating to patient safety and the quality of postgraduate medical education. As the regulator responsible for setting the standards of postgraduate medical training, and checking they are being met, the GMC has taken this action to address a range of issues including failures to protect doctors in training from sexual misconduct, misogyny and undermining behaviours, as well as inappropriate staffing levels within the department. Doctors in training in anaesthetics are currently not working in the department due to the concerns, and the GMC will require evidence of change before conditions can be removed and before they can return. Professor Pushpinder Mangat, Medical Director and Director for Education and Standards at the GMC, said: ‘We work to make sure that education and training prepares doctors to deliver good, safe patient care by setting high standards and expected outcomes. ‘We need assurance that the required standards and the conditions imposed are being met, including the creation of a working culture where doctors can raise issues openly, without fear of repercussions.’ Read full story Source: GMC, 19 January 2026
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News Article
Resident doctors begin five-day strike in latest walkout over pay
Mark Hughes posted a news article in News
Thousands of resident doctors have begun strike action across England in a dispute over pay. The five-day action, which began at 7am on Friday, is the 13th walkout by doctors since March 2023 and health leaders have warned that the NHS may have to cut frontline staff and offer fewer appointments and operations if the strikes continue. The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, which represent health trusts, said continued action was piling pressure on already-stretched budgets. The last industrial action in July was estimated to have cost the health service £300m. Read full article. Source: The Guardian (14 November 2025) -
News ArticleDoctors, physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) must speak up if they spot patient safety concerns, and healthcare leaders must act when issues are raised with them, the General Medical Council (GMC) says as it launches a review of key guidance. The GMC is seeking views on two pieces of its guidance, Raising and acting on concerns about patient safety and Leadership and management. Both pieces of guidance play crucial roles in setting positive workplace culture standards that prioritise patient safety. They make clear the regulator’s expectations on when and how concerns should be raised, as well as how those in management positions should respond. The regulator is ensuring the guidance reflects developments across the UK’s healthcare systems, and wider social changes, while remaining clear, relevant and helpful. It will be the first significant updates since they were published in 2012. Earlier this year results from the GMC’s annual national training survey revealed that more than one in five trainee doctors were hesitant about escalating concerns about patient care, and GMC Chief Executive Charlie Massey warned, in a speech in September, that maternity services were at risk from harmful cultures that put ‘cover-up over candour’ and ‘obfuscation over honesty’. Professor Pushpinder Mangat, Medical Director and Director of Education and Standards at the GMC, said: "Our guidance is there to provide support and confidence, as well as practical help, for people to speak up when necessary. But speaking up is no good in isolation. Leaders and managers have a duty to act when concerns are raised with them. ‘Whenever we update guidance, it is important we hear views from a range of respondents. Their voices and real-life experiences will be instrumental in ensuring our guidance is clear, relevant, and helpful, and reflects the needs of everyone it affects." Read full story Source: GMC, 3 November 2025
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Content ArticleThis diagnostic report sets out the current state of medical training and identifies 11 recommendations, including four key priorities: making training more flexible, building on excellence beyond formal routes, addressing damaging bottlenecks, and rebuilding inclusive team structures where doctors feel valued. While the report acknowledges risks and trade-offs in implementing major changes, it concludes that the gap between current practice and future needs is significant enough to justify action. Recommendations We recommend that a reform of postgraduate medical education and training is undertaken as a matter of urgency. Addressing bottlenecks at all points in training and development should be considered urgently. This will have to include consideration of the right ratio between new international graduate entrants to medicine in the UK and those who are already working and training in the NHS, taking into account the workforce need. Training should become more flexible. All doctors working in the NHS should be supported to progress and the differentiation between ‘training’ and ‘service’ roles should be made less rigid for doctors early in their careers. We recognise, however, that progression will not be at the same rate for all doctors. The output from the review of rotational structures must be incorporated in the wider reforms. Reform of medical training must consider the need to provide a medical workforce across the country for the whole population equitably. This means changes in medical school places and training places should take account of where medical need is growing and will grow in the future; this is seldom wealthy metropolitan areas. We recognise that there is a tension between this need and the geographical preferences stated by resident doctors. A strategy to deliver educators who are supported and enabled to train the future medical workforce in a fit for purpose environment and with transparent funding should be a fundamental part of NHS reform. Training reform should aim to make the role of the educator less rather than more bureaucratic. Resident doctors training in craft and procedure heavy specialties must have time to develop procedural skills, particularly early in their training. This includes requiring the independent sector to provide training if the NHS is commissioning and paying for the procedures it undertakes. We should work with the other UK nations to support the GMC’s review of standards and outcomes and subsequent review by colleges of postgraduate training curricula, including considering changes from the 10 Year Health Plan. This will include maintaining generalist skills while specialising; and ensuring digital skills for all doctors, which are essential for future patient care. The recruitment to medical training should be reviewed to ensure it supports future models of training delivery and training flexibility and is fair and equitable to all candidates, while aiming to recognise excellence in medical practice. Clinical academic medicine is essential for the delivery of healthcare now and in the future, both in academic centres and across the NHS. This workforce should be developed to meet the current and future population health needs, particularly in primary care, community and public health settings.
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Content ArticleThe General Medical Council data on doctors who have died while under investigation or during a period of monitoring. The data is published on an annual basis and has been introduced following a new process for obtaining and recording the cause of death of doctors who die while they are in the regulator’s fitness to practise procedures.
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Content ArticleThis was a debate in the House of Lords on the 5 December 2024 considering what the review, announced by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 20 November, of the physician associate (PA) and anaesthetist associate (AA) roles will cover and what actions they plan to take in advance of the outcome. Key points raised by peers in this debate included: The remit of the review, and whether this should extend to consider the impact of the PA role on training opportunities for resident doctors and the “taskification” of medicine. With the Government having announced that the review will be published in spring 2025, wherever any interim measures will be put in place in the meantime to address patient safety concerns relating to PA and AA roles. A suggestion that it is time to pause the recruitment of PA and AA roles and to halt the expansion of their numbers, particularly until after the Government review reports. Concerns that individual cases have been cited to then equate the lack of patient safety with all PAs or AAs. The value of the NHS undertaking a refreshed national public campaign to raise awareness of PAs and what they do. Responding to comments in the debate on behalf of the Government, Baroness Merron (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women's Health and Mental Health) stated the following points: The Government review will cover training, recruitment, day-to-day work, oversight, supervision and professional regulation. It will assess the safety of the PA and AA roles relative to existing professions, the contribution that the roles can make to more productive use of professional time in multidisciplinary teams and whether the roles deliver good-quality and efficient patient care in a range of settings. All the above matters, among others that peers have raised in this debate today, will be considered as part of the review. On interim action, she noted that NHS guidance remains in place on PA and AA deployment while the review is ongoing. Furthermore, NHS England continues to engage with NHS organisations to ensure that this guidance is adhered to. You can watch the debate in full here. Related reading Government launches independent review of Physician and Anaesthesia Associate professions (20 November 2024) Physician associates: What are the patient safety issues? An interview with Asif Qasim (12 November 2024)
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Content Article
In this interview, Helen Hughes speaks to Asif Qasim, Consultant Cardiologist and Founder of MedShr, about the role of physician associates (PAs) in the NHS. They discuss the patient safety issues arising from inappropriate use of PAs in both primary and secondary care and outline concerns about the planned rapid increase in the number of PAs working in the healthcare system. Asif describes the risks associated with PAs being employed to fill gaps in the doctor workforce and discusses how the lack of clarity for patients has contributed to serious patient safety incidents. He highlights the need for regulation, a clear scope of practice and a consistent level of supervision to ensure that patients receive safe care from PAs. Related reading Physician associates House of Commons debate in relation to the death of Emily Chesterton (6 July 2023) Prevention of future deaths report: Susan Pollitt (8 August 2024) Partha Kar: We need a pause to assess safety concerns surrounding Physician Associates A transcript of the interview is attached below. Join the conversation We'd love to hear your perspectives on the patient safety issues raised in this interview. Perhaps you are a healthcare professional with insights to share or a patient who has been seen by a physician associate? If you have an experience you would like to share with us, please do get in touch. You can join the conversation by commenting below (you'll need to sign up first) or get in touch with us directly by emailing [email protected]- Posted
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Content ArticleThere have been some concerns about the impact of temporary doctors, otherwise known as locums, on patient safety and the quality of care. Despite these concerns, research has paid little attention to the implications of locum working on patient experience. A qualitative semi-structured interview study was conducted with 130 participants including locums, people working with locums and patients with experience of being seen or treated by locums. Patients reported that they were unlikely to have continuity of care with any doctors delivering care, regardless of their contractual status. Locums sometimes provided new perspectives on care which could be beneficial for patient outcomes, but for patients with long-term, complex or serious conditions continuity of care was important, and these patients may avoid or delay seeking care when locums are the only available option.
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News Article
German doctor charged with murder of 15 patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A German palliative care doctor has been charged with murdering 15 of his patients using a cocktail of lethal drugs. Prosecutors in Berlin have accused the 40-year-old of setting fire to the homes of some of his suspected victims to cover his tracks. He allegedly killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024, though prosecutors have said they believe that total could rise. The doctor, who has not been named due to strict privacy laws in Germany, has not admitted to the charges, prosecutors said. He is accused of administering an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant to his patients without their knowledge or consent. The relaxant "paralysed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes", the prosecutor's office said in a statement. He worked in several German states, and the ages of those whose deaths are being treated as suspicious range from 25 to 94. The doctor was initially suspected of having killed four people in his care when he was arrested in August 2024 but investigations have uncovered other suspicious deaths, with more exhumations on potential victims planned. A "lifelong professional ban" and "preventative detention" is being sought for the 40-year-old suspect. He remains in custody. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 April 2025 -
News Article
The lonely death of Dr Jagdip Sidhu
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Jagdip Sidhu was the platonic ideal of an NHS doctor. He took very little private work, despite it being common for consultants. His only exception was for those who needed urgent care that couldn’t get treated on the NHS. It was a point of ethics. “He said: I’m only going to do it for people who clinically cannot wait,” explains Amandip, Jagdip's brother. “I’m not going to sit and profit off people’s adverse health and misery.” But the hospital was impossible to get away from. On days and nights off, he would get urgent messages from the managers at his NHS trust asking him to clear more beds on the ward or hit new performance targets. Gradually, he had less time for anything outside of work. He’d developed “tunnel vision”, as Amandip describes it. By 2017, something had broken in him. “He had just suddenly aged,” recalls his brother, pausing for a moment before continuing. “It’s very hard to explain. But for someone who had a lot of vitality in life and charisma about him, it started to drain away.” His hair began to turn grey. He was constantly tired, surviving on just three or four hours of sleep each night and often working more than 14 hours a day. “He’d come and see mum and literally just pass out on the sofa,” recalls Amandip. He spoke less and less. Jagdip was also losing faith in the medical system whose values he once embodied, and confided to his brother that he thought the struggling NHS was “finished”. One day, Amandip got a call from his brother. “I saw his number flash up, and I knew something was wrong,” he recalls. Jagdip explained that he had been signed off work on medical leave after nurses he worked with noticed he was struggling to function. He was petrified. “He said: ‘I can’t ever go back to that hospital. They’ll crucify me. They’ll say ‘you made mistakes’, and I’ll be struck off’,” recalls Amandip. “Because he was signed off sick, he felt that he couldn’t be a doctor anymore. That was his identity as an adult human being forcibly stopped, outside of his control.” One afternoon, Amandip received an email from Jagdip. It was a confusing list of instructions, including how to access his financial accounts, life insurance policies, when to get the car MOT’d. There was no explanation. It ended with a short sign-off — he had gone to Beachy Head, a beauty spot atop the cliffs of the South Coast, with the car. As call after call went straight to voicemail, the panic started to set in. Jagdip called Jagdip’s wife — there was no sign of him at home. He had left without taking his wallet and house keys. Amandip raced across London to his brother’s house. When he arrived, it was already crawling with police. They had found the car by Beachy Head, but there was no sign of Jagdip. An agonising two hours later, he heard the crackle of the officers’ radio as they walked into the room and started to speak. “I remember them saying ‘This is the part of the job I really hate’,” Amandip recalls. They had found his brother’s body, identified by the car keys that were still in his pocket. Jagdip was 47 years old. There were a lot of questions in the blur of weeks and months afterwards. But above all, one thought haunts Amandip: did his brother’s job in the NHS play a role in his death? Read full story Source: The Londoner, 15 March 2025 -
News Article
Doctors who treat trans patients say threats worsened after Trump’s orders
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Panic buttons, security cameras and active-shooter drills: Those are some of the ways doctors who treat transgender children have armed themselves when facing violent threats over the years. Now, they’re warning the president’s actions could make things more dangerous. Even before President Donald Trump attempted to ban gender transition care nationwide for young people, protesters routinely demonstrated outside clinics that treat trans youths. Some carried signs with violent messages and the names of doctors who treat trans children. One entered a Seattle clinic with a weapon, according to court records. Now doctors say threats of violence are rising — along with fears of legal action — in the wake of Trump’s Jan. 28 executive order that labeled gender transition care for minors a “dangerous trend” and “a stain on our Nation’s history.” Dozens of providers gave sworn affidavits as part of a lawsuit four states filed challenging the legality of Trump’s executive order. Providers in those Democratic-led states remain so afraid, many agreed to file affidavits challenging the order only if they could do so anonymously. Washington’s state attorney general led the legal effort. “I am scared, not just for myself, but for my family,” one Seattle-based physician and professor wrote in court documents. “It is a terrifying time to be a doctor providing gender-affirming care.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: Washington Post, 9 March 2025 -
News ArticleA new snapshot survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) highlights the worsening crisis in NHS hospitals, where a lack of capacity is pushing vulnerable patients into undignified and unsafe conditions. The survey gathered responses from almost a thousand (961) physicians across the UK, spanning a wide range of specialties - including cardiology, respiratory medicine, and general internal medicine - who report firsthand the challenges of delivering care in temporary spaces. The findings show that 78% of respondents had provided care in a temporary environment in the past month. Of the 889 respondents who gave further details on where this care was delivered, locations included corridors (45%), additional beds or chairs in patient bays (27%), wards without dedicated bed space (13%), waiting rooms (9%), another location not designed for patient care e.g. bathroom (4.5%). The consequences of treating patients in unsuitable spaces are severe. 90% of doctors reported compromised patient privacy and dignity, while 81% faced physical difficulties delivering care. Additionally, 75% struggled with access to vital equipment or facilities, and 58% saw patient safety directly compromised. The impact on doctors themselves was also significant, with 61% reporting increased personal stress. Read full story Source: Royal College of Physicians, 26 February 2025 Further reading on the hub: The crisis of corridor care in the NHS: patient safety concerns and incident reporting Patient Safety Learning's response to RCN report: on the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis How corridor care in the NHS is affecting safety culture: A blog by Claire Cox A nurse's response to the NHSE guidance on their principles for providing safe and good quality care in temporary escalation spaces A silent safety scandal: A nurse’s first-hand account of a corridor nursing shift
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News ArticleTwo of England’s leading doctors are to oversee a significant review into postgraduate training for newly qualified medics. National Medical Director Professor Sir Stephen Powis and Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty will lead the review as part of work to address concerns raised by resident doctors (previously known as junior doctors). The review will be based on feedback from current resident doctors and students, locally employed doctors and medical educators, with a series of engagement events around the country starting from this month. The review will cover placement options, the flexibility of training, difficulties with rotas, control and autonomy in training, and the balance between developing specialist knowledge and gaining a broad range of skills. The national listening events in February and March will be followed by a call for evidence in the spring to ensure the widest possible range of views, experiences and ideas are captured. A report on the review’s findings is due to be published in the summer. Read full story Source: NHS England, 19 February 2025
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News Article
USA: Why states are tackling physicians’ concerns about mental health treatment
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Medical doctors face higher rates of burnout and depression than the general population and are twice as likely to die by suicide. The risks were magnified at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, but the problem existed long before that. More than 40% of physicians, medical school students and residents cite fear of disclosure requirements on licensure forms as a main reason they don’t seek mental health care, according to the American Medical Association (AMA), which has been pushing for legislative and regulatory changes. More states and health systems are amending licensure and credentialing forms to remove mental-health-related questions, such as asking about whether a doctor sought mental health care or treatment, or received a mental health diagnosis. Others have codified such changes into state law. The rationale for asking about mental health was to ensure patient safety. The AMA says safety can be addressed with general language that asks whether a physician is suffering from any impairment that could interfere with patient care. “Having any past diagnosis of a mental health need or a substance use problem is often not relevant,” said AMA President Jesse Ehrenfeld. “The key inquiry ought to be whether the impairment represents a current concern for safety and the physician’s ability to provide competent professional care.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Washington Post, 18 February 2025 -
Event
TIPS QI National Conference
Patient Safety Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
untilThe TIPSQI Annual Quality Improvement Showcase returns once again in a virtual format. This virtual conference is open to all foundation doctors in the UK. This is a fantastic opportunity to present your QI project as a virtual poster or oral presentation; hear about other projects in the region; and hear our key note speaker Dr Hannah Baird, the founder of TIPS QI, alongside being higher specialty registrar in emergency medicine, Chief Registrar at Royal Bolton Hospital, the Vice-Chair of the Academy of Medical Trainees Doctors Group and the Co-Chair of the Emergency Medicine Trainees Association (RCEM). Junior doctors from around the UK will be presenting their quality improvement projects, highlighting some of the excellent leadership work being carried out amongst foundation doctors. There shall be prizes for the best projects, as well as the opportunity to learn more about the great QI work across the UK. Register
