Jump to content
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    11,906

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Patient Safety Learning

Administrators

 Content Type 

News posted by Patient Safety Learning

  1. Patient Safety Learning
    The South East Coast Ambulance Service declared a Critical Incident last night.
    The NHS Foundation Trust - which serves Kent, Surrey, West Sussex and East Sussex and part of north-eastern Hampshire around Aldershot, Farnborough, Fleet and Yateley - is urging the public to only call 999 in a 'serious emergency'. This is because of IT issues which have resulted in the loss of its Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.
    In a statement issued on social media at around 9pm, the Ambulance Service said: "We have tonight (10 November) declared a Critical Incident following IT issues which resulted in the loss of our CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) and the need to move to our back-up telephone systems.
    "While we are working hard with our IT providers to find a solution to the issue, and have implemented well-rehearsed contingency plans, the loss of the CAD, along with the high demand we are facing across our region tonight, is placing significant pressure on our services.
    "We continue to answer calls and respond to patients but urge people to only call 999 in the event of a serious emergency and to make use of services, including NHS 111 Online, for help and advice.
    "We would like to thank our staff and volunteers for their hard work and commitment at this challenging time and assure the public that we are doing everything we can to resolve the issue as quickly as possible."
    Read full story
    Source: Kent Live, 10 November 2022
  2. Patient Safety Learning
    NHS bosses are increasingly paying premium rates for agency staff to plug holes in rotas, the BBC has found.
    Spending in this area rose by 20% last year to hit £3bn in England.
    For many shifts, bosses have been so short-staffed they have been willing to breach the government pay caps for these agency workers, most of whom are doctors and nurses.
    Separate data supplied by Labour showed some NHS trusts had paid as much as £2,500 to nurses to fill shifts.
    Out of 60 responses from trusts, 10 reported the most expensive shift cost over £2,000, and for another 13 it was between £1,000-2,000.
    The BBC spoke to one cancer doctor who was offered work for £130 an hour - well above the cap for his role - and described the fees available as "astonishing" and a reflection of "desperation by management".
    Chief executive of Colchester hospital, Nick Hulme, says a combination of factors is playing a role, including the need to open extra wards to cope with rising demand, as well as staffing shortages.
    Some people are even leaving their jobs, only to return later as agency workers.
    He says while many agency workers do fantastic work on the wards, he would still prefer to be able to use his own staff. "We know that's best for patient care, best for patient experience. Agency staff require more supervision and tasks such as handovers take longer."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 11 November 2022
  3. Patient Safety Learning
    A new report has highlighted for the first time an apparent rise in the suicide rate for pregnant or newly postpartum women in 2020, citing disruption to NHS services due to Covid-19 as a likely cause.
    According to the review of maternal deaths by MBRRACE-UK, 1.5 women per 100,000 who gave birth died by suicide during pregnancy or in the six weeks following the end of pregnancy in 2020, which is three times the rate of 0.46 per 100,000 between 2017 and 2019.
    The number of deaths by suicide within six weeks of pregnancy in 2020 was numerically small – 10 women – but this was the same as the total recorded across 2017 to 2019. This is also despite Office for National Statistics figures showing a year-on-year fall in suicides in the population overall in 2020.
    In relation to the rise in suicides during pregnancy and up to a year after birth, the report states: “During the first year of the covid-19 pandemic, very rapid changes were made to health services… Mental health services were not immune from this and there was a broad spectrum of changes from teams where some staff were redeployed to other roles, through to teams that were able to operate relatively normally…
    “All of this occurred on a background of a recent huge expansion in specialist perinatal mental health services."
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 11 November 2022
  4. Patient Safety Learning
    The number of people in England waiting to start routine hospital treatment has risen to a record high.
    7.1 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of September, according to new figures from NHS England.
    This is up from 7 million in August, and is the highest number since records begain in August 2007.
    A staggering 401,537 people have been waiting for more than 52 weeks to start their treatment, according to England’s September figures.
    NHS medical director Sir Stephen Powis said: “There is no doubt October has been a challenging month for staff who are now facing a tripledemic of Covid, flu and record pressure on emergency services with more people attending A&E or requiring the most urgent ambulance callout than any other October.
    “Pressure on emergency services remains high as a result of more than 13,000 beds taken up each day by people who no longer need to be in hospital.
    “But staff have kept their foot on the accelerator to get the backlog down with 18-month waiters down by three-fifths on last year.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 10 November 2022
  5. Patient Safety Learning
    A growing number of children with mental health problems are being treated on adult psychiatric wards as services struggle to cope with a surge in demand following the pandemic, the NHS watchdog has warned.
    There were 249 admissions of under-18s to adult psychiatric wards in England in 2021-22, according to data provided by NHS trusts to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), up 30% on the year before.
    Of the children admitted to adult wards, 58% of cases were because the child needed to be admitted immediately for their safety.
    But in more than a quarter of cases, 27%, the child was admitted to the adult ward because there was no alternative child inpatient or community outreach service available.
    The findings come more than 15 years after the government set a target to end inappropriate admissions of children to adult psychiatric wards. The number of admissions gradually reduced but has now risen again, the CQC figures suggest.
    Dr Elaine Lockhart, chair of the Child and Adolescent Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the figures were “a concern but not a surprise. We’ve got a lot of children and young people who have become more unwell. Services are really struggling to meet their needs,” she said.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 30 October 2022
  6. Patient Safety Learning
    “Failing” IT systems in the NHS are a threat to patient safety. medics have warned.
    Doctors and nurses should not “tolerate problems with IT infrastructure as the norm”, according to a new editorial, published in The BMJ.
    Experts from Imperial College London and University College London point to an incident in which IT systems at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust – one of the largest hospital trusts in the country – went down for 10 days.
    The outage, caused by the July heatwave, led to procedures and appointments being postponed for a number of patients.
    The new editorial highlights how IT failures can restrict services as doctors are unable to access records and are prevented from ordering diagnostic tests.
    This can “bring a halt to the everyday business of healthcare”, they said.
    The authors suggest that the NHS IT infrastructure is “crumbling” and leads to “poor user experiences” as well as patient safety incidents.
    “Increasing digital transformation means such failures are no longer mere inconvenience but fundamentally affect our ability to deliver safe and effective care – they result in patient harm and increased costs,” they wrote.
    Read full story
    Source: 10 November 2022
  7. Patient Safety Learning
    A consultant urologist left a 6.5cm swab in a patient after surgery and failed to identify it in a scan three months later, an inquiry has heard.
    The public inquiry concerns the work of Aidan O'Brien at the Southern Trust between January 2019 and June 2020. It heard Mr O'Brien endangered or potentially endangered lives by failing to review medical scans.
    He previously claimed the trust provided an "unsafe" service and was trying to shift blame on to its medics.
    On Tuesday, the inquiry into Mr O'Brien's clinical practice heard almost 600 patients received "suboptimal care".
    Counsel for the inquiry Martin Wolfe KC said the 6.5cm swab was left inside a patient by Mr O'Brien during a bladder tumour operation in July 2009.
    The error was described as a "never event'.
    At a CT scan appointment three months later in October 2009, a mass inside the patient's body was discovered by the reporting consultant radiologist. While he did not say it was a swab, he did "highlight the abnormality", said Mr Wolfe.
    A report was sent to Mr O'Brien but, the Inquiry heard, he did not read it and no one took steps to check out the abnormality.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 9 November 2022
  8. Patient Safety Learning
    A new treatment to protect babies against a common and potentially dangerous winter virus has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
    Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the main reason children under five end up in hospital. In a normal winter, RSV mostly causes coughs and colds which clear up in a couple of weeks - but it can be particularly serious in infants under the age of two, causing severe lung problems such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia. Every year, about 29,000 babies need hospital care for RSV and most have no other health issues beforehand.
    The new antibody treatment, called nirsevimab, from Sanofi and AstraZeneca, has already been shown to reduce lower respiratory tract infections caused by RSV by 74.5% in trials involving 4,000 babies.
    It works by preventing RSV from fusing to cells in the respiratory tract and causing infections.
    But it still needs more research in larger numbers of babies before it can be used on the NHS.
    Researchers now plan to investigate whether it can cut the number of babies needing hospital care for RSV, and are urging parents to sign up to their study.
    The study is open to newborn babies and those up to 12 months old. Only one visit for the antibody injection is needed, and follow-up sessions happen via an app.
    Co-study leader Dr Simon Drysdale, consultant paediatrician in infectious diseases at London's St George's Hospital, said the treatment could eventually be given at birth to offer protection for the first months of life, or during routine immunisations at two months old.
    Read full story
    Source: 10 November 2022
  9. Patient Safety Learning
    Ministers have offered about 1 million NHS staff in England – everyone bar doctors and dentists – a pay rise of at least £1,400 for 2022-23. That represents a rise of between 4% and 5% for staff covered by the longstanding Agenda for Change negotiating framework.
    Health unions have rejected the £1,400. They want a rise that would at least match inflation – which is currently 10.1% – while the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is seeking inflation plus 5%. Without inflation-proof rises, staff will suffer a real-terms cut in their take-home pay, unions say.
    “Our members will no longer tolerate a financial knife-edge at home and a raw deal at work”, said the RCN general secretary, Pat Cullen. Sara Gorton, head of health at Unison, added: “Inflation has already wiped out this year’s 72p-an-hour increase. The government must put pay right to spare the NHS, its staff and all those relying on its care from a dispute no one wants to see.”
    The RCN has balloted its members across the UK. The results, published on Wednesday, show that a majority of nurses in most but not all hospitals and other NHS services across the four home nations have rejected the government’s offer and decided to strike in pursuit of better pay.
    Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has condemned as “unacceptable” the fact that strikes will disrupt services and affect patients’ care. While he has not criticised nurses or any health union, he has blamed ministers for not negotiating with the RCN to try to avert strike action.
    “I’m concerned, I think lots of people are concerned about the impact of disruption”, he told LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr on Monday. “That’s still a disruption to patients, which I think is unacceptable.”
    If he were the health secretary he would see patients as his “first and foremost” responsibility, he said. “That’s why I think the government have to get a grip on this and get the unions around the table because there is a deal there to be done.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 9 November 2022
  10. Patient Safety Learning
    Almost one out of every three people infected with HIV through contaminated NHS blood products in the 1970s and 80s was a child, research has found.
    About 380 children with haemophilia and other blood disorders are now thought to have contracted the virus.
    The new estimate was produced by the public inquiry into the disaster, after a BBC News report into the scandal.
    In August, the government agreed to pay survivors and the partners of those who died compensation.
    The first interim payments of £100,000 per person were made last month.
    The initial agreement does not cover bereaved parents or the children of those who have died.
    A wider announcement on compensation is expected when the inquiry concludes, next year.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 9 November 2022
  11. Patient Safety Learning
    There has been a sharp rise in long waits for cancer therapy in the past four years, BBC analysis shows.
    The number waiting more than the 62-day target time for therapy in the past year has topped 67,000 across England, Northern Ireland and Scotland - twice as many as the same period in 2017-18.
    Waits are also getting worse in Wales, but data does not go that far back.
    The national cancer director for the NHS in England said staff were striving to catch up on the backlog of care, but experts warned the problems could be putting patients at risk.
    Steven McIntosh, of Macmillan Cancer Support, told the BBC that the delays were "traumatic" and people were living "day-by-day with fear and anxiety".
    He said the situation was "unacceptable" and could even be having an impact on the chances of survival.
    Describing the NHS as "chronically short-staffed", he said: "The NHS doesn't have the staff it needs to diagnose cancer, to deliver surgery and treatment, to provide care, support and rehabilitation."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 9 November 2022
  12. Patient Safety Learning
    The only two female ambulance chief executives in the country have said there is something ‘deeply wrong’ with the culture in ambulance services.
    Helen Ray, the chief executive of the North East Ambulance Service Foundation Trust, said women working in the ambulance service “accept [inappropriate] banter, they accept sexualised behaviour from their male colleagues, and from patients, and they think it is okay”.
    She stressed “it is absolutely not [okay]” and said women must be given “safe spaces for talking and speaking up about that”.
    “There is something deeply wrong with the culture in the ambulance service”, she told the NHS Confederation’s Health and Care Women Leaders Network event on Tuesday.
    Siobhan Melia, interim chief executive of South East Coast Ambulance Service, said when she joined the trust four months ago on secondment from Sussex Community FT, it felt like she had “landed on a different planet”.
    Ms Melia said it was a culture “not like any other part of the NHS”.
    “The gender pay gap in my organisation is significant, so we see men in senior roles are taking it upon themselves to abuse their power, [with] both female students and female lower graded staff.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 10 November 2022
  13. Patient Safety Learning
    The antibody drug Evusheld is effective for protecting clinically extremely vulnerable people from Covid-19, including its omicron variants, a preprint study has reported.
    The prophylactic treatment, manufactured by AstraZeneca, is a combination of two long acting antibodies (tixagevimab and cilgavimab). It is given as two separate, sequential intramuscular injections in the same session and can be administered in the community.
    A research team, led by the University of Birmingham alongside academics from King’s College London and the UK Health Security Agency, carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine its effectiveness in immunocompromised patients.
    The paper examined the outcomes among 24 773 immunocompromised participants across 17 international studies, 10 775 of whom received Evusheld. Overall, it reported that the treatment was 86% effective for preventing covid specific death, 88% effective in preventing intensive care admission, effective in preventing hospital admission, and 40%  effective in preventing Covid-19 infection.
    The study’s senior investigator, Lennard Lee, senior research fellow at the University of Birmingham and academic medical oncologist at the University of Oxford, said, “There is strong evidence emerging across the world that this approach of using prophylactic antibody therapies in combination with vaccination is a revolutionary approach to safeguard the most vulnerable patients this winter. The science and data suggest that it would be a successful approach for many cancer and immunocompromised patients at the highest level of risk.”
    Evusheld is already being given to immunocompromised patients in countries including the United States, France, and Israel, but the UK government is waiting for more data on the duration of protection it provides against omicron and its subvariants before deciding whether it should be used.
    Read full story
    Source: BMJ, 8 November 2022
  14. Patient Safety Learning
    Responding to a backlash from pain patients in the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released updated guidelines that offer clinicians more flexibility in the way they prescribe opioids for short- and long-term pain.
    The new recommendations eliminate numerical dose limits and caps on length of treatment for chronic pain patients that had been suggested in the landmark 2016 version of the agency’s advice, which was aimed at curbing the liberal use of the medication and controlling a rampaging opioid epidemic. Those guidelines cautioned doctors that commencing opioid therapy was a momentous decision for patients.
    Parts of that nonbinding document were widely misinterpreted, resulting in unintended harm to patients who were benefiting from use of opioids without much risk of addiction. Patients reported they were rapidly tapered off medication by doctors or saw their medication abruptly discontinued, the CDC acknowledged in the new document. 
    The new 100 pages of guidance — which remain only recommendations for doctors, nurse practitioners and others authorised to prescribe opioids — emphasize returning the focus to the caregiver and patient deciding on the best course of treatment.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Washington Post, 3 November 2022
  15. Patient Safety Learning
    The death of a three-day-old baby could have been avoided if medical professionals had acted differently, a coroner concluded.
    Rosanna Matthews died three days after being delivered at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Kent in November 2020.
    The hospital trust apologised, saying the level of care for Ms Sala and her daughter “fell short of standards”.
    Ms Sala told the inquest midwives were "bickering" and appeared confused during her labour.
    She claimed that if she had been allowed to start pushing when she wanted to, instead of waiting as midwives advised, Rosanna would have lived.
    Rachel Thomas, then deputy head of gynaecology and midwifery, said there had been "errors in communication".
    Following the conclusion of the inquest, the coroner ruled Rosanna died following a “prolonged period of avoidable hypoxia”, which led to brain damage.
    The coroner, sitting in Maidstone, also found midwives at the hospital failed to recognise that Rosanna was already unwell with congenital pneumonia.
    Ms Sala said her daughter could have lived had medical professionals acted differently on the day of her birth.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 8 November 2022
  16. Patient Safety Learning
    Cases of mouth cancer in the UK have increased by more than one-third in the last decade to hit a record high, according to a new report.
    The number of cases has more than doubled within the last generation and previous common causes like smoking and drinking are being added to by other lifestyle factors.
    According to the Oral Health Foundation, 8,864 people in the UK were diagnosed with the disease last year – up 36% on a decade ago, with 3,034 people losing their life to it within the year.
    This is an increase in deaths of 40% in the last 10 years, and a 20% rise in the last five.
    Dr Nigel Carter, the chief executive of the Oral Health Foundation, said: “While most cancers are on the decrease, cases of mouth cancer continue to rise at an alarming rate".
    Survival rates for mouth cancer have barely improved in the last 20 years, partly because so many cases are diagnosed too late. Just over half of all mouth cancers are diagnosed at stage four – where the cancer is at its most advanced.
    The findings from the Oral Health Foundation have been released to coincide with November’s Mouth Cancer Action Month.
    The goal of the Oral Health Foundation is to improve people’s lives by reducing the harm caused by oral diseases – many of which are entirely preventable.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 9 November 2022
  17. Patient Safety Learning
    Abortion access is a “fundamental” part of women’s healthcare the government’s women’s health ambassador has warned.
    Dame Lesley Regan, who was appointed as Women’s Health Ambassador by the Government in July, has said in answer to questions from The Independent about the voting records of ministers: “I think it’s really important that we never ever get complacent about freedom of choice.
    “Now what my view is about whether abortion is good or bad is really irrelevant. My job is to tell the Prime Minister if he’ll listen and the Secretary of State that it [abortion] is an absolutely fundamental part of women’s healthcare."
    “Because I’ve done so much work overseas during my career, what I know is that if you make it difficult to access, or you make it illegal, the problem doesn’t go away but women die as a result.”
    Her comments come after it was revealed this week that the prime minister and senior members of his government have voted against boosting access to abortions or have opted out of key votes.
    More than a third of the government’s current cabinet voted against early medical abortion at-home measures rolled out in the wake of the pandemic being made permanent.
    The Department for Health and Social Care’s minister for women, Maria Caufield, who has been granted responsibility for abortion care, has previously voted to curtail access rights.
    Earlier this year The Independent revealed women seeking abortions in the UK are having to travel hundreds of miles to access care as “untenable” waiting times put unsustainable pressure on services.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 8 November 2022
  18. Patient Safety Learning
    Routine screening for bipolar disorder should be ingrained into the NHS, alongside specialist training to help identify the condition and reduce the average nine-and-a-half-year wait to get a diagnosis, experts say.
    A report by the Bipolar Commission, which brings together academics and other experts in the field, also recommended appointing a national director of mood disorders to ensure everyone has access to a 12-week psychoeducation course, and a specialist doctor to oversee their prescriptions and ongoing care.
    More than 1 million people in the UK are estimated to have bipolar disorder, which leads to extreme changes in mood and energy levels far beyond most people’s experiences of feeling happy or a bit down.
    Yet many spend years chasing a diagnosis, or having been misdiagnosed with depression, meaning they cannot access key treatments such as lithium and lamotrigine that help to stabilise mood.
    According to the report, which was based on an 18-month programme of interviews, surveys and desktop research, many people face a “dangerous” delay in getting diagnosed, with an average wait of nine and a half years.
    During this time, just over one in three people claimed to have attempted suicide, while those who were misdiagnosed were also more likely to be repeatedly admitted to hospital, the report found.
    Even once a diagnosis of bipolar disorder is made, the current way most patients are treated – where they are only referred to a psychiatrist if they become seriously unwell – is failing, says Prof Guy Goodwin, emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford and co-chair of the commission.
    “Psychiatric services see people when they are acutely ill … but, once recovered, people are discharged back to the care of their general practitioner. And that model we simply think doesn’t work,” Goodwin said.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 8 November 2022
  19. Patient Safety Learning
    A health visitor wrote to housing officials expressing concern about conditions in a rented flat months before a two-year-old died after his exposure to mould.
    An inquest in Rochdale is investigating the death of toddler Awaab Ishak who lived with his mother and father in a one-bedroom housing estate flat managed by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH).
    Awaab’s father, Faisal Abdullah, first reported the damp and mould in autumn 2017, a year before the birth of his son. He made numerous complaints – phoning and emailing – and requested re-housing.
    In December 2020 Awaab developed flu-like symptoms and had difficulty breathing. He was given hospital treatment and then discharged.
    Two days later his condition at home worsened and he was seen at Rochdale urgent care centre where he was found to be in respiratory failure. He was transferred to Royal Oldham hospital where, upon arrival, he was in cardiac arrest and died. It was just a week after his second birthday.
    A pathologist told the inquest that the child’s throat was swollen to an extent it would compromise breathing. Exposure to fungi was the most plausible explanation for the inflammation.
    Lawyers for the family say the inquest will consider a number of matters including concerns about mould and damp and how they were dealt with. It will also look at the sharing of information between agencies and how the family’s cultural and language requirements were taken into account.
    Officials from RBH have yet to give evidence at the inquest but a statement was provided to the coroner on Tuesday in which RBH admits it “should have taken responsibility for the mould issues and undertaken a more proactive response”.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 8 November 2022
  20. Patient Safety Learning
    An audit conducted by an acute trust has found more than half the patients taken to one of its hospitals by ambulance were deemed “inappropriate for conveyance”.
    The assessment at Scarborough Hospital in Yorkshire, obtained by HSJ through a freedom of information request, examined a random sample of 100 patients, of which around 50 arrived by ambulance.
    Of those arriving by ambulance, half were deemed not to have required an ambulance conveyance. 
    The Missed Opportunities Audit, which the trust said was “routine” and looked at a range of areas where the emergency department could streamline operations, said: “Fifty-two per cent of conveyance[s] by ambulances were deemed as inappropriate".
    “The reviewer did not have access to the policies of Yorkshire Ambulance Service, which may account for the low number of appropriate conveyances. However, based on clinical judgment for cases presenting by ambulance the arrivals should have presented either to a community service (33%) or via their own transportation methods (38%), as their documented clinical condition and social circumstances allowed for this.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 9 November 2022
  21. Patient Safety Learning
    A teenager died after a breathing tube was possibly squashed by a wheel of her hospital trolley during emergency surgery, an inquest has heard.
    Jasmine Hill, 19, had a cardiac arrest shortly after undergoing a procedure on her neck at Gloucestershire royal hospital in Gloucester.
    The inquest heard that a report commissioned by lawyers acting for Hill’s family referred to the tube being “squashed by the wheel of a trolley”.
    Hill, from Cirencester, had been readmitted to the hospital after her neck became swollen five days after a thyroidectomy – the removal of all or part of the thyroid gland – in September 2020.
    Doctors thought the site of the surgery in Hill’s neck, which was red and swollen, may have become infected and it was decided the wound should be cleaned under general anaesthetic.
    The procedure took less than an hour and the teenager went into cardiac arrest shortly after she was moved by staff from the operating table to a bed.
    Gloucestershire coroner’s court heard an endotracheal tube, which supports breathing, was positioned behind Hill’s head and away from her neck, fixed to a holder and connected to the ventilator.
    The assistant Gloucestershire coroner Roland Wooderson asked Dr Hiro Ishii, who carried out the procedure, whether he was aware that the anaesthetist had checked the position of the endotracheal tube. Ishii replied: “I didn’t make a formal inquiry at that stage.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 7 November 2022
  22. Patient Safety Learning
    A new pill that could prevent pre-eclampsia has become the first pregnancy drug to be fast-tracked for development by the UK’s drug regulator.
    Scientists at MirZyme Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, believe they have developed a drug that when given to women from 20 weeks of pregnancy could stop them developing the condition.
    Pre-eclampsia endangers the lives of thousands of expectant mothers and their babies in the UK each year, and has no therapeutic options. Globally, it affects between 2% and 8% of pregnancies and kills up to half a million babies and 100,000 women a year.
    MirZyme Therapeutics has been awarded an innovative licensing and access pathway (ILAP), or so-called innovation passport, by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
    The passport was established in January 2021 to expedite access to essential new drugs at the height of the Covid pandemic. It is granted to medicines that address the needs of patients with life-threatening and unmet medical needs, with a view to getting the drug to the market as quickly as possible.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 8 November 2022
  23. Patient Safety Learning
    Thousands of hospital surgeries are likely to be cancelled as NHS leaders prepare for unprecedented strike action, The Independent has been told.
    Most operations apart from cancer care are likely to be called off when nurses take to the picket line, with NHS trusts planning for staffing levels to be similar to bank holidays.
    Multiple sources say they are almost certain that the upcoming Royal College of Nursing ballot will result in strike action. Results are expected to be finalised on Wednesday.
    “Trusts are looking at the totality of it. It’s the waiting list that is going to be hit, massive questions over waiting lists, and we’re going to lose days of activity in terms of addressing that growing pressure.
    “The more we see strike action the harder it is, the risk is [that] the rate of recovery [of waiting list] slows.”
    They added: “The unions normally provide bank holiday cover and maintain emergency service basically.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 7 November 2022
  24. Patient Safety Learning
    The health board in the Scottish Borders has said it is monitoring "unseasonably high" numbers of scarlet fever cases in the region.
    Parents have been asked to be aware of the symptoms so that early treatment with antibiotics can be given.
    Scarlet fever is a bacterial illness that mainly affects children under 10 but people of any age can get it.
    NHS Borders said it would usually clear up after about a week but anyone who thinks they or a child may have it has been asked to contact a GP for a proper diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
    "Due to the contagious nature of scarlet fever, if you or your child has the illness, please stay at home for at least 24 hours after starting treatment with antibiotics," it added.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 7 November 2022
  25. Patient Safety Learning
    Unpaid carers in Northern Ireland are suffering from "shocking levels of poor health", according to the charity Carers NI.
    In a survey of more than 1,600 unpaid carers across Northern Ireland, more than a quarter of respondents described their mental health as bad or very bad. One in five carers said the same about their physical health.
    The survey also found some 40% had not had a break from caring during the previous year and 23% said support services in their area did not meet their needs.
    Tracey Gililand, from Portadown, cares for her two disabled sons and said families like hers have been all but forgotten since the beginning of the pandemic.
    "Carers are still having to ask for the full return of much-needed day care and respite services and it feels like we've been left to paddle our own canoes with no help," she said.
    "No one knows our struggles, the many sleepless nights and exhaustion during the day. The impact on carers' mental health. The isolation that families like us experience that no one else sees," Ms Gililand explained.
    Carers NI said it has called for a legal right to social care support for all unpaid carers, the appointment of an independent carers' champion to advocate for carers to government, and wider transformation of the health system.
    Craig Harrison from the charity said carers had been "driving themselves into the ground", and were physically exhausted and in a state of constant anxiety.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 8 November 2022
×
×
  • Create New...