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Sam

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  1. Event
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    Everyone makes stories during sleep that can metaphorically depict our waking life experiences and concerns. Have you wondered what waking life memories have led to a dream? Discuss a recent or important or intriguing dream you have had. While you discuss it, Julia Lockheart captures your dream narrative in a work of art drawn and painted onto pages taken from the first English translation of Freud’s book The Interpretation of Dreams. After the session the dreamer will receive a high quality mounted Giclée print of the artwork to display at home and discuss with family and friends. The event is part of the DreamsID (Dreams Illustrated and Discussed, Dreams Interpreted and Drawn) art science collaboration. Dr Julia Lockheart is Associate Professor at Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. Professor Mark Blagrove is Professor of Psychology at Swansea University and researches the science of sleep and dreaming. Register
  2. News Article
    An acute trust has been fined a record sum by the Care Quality Commission for failing to provide safe maternity care, which resulted in the death of a baby after 23 minutes. Nottingham University Hospitals must pay a fine of £800,000 within two years. It is only the second time the regulator has brought a case against a NHS maternity service, and the highest fine ever given for failings of this nature. The trust pleaded guilty earlier this week to two charges of failing to provide safe care and treatment to Sarah Andrews and her baby daughter Wynter Andrews at Queen’s Medical Centre in 2019, a short time after her birth by Caesarean section. This guilty plea saw the fine reduced from £1.2m. An inquest in 2020 found the death was a “clear and obvious case of neglect”. It was also found there was “an unsafe culture prevailing within maternity services”, including a “failure to listen and respond to staff safety concerns”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 27 January 2023
  3. News Article
    “Pointless” bureaucracy is helping hospitals grind to a halt, a leading doctor has warned. Dr Gordon Caldwell, who has just retired after 40 years as an NHS hospital consultant, said “horribly inefficient” paperwork around patients moving in and out of wards is fuelling record delays. The senior doctor took a photograph of all the forms required for one medical admission to an NHS hospital, laid against his 5ft 10in frame. Dr Caldwell said promises by the NHS to “digitise” the health service had simply seen needless bureaucracy transferred on to poor computer systems that were often incompatible with each other. The specialist in general medicine and diabetes endocrinology said: “A few years ago there were estimates that nurses were spending around 50 per cent of their time on paperwork; now I’d say it’s closer to 70 per cent.” “It’s bureaucratic and it’s very slow and horribly inefficient,” he said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 21 January 2023
  4. News Article
    Thousands of NHS operations and appointments have had to be cancelled because of the nurses' strikes in England this week. Over the two days, NHS England said 27,800 bookings had to be rescheduled, including 5,000 operations and treatments. There were more than 30 hospital trusts affected with some saying between 10% to 20% of normal activity was lost. They warned the dispute was hampering progress in reducing the backlog. Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, which represents hospital bosses, said the strike days caused "significant disruption" and were "some of the hardest" hospitals have had to cope with this winter. She said it would have a "big knock-on effect on efforts to tackle the backlog". "The ramifications go well beyond the day itself. We are deeply concerned by this pile-up of demand, which will only continue with more strikes on the horizon." Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 January 2023
  5. Event
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    The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and BMJ bring you one of the largest international conferences focused on improving outcomes for patients and communities through quality improvement. Themed Adapting to a changing world: equity, sustainability and wellbeing for all, the conference programme will focus on how the improvement movement can help healthcare systems adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world. Key topics we will address include equity, sustainability, wellbeing and learning from adverse events. Further information and registration
  6. News Article
    Ministers must use legislation to address an “unacceptable and inexcusable” failure to address racial disparity in the use of the Mental Health Act (MHA), MPs and peers have said. The joint committee on the draft mental health bill says the bill does not go far enough to tackle failures that were identified in a landmark independent review five years ago, but which still persist and may even be getting worse. The committee says the landmark 2018 review of the MHA by Prof Simon Wessely – which the bill is a response to – was intended to address racial and ethnic inequalities, but that those problems have not improved since then “and, on some key metrics, are getting rapidly worse”. Lady Buscombe, the committee chair, said: “We believe stronger measures are needed to bring about change, in particular to tackle racial disparity in the use of the MHA. The failure to date is unacceptable and inexcusable. “The government should strengthen its proposal on advanced choice and give patients a statutory right to request an advance choice document setting out their preferences for future care and treatment, thereby strengthening both patient choice and their voice.” A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are taking action to address the unequal treatment of people from Black and other ethnic minority backgrounds with mental illness – including by tightening the criteria under which people can be detained and subject to community treatment orders. “The government will now review the committee’s recommendations and respond in due course.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 19 January 2023
  7. News Article
    Consultants who blew the whistle at a major teaching trust have raised “grave concerns” about the impartiality of three reviews into the safety and bullying allegations they made. Last month, Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board announced three investigations into University Hospitals Birmingham, following worries about bullying and poor workplace culture. Former trust consultants Manos Nikolousis, John Watkinson and Tristan Reuser have now written to the cross-party reference group holding the investigations to account. Their letter, seen by HSJ, outlines their concerns about potential conflicts of interest. The first investigation is reviewing the trusts’ handling of 12 never events, staff deaths including a recent suicide, and 26 GMC referrals. It is being run by former NHS England deputy medical director Mike Bewick and may report as early as next week. The second and third reveiws will assess trust leadership and broader cultural issues respectively, and will be carried out with UHB and NHSE. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 18 January 2023
  8. News Article
    An artificial pancreas has been successfully trialled in patients with type 2 diabetes, a university said. Scientists at the University of Cambridge developed the device which combines a glucose monitor and insulin pump with an app. The app uses an algorithm that predicts how much insulin is required to keep glucose levels in the target range. Average glucose levels fell while patients trialled the device, the university said. The researchers have previously shown that an artificial pancreas run by a similar algorithm is effective for patients living with type 1 diabetes, where the body's immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin. Dr Charlotte Boughton from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge, who co-led the study, said: "Many people with type 2 diabetes struggle to manage their blood sugar levels using the currently available treatments, such as insulin injections. "The artificial pancreas can provide a safe and effective approach to help them, and the technology is simple to use and can be implemented safely at home." Read full story Source: BBC News, 19 January 2023 You may also be interested in: Top picks: 5 key resources about diabetes Diabetes technology is life-changing, but we need to be prepared when it fails How safe are closed loop artificial pancreas systems?
  9. News Article
    A GP surgery accidentally told patients they had aggressive lung cancer instead of wishing them a merry Christmas. Askern Medical Practice sent the text message to people registered with the surgery in Doncaster on 23 December. Sarah Hargreaves, who was waiting for medical test results, said she "broke down" when she received the text, only to be later told it was sent in error. The first text told recipients they had "aggressive lung cancer with metastases", a type of secondary malignant growth. It directed patients to fill out a DS1500 form, which allows people with terminal diseases to claim certain benefits. However, about an hour later people received a second text telling them it was an error and it was meant to wish them a merry Christmas instead. Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 December 2022
  10. News Article
    Technology that accurately predicts when patients will be ready to leave hospital upon their arrival in A&E is being introduced to solve the NHS bed-blocking crisis. The artificial intelligence (AI) software analyses data including age, medical conditions and previous hospital stays to estimate how long a patient will need to remain. Hospital managers can then alert social care services in advance about the date when patients are expected to be discharged, allowing care home beds or community care packages to be prepared. Nurses said the technology had “revolutionised” their ability to discharge patients on time, meaning people who would otherwise have been stuck in hospital had got home for Christmas. The new technology, developed by the British AI company Faculty, is being tested at four NHS hospitals in Wales belonging to the Hywel Dda health board. Analysis suggests that the tool will save NHS trusts 3,000 bed days and £1.4 million a year by speeding up discharges, which in turn frees beds for elective procedures such as hip replacements. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 26 December 2022
  11. News Article
    Woodside Care Village in Warwick is staged like a town centre in miniature, with benches and a fountain, cafe tables and front doors to homes styled as either “town”, “country” or “classical”. But none of the places are quite what they seem, because here everything has a greater purpose: to improve the wellbeing of people with dementia. Modelled on a groundbreaking Dutch experiment in looking after people with Alzheimer’s disease, the purpose-built facility, which opened in 2019, is quietly breaking new ground for a better kind of dementia care. “Everything is dressed and staged to look familiar,” said Jo Cheshire, the communications manager for the home’s operator, WCS. “We try to make sure people aren’t severing their links with the past. We have one lady who works in the launderette with a badge, because that’s what she did before. It feels like they are contributing to the community.” “The idea is you have freedom,” said Cheshire. “If you come upon a locked door it can increase agitation, that’s unsettling for the other residents and it makes the carer’s job harder.” Staff ratios are higher than normal, at two staff for every five or six people rather than the usual one. This means staff can spend more time interacting with the residents. Staff are briefed with a “this is me” document, which details the likes and dislikes of each person with dementia and has photos through their lives, the time they like to get up, when they like to eat. A clinical trial of such “person-centred” dementia care in 69 care homes in London and Buckinghamshire published in 2020 showed that it improved quality of life for people with dementia and reduced agitation and the burden of depression or aggression. It also reduced hospital and GP visits. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 December 2022
  12. News Article
    Some integrated care systems (ICSs) still require “an awful lot of control” from the centre, Patricia Hewitt has told HSJ, tempering any expectations that her government-commissioned review will bring about a wholesale roll-back of national performance management. The former Labour health secretary, who is also an integrated care board chair, was commissioned in November by chancellor Jeremy Hunt and health secretary Steve Barclay to review ICS autonomy and accountability. In her first interview since she started the work, Ms Hewitt also said: She had not ruled out “legislative tweaks” as a result of her review, but emphasised ICBs already had substantial ”soft power”; Some ICBs were still indulging in ‘old school’ combative behaviour, and stressed they should not become ‘top down regulators’; She wanted to “catalyse” the Care Quality Commission’s move to focus on systems and integration; and It appeared there were probably too many non-clinical support staff in the NHS, but not too many managers, and she would look more closely at the issue. Read full story Source: HSJ, 30 December 2022
  13. News Article
    Families of people with dementia have said there is a national crisis in care safety as it emerged that more than half of residential homes reported on by inspectors this year were rated “inadequate” or requiring improvement – up from less than a third pre-pandemic. Serious and often shocking failings uncovered in previously “good” homes in recent months include people left in bed “for months”, pain medicine not being administered, violence between residents and malnutrition – including one person who didn’t eat for a month. In homes in England where standards have slumped from “good” to “inadequate”, residents’ dressings went unchanged for 20 days, there were “revolting” filthy carpets, “unexplained and unwitnessed wounds” and equipment was ”encrusted with dirt”, inspectors’ reports showed. Nearly one in 10 care homes in England that offer dementia support reported on by Care Quality Commission inspectors in 2022 were given the very worst rating – more than three times the ratio in 2019, according to Guardian analysis. Read full story Source: 29 December 2022
  14. News Article
    The government could scrap a number of NHS targets after a review of the health service, it has been reported. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and health secretary Steve Barclay commissioned Patricia Hewitt, a former Labour health secretary, last month to review how the NHS’s new integrated care systems should work, as well as how the health service should work to “empower local leaders”, giving them more autonomy. According to the i newspaper, the government could abolish a majority of health service targets as a result of the review, so it can be run along similar lines to schools. Ms Hewitt is set to publish her review next spring. The newspaper said ministers believe the NHS has become “overly centralised”, with doctors and trusts having to meet many different targets - more than 70 for GPs - and forced to tailor their work to meet them. Instead, the government would rather run the NHS “more like we do the schools system”, a senior government source told the i, giving local leaders increased responsibility on how to effectively meet NHS goals. The idea of fewer targets was received positively by the Royal College of GPs, which described many of the targets as “tick box exercises”. Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, told the newspaper that GPs are working under “intense workload” and pressure, with a “bureaucratic burden” adding to their workload. Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 December 2022
  15. News Article
    Hundreds of thousands of children have been left waiting by the NHS for the developmental therapies they need, with some waiting more than two years, The Independent can reveal. The long waiting lists for services such as speech and language therapy will see a generation of children held back in their development and will “impact Britain for the long haul”, according to the head of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). More than 1,500 children have been left waiting for two years for NHS therapies, according to internal data obtained by The Independent, while a further 9,000 have been waiting for more than a year. The total waiting list for children’s care in the community is 209,000. Dr Camilla Kingdon, president of the RCPCH, told The Independent: “The extent of the community waiting lists is extremely alarming. Community health services such as autism services, mental health support and speech and language therapy play a vital role in a child’s development into healthy adulthood, and in helping children from all backgrounds reach their full potential. “A lack of access to community health services also has direct implications for children and families in socio-economic terms. Delays accessing these essential services can impact social development, school readiness and educational outcomes, and further drive health inequalities across the country.” She said health and care staff are working immensely hard, but that without support they will struggle to address the long delays, which will “impact Britain for the long haul”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 December 2022
  16. News Article
    Coronavirus modelling data will stop being published in early January, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says. Statistics covering the growth rate of the virus are currently released fortnightly, but the agency says this is no longer necessary. Chief data scientist Dr Nick Watkins said this is due to the UK living with Covid-19 because of vaccines and therapeutics. At the height of the pandemic both the R rate and growth rate for England were published weekly. Since April this year it has been published fortnightly. Dr Watkins said it served as a useful and simple indicator to inform public health action and government decisions. "Vaccines and therapeutics have allowed us to move to a phase where we are living with Covid-19," Dr Watkins said. "We continue to monitor Covid-19 activity in a similar way to how we monitor a number of other common illnesses and diseases. "All data publications are kept under constant review and this modelling data can be reintroduced promptly if needed, for example, if a new variant of concern was to be identified." Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 December 2022
  17. News Article
    The NHS is set to eliminate hepatitis C in England by 2025 due to targeted screening campaigns for those at risk and effective drug treatments, according to health officials. NHS England said the measures are helping to dramatically cut deaths from the virus five years ahead of global targets. Deaths from hepatitis C – including liver disease and cancer – have fallen by 35% since NHS England struck a five-year deal worth almost £1bn to buy antiviral drugs for thousands of patients in 2018. The World Health Organization’s target of a 10% reduction in hepatitis C-related death by 2020 has been exceeded threefold in England. An NHS screening programme launched in September is also enabling up to 80,000 people unknowingly living with the disease to get a diagnosis and treatment sooner by searching health records for key risk factors, such as historic blood transfusions or HIV. Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, said the health service was “leading the world” in the drive to save lives and eliminate hepatitis C while also tackling health inequalities. He said: “Thanks to targeted screening and because the NHS has a proven track record of striking medicine agreements that give patients access to the latest drugs, we are on track to beat global targets and become the first country to eliminate hepatitis C.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 December 2022
  18. News Article
    The health service in England is returning to a payment-by-results-style system for elective activity, new guidance confirms. Providers struggled to hit elective targets in 2022-23, in large part due to ongoing covid, emergency care and staffing pressures, but some have argued that incentives to carry out more activity are too weak. Proposals for the NHS payment system for 2023-24 issued state: “The large backlog in elective care is a significant issue for the NHS and the patients who rely on it. We want the NHSPS to include an elective funding mechanism which means that providers are paid based on the level of activity they deliver.” The plans add: “The approach we are proposing gives providers maximum financial incentive to deliver the elective activity targets they are being set.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 December 2022
  19. News Article
    German public research funder Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is conducting an audit of the clinical trials it has supported in the past. The audit was announced in response to a request from TranspariMED asking DFG for a list of all its trials completed between 2009 and 2017, to which DFG replied that it currently has no such comprehensive dataset. DFG stated that it is "currently preparing an evaluation of its clinical trials programme. In the framework of this evaluation the data you requested will be collected and analysed, as the outcomes of trials supported by DFG is of high interest including for DFG itself." TranspariMED, an organisation which aims to end evidence distortion in medicine, sees this development as a good opportunity for DFG to check whether and when clinical trials were registered and their results made public. Previous research has shown that nearly a third of German academic trials never make their results public. This not only wastes public money, but also harms patients because it leaves gaps in the evidence base on the efficacy and safety of drugs, medical devices, and non-drug treatments. Due to gaps in German law, there is still no legal obligation to make the results of many German clinical trials public. Read full story Source: TranspariMed, 20 December 2022
  20. News Article
    Vulnerable patients, including some children, have faced long delays for a suitable bed as organisations argue over whose responsibility it is to fund and deliver their care, HSJ understands. In a letter outlining winter arrangements, NHS England has warned trust leaders and commissioners against delaying emergency mental health admissions – typically needed when a patient is away from home, and understood to be more common over the Christmas period – while determining which area has which responsibility. National mental health director Claire Murdoch wrote: “It is not acceptable to delay an emergency mental health admission while determining which area has clinical and financial responsibility for the care of an individual.” She added such admissions should be arranged “as quickly as possible, and without delay caused by any financial sign-off process”. It comes as HSJ has been told patients can often end up waiting for several days in emergency departments or in “inappropriate” out of area or acute beds when disputes occur over who is responsible for their care. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 15 December 2022
  21. News Article
    Nearly 8,900 more people have died of cancer than expected in Britain since the start of the pandemic, amid calls for the Government to appoint a minister to deal with the growing crisis. In an essay in The Lancet Oncology, campaigners and medics said the upward trend of cancer deaths is likely to continue, with 3,327 in the last six months alone. They urged the Government to tackle the crisis with the same focus and urgency given to the Covid vaccine rollout, and called for a cancer minister to get on top of the backlog. NHS data from November showed that in the last 12 months, 69,000 patients in the UK have waited longer than the recommended 62-day wait from suspected cancer referral to start of treatment. Professor Gordon Wishart, a former cancer surgeon and chief medical officer of Check4Cancer, said: “The Covid-induced cancer backlog is one of the deadliest backlogs and has served to widen the cracks in our cancer services". “Now we face a deadly cancer timebomb of treatment delays that get worse every month because we don’t have a sufficiently ambitious plan from policymakers. I urge the Government to work with us.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 15 December 2022
  22. News Article
    The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has not met thresholds required to strike in its vote, it announced today, but physiotherapy staff are set to strike at more than 100 trusts in their first ever action ballot over pay. The trade union announced this afternoon that its ballot had not reached the turnout required to take strike action. 88& of those who voted said they supported strike action, but only about 47% of eligible members voted. Law requires a turnout of at least 50%, the RCM said. It comes as nurses prepare to take industrial action on 15 and 20 December, over pay and safety concerns, with ambulance staff across the GMB Union, Unison and Unite set to walk out on 21 December (and GMB also on 28 December). Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 December 2022
  23. News Article
    The government is setting up 19 more diagnostic centres in communities across England to help tackle the Covid backlog. Ninety one are already open and have delivered more than 2.4 million tests, checks and scans since last summer, ministers say. It is hoped the centres will speed up access to services for patients, thereby reducing waiting times. Seven million people in England are now waiting for hospital treatment. GPs can refer patients to community diagnostic centres so that they can access life-saving checks and scans, and be diagnosed for a range of conditions, without travelling to hospital. Some are located in football stadiums and shopping centres and can offer MRI and CT scans, as well as x-rays. In September, according to the government, the hubs delivered 11% of all diagnostic activity - and its ambition is for 40% to be achieved by 2025. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 December 2022
  24. Event
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    The NHS England National Patient Safety Team are hosting this webinar on 15 December 2022 to support independent providers to prepare for the implementation of the new Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF). The webinar will help independent provider organisations to work through the PSIRF preparation phases alongside their ICBs to enable transition to the new framework from the existing Serious Incident Framework by Autumn 2023. The webinar will cover: Introduction and latest updates on PSIRF How to engage and support collaborative working How to develop a patient safety incident response policy and plan How to resource a patient safety incident response team Q&As. Speakers: Tracey Herlihey, Head of Patient Safety Incident Response Policy, NHS England Lauren Mosely, Head of Patient Safety Implementation, NHS England. Register
  25. Content Article
    Disruptive behaviours have been shown to have a significant negative impact on staff collaboration and clinical outcomes of patient care. Disruptive episodes are more likely to occur in high stress areas such as the Emergency Department (ED). Having the structure, process, and skills in place to effectively address this issue will lower the likelihood of preventable adverse events. This study assessed the status of disruptive behaviours and staff relationships in the ED setting. It concluded that disruptive behaviours in the ED have a significant impact on team dynamics, communication efficiency, information flow, and task accountability, all of which can adversely impact patient care. EDs need to recognise the significance of disruptive behaviours and implement appropriate policies and protocols to address this issue.
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