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Found 500 results
  1. News Article
    When Tassie Weaver went into labour at full term, she thought she was hours away from holding her first child. But by the time she was giving birth, she knew her son had died. Doctors had previously told Tassie to call her local maternity unit immediately, she says, as she was considered high risk and needed monitoring, due to high blood pressure and concerns about the baby's growth. But a midwife told her to stay at home. Three hours later she called again, worried because now she couldn't feel her baby moving. Again, she was told to stay at home, the same midwife saying that this was normal because women can be too distracted by their contractions to feel anything else. "I was treated as just a kind of hysterical woman in pain who doesn't know what's going on because it's their first pregnancy," the 39-year-old tells us. When she called a third time, a different midwife told her to come to hospital, but when she arrived it was too late. His heart had stopped beating. Tassie and her husband John believe Baxter's stillbirth at the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI), four years ago, could have been prevented - and a review by the trust identified care issues "likely to have made a difference to the outcome". The couple are among 47 new families who have contacted the BBC with concerns about inadequate maternity care at Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTH) NHS Trust between 2017 and 2024. As well as the new families, three new whistleblowers - two who still work for the trust - have shared concerns about the standard of care at its two maternity units - at the LGI and St James' University Hospital. This is in addition to the two we spoke to in the initial BBC investigation. Read full story Source: BBC News, 17 June 2025
  2. News Article
    A hospital trust and a staff member have been found guilty of health and safety failings over the death of a young woman in a mental health unit. Alice Figueiredo, 22, was being treated at Goodmayes Hospital, east London, when she took her own life in July 2015, having previously made many similar attempts. Following a seven-month trial at the Old Bailey, a jury found that not enough was done by the North East London Foundation NHS Trust (NELFT) or ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa to prevent Alice from killing herself. The trust was cleared of the more serious charge of corporate manslaughter, while Aninakwa, 53, of Grays in Essex, was cleared of gross negligence manslaughter. The jury deliberated for 24 days to reach all the verdicts, setting a joint record in the history of British justice, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Both the trust and Aninakwa were convicted under the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was only the second time an NHS trust has faced a corporate manslaughter charge. During the trial, prosecutors said that not only was Alice repeatedly able to self-harm while she was in hospital, but that these incidents were not properly recorded or assessed. The court also heard there were concerns about Benjamin Aninakwa's communication, efficiency, clinical and leadership skills. The trust had previously placed him on a performance improvement plan for three years, which ended in December 2014. In addition, there was a high turnover of agency staff on the ward, the court heard. Mrs Figueiredo says she raised concerns about her daughter's care verbally and in writing on a number of occasions to the hospital and to Mr Aninakwa. After Alice died, she said the family found it very difficult to get answers about what happened. For nearly a decade they gathered evidence and pressed both the police and the CPS to take action. Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 June 2025
  3. News Article
    Three disabled children died in similar circumstances at the UK's largest brain rehabilitation centre for children despite warnings about care failings, The Independent can reveal. Five-year-old Connor Wellsted died in 2017 at The Children's Trust’s (TCT) Tadworth unit in Surrey, having suffocated when a cot bumper became lodged under his chin. Six years later, in 2023, Raihana Oluwadamilola Awolaja, 12, died after her breathing tube became blocked, and Mia Gauci-Lamport, 16, died after she was found unresponsive in her bed. Inquests into all three deaths uncovered a litany of failings and identified common problems in the children's care at the home where multiple senior directors earn six-figure salaries. Now, police have launched a fresh investigation into Connor’s death. Coroners who investigated their deaths criticised staff for failing to adequately monitor the children – all of whom had complex disabilities and needed one-to-one care – and for not sharing the full circumstances of how they died with authorities. The families of the children, who were all under the care of their local council, are demanding that the government and the regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), take action. Speaking to The Independent, Connor’s father, Chris Wellsted, said: “How many more children are going to die because of their incompetence? CQC failed, NHS England failed. The government failed. Every organisation that should have been investigating the children's trust. It’s a disgrace.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 June 2025
  4. News Article
    Any cut in UK funding to a global vaccination group would damage soft power and could make Britain less resilient to infectious diseases, as well as causing avoidable deaths among children, leading vaccine and aid experts have warned. Scientists including Sir Andrew Pollard, who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, said a major cut in money for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) could also make the UK less able to respond to a future pandemic. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has not yet set out its future funding for Gavi, a Geneva-based public-private organisation that has vaccinated more than a billion children in developing countries. The UK has previously been one of Gavi’s main funders, providing more than £2bn over the last four years. But with the UK aid budget cut back from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% and the focus shifting towards bilateral aid the expectation is that there will be a major reduction at Wednesday’s spending review. Pollard, who leads the Oxford Vaccine Group, said that as well as continuing to save lives in poorer countries, there was a self-interested case for continuing with similar levels of support. “It’s a safer place, obviously, for people who are in situations where they wouldn’t have been able to access these vaccines without the government support, but it also makes it a safe place for us, because it’s acting as part of the shield that we have against the spread of infectious diseases around the world,” he said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2025
  5. News Article
    A hospital boss has apologised "unreservedly" after the death of a 12-year-old girl which led a coroner to raise concerns about the "discrimination of disabled children". Rose Harfleet died at Royal Surrey County Hospital, in Guildford, on 30 January 2024, having attended its emergency department the day before with abdominal pain and vomiting. Assistant coroner for Surrey, Karen Henderson, said in a recent report that there was a failure of the medical and nursing staff to appreciate Rose was clinically deteriorating. The coroner said Rose, who from birth was diagnosed with mosaic trisomy 17 with global developmental delay, was "wholly reliant on her mother to advocate on her behalf". But she said at the hospital no history was taken from Rose's mother and that the severity of her signs and symptoms were underestimated. She said poor clinical decisions contributed to Rose's death. "This gives rise to a concern that by not listening to parents or guardians as a matter of course leads to discrimination of disabled children," she added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 June 2025
  6. News Article
    Police have launched an investigation into the deaths of patients following heart operations at an NHS hospital, the BBC has learned. Documents seen suggest patients suffered avoidable harm - and that in some cases their death certificates failed to disclose that the procedure contributed to their deaths. One woman's operation at Castle Hill Hospital near Hull - that should have taken no more than two hours - has been described as a "disaster" by one medic. She spent six hours in surgery and lost five litres of blood - all while under local anesthetic. But none of this was mentioned on her death certificate, which recorded her as dying from pneumonia. Her family were also not told what had happened. The documents raise concerns about the care that 11 patients received during a TAVI - Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implant - a procedure to replace a damaged valve in the heart, similar to adding a stent. The department's TAVI mortality rate at the time was three times higher than the UK average, something patients and families were also unaware of. The NHS body that runs Castle Hill, the Humber Health Care Partnership, told the BBC it had delivered improvements suggested by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). In a statement, it said it was happy to directly answer any questions from the patients' families. Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 June 2025
  7. News Article
    Cancer patients are dying due to misinformation on social media, turning down life-saving treatment in favour of “radical diets” and natural “cures”, oncologists have said. Doctors gathered in Chicago for the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) general meeting said that some patients are delaying the start of their treatment until their cancer becomes metastatic, or incurable. Some patients are choosing alternative treatments such as diets and essential oils instead of life-saving medicines, the doctors said, with patients falling victim to those who “deliberately push unproven treatments or ideas”. The oncologists said that the field was “losing the battle for communication” in the age of misinformation. England’s chief doctor added that the rates of misinformation around cancer seen by the NHS had become “alarmingly high” recently. Richard Simcock, the chief medical officer at the charity Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “I have recently seen two young women who have declined all proven medical treatments for cancer and are instead pursuing unproven and radical diets promoted on social media. “As a doctor, I want to be able to use the best available therapies to help people with cancer. A person is perfectly entitled to decline that therapy but when they do that on the basis of information which is frankly untrue or badly interpreted it makes me very sad. It’s clear that we have work to do to build back trust in evidence-based medicine.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 2 June 2025
  8. Content Article
    The annual Cancer in the UK report summarises key data across the cancer pathway, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment and outcomes. It looks at where progress is being made and what challenges remain in the UK. Evidence in this report shows that improvements can be made across the cancer pathway – preventing cancers, diagnosing patients earlier and ensuring patients have access to the best treatment options – to attain outcomes that are among the best in the world. The report concludes by setting out the priority actions that are vital to addressing challenges faced by cancer services and lays out how data-led insights can strengthen our ability to beat cancer
  9. News Article
    A corporate manslaughter investigation has been opened into failings that led to hundreds of babies dying or being injured at maternity units in Nottingham. Nottinghamshire Police said it was examining whether maternity care provided by the Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS trust had been grossly negligent. The trust is at the centre of the largest maternity inquiry in the history of the NHS, with about 2,500 cases of neonatal deaths, stillbirths and harm to mothers and babies being examined by independent midwife Donna Ockenden. The police investigation will centre on two maternity units overseen by the trust, which runs the Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital. NUH said it was "deeply sorry for the pain and suffering caused", and it was "absolutely right" that accountability was taken. In a statement on the force's website, Det Supt Matthew Croome, from the investigation team, said corporate manslaughter was a "serious criminal offence". He said: "The offence relates to circumstances where an organisation has been grossly negligent in the management of its activities, which has then led to a person's death. "In such an investigation we are looking to see if the overall responsibility lies with the organisation rather than specific individuals and my investigation will look to ascertain if there is evidence that the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has committed this offence." The force said its investigation into deaths and serious injuries related to NUH's maternity care - called Operation Perth - had seen more than 200 family cases referred to it so far. Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 June 2025
  10. News Article
    A leading British palliative care consultant has described the assisted dying bill as "not fit for purpose" and is urging MPs to stop the bill from progressing any further. Rejecting assurances from supporters of assisted dying who claim the proposed British version would be based on the scheme used in the American state of Oregon - widely regarded as the model with the most safeguards - Dr Amy Proffitt said "it's far from a safe system". "The majority, 80% of the people that have assisted death have government insurance with Medicaid or Medicare suggesting that the vulnerable in society are not worth it," she said. "Put that into our NHS and what does it say about us as a society... those with disability, those with learning disabilities, those with social deprivation?" Dr Proffitt added: "I think it's deeply dangerous for the bill that has been proposed and it needs to be scrapped and we go back and look again." She and other leading palliative care doctors have expressed concern about the erosion of end of life care if the bill passes. It is a fear expressed by Britain's hospice sector. Read full story Source: Sky News, 1 June 2025
  11. News Article
    Two external reviews are being commissioned into maternity and neonatal care at the trust with the highest perinatal mortality rates. Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust has claimed its extended perinatal mortality rate – which measures stillbirths and neonatal deaths – is within the expected range, considering it takes many high-risk pregnancies, including some where babies are not expected to survive, as a specialist centre. However, a report to its board meeting today reveals it is commissioning an external review of the issue. The review would examine mortality data. Read full article (Paywalled) Source: Health Service Journal, 29 May 2025
  12. News Article
    A hospital doctor has admitted professional misconduct over an incident in which a patient with meningitis suffered a fatal lack of oxygen to the brain following a dispute with nursing staff over whether a breathing tube had become dislodged. Ilankathir Sathivel appeared before a medical inquiry to face a series of allegations over his treatment of a patient in February 2019 while working as a registrar anaesthetist at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown in Dublin. The hearing before the Medical Council’s fitness-to-practise committee was told Dr Sathivel was making a number of admissions in relation to the care he provided to the 59-year-old male, identified only as Patient A, who had been admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit after being diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. The committee was informed that Dr Sathivel accepted that his failure to have regard for the stated view of a clinical nurse manager, Rosanne Kenny, that Patient’s A endotracheal tube had become dislodged about 3.58am on February 24, 2019 constituted professional misconduct. Read full story Source: The Irish Independent, 29 May 2025
  13. News Article
    A coroner has warned of a "culture of cover-up" at a care home where neglect contributed to the death of a disabled 12-year-old girl. Raihana Awolaja, who required 24-hour one-to-one care, died of cardiac arrest in 2023 after her breathing tube became clogged while she was left alone at Tadworth Court in Surrey, a residential care facility operated by The Children’s Trust. Now a senior coroner looking into her death, Professor Fiona Wilcox, has written to the Trust's chief executive, warning there could be further deaths at the home if improvements aren't made. Prof Wilcox raised several serious concerns about the home, including that severely disabled children may not be receiving the level of care needed to keep them safe and more staff training was required. She also warned there "may be culture of cover up at Tadworth Children’s Trust". She added: "They carried out a flawed investigation after this incident, pushing blame onto an innocent individual and thereby avoiding highlighting systemic failures and learning and thus risking lessons that should be learned are lost that could prevent future deaths." Read full story Source: ITV News, 21 May 2025
  14. News Article
    Repeated refusals by NHS England to fund extra staff was a key factor in a patient’s death, a coroner has said. The coroner warned that year-long delays to follow-up appointments at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust were a factor in the death of Peter Anzani, a spinal injury patient who died from a blood clot in November last year. NHS England turned down two requests to fund extra staff at the trust due to national policy and “a funding shortage”, a recent prevention of future deaths report has said. That’s despite RJAH struggling with patient demand and staffing shortages, leading to longer waits for reviews and treatments, according to the report. Adam Hodson, the coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, said in the report sent to NHSE and the hospital: “It is obvious that where patients are waiting for longer than is reasonable or necessary for treatment or reviews, there is a real risk of deaths occurring. No patient should be waiting longer than absolutely necessary for treatment.” He added: “It is concerning to hear that the trust do not appear to be being adequately supported financially by NHS England, and do not currently appear to be able to address their workplace staffing issues without additional financial support (which does not appear to be forthcoming).” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 22 May 2025
  15. Content Article
    At 10.45am on 23 November 2024, Peter Anzani sadly died from a pulmonary embolism in Birmingham Heartlands Hospital. He had been admitted to hospital the day before and was receiving treatment for a community acquired pneumonia when he suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed due to a pulmonary embolism. Peter had previously suffered a number of falls at home in August and September 2021 and was subsequently diagnosed with suffering a spontaneous infection of the cervical vertebral canal which caused a complete spinal cord injury and left him tetraplegic. This made him more vulnerable to chest infections and pulmonary embolisms which he experienced in the years that followed. There is no evidence of any human intervention that rendered his death unnatural.  Based on information from the Deceased’s treating clinicians the medical cause of death was determined to be:  1a Pulmonary Embolism 1b 1c 1d II Pneumonia Spinal cord injury resulting in Tetraplegia Matters of concern To The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust I considered evidence from a [REDACTED] who indicated at paragraphs 20-21 of his statement, “I did not see any record of his pulse, blood pressure or oxygen saturation. The normal practice is to complete these observations, and I would expect this to be done, especially with him presenting with chest issues. However, I am unable to comment why this was not recorded or confirm that these were carried out. (21) This is a learning point for the department, and I have taken steps to ensure this learning is taken forward by theTrust. I have alerted the Sister in charge of the Spinal Injuries Outpatients’ Department and requested that adequate measures are taken to ensure that all observations made are recorded in the outpatient forms…” It was unclear whether this was a single one-off event involving human error or indicative of a wider and systemic issue involving a lack of training. There was no evidence before the court that this “learning point” had been actioned or that any adequate steps had been taken to ensure proper and accurate recording of records by staff. There is a real risk of future deaths occurring where staff do not have adequate training and that patient records are not being properly completed. To NHS England / Department of Health and Social Care I heard evidence that The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (“The Trust”) have been experiencing difficulties with patient waiting lists – due to both an increase in the quantity of patients being treated and staffing shortages – which has led to patients waiting longer than is reasonable or necessary for reviews and treatments. As part of the inquest, there was evidence that Peter Anzani himself had been waiting for nearly a year for a follow-up review, which should have been carried out after no more than 6 months. I heard evidence from representatives of the Trust that they have repeatedly requested additional funds for workforce development and expansion to assist with cutting patient waiting lists and waiting times. I understand that an initial Workplace Funding Review was submitted in 2023 but was rejected by NHS England due to a funding shortage. I understand that a further Workplace Funding Review was submitted in the Autumn of 2024, but in February/March of this year, NHS England indicated that the same would again be rejected under a “no growth policy”. Whilst naturally I am aware of the pressures on the public purse and on the NHS generally, it is concerning to hear that the Trust do not appear to be being adequately supported financially by NHS England, and do not currently appear to be able to address their workplace staffing issues without additional financial support (which does not appear to be forthcoming). It is obvious that where patients are waiting for longer than is reasonable or necessary for treatment or reviews, there is a real risk of deaths occurring. No patient should be waiting longer than absolutely necessary for treatment. In light of HM Government’s decision on 13 March 2025 to abolish NHS England and for its role to be subsumed within the Department of Health and Social Care, this report is being sent to both Agencies to consider, as it relates to issues of both a local and national significance.
  16. News Article
    A delay in improving NHS maternity care is costing the lives of hundreds of babies a year, analysis has shown. At least 2,500 fewer babies would have died since 2018 if hospitals had managed to reduce the number of of stillbirths and neonatal and maternal deaths in England, as the government falls behind on its commitment to halve the rate of those three events. That is according to a joint report by the baby charities Tommy’s and Sands, which assesses NHS progress on meeting targets that were set in 2015. Dr Robert Wilson, head of the Sands and Tommy’s joint policy unit, said: “Hundreds of fewer babies a year would have died since 2018 if the government had met its ambition to halve the rates of stillbirths and neonatal deaths in England by 2025.” The 2,500 deaths are “the equivalent of around 100 primary school classrooms”, Wilson said. The stubbornly high rates of stillbirth and neonatal death, despite efforts to tackle them, showed that ministers were doing too little to reduce the incidence of baby loss, Wilson claimed. He said: “The response from government and policymakers to the ongoing crisis in maternity and neonatal care and the scale of pregnancy and baby loss in the UK is simply not good enough. Too many people continue to suffer the heartbreak of losing a baby.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 20 May 2025
  17. Content Article
    Brooke Nichols has launched online tracking tools that capture estimated increases in mortality and disease spread for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases as a result of the near-total freeze in US foreign aid funding and programming.  Over the last two months, the Trump administration’s slashing of US foreign aid and systematic dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have severely disrupted the lives of populations abroad who rely on this funding for disease detection and treatment, nutrition assistance, and other vital public health services. After pausing all foreign aid assistance by executive order on Inauguration Day, the administration permanently cancelled 83 percent of USAID’s global contracts just weeks later—a decision that public health experts warned would lead to preventable deaths and accelerate disease spread. If this foreign aid is not restored before the end of 2025, more than 176,000 additional adults and children around the world could die from HIV, according to excess death estimates from a new digital tracking initiative by Brooke Nichols, associate professor of global health. Her tracker also indicates that at least 62,000 additional people could die from tuberculosis (TB)—roughly one death every 7.7 minutes—if foreign aid does not resume by the end of the year, and these figures are steadily increasing. These estimates are listed on Impact Counter, a real-time digital tracking website that Nichols utilises to quantify the real-world human impact of the recent US policy changes on humanitarian aid. On the site’s dashboard, Nichols provides up-to-date calculations of increases in mortality, disease spread, and healthcare costs for HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, neglected tropical diseases, and malnutrition.
  18. News Article
    A senior doctor has been accused of wrongly failing to escalate the care of a 13-year-old girl whose death led to the adoption of Martha’s rule, which gives the right to a second medical opinion in hospitals. At a disciplinary tribunal in Manchester, Prof Richard Thompson was also said to have provided a colleague with “false and misleading information” about the condition of Martha Mills. Martha died on 31 August 2021 at King’s College hospital (KCH) in south London after contracting sepsis. In 2022, a coroner ruled that she would most likely have survived if doctors had identified the warning signs of her rapidly deteriorating condition and transferred her to intensive care earlier, which her parents had asked doctors to do. Thompson, a specialist in paediatric liver disease, and the on-duty consultant – although he was on call at home – on 29 August 2021, is accused by the General Medical Council (GMC) of misconduct that impairs his fitness to practise. Opening the GMC’s case at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service on Monday, Christopher Rose said, based on a review of the case by Dr Stephen Playfor, a medical examiner at Manchester Royal Infirmary, Thompson: Should have taken more “aggressive intervention” between noon and 1pm on 29 August, including referring Martha to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Should have gone into the hospital from about 5pm to carry out an in-person assessment of a rash Martha had developed. Gave “false, outdated and misleading information” in a phone call at approximately 9.40pm to Dr Akash Deep in the PICU team. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 19 May 2025
  19. News Article
    The UK is becoming “the sick person of the wealthy world” because of the growing number of people dying from drugs, suicide and violence, research has found. Death rates among under-50s in the UK have got worse in recent years compared with many other rich countries, an international study shows. While mortality from cancer and heart disease has decreased, the number of deaths from injuries, accidents and poisonings has gone up, and got much worse for use of illicit drugs. The trends mean Britain is increasingly out of step with other well-off nations, most of which have had improvements in the numbers of people dying from such causes. The increase in drug-related deaths has been so dramatic that the rate of them occuring in the UK was three times higher in 2019 – among both sexes – than the median of 21 other countries studied. The findings are contained in a report by the Health Foundation thinktank, based on an in-depth study of health and death patterns in the 22 nations by academics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). “The UK’s health is fraying,” they concluded. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 20 May 2025
  20. Content Article
    This briefing from the Health Foundation compares trends in mortality within the UK and with 21 high-income countries, based on new research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The findings are stark, underlining deep inequalities in health between different parts of the UK and a worrying decline in UK health compared with international peers. Key points: Improvements in UK mortality rates slowed significantly in the 2010s, more than in most of the other countries studied. By 2023, the UK female mortality rate was 14% higher than the median of peer countries and the UK male mortality rate was 9% higher. For both, the gap to the median widened significantly after 2011, and the UK’s ranking relative to peer countries has now worsened. Improvements in mortality rates slowed across all UK nations and regions in the 2010s – but there are significant geographic inequalities. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have higher mortality rates than England. Scotland is performing particularly poorly – of the countries studied, in 2021 only the US had a worse mortality rate. In 2021, mortality rates were 20% higher in the North East and North West of England than in the South West. People aged 25–49 have seen a particularly pronounced relative worsening of mortality rates. In 2023, UK female mortality rates for this age group were 46% higher than the median of peer countries, while male rates were 31% higher. Of the other countries studied, only Canada and the US experienced a similar worsening of mortality rates among this age group over the 2010s. This worsening of mortality rates is a sign of ill health in the working-age population, acting as a drag on economic growth. Of the main three causes of death for people aged 25–49, mortality rates for cancers and circulatory diseases improved between 2001 and 2019, but rates worsened for deaths from external causes. Deaths from external causes explain between 70% and 80% of the divergence in UK mortality rates compared with the median of peer countries over this period. While in the 2010s alcohol-related mortality rates for people aged 25–49 plateaued or declined and mortality rates for suicide (and undetermined intent) slightly increased, the rate of drug-related deaths rose sharply. In contrast, rates of drug-related deaths continued to decline for peer countries. As a result, the drug-related mortality rate in the UK was more than three times higher in 2019 than the median of peer countries. Geographic inequalities in drug-related deaths are stark among people aged 25–49. In 2019, the drug-related mortality rate in Scotland was around 4 times higher than in England. Within England, the drug-related mortality rate in the North East was 3.5 times higher for men and almost 4 times higher for women than in London. With the UK comparing poorly with many other high-income countries, improvement is both possible and urgently needed. This will require long-term action for economic recovery in areas of long run industrial decline; a strong focus on prevention; investment in public health services and action to address risk factors such as smoking, alcohol and poor diet; and a concerted effort to tackle drug-related deaths. These actions should be brought together in a clear strategy for tackling health inequalities. The UK government’s health mission promised just such an approach, but progress so far has been slow. This needs to change or the UK’s health will fall further behind its international peers.
  21. Content Article
    Many errors in surgical patient care are caused by poor non-technical skills (NTS). This includes skills like decision-making and communication. How often these errors cause harm and death is not known. This goal of this study was to report how many surgical deaths are associated with NTS errors in Australia by assessing all surgical deaths from 2012 to 2019. Some 64% of cases had an NTS error linked to death. Decision-Making and Situational Awareness errors were the most common. The results of this study can be used to guide improvement and reduce future errors and patient death.
  22. News Article
    The UK's top A&E doctor has accused the government of “neglecting the oldest and sickest patients” as figures suggest a record 320 people a week may have died needlessly in A&E last year due to waits for hospital beds. Dr Adrian Boyle, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine president, has warned that current government policy on A&E is focused on cutting waits for “cut fingers and sprained ankles” while neglecting older people, who are most likely to die and spend days on trollies. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) estimates there were more than 16,600 deaths of patients linked to long waits for a bed, an increase of a fifth on 2023 and a record since new A&E data has been published. The figures come after the NHS’s target to see 95% of patients within four hours was cut to 78% for 2025/26. There is no national target for the number of people waiting 12 hours, the length of time linked to excess emergency care deaths, but last year more than 1.7 million patients waited 12 hours or more to be admitted, discharged or transferred from A&E. Dr Boyle said the figures were “the equivalent of two aeroplanes crashing every week” and were devastating for families. Read full story Source: The Independent, 15 May 2025
  23. News Article
    Health trusts have repeatedly tried to prevent coroners from issuing Prevention of Future Death reports in order to protect their reputations, an inquiry has heard. Deborah Coles, director of the charity Inquest, told the BBC the "reprehensible" behaviour was a pattern "played out across the country" but was "exemplified" in Essex. She gave evidence at the Lampard Inquiry, which is looking into the deaths of more than 2,000 people being treated by NHS mental health services in Essex between 2000 and 2023. In her evidence to the inquiry, Ms Coles said the "lack of candour" on the part of mental health trusts in Essex was the reason a statutory public inquiry needed to be held. "It's difficult to say how traumatising that is for families when they sit in at an inquest… and then see legal representatives try and effectively stop a coroner from making a Prevention of Future Deaths report, external, which is ultimately about trying to safeguard lives in the future - and I find that reprehensible," she said. "We are talking here about trying to protect lives and also remember those who've died where those deaths were preventable." Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 May 2025
  24. News Article
    Family doctors in England are deeply divided on the issue of assisted dying, BBC research on plans to legalise the practice suggests. The findings give a unique insight into how strongly many GPs feel about the proposed new law - and highlight how personal beliefs and experiences are shaping doctors' views on the issue. BBC News sent more than 5,000 GPs a questionnaire asking whether they agreed with changing the law to allow assisted dying for certain terminally ill people in England and Wales. More than 1,000 GPs replied, with about 500 telling us they were against an assisted dying law and about 400 saying they were in favour. Some of the 500 GPs who told us they were against the law change called the bill "appalling", "highly dangerous", and "cruel". "We are doctors, not murderers," one said. Of the 400 who said they supported assisted dying, some described the bill as "long overdue" and "a basic human right". It comes as MPs will this week again debate proposed changes to the controversial bill, with a vote in parliament expected on whether to pass or block it next month. If assisted dying does become legal in England and Wales, it would be a historic change for society. Read full story Source: BBC News, 14 May 2025
  25. News Article
    Vulnerable patients at a struggling A&E died or needed intensive care after their needs “were not met” while being cared for in corridors and waiting areas, inspectors have warned after an unannounced inspection. The Care Quality Commission has raised concerns about how some of the “most vulnerable patients” were being treated in temporary escalation spaces at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, according to a document published in board papers this month. NHSE has said systems should “consider reporting the number of patients” in temporary escalation spaces, which include corridors or makeshift wards. Its guidance followed the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary that included scenes of patients being neglected in corridors in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Published CQC reports have since raised concerns about corridor care, but senior figures told HSJ the findings at the Royal Cornwall were among the most severe of this kind. The inspectors said one 96-year-old woman in a temporary escalation space died following a fall and staff “were unaware of the risk of falls due to lack of verbal handover”. Another patient “with a history of delirium” suffered a fractured collarbone from a fall in the same area of the hospital. In another case, an incontinent patient was transferred to a “fit to sit” area but by the end of the day “had deteriorated and was in intensive care”. The CQC’s letter said: “We were concerned the most vulnerable patients were not having their needs met when cared for in a temporary escalation space. “We weren’t assured that every ward is accounting for additional patients in the temporary escalation areas in terms of staffing numbers and skill mix.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 May 2025 Further reading on the hub: Corridor care: are the health and safety risks being addressed? The crisis of corridor care in the NHS: patient safety concerns and incident reporting A nurse's response to the NHSE guidance on their principles for providing safe and good quality care in temporary escalation spaces
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