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Showing results for tags 'Appointment'.
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Content Article
Diabetes care: Is it fair enough? (Diabetes UK, 10 May 2023)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Diabetes
Missed checks, disrupted care and health inequalities have been revealed in a new report from Diabetes UK looking at the state of diabetes care in England. The report reveals that less than half (47%) of people living with diabetes in England received all eight of their required checks in 2021-22, meaning 1.9 million people did not receive the care they need. It is calling for urgent action to address the routine diabetes care backlog and prevent avoidable deaths of people living with diabetes.- Posted
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Primary care, like many parts of the NHS and health systems globally, is under tremendous pressure – one in five people report they did not get through or get a reply when they last attempted to contact their practice. The Fuller Stocktake built a broad consensus on the vision for integrating primary care with three essential elements: streamlining access to care and advice; providing more proactive, personalised care from a multidisciplinary team of professionals; and helping people stay well for longer. The joint NHS and Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) plan is an important first step in delivering the vision set out in Dr Claire Fuller’s Next steps for integrating primary care.- Posted
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- Primary care
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News Article
Thousands of NHS-funded talking therapy sessions are still being carried out by unaccredited practitioners every month, despite NHS England trying to stop the practice for at least five years. NHS Digital data for January this year showed 44,170 sessions involved practitioners who were neither in training nor had done an accredited course. The actual figure could be higher as, of the 517,027 sessions in total carried out, data about who was involved was missing for more than half (328,433). Since last June, practitioners delivering NHS-funded “low intensity” talking therapies – previously known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies – are required to be part of either the British Psychological Society or the British Association for Cognitive and Behavioural Psychotherapies’ registers. The registers, which were set up in 2021, confirm practitioners have completed an accredited course, ensure continuous professional development and provide a framework for striking off. Meanwhile, NHSE’s IAPT manual – first published in 2018 – states all clinicians should have completed an accredited training programme and a “robust and urgent” plan should be in place to train those who have not, including the possibility of those without accreditation being prevented from working alone. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 3 May 2023- Posted
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News Article
Staff get ‘aggressive verbal abuse’ over strike cancellations
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A hospital trust has said its staff have been verbally abused when contacting some patients to postpone their appointments because of next week’s nursing strike. Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Trust posted a statement to its website yesterday, which said: “It is very regrettable that we have to report that our staff have been verbally abused when contacting some patients to postpone their appointments. We fully understand and appreciate how disappointing and frustrating any postponement is, and we only do this if we absolutely have to in order to provide safe care for all our patients. “Our staff are doing their best in challenging circumstances to make sure you are informed as soon as possible. We do not tolerate abuse of our staff and abuse will be noted and further action may be taken.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 27 April 2023- Posted
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News Article
NHS warned over writing to patients in English after child dies
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patient safety investigators have issued a warning to the NHS over writing to patients only in English after a Romanian child died following missed cancer scans. The three-year-old, of Romanian ethnicity, had an MRI scan delayed after they were found to have eaten food beforehand. When the appointment for the child’s MRI scan was made by the radiology booking team, a standard letter was produced by the NHS booking system in English asking the child not to eat before the scan, despite the family’s first language being Romanian. Staff at the trust had hand-written on the patient’s MRI request sheet that an interpreter was required. “The family recognised key details in the written information, including the time, date and location of the scan,” the report said. “However, they were not able to understand the instructions about the child not eating or drinking (fasting) for a certain amount of time before the scan.” The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has urged NHS England to develop and implement new rules on supplying written appointment information in languages other than English. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 April 2023- Posted
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This Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) investigation focuses on the systems used by healthcare providers to book patient appointments for clinical investigations, such as diagnostic tests and scans. ‘Clinical investigation booking systems’ are used throughout the NHS to support the delivery of patient care. Healthcare services use paper-based or fully electronic systems, or a combination of the two (hybrid systems), to communicate to patients the time, date and location of their appointment. These systems also produce information for patients about actions they need to take to prepare for their appointment. Written patient communication is a key output of clinical investigation booking systems. This investigation examines the safety implications of patient communications, produced by booking systems, that do not account for the needs of the patient. In addition, it looks at why patients are ‘lost to follow-up’ after an appointment is cancelled, rescheduled or not attended. Lost to follow-up is the term used to describe a patient who does not return for planned appointments (whether for continued care or evaluations) or is no longer being tracked in the healthcare system when they should be.- Posted
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News Article
Britain’s dental health desperately needs a check-up
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
“Nobody cares about me. Nobody wants to help me. I don’t want to be here anymore.” Difficult words to hear from a small child, but for Molly Tippetts, aged five with a nasty tooth infection, the outburst was the culmination of two years of pain – all because she couldn’t get an appointment to see a dentist. Molly is just one example of the UK’s dental-health crisis. An increasing number of people cannot access dental care at all; others – including children and expectant mothers – find themselves on years-long waiting lists. Even though the pandemic is over, NHS practitioners admit the country is in a crisis that shows no sign of ending. New research shows one in four people suffering from toothache put off going to the dentist because of the cost. Dentistry is now the number one issue raised with Healthwatch, the independent statutory body representing NHS patients, with four in five people who contacted them saying they found it difficult to access dental care. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health recently warned that even toothbrushes were a “luxury item” for some families, and that children’s dental health was a “national disgrace”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 25 April 2023- Posted
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News Article
Millions wait more than a fortnight to see a GP in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Nearly five million patients each month in England wait more than a fortnight for a GP appointment, NHS figures show, which Labour is calling "unacceptable". The government says it expects all patients needing a GP appointment to be seen within two weeks. The Royal College of GPs says 85% of appointments happen within two weeks and nearly half on the same day. Those taking longer than two weeks may be routine ones for which the wait is therefore appropriate, it says. Prof Kamila Hawthorne, who chairs the Royal College of GPs, said: "GPs and our teams are working tirelessly to deliver safe, timely and appropriate care and to give patients the choice of appointment they want. "We share our patients' frustration when they struggle to access our care. However, this is not down to GPs and their hard-working teams, but due to decades of underfunding and poor resource planning." Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 April 2023- Posted
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News Article
Child health checks failed to recover after covid, figures show
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Inadequate health visiting provision has led to gaps in care for children and heaped pressure on acute services, senior clinicians have told HSJ. Government data suggests that a fifth of infants are not receiving one or more of their five mandatory health visiting reviews across the first two years of life, with rates still substantially below pre-covid levels. Meanwhile, nationally about 1 in 10 children are still being seen virtually, contrary to the government’s delivery model and despite clinicians saying in-person contact is vital to spotting problems. Senior figures in children’s services told HSJ that in some areas a much higher rate was still being carried out with no in-person contact. Clinicians said the reasons were ongoing funding and staffing constraints, and that the problems were leading to parents turning to emergency departments and GPs instead. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 20 April 2023 -
News Article
National ambitions for use of NHS App undermined by plateauing performance
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Take-up and usage of the NHS App in England has begun to plateau, after covid drove huge growth, figures seen by HSJ suggest. This can be seen in the percentage of GP appointments booked or cancelled using the app; the number of records viewed; and the number of times it has been downloaded. Rapid uptake was driven during covid restrictions, when travel and other activities often required a covid vaccination pass. Government has said it wants the growth to continue. The number of GP appointments booked or cancelled using the app fell for a third consecutive month in March to 212,954, representing a decrease of 15% since January and 28% on October 2022, when usage peaked. The NHS app is central to government’s plan for digital health and care, published last year, billed as the “digital front door” to the NHS which would aid the recovery of services post-pandemic. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 April 2023- Posted
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News Article
Junior doctors’ April strike led to 195,000 NHS hospital cancellations
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Almost 200,000 hospital appointments and procedures in England were cancelled during last week’s junior doctors’ strikes, it has been revealed. There were 20,000 more appointments cancelled in the strikes that ran between 11 and 15 April than in the shorter strike in March, NHS England figures show. A total of 27,361 staff were not at work during the peak of the strikes, though the true figure could be higher as some workforce data was incomplete. The NHS’s national medical director, Prof Sir Stephen Powis, said the figures showed the “colossal impact of industrial action on planned care in the NHS”, with nearly half a million appointments rescheduled over the last five months. He said every postponed appointment had “an impact on the lives of individuals and their families and creates further pressure on services and on a tired workforce – and this is likely to be an underestimate of the impact as some areas provisionally avoided scheduling appointments for these strike days”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 April 2023- Posted
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News Article
Over two million patients have to visit GP four times for referral
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More than two million patients each year have to make four or more repeat visits to their GP before they get a referral, a patient watchdog has warned. Patient safety campaigners said people faced waits of “weeks, months or even years” before officially joining NHS waiting lists, and that their health and wellbeing was suffering as a result. They warned it would also add to pressure on other services such as A&E departments. Research by Healthwatch England revealed what the patient watchdog called a “hidden waiting list”. “People wait for a GP appointment; they wait for their GP to tell them they will be referred; they wait for the hospital to confirm that referral; and then they join a hospital waiting list,” it said. “NHS statistics monitor only the hospital waiting list, leaving the steps between getting a GP referral and a letter confirming a hospital appointment as a dangerous ‘blind spot’ for the NHS and patients.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 11 April 2023- Posted
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News Article
NHS England has launched a “very aggressive campaign” to ensure all acute trusts give patients the ability to make appointments and receive messages online. Details of the new “national requirement” which must be met by the end of 2023-24 were sent by NHS England to acute trust chief information officers on Friday. NHSE wants all trust portals to integrate with the NHS App to enable patients to manage outpatient appointments and respond to messages through a single channel. Under NHSE’s requirements, the portals must: Enable patients to view their outpatient appointments; Enable the trust to send a waiting list validation questionnaire to patients; Provide patients with a single point of access to contact the provider, for example to cancel appointments; and Enable patients to access their correspondence from the trust. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 31 March 2023- Posted
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News Article
‘It is not right to normalise the current GP workload’, says RCGP chair
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
It is ‘not right to normalise’ the current workload in general practice as numbers of GPs and practices goes down, the RCGP chair told delegates at Pulse Live this week. Professor Kamila Hawthorne highlighted the pressure GPs are under with general practice appointments increasing most last year, compared to A&E and outpatients. She also said her priority from a new GP contract would be better resourcing for GPs working in deprived areas. Her speech looked at the challenges facing general practice and imagined what the future could look like, including what the college can do to bring about change. Professor Hawthorne said: ‘The workload that we’re facing – it’s not right to normalise it. The sort of work days that we have in general practice, it is not right to normalise this. ‘The number of GPs is going down because they’re leaving the profession faster than they’re entering it. The number of practices in England is going down, and compared with affluent areas, GPs in deprived areas earn less but see more patients with more chronic illness.’ Read full story Source: Pulse, 21 March 2023- Posted
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News Article
More than 175,000 appointments cancelled over three day junior doctors’ walk out
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More than 175,000 patient appointments and surgeries were postponed this week during the three-day junior doctor walk-out, it has emerged. NHS leaders have warned the strikes were the most disruptive yet with more appointments cancelled across three days than across any of the previous nurse strikes. Data published by the NHS showed in total 181,049 patients had their care postponed, this included more than 5,000 mental health and hundreds of community health appointments. The news comes after nursing and ambulance unions accepted a pay offer from the government, for a 5.3 per cent increase in 2023-24, which their members will now vote on. Read full story Source: The Independent, 18 March 2023- Posted
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Surge in patients paying for GP appointments as pressure on NHS grows
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Demand for private GPs has soared as patients seek out face-to-face appointments with doctors at short notice. Spire Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest private healthcare providers, saw 32,000 GP appointments booked with it last year – up from 23,000 in 2021. The hospital company, which runs 125 GPs, said revenues from its private doctor appointments rose by 46% in 2022. It said demand was soaring as patients look for “fast access to longer face-to-face appointments with a GP”. On the surge in demand, Spire Healthcare boss Justin Ash told The Telegraph: “Clearly there is a well known problem of GPs being under pressure, the 8am scramble [for appointments] is a thing. People want to be able to book online and they want to be able to book at short notice.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 4 March 2023- Posted
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Content Article
GP services are the first point of call for many health issues and the gateway to NHS specialist support. GP teams are highly skilled and may decide that treatment without specialist care is the best action. But when you need specialist support, such as hospital tests or treatment, you may need a referral from your GP team first. New research from Healthwatch highlights that it can be very hard for some people to get a GP referral to another NHS service. And for 21% of people we spoke to, even when they get referrals, they can be lost, rejected or not followed up on. When services don't process referrals properly, it can cause significant frustration, unnecessary anxiety, and even cause harm to patients. It can also lead to increased demand for either more GP appointments or help from healthcare teams in other parts of the NHS, putting more pressure on already overstretched services.- Posted
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- GP
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News Article
‘Very high’ Do Not Attend rates caused by IT failures, trust discovers
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An acute trust has discovered an IT issue which appears to have led to ‘very high’ numbers of patients not turning up for their appointments. Bedfordshire Hospitals Foundation Trust discovered appointment letters were being lost, and not sent to patients, during intermittent server failures, its board was told yesterday. The trust’s “did not attend“ rate has been between 10% and 12% over the last year, compared to the national average of 7%, according to its board papers. The issue relates to patients with appointments booked at Luton and Dunstable Hospital. It is not yet clear how many patients were affected. The trust is now planning to ensure every patient with an appointment booked this year receives a new appointment letter, and an apology if they did not previously receive one. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 2 February 2023- Posted
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News Article
Coroner says student might be alive if GP had seen him
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A law student who died after four remote GP consultations might have lived had he been given a face-to-face appointment, a coroner ruled. David Nash, 26, died in November 2020 from a bone infection behind his ear that caused an abscess on the brain. Over a 19-day period leading up to his death, he had four phone consultations with his GP. The coroner, Abigail Combes, said the failure to see him meant he underwent surgery ten hours later than it could have been. Andrew and Anne Nash fought for more than two years to find out whether their son would have lived if he had been seen in person by clinical staff at Burley Park Medical Centre in Leeds. Yesterday they said they were “both saddened and vindicated by the findings that the simple and obvious, necessary step of seeing him in person would have saved his life” and wanted to make sure “others don’t die as David did”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 21 January 2023- Posted
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Smear tests: GP waiting times putting women off cervical screening
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
"I got my cervical screening letter in November and I've been putting it off because I don't want to do it - I don't think any girl really wants it done to them." Elena Coley Perez is 26 and due to have her first cervical screening - or smear test - that examines the opening to your womb from your vagina. NHS records show 4.6 million women - or 30% of those who are eligible - have never been screened for cervical cancer or are not up to date with their tests. Women are sometimes too embarrassed to come forward or put it off because they are anxious, surveys have found. Struggling to book their tests due to GP backlogs will not help the situation, say charities. Elena has told the BBC she was already worried about having a smear test, and the difficulty she experienced in booking one put her off even more. "I got another letter in December so I went to book online because with my local GP you have to go through this long-winded form," she said. "I typed in cervical screening and nothing was coming up, so I ended up waiting 35 minutes on the phone to be told they had no appointments for the rest of the year and to phone back in the new year." Elena then tried again in January and was told there was no availability. "At this point I was like, 'what's the point?' - you're trying to do something that can hopefully prevent you from getting cancer and you get to the doctor's surgery and you just get a 'no' - it's really off-putting," she says. Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 January 2023 Further resources on the hub: For patients: Having a smear test. What is it about? (Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust) Cervical cancer symptoms (Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust) For staff: RCN guidance: Human papillomavirus (HPV), cervical screening and cervical cancer- Posted
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A Channel 5 News investigation has found nearly three quarters of people getting help for Long Covid weren't given a face-to-face appointment. It's estimated 2.1 million UK people have the condition. A Long Covid hauler herself, 5 News reporter Ruth Liptrot looks at where we're at with finding a treatment.- Posted
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This report published by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) assesses the quality of care provided to adult patients with a pre-existing epilepsy disorder, or who were subsequently diagnosed with epilepsy and presented to hospital following a seizure, between 1 January and 31 December 2020.- Posted
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RNID - Our ear wax removal campaign (2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in GP and primary care
Many people who usually go to their GP for ear wax removal have recently been told this service is no longer available on the NHS. As a result, they are now being advised to manage their own ear wax build-up or to seek ear wax removal from private providers. However, advice on self-management is inconsistent and sometimes dangerous, and the cost of private removal can make it unaffordable. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) wants to make sure everyone is offered clear advice on managing excess ear wax safely themselves and has access to professional removal on the NHS if self-management doesn’t work. This campaign page highlights research by RNID and outlines how people can get involved in the campaign by writing to their MP and local healthcare organisations.- Posted
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This US study in the journal Medical Care aimed to investigate the extent of physician practice adoption of patient engagement strategies nationally. The authors analysed data collected from the National Survey of Healthcare Organizations and Systems (NSHOS) on adoption of patient engagement strategies. They found that there was modest adoption of shared decision-making and motivational interviewing, and low adoption of shared medical appointments.- Posted
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News Article
Five million missed out on GP appointments in one month, says Labour
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Five million people were unable to book a GP appointment in October, analysis of NHS data suggests. The Labour party, which studied figures from the GP Patient Survey, warned the struggle to see a doctor will mean many patients will not have serious medical conditions diagnosed until it is “too late”. According to the survey, some 13.8% of patients, or around one in seven, did not get an appointment the last time they tried to book one. With almost 32 million GP appointments reported in England in October, the party said it means that more than 5 million people could have been unable to book a GP appointment when they tried to make one that month. October saw GP surgeries carry out the highest number of appointments since records began in 2017, despite a depleted work force. Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told Labour List: “Patients are finding it impossible to get a GP appointment when they need one. I’m really worried that among those millions of patients unable to get an appointment, there could be serious conditions going undiagnosed until it’s too late". Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said in a statement: “GPs and their teams are working flat out to deliver the care and services our patients need. GPs want our patients to receive timely and appropriate care, and we share their frustrations when this isn’t happening. But difficulties accessing our services isn’t the fault of GP teams, it’s a consequence of an under-resourced, underfunded, and understaffed service working under unsustainable pressures.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 6 December 2022- Posted
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