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Found 189 results
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Content ArticleIn this blog, peer researchers Saffron, Bianca and Alysha describe their involvement in a study about violence and mental health funded by the UKRI Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network. The study looked at how adolescents’ experiences of violence and neighbourhood disorder—such as vandalism and muggings—affects their mental health as they move into adulthood. As peer researchers, they helped analyse data and used their lived experience to interpret the findings and co-author an academic research paper. They highlight the value of involving people with relevant lived experience in research studies.
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Content ArticleSafety communication refers to the sharing of safety information within organisations in order to mitigate hazards and improve risk management. External stakeholders, such as patients and carers, also communicate safety information to healthcare organisations. This article in the Journal of Risk Research examines the nature of safety communication behaviours seen in patients and their families by identifying and examining 410 narrative accounts. The author found that the success of patient and family safety communication in reducing risk was variable. Problems in hospital safety culture such as high workloads and downplaying safety problems, meant that information provided was often not acted upon.
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Content ArticleThere is a paradox of representation in public involvement in research; public contributors are seen as either too naïve to meaningfully contribute or too knowledgeable to represent ‘the average patient’. More expert contributors who have experience in research can therefore be a target for criticism. This study in the journal Health Expectations aimed to examine how representation was discussed in two different scenarios—expert involvement and lived experience. The authors analysed the case of a Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) chosen for direct personal experience of a topic and the case of an expert Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) panel. They concluded that researchers tend to enact a confirmation logic that seeks a simple, unified patient voice to legitimise decisions. Contributors are therefore limited in their ability to realise a synthesis logic that would actively blend different types of knowledge.
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Content ArticleMacarthys Laboratories (trading as Martindale Pharma, an Ethypharm Group Company), has notified the MHRA that a limited number of Prenoxad kits (also called packs) in a batch marketed in France have missing needles. Naloxone is a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. If no needles are present in the kit, there is a risk that patients, members of the public and/or healthcare professionals may not be able to administer life-saving doses of naloxone from these kits in an emergency. This may impede the treatment for a patient with an opioid overdose, which may result in delay to intervention and possible death. Although no reports of UK marketed kits with missing needles have been received to date, the potential for kits to contain fewer than two needles in all distributed batches cannot be excluded based on the investigation by the company. However, due to the critical need for this product, the specified batches are not being recalled. This alert is for action by: primary and secondary care, specifically those involved in outreach services.
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Content ArticleThis article in Age & Ageing describes a quality improvement project at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) that aimed to achieve timely Parkinson’s disease medication administration.
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Content ArticleIn this article for The Guardian, journalist Sirin Kale speaks to Janet Williams about the impact the epilepsy drug sodium valproate has had on her family. Janet took the medication to treat her epilepsy throughout her two pregnancies in 1989 and 1991, but had never been warned about the potential risks to her babies. Foetal valproate syndrome can cause spina bifida, congenital heart defects and developmental delays and is believed to have affected around 20,000 children in the UK. Both of Janet's sons were affected by the medication and require full time care as a result. Janet describes how being told about the risks would have enabled her to make an informed decision about whether to have children, and how her experience led her to help set up In-FACT (the Independent Fetal Anti Convulsant Trust) in 2012.
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Content ArticleThe General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has written via email to pharmacists and owners of pharmacies with the GPhC’s voluntary internet pharmacy logo, to address ongoing patient safety concerns affecting the online sector. The emails highlight that over 30% of the GPhC's open Fitness to Practise cases relate to online pharmacy—a disproportionate number for the sector of the market that online services occupy. Common issues raised in these cases include: medicines being prescribed to patients on the basis of an online questionnaire alone, with no direct interaction between the prescriber and either the patient or their GP . prescribing of high-risk medications or medications which require monitoring without adequate safeguards. prescribing of medicines outside the prescriber’s scope of practice. high volumes of prescriptions being issued by the prescriber in short periods of time. The emails also recognise the benefits and risks of online pharmacies, outline how the GPhC may take enforcement action against an online pharmacy, and recommend what actions pharmacists and pharmacy owners should take in response to the patient safety concerns raised. You can view the emails in full: Email to owners of pharmacies with the internet pharmacy logo Email to pharmacists
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Content ArticleAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major challenge to the UK’s health security, and is already responsible for a significant burden of death, disability and prolonged illness globally. The growing resistance of bacteria, viruses and fungi to the drugs commonly used to treat them threatens modern medicine, and our ability to carry out standard medical procedures. This report draws on the expert input of a roundtable held by public service think tank Reform in October 2022, to assess progress made against proposals published by Reform in 2020.
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Content ArticleClinical trials are the foundation of modern medicine, but regulators, doctors and patients often do not get to see the full picture about how safe and effective drugs and treatments are. The results of around half of all clinical trials remain hidden and there are international efforts to resolve this issue; even government agencies often lack access to the information they need to decide whether treatments are safe and effective. The paper analyses six case studies in which lack of transparency in medical research has directly harmed patients, taxpayers and/or investors. It illustrates how these harms could have been avoided through three simple solutions promoted by the AllTrials campaign: trial registration, results posting, and full disclosure of trial reports.
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Content ArticleThis guidance from The Royal College of Radiologists aims to provide radiologists with guidance on how to implement the duty of candour, recognising the unique circumstances they face. It includes real-world examples and provides an approach which will help radiologists navigate an unfamiliar process in the best possible way. The guidance covers: The principles of candour Why this can be difficult in a radiological context Candour in different situations (reactive and proactive candour) and departmental disclosure policies Candour processes in practice The difference between discrepancy assessment and education/Radiology Events and Learning Meetings (REALM) Specific considerations (interventional radiology and remote reporting within an imaging network).
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Content ArticleThis article in The Lancet aimed to review published work about the efficacy and safety of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) with simulated ECT, ECT versus pharmacotherapy and different forms of ECT for patients with depressive illness. The authors designed a systematic overview and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies. They concluded that: ECT is an effective short-term treatment for depression, and is probably more effective than drug therapy. bilateral ECT is moderately more effective than unilateral ECT. high dose ECT is more effective than low dose.
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Content ArticleIn this BMJ opinion piece, Iona Heath reviews a new book by Penelope Campling, who worked as an NHS psychiatrist and psychotherapist for 40 years. Don't Turn Away tells the story of "an increasingly brutal turning away from the most abused and damaged people who struggle to survive within our complacent society." The article argues that over the past few decades, our society has failed to listen to and support the most vulnerable people, with mental health systems focusing on exclusion criteria and keeping people out of the system.
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Content ArticleSelf-binding directives instruct clinicians to overrule treatment refusal during future severe episodes of illness. These directives are promoted as having the potential to increase autonomy for individuals with severe episodic mental illness. Although lived experience is central to their creation, the views of service users on self-binding directives have not been seriously investigated. This study in The Lancet Psychiatry aimed to explore whether reasons for endorsement, ambivalence or rejection given by service users with bipolar disorder can address concerns regarding self-binding directives, decision-making capacity and human rights.
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Content Article
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is the independent public inquiry set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and learn lessons for the future. In order to fully understand the impact of the pandemic on the UK population, the Inquiry is inviting the public to share their experiences of the pandemic by launching Every Story Matters. It will inform the Inquiry’s work by gathering pandemic experiences which can be brought together and represent the whole of the UK, including those seldom heard. The output of Every Story Matters will be a unique, comprehensive account of the UK population’s experiences of the pandemic, to be submitted to the Inquiry’s legal process as evidence. This toolkit contains information and creative assets that can be used to encourage participation in Every Story Matters. Every Story Matters aims to provide inclusive methods for people to talk about their experience of the pandemic, so anyone that wants to share their story feels heard, valued, and can contribute to the Inquiry.
