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Sam

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  1. Sam
    Exhausted after three sleepless days in labour, Jane O’Hara, then 34, screamed and burst into tears when the midwives and doctors at Harrogate District Hospital told her the natural birth she wanted was not going to happen.
    She ended up needing life-saving surgery and 11 pints of blood after a severe haemorrhage. Mercifully, Ivy was fine and is now a healthy 12-year-old. 
    In recent weeks, the NHS has been rocked by the conclusions of an inquiry into the worst maternity disaster in its history: 201 babies and nine mothers died and another 94 babies suffered brain damage as a result of avoidable poor care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. This has been linked to a culture of promoting natural — that is, vaginal — birth and avoiding caesarean sections. 
    Blame thus far has been aimed largely at the NHS — but parents have started speaking out online about what they believe has been the role of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), a leading provider of antenatal classes in Britain, in promoting vaginal births.
    “I can absolutely point to key decisions that I made that were influenced by the NCT’s mantra. I was led into a position where I believed I had more control over my birth than I actually did,” says O’Hara, who is now a professor of healthcare quality and safety at the University of Leeds. She believes she was a victim of a “normal birth” ideology that was heavily promoted at the NCT classes she attended.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, 10 April 2022
  2. Sam
    Hospital inspectors have uncovered repeated maternity failings and expressed serious concern about the safety of mothers and babies in Sheffield just days after a damning report warned there had been hundreds of avoidable baby deaths in Shrewsbury.
    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found Sheffield teaching hospitals NHS foundation trust, one of the largest NHS trusts in England, had failed to make the required improvements to services when it visited in October and November, despite receiving previous warnings from the watchdog.
    As well as concerns across the wider trust, a focused inspection on maternity raised significant issues about the way its service is run. When it came to medical staff at the Sheffield trust, the “service did not have enough medical staff with the right qualifications, skills, and experience to keep women and babies safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment”, the report said.
    Inspectors found that staff were not interpreting, classifying or escalating measures of a baby’s heart rate properly, an issue that was raised by Donna Ockenden in her review of the Shrewsbury scandal.
    Despite fetal monitoring being highlighted as an area needing attention in 2015 and 2021, the most recent inspection “highlighted that the service continued to lack urgency and pace in implementing actions and recommendations to mitigate these risks, therefore exposing patients to risk of harm”.

    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 5 April 2022
  3. Sam
    Staff failed to provide kind and compassionate care and did not treat children with respect at a private hospital downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’, a report by health inspectors has revealed.
    Huntercombe Hospital Stafford was placed in special measures in 2016, but was rated “good” by the Care Quality Commission two years later.
    Now, its first inspection under provider Huntercombe Young People Ltd in October 2021 has exposed a raft of safety concerns and instances of poor care. Huntercombe Young People Ltd took over the service in February 2021. 
    Heavy reliance on agency staff, workers spotted with their “eyes closed” on observations, and staff not respecting young people’s pronouns were among concerns inspectors flagged.
    Staff observation of patients was also found to be “undermined” by a blind spot where people could self-harm unseen, the CQC report, published today, said.
    Children also told the CQC they felt staff did not always understand their mental health condition or know how to support them, particularly those on the psychiatric intensive care ward with eating disorders or autism.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 10 March 2022
  4. Sam
    Hundreds of people identified as contacts following a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in a Carmarthenshire village are yet to attend a screening, health officials have said.
    Public Health Wales (PHW) said 31 cases of active TB had been identified since the 2010 outbreak in Llwynhendy.
    PHW urged the 485 people who have been identified as contacts, but not attended a screening, to act.
    More than 2,600 people have attended screenings since June 2019.
    TB is a bacterial infection, spread through inhaling tiny droplets from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person. It is a serious condition, but can be cured with proper treatment.
    PHW said since 2010, 303 people - or more than one in 10 of those who had been screened - had been diagnosed with latent TB, which is not infectious and does not affect a person's quality of life, but may develop into active TB at a later date.
    Dr Brendan Mason, from Public Health Wales, said: "We understand that during the coronavirus pandemic people may have been reluctant to go to a hospital to have their screening done, but I can assure them that there are safety measures in place in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
    "Now is the time to get tested.
    "It is really important that we screen all the contacts identified and make sure that anyone diagnosed with latent or active TB gets the monitoring or treatment that they need to prevent any further spread."
    Read full story
    Source: 24 February 2022
  5. Sam
    Pregnancy-related deaths among US mothers climbed higher in the pandemic’s first year, continuing a decades-long trend that disproportionately affects Black people, according to a new government report.
    Overall in 2020, there were almost 24 deaths per 100,000 births, or 861 deaths total, numbers that reflect mothers dying during pregnancy, childbirth or the year after. The rate was 20 per 100,000 in 2019.
    Among Black people, there were 55 maternal deaths per 100,000 births, almost triple the rate for white people.
    The report from the National Center for Health Statistics does not include reasons for the trend and researchers said they have not fully examined how Covid-19, which increases risks for severe illness in pregnancy, might have contributed.
    The coronavirus could have had an indirect effect. Many people put off medical care early in the pandemic for fear of catching the virus, and virus surges strained the healthcare system, which could have had an impact on pregnancy-related deaths, said Eugene Declercq, a professor and maternal death researcher at Boston University School of Public Health.
    He called the high rates “terrible news” and noted that the US has continually fared worse in maternal mortality than many other developed countries.
    Reasons for those disparities are not included in the data, but experts have blamed many factors including differences in rates of underlying health conditions, poor access to quality healthcare and structural racism.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 23 February 2022
  6. Sam
    Sickle cell patients have begun receiving the first new treatment for the blood disorder in over 20 years.
    The inherited condition can cause severe pain and organ failure, often requiring hospital admissions.
    Crizanlizumab is given as a monthly infusion and is thought to cut visits to A&E by 40%. Loury Mooruth, 62, received the treatment at Birmingham City Hospital, having suffered repeated periods of intense pain for decades.
    During a crisis, patients often need powerful opioid painkillers but Loury, like many others, has faced suspicion when at A&E.
    "You know the protocol when you go in, which needles and so on. They think straight away you are a drug addict - they don't believe you," she says.
    She has refused to go to hospital during a crisis for the past two years because of her negative experiences.
    A report from MPs last year found "serious failings" in sickle cell care with some evidence of discrimination against patients.
    Dr Shivan Pancham, a consultant haematologist at Birmingham City Hospital, told the BBC: "Our patients often find the experience in emergency departments challenging with a lack of understanding of the severity of pain.
    "It is hoped with these new therapies if we reduce the likelihood of attending emergency departments, ultimately this will be much better for the patients."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 24 February 2022
  7. Sam
    A doctor who has suffered violent shakes and hallucinations during her ongoing 15-month battle with long COVID has criticised the government's plan to "live with the virus".
    Dr Kelly Fearnley told Sky News she contemplated ending her own life due to the debilitating long-term effects of coronavirus, which she caught while working on a COVID ward in November 2020.
    The 35-year-old from Leeds, who was previously fit and healthy, initially had flu-like symptoms before she suffered shortness of breath and painful rashes over her body, as well as swelling around her eye.
    More than a year later, she is still unable to return to work due to the effects of long COVID, which have included violent shakes lasting up to 14 hours at a time, hallucinations, night terrors, severe pins and needles in her arms and legs, and a resting heart rate of 140 beats per minute.
    With Prime Minister Boris Johnson set to unveil his "living with COVID" plan on Monday, Dr Fearnley branded it a "strategy of denial, driven by the need to cut costs" and she felt "angry and let down".
    Read full story
    Source: Sky News, 20 February 2022
  8. Sam
    Diabetes is killing an increasing number of Americans and has accounted for more than 100 000 US deaths in each of the past two years. A national commission has called on the federal government to take a broad approach to the problem, similar to the fight against AIDS.
    Lisa Murdock of the American Diabetes Association told The BMJ that diabetes was the most common underlying condition in the US and that Covid-19 was an exacerbating factor. Some 40% of Americans who died from Covid-19 had diabetes, she said.
    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that 37.3 million Americans—11.3% of the US population—have diabetes, including 8.3 million who have not had it diagnosed.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: BMJ, 3 February 2022
  9. Sam
    Several drug companies have been fined £35 million for colluding to raise the cost of an anti-nausea drug used by cancer patients, taking the total fines stemming from a Times investigation to £400 million.
    The price paid by the NHS for prochlorperazine 3mg dissolvable tablets rose by 700%, from £6.49 a packet to more than £51, between December 2013 and December 2017, costing the NHS an extra £5 million a year.
    The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ruled that several companies broke the law by fixing the market and agreeing not to produce a rival version of the drug, which is used to treat nausea and dizziness and can be prescribed to patients having chemotherapy.
    Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: “The size of the fines reflects the seriousness of this breach. These firms conspired to stifle competition in the supply of this important medication, so that the NHS — the main buyer of the drugs — lost the opportunity for increased choice and lower prices.”
    He said the CMA would not “hesitate to take action like this against any businesses that collude at the expense of the NHS”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, 3 February 2022
  10. Sam
    Children with mental health problems are dying because of failings in NHS treatment, coroners across England have said in what psychiatrists and campaigners have called “deeply concerning” findings.
    In the last five years coroners have issued reports to prevent future deaths in at least 14 cases in which under-18s have died while being treated by children’s and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
    The most common issues that arise are delays in treatment and a lack of support in helping patients transition to adult services when they turn 18.
    Coroners issue reports to prevent future deaths in extreme cases when it is decided that if changes are not made then another person could die.
    Dr Elaine Lockhart, the chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ faculty of child and adolescent psychiatry, said the findings were “deeply concerning” and every death was a tragedy.
    She said there were too often lengthy delays and services were under strain as demand rises and the NHS faces workforce shortages.
    “In child and adolescent mental health services in England, 15% of consultant psychiatrist posts are vacant,” Lockhart said, calling for more support, investment and planning to grow staff levels.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 3 February 2022
  11. Sam
    The NHS is "riddled with racism", the chair of the British Medical Association's council has told the BBC.
    Dr Chaand Nagpaul has spoken out in response to a survey by the BMA, shared exclusively with BBC News.
    At least 75% of ethnic minority doctors experienced racism more than once in the last two years, while 17.4% said they regularly faced racism at work, the survey said.
    NHS England said it takes a "zero-tolerance approach" to racism.
    Racism affects patients as well as doctors' wellbeing, by stopping talented people from progressing fairly and affecting doctors' mental health, Dr Nagpaul warned.
    "This is about a moral right for anyone who works for the NHS to be treated fairly," he said.
    Around 40% of the NHS's 123,000 doctors are from minority backgrounds, compared to about 13.8% of the general population. But despite this diversity, doctors told the BBC that there was a toxic "us versus them" culture in NHS trusts across the UK.
    They said they had faced bogus or disproportionate complaints from colleagues, racist comments from superiors, and even physical assault in the workplace. Some said they had tried to lodge complaints which were then ignored or dismissed without investigation.
    One consultant, from a black African background, told the BMA that after reporting previous incidents "no action was taken... I feel uncomfortable and anxious of reprisals".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 2 February 2022
  12. Sam
    Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) could be made available to buy over the counter.
    Health watchdogs are proposing a re-classification of the medication so women would be able to buy it in pharmacies without a prescription, it’s claimed.
    HRT is mainly used to treat menopause symptoms but it is not yet known which version of the medication will be a part of the proposal, the Daily Telegraph reports.
    Symptoms can include hot flushes, reduced sex drive and mood swings and usually pass after a few years.
    More than one million women a year are believed to suffer each year but treatment is currently only available after consultation with a GP or a specialist.
    A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "We understand that for some women menopause symptoms can have a significant impact on their quality of life, and we are committed to improving the care and support they receive.
    "That’s why we’re developing the first ever government-led Women’s Health Strategy, informed by women’s lived experience. Menopause, including improving access to Hormone Replacement Therapy, will be a priority under the Strategy."
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 2 February 2022
  13. Sam
    Death has become “over medicalised” and the public should be encouraged to discuss dying and grief, experts have said.
    There's a call for shift in attitude towards palliative care, with more emphasis on compassion and less on giving medication that may prolong pain.
    According to a new Lancet commission, an overemphasis on aggressive treatments to prolong life, global inequities in palliative care access, and high end-of-life medical costs have led to millions of people suffering unnecessarily at the end of their life.
    The authors also note that the pandemic has made death and dying more prominent in daily life, while health systems have been “overwhelmed” when trying to care for those dying.
    People often died alone, with families unable to say goodbye to loved ones or grieve together, the commission said – the effects of which will “resonate for years to come”.
    The researchers argue that many people, mainly in low- and middle-income countries, have no access to end-of-life care, and particularly to opioids, while those in high-income countries may be overtreated.
    Attitudes towards death and dying should be “rebalanced”, the authors conclude, away from a medicalised approach towards a “compassionate community model”, where families work with health and social care services to care for those dying.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Telegraph, 31 January 2022
  14. Sam
    Trust were tonight told to cease plans for dismissing unvaccinated staff, as the government announced it would consult on dropping its mandatory covid vaccine policy.
    An email to local NHS leaders said: “Today the Secretary of State has announced that [the vaccination as a condition of deployment policy] is being reconsidered. The government’s decision is subject to Parliamentary process and will require further consultation and a vote to be passed into legislation.
    “We are aware that, based on the guidance already issued to the service, you will have begun to prepare for formal meetings with staff on their deployment if they remain unvaccinated. This change in government policy means we request that employers do not serve notice of termination to employees affected by the [vaccination as a condition of deployment] regulations.”
    Previous guidance had required that, after 3 February – the deadline to have a first vaccination in order to have two vaccines by the 1 April legal cut-off – trusts begin formal meetings and issue dismissal warnings to unvaccinated patient-facing staff. 
    Huge efforts have been put into encouraging staff to be vaccinated and to preparing for the next steps in recent weeks. However, tens of thousands across England are still believed to have had no vaccine, or to have an “unknown” vaccine status.
    The brief NHSE letter gave no further guidance on whether trusts should continue to press staff to be vaccinated by that date, or continue to have discussions about redeployment.
    Sajid Javid, who introduced the legal requirements last year, told the Commons: “I am announcing that we will launch a consultation on ending [VCOD] in health and all social care settings.
    “Subject to the responses – and the will of this House – the Government will revoke the regulations. I have always been clear that our rules must remain proportionate and balanced – and of course, should we see another dramatic change in the virus, it would be responsible to review this policy again.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 1 February 2022
  15. Sam
    Injured NHS patients have spoken out about the human cost of clinical negligence in a new report published as MPs examine how to cut the health service’s bill for causing harm.
    The House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee is gathering evidence for its inquiry on NHS litigation reform.
    “There is a fixation on the financial cost of clinical negligence, rather than on the human cost and the reasons why injured patients have to make a claim for compensation at all,” said Guy Forster of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) a not-for-profit group which campaigns on behalf of injured patients and their families.
    “There are a lot of voices and opinions in any debate which concerns the NHS and patient safety, but they are almost never the voices and opinions of the patients. This is why APIL has commissioned The Value of Compensation report,” said Mr Forster.
    Patients who took part in the research cite mounting debt; uncertainty about their future health; isolation; abandoned careers; relationship breakdowns; and loss of independence, as some of the many far-reaching side effects of injuries sustained through failures in care.
    “Patients are devastated to have trusted the NHS with their health and then have to live with the pain and suffering of an injury which should have been avoided,” said Mr Forster. “This report provides new insight on how compensation can help rebuild their lives.”
    “None of them relish having to make a claim for compensation. I cannot stress enough that the money is never, ever a ‘windfall’ for an injured patient,” he went on.
    “It is obvious that full and fair compensation is critical for injured patients. It should go without saying that the cost of compensation would be cut if the harm were not caused in the first place. But it is critical that when things go wrong, injured people are cared for properly and have the chance to get back on track.”
    Read press release
    Source: APIL, 12 January 2022
  16. Sam
    A vulnerable woman judged to be at medium risk of self harm was on a mental-health ward that catered for low-risk patients, an inquest heard.
    Zoe Wilson, 22, died on the Larch Ward at Bristol's Callington Road Hospital in June 2019 after being found unconscious in her room at 01.30 BST.
    She had previously told staff that voices were telling her to kill herself, her inquest heard.
    Healthcare assistant Sarah Sharma found her and immediately called for help. Addressing a jury inquest at Avon Coroners' Court, she said that "patients admitted to Larch should have all been low risk". 
    This meant they would "preferably" have hourly observations by staff and be able to take their medication without any issues. Many were ready to be discharged and they were there because something was holding them up, normally housing, she said.
    The experienced healthcare assistant said if the patient's risk increased they should be placed under "one to one" monitoring with a member of staff until they were moved to a more suitable unit.
    The inquest heard earlier that Ms Wilson had been judged to be medium risk and was placed on 30-minute observations on 18 June.
    Her risk level was re-assessed when she handed a belt to staff and informed them voices were telling her to kill herself.
    Ms Sharma told the court that she was on her first overnight shift in two and a half weeks that night, and was informed in a handover that Ms Wilson was at risk of self-harming.
    Having never met Ms Wilson - who had schizophrenia - she queried what kind of self-harm the patient was at risk of but said the nurse performing the handover told her he "didn't know".
    Ms Sharma told the inquest she was unaware of the belt incident or that Ms Wilson had not been sleeping well and had requested medication to calm her down.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 24 January 2022
  17. Sam
    A “very tense” behind-the-scenes row over how quickly hospitals in England can be expected to reduce the massive backlog of surgery has broken out between NHS bosses and ministers.
    The dispute has delayed publication of the government’s “elective recovery plan”, which Downing Street had indicated would be part of Boris Johnson’s “Operation Red Meat” political fightback this week.
    No 10, the Treasury and Department of Health and Social Care are pressing NHS England to ensure that hospitals do as many operations as they can, as quickly as possible, in order to tackle the backlog, which now stands at a record 6 million patients.
    They want to impose “stretching and demanding” targets on hospitals, sources with knowledge of the discussions said.
    However, NHS trust bosses say the ongoing impact of treating patients sick with Covid, due to the current Omicron surge, longstanding gaps in their workforce, exhaustion at the frontline and record levels of staff sickness, mean they need time to get back to doing as much surgery as they did before the pandemic.
    The Treasury is said to be frustrated with NHS England and privately believes it is “foot-dragging” over the targets. NHS bosses for their part fear the plan is being driven by “political expediency”, given the growing concern at the sheer number of people facing long delays for care.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 20 January 2022
  18. Sam
    Leading charities have spoken out against the government’s scrapping of COVID-19 measures warning that clinically vulnerable people have been made “collateral damage for political considerations.”
    Those representing thousands of clinically vulnerable people have warned the government’s decisions to scrap COVID-19 restrictions leaves people “marginalised” and warned there was a risk to 5-11 year old vulnerable children who are yet to be vaccinated.
    The removal of COVID-19 restrictions next week will mean masks are no longer mandatory and the government will no longer ask people to work from home. Blood Cancer UK has called for the government to do more to support immunocompromised people such as giving them priority testing.
    Alzheimer's Society has said it is too early to drop basic measures, such as mask wearing, which help protect vulnerable members of society.
    Charlotte Augst, chief executive for the charity National Voices said clinically vulnerable people had now become “collateral damage in political considerations.”
    She said: “The pandemic has obviously been difficult for everyone, but it’s been the most difficult for people who are vulnerable to the virus, and some of these people have never really come out of 22 months of lockdowns.
    “There are obviously infection control measures that are harmful to society and lockdown is one of them - it causes harm. But there are some infection control measures which are not and which enable people to get on with their lives - wearing masks, improving ventilation.
    “Why would we not do this? When we understood that dirty water caused illness, we cleaned up the water. It cannot be a political statement to say we should clean up the air this is just fact-based decision making, but the situation] has now become all about politics.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent. 21 January 2022
  19. Sam
    Hundreds of nurses, paramedics, health and care workers have been disciplined over allegations of sexual assault, including incidents involving child sexual abuse, The Independent can reveal.
    It comes as the government begins a year-long inquiry into the sexual abuse of dead patients by “morgue monster” David Fuller.
    Charities claim the true scale of the issue is likely to be hidden by “vast underreporting” while safeguarding experts say there is no “uniformity” in how NHS trusts handle such cases.
    The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), which regulates just under 300,000 workers including paramedics, occupational therapists, psychologists and physiotherapists, has taken action on 154 occasions following 293 investigations carried out into allegations of sexual assault or abuse since 2012, according to figures obtained by The Independent.
    Fifty-three clinicians were struck off, 20 were cautioned and a further 29 were either suspended, had restrictions placed on their practice or agreed to be removed from registration. More than half of the actions followed allegations of sexual abuse of a child patient.
    Separate data from Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which has more than 700,000 registered nurses and midwives. shows action was taken 113 times in the past four years against nurses and midwives who did not maintain professional boundaries; in more than 80 per cent of those cases, the clinician was struck off.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 21 January 2022
  20. Sam
    A cervical cancer patient has been treated with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI) for the first time in the UK.
    Emma McCormick, 44, was treated at the St Luke's Cancer Centre in Guildford, Surrey.
    The Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust treated Ms McCormick, who is from West Sussex, using adaptive radiotherapy.
    The AI technology uses daily CT scans to target the specific areas that need radiotherapy.
    This helps to avoid damage to healthy tissue and limit side-effects, the hospital said.
    Patients are given treatments lasting between 20 and 25 minutes, although Ms McCormick's was slightly longer as she was the first patient, a hospital spokesman said.
    Ms McCormick received five AI-guided treatments per week for five weeks before having a further two weeks of brachytherapy.
    She said: "If it works for me, and they get information from me, it can help somebody else. It definitely worked and did what it was meant to do and so hopefully that helps others."
    Dr Alex Stewart, who treated Ms McCormick, said one of the benefits of the treatment was that it allowed for more precision, meaning there were fewer side-effects for the patients.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 21 January 2022
  21. Sam
    Giving repeated booster doses of existing CovidD-19 vaccines in developed countries is not a sustainable global strategy for tackling the pandemic, the World Health Organization has said.
    Instead, WHO argues that the focus should shift towards producing new vaccines that work better against transmission of emerging variants.
    In a statement, published on 11 January, the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition said, “A vaccination strategy based on repeated booster doses of the original vaccine composition is unlikely to be appropriate or sustainable.”
    The expert group, which is assessing the performance of Covid-19 vaccines, said that to deal with emerging variants such as omicron, new vaccines needed to be developed that not only protect people against serious illness but against infection. “Covid-19 vaccines that have high impact on prevention of infection and transmission, in addition to the prevention of severe disease and death, are needed and should be developed,” the group said.
    Vaccines also need to be more effective at protection against infection, “thus lowering community transmission and the need for stringent and broad reaching public health and social measures,” the group said.
    Read full story
    Source: BMJ, 17 January 2022
  22. Sam
    Swedish expert has praised Scotland for leading work in improving patient safety, with a decade-long programme which is now expanding into social care.
    Dr Pelle Gustafson (below), chief medical officer, of Swedish patient insurer Löf, said he was “particularly impressed” by the work in Scotland over the past 10 years during a meeting of the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee.
    The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP), which has been in existence for around 13 years, was set up to make patient safety a priority in NHS Scotland, drawing on lessons from the airline industry such as introducing checklists.
    Gustafson was asked by Tory MP Dr Luke Evans which country he would hold at the “very top of the pillar” for preventative work during an evidence session on NHS litigation reform last week.
    He responded: “If you take all preventive work as regards patient safety, I would say that I am personally very impressed by Scotland.
    “In Scotland, you have a long-standing tradition of working. You have development in the right direction.
    “You have a system that is fairly equal all over the place and you also have improvement activities going on. I am very impressed by Scotland.”
    He added: “I am particularly impressed by the Scottish work over the last 10 years. There are a lot of things that we, in the Nordic countries, can learn from Scotland too.”
    Read full story
    Source: The National, 16 January 2022
     
     
     
     
  23. Sam
    There are serious concerns over the standards of specialist care being provided to patients with the most complex mental health needs, a BBC investigation has found.
    Patients sent by the NHS to stay in mental health rehabilitation units say they have been placed in unsafe environments, often far from home, with untrained staff.
    Experts say not enough is being done to regulate the sector, which costs the NHS half a billion pounds a year.
    Lissa had spent years struggling with her mental health, having experienced traumatic life events. She was diagnosed with mixed personality disorder, depression and high-functioning Asperger's. So when the NHS sent her to a unit in Coventry run by Cygnet Health Care for a specialist talking therapy, she agreed.
    The hospital, however, was in special measures. There had been two deaths in the previous 20 months. In both cases there was found to be a failure to follow the patient's care plan and carry out observations correctly. Lissa says staff failed to treat her with dignity and respect.
    The system in England is regulated by the Care Quality Commission, (CQC). Some rehabilitation wards haven't been inspected for four or more years.
    John Chacksfield, who was a CQC inspector until late 2020, says greater scrutiny is needed.
    "Sometimes the private sector provides really excellent service, but there are certain units that really do need regular inspections just to make sure staff are being trained enough, or are having enough clinical supervision. It does worry me," he says.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 18 January 2022
  24. Sam
    One in four doctors in the NHS are so tired that their ability to treat patients has become impaired, according to the first survey to reveal the impact of sleep deprivation on medics during the coronavirus pandemic.
    Growing workloads, longer hours and widespread staff shortages are causing extreme tiredness among medics, leading to memory problems and difficulty concentrating, according to the report by the Medical Defence Union (MDU), which provides legal support to about 200,000 doctors, nurses, dentists and other healthcare workers.
    The survey of more than 500 doctors across the UK, carried out within the past month and seen by the Guardian, uncovered almost 40 near misses as a direct result of exhaustion. In at least seven cases, patients actually sustained harm.
    Despite encouraging signs the Omicron wave may be fading, doctors admitted the constant pressure of the past 22 months spent fighting coronavirus on the frontline was taking a toll on their technical skills and even their ability to make what should be straightforward medical decisions. Medics admitted for the first time sleep deprivation was causing real harm to patients in the NHS.
    Almost six in 10 doctors (59%) reported their sleep patterns had worsened during the pandemic. More than a quarter (26%) of medics admitted being so tired that their ability to treat patients was “impaired”. Of these, one in six (18%) said a patient was harmed or a near miss occurred as a result.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 17 January 2022
    Read MDU press release
  25. Sam
    The number of Covid patients in hospitals in England and Scotland has continued to rise this week, as NHS England reached a deal with private hospitals to free up beds amid the outbreak of Omicron cases.
    Meanwhile, Covid staff absences in England rose to their highest level since the introduction of the vaccine. The number of NHS workers in England off sick because of Covid was up by 41% in the week to 2 January, according to the latest figures.
    Five health workers describe some of the challenges they are facing, including understaffing, waiting times and bed-blocking.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 14 January 2022
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