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Corridor care ‘must not be the norm’, NHSE warns trusts

NHS England has warned trusts corridor care “must not be considered the norm”, adding that the failings exposed by a recent undercover documentary were “not acceptable”.

In a letter to boards after a Dispatches documentary filmed at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital aired on Monday, NHSE’s chief operating officer, chief nursing officer, national medical director and director of urgent and emergency care warned trusts they must ensure basic standards of care.

The note, seen by HSJ, described footage filmed at RSH’s emergency department as “stark”, adding that it highlighted the service some patients receive is “not acceptable”.

The documentary captured many instances of patients being treated in corridors, and the letter said corridor care or that delivered outside a normal cubicle environment “must not be considered the norm”.

NHSE added: “It should only be in periods of escalation and with board-level oversight at trust and system level… where it is deemed a necessity… it must be provided in the safest and most effective manner possible, for the shortest period of time… with patient dignity and respect being maintained throughout.”

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Source: HSJ, 27 June 2024

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A silent safety scandal: A nurse’s first-hand account of a corridor nursing shift

 

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Council warned over broken alarm after woman dies

An assistant coroner has warned an east London council more people may die if it does not take action, after a "frail lady who was prone to falls" died of hypothermia at her home.

Anoush Summers, 77, died in hospital in January after a fall days earlier.

In a prevention of future deaths report, external, assistant coroner Edwin Buckett said Ms Summers' inquest concluded "the absence of a working wrist alarm prevented her from being found sooner than she was and probably contributed to her death".

Ms Summers lived alone but received help from two carers from Supreme Care Services, and she was visited twice a day.

After falling at home on 11 January, she was found the next day at 09:00 GMT wearing her wrist alarm and was taken to hospital.

She died of hypothermia at Homerton University Hospital on 14 January.

The assistant coroner said among issues he identified in her case "giving rise to concern" were:

  • Her wrist alarm had been reported as broken and not working on 6 January, but "this was not replaced or repaired by the company engaged by the local authority", which meant Ms Summers could not call for help as "it did not work"
  • None of the carers who attended her home after the wrist alarm broke on 6 January "ensured that steps were taken to replace the alarm" or reported the matter to the local authority
  • The last carer to see her, who visited on 11 January, "was not aware that the wrist alarm did not work as she had not read the care notes", and "no clear instruction was given" about the extent to which carers should read these notes

"None of the carers had been given any training, instruction or guidance on the testing of wrist alarms to ensure they worked properly when attending"

There was not a "clear system identified between the company providing carers and the local authority as to the duties and responsibilities of each in the reporting of faults with wrist alarms"

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Source: BBC News, 26 June 2024

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Cancer patient says 'it's terrifying' as doctors walk out during heatwave and cyber attack fallout

A cancer patient has told Sky News it's "terrifying" for her health that junior doctors are striking again from Thursday.

The NHS is expecting "major disruption" during the five-day strike as medics in England walk out over pay amid a yellow health alert heatwave and ongoing disruption to some services because of a ransomware cyber attack earlier this month.

Major hospitals Guys' and St Thomas' and King's in London are still running at reduced capacity after the incident.

Cancer survivor Donia Youssef has annual colonoscopies but her last was cancelled because of previous industrial action by junior doctors.

Donia, from Grays in Essex, said: "It's a worry as a mum with two young children and I was on the list. It got cancelled. First time because of the strikes. And after that I didn't hear from them. So I kept pushing. Nothing. It was just more delays. I was just kept waiting.

"[They said]: 'There's a backlog. We'll get back to you. There's a backlog, they're getting through. We'll let you know if there's any cancellations.'"

"It's like months later. Nothing. So eventually, because the symptoms are getting worse, I decided to pay."

Donia was so scared of her health worsening she paid for private treatment, a cost she could barely afford. And now, as a cancer survivor, every time there's a fresh round of strikes she is filled with dread.

"I get scared. I can't get [treatment] on the private and a lot of it's really expensive. So, yeah, it's terrifying. So you're constantly aware," she said.

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Source: Sky News, 27 June 2024

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CQC admits it is failing to keep patients safe

The Care Quality Commission has admitted it is failing to keep patients “safe” and is losing the confidence of ministers and the NHS, HSJ  has discovered.

HSJ has seen part of an internal “problem statement” produced by interim chief executive Kate Terroni. It says that “stakeholders and the Department of Health and Social Care are losing confidence in our ability to deliver our purpose”.

The statement adds: “The way we work is not working and we are not consistently keeping people who use services safe.

“Our people are not able to effectively identify and manage risk and encourage improvement and innovation.

“Our organisational structure, flow of decision making, roles, internal and external relationships do not promote a productive and credible way of working.” 

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Source: HSJ, 26 June 2024

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Puddles of blood, urinating in corridors and 46 hour waits: Undercover Dispatches footage reveals A&E horrors

A patient in a West Midlands A&E was forced to urinate while lying in a corridor as another was left crying in agony for hours in an undercover report highlighting the NHS’ emergency care crisis.

A Channel 4 Dispatches programme has exposed the “suffering and indignity faced by patients on a daily basis” after an undercover reporter secretly filmed himself working as a trainee healthcare assistant inside the emergency department of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for two months. The footage, which aired on Monday night, shows one patient waiting 30 hours in a “fit to sit” area while a suspected stroke sufferer was there for 24 hours, the broadcaster said.

In one clip, an elderly man was forced to urinate in a trolley on the corridor in full view of staff and other patients, while in another a woman is left crying in agony for hours. Nurses are also seen discussing how one of their patients was forced to wait a staggering 46 hours for care and at one point the footage shows large pools of blood on the floor.

Experts have said while the scenes were “shocking” and “harrowing” they were not unique to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and are occurring in hospitals across England.

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Source: The Independent, 25 June 2024

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Almost half of antidepressant users could quit with GP support, study finds

Almost half of long-term antidepressant users could stop taking the medication with GP support and access to internet or telephone helplines, a study suggests.

Scientists said more than 40% of people involved in the research who were well and not at risk of relapse managed to come off the drugs with advice from their doctors.

They also discovered that patients who could access online support and psychologists by phone had lower rates of depression, fewer withdrawal symptoms and reported better mental wellbeing.

Prof Tony Kendrick, of Southampton University, who was the lead author of the research, said the findings were significant because they showed high numbers of patients withdrawing from the drugs without the need for costly intense therapy sessions.

He said: “This approach could eliminate the risk of serious side-effects for patients using antidepressants for long periods who have concerns about withdrawal.

“Offering patients internet and psychologist telephone support is also cost-effective for the NHS. Our findings show that support not only improves patient outcomes but also tends to reduce the burden on primary healthcare while people taper off antidepressants.”

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Source: The Guardian, 26 June 2024

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NHS having to ‘pick up pieces’ of medical tourism ‘boom’, say doctors

The NHS is having to provide emergency care to rising numbers of patients suffering serious complications following weight loss surgery and hair transplants abroad amid a “boom” in medical tourism, doctors have warned.

Medics said they were being left to “pick up the pieces” as more Britons seeking cheap operations overseas return with infections and other issues. In some cases, patients are dying as a result of botched surgeries performed in other countries.

Hospitals have even had to cancel elective procedures for patients because beds were being taken up by someone who needed an overseas procedure fixed.

There were also concerns over patients buying weight loss drugs, including Wegovy, abroad without receiving the necessary “wraparound” care, doctors said.

The British Medical Association’s annual meeting in Belfast heard there had been a “boom” in surgical tourism, which was “leading to a rise in serious post-surgery complications and deaths”.

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Source: The Guardian, 25 June 2024

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Low child vaccine uptake sees tipping-point warning

The UK is at a "tipping point", with low uptake of routine vaccinations putting children at risk of catching severe diseases, health officials say.

Stalling vaccination rates against some diseases, such as whooping cough and measles, means population immunity is no longer high enough to stop outbreaks.

Latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), for January-March, show a small increase in some vaccinations, including a 0.3% rise in pre-school booster jabs given to under-fives.

But targets are still being missed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) target is for 95% of under-fives to be vaccinated.

And for the six-in-one jab - against whooping cough, polio and tetanus - and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine this was exceeded in Scotland and Wales.

But for the UK as a whole only 91.5% of under-twos had received the six-in-one jab - and among the whole under-five age group, the proportion was just 84.5%.

he UK's vaccine committee head, paediatrician Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, is "really worried" by the recent rise in whooping, or "100-day", cough, also known as pertussis, which can be particularly serious for babies and infants.

"We've already seen some deaths from the most recent outbreak," He told BBC News.

"We're really at a tipping point, where there's a real risk for more children getting seriously ill or [dying] from diseases we can prevent."

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Source: BBC News, 25 June 2024

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NHS confirms patient data stolen in cyber attack

NHS England has confirmed its patient data managed by blood test management organisation Synnovis was stolen in a ransomware attack on 3 June.

Qilin, a Russian cyber-criminal group, shared almost 400GB of private information on their darknet site on Thursday night, something they threatened to do in order to extort money from Synnovis.

In a statement, NHS England said there is "no evidence" that test results have been published, but that "investigations are ongoing".

More than 3,000 hospital and GP appointments were disrupted by the attack.

"Patients should continue to attend their appointments unless they have been told otherwise and should access urgent care as they usually would," NHS England said.

A sample of the stolen data seen by the BBC includes patient names, dates of birth, NHS numbers and descriptions of blood tests, something cyber security expert Ciaran Martin told the BBC was "one of the most significant and harmful cyber attacks ever in the UK."

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Source: BBC News, 24 June 2024

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Ambulance response warning after woman's death

Long waiting times at hospitals in the north-west of England are putting patient's lives at risk by holding up ambulance crews, a coroner has warned.

It comes after the death of Bobilya Mulonge, who called 999 with breathing problems on 24 November 2022.

She waited 72 minutes for an ambulance - four times longer than North West Ambulance Service's (NWAS) 18-minute target for her category of emergency call - which "probably contributed to her death", coroner Lauren Costello said.

A NWAS spokesman said the service was "very sorry" an ambulance was unable to attend sooner and the service had made "significant" improvements since.

A report by Ms Costello has been sent to the health secretary and NWAS and urges the region's health authorities to take action to prevent further deaths.

She said evidence about ambulance delays revealed during the inquest had given rise to her concerns.

"In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken," she wrote.

Dale Ollier, north-west regional organiser for Unison, which represents some ambulance staff, said backlogs in moving patients out of hospitals was having a "knock-on effect" at A&E, leading to a "bottleneck crisis".

“We have patients that could be safely discharged but there isn’t anywhere to discharge them to because of the lack of capacity in social care."

Ambulances were working "flat out", he added, but delays had lead to an "unbearable demand" on crews who were sometimes "tied up for several hours" waiting at hospitals.

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Source: BBC News, 20 June 2024

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‘My catatonic wife repeatedly told she wasn’t a priority’ says husband battling the NHS mental health system

A man who has battled the NHS for decades to get his wife mental health support has been told by A&E staff she was not a priority despite being so unwell she was catatonic.

Steve, a 63-year-old from Hertfordshire, has been supporting his wife, who has schizophrenia, for 30 years and has recalled the “horrific” lack of care she has experienced when at her most ill.

Despite getting to a state of catatonia and becoming a danger to herself, he has been told on multiple occasions his wife was not a priority in A&E and there were no psychiatric beds available.

His story comes as a poll of more than 600 people by the charity Rethink Mental Illness revealed two-fifths of mental health patients reported being told they weren’t sick enough to access NHS care.

The charity, which supports people who suffer from severe mental illness, also found 35% of people reported their condition was considered too severe to be helped.

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Source: The Independent, 25 June 2024

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Northern Ireland: Medics who withhold information 'should face court'

Healthcare staff who deliberately withhold information should face criminal prosecution in cases involving patient safety and deaths, according to Northern Ireland's human rights commissioner.

In her first public interview on duty of candour, Alyson Kilpatrick told BBC News NI there was an obligation on doctors to be fully truthful in order to protect lives.

A duty of candour is an onus on staff to be open and transparent with patients and families when mistakes are made in a patient's care.

However, the British Medical Association (BMA) does not agree that criminal sanctions should be linked with a duty of candour, and has said it would go against creating a culture of openness and transparency.

Alan Roberts, whose daughter's death was examined by the Northern Ireland hyponatraemia inquiry which found there had been a "cover-up" into how she died, said doctors must be legally bound to tell the truth.

Claire Roberts was one of five children whose deaths at hospitals in Northern Ireland were examined by the 14-year-long inquiry. It was heavily critical of a health service it deemed to be "self-regulating and unmonitored".

Mr Roberts said "the public will be shocked to find there is no legal binding duty on a doctor to tell a patient when there have been failures or when they've been at fault".

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Source: BBC News, 25 June 2024

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Trusts plead for national help with surge in long waiters

The number of children waiting more than a year for community services has risen by a third in two months – mostly driven by referrals for neurological disorders – causing trusts to plead for national intervention.

NHS England figures show the number of children’s community waits of more than 52 weeks grew from 27,429 in February to 35,922 in April (31 per cent).

Data collection changed in February, which resulted in an increase in that month, but, even discounting this, the total appears to have roughly doubled in the year to April.

Along with a rise in the overall waiting list for community health services, it has been overwhelmingly driven by a large rise in referrals to children’s “community paediatrics” services, mostly for neurological disorders such as autism and ADHD.

Several trusts have declared they are effectively unable to deal with demand locally and called for national intervention and regional coordination to help.

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Source: HSJ, 25 June 2024

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Leading doctors launch legal action over physician associates

Leading doctors are to launch legal action against the medical regulator amid rising concerns about the use of physician associates.

The British Medical Association said it needed to take action before the “uncontrolled experiment” of the use of medical associate professions (MAPs) “before it leads to more unintended patient harm”.

The union said it is launching legal action against the General Medical Council (GMC) over the way it plans to regulate MAPs.

"We have had enough of the Government and the NHS leadership eroding our profession. We are standing up for both doctors and patients to block this ill thought through project before it leads to more unintended patient harm," said Professor Philip Banfield, BMA council chairman.

It said that there is a “dangerous blurring of lines” for patients between doctors and assistant roles.

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Source: The Independent, 24 June 2024

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Doctors ‘more frightened than ever’ to speak up about patient safety

A rising proportion of doctors will not blow the whistle over patient safety concerns for fear of retribution, leading medics said.

The British Medical Association (BMA) surveyed doctors from around the UK in 2018 and again in 2024.

A rising proportion said they would not feel confident raising concerns about patient care – 26% of 1,578 doctors in 2024 compared with 10% of around 7,900 doctors surveyed in 2018.

Three in five (61%) of those polled in 2024 said they may not raise concerns because they were “afraid” they or colleagues could be “unfairly blamed or suffer adverse consequences”.

Meanwhile 45% said they feel that their managers discourage them from raising concerns – up from 20% cent in 2018.

The BMA said that doctors are now “more frightened than ever” to speak up when they see patient safety issues, or levels of care at risk.

Professor Philip Banfield, chairman of council at the BMA, is set to highlight a culture of “protectionism rather than accountability”.

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Source: The Independent, 23 June 2024

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Thousands of agency workers set to leave NHS and care roles, poll suggests

Thousands of agency staff could leave the NHS and social care services in the next two years, new research has suggested.

More than 20,000 agency staff work across health and social care in the UK – but now a poll of 10,000 workers has revealed that nearly one in five could leave their job by 2026.

In the poll, carried out by consultancy Acacium Group, 24% of those surveyed reported feeling overstretched at work.

Key reasons for agency workers wanting to leave the NHS and social care included concerns over poor working conditions leading to staff burnout, and a lack of support from managers.

Olivia Swain, 29, who has worked as an agency paediatric nurse in the North East since 2019 after moving from a permanent NHS role, told researchers: “While I love my job, the transition into a flexible role has its challenges. You have to learn to adapt quickly. Sometimes I don’t have a login or password for computer systems or swipe access cards, which can be incredibly obstructive and puts undue pressure on colleagues.

“This can be a particular issue if I need quick access to patient records or to complete a referral.”

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Source: The Independent, 23 June 2024

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Nearly 19,000 NHS patients left waiting for three days in A&E over 12 months

Almost 19,000 NHS patients were left waiting in A&E for three days over a 12-month period, an investigation has revealed.

Between April 2023 and March 2024, nearly 400,000 people were left waiting more than 24 hours across A&E departments, a 5% rise on the previous year. Channel 4’s Dispatches programme also found that 54,000 people had to wait more than two days, a freedom of information request to NHS England found.

The investigation exposed “suffering and indignity faced by patients on a daily basis”, after an undercover reporter secretly filmed himself working as a trainee healthcare assistant inside the emergency department of the Royal Shrewsbury hospital for two months.

The “harrowing” scenes from the hospital’s A&E department came as an analyst from a thinktank said people were dying in emergency care in England “who don’t need to be dying”.

Footage shows one patient waiting for 30 hours in a “fit to sit” area while a suspected stroke sufferer was there for 24 hours, the broadcaster said.

Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “I don’t think this is unique to this hospital by any stretch of the imagination. The things we’ve seen here today are clearly not just confined to winter. It was a year-round crisis in emergency care.

“Spending two days in an emergency department is worse than spending two days in an airport lounge. These are people who are sitting in uncomfortable seats where the lights never go off. There’s constant noise, there’s constant stress. There’s no end in sight.”

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Source: The Guardian, 24 June 2024

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‘Deficient’ processes and ‘poor’ safety culture found in trust review

A trust’s drugs control department was found to have a “significant under-appreciation of safety” and “a culture of unwillingness”, after it lost track of at least two bags of fentanyl. 

The Royal Free London Foundation Trust launched an internal incident investigation after two rejected bags of the controlled drug were reported missing from a quality control quarantine store.

Fentanyl is a strong opioid used to treat severe and/or long-term pain. But its effect is similar to heroin, it is highly addictive, and there is therefore significant illicit  use of it.

While it was not possible to ascertain if foul play contributed to the incident, the review said the incident “is most likely to represent a failure in documentation and of subsequent escalation”.

Investigators said there appeared to be a “culture of unwillingness” to train and develop staff due to the fear of losing them to other organisations. They said a “culture of fear” was inhibiting the team’s ability to “progress, innovate, and grow”.

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Source: HSJ, 24 June 2024

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Four in five locum GPs in England unable to find work, BMA study finds

More than four in five locum GPs in England are unable to find work with a third forced to leave the NHS because they cannot make ends meet, a survey has found.

A survey of 1,852 locums, conducted by the British Medical Association (BMA), found that 84% cannot find work despite patients across the country waiting weeks for GP appointments.

The study also found that more than half are considering a career change owing to a lack of work, while a third (33%) have made definite plans to work in a different career away from the NHS.

Just under a third (31%) of respondents said that the lack of suitable shifts was leading them to leave the NHS entirely, while 71% said the government funding model was to blame for the levels of unemployment.

More than half of GP appointments are now conducted by non-GP practice staff as they are cheaper, which is leading to locums being unable to find work.

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Source: The Guardian, 21 June 2024

 

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NHS in summer crisis of emergency care waits, doctors say

The NHS is engulfed in a summer crisis, senior doctors have said, amid severe ambulance delays, corridors crowded with trolleys and patients facing 25-hour waits in A&E units.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) sounded the alarm over the “national scandal” of long waits for emergency care that it said were leading to “entirely preventable” deaths at a time of the year when there should be some respite from the traditional pressure experienced over winter.

Elderly people in particular were facing the brunt of the impact, with many forced to endure horrific long waits for a bed once a decision had been taken to admit them to hospital, the college said.

A snapshot survey by the RCEM of emergency department chiefs from across the UK, conducted between Monday and Wednesday this week, exposed the extent of the summer crisis in hospitals.

Nine in 10 (91%) of 63 A&E bosses admitted NHS patients were “coming into harm” on their wards due to the quality of care that could be delivered under current conditions.

Eighty-seven per cent said they had patients being treated in corridors and 68% said they had patients waiting in ambulances outside their A&E.

One emergency department leader revealed that one of their patients this week waited more than 19 hours for a hospital bed to become available once a decision was made to admit them after they had already waited six hours to be seen. Overall, the patient ended up waiting 25 hours in A&E.

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Source: The Guardian, 20 June 2024

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Global alert issued over fake Ozempic drugs

A global alert about fake versions of Ozempic - which has become popular as a way of losing weight - has been issued by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The drug is sometimes known as a "skinny jab" despite its main purpose being a treatment for type 2 diabetes.

The WHO said the fake medicines could pose a danger to health.

The organisation advised people to source the drug only through reputable sources, such as a doctor, rather than obscure sites online or through social media.

The active ingredient in Ozempic - semaglutide - helps people with type 2 diabetes control the amount of sugar in their blood.

However, the weekly injection also signals to the brain that we're full. So the drug helps people lose weight by reducing the urge to eat.

People without diabetes have been getting hold of the drug as a weight-loss medication, which has led to shortages for people with type 2 diabetes and created a market for counterfeit drugs.

“[We advise] healthcare professionals, regulatory authorities and the public be aware of these falsified batches of medicines,” said Dr Yukiko Nakatani, WHO assistant director general for essential medicines and health products.

"These falsified products could have harmful effects to people’s health," WHO said.

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Source: BBC News, 20 June 2024

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Hacked London NHS hospitals data allegedly published online

Data from a ransomware attack has allegedly been published online weeks after the attack halted operations and tests in major London hospitals, NHS England has said.

A Russian group is believed to have carried out the cyber-attack on Synnovis, a private pathology firm that analyses blood tests for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust (GSTT) and King’s College trust, on 3 June, forcing hospitals in the capital to cancel almost 1,600 operations and outpatient appointments.

NHS England said on Friday it had “been made aware that the cyber-criminal group published data last night which they are claiming belongs to Synnovis and was stolen as part of this attack. We know how worrying this development may be for many people. We are taking it very seriously.”

In the attack, it is understood hackers from the Russian-based ransomware criminal group Qilin infiltrated Synnovis’s IT system and locked the computer system by encrypting its files to extort a payment for restoring access. The trusts have contracts with Synnovis totalling just under £1.1bn for services that are vital to the smooth running of the NHS.

NHS England said an analysis of the data was under way involving the National Cyber Security Centre and other partners to confirm whether the data was taken from Synnovis’s systems and what information it contained.

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Source: The Guardian, 21 June 2024

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Date set for mental health deaths inquiry evidence

An inquiry looking into mental health deaths in Essex will begin hearing evidence on 9 September.

The Lampard Inquiry will investigate the deaths of more than 2,000 patients in the care of NHS trusts in Essex between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2023.

Evidence will be heard in public in Essex and live-streamed online over a three-week period.

The first hearings are expected to include opening statements as well as evidence from those impacted by mental health deaths.

The inquiry was announced in November 2020 after warnings from health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and a damning Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report in 2019, external into the deaths of two men in Essex.

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Source: BBC News, 20 June 2024

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Neighbouring providers aid cyber attack victim

Two pathology networks are coming to the aid of a neighbour, still largely paralysed following an unprecedented cyber attack on its IT system earlier this month.

HSJ has learned that Australian-owned firm Health Services Laboratories, which operates mainly from two NHS trusts in north London, will take on some of the primary care tests in south-east London while the Synnovis systems, which were taken out by the attack, are down.

HSL will take on work from Lambeth and Southwark boroughs, while South West London Pathology, an NHS-run consortium based at St George’s Hospital, will take on similar work for GP practices in Bexley and Bromley.

SWLP was able to connect electronically to send results back to 70 surgeries in south east London within three days.

HSL confirmed it had been drafted in, but it gave no information on what tests it was performing or where, or how it was assuring itself that services in north London would not suffer as a result.

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Source: HSJ, 20 June 2024

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Young women buying Ozempic to get ‘beach body ready’ end up in A&E

Young women are ending up in A&E after buying Ozempic online, with the NHS’s top doctor warning that weight-loss injections should not be abused in an attempt to get “beach body ready”.

Doctors in emergency care report that “almost every shift” they see “young, beautiful girls” with potentially deadly complications who took the drug despite being a healthy weight.

New weight-loss injections including semaglutide, better known by the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, are being used on the NHS for people with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Some patients, however, including those with eating disorders, have lied about their weight to get them privately from online pharmacies or beauty clinics — leading to complications including inflammation of the pancreas.

The drugs are sold by companies including Boots, Superdrug and Lloyds at between £150 and £200 a month. Doctors are calling for “urgent regulation and control” of their sale to ensure they are prescribed only to obese patients.

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director, said the drugs should not be seen as a “quick fix for people trying to get ‘beach body ready’ ”.

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Source: The Times, 13 June 2024

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