Jump to content
  • articles
    7,183
  • comments
    76
  • views
    6,407,592

Contributors to this article

About this News

Articles in the news

 

Pharma boss apologises for not disclosing sponsorship of anti-obesity training

The chief executive of pharma group Novo Nordisk has apologised for breaking the UK industry code by failing to disclose its sponsorship of obesity and weight management training courses for healthcare professionals that also promoted its weight loss drug.

The webinars, which were viewed by thousands of healthcare professionals, preferentially included positive information about Novo’s weight loss drug Saxenda, which the self-regulatory watchdog deemed a “disguised” large-scale promotional campaign. 

The industry self-regulatory body published a strongly worded reprimand last year, saying it was “concerned about the company’s compliance culture . . . internal governance systems and processes, and a perceived naivety and lack of accountability from Novo Nordisk”.

It also said it was concerned about “the potential impact on patient safety” because the webinars, which were run by a third-party provider but sponsored by Novo, showed a “lack of balance” in how they compared the side effects of Saxenda and its competitors.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Financial Times, 12 February 2023

Read more

England’s worsening care shortages leave older people struggling

Hundreds of thousands of older people in England are having to endure chronic pain, anxiety and unmet support needs owing to the worsening shortage of social care staff and care home beds.

Age UK has said older people with chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart failure are increasingly struggling with living in their own homes because of a lack of help with everyday tasks such as getting out of bed, dressing and eating.

The decline in the amount of support and care provided to older people is piling pressure on families and carers and leaving the NHS in constant crisis mode, contributing heavily to ambulance queues outside A&E departments, the charity said in a new report

It warned that there would be a repeat of the NHS crisis this winter – in which rising numbers of elderly people have been unnecessarily stuck in hospital because of an acute lack of social care – without a shift to preventing unnecessary admissions.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 17 February 2023

Read more

Watchdogs issue safety warnings after junior doctors left unsupervised on maternity wards

Two health watchdogs have issued safety warnings after junior staff were left to work unsupervised on maternity wards previously criticised after a baby’s death.

Training regulator, Health Education England (HEE), criticised the “unacceptable” behaviour of consultants who left junior doctors to work without any superiors at South Devon and Torbay Hospital Foundation Trust’s wards.

The maternity safety watchdog Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) also raised “urgent concerns” over student midwives and “unregistered midwives” providing care without supervision.

The latest criticism comes after the trust was condemned over the death of Arabella Sparkes, who lived just 17 days in May 2020 after she was starved of oxygen.

According to a report from December 2022, seen by The Independent, the HEE was forced to review how trainees were working at the trust’s maternity department after concerns were raised to the regulator. It was the second visit carried out following concerns about the department, and reviewers found there had been “slow progress” against concerns raised a year earlier.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 16 February 2023

Read more

Nurses to walk out of emergency departments for 48 hours

Nurses will walk out of emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care services for the first time in the next wave of strike action.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has announced its members will strike for 48 hours, from 6am on 1 March until 6am on 3 March and that a range of derogations will be removed, including emergency care cover. 

More than 120 NHS organisations — covering all types of providers, integrated care systems and national organisations (see map below) — will be affected by the RCN’s walkout next month as it represents the most significant escalation of strike action yet by nurses.

Previously, quite extensive exemptions (known as “derogations”) have been agreed, but the RCN has this time indicated they will be much more limited. 

HSJ asked the RCN what services will remain subject to national derogations, but a spokesman said discussions are continuing at a national level as part of a commitment to “life and limb care”.

He added services will be reduced to an “absolute minimum” and hospitals will be asked to rely on members of other unions and clinical professions instead.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 16 February 2023

Read more

Somerset care training to help support loved ones at home for longer

A training programme is providing people with the skills to care for loved ones suffering from serious conditions at home in their final days.

Sarah Bow's partner Gary White, from Somerset, was 55 when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2021.

A team from NHS Somerset provided personalised training to Ms Bow which allowed the couple to spend the final 13 months of his life together at home.

The Somerset NHS Foundation Trust social care training team made visits to the couple's home as Mr White's condition progressed, to provide advice and guidance to Ms Bow.

The service was set up in November 2021 to provide free NHS standardised training and competency assessments in clinical skills to people involved in social care.

Ms Bow said the scheme had helped them spend more time together doing the things Mr White enjoyed.

"Being able to care for him meant we could have so many precious moments before he died," she said.

The training in a variety of skills including like catheters and injections, aims to reduce hospital admissions and improve patient discharge times.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 17 February 2023

Read more
 

Sewage leak figures prompt warning over state of England’s hospitals

Hospitals in England have recorded more than 450 sewage leaks in the last 12 months, data shows, putting patients and staff in danger and prompting warnings that the NHS estate is “falling apart” after a decade of underinvestment.

Freedom of information requests to NHS trusts by the Liberal Democrats found alarming examples of sewage leaking on to cancer wards, maternity units and A&E departments. The investigation also uncovered multiple cases of urine and faeces flowing into hospital rooms and on to general wards.

Health officials called the revelations shocking. In some instances, sewage leaks made entire hospital departments unsafe for patients and led to staff struggling to work because they felt nauseous and had headaches.

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “This is a national scandal. Our country’s hospitals are falling apart after years of underinvestment and neglect. Patients should not be treated in these conditions and heroic nurses should not have the indignity of mopping up foul sewage.”

“At every turn, our treasured NHS is crumbling, from hospital buildings to dangerous ambulance wait times. The government needs to find urgent funds to fix hospitals overflowing with sewage. Patient and staff safety is a risk if ministers fail to act,” he said.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 17 February 2023

Read more

USA: The number one problem keeping hospital CEOs up at night

Workforce problems in US hospitals are troublesome enough for the American College of Healthcare Executives to devote a new category to them in its annual survey on hospital CEOs' concerns. In the latest survey, executives identified "workforce challenges" as the number one concern for the second year in a row.

Although workforce challenges were not seen as the most pressing concern for 16 years, they rocketed to the top quickly and rather universally for US healthcare organisations in the past two years. Most CEOs (90%) ranked shortages of registered nurses as the most pressing within the category of workforce challenges, followed by shortages of technicians (83%) and burnout among non-physician staff (80%). 

Read full story

Source: Becker Hospital Review, 13 February 2023

Read more

Ambulance waits putting disabled children's lives at risk, doctors warn

Thousands of severely disabled children's lives are at risk because of long waits for ambulances, doctors and other experts have warned.

Emergency care is a vital part of their everyday lives, the British Academy of Childhood Disability says. 

Almost 100,000 children have life-limiting conditions or need regular ventilator support in the UK. They often rely on ambulances as part of their healthcare plan, because their condition can become life-threatening in an instant.

Dr Toni Wolff, who chairs the British Academy of Childhood Disability, told BBC News some families with severely disabled children had "what are essentially high-dependency units" of medical equipment at home.

"As part of their healthcare plan, we would normally say, 'If the child starts to deteriorate, call for an ambulance and it will be there within 10 or 20 minutes,'" she said.

"Now, we can't give that reassurance."

Despite their child being classed as a priority, parents have told BBC News they face the difficult decision to wait for an ambulance or take them, often in a life-threatening condition, to hospital themselves - a risk because of the huge amounts of equipment needed to keep them alive,

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 16 February 2023

Read more

Most health claims on formula milk ‘not backed by evidence’

Most health claims on formula milk products have little or no supporting evidence, researchers have said, prompting calls for stricter marketing rules to be introduced worldwide.

Millions of parents use formula milk in what has become a multibillion-dollar global industry. But a study published in the BMJ has found most health and nutritional claims about the products appear to be backed by little or no high-quality scientific evidence.

“The wide range of health and nutrition claims made by infant formula products are often not backed by scientific references,” said Dr Ka Yan Cheung and Loukia Petrou, the joint first co-authors of the study. “When they are, the evidence is often weak and biased.”

Dr Daniel Munblit and Dr Robert Boyle, senior co-authors for the study, added: “There is a clear need for greater regulation and oversight to ensure that these claims are supported by sound scientific evidence and to protect the health and wellbeing of our youngest and most vulnerable populations.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 15 February 2023

Read more

Government’s mental health review will not prevent ‘appalling’ abuse of patients, campaigners warn

A government review into mental health hospitals will fail to prevent the “appalling” treatment of patients, campaigners have warned.

The urgent inquiry into inpatient mental health services will focus solely on data, the government said on Tuesday.

The “rapid review”, launched following investigations by The Independent into “systemic abuse” across a group of children’s mental health hospitals, will last 12 weeks and is being led by a former national NHS mental health director Dr Geraldine Strathdee.

In an outline of what it will cover, the Department for Health and Social Care said it would look at what data is collected by the NHS on inpatient mental health services and whether it is used effectively to identify patient safety problems.

It will also look at the quality of data and identify good examples of care but it won’t look at individual cases of abuse or community services.

Major mental health charity Mind has warned the review “is not enough” and will not provide any learnings on how to prevent poor care. The charity is instead calling for a national statutory public inquiry into inpatient mental health services.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 15 February 2023

Read more

'I'm well enough to leave hospital - but I can't'

"It would be much better if I was out there than in here," said Roger.

The 69-year-old looked wistfully across Newport from the window next to his bed at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Wales.

He has been here for three weeks after being admitted with an infection and although he is now well enough to leave, and desperate to do so, he can't.

Roger has cerebral palsy and the impact of his recent illness means he needs extra care to be arranged before he can safely go home.

Roger is not alone.

"At least a quarter of patients in our care of the elderly beds are in a similar position," explained Helen Price, a senior nurse at the hospital.

"It is very much a waiting game for that care to be available," she said.

Hospitals in Wales are fuller than ever, according to the latest statistics. In the final week of January more than 95% of all acute beds in the Welsh NHS were occupied, which is the highest figure ever recorded.

Paul Underwood, who manages urgent care in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, said there are well over 350 patients medically fit enough to leave hospital.

"Roughly a third of patients do not need to be accommodated on those sites and that's extremely difficult," he said.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 16 February 2023

Read more

‘Overheating’ incidents nearly double across NHS estates

The number of overheating incidents in clinical areas reported by NHS trusts has almost doubled over the last five years, with directors saying ageing estates make them vulnerable to extreme weather events.

Providers reported that temperatures went above 26°C – the threshold for a risk assessment – more than 5,500 times in 2021-22, according to official data.

Overheating looks set to become an increasingly significant issue for NHS estates, HSJ was told, as climate change makes extreme weather events more frequent and more intense.

Janet Smith, head of sustainability at Royal Wolverhampton and Walsall Healthcare Trusts, said: “We’re feeling it now. And it’s not going to change unless we do something about it. We need a climate resilient estate to actually deliver sustainable care.”

An overheating incident is when the temperature surpasses 26°C in an occupied ward or clinical space in a day, with each area counting as a separate incident. When this happens, trusts should carry out a risk assessment and take action to ensure the safety of vulnerable patients.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 16 February 2023

Read more
 

Patients in England not collecting NHS prescriptions because of cost

Rising numbers of patients in England are failing to collect their medicines or asking pharmacists which ones they can “do without” because they cannot afford prescription charges, a survey shows.

NHS prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In England there are exemptions for certain items, medical conditions and specific parts of the population, but most adults have to pay. The current prescription charge is £9.35 an item.

“We are deeply concerned that people are having to make choices about their health based on their ability to pay,” said Thorrun Govind, a pharmacist and chair of English pharmacy board of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), which conducted the survey. “No one should have to make choices about rationing their medicines and no one should be faced with a financial barrier to getting the medicines they need.”

The findings, from a survey of 269 pharmacies, prompted the RPS to renew its call for patients with long-term conditions in England to get free prescriptions. Charges create a financial barrier to accessing medicines needed to stay well, it said.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 13 February 2023

Read more

Some ambulance callers to be told go elsewhere

A new way of screening ambulance calls is to be introduced across England in an effort to improve response times.

NHS England is asking ambulance crews to review which emergency calls other than those classed as immediately life threatening can be treated elsewhere.

The calls - known as category two - include emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes. But the category also covers some that may not need such a fast response, such as burns and severe headaches.

About 40% of these lower priority calls classed as category two by call handlers will now receive callbacks from a doctor, nurse or paramedic to see whether there is an alternative to sending an ambulance.

In trials in London and across the West Midlands, nearly half of those receiving a callback were advised to go instead to an urgent treatment clinic, their GP or a pharmacist. NHS England is now asking the other eight ambulance services in England to adopt the approach. 

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 16 February 2023

Read more

NHS signs nationwide £20m deal for ‘electronic infection control’ systems

The NHS has signed a £20m deal to enable health-service organisations to deploy technology to help better manage the spread of infections.

The contract – awarded to US-based healthcare giant Baxter – is intended to offer NHS trusts a means through which they can buy a comprehensive infection-control platform. According to newly published commercial information such a system would, in many cases, replace various specialist software programmes used by NHS trusts to collect and process data, alongside spreadsheets and paper documents.

“The system will support infection prevention and control activities to identify critical issues, proactively respond to improve the quality of care and streamline processes to reduce time spent on administrative and reporting tasks,” the contract notice said. 

“Most NHS Trusts tend to manage infection control surveillance through the use of various systems, collating laboratory, patient and surgery data and manually searching through the data to identify patients of interest or complex scenarios. Paper and excel spreadsheets are also used to record and manage surveillance. This process is time consuming and risk of error.  NHS trusts are finding that they do not have a robust infection control system to monitor and manage their patients.”

Read full story

Source: Public Technology, 15 February 2023

Read more

NHS strikes force thousands to wait 18 months for surgery as flagship target to be missed

Thousands of patients are being forced to wait more than 18 months for treatments such as knee and brain surgery as the health service is set to miss its flagship target because of NHS strikes.

NHS England last week claimed it was “on track” to hit the mandated target, but senior sources have warned that the impact of prolonged walkouts combined with unprecedented demand for emergency care means that this is now unlikely.

The sources say it is probable that up to 10,000 patients will still be waiting for 18 months or more by the end of March, as a knock-on effect of the cancellation of 140,000 appointments because of strike action. More walkouts are planned over the coming weeks.

Patricia Marquis, RCN director for England, said the backlog was “yet even more evidence of what happens when you fail to invest in the workforce. If ministers are serious about preventing a further exodus and cutting the backlog, they need to hear the calls of NHS leaders and come to the table and talk about pay. Only then will patients receive the care they need and waiting lists start to come down.”

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 15 February 2023

Read more

GPs now dealing with up to 3,000 patients each as staff shortages worsen

GPs are attempting to deal with up to 3,000 patients each, amid worsening staff shortages, according to new analysis commissioned by the Liberal Democrats.

The research shows that the number of patients per GP has risen sharply, as rising numbers of doctors reduce their hours, or opt for early retirement. The figures, which track the number of “full-time equivalent” fully qualified GPs, show the number has fallen from 29,320 in 2016 to 27,372 last year. The trend follows a rise in part-time work, with the average GP now working a three-day week. 

On average, there are now 2,273 patients per fully qualified doctor, up from 1,981 in 2016, the research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows. While the total number of GPs fell by almost 2,000, the number of registered patients grew from 58 million to 62.2 million, according to the House of Commons Library.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said the research “shows yet again how GPs and our teams are working above and beyond to deliver care to an ever-growing patient population, with falling numbers of fully qualified, full-time equivalent GPs.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Telegraph, 14 February 2023

Read more

NHS fined £180,000 after vulnerable patient’s death

A health board has been fined £180,000 for failing to protect a vulnerable pensioner who died after repeatedly falling in hospital. Colin Lloyd, 78, was assessed as posing a high risk of falling and required one-to-one care after being admitted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

Despite repeated requests for more nursing staff none were made available and the pensioner suffered falls on the ward, which caused fatal injuries.

Fiona Hogg, NHS Highland’s director of people and culture, said: “We are deeply sorry for the failures identified in our care. Our internal review following the incident identified several areas of improvement and we have made a number of changes to our practice.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Times, 15 February 2023

Read more

Exhausted doctors shun out-of-hours services

The number of GPs seeing patients outside standard surgery hours in Scotland has dropped by almost a quarter in three years.

Nurses and paramedics have had to fill in for doctors in the out-of-hours urgent care centres because GPs could not be found to cover the shifts. Some health boards have had to close their centres and send patients to overstretched A&Es instead because of the GP shortage.

Dr Andrew Buist, chairman of the British Medical Association’s Scottish GP committee, said, “Patient demand is outstripping GP capacity across the whole service, including out-of-hours. We simply do not have enough GPs in Scotland. Those who are working in out-of-hours may be doing more hours now than they perhaps did in 2019 which comes as no surprise if there are fewer GPs to go around but it is unsustainable and puts those working in the service at risk of exhaustion and burnout.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Times, 15 February 2023

Read more

NHS private sector plan risks safety and ‘poaches’ staff, doctors warn

Healthcare leaders have been warned by nearly 200 doctors that plans to give more work to private hospitals will “drain” money and staff away from NHS services, leaving the most ill patients at risk.

In a letter seen by The Independent, almost 200 ophthalmologists urged NHS leaders to rethink plans to contract cataract services to private sector hospitals, as to do so “drains money away from patient care into private pockets as well as poaching staff trained in the NHS”. The doctors have called for “urgent action” to stop a new contract from being released, which would allow private sector hospitals to take over more cataract services.

Professor Ben Burton, consultant ophthalmologist and one of the lead signatories of the letter, said, “What is needed is a long-term sustainable solution rather than a knee-jerk reaction which risks the future of ophthalmology as an NHS service. The long-term solution will be achieved by investing in NHS providers to deliver modern, efficient care, and the private sector only used as a last resort.”

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 10 February 2023

Read more

According to medical guidelines, your doctor needs a 27-hour workday

Some doctors say that however reasonable guidelines may seem, their cumulative burden causes “constant frustration” to medical practice.

A team of doctors wrote a study last year for the Journal of General Internal Medicine which suggested that if an American doctor followed all of the guidelines for preventive, chronic and acute disease care issued by well-known medical groups, it would require nearly 27 hours per day.

Guidelines have become “a constant frustration,” said Dr. Minna Johansson, a general practitioner in Uddevalla, Sweden, who also directs the Global Center for Sustainable Healthcare at the University of Gothenburg. “A lot of guidelines may seem reasonable when considered in isolation, but the cumulative burden of all guideline recommendations combined is absurd.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: New York Times, 14 February 2022

Read more

Trusts abandon renewable electricity commitment

Around half of the largest trusts are not buying all their electricity from renewable sources despite a national requirement to do so, as prices of this type of energy rocket.

NHS England previously committed to the service purchasing only renewable energy from April 2021, as part of efforts to meet its target to be net zero for emissions it can control–including electricity–by 2040.

However, NHSE information seen by HSJ shows that nine of the largest 20 trusts have not been buying 100 per cent renewable electricity this financial year, amid soaring costs. Several trusts told HSJ they had abandoned previous decisions to only use electricity which was “guaranteed” to be renewable.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 15 February 2023

Read more
 

Service in ‘very distressing’ state after 19 deaths

The author of a Parliamentary report into ‘failing’ eating disorder services in 2017 says the number of concerning deaths still being reported five years on is ‘very distressing’.

In the five years since ombudsman Rob Behrens warned of major shortcomings around adult eating disorder services, HSJ has identified at least 19 women whose deaths sparked concerns from coroners about their care (see list below). At least 15 of these were deemed avoidable, and resulted in formal warnings being issued to mental health chiefs.

Source: HSJ, 14 February 2023

Read full story

Read more
 

Now for sale: Data on your mental health (Washington Post)

Capitalizing on the pandemic explosion in telehealth and therapy apps that collect details of your mental health needs, data brokers are packaging that information for resale, a new study finds. There’s no law stopping them.

In a study published Monday, a research team at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy outlines how expansive the market for people’s health data has become.

After contacting data brokers to ask what kinds of mental health information she could buy, researcher Joanne Kim reported that she ultimately found 11 companies willing to sell bundles of data that included information on what antidepressants people were taking, whether they struggled with insomnia or attention issues, and details on other medical ailments, including Alzheimer’s disease or bladder-control difficulties.

Justin Sherman, a senior fellow at Duke who ran the research team, says that mental health data should be treated especially carefully, given that it could pertain to people in vulnerable situations — and that, if shared publicly or rendered inaccurately, could lead to devastating results.

Source: Washington Post, 13 February 2023

Read full story

Read more

One in three women with female health conditions forced to wait three years for diagnosis

A third of those with a women’s health condition have been made to wait three years or longer for a diagnosis, damning new research has revealed.

The same study found half of those women took a year or more to be given their diagnosis.

Srdjan Saso, a consultant gynaecologist and surgeon who works with King Edward VII’s Hospital, told The Independent: “A delayed diagnosis can mean a severe impact on quality of life both professionally and personally.

“It can have a significant impact on a woman’s day-to-day life and hence needs to be addressed properly and seriously. From a more sinister perspective, in certain cases, it can be cancer and we are picking it up late.”

Source: Independent, 14 February 2023

Read full story 

Read more
×
×
  • Create New...