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Showing results for tags 'Health hazards'.
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News Article
Leaking sewage, rats and bedbugs widespread in NHS workplaces, staff claim
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Worrying health risks and dangerous conditions are widespread across NHS hospitals, clinics and ambulance stations, new research has revealed. A Unison survey of over 19,000 NHS staff exposed workplaces plagued by leaking sewage, rodent infestations, and a lack of clean toilets for both staff and patients. Around one in seven respondents reported vermin, such as rats, in their workplaces over the past year. A similar proportion cited other widespread infestations, including silverfish, ants, bedbugs and cockroaches. The union described its findings as a concerning snapshot of a "dangerous and dilapidated" NHS estate. One in seven polled believe their workplace is unsafe due to the buildings’ poor physical state. The findings, being released at the union’s annual conference in Brighton on Tuesday, include examples of buckets on floors to catch leaking water, sewage leaks, public toilets in hospitals out of order for extended periods and staff toilets described as unusable. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 June 2026 -
EventThe Safer Healthcare and Biosafety Network has launched a joint campaign, Protecting Healthcare Workers: Safer Handling of Hazardous Medicinal Products, to raise awareness of the dangers of occupational exposure to hazardous medicinal products. This webinar will explore the frontline clinical challenges shaping risk today, as well as the guidance, education and cultural change needed to protect healthcare workers for the future. Hosted by the Safer Healthcare and Biosafety Network (SHBN) with presentations from: Sam Toland, Nurse Consultant in Cancer Care and Lead SACT Nurse, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust Alison Simons, Senior Lecturer in Nursing and Midwifery at Birmingham City University Sam Toland will draw on her experience leading chemotherapy services to examine how the clinical landscape has changed for nurses handling hazardous medicinal products. She will discuss the growth in treatment volumes, the increasing complexity of SACT regimes, and the implications of the growing shift towards subcutaneous administration, a route that eases capacity pressures but introduces new and harder-to-control exposure risks for nursing staff. Alison Simons will address the policy and practice environment in which these clinical pressures play out. She will discuss the current state of UK guidance on the safe handling of HMPs and what meaningful improvements to education and training look like in practice. She will also consider the barriers that prevent safer practice taking hold across healthcare settings, even where guidance exists. This session is intended for nurses, pharmacists, oncology healthcare professionals, safety leads, educators and policymakers with an interest in the safe handling of hazardous medicinal products and the systemic changes needed to better protect the healthcare workforce. Register
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News Article
More than 100 maternity staff sue NHS over gas exposure
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More than 100 maternity staff are taking legal action against a hospital trust after being exposed to what they say were "hazardous" levels of nitrous oxide. The staff, who include midwives and healthcare assistants, all worked at Basildon Hospital in Essex between 2018 and 2023. Symptoms including fatigue, anxiety, headaches and "brain fog" were reported. The trust that runs the hospital has said it "should have acted faster to address the issues". The Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has already paid out £89,000 in settlements over claims staff were exposed to "excessive and foreseeably dangerous" levels of Entonox, which is often called gas and air. A total of 141 claims have been received, according to the NHS. Entonox is a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen that is used as pain relief for women giving birth. According to the claimants, levels of nitrous oxide can build up quickly in maternity units with poor ventilation. The gas enters the atmosphere when birthing mothers exhale, when gas lines are leaky, and when cannisters of nitrous oxide are opened and connected to equipment. Maternity staff were exposed to gas levels up to 30 times higher than the legal workplace exposure limit, an internal hospital report found. For people giving birth, the NHS says gas and air is "generally very safe", and side effects are not expected until after patients have used it for longer than six hours. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 May 2026 -
Content ArticleTheatres are a high risk area. This poster from the Association for Perioperative Practice and BD illustrates how to plan and practise to manage a surgical fire. Download a pdf of the poster from the attachment below.
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Content ArticleTony Clarke suffered from a chronic inflammatory skin disease, hidradenitis suppurativa. In September 2020, Tony underwent surgery to remove infected tissue on one side of his body. When he entered the operating theatre, Tony’s surgical team first covered part of his body with an alcohol-based solution, to keep the area clean. Then, when the operation began, the surgeons began cutting off the infected tissue using a diathermy pen, a device that targets electrically-induced heat to stop wounds from bleeding. However, shortly into the surgery, disaster struck: heat from the surgical pen had ignited the alcohol on Tony’s body. “But because alcohol burns so hot, no fire was seen,” says Tony, recalling an explanation he later received from the hospital. “The surgeons were concentrating on the right side of my body. The left side was left burning for about 20 minutes.” For the next four months, Tony travelled back to the hospital every three days, to get his injuries checked and bandages changed. During that time, Tony describes himself as ‘totally disabled.’ In September this year, Tony, as a patient ambassador for prevention of surgical fires, spoke at a conference held in York by the Association for Perioperative Practice (AFPP). There, perioperative practitioners from across the country gathered to listen to Tony’s experience. “I was speaking to lots and lots of different professionals in the medical service and they'd never heard of it [being set on fire during surgery]. It was a rarity for them,” Tony says. Tony’s now working with different health agencies, with the aim of stopping preventable surgical burns entirely.
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News ArticleHospitals across England could see oxygen supplies at worse levels this winter than at the peak of the first coronavirus wave – when some sites were forced to close to new admissions. An alert to NHS hospitals this week warned that because of the rise in admissions of COVID-19 patients, there is a risk of oxygen shortages. Trusts have been ordered to carry out daily checks on the amount of oxygen in the air on wards to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires or explosions. The problem is not because of a lack of oxygen but because pipes delivering the gas to wards will not be able to deliver the volume of gas needed by all patients. This can trigger a cut-off in supply and a catastrophic drop in pressure, meaning patients would be denied the oxygen they need to breathe. Read full story Source: The Independent, 20 November 2020
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Content Article
Needlestick injuries – making the point for safety
Becky T posted an article in Staff safety
An article outlining the significance of needlestick injuries - their risks to healthcare workers, their cost, and the importance of prevention. Needlestick injuries account for 17% of accidents to NHS staff and are the second most common cause of injury, behind moving and handling (nhsemployers.org). The major risk of needlestick injuries is that they can transmit infectious diseases to healthcare workers, especially blood-borne viruses. Many occupational exposure incidents could have been avoided by adopting precautions and by disposing of clinical waste appropriately (nhsemployers.org). Needlestick injuries are wounds caused by needles that accidentally puncture the skin (ccohs.ca). When penetrating the skin, this is called a percutaneous injury, whilst if blood or other body fluid splashes into the eyes, nose, mouth or onto broken skin, the exposure is said to be mucocutaneous (nhsemployers.org). Needlestick injuries can occur at any stage when people use, disassemble or dispose of needles. Causes of needlestick injuries include non-compliance with standard infection control precautions, inadequate disposal of clinical waste, overfull sharps bins, and not using Personal Protective Equipment (resolution.nhs). When needlestick injuries occur in a workplace setting, this is called occupational exposure. If the needle or sharp instrument is contaminated with blood or other body fluid, there is the potential for transmission of infection (nhsemployers.org), which is why needlestick injuries are so dangerous. The major blood-borne pathogens, or blood-borne viruses (BBVs) of concern associated with needlestick injury are hepatitis B, hepatitis C & human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (nhsemployers.org). However, there are more than 20 diseases that can be transmitted, either transiently or persistently, such as Epstein-Barr virus and malarial parasites. BBVs are carried by some people in their blood and have the potential to cause severe disease (whilst causing few or no symptoms in others); notably, they can spread to others regardless of whether the carrier of the virus is or isn’t symptomatic. BBVs can also be found in bodily fluids other than blood, for example, semen, vaginal secretions and breast milk (hse.gov.uk). Even small amounts of infectious fluid can spread certain diseases effectively (ccohs.ca). Employers have a legal requirement to take steps to prevent healthcare staff being exposed to infectious agents from sharps injuries (resolution.nhs). The Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations of 2013 state that all employers are required under existing health and safety law to ensure that the risks of sharps injuries from needles are adequately assessed, and that appropriate preventative and control measures are put in place (hse.gov.uk), such as correct disposal of used sharps and effective workforce training. Needlestick injuries generate significant direct and indirect costs. Between 2012 and 2017, successful claims cost the NHS over £4 million (resolution.nhs). It has been shown that economic efforts directed at preventing occupational exposures and infections, including the provision of safety-engineered devices, may be offset by the savings from a lower incidence of needlestick injuries (Mannocci, 2016). Such devices include needle-free connectors that provide injection ports which can be accessed without needles. For instance, in Belgium, the investment and use of safety-engineered sharp devices has greatly reduced the incidence of needlestick injuries and the costs associated with their management (Hanmore, 2013). Needlestick injuries are a well-known risk in the health and social care sector. Because of their potential for disease transmission, such injuries can cause worry and stress to the many thousands who receive them. Most needlestick injuries can, however, be prevented, and there are legal requirements on employers to take necessary steps to prevent healthcare staff being exposed to the transmission of diseases via this safety issue. References Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (2021). ‘Needlestick and Sharps Injuries’. [online] Available at: https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/diseases/needlestick_injuries.html Hanmore, E. (2013). ‘Economic benefits of safety-engineered sharp devices in Belgium - a budget impact model’. BMC Health Serv Res. [online] Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24274747 Health and Safety Executive (2001). ‘Blood-borne viruses in the workplace’. [online] Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg342.pdf Health and Safety Executive (2013). ‘Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013’. [online] Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hsis7.htm Health and Safety Executive (2020). ‘Sharps injuries’. [online] Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/healthservices/needlesticks/index.htm Mannocci, A. et al. (2016). ‘How Much do Needlestick Injuries Cost? A Systematic Review of the Economic Evaluations of Needlestick and Sharps Injuries Among Healthcare Personnel’. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 37(6). [online] Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4890345 NHS Employers (2011). ‘Needlestick injury’. [online] Available at: https://www.nhsemployers.org/-/media/Employers/Documents/Retain-and-improve/Health-and-wellbeing/Needlestick-Injury-22-02-2011.pdf?la=en&hash=44A54B023D6C14CE21C749A226435581BD8F4FE8 NHS Resolution (2017). ‘Did you know? Preventing needlestick injury’. [online] Available at: https://resolution.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/NHS-Resolution-Preventing-needlestick-injuries-leaflet-final.pdf -
News Article
'Not fit for purpose': UK medics condemn Covid-19 protection
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Frontline NHS staff are at risk of dying from Covid-19 after the protective gear requirements for health workers treating those infected were downgraded last week, doctors and nurses have warned. Hospital staff caring for the growing number of those seriously ill with the disease also fear that they could pass the infection on to other patients after catching it at work because of poor protection. Doctors who are dealing most closely with Covid-19 patients – A&E medics, anaesthetists and specialists in acute medicine and intensive care – are most worried. A doctor in an infectious diseases ward of a major UK hospital, who is treating patients with Covid-19, said: “I am terrified. I am seriously considering whether I can keep working as a doctor.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 March 2020 -
News Article
Majority of GPs do not have sufficient coronavirus protective equipment
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Two out of five GPs have still not received any personal protective equipment (PPE) against coronavirus, a Pulse survey suggests. The poll of over 400 GPs saw 41% of respondents say they have not received any PPE, while a further 32% said they had not received enough. Just 15% of GPs said they have sufficient PPE, with the remainder unsure. This comes despite NHS England promising last week that it would ship PPE free of charge to practices. The Welsh Government made the same announcement this week, while in Scotland health boards should be distributing PPE. A GP who has received no proper equipment, Dr Kate Digby, in Cirencester, said she feels "woefully underprepared". She told Pulse: "I'm becoming increasingly concerned at the lack of resources being provided for frontline primary care". Read full story Source: Pulse, 2 March 2020 -
News ArticleA baby with a serious heart condition has died after she received an infection from mould in a Seattle hospital's operating room, her mother says. Elizabeth Hutt was born with a heart condition that she battled for the entirety of her six-month-long life. The young child underwent three open heart surgeries, and after the third one is when it's believed she contracted an Aspergillus mould infection in the hospital's operating room. The mould in the hospital's operating rooms was first detected in November, around the same time as the child's third surgery. It was later determined the infection was contracted from the mould discovered in three of the 14 operating rooms at the hospital in November. The mould came from the hospital's air-handling units in the operating rooms, and 14 patients have developed infections from the mould since 2001, the hospital revealed. Seven of those 14 children have since died from their infections. Elizabeth's parents have joined a class action suit against Seattle Children's Hospital in January, which alleges facility managers knew about the mould since 2005 and failed to fix the problem. Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 February 2020
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Content ArticleA National Patient Safety Alert has been issued on the elimination of bottles of liquefied phenol 80%. The alert has been issued by the NHS England and NHS Improvement National Patient Safety Team, British Orthopaedic Society, The Association of Coloproctology Great Britain and Ireland, and Royal College of Podiatry. Following incidents where bottles of liquefied phenol 80% were either confused with other medication or caused burns when spilt, this alert asks providers to eliminate its use and to follow professional guidance to use safer alternatives. Phenol, a caustic compound used for its antimicrobial, anaesthetic, and antipruritic properties, is highly toxic and corrosive. Liquefied phenol 80% can cause burns, severe tissue injury and is rapidly and well absorbed causing systemic toxicity. It is most commonly used in podiatry and orthopaedic foot surgery for destroying the nail matrix. Actions to be completed as soon as possible and no later than 25 Feb 2022: Identify where liquefied phenol 80% is used and update procedures/guidelines to substitute use for a safer, suitable alternative. Ensure clinical areas have stock of agreed safer alternatives and then remove bottles of liquefied phenol 80% from clinical areas, and update stock lists. Amend electronic prescribing systems to ensure liquefied phenol 80% cannot be prescribed. Amend current purchasing systems, and introduce ongoing controls on purchasing, to ensure liquefied phenol 80% cannot be purchased inadvertently via the pharmacy department or any alternative purchasing route.
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News Article
Woman dies after being set on fire during surgery in Romania
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A woman has died after being set on fire during surgery in Romania, the country’s health ministry has said, in a case that has cast a spotlight on the ailing Romanian health system. The patient, who had pancreatic cancer, died on Sunday after suffering burns to 40% of her body when surgeons used an electric scalpel despite her being treated with an alcohol-based disinfectant. Contact with the flammable disinfectant caused combustion and the patient “ignited like a torch”, Emanuel Ungureanu, a Romanian politician, said. A nurse threw a bucket of water on the 66-year-old woman to prevent the fire from spreading. The health ministry said it would investigate the “unfortunate incident”, which took place on 22 December. “The surgeons should have been aware that it is prohibited to use an alcohol-based disinfectant during surgical procedures performed with an electric scalpel,” the Deputy Minister, Horatiu Moldovan, said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 December 2019 the hub has a number of posts on preventing surgical fires: Surgical fires: nightmarish “never events” persist MHRA. Paraffin-based skin emollients on dressings or clothing: fire risk (18 April 2016) National Patient Safety Agency: Fire hazard with paraffin-based skin products (Nov 2007) How I raised awareness of fires in the operating theatre -
Content ArticleToday was the Parliamentary launch event of the Surgical Fires Expert Working Group’s report, 'A case for the prevention and management of surgical fires in the UK', which focuses on the prevention of surgical fires in the NHS This report contains important information on surgical fires and their prevention, to be submitted to the Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC), in order to make the case for its inclusion on their agenda. In the perioperative setting, a fire may cause injury to both the patient and healthcare professionals. Injuries caused by a surgical fire most commonly occur on the head, face, neck and upper chest. The prevention of surgical fires, which can occur on or in a patient while in the operating theatre, is an urgent and serious patient safety issue in UK hospitals. A Short Life Working Group (SLWG) for the prevention of surgical fires was established in May 2019, following an initial discussion in December 2018 on the issue of surgical fires in the UK. The group of experts from healthcare organisations and bodies across the UK convened four times in 2019 with the aim of compiling this document, in order to recommend surgical fires for a Never Event classification. The group conducted a literature review of best practice and evidence, in the UK and internationally, which informed the development of a number of considerations that could address the issue of surgical fires. This report contains information surrounding the scale of the problem of surgical fires in the UK, in addition to reported experiences of these incidences by both healthcare professionals and patients. It also includes prevention and management materials, and mandatory training that should be consistently delivered to hospital staff, and concludes with recommendations moving forward, in order to ensure the prevention of surgical fires in UK hospitals.
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Content ArticleSimon Whitely in this video responds to some of the comments received on his last video, where he talk about a high-level HCS Model of the Healthcare System and how interactions with the general public are key for patient safety. He also talks about the challenges between managing safety and the potential impacts upon the overall economy.
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Content ArticleThis blog from the PatientSafe Network discusses cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance — the pain of accepting ego-dystonic facts — mitigates against an open, rational aggressive cycle of process improvement. Unfortunately the hierarchical structures in healthcare mean we are likely to suffer from this. Those further up, best positioned to bring about positive change, are the most likely to suffer cognitive dissonance.
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Content Article
Hazardous Hospitals: research project
PatientSafetyLearning Team posted an article in Research
Hazardous Hospitals aims to elicit a wide range of viewpoints and experiences about the historical development of safety in NHS hospitals. They are interested to hear from anyone with direct experience of encountering health and safety risks in hospitals, promoting safety, or exposing shortcomings in healthcare quality. Follow the link below to find out more and how to participate. -
Content ArticleHazardous Hospitals is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellowship, exploring the history of safety in the British National Health Service. Hazardous Hospitals: Cultures of Safety in NHS General Hospitals, c.1960-Present is a three-year research project at the University of Warwick, funded by the Wellcome Trust. It is being conducted by Dr Christopher Sirrs. The publication of the Francis Report into healthcare failures at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in 2013 dramatically refocused public and political attention on issues of ‘safety’ in the National Health Service. ‘Safety’ has increasingly occupied the attention of policy makers in recent decades, with hospital managers establishing various systems and processes to protect patients and staff from harm. These include learning and reporting systems, policies about patient consultation, and campaigns for preventing harms such as falls and healthcare-associated infections. However, little is understood about how and why these ideas and practices around ‘safety’ in the NHS evolved. This three-year project explores the history of safety in the NHS, highlighting how hospitals have promoted ‘safety cultures’: ideas, values and behaviours which support safety. Drawing upon a rich seam of archival material, as well as a distinctive methodology, it makes timely contribution to historical understandings of the NHS. The project asks the following key questions: 1. What defines the ‘safety culture’ of NHS hospitals? How can these ‘safety cultures’ vary? 2. How was safety in hospitals assessed, and in what ways did it come to the attention of NHS managers and policymakers after 1960? 3. How did NHS managers promote safety among their staff? 4. What role did groups such as patient organisations, safety campaigners and the press play in depicting, challenging and promoting reform of hospital ‘safety cultures’? The project will directly engage individuals and organisations involved in promoting or campaigning for safety in the NHS. Interviews will also be conducted with a wide range of individuals. If you are interested in participating in the project, please see the ‘Participate‘ page for more information. You can follow the project via @hazardhospitals or, for more information follow the link below.
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Content ArticleFollowing a reported death, the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) commissioned the Health and Safety Executive to undertake fire hazard testing with white soft paraffin on a variety of bandages, dressings and clothing. The results showed the ability to reproduce the fire hazard in a controlled environment. This risk was not previously well recognised. This document is accompanied by: general advice and advice for hospital inpatients supporting information for healthcare staff including background and findings posters in English and Welsh Health and Safety Laboratory report FS/06/12 ‘Fire hazards associated with contamination of dressings and clothing by paraffin based ointments’ examples of products containing paraffin warning / hazard stickers for products a patient safety video leaflets in English and Welsh. Although the deadline for actions has passed, this guidance remains best practice. It should be followed to prevent future patient safety incidents.
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Content ArticlePatient safety groups consider surgical fires “never events,” incidents that can be avoided entirely with organisational checks and balances. Yet, the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) has handled dozens of lawsuits and regulatory complaints involving surgical burns in recent years. According to a review of 54 cases of perioperative burns between 2012 and 2016, almost a third involved surgical fires, while the rest involved burns from surgical equipment and chemicals used in surgery. Many patients were left scarred, disfigured and psychologically traumatised. Fifteen percent were severely harmed, with airway damage or full-thickness burns destroying the sensory nerves and all layers of the skin. For fires to occur, heat, fuel and oxygen must be present. Oxygen was a factor in half of the surgical fire cases reviewed, usually when the concentration of oxygen being delivered for ventilation wasn’t reduced sufficiently during electro- or laser surgery on the head, neck or upper chest. Most of the burns that weren’t caused by fire involved heat from equipment. These cases included surgeons using the wrong device or settings, as well as issues with the maintenance, malfunction or positioning of devices. Cases involving fuel were usually caused by the unsafe use of alcohol-based antiseptics, including allowing it to pool under patients, using the wrong concentration, or failing to let it dry before placing drapes. To reduce the risk of fires and burns, CMPA recommends that surgical teams “identify, separate and manage the elements of the fire triangle” before procedures. This involves ensuring that “ignition sources should not come into contact with fuels, and oxygen should be reduced to the minimum required concentration.” The association also recommends that surgical teams ensure that antiseptic has time to dry and doesn’t pool, follow device instructions, and run simulations to practice responding to fires.
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Content ArticleFor over three decades, patients, consultants and perioperative staff have been exposed to diathermy tissue smoke in all operating hospital theatres. This smoke is called plaque and, when inhaled, is the same as smoking cigarettes. Research shows that inhalation of smoke from one gram of cauterised tissue is equal to smoking six cigarettes. This smoke is also cancerous and can mutate to other organs of the body just like cigarettes. Read my personal view of the harmful effects of diathermy smoke published in the Journal of Perioperative Practice, and also watch the short video kindly made for me by Knowlex UK.
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Content ArticleSmoking or a naked flame could cause patients’ dressings or clothing to catch fire when being treated with paraffin-based emollient that is in contact with the dressing or clothing. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) provided this update for healthcare professionals. Reminder: Advise patients not to: smoke; use naked flames (or be near people who are smoking or using naked flames); or go near anything that may cause a fire while emollients are in contact with their medical dressings or clothing. Change patient clothing and bedding regularly—preferably daily—because emollients soak into fabric and can become a fire hazard. Incidents should be reported.
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Content ArticleIn January 2017, I read an article in Outpatient Surgery involving an elderly patient in the US who suffered multiple burns following the use of chlorohexidine bottled alcoholic prep. The Oregon woman filed a million-dollar lawsuit against the Oregon Outpatient Surgery Center in Tigard, Ore., saying she suffered severe burns when her face caught on fire during an electrocautery procedure. Having read this tragic story and escalated it to my theatre manager and colleagues, I decided to design and evaluate a FRAS (Fire Risk Assessment Score) and use it as part of the WHO Surgical Checklist at "time out" to raise awareness of fires in operating theatres. Here is the FRAS tool I implemented: Fire risk assessment tool.pdf Other useful resources I found: Scoring_Fire_Risk-2.pdf Surgical Site Fire Triangle.pdf Surgical_Fire_Poster (1).pdf Video: Fire hazard demo by Zaamin Hussain and Mike Reed Demonstration: "Burning Bruce" drives home the reality of surgical fires - article in Outpatient Surgery
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Content ArticleCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the COVID-19 virus, was first detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. On 30 January 2020, the WHO Director-General declared that the current outbreak constituted a public health emergency of international concern. This document summarises WHO’s recommendations for the rational use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in healthcare and community settings, as well as during the handling of cargo; in this context, PPE includes gloves, medical masks, goggles or a face shield, and gowns, as well as for specific procedures, respirators (i.e., N95 or FFP2 standard or equivalent) and aprons. This document is intended for those who are involved in distributing and managing PPE, as well as public health authorities and individuals in healthcare and community settings, and it aims to provide information about when PPE use is most appropriate.
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Content Article
Brighton Anaesthesia FFP3 Donning & Doffing
Claire Cox posted an article in Good practice and useful resources
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trusts Anaesthetic Department has produced this video demonstrating how to 'don' (put on) and 'doff' (take off) PPE pre- and post-intubation of a high risk/infected patient with COVID-19. -
Content ArticleA collection of resources from NHS Improvement to help you analyse, understand and improve the health and well-being of your workforce. Based on NHS Improvements's learning from the Improving Health and Well-being direct support programme, they have developed and collated some resources which will assist analysis of your quantitative and qualitative workforce data to drive and enable development of impactful evidence-based workforce health and well-being interventions. Resources: driver diagrams (tree diagrams) the health and wellbeing framework and diagnostic tool workforce stress and the supportive organisation — a framework for improvement.
