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Patient_Safety_Learning

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News posted by Patient_Safety_Learning

  1. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Artificial intelligence could be used to figure out the causes of “disgraceful” structural problems like the higher rates of maternal mortality for black women, a minister told a conference yesterday.
    Health minister Karin Smyth said AI could be used not only for clinical and administrative functions but also to “diagnose” issues. She also said the way government funded AI adoption needed to change.
    Ms Smyth, a former NHS manager, was giving her first speech as a minister at a Health Foundation conference on AI. The conference also heard from leading tech experts who said the UK was “exceptionally well placed for a global leadership role in health and AI”.
    Read full article (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ 
  2. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Almost a quarter of people do not know the difference between a physician associate and a doctor, according to a new poll.
    While 52 per cent of people can differentiate between the two roles, some 23 per cent said they did not know the difference, the survey conducted for Healthwatch England has revealed.
    The organisation, which represents the interests of patients across England, has called for more clarity around the role of physician associates (PAs).
    Read full article
    Source: Independent
  4. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A mental health trust and a band seven ward manager it employed have denied manslaughter charges over a death on an inpatient ward.
    North East London Foundation Trust and Benjamin Aninakwa entered not guilty pleas to manslaughter by gross negligence at the Old Bailey on Friday (24 May).
    It is believed to be the first time a named NHS manager at a trust has faced corporate manslaughter charges, alongside the organisation that employed them.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 29 May 2024
  5. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A nine-year-old boy died from sepsis after doctors and nurses missed a "significant" GP note, an inquest heard.
    Dylan Cope, from Newport was taken to the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran, Torfaen, on 6 December 2022 after his GP wrote “query appendicitis”, but this note was not read.
    The senior doctor on shift that night said GP referrals were not being printed off and put into patients' notes because of how busy the department was.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News 23 May 2024
  7. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The NHS has spent £4.1bn over the last 11 years settling lawsuits involving babies who suffered brain damage when being born, amid claims that maternity units are not learning from mistakes.
    It paid out just under £3.6bn in damages in 1,307 cases in which parents were left to care for a baby with cerebral palsy or other forms of brain injury, NHS figures reveal.
    NHS Resolution, which defends hospitals in England accused of medical negligence, spent another £490m on legal fees, taking the total cost of dealing with the legal actions to £4.1bn.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian, 26 May 2024
  8. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The rising number of people ­waiting for physiotherapy treatment is causing problems in other parts of the NHS and harming the UK’s economy, leading clinicians have warned.
    Waiting lists for treatment for ­musculoskeletal (MSK) problems such as back, neck and knee pain have grown by 27% since January last year. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) said the number of physiotherapy posts in the NHS was not keeping pace with demand from Britain’s ageing and increasingly obese population.
    The CSP said the UK needed a 7% increase in NHS physiotherapy positions every year to meet rising demand. Musculoskeletal conditions that are left untreated can become more complex and lead to mental health problems or the need for surgery, as well as time off work.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian, 26 May 2024
  9. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The NHS has today announced the 143 hospital sites that will test and roll out Martha’s Rule in its first year.
    Confirmation of the first sites to test implementation of Martha’s Rule is the next step in a major patient safety initiative, following the announcement in February of NHS England funding for this financial year.
    The purpose of Martha’s Rule is to provide a consistent and understandable way for patients and families to seek an urgent review if their or their loved one’s condition deteriorates and they are concerned this is not being responded to.
    Read full press release
    Source: NHS England
  10. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The number of coroner warnings issued last year which were linked to a lack of capacity in emergency care was around four times that seen before covid.
    HSJ analysis of “prevention of future deaths” reports – also known as Regulation 28 reports – show a steep rise since 2021 in deaths linked to long delays in ambulance responses, hospital handovers, and emergency department waits.
    There were 52 in this category in 2023. The largest number pre-covid was 13 in 2018, although the rate also appeared to be slowly rising in the years running up to 2020.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 28 May 2024
  11. Patient_Safety_Learning
    For the past 16 years, I have run a small community pharmacy in rural west Dorset. My business is older than me – the little yellow-brick building I own is about to turn 235. Right now, I am really concerned about it getting through the next 12 months.
    In my years as a pharmacist, I have never seen things as bad as they are at the moment. We are going through a period of rampant drug shortages in England, caused by global shortages, the NHS’s insistence on paying unsustainably low prices for medicines and Brexit, among other things, and people are on the brink. Long gone are the days when customers could place a prescription order safe in the knowledge their life-saving medication would arrive the next day.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian, 17 May 2024
  12. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The NHS’s leading wheelchair provider has been told to urgently improve its complaints system by the health service ombudsman amid concerns disabled people are waiting up to two years for chairs.
    The parliamentary and health service ombudsman (PHSO) took the unusual step of writing to AJM Healthcare after a sharp rise in complaints from wheelchair users. Most related to people not receiving new wheelchairs or the correct parts. The waits range from a month to two years, the ombudsman said.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian 21 May 2024
  13. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Rishi Sunak has promised to pay "comprehensive compensation" to people affected by the infected blood scandal.
    The prime minister said the government would pay "whatever it costs" following a damning report on the scandal, external, which saw 30,000 people infected.
    A public inquiry found authorities had exposed victims to unacceptable risks and covered up the NHS's biggest treatment disaster.
    The government will set out compensation details on Tuesday.
    Ministers have reportedly earmarked around £10bn for a compensation package.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 21 May 2024
  15. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Pharmacists are calling for fresh powers to provide patients with alternative prescriptions as they warned that drugs shortages are hampering their ability to tackle whooping cough.
    More than 2,700 cases have been reported across England so far in 2024 – more than three times the number recorded in the whole of last year.
    But some pharmacies have been forced to turn away families seeking help for their children because they have run out of clarithromycin, a key antibiotic used to treat the condition.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian, 20 May 2024
  16. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Hundreds of senior doctors have been driven out of their jobs in the NHS after raising concerns about patient safety, a campaign group has claimed.
    The senior consultants say managers of NHS trusts employ a playbook of “dirty tricks” to sack whistleblowers or force them to move trusts or take early retirement. Justice for Doctors (JFD), which represents 140 whistleblowing doctors, claims some have been forced to sell their homes to pay legal fees, had their careers destroyed and had been pushed to the brink of suicide.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, 16 May 2024
  18. Patient_Safety_Learning
    'There are literally thousands of us out there who have suffered just for trying to do the right thing.'
    Former Consultant Urological Surgeon, Peter Duffy, explains the extent NHS bosses are going to, to silence whistleblowers who are standing up for patient safety.
    Watch full story
    Source: GB News
    Related reading: NHS bosses destroy careers of whistleblowers who stand up to protect patients’ lives - News - Patient Safety Learning - the hub (pslhub.org)
  19. Patient_Safety_Learning
    NHS managers are destroying the careers of whistleblowers who raise concerns about patient safety, a group of medics warns.
    More than 50 doctors and nurses have told The Telegraph they have been targeted after raising concerns about upwards of 170 patient deaths and nearly 700 cases of poor care. One consultant described it as “the biggest scandal within our country” and said the true number of avoidable deaths was “astronomical”.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: Telegraph, 18 May
  20. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Jeremy Hunt will approve final compensation for the victims of the contaminated blood scandal this week after a Sunday Times campaign for justice was backed across the political divide.
    The chancellor is preparing to unveil a package worth at least £10 billion for those affected by the deadliest man-made disaster in postwar Britain. Tens of thousands of people were treated with disease-ridden blood products from the United States in the 1970s and 80s.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: The Times, 19 May
  21. Patient_Safety_Learning
    Some of the country’s largest trusts could be left without a safety incident reporting system when NHS England removes the existing solution next month, HSJ has learned.
    NHSE has put around 37 trusts on a “red list” for failing to move to the new learning from patient safety events service. They remain on the historic national reporting and learning system, which national leaders describe as ” liable to irretrievable failure at any time” and plan to shut down in June.
    NHSE has warned those providers – including University Hospitals Birmingham and University College London Hospitals foundation trusts – that they will be in breach of their licence if they fail to make the switch.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 20 May
  23. Patient_Safety_Learning
    A weight loss injection could reduce the risk of heart attacks and benefit the cardiovascular health of millions of adults across the UK, in what could be the largest medical breakthrough since statins, according to a study.
    It found that participants taking the medication semaglutide, the active ingredient in brands including Wegovy and Ozempic, had a 20% lower risk of heart attack, stroke, or death due to cardiovascular disease.
    Read full story
    Source: Guardian, 14 May 2024
  24. Patient_Safety_Learning
    The government is spending £5.5bn less on health in England than it suggested it would be at this stage, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says.
    Plans set out in the 2019 election campaign indicated the budget would increase by 3.3% a year above inflation during this Parliament, the IFS said.
    But despite extra being put in to cover the high inflation seen, spending had risen by only 2.7% a year on average.
    Read full story
    Source. BBC News, 14 May 2024
  25. Patient_Safety_Learning
    An NHS England review has found the proportion of ‘low acuity’ patients attending emergency departments is far smaller than expected.
    During a trial of new acuity measures at 17 accident and emergency sites, NHSE found the proportion of patients with low acuity was just 4 per cent, when it had expected the figure to be between 20 and 40 per cent.
    Low acuity cases are those which could often be seen by less specialist services, such as urgent treatment centres.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 13 May 2024
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