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Showing results for tags 'Work / environment factors'.
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Content Article
As part of our ‘Speaking up for patient safety’ interview series', we spoke to Kathy Nabbie, a theatre scrub nurse practitioner and non-medical surgical first assistant. Kathy talks to us about the cultures she has witnessed in both NHS and private healthcare organisations, and why she now will not accept a shift if she feels not enough is done to ensure patients’ safety. -
News Article
USA: RFK Jr contradicts experts by linking autism rise to ‘environmental toxins’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, said in his first press conference that the significant and recent rise in autism diagnoses was evidence of an “epidemic” caused by an “environmental toxin”, which would be rooted out by September. “This is a preventable disease, we know it’s environmental exposure, it has to be,” said Kennedy. “Genes do not cause epidemics, they can provide a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin,” he said, despite known evidence against this claim. Kennedy’s remarks come after a new federal report suggests that autism rates in the US are rising. The report states that autism prevalence across the country has increased from 1 in 36 children to 1 in 31. Health researchers across various autism advocacy groups attribute the increase to the expansion of diagnostic tools and access to care, along with other factors. RFK disagreed with the consensus of health researchers, and said that “we need to move away” from the idea that the increase in autism prevalence “is simply due to better diagnostic tools”. The health secretary is instead using the data to support the idea that the rise in autism diagnoses is evidence of a growing “epidemic”. He added that “epidemic denial” towards autism had become a “feature of mainstream media”. In a statement about the CDC’s research, the Autism Society of America said: “This rise in prevalence does not signal an ‘epidemic’ as narratives are claiming – it reflects diagnostic progress, and an urgent need for policy decisions rooted in science and the immediate needs of the autism community.” The statement emphasised that the “rise in prevalence likely reflects better awareness, improved screening tools, and stronger advocacy”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025 -
News Article
Six Massachusetts hospital workers on same floor report getting brain tumours
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of staff members who have developed brain tumours while working on the same floor of a Boston-area hospital has increased to at least six, according to the facility’s leadership. A recent statement attributed to the president of Mass General Brigham’s Newton-Wellesley hospital, Ellen Moloney, said the newly reported tumour was benign, as were five previously documented ones. The statement maintained that investigators had not turned up any evidence of environmental risks at the hospital, though their work remained ongoing. Nonetheless, even before the number of staffers with tumours jumped, a labour union representing nurses at the hospital had pledged to press for answers. That pledge came after Newton-Wellesley hospital’s leadership initially confirmed that five nurses had reported developing non-cancerous growths in their brains after having worked on the facility’s fifth-floor maternity unit at some point. An additional half-dozen staff members with experience working on the floor in question reported other health concerns that did not involve brain tumors, Newton-Wellesley officials have said. The hospital has repeatedly suggested there is no evidence to establish that the situation is anything more than a coincidence. Moloney alluded to how the hospital had worked internal and governmental occupational offices while also consulting with outside environmental experts. Testing since then has examined the hospital’s water, radiation levels, air quality and other factors. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025 -
News Article
Best and worst trusts to work at, according to bank staff
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS bank staff are almost always more likely to recommend their employer as a good place to work than permanent staff. Results published this week found that 67% of responding bank staff would recommend their organisation as a place to work. This compares to 60% of substantive staff. The bank staff score increased slightly on last year, while that for salaried staff fell – again marginally. The survey, which is coordinated by Picker on behalf of NHS England, revealed a quarter (25.3% of bank staff reported experiencing at least one incident of physical violence from patients and the public in the last 12 months The proportion of bank workers experiencing discrimination from patients and the public has also risen, from 13.1 to 14.8%. Other results from the survey showed improvements in work-life balance and a reduction in burnout rates. Picker Group chief executive Chris Picker said: “These latest results paint a mixed picture of life as a bank-only worker in the NHS. “While many continue to benefit from the flexibility and improved work-life balance offered by bank roles, rising reports of incidents of violence and discrimination from patients and the public are a cause for concern, particularly for the many bank nursing and healthcare assistants reporting experiences of these unacceptable behaviours.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 17 April 2025 -
Content ArticleThe presentation was held following the inaugural William Rathbone X Lecture, given by Professor Alison Leary, who spoke on the highly topical subject, ‘Thinking differently about nursing workforce challenges.’ The presentation can be watched from The Queen's Nursing Institute website.
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EventuntilThe past couple of years have placed enormous pressures on the mental health and wellbeing of the population. The current cost of living crisis is having a significant impact on people’s state of mind with millions feeling stressed about rising food and energy prices as we head into winter. Delivered by Maximus, the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, can help employees and employers during this difficult time with their mental health. Completely confidential, the service is available at no charge to anyone with depression, anxiety, stress or other mental health issues, affecting their work. Remploy already helped thousands of people across England, Scotland and Wales, to remain in, or return to work, so our expertise speaks for itself. Led by Bethany Kimberley and Kaylena Mushen, this webinar will introduce the service, covering facts and statistics around mental health. It also looks at the service’s aims, eligibility criteria and referral process, plus what support and workplace adjustments are available at home, in an office, or other place of work. The session will also introduce and additional service, offering virtual one-to-one support appointments for employees. Learn how to gain access to fully-funded expert advice and support for up to nine months, which includes – A well being plan to help employees stay in, or attend work. Ideas for suitable workplace adjustments. Tailored coping strategies. Facts and statistics around mental health. Aims of the service. Details of the eligibility criteria and referral process. The support and interventions available. Register
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EventuntilThroughout the COVID-19 pandemic health and care staff have been working in different ways and designing new ways to meet the needs of patients and service users, all while under a huge amount of pressure. This event from the King's Fund will take a look at some examples of those changes and how people working in health and care have been working remotely, flexibly and in an agile way to meet the demands created by the pandemic and to develop new and improved ways of working for the future. Sign up now to hear about: the role of visible, collaborative and inclusive leadership to support staff and allow innovation how to keep staff health and wellbeing a priority while also delivering change how teams across health and care were able to be upskilled and remain flexible for these new ways of working. Register
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Community PostWhen you enter a hospital, be it as a patient or a member of staff, an interesting thing happens. The glass doors close behind you and you are irretrievably in a different existential space. Outside, beyond that threshold is the material world. But inside you are a new Jonah having been swallowed by a mammoth whale I’m interested in exploring that existential space in the interests of quantifying the healing environment.
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Community PostHi all, I had a great meeting with @Neal Jones yesterday and in a wide ranging discussion we reflected on design and human factors. I recall some great work many years ago on the redesign of ambulances (that the NPSA contributed to) and wondered what happened to that initative and whether this had developed into designing new hospitals for patient safety. @Neal Jones recalled the DOME (designing out medical error) project http://www.domeproject.org.uk/index.html. This web site is dated 2010 and it seems to have been a three year funded project. Is this innovative approach still 'live?' Does anyone know of any work on human factors in hospital design to deliver safer care (processes, equipment, layout, technology etc)? In the UK or internationally? By googling I've found articles on specific departmental inititaives and people calling for more to be done but not much of the 'how' or any requirment to embed patient safety into new build hospital deisgn. Surely there must be soemthing?!!
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News ArticleNHS workers are at breaking point after months of upheaval and high pressure during the coronavirus outbreak with hospital leaders warning the health service is facing a “perfect storm” of workforce shortages and a second wave of COVID-19. In a survey of 140 NHS trust leaders almost all of them said they were worried about their staff suffering burnout ahead of winter. They also sounded the alarm over concerns there had not been enough investment into social care before this winter. NHS Providers, which carried out the survey ahead of its annual conference of hospital leaders, warned the first wave of COVID-19 had made a lasting impact on the health service which had yet to fully recover. Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said there had been “no let-up in the pressure” during the pandemic, which followed a difficult winter for staff. “And while the response to the spring surge in COVID-19 cases showed the NHS at its best, the pressures took their toll on staff who gave so much,” he said. “The worry is that the sustained physical, psychological and emotional pressure on health staff is threatening to push them beyond their limits of endurance.” Almost all those who responded to the survey, 99 per cent, said they were either extremely or moderately concerned about the current level of burnout across the workforce. Read full story Source: The Independent, 6 October 2020
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Content ArticleRIDDOR puts duties on employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises (the Responsible Person) to report certain serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near misses). There is no requirement under RIDDOR (The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013) to report incidents of disease or deaths of members of the public, patients, care home residents or service users from COVID-19. The reporting requirements relating to cases of, or deaths from, COVID-19 under RIDDOR apply only to occupational exposure, that is, as a result of a person’s work.
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Content Article
RCOG: Workplace Behaviour Toolkit
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Good practice
A resource developed in collaboration with RCOG, Royal College of Midwives and Civility Saves Lives. The toolkit comprises of 8 modules and includes tools to: support the development of positive workplace culture support you when you encounter poor workplace behaviours strengthen your skills and confidence in 'speaking up' promote an understanding of what poor workplace behaviour looks like and its impact on individuals, teams, organisations and importantly the women and families we care for. -
News Article
"The public has a right to the truth": NHS staff speak out on coronavirus fears
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The health service lacks the beds, staffing and resources to cope with a serious outbreak of the coronavirus, The Independent has been told by senior doctors and nurses. NHS staff from across the country warned hospitals are already unable to cope, with patients being looked after in spill-over wards and waiting hours for a bed, with one doctor saying it was already a “one in, one out mentality” for intensive care. Other staff reported delays in lab tests, rationing of protective masks and equipment, and a lack of isolation areas for suspected coronavirus patients. Suggestions from the Health Secretary Matt Hancock that the NHS would use “home ventilation kits”, and that an extra 5,000 intensive care beds could be created, were labelled “fanciful” by the chair of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses today. Nicki Credland said: “If you already have a system running at 100 per cent capacity, the idea you can get a significant amount of additional beds is just not realistic. There simply aren’t enough beds for them. We will need to make difficult decisions about which patients are going to be admitted to intensive care." Read full story Source: The Independent, 5 March 2020 -
News Article
Nurse begs hospital bosses to ‘see for themselves how unsafe it is’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An advanced nurse practitioner working in primary care services at Grimsby Hospital has called on the hospital senior leadership to ‘see for themselves how unsafe it is’. The nurse, who has penned a letter to bosses at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust says they are having “worst experience to date” in their career and fears somebody will die unnecessarily unless something is urgently done. “I have never in my whole career seen patients hanging off trolleys, vomiting down corridors, having ECGs down corridors, patients desperate for the toilet, desperate for a drink. Basic human care is not being given safely or adequately," says the nurse. Hospital bosses say they are taking the letter seriously and are investigating. Earlier this month it was revealed that some hospitals were being forced to deploy ‘corridor nurses’ in a bid to maintain patient safety while dealing with unprecedented demand. Dr Peter Reading, Chief Executive, said: “I can confirm we have received this email and that the hospital and North East Lincolnshire CCG are taking these concerns seriously. The person who raised the concerns with us has been contacted and informed that we are jointly investigating what they have told us. Read full story Source: Nursing Notes, 22 January 2020 -
News Article
Hospital in bullying claims did not monitor at-risk patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A hospital accused of bullying its staff is facing new claims that it failed to act on a leading doctor’s warning about a potentially fatal failure to monitor vulnerable patients, the Guardian newspaper can reveal. Dr Jonathan Boyle, the UK’s top vascular surgeon, had warned West Suffolk NHS trust that patients at risk of dying from burst aneurysms were not being safely monitored. An IT glitch meant that patients were not followed up to see how soon they would need potentially life-saving surgery. A doctor at the trust, however, says it initially repeatedly refused to take any action, raising further questions about its management. The trust initially suggested the problem was the result of senior doctors not keeping up with emails, but later accepted its IT systems were at fault. The hospital was forced to recognise that patients were potentially put at risk and took action only after a whistleblower alerted the NHS regulator. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 January 2020 -
News Article
'Outdated' IT leaves NHS staff with 15 different computer logins
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
IT systems in the NHS are so outdated that staff have to log in to up to 15 different systems to do their jobs. Doctors can find themselves using different logins for everything from ordering x-rays and getting lab results to accessing A&E records and rotas. The government in England said it was looking to streamline the systems as part of an IT upgrade. Around £40 million is being set aside to help hospitals and clinics introduce single-system logins in the next year. Alder Hey in Liverpool is one of a number of hospitals which have already done this, and found it reduced time spent logging in from one minute 45 seconds to just 10 seconds. With almost 5,000 logins per day, it saved over 130 hours of staff time a day, to focus on patient care. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was time to "get the basics right". "It is frankly ridiculous how much time our doctors and nurses waste logging on to multiple systems. Too often outdated technology slows down and frustrates staff." British Medical Association leader Dr Chaand Nagpaul said logging on to multiple systems did waste time. But he said on its own this move would not solve all the problems, pointing out that many of the IT systems themselves were "antiquated" and needed upgrading. Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 January 2020 -
Content ArticleA new BMJ Open study from Grimmond et al. compared global warming potential of hospitals converting from single-use sharps containers to reusable sharps containers. The study reveals that, on average, the 40 NHS trusts studied when converting from single use to reusable sharps containers reduced their sharps waste stream carbon footprint by 84%.
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Content Article
COVID-19: voices from the front line
Claire Cox posted an article in Stories from the front line
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed most lives internationally. Households have shifted, balancing financial concerns and anxieties about the health of family and friends with the trials and responsibilities of childcare. During this pandemic it became clear that while many were struggling with the same issues, a series of shared stories could help the wellbeing of frontline NHS staff who might feel isolated and alone. The following voices are not unique to Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, anaesthesia or healthcare in the UK, but they were selected from the department to represent some of many healthcare workers who have taken on new professional roles as well as radically different ways of working and living. -
Content ArticleIn this talk, Steven Shorrock outlines seven fallacies of work-as-imagined, concerning outcomes happen, how people work, how we design and implement, and how we think. A number of examples provided by healthcare workers are given. The talk was given at the HSJ Patient Safety Congress 2019. Presentation slides Video of presentation (29:21)
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Content Article
This is the US Military Health System
Claire Cox posted an article in Stories from the front line
Army, Navy and Air Force medical personnel care for Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and all who come in harm's way – on and off the battlefield. This video, in less than 4.5 minutes, provides a glimpse of the unique mission and benefits of military medicine. -
Content Article
Dirty Dozen and COVID-19 (webinar, May 2020)
Claire Cox posted an article in Coronavirus (COVID-19)
There are fears around maintaining personal safety whilst ensuring patient safety. Staff need to protect both themselves and their families at home. Equally, it is essential that staff feel supported in identifying risks and the potential for errors with a robust mechanism in place to reduce, eliminate or mitigate such risks. The Human Factors 'Dirty Dozen' is a concept developed by Gordon DuPont. He described elements that can act as precursors to accidents or incidents, or influence people to make mistakes. This webinar, from the Clinical Excellence Commission, looks at ways you can identify risks or 'hot spots' in your area of work and then discuss with your team at handover and huddles and plan strategies to reduce, eliminate or mitigate the risks -
Content ArticleA lower recruitment and high turnover rate of registered nurses have resulted in a global shortage of nurses. In the UK, prior to the COVID-19 epidemic, nurses’ intention to leave rates were between 30 and 50% suggesting a high level of job dissatisfaction. In this study, published in BMC Nursing, Senek et al. analysed data from a cross-sectional mixed-methods survey developed by the Royal College of Nursing and administered to the nursing workforce across all four UK nations, to explore the levels of dissatisfaction and demoralisation – one of the predictors of nurses’ intention to leave. In total, 1742 nurses responded to questions about working conditions on their last shift. The authors found that nearly two-thirds of respondents were demoralised. Nurses were five times more likely to feel demoralised if they reported missed care. A perceived lack of support had nearly the same impact on the level of demoralisation. These findings were reflected in the qualitative findings where registered nurses reported how staffing issues and failures in leadership left them feeling disempowered and demoralised. In order to reduce the negative impact of dissatisfaction and improve retention, more research needs to investigate the relationship dynamics within healthcare teams and how the burden experienced by registered nurses when unsupported by managers impacts on their ability to provide safe, good-quality care. These findings predate the current COVID-19 pandemic outbreak which may have had a further detrimental effect on job satisfaction in the UK and other nation’s nursing workforce.
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Content ArticleThe purpose of this Global Framework for National Occupational Health Programmes for Health Workers, as directed by the WHO Global Plan of Action (GPA) on Workers’ Health (2008–17) and consistent with the ILO Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (No. 187), is to strengthen health systems and the design of healthcare settings with the goal of improving health worker health and safety, patient safety and quality of patient care, and ultimately support a healthy and sustainable community with links to Greening Health Sector and Green Jobs initiatives.
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Content Article
Association for Anaesthetists: Tips for night shifts
Claire Cox posted an article in Motivating staff
The Association for Anaesthetists have produced some 'top tips' for night shift workers. What tips do you have to keep you feeling well overnight? -
Content ArticlePresentation from WHO's 'A Decade of Patient Safety 2020-2030: Formulating Global Patient Safety Action Plan' patient safety meeting in Geneva. Key learning points Education and training of healthcare workers Equip the workforce with the fundamental knowledge and skills of human factors/ergonomics. Support, promote and embed the discipline in the practitioner’s professional training and development. Empower participation in human factor/ergonomic initiatives. Draw on existing expertise. Organisational commitment Comprehensive, resilient, proactive patient safety programme. Safety culture (not punitive to individual). Risk management system. Programme evaluation, meaningful and informative indicators, continuous learning and improvement.
