Jump to content
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,276

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Sam

Administrators

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Sam

  1. News Article
    Today it was announced by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that the future Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) will undertake a series of investigations focused on mental health inpatient settings. The investigations will commence when HSSIB is formally established on 1 October 2023. The HSSIB will conduct investigations around: How providers learn from deaths in their care and use that learning to improve their services, including post-discharge. How young people with mental health needs are cared for in inpatient services and how their care could be improved. How out-of-area placements are handled. How to develop a safe, therapeutic staffing model for all mental health inpatient services. Rosie Benneyworth, Chief Investigator at HSIB, says: “We welcome the announcement by the Secretary of State and see this as a significant opportunity to use our expertise, and the wider remit that HSSIB will have, to improve safety for those being cared for in mental health inpatient settings across England. The evidence we have gathered through HSIB investigations has helped shed light on some of the wider challenges faced by patients with mental health needs, and the expertise we will carry through from HSIB to HSSIB will help us to further understand these concerns in inpatient settings, and contribute to a system level understanding of the challenges in providing care in mental health hospitals. “HSSIB will be able to look at inpatient mental health care in both the NHS and the independent sector and any evidence we gather during the investigations is given full protection from disclosure. It is crucial that those impacted by poor care and those working on the frontlines of the inpatient settings can share their experiences, reassured that HSSIB will use this information to improve care and not apportion blame or liability. “At HSIB we will begin conversations with our national partners across the system, as well as talking to staff, patients and families. This will ensure that when investigations are launched in October, we have identified and will address the most serious risks to mental health inpatients within these areas and will identify recommendations and other safety learning that will lead to changes in the safety culture and how safety is managed within mental health services.” Read full story Source: HSIB, 28 June 2023
  2. Event
    until
    Join @StayAndThrive on the 29 of June for a virtual sharing and learning event. This event will focus on building, belonging and maximising personal and professional growth, which are the three fundamental pillars of Stay and Thrive. During the event, you will hear and learn from organisations who are implementing positive practices in relation to two aspects of the bundle. Sign up
  3. News Article
    NHS trusts across England are scrambling to trace thousands of children for urgent hearing tests amid fears that cases of infant deafness may have been missed for years. An internal NHS report has exposed poor-quality testing within paediatric audiology departments at five hospitals and warned of systemic failings. At another NHS trust, almost 1,500 children were found to have missed out on appointments dating back to 2012. Vital quality inspections of departments checking infants for hearing loss were stopped ten years ago. Whistleblowers who previously worked for the NHS’s newborn hearing screening programme have revealed that concerns were raised shortly before they were told to stop carrying out checks. They say that thousands of children may have been mistreated for deafness and hearing loss in the past decade. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 25 June 2023
  4. Event
    Diagnostic error is the failure to establish an accurate and timely explanation of the patient’s health problem(s) or failure to communicate that explanation to the patient. The global burden of diagnostic errors is significant and has far-reaching implications for patients, healthcare systems, and society as a whole. Patient engagement plays a vital role in mitigating diagnostic errors by leveraging the unique knowledge, perspectives, and experiences of patients. Collaborative decision-making and open communication can significantly enhance the accuracy and quality of diagnostic processes, leading to improved patient care. Join the World Patient Alliance workshop on diagnostic errors and learn from leading healthcare providers and patient advocates on what is the global burden of diagnostic errors and how these can be reduced. Register
  5. News Article
    The Home Office has been accused of abandoning 55 asylum seekers with a range of severe disabilities and life-limiting conditions at a former care home in an Essex seaside town. The asylum seekers, who fled various conflict zones including Sudan and Afghanistan, are struggling with a range of health conditions they have suffered from since childhood or life-changing injuries suffered in war zones. One told the Guardian: “Everybody is suffering in this place. It used to be a care home but now there is no care. We are free to come and go but to me, this place feels like an open prison. We have just been left here and abandoned.” Those living in the former care home are struggling with health conditions including loss of limbs, blindness, deafness and mobility issues requiring a wheelchair – although not all have been able to access one. At least eight are paraplegic. They were placed in the former care home, which opened in November, by Home Office officials. It is staffed like a standard Home Office asylum seeker hotel with security guards and reception staff but does not have trained care workers or nurses there as part of the contract. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 June 2023
  6. News Article
    Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust temporarily suspended admissions to the women’s and children’s centre at Princess Royal Hospital – which houses the provider’s consultant-led maternity services – earlier this week due to an issue with a generator. HSJ understands a power cut occurred and estates chiefs were concerned about running solely on battery power, hence suspending admissions while the problem was fixed. Five inductions of labour were diverted to neighbouring trusts, while fewer than five caesarean sections were rescheduled during the outage. Meanwhile, 56 patients accessing the trust’s telephone triage service were advised by medical chiefs to attend nearby hospitals. Following the incident, a learning review is taking place, and HSJ understands this will investigate whether any women came to harm. HSJ has also been told the generator has been fixed “as good as permanently”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 June 2023
  7. News Article
    Junior doctors will take part in what is “thought to be the longest single period of industrial action in the history of the health service” for five days next month. The British Medical Association junior doctor committee announced this morning there would be a walkout from 7am on Thursday 13 July and 7am on Tuesday 18 July in its ongoing pay dispute with government. It comes amid growing expectation that a Royal College of Nursing ballot on further strike action over the Agenda for Change pay award, which ends this week, is likely to fail to secure a mandate. But junior doctors’ strikes are continuing to hit elective recovery, and strain relationships, with workload on other groups increased as they are asked to provide cover. Junior doctors have allowed no “derogations” (exemptions) from the action, as they say other staff groups can cover emergency care, and one move to call them in to a busy hospital in the south west, in an earlier round, was abandoned. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 June 2023
  8. Event
    until
    The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sets out a new approach to learning and improving following patient safety incidents across the NHS in England. Compassionate engagement and involvement of those affected by patient safety incidents is central to the PSIRF approach. This webinar will provide guidance, practical insight and ideas on how to implement PSIRF principles within the independent provider sector (where contracted under the NHS standard contract). Audience: PSIRF webinars are open to everyone to attend, including both NHS and arm’s length bodies. This webinar will specifically be useful for those working in/ with the independent provider sector. Presenters: Tracey Herlihey, Head of Patient Safety Incident Response, NHS England Lauren Mosley, Head of Patient Safety Implementation, NHS England Patient safety leads, Integrated Care Boards (TBC). Register
  9. Event
    until
    The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sets out a new approach to learning and improving following patient safety incidents across the NHS in England. This workshop will cover key information and questions regarding the transition to PSIRF within maternity settings. Audience: PSIRF webinars are open to everyone to attend, including both NHS and arm’s length bodies Presenters: Tracey Herlihey, Head of Patient Safety Incident Response, NHS England Lauren Mosley, Head of Patient Safety Implementation, NHS England, TBC Register
  10. Event
    until
    Speakers for this session are Dr Tracey Herlihey, head of patient safety incident response policy at NHS England, and Dr Henrietta Hughes OBE, patient safety commissioner. Dr Herlihey will discuss how the patient safety incident response framework (PSIRF) is changing the culture amongst healthcare workers and what this means for individuals. Dr Hughes will discuss the events leading up to the creation of the patient safety commissioner role, her priorities, the role of leaders and ‘what matters to you.’ That is, why we must listen to patients and what happens if we don’t. Register
  11. News Article
    A Swedish appeals court on Wednesday increased a prison sentence for an Italian surgeon over experimental stem cell windpipe transplants on three patients who died. Dr Paolo Macchiarini made headlines in 2011 for carrying out the world’s first stem cell windpipe transplants at Sweden’s leading hospital and had been sentenced to no prison time by a lower court. But the Svea Court of Appeal concluded that there were no emergency situations among two of the three patients who later died, while the procedure on the third could not be justified. The appeals court sentenced the Italian scientist to 2 1/2 years in jail for causing the death of three people between 2011 and 2014. “The patients have been caused bodily harm and suffering,” the appeals court said of the two men and one woman. The patients, it concluded, “could have lived for a not insignificant amount of time without the interventions.” Macchiarini denied any criminal wrongdoing. Once considered a leading figure in regenerative medicine, Macchiarini has been credited with creating the world’s first windpipe partially made from a patient’s own stem cells. Read full story Source: ABC News, 21 June 2023
  12. News Article
    The UK had one of the worst increases in death rates of major European economies during the Covid pandemic, BBC analysis has found. Death rates in the UK were more than 5% higher on average each year of the pandemic than in the years just before it, largely driven by a huge death toll in the first year. That was above the increase seen in France, Spain or Germany, but below Italy and significantly lower than the US. It would take many inquiries to tease apart the effect of all the possible reasons behind every nation's pandemic outcomes: preparedness, population health, lockdown timing and severity, social support, vaccine rollout and health care provision and others. But some argue that there are lessons for the UK that need to be learned even before we think about future pandemics. The UK's heavy pandemic death toll "built on a decade of lacklustre performance on life expectancy" says Veena Raleigh, of the King's Fund, a health think tank. She argues that government action to improve population health and turn that around has "never been more urgent. Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 June 2023
  13. News Article
    The family of a man who died after being given infected blood have called on the UK government to pay their compensation immediately. Randolph Peter Gordon-Smith, who had haemophilia, learned in 1994 that he had been infected with hepatitis C. His daughter said the family were "abandoned" to care for him without support before his death in 2018. The chairman of the UK infected blood inquiry has said parents and children of victims should receive compensation. Sir Brian Langstaff wants to see a final compensation framework set up by the end of the year. Ms Gordon-Smith, who lives in Edinburgh, says compensation would provide an acknowledgement of "what they did to our family" as his daughters cared for him when he was dying. "I think the government needs to get their chequebook out, do the right thing and pay [the compensation]," she added. "Not when the inquiry rules, but now." Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 June 2023
  14. News Article
    At least 100,000 people across the UK have had their lives put at risk over the last decade because of delays to them getting tested or treated for cancer, a new report claims. In some cases, patients’ treatment options narrowed or their cancer spread or became incurable as a direct result of their long waits for NHS care, according to Macmillan Cancer Support. The “inhumane” impact of delays on patients is “shameful”, it said, blaming ministers across the four home nations for underfunding and not tackling staff shortages in cancer services. “I’ve had patients arrive for their radical chemotherapy appointment, who wait three hours only to be told that because of staff shortages we can’t deliver their treatment today. It’s inhumane”, said Naman Julka-Anderson, an advanced practice therapeutic radiographer who is also an allied health professional clinical adviser for Macmillan. Many waited longer than 62 days to start treatment – surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy – after a GP referred them as an urgent case, the charity’s analysis of official NHS data found. At least 100,000 of those 180,000 people have seen their symptoms worsen, or their cancer progress or their chances reduce of successfully being treated because they have had to wait. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 20 June 2023
  15. News Article
    A trust has been told to not “shut down” staff who raise concerns by a former employee whom a tribunal found was racially discriminated against. Moorfields Eye Hospital Foundation Trust racially discriminated, victimised and harassed Samiriah Shaikh, who worked at the trust as an ophthalmic technician, according to a recent judgment. Judges said Ms Shaikh was described as “aggressive” by her boss Peter Holm, and stereotyped by managers as a “loud ethnic female” after she and fellow colleagues raised allegations of racism in the promotion of in-house staff. Mr Holm, who is listed as a chief ophthalmic and vision science practitioner at the trust, is said to have responded to staff members’ concerns by making jokes during a team meeting. It is unclear whether he is still at the trust. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 20 June 2023
  16. News Article
    The government should ‘relieve’ GP practices of being the sole controller for their patients’ data, a senior NHS England director has said. Tim Ferris, NHSE director of transformation, said it was a “challenge” that GP practices acted as the sole controllers of their patients’ data. Dr Ferris, whose background is as a primary care doctor in the US, was giving evidence to a Lords committee on integration of primary and community care today. He was asked whether it was time to revisit legislation on the control of GP patient data. He said: “Thirty years ago when the law was created, it made more sense. But I think it might no longer be fit for purpose… The idea that if I were a GP in this country, if I had legal liability for the exchange of data, I would be worried about that.” Dr Ferris agreed there would be merit to the committee recommending the government “relieve” GPs of the sole responsibility for data protection, and their data controller status. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 20 June 2023
  17. News Article
    The current GP funding model ‘does not sit comfortably’ with NHS England’s plans for primary and community care integration, according to a senior NHS England director. In a Lords Committee hearing today, NHS England’s national director of primary and community care services Dr Amanda Doyle said a ‘rethink’ was required with regards to the primary care estate, with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) tasked to draw up local plans. Asked whether the GP partnership model was compatible with integration, Dr Doyle told the committee that this was ‘one of the challenges’ they are facing. She said: "One of the challenges that the current predominant ownership model in general practice gives us is that both investment and revenue flows support that model [of] an individual, practice-sized building. "And lots of the things we want to do as we move forward into co-located primary care services and scaled-up primary care delivery drive the need for bigger premises with a wider range of capacity, and those two models don’t sit comfortably together." Read full story Source: Pulse, 19 June 2023
  18. News Article
    The government is being urged to launch a public inquiry into "systemic failings" at mental health hospitals across England. Leading mental health charity Mind says "immediate political action" is needed as NHS mental health facilities are "at breaking point". Mind claims "patients' human rights are being violated" and "wrongly restrained" across "run-down, understaffed" mental health wards. Its Raise the Standard campaign argues that a "full statutory inquiry" is the "first step" into resolving widespread issues. Dr Sarah Hughes, chief executive of Mind, said: "One case of abuse, neglect or unsafe care is too many, people are suffering because of the shocking state of care in mental health hospitals. "People should go to hospital to get well, not to endure harm. This is wholly unacceptable and must be addressed urgently." Read full story Source: Sky News, 20 June 2023
  19. News Article
    Forty children were hospitalised for vaping last year, prompting NHS bosses to warn we risk “sleep-walking into a crisis”. Amanda Pritchard, NHS England boss, said it was "right" for paediatricians to call for action on vaping among young people, as the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health called for an outright ban on disposable vapes. She said the 40 children admitted to hospital in England in 2022 due to “vaping-related disorders” was up from 11 two years before. The RCPCH’s call for action comes as NHS data revealed one in five 15-year-olds said they used e-cigarettes in 2021, while charity Action on Smoking (ASH) reported the experimental use of e-cigarettes among 11 to 17-year-olds had risen by 50 per cent compared to last year. The college warned: “Youth vaping is fast becoming an epidemic among children, and I fear that if action is not taken, we will find ourselves sleep-walking into a crisis.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 June 2023
  20. News Article
    Antidepressants can cause severe, sometimes irreversible, sexual dysfunction that persists even after discontinuing the medication. Sufferers have described it as ‘chemical castration’ – a type of genital mutilation caused by antidepressants, mainly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The condition is known as post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD), a condition largely unrecognised, and the true incidence of which is unknown. David Healy, psychiatrist and founder of RxISK.org said, “I saw my first patient with PSSD in 2000, a 35-year-old lady who told me that three months after stopping treatment, she could rub a hard-bristled brush across her genitals and feel nothing.” David Healy, psychiatrist and founder of RxISK.org said, “I saw my first patient with PSSD in 2000, a 35-year-old lady who told me that three months after stopping treatment, she could rub a hard-bristled brush across her genitals and feel nothing.” Josef Witt-Doerring, psychiatrist and former FDA medical officer said, “This condition is so devastating that it will cause serious changes to your life and to those around you.” Read full story Source: Maryanne Demasi, 13 June 2023
  21. News Article
    Inquests will be held into the deaths of at least 36 patients – and potentially dozens more – treated by the jailed former breast surgeon Ian Paterson. As the fallout of one of the most horrific medical scandals in the history of the NHS continues, a pre-inquest review hearing at Birmingham and Solihull coroner’s court on Friday heard that 417 of Paterson’s cases where breast cancer was listed as the immediate cause of death had been examined. Paterson, who attended the hearing remotely from prison, was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2017, later increased to 20 years, for carrying out needless surgery on patients who were left traumatised and scarred. Inquests have been confirmed in 36 cases, with a further 21 cases deemed likely to need an inquest after “preliminary” investigations. Another 36 cases are still to be reviewed. The judge Richard Foster said a further 130 cases had been reported to the coroner where breast cancer was listed as contributing to death. A review of a selection of those cases was being carried out and a decision on whether they should all be reviewed would be made on its completion, he said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 June 3023
  22. News Article
    Police are investigating about 40 hospital deaths over allegations of medical negligence made by two consultant surgeons who lost their jobs after blowing the whistle about patient safety. The allegedly botched operations took place at Royal Sussex County hospital (RSCH) in Brighton, part of University hospital Sussex NHS trust, when it was run by a management team hailed by Jeremy Hunt as the best in the NHS. Last week, detectives from Sussex police wrote to the trust’s chief executive, George Findlay, confirming they had launched a formal investigation into “a number of deaths” at the RSCH. They were investigating allegations of “criminal culpability through medical negligence” made by “two separate clinical consultants” at the trust, the letter said. It is understood about 40 deaths occurred between 2015 and 2020 after alleged errors in general surgery and neurosurgery departments. Both whistleblowers alleged the trust failed to properly investigate the deaths and learn from the mistakes made. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 June 2023
  23. News Article
    A police investigation is under way into allegations of abuse at an NHS-run home for men with severe learning disabilities and autism, it has emerged. Several staff from the home have already been “removed” from the site by Surrey and Borders Partnership Foundation Trust, although the trust would not comment on whether any disciplinary action has been taken against them. The home – Oakwood, in Caterham, Surrey – will close at the end of the summer in response to the failings, the trust said. No one has been charged in relation to the allegations, which HSJ understands focus on coercive behaviour and unnecessary deprivation of liberty, with no allegations of violent or sexual behaviour. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 June 2023
  24. News Article
    A blood test for more than 50 types of cancer has shown real promise in a major NHS trial, researchers say. The test correctly revealed two out of every three cancers among 5,000 people who had visited their GP with suspected symptoms, in England or Wales. In 85% of those positive cases, it also pinpointed the original site of cancer. The Galleri test looks for distinct changes in bits of genetic code that leak from different cancers. Spotting treatable cancer early can save lives. The test remains very much a "work in progress", the researchers, from Oxford University, say, but could increase the number of cancers identified. Read full story Source: BBS News, 2 June 2023
  25. News Article
    The mayor of London is independently reviewing NHS England plans to reconfigure children’s cancer services in the capital, which were triggered when the commissioner finally accepted the current arrangements are unsafe. In a letter to NHSE London director Caroline Clarke, Sadiq Khan’s health adviser said the mayor would apply his six tests for major reconfigurations to both the options proposed for the “principal treatment centre” for paediatric cancer in south London. NHSE London is currently running a process to decide the principal treatment centre's location. An earlier assessment put the bid from the Evelina Hospital, part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust, ahead of the other bidder, St George’s University Hospitals FT. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 5 June 2023
×
×
  • Create New...