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Sam

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Everything posted by Sam

  1. News Article
    A surgeon has been suspended on the same day a hospital review concluded harm had been caused in hundreds of cases. A tribunal ruled that Tony Dixon, who used artificial mesh to treat prolapsed bowels at Southmead Hospital, in Bristol, and the Spire Hospital, still posed a risk. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service's hearing concluded on Thursday that a six-month suspension was "appropriate". Spire Healthcare has now released its review of Mr Dixon, and found 259 cases where harm had been caused. Health bosses have "apologised sincerely". The majority of harm was in three main areas: the failure to adequately investigate patients prior to offering the procedure; the failure to adequately offer alternative treatments; and poor consent with risks and benefits of the procedure not adequately discussed. The tribunal found Mr Dixon’s fitness to practise is impaired and his suspension would allow him time to "to develop further insight and remediate his misconduct". The General Medical Council brought the case against Mr Dixon, who denies all the allegations and maintains that the procedures were carried out in good faith. His suspension will start immediately. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 July 2024
  2. News Article
    NHS England has tasked systems and providers with ending or significantly reducing 104-week waits for community mental health services by March 2025, following worsening performance. It was announced in a webinar held by NHSE last week, in which mental health programme directors explained how the new metric would be implemented this autumn. They confirmed that when an integrated care board or provider has a “small number” of 104-week waits, they should work to end them by March, and provide “trajectories” for 78-week and 52-week waits. For those with a “larger number” of long waits, NHSE said ICBs should work with providers to agree an improvement plan throughout the rest of 2024-25. It said they would need to “detail ICB and provider-level trajectories” and submit these soon. It said: “At a minimum, ICBs should ensure that less than 10 per cent of community mental health waits are over 104 weeks.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 18 July 2024
  3. Content Article
    A forgotten generation’s life chances are being harmed due to delays accessing care. The NHS is struggling to meet rapidly rising demand and increasingly complex and acute care needs among children and young people, a survey by NHS Providers highlights. There is deep concern among leaders of NHS trusts about the long-term harm caused by delays in services for children and young people (CYP), including a widening health inequalities gap.
  4. News Article
    Thousands of children’s lives are being blighted by shocking delays to NHS care of up to three years, according to a report that warns a “forgotten generation” will suffer long-term harm as a result. The health service is struggling to cope with rapidly rising demand for increasingly complex and acute care needs among children and young people, the research by NHS Providers shows. Health leaders say the crisis in England is so severe that there is now “deep concern” that lifelong, permanent harm is being caused by crippling delays to NHS care. Long waits for basic healthcare are derailing children’s development, educational attainment and mental health, they revealed. One trust reported that waiting times for children’s autism assessments had risen from about 14 months before the Covid-19 pandemic to 38 months today. Children are also being forced to wait too long for essential speech and language therapy, hearing tests, medical treatment and surgery. “Too many young lives are being blighted by delays to accessing vital NHS care,” said Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers. “We’re in danger of seeing a forgotten generation of young people.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 15 July 2024
  5. News Article
    The waiting lists for diagnostic tests, including cancer scans, is at a record high in NHS England, with doctors warning of a “staggering shortfall” of clinical radiologists. Figures published on Thursday reveal the diagnostic waiting list stands at 1,658,221 – twice what it was 10 years ago. Nearly 500,000 patients are waiting for CT scans and MRIs. The figures show the scale of the task facing the new health secretary, Wes Streeting, who has ordered a review into the NHS. Labour pledged in its manifesto to double the number of scanners, but doctors warn there is an urgent need for more staff to operate them and read the resulting scans. “The NHS is broken,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said in response to the figures. “Waiting lists are too high and patients have not been able to access the care they desperately need. “The longer patients wait for tests and scans, the worse their outcomes will be. We’ve got to get patients diagnosed much earlier.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 July 2024
  6. News Article
    An integrated care board has named Oracle Health as the “likely” supplier of an electronic patient record that will be the first to be used across acute, mental and health services. Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board is planning to procure a single electronic patient record for both its sole acute, Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust and mental health and community service provider Essex Partnership University Trust. Details of the move were revealed in the integrated care system’s “joint forward plan” for 2024-2029 which was presented to the ICB’s July board. Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust – which was formed by a merger of three trusts – currently uses seven different EPRs, while Essex Partnership University Trust has three. The new unified EPR is expected to go live in 2026-2027. NHS England has encouraged ICSs to “converge” their EPR system for over two years. A number of acute trusts operating within the same system have already launched plans to share the same EPR. This includes Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire and Norfolk and Waveney. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 12 July 2024 Related reading on the hub: EPR systems and concerns about patient safety NHS England warns electronic patient record could pose ‘serious risks to patient safety’: what can we learn? The foundations for a safe digital service delivery in health—A blog by Rob Ludman
  7. News Article
    Gastrointestinal procedures that generate high levels of smoke pose significant health risks to operating room personnel. This is according to a recent study that suggests endoscopic smoke has the toxic equivalent of one cigarette per procedure over the course of a career. Trent Walradt, a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and lead author of the study, explained: "Surgeons in the operating room have regulations and guidelines to mitigate smoke exposure, but that does not exist for gastrointestinal endoscopy. When you’re using cautery, it generates a smoke plume. We wanted to know whether the smoke produced during some of our endoscopic procedures is dangerous." The results were presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2024 in Washington, US. Staff at risk included those attending certain smoke-producing endoscopic gastrointestinal procedures, including a procedure that uses electrical current to remove polyps. Chris Thompson, director of endoscopy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and principal investigator, said: "Over the course of a career, endoscopic smoke may pose significant health risks to personnel in the endoscopy suite. If you're doing four or five procedures a day, that’s five cigarettes a day. Over the course of a week, it’s like you're smoking a pack of cigarettes. That's not acceptable." He added: "We’re in the early phases of this, but I think our findings are very important and, quite frankly, a little concerning and surprising." Read full story Source: Surgery, 25 June 2024
  8. News Article
    NHS patients are being left unseen in pain and in some cases to die alone because shifts do not have enough registered nurses, a survey shows. The Royal College of Nursing said analysis of a survey it carried out showed that only a third of shifts had enough registered nurses on duty. The union has also gathered testimonies from nurses who talk of always “rushing” and being asked to do more; working in “completely unsafe” levels of care; and having to make “heartbreaking” decisions on who does or doesn’t get seen. Shortages mean individual nurses are often caring for dozens of patients at a time, the RCN said. It has called for limits on the maximum number of patients for whom a single nurse can be responsible. Nicola Ranger, the RCN’s acting general secretary and chief executive, said the survey showed that patients were being failed. “In every health and care setting, nursing staff are fighting a losing battle to keep patients safe,” she said. “Without safety-critical limits on the maximum number of patients they can care for, nurses are being made responsible for dozens at a time, often with complex needs. “It is dangerous to patients and demoralising for nursing staff.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 July 2024
  9. News Article
    'PAs' - who have just two years training - are being used to treat NHS patients, but doctors are concerned about patient safety, reports Sarah Graham. PAs, or physician associates, are a relatively new type of health professional, first introduced in the UK in 2003 and increasingly used across the NHS to provide care to patients, including at GP surgeries. They undergo two years of postgraduate training (compared with the ten years of medical training needed to become a GP). There are now more than 3,000 PAs working in the NHS. The Government has said it wants to increase the number to 10,000 by 2037, but the scheme has become controversial following a series of reports of patients being misdiagnosed, some with fatal consequences. As far as Dave Hay knew, he was seeing a GP. It was 2022 and he’d started having bouts of dizziness, brain fog and fatigue. “It was having an impact on my work and everyday life, so I called my local surgery to make an appointment. I saw someone who wasn’t my usual doctor, but she introduced herself as Dr Smith,” says Hay, 57, a scientist from Yorkshire. “I explained my symptoms. She didn’t do any kind of examination – didn’t check my ears or my vision – and just said, ‘look, I don’t think there’s anything seriously wrong with you, but come back if your symptoms get worse’,” he says. Two weeks later Dave, now 57, a scientist from Yorkshire, felt worse. It was only later, during a chance conversation with the practice nurse, that Dave learned he hadn’t been seeing a GP at all. “I was at a routine appointment and explained what had happened,” Dave says. “The nurse asked who I’d seen and said, ‘that’s not a doctor, that’s a PA’. I had no idea what a PA was.” When Dave arranged an appointment with one of the named GPs, she diagnosed depression and anxiety, because of issues at work and a recent family bereavement. “She looked at my medical history and asked some much more targeted questions, pieced it all together, and recommended talking therapy and antidepressants,” Dave explains, who is now well. However, he does feel that he was misled and waited longer for the right treatment because the PA did not explain her actual role, which they are supposed to do. Read full story Source: iNews, 1 Jul7 2024
  10. Event
    An After Action Review (AAR) is a facilitated discussion following an event to understand what happened and why. AARs involve key stakeholders involved in the incident and provide insight into how improvements could be made to help deliver safer care for patients. The AAR process emphasises the importance of a facilitated approach with all participants encouraged to work collaboratively to identify possible changes and improvements. AARs provide all participants with an opportunity to reflect and consider opportunities for self-learning. AARs are gathering momentum within healthcare particularly since the approach was identified as one of the national learning response methods within NHS England’s Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) documentation. The workshop will commence by looking at a brief history of AAR across the globe and its recent transition as an approach to help healthcare teams better understand their patient safety incidents. The core part of the day will focus on the four questions involved in conducting an effective AAR and learners will be given the chance to put learning into practice by looking at relevant case studies and scenarios in small groups. The day will conclude with an honest assessment of AARs and consider the challenges and benefits of utilising this team approach in a healthcare setting. This course is aimed at those who wish to lead and conduct AAR reviews plus those who are likely to take part in AAR investigations. The facilitators for this course will continue the journey beyond the course itself to support and enable you to develop your skills in AAR when you return to your organisation. This masterclass will enable you to: Understand history of AARs and why they are gathering momentum in healthcare Appreciate what an AAR is and how it differs from other incident investigation methods Identify when it is appropriate to conduct an AAR Examine what skills effective AAR conductors require Understand the four fundamental questions involved in conducting an AAR Develop your AAR skills via a number of case studies and scenarios Consider how human factors can play a part in the AAR process Examine why AAR can be an effective mechanism for change and improvement Discuss the strengths and weaknesses associated with AARs Evaluate where you consider you can gain the most from undertaking AAR. Register hub members receive a 20% discount. Email info@pslhub.org for the discount code.
  11. Event
    This National Virtual Summit focuses on the New PHSO National NHS Complaint Standards which are now being used and embedded into the NHS. Through national updates, practical case studies and in depth expert sessions the conference aims to improve the effectiveness of complaints handling within your service, and ensure that complaints are welcomed and lead to change and improvements in patient care. The conference will also reflect how involving people and their families in complaints and integrating the process with the new Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) to ensure patient safety actions and learning. https://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/virtual-online-courses/nhs-complaints-summit or email frida@hc-uk.org.uk for further information. Follow the conference on Twitter @HCUK_Clare #NHSComplaints hub members receive a 20% discount. Email info@pslhub.org for the discount code.
  12. Event
    This conference brings together leading experts at the forefront of Martha’s Rule implementation and offers a comprehensive and practical guide for clinical staff to seamlessly integrate Martha’s Rule into their daily practice. The conference delves into the caregiver’s perspective, principles and implications of Martha’s Rule, legal and patient safety considerations, effective communication strategies, and the use of technology in the adoption of Martha’s Rule. Throughout the day, there will be interactive sessions, small breakout groups, and collaborative exercises, fostering a dynamic learning experience. For further information and to book your place visit https://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/virtual-online-courses/marthas-rule-patient-safety or email aman@hc-uk.org.uk hub members receive a 20% discount. Email info@pslhub.org for the discount code. Follow on X @HCUK_Clare #MarthasRule
  13. Event
    Aimed at Clinicians and Managers, this national virtual conference will provide a practical guide to human factors in healthcare, and how a human factors approach can improve patient care, quality, process, and safety. The conference delves into integrating human factors into healthcare systems and processes, clinical decision making, healthcare system design, quality of patient experience, medication safety, and workload, fatigue and stress management. Throughout the day there will be interactive sessions, small breakout groups, and collaborative exercises, fostering a dynamic learning experience. For further information and to book your place visit https://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/virtual-online-courses/a-practical-guide-to-human-factors-in-healthcare or email frida@hc-uk.org.uk hub members receive a 20% discount. Email info@pslhub.org for discount code. Follow on Twitter @HCUK_Clare #HumanFactors
  14. News Article
    Three in four NHS staff have struggled with a mental health condition in the last year, according to a new poll. A survey of workers carried out by NHS Charities Together over medics’ mental health comes as healthcare leaders were forced to reverse cuts to NHS Practitioner Health, a service for medics. A backlash from NHS staff over the proposed cuts forced health secretary Victoria Atkins to intervene. In the new poll of more than 1,000 NHS staff, 76% said they have experienced a health condition in the last year with 52% reporting anxiety, 51% reporting low mood, while 42% of respondents also said they’d experienced exhaustion. Meanwhile, the most recent NHS data shows the most common reasons for staff sickness are anxiety, stress, depression or other psychiatric conditions, with more than 586,600 working days lost over this in November 2023. NHS Practitioner Health began as a mental health service for GPs but has since expanded to other specialities following funding from NHS England. However, last week the provider announced this national funding was due to end, so its service would be reduced. NHS England said the decision was so it could review the services available for all NHS staff. However, it was forced to u-turn on the decision and agreed to provide funding for an additional year. Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 April 2024
  15. News Article
    A regulator overseeing 340,000 professionals breached a psychologist’s human rights by letting their fitness-to-practise case go on for a decade, amid widespread very long delays, it has emerged. A judgment from the Health and Care Professions Tribunal said the “lamentable” situation for the registrant was down to the “disgraceful… manner in which the Healthcare Professions Council dealt with their case”. The HCPC oversees professional standards for several groups including radiographers, paramedics, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and operating department practitioners. If a complaint is made about a registrant, it can investigate and refer them to the tribunal, which can strike them off. The Society of Radiographers said the current speed of cases was “simply unacceptable” and its director of industrial strategy Dean Rogers added: “Our members spend too long working — and living — under the intense scrutiny of their regulator, often under the control of an interim order restricting or even preventing their practise while investigations drag on.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 17 April 2024
  16. News Article
    In the next few days, once the data has been collected, the Government will come out and say that, thanks to its policies, the situation in A&E is improving. Despite estimates released recently by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine that soaring waits for A&E beds led to more than 250 needless deaths a week in England alone last year, the Government will point to declining numbers of patients who breached the four-hour target this March. The four-hour target means we're meant to see and either discharge or admit patients within four hours of their arriving in A&E. But it's a sham, writes Professor Rob Galloway in the Daily Mail. Because, for the past month, the four-hour data has been manipulated, the result of two policies introduced earlier in the month by the Government. Read full story Source: Daily Mail, 3 April 2024
  17. Event
    In this webinar, Chris Burman-Fourie, principal NHS consultant, and Nick Reader, principal consultant at GoodShape, will explore the correlation between employee health and organisational financial savings. The presenters will share actionable insights, best practices, and real world examples that demonstrate how investing in employee health can yield significant financial returns. Key topics to be covered include: Understanding the tangible impact of employee health on productivity, organisational performance, and healthcare costs. Exploring innovative approaches to fostering a culture of wellbeing and resilience among NHS staff. Leveraging data analytics to measure the impact of employee health programs on financial outcomes and savings. Using employee health data to tailor wellbeing programmes and benefits to give measurable results. Understanding workforce absence and health data to drive down bank and agency usage across NHS Trusts. Register
  18. News Article
    A gran was left lying outside in the cold facing a seven hour wait for an ambulance following a fall before finally being rescued — by firefighters. Betsy Hulme, 83, was left in agony with a broken hip when she tumbled in her back garden in Leek, Staffordshire. Son Steve, 60, a former ambulance technician, dialled 999 only to be told it would be several hours until paramedics could get to them due to long handover delays. After a further three hours of Betsy waiting on cold concrete slabs while soaked in rain water, desperate Steve decided to drive to a nearby fire station to ask for help. Fire crews then came to rescue to lift gran-of-four Betsy into her son's car who took her to hospital where she remains after undergoing a hip repair operation. Dad-of-two Steve, of Leek, has now branded emergency response times as “absolutely disgusting”. He said: "It’s opened my eyes if I’m honest. It’s absolutely disgusting. I’m so grateful and thankful to the fire service - but it really isn’t their job. I can't remember in my time working as an ambulance technician going to someone and saying, 'I’m sorry it’s taken us twelve hours to get here'." “It was never anywhere near those ridiculous times when I worked there until 2000 and something has gone drastically wrong since. I can't speak highly enough of the boys and girls who work in the NHS, it's the people above them. Its systemic change that's needed." Read full story Source: Wales Online, 4 April 2024
  19. Content Article
    Batches of some products made by Legency Remedies Pvt Ltd have been found to contain a bacteria called Ralstonia pickettii (R. pickettii). All potentially affected batches are being recalled following an MHRA investigation.
  20. News Article
    Black children in the UK are at four times greater risk of complications following emergency appendicitis surgery compared with white children. Researchers revealed these alarming disparities in postoperative outcomes recently. The study, led by Dr Amaki Sogbodjor, a consultant anaesthetist at Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London, showed that black children faced these greater risks irrespective of their socioeconomic status and health history. Appendicitis is one of the most prevalent paediatric surgical emergencies; approximately 10,000 cases are treated annually in the UK. However, this marks the first attempt to scrutinise demographic variances in postoperative complication rates related to appendicitis. Dr Sogbodjor emphasised the critical need for further investigation into the root causes of these disparities. "This apparent health inequality requires urgent further investigation and development of interventions aimed at resolution," she said. Read full story Source: Surgery, 25 March 2024
  21. News Article
    The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has called on the UK government not to wait until after the upcoming general election to approve an infant immunisation programme against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), so that babies can be protected next winter. In June 2023 the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) recommended developing an RSV immunisation programme for infants and for older adults.1 It issued a fuller statement reiterating the advice in September 2023.2 But the government has yet to make a final decision on rolling out an RSV immunisation programme. A letter signed by more than 2000 paediatricians and healthcare professionals says that the sooner a full RSV vaccination programme is implemented the more effective it will be and that it “could save child health services reaching breaking point.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 20 March 2024
  22. Event
    The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) arguably represents the most significant change to investigating and managing patient safety incidents in the history of the NHS. To embed PSIRF effectively within organisations, healthcare teams need to understand and utilise a range of new techniques and disciplines. Clinical audit is an established quality improvement methodology that is often overlooked by patient safety teams, but will play an increasingly important role in ensuring that PSIRF fully delivers its stated objectives. CQC reports often highlight the importance of clinical audit as a measurement and assurance tool that can raise red flags if used appropriately. Indeed, both the Ockenden and Kirkup reports highlighted the importance of clinical audit in identifying and quantifying substandard care. While SEIPS, After Action Reviews, more in-depth interviewing techniques, etc. are all receiving much fanfare in relation to PSIRF, the importance of clinical audit needs to be better understood. This short course will explain how organisations who use clinical audit effectively will increase patient safety and better understand why incidents take place. We will look at the key role of audit in understanding work as imagined and works as done and show why national audits can assist with creating patient safety plans. Change analysis and the effective implementation of safety actions are keys to PSIRF delivery and clinical audit will assist in the delivery of both. We will also demonstrate the important, but often under-appreciated role, clinical audit staff will have in the successful delivery of PSIRF. Key learning outcomes: Why clinical audit is an integral element of PSIRF. Why clinical audit staff have a vital role to play in PSIRF. How clinical audit data can help raise red flags and spot risks. Using clinical audit to better understand your incidents. Ensuring your safety actions are working. Using audit to assess your patient safety incident investigations. Register
  23. Event
    The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) arguably represents the most significant change to investigating and managing patient safety incidents in the history of the NHS. To embed PSIRF effectively within organisations, healthcare teams need to understand and utilise a range of new techniques and disciplines. Clinical audit is an established quality improvement methodology that is often overlooked by patient safety teams, but will play an increasingly important role in ensuring that PSIRF fully delivers its stated objectives. CQC reports often highlight the importance of clinical audit as a measurement and assurance tool that can raise red flags if used appropriately. Indeed, both the Ockenden and Kirkup reports highlighted the importance of clinical audit in identifying and quantifying substandard care. While SEIPS, After Action Reviews, more in-depth interviewing techniques, etc. are all receiving much fanfare in relation to PSIRF, the importance of clinical audit needs to be better understood. This short course will explain how organisations who use clinical audit effectively will increase patient safety and better understand why incidents take place. We will look at the key role of audit in understanding work as imagined and works as done and show why national audits can assist with creating patient safety plans. Change analysis and the effective implementation of safety actions are keys to PSIRF delivery and clinical audit will assist in the delivery of both. We will also demonstrate the important, but often under-appreciated role, clinical audit staff will have in the successful delivery of PSIRF. Key learning outcomes: Why clinical audit is an integral element of PSIRF. Why clinical audit staff have a vital role to play in PSIRF. How clinical audit data can help raise red flags and spot risks. Using clinical audit to better understand your incidents. Ensuring your safety actions are working. Using audit to assess your patient safety incident investigations. Register
  24. News Article
    A group of doctors offered a controversial medical technique which allegedly put kidney patients' health at risk. At least 20 patients at Queen Alexandra Hospital (QA) in Portsmouth have been using the procedure, which is not recommended in UK guidelines. A consultant was wrongly sacked from the hospital in 2018 after objecting to the practice. The hospital trust said the safety and care of its patients was its priority. Jasna Macanovic, who worked at the QA for 17 years, had raised concerns about the way the trust was allowing some staff to deliver the dialysis technique - known as buttonholing. "I don't think they're fit to practise medicine," Dr Macanovic told the BBC. When Dr Macanovic examined the records of 15 patients using the buttonholing technique at the QA, she found infection rates four times higher than they experienced using the standard technique. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 March 2024
  25. News Article
    The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has launched a £50m “Challenge” funding call to tackle inequalities in maternity care. The funding call aims to establish a research consortium to deliver research and capacity building over five years. The call was announced as part of the Department for Health and Social Care’s women’s health priorities for 2024. Recent evidence suggests that Black women in the UK are almost three times more likely to die during pregnancy or up to six weeks after pregnancy compared to white women. Asian women are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or shortly after, compared to white women. The new consortium is hoped to bring together experts across the UK to help change numbers like these. The research aims to focus on inequalities before, during and after pregnancy. According to NIHR, a key aim is to identify specific areas where measurable improvements can be made. Relevant charities, patient groups, community groups and the life sciences industry will be involved in the research where appropriate. Professor Marian Knight, scientific director for NIHR Infrastructure, said: “I am hugely excited about what this research can achieve – funding truly innovative approaches to tackle maternity inequalities will save women’s and babies’ lives – this is a challenge the NIHR is ideally placed to deliver.” Read full story Source: FemTech World, 15 March 2024
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