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Sam

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  1. Sam
    Fewer Americans are dying of cancer, part of a decades-long trend that began in the 1990s as more people quit smoking and doctors screened earlier for certain cancers.
    However, the American Cancer Society warned that those gains are threatened by an increase in cancers among people younger than 55, in particular cervical and colorectal cancer, and by the continued disparities between white Americans and people of colour.
    “The continuous sharp increase in colorectal cancer in younger Americans is alarming,” said Dr Ahmedin Jemal, senior vice-president for surveillance and health equity science at the American Cancer Society.
    “We need to halt and reverse this trend by increasing uptake of screening, including awareness of non-invasive stool tests with follow-up care, in people 45-49 years, [old]” said Jemal.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 17 January 2024
  2. Sam
    Half of surgeons in England have considered leaving the NHS amid frustration over a lack of access to operating rooms, a new survey shows.
    More than 3,000 surgeons contemplated quitting the health service in the last year, with two-thirds reporting burn out and work-related stress to be their main challenge, a new survey by the Royal College of Surgeons England has revealed.
    As the NHS tries to reduce the 7.61 million waiting list backlog, the survey, covering one quarter of all UK surgeons, found that 56% believe that access to operating theatres is a major challenge.
    RCS England president, Mr Tim Mitchell, said: “At a time when record waiting lists persist across the UK, it is deeply concerning that NHS productivity has decreased.
    “The reasons for this are multifactorial, but access to operating theatres and staff wellbeing certainly play a major part. If surgical teams cannot get into operating theatres, patients will continue to endure unacceptably long waits for surgery.
    “There is an urgent need to increase theatre capacity and ensure existing theatre spaces are used to maximum capacity. There is also a lot of work to be done to retain staff at all levels by reducing burnout and improving morale.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 18 January 2024
  3. Sam
    Thousands of lives could be saved if safe rooms were set up in UK cities where people could be supervised while they get high, the world’s largest review of the effectiveness of drug-consumption rooms and overdose-prevention centres (OPCs) has found.
    The part-government-funded study published on Thursday also found the facilities could slash the transmission of fatal diseases, as well as reduce drug litter, the pressure on ambulance callouts and the burden on hospitals.
    Similar facilities already operate in France, the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Greece, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Mexico, Iceland and Colombia.
    Each unit hosts from 20 to 400 users a day and is supposed to provide somewhere for people to take drugs in the presence of trained health workers who intervene if an overdose occurs.
    They also mean people don’t have to rush their drug taking, can access clean needles, and get help with other health issues, from testing for hepatitis B and HIV to accessing mental-health support.
    But none has yet been deployed officially in the UK, and the report warns the absence “costs lives”.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 11 January 2023
  4. Sam
    Most key NHS targets have been missed for at least seven years across the UK, BBC News research shows.
    The review of records going back 20 years also reveals Northern Ireland and Wales have never met the four-hour accident-and-emergency (A&E) target.
    The analysis focused on the three key hospital targets, covering A&E, cancer and waiting times for planned care.
    In the past seven, the only one to have been met is the A&E target in Scotland - and that was during lockdown in 2020, when the number of visits to A&E plummeted.
    All four nations said improving waiting times was a priority and investment was being made.
    But King's Fund think tank chief analyst Siva Anandaciva said the findings should "act as a wake-up call".
    "These are the key totemic targets," he said. "The length of time they have been missed is incredible."
    Patients groups warned the delays were putting patients at risk.
    Patients Association chief executive Rachel Power said the analysis showed the NHS was in "permacrisis".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 10 January 2024
  5. Sam
    Mylissa Farmer’s pregnancy was doomed. But no one would help her end it.
    Over the course of a few days in August 2022, Farmer visited two hospitals in Missouri and Kansas, where doctors agreed that because the 41-year-old’s water had broken just 18 weeks into her pregnancy, there was no chance that she would give birth to a healthy baby. Continuing the pregnancy could risk Farmer’s health and life – yet the doctors could not act.
    Weeks earlier, the US supreme court had overturned Roe v Wade and abolished the national right to abortion. It was, legal counsel at one hospital determined, “too risky in this heated political environment to intervene”, according to legal filings.
    In immense pain and anguish, Farmer ultimately traveled several hours to Illinois, where abortion is legal. There, doctors were able to end her pregnancy.
    Farmer’s account is detailed in a legal complaint she filed against the hospitals, arguing that they broke a federal law that requires hospitals to treat patients in medical emergencies. In a first-of-its-kind investigation, the US government sided with Farmer and declared that the two hospitals had broken the law.
    The future of the government’s ability to invoke that law to protect women seeking emergency abortions is now in question. The law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (Emtala), is at the heart of the US supreme court’s latest blockbuster abortion case, which comes out of Idaho.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 9 January 2024
  6. Sam
    In 2016, Kettering General Hospital (KGH) became the focus of a major criminal inquiry. Documents seen by the BBC reveal detectives looked for evidence of gross negligence manslaughter over the treatment of Jorgie Stanton-Watts, a vulnerable toddler.
    Seven years of investigations followed, by the hospital, regulators and a coroner. The family has struggled to hold people to account.
    Since Jorgie's death, a BBC investigation has heard from more than 50 parents with serious concerns about the treatment of their children, many of whom died or suffered injury.
    The Northamptonshire hospital has also been inspected regularly.
    In April the Care Quality Commission (CQC) downgraded the hospital's children's services to inadequate, the lowest possible rating.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 10 January 2024
  7. Sam
    The Royal College of Nursing has warned of an increase risk of Covid among hospital staff and patients due to the NHS’s failure to follow World Health Organization advice about infection control during a current spike in cases.
    The most recent figures showed one in 24 people in England and Scotland had Covid on 13 December, up from one in 55 two weeks before.
    Last week WHO expressed concern about a new subvariant of Omicron, labelled JN.1, after its rapid spread in the Americas, western Pacific and European regions. To tackle the increase, the WHO advised that all health facilities “implement universal masking” and give health workers “respirators and other PPE”.
    Now the RCN has written to the four chief nursing officers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland asking why this guidance has not been introduced across the NHS.
    The letter, seen by the Guardian, points out that existing guidance in the national infection prevention and control manual (NIPCM) does not mandate hospital staff to use masks. It also leaves decisions about respirators to local risk assessors.
    The RCN says this guidance to UK hospitals is “inconsistent” with WHO advice.
    The letter by Patricia Marquis, the RCN’s director for England, calls for urgent revision to the NIPCM guidance to ensure the “universal implementation” of masks and respirators for health workers.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 22 December 2023
  8. Sam
    A mother who endured a botched surgery at the hands of a disgraced neurosurgeon claims NHS Tayside tried to silence her against making complaints.
    Professor Sam Eljamel removed Jules Rose's tear duct during a failed attempt to operate on a brain tumour - setting the 55-year-old on a path to becoming a prolific campaigner for patients' rights.
    Ms Rose, however, has received sight of documents that show NHS Tayside writing to the then-health minister Humza Yousaf to say she had been "aggressive" and "vulgar" and they would no longer communicate with her.
    In a letter in response, Mr Yousaf says he sees no evidence of any such conduct by the mother-of-two and tells the health board to enter into mediation with her.
    Ms Rose said: "In the letter I have been given, Humza Yousaf writes back and say, 'She's quite right to feel aggrieved at the treatment she's received.
    "'Therefore, I suggest that you continue liaising with Miss Rose and enter into mediation.'
    "This was last November but I've only just had copies of the letters sent to me and when I saw them I thought, 'They've tried to shut me down, they're tried to silence me'."
    The ongoing dispute with NHS Tayside is as a result of Ms Rose's long-running campaign for justice for patients - thought to be as many as 270 - harmed by Eljamel while he was in the health board's employ.
    Read full story
    Source: The Herald, 16 December 2023
  9. Sam
    UK organisations responsible for protecting the public from advertisements of prescription-only drugs are putting patients at risk from the harms of weight loss drugs by not enforcing the law, critics have told The BMJ.
    The UK’s Human Medicines Regulations 2012 prohibit the advertising of prescription drugs to the general public, and companies that break the rules can be sanctioned with fines, orders to issue a corrective statement, or prosecution.
    Legal responsibility for regulating advertisements for medicines in the UK rests with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on behalf of health ministers. But there is also a system of self-regulation with a number of organisations operating their own codes of practice, including the Advertising Standards Authority.
    But The BMJ has found that the MHRA has not issued a single sanction for prescription drugs in the past five years. And among 16 cases where the MHRA took action by requesting changes to advertisements for weight loss drugs from June 2022 to July 2023, all were triggered by external complaints, not internal mechanisms, and none resulted in sanctions.
    Read full story
    Source: The BMJ, 13 December 2023
  10. Sam
    Hundreds more middle-aged adults have been dying each month since the end of the pandemic, as obesity and NHS backlogs drive a surge in excess deaths.
    New analysis of official statistics has revealed that there were an extra 28,000 deaths in the UK during the first six months of 2023, compared with levels in the previous five years.
    The biggest rise in unexpected deaths has been among adults aged 50 to 64, who are increasingly dying prematurely from preventable conditions including heart disease and diabetes.
    The Covid inquiry is now being urged to shift its focus from “tactical decisions made by politicians” and to examine the lasting disruption that has kept deaths persistently high since the virus peaked.
    Experts believe that difficulties in accessing GPs since lockdown and record NHS waiting lists mean that middle-aged patients are missing out on life-saving preventative treatment such as blood pressure medication. Unhealthy lifestyles, obesity and widening health inequalities are also contributing to a rise in avoidable deaths.
    Professor Yvonne Doyle, who led Public Health England during the pandemic, warned that the official Covid inquiry risks “missing the point” by focusing on the drama and WhatsApps of Westminster politicians. In an article for The Times, Doyle, who gave evidence to the inquiry six weeks ago, says that the tens of thousands of excess deaths since Covid “represent an underlying pandemic of ill health” that should be addressed.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, 13 December 2023
  11. Sam
    A London acute trust is planning to provide staff working in frailty units with body cameras and those in antenatal clinics with additional security, as violence and aggression against them goes ‘through the roof’.
    Matthew Trainer, chief executive of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust in north east London, described the measures the trust is planning to take in response to growing staff concerns about their safety.
    Speaking at a King’s Fund event about making NHS careers more attractive, Mr Trainer said: “We need to understand the impact of violence and aggression against the workforce and that’s going through the roof just now.
    “Our ultrasound technicians have now asked for help as their antenatal scans are becoming so fraught. We are about to introduce body cameras in our frailty wards to help with the increase in violence and aggression against staff there.”
    Mr Trainer – who joined BHRUT in 2021 from Oxleas Foundation Trust – said a long-running problem with violence and aggression in emergency departments was spreading to other departments.
    Mr Trainer stressed the main problem, particularly in frailty units, was not patients’ own behaviour, but that of family and friends visiting them.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 13 December 2023
  12. Sam
    A fresh inquest into the death of Raychel Ferguson has found she died of a cerebral oedema, or swelling in the brain, due to hyponatraemia.
    He said the "inappropriate infusion of hypertonic saline fluid" was the most significant factor.
    The nine-year-old died at the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in June 2001.
    Coroner Joe McCrisken said her death was due to a series of human errors and not systemic failure.
    He outlined three causes of the hyponatraemia but said he was satisfied the "inappropriate infusion of hypertonic saline fluid... played the most significant part".
    The new inquest into Raychel's death was first opened in January 2022 after being ordered by the attorney general but was postponed in October when new evidence came to light.
    Raychel was one of five children whose deaths over the course of eight years at the same hospital prompted a public inquiry.
    In 2018 the Hyponatraemia Inquiry - which examined the deaths of five children in Northern Ireland hospitals, including Raychel - found her death was avoidable.
    The 14-year-long inquiry was heavily critical of the "self-regulating and unmonitored" health service. In his report in 2018, Mr Justice O'Hara found there was a "reluctance among clinicians to openly acknowledge failings" in Raychel's death.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 11 December 2023
  13. Sam
    The expert tasked by government and NHS England to investigate maternity scandals has criticised ministers for failing to provide the funding necessary to address the problems.
    Donna Ockenden said the funding provided so far was “nowhere near good enough” and progress made to improve services had been “extremely disappointing”.
    After her investigation into the deaths and harm of 295 babies and nine mothers at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust, the Department of Health and Social Care endorsed recommendations to invest an additional £200m to £350m per year into maternity services.
    IMs Ockenden suggests the recent impact of inflation, pay awards, and other rising costs means the full £350m is required.
    According to NHSE an additional £165m per year has been invested since 2021, and the DHSC said this would rise to £187m from April.
    Ms Ockenden, a senior midwife, told HSJ: “What I would like to say loud and clear to the government is that we are broadly 50 per cent of the way there in receiving the money we know is needed for maternity services. That is nowhere near good enough.
    “There are workforce issues across [the whole team], whether that’s midwives, obstetricians or neonatologists, and it’s hardly surprising.
    “The government must now do more – whilst we were grateful for the endorsement [of her report], the lack of progress in providing what is known to be the required funding is extremely disappointing.”
    Read more (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 11 December 2023
  14. Sam
    New official guidance on treating menopause will harm women’s health, experts, MPs and campaigners have warned.
    Last month, new draft guidelines to GPs from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said that women experiencing hot flushes, night sweats, depression and sleep problems could be offered cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) “alongside or as an alternative to” hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to help reduce their menopause symptoms.
    But critics have castigated the guidance, saying it belittled symptoms through misogynistic language, and women’s health would suffer as a result of failing to emphasise the benefits of HRT on bone and cardiovascular health as opposed to CBT.
    In its response to the guidance, Mumsnet said NICE's recommendations used “patronising” and “offensive” language and would be “detrimental” to women’s health.
    Justine Roberts, the founder and chief executive of Mumsnet, said: “Women already struggle to access the HRT they are entitled to. We hear daily from women in perimenopause and menopause who are battling against a toxic combination of entrenched misogyny, misinformation and lack of knowledge among GPs.
    “Too often they are fobbed off or told they simply need to put up with severe physical and mental symptoms – often with life-changing effects.

    “By emphasising the negative over the positive, failing to include information about the safest forms of HRT and placing CBT on a par with hormone replacement therapy, this guidance will worsen that struggle. It will make doctors more reluctant to prescribe HRT and women more fearful about asking for or accepting it.”
    Carolyn Harris, the MP for Swansea East and the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on menopause, said the new guidance was “antiquated”, “naive” and “ill thought-out”.
    ”Talking can make you feel better, but it’s not going to take away the aches in your joints and it’s not going to change how you live your life,” she said. “Whatever a woman feels is what she needs to support her through the menopause should be readily and immediately available, and that’s not true currently [of HRT or CBT]."
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 11 December 2023
     
  15. Sam
    Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to provide evidence at the Covid Inquiry on the 6 and 7 of December. Long Covid is one of the most catastrophic consequences of the pandemic and it deserves a prominent place in the discussions during this critical phase of the inquiry.
    The Long Covid Groups will be delivering a letter to No.10 Downing Street today, urging attention to the unique challenges faced by those with Long Covid. 
    Read the letter and sign the petition
  16. Sam
    Newborn babies could be at a higher risk of a deadly bacterial infection carried by their mothers than previously thought.
    Group B Strep or GBS is a common bacteria found in the vagina and rectum which is usually harmless. However, it can be passed on from mothers to their newborn babies leading to complications such as meningitis and sepsis.
    NHS England says that GBS rarely causes problems and 1 in 1,750 babies fall ill after contracting the infection.
    However, researchers at the University of Cambridge have found that the likelihood of newborn babies falling ill could be far greater.
    They claim one in 200 newborns are admitted to neonatal units with sepsis caused by GBS. Pregnant women are not routinely screened for GBS in the UK and only usually discover they are carriers if they have other complications or risk factors.
    Jane Plumb, co-founded charity Group B Strep Support with her husband Robert after losing their middle child to the infection in 1996.
    She said: “This important study highlights the extent of the devastating impact group B Strep has on newborn babies, and how important it is to measure accurately the number of these infections.
    “Inadequate data collected on group B Strep is why we recently urged the Government to make group B Strep a notifiable disease, ensuring cases would have to be reported.
    “Without understanding the true number of infections, we may not implement appropriate prevention strategies and are unable to measure their true effectiveness.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 29 November 2023
    Further reading on the hub:
    Leading for safety: A conversation with Jane Plumb, Founder of Group B Strep Support  
  17. Sam
    Patients are at risk of having serious health conditions missed because of the lack of continuity of care provided by GPs, the NHS safety watchdog says.
    Investigators highlighted the case of Brian who was seen by eight different GPs before his cancer was spotted as an example of what can go wrong.
    Brian had a history of breast cancer and had been discharged from the breast cancer service. Two years later he began to have back pain. 
    Over the following eight months, he saw two out-of-hours GPs and six GPs based at his local practices as well as a physio and GP nurse, before he was sent for a hospital check-up in late 2020.
    A secondary cancer had developed on Brian's spine, but it was too late to offer him curative treatment and he was given end-of-life care. He has since died.
    The watchdog said the lack of continuity of care resulted in the diagnosis of Brian's cancer being missed.
    One of the key problems was that the different GPs he saw missed the fact he was attending repeatedly for the same issue.
    Senior investigator Neil Alexander said Brian's case was a "stark example" of what can happen when there is a breakdown in continuity of care.
    "He told our team 'when I am gone, no-one else should have to go through what I did'."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 30 November 2023
  18. Sam
    The number of people with norovirus in hospital in England is 179% higher than the average at this time of year, official data shows, as the NHS comes under mounting winter pressure.
    Admissions caused by the vomiting and diarrhoea-causing norovirus have surged and cases of other seasonal viruses are also rising, according to NHS England figures. Health chiefs said the impact on hospitals from seasonal viruses was likely to be worsened by the current cold weather.
    “We all know somebody who has had some kind of nasty winter virus in the last few weeks,” said Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director.
    “Today’s data shows this is starting to trickle through to hospital admissions, with a much higher volume of norovirus cases compared to last year, and the continued impact of infections like flu and RSV in children on hospital capacity – all likely to be exacerbated by this week’s cold weather.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 30 November 2023
  19. Sam
    World leaders, cervical cancer survivors, advocates, partners, and civil society came together last week to mark the third Cervical Cancer Elimination Day of Action. The Initiative, which marked the first time Member States adopted a resolution to eliminate a noncommunicable disease, has continued to gain momentum, and this year's commemoration promises to be a beacon of hope, progress, and renewed commitment from nations around the world.
    “In the last three years, we have witnessed significant progress, but women in poorer countries and poor and marginalized women in richer countries still suffer disproportionately from cervical cancer,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “With enhanced strategies to increase access to vaccination, screening and treatment, strong political and financial commitment from countries, and increased support from partners, we can realize our vision for eliminating cervical cancer.”
    Australia is on target to be among the first countries in the world to eliminate cervical cancer, which the country anticipates to achieve in the next 10 years. 
    In Norway, researchers have recently reported finding no cases of cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) in 25-year-olds, the first cohort of women who were offered the vaccine as children through the national vaccination programme.
    Indonesia announced this week a declaration committing to reach the 90-70-90 targets for cervical cancer elimination through the national cervical cancer elimination plan (2023 to 2030).
    In the United Kingdom, England’s National Health Service (NHS) pledged this week to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.
    Read full story
    Source: WHO, 17 November 2023
  20. Sam
    HSJ analysis of the NHS England data also found that 19,000 adults with a serious mental illness are waiting for longer than 18 months for a second contact with community mental health services. This is seen as a more meaningful metric for adults than the first contact.
    In total, almost 240,000 children and young people were waiting for treatment from community mental health services in August 2023, as well as more than 192,000 adults.
    The data revealed the median, or typical, waiting time for children and young people from referral to first contact was 178 days. The median wait time for adults from referral to “second contact” was 120 days.
    The NHS long-term plan set out proposals for a four-week waiting time standard for children and adults to access community mental health services. This approach was piloted and a consultation published, but the new standards are yet to be implemented.
    Sean Duggan, chief executive of the mental health network at the NHS Confederation, said leaders would be concerned – although “not surprised” – that patients were waiting so long for community services.
    He added: “We need access and waiting times standards for all mental health services, to help us improve national data and to direct and allocate resources effectively.”
  21. Sam
    Patient safety is being put at risk by the “toxic” behaviour of doctors in the NHS, the health ombudsman has said.
    Rob Behrens, who investigates complaints about the NHS in England, warned that the hierarchical and high-handed attitude of clinicians was undermining the quality of care in some hospitals.
    He called for medical training to be redesigned to encourage a more empathetic and collaborative approach from doctors.
    Pointing to failings in the treatment of sepsis and the problems in maternity services, Behrens said he was “shocked on a daily basis” by what he saw as ombudsman. Too often, “organisational reputation has been put above patient safety”, he told The Times Health Commission.
    The ombudsman warned of a “Balkanisation” of health professionals, with rivalries between doctors and nurses or midwives and obstetricians harming patient care. “For all the brilliance of clinicians quite often they’re not very good at working together,” he said. “Time and again, the handover from one clinician to another, from one shift to another, or the inability to raise the issue at a senior level has been a key factor in what has gone wrong.”
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, 18 November 2023
  22. Sam
    Two young people facing mental health crises were left on paediatric wards for months while different agencies across a health system struggled to find appropriate placements. 
    The patients – who were both autistic and had learning disabilities, with special educational needs – were admitted to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust (MTW) last year after attending emergency departments more than 10 times within a two-month period.
    They were left on a paediatric ward – one of the patients for four months – as this was the “only available place of safety as opposed to the optimum setting to meet their needs,” according to Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board’s “learning review” of children and young people with complex needs, which the two cases prompted. 
    The review, which HSJ obtained under a Freedom of Information request, revealed several problems with joint working, despite a multidisciplinary team meeting regularly to discuss the young patients’ needs.
    Since the review, a new escalation process has been introduced, urgent mental health risk assessments in the community have been enhanced and a three-month pilot of a self-harm service has been implemented at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, part of MTW.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 17 November 2023
  23. Sam
    Treatment with isotretinoin for UK patients under 18 years of age must be approved by two prescribers in a series of regulatory changes announced by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to strengthen the safe use of this drug.
    Isotretinoin, also known by the brand names Roaccutane and Reticutan, is an effective treatment for severe acne or when there is a risk of permanent scarring. While the drug has helped many patients with severe acne, concerns have arisen among patients and members of the public regarding suspected mental health side effects, including depression, anxiety, psychotic symptoms, and suicide, as well as sexual side effects.
    Following an expert safety review, the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) agreed in April of this year to a number of recommendations to strengthen the safe use of the treatment.
    The safety review concluded that because of gaps in the available evidence, it was not possible to say that isotretinoin definitely caused many of the short-term or long-term mental health and sexual side effects. However, since the individual experiences of patients and families continued to cause concern, the experts recommended that action be taken to ensure patients were made aware of these potential risks and that they were carefully monitored during treatment.
    "The overall balance of risks and benefits for isotretinoin remains favourable," the authors of the report concluded, but further action should be taken to ensure patients were fully informed about isotretinoin and were effectively monitored during and after treatment, they recommended.
    Anna Rossiter, programme manager for Medicines for Children at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the information for young people and their families "needs to be written in a format that is easy to understand and must set out the possible side effects that might be experienced".
    Read full story
    Source: Medscape, 1 November 2023
  24. Sam
    A public inquiry into the deaths of at least 2,000 mental health inpatients has been relaunched with new powers.
    The Essex Mental Health Independent Inquiry was established in 2021 to investigate the deaths of people on mental health wards in the county.
    The number of initial responses to the inquiry from current and former staff was described as "disappointing".
    The inquiry has converted to a statutory inquiry meaning witnesses can be forced to give evidence.
    It is understood the new chairwoman is considering extending the inquiry's timeframe to include deaths from the start of 2000 until the end of 2023.
    Baroness Kate Lampard, leading the inquiry, said: "I am determined to conduct this inquiry in a fair, thorough and balanced manner.
    "I am also concerned to ensure that I do not take any longer than necessary - the recommendations from this inquiry are urgent and cannot be delayed."
    She added: "To be clear from the outset, I will not be compelling families to give evidence.
    "Evidence from staff, management and organisations will be gathered in a proportionate, fair and appropriate manner."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 1 November 2023
  25. Sam
    The safety of people with learning disabilities in England is being compromised when they are admitted to hospital, a watchdog says.
    The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) reviewed the care people receive and said there were "persistent and widespread" risks.
    It warned staff are not equipped with the skills or support to meet the needs of patients with learning disabilities.
    The watchdog launched its review after receiving a report about a 79-year-old who died following a cardiac arrest two weeks after being admitted to hospital.
    As part of its investigation, HSSIB also looked at the care provided in other places to people with learning disabilities.
    It warned systems in place to share information about them were unreliable, and that there was an inconsistency in the availability of specialist teams - known as learning disability liaison services - that were in place in hospitals to support general staff.
    It also said general staff had insufficient training - although it did note a national mandatory training programme is currently being rolled out.
    Senior investigator Clare Crowley said: "If needs are not met, it can cause distress and confusion for the patient and their families and carers, and raises the risk of poor health outcomes and, in the worst cases, harm."
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 2 November 2023
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