Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Patient suffering'.
Found 302 results
-
News Article
Diabetic patient used social media to find insulin
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A woman living with type 1 diabetes is calling for better communication on the supply of essential medication after she had to turn to social media for help in finding some. Gwen Edwards, 27, from Anglesey, takes insulin and has been using Fiasp FlexTouch, a type of insulin that comes in a disposable pen. A shortage notice about supplies of the insulin that she uses was sent to all surgeries and pharmacies in Wales in March, but Gwen said she was not made aware of this. According to her, she normally gets a prescription two weeks before her medicine runs out, but recently it became clear that there was a problem with the stock. "I had to go and look for insulin. One chemist told me that they had run out and that there was no stock at all, so I was a bit worried," she said. Despite the low stock, she said she was not aware of the shortage. "I went with the prescription to other places to look for the insulin. Five chemists later they told me that the insulin was out of stock." Her GP practice said it could not comment on individual cases, but the health board for north Wales said local pharmacies would not "routinely contact patients directly" about shortages of medicines because most would not see any disruption. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 July 2024 -
Content ArticleThe aim of the study was to describe the experiences related to sleep and night time rest of patients hospitalised in the intensive care unit (ICU). The study used a qualitative project based on phenomenology as a research method. A semi-structured interview was used as the method to achieve the goal. The patients’ answers were recorded and transcribed. The data were coded and cross-processed. Five themes were identified from the interview as factors disturbing sleep: fear, noise, light, medical staff, and at home best. Chronic anxiety appears to contribute to sleep disturbances in the ICUs, psychological support, and individualised approach to the hospitalised patient seem necessary. By raising the awareness of the essence of sleep among medical staff, environmental factors can be reduced as disturbing sleep. Based on the participants’ comments, it is possible that repeated actions could also increase the patients’ sense of security.
-
Content ArticleThe need for sleep has long been assumed to be important for recovery from injury and sickness, and there is an emerging understanding of the restorative role of sleep in health and disease. Unfortunately, the hospital environment is often poorly conducive to sleep. Pain, anxiety, medication effects, medical interventions, environmental noise and light, and the acute illness itself all contribute to decreased quality and quantity of sleep in hospitalised patients. As a result, issues related to sleep and sleep disorders are important to inpatient care. This review will discuss the evaluation, consequences, and management of sleep disturbances in hospitalised adult patients.
-
News Article
Corridor care ‘must not be the norm’, NHSE warns trusts
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS England has warned trusts corridor care “must not be considered the norm”, adding that the failings exposed by a recent undercover documentary were “not acceptable”. In a letter to boards after a Dispatches documentary filmed at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital aired on Monday, NHSE’s chief operating officer, chief nursing officer, national medical director and director of urgent and emergency care warned trusts they must ensure basic standards of care. The note, seen by HSJ, described footage filmed at RSH’s emergency department as “stark”, adding that it highlighted the service some patients receive is “not acceptable”. The documentary captured many instances of patients being treated in corridors, and the letter said corridor care or that delivered outside a normal cubicle environment “must not be considered the norm”. NHSE added: “It should only be in periods of escalation and with board-level oversight at trust and system level… where it is deemed a necessity… it must be provided in the safest and most effective manner possible, for the shortest period of time… with patient dignity and respect being maintained throughout.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 27 June 2024 Related reading on the hub: A silent safety scandal: A nurse’s first-hand account of a corridor nursing shift -
Content Article
People with Parkinson’s need their medication on time every time. Yet over half of people with the condition don’t get their medications on time in hospital. This can cause stress, anxiety, immobility, severe tremors, and in some extreme cases death. Parkinson's UK are campaigning to make sure that no one with Parkinson’s is worried that they will leave hospital more unwell than when they went in. Whether you have Parkinson’s, support someone who does, work in the health and care system or campaign to improve it, you can take action to make hospitals and care homes safer. Together we can get more people to understand how big this problem is. And we can put pressure on the right people, across the UK, to change hospital policies, improve prescribing in hospitals and make sure staff are trained to give time critical medication. -
News ArticleA patient in a West Midlands A&E was forced to urinate while lying in a corridor as another was left crying in agony for hours in an undercover report highlighting the NHS’ emergency care crisis. A Channel 4 Dispatches programme has exposed the “suffering and indignity faced by patients on a daily basis” after an undercover reporter secretly filmed himself working as a trainee healthcare assistant inside the emergency department of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for two months. The footage, which aired on Monday night, shows one patient waiting 30 hours in a “fit to sit” area while a suspected stroke sufferer was there for 24 hours, the broadcaster said. In one clip, an elderly man was forced to urinate in a trolley on the corridor in full view of staff and other patients, while in another a woman is left crying in agony for hours. Nurses are also seen discussing how one of their patients was forced to wait a staggering 46 hours for care and at one point the footage shows large pools of blood on the floor. Experts have said while the scenes were “shocking” and “harrowing” they were not unique to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and are occurring in hospitals across England. Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 June 2024
-
News ArticleA man who has battled the NHS for decades to get his wife mental health support has been told by A&E staff she was not a priority despite being so unwell she was catatonic. Steve, a 63-year-old from Hertfordshire, has been supporting his wife, who has schizophrenia, for 30 years and has recalled the “horrific” lack of care she has experienced when at her most ill. Despite getting to a state of catatonia and becoming a danger to herself, he has been told on multiple occasions his wife was not a priority in A&E and there were no psychiatric beds available. His story comes as a poll of more than 600 people by the charity Rethink Mental Illness revealed two-fifths of mental health patients reported being told they weren’t sick enough to access NHS care. The charity, which supports people who suffer from severe mental illness, also found 35% of people reported their condition was considered too severe to be helped. Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 June 2024
-
News Article
Nearly 19,000 NHS patients left waiting for three days in A&E over 12 months
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Almost 19,000 NHS patients were left waiting in A&E for three days over a 12-month period, an investigation has revealed. Between April 2023 and March 2024, nearly 400,000 people were left waiting more than 24 hours across A&E departments, a 5% rise on the previous year. Channel 4’s Dispatches programme also found that 54,000 people had to wait more than two days, a freedom of information request to NHS England found. The investigation exposed “suffering and indignity faced by patients on a daily basis”, after an undercover reporter secretly filmed himself working as a trainee healthcare assistant inside the emergency department of the Royal Shrewsbury hospital for two months. The “harrowing” scenes from the hospital’s A&E department came as an analyst from a thinktank said people were dying in emergency care in England “who don’t need to be dying”. Footage shows one patient waiting for 30 hours in a “fit to sit” area while a suspected stroke sufferer was there for 24 hours, the broadcaster said. Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “I don’t think this is unique to this hospital by any stretch of the imagination. The things we’ve seen here today are clearly not just confined to winter. It was a year-round crisis in emergency care. “Spending two days in an emergency department is worse than spending two days in an airport lounge. These are people who are sitting in uncomfortable seats where the lights never go off. There’s constant noise, there’s constant stress. There’s no end in sight.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 June 2024 -
News ArticleThe family of a student who died after hospital staff missed that she had developed sepsis despite a string of warning signs have claimed she was the victim of a “lack of care”, as a coroner ruled there were “gross” failures in her treatment. Staff at Southmead hospital in Bristol failed to carry out the sepsis screening and observations needed to keep 20-year-old Maddy Lawrence safe after she was taken to hospital with a dislocated hip sustained in a rugby tackle. Outside court, the student’s mother, Karen Lawrence, said: “It has been a constant struggle to understand how a healthy, strong and fit 20-year-old could lose her life to sepsis which was allowed to develop under the care of professionals. “Her screams of pain and our pleas for help were merely managed, temporarily quietened with painkillers while the infection progressed unnoticed by hospital staff. “Our daughter was failed by a number of nurses and medical staff; symptoms were ignored, observations were not taken, on one occasion for 16 hours. There was no curiosity, basic tests were not completed even when hospital policy required them. “Maddy herself expressed concern on multiple occasions but her pain was not being taken seriously. As well as failing to fulfil their duty, those nurses and medical staff offered no sympathy, no compassion and little attention. “This failure meant Maddy was not given the chance to beat sepsis. Significant delays in its discovery meant the crucial window for treatment was missed. Maddy did not die due to under-staffing or a lack of money. Her death was the result of a lack of care.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 8 September 2023
- Posted
- 2 comments
-
- (and 5 more)
-
News Article
Man’s life-saving heart surgery cancelled after NHS cyber attack
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A heart patient has been left fearing for his health after his life-saving operation was cancelled due to a major cyber attack on London NHS hospitals. Russell Ashley-Smith, 81, is waiting for complex open heart surgery at King’s College Hospital in Denmark Hill, south London, without which he may only have up to two years to live. More than 200 emergency procedures were cancelled due to the ransomware hack earlier this month. Mr Ashley-Smith said: “I understand if I don’t [have the operation] it’s terminal. Doctors said you’ll live for one to two years with declining health and become less and less capable of doing things like walking. “I would become more dependent on my wife, and more dependent on being taken somewhere by car if I wanted to go outside. I would be unable to make music – I play the cello and the piano – all the things I like doing and I don’t want to be a couch potato." As well as operations, thousands of patient hospital appointments had to be cancelled across Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust and King’s College University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust due to the cyber attack. The NHS admitted on Friday it would take months for services to recover even once the attack has been resolved, as staff will have to rebook patients for appointments and operations. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 June 2024 -
News Article
Almost half of UK adults struggling to get prescription drugs amid shortages
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Almost half of adults in the UK have struggled to get medicine they have been prescribed – and more people blame Brexit than anything else for the situation, research shows. Forty-nine per cent of people said they had had trouble getting a prescription dispensed over the past two years, the period during which supply problems have increased sharply. Drug shortages are so serious that 1 in 12 Britons were unable to find the medication they needed, despite asking a number of pharmacies. The survey of 2,028 people representative of the population, undertaken by Opinium for the British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA), found that: One in 12 people (8%) have gone without a medication altogether because it was impossible to obtain. Thirty-one per cent found the drug they needed was out of stock at their pharmacy. Twenty-three per cent of pharmacies did not have enough of the medication available. “Shortages are deeply worrying for patients’ physical health, alongside the stress of not knowing if an essential medicine will be available,” said Mark Samuels, the chief executive of the BGMA. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 June 2024 -
News Article
Deadly cancer treatment delays now ‘routine’ in NHS, say damning reports
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to wait months to start essential cancer treatment, with deadly delays now “routine” and even children struck by the disease denied vital support, according to a series of damning reports. Health chiefs, charities and doctors have sounded the alarm over the state of cancer care in the UK as three separate studies painted a shocking picture of long waits and NHS staff being severely hampered by a worsening workforce crisis and a chronic lack of equipment. The first report, by Cancer Research UK, found that 382,000 cancer patients in England were not treated on time since 2015. The charity investigated how many patients had begun treatment 62 days or longer after being urgently referred for suspected cancer. The national NHS target – under which at least 85% of people should start treatment within 62 days – was last met in December 2015. The second report, by the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), said delays in cancer care had become routine, with nearly half of UK cancer centres experiencing weekly delays in starting treatment. The RCR also warned of a “staggering” 30% shortfall in clinical radiologists and a 15% shortfall in clinical oncologists – figures it projects will get worse in the next few years. The third paper, from four children’s cancer charities – Young Lives vs Cancer, Teenage Cancer Trust, Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, and Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group – said young patients were being failed by a lack of support after diagnosis. Naser Turabi, the charity’s director of evidence, said the crisis was causing widespread treatment delays that “negatively impact” patients. “One study has estimated that a four-week delay to cancer surgery led to a 6-8% increased risk of dying, and delays can also reduce the treatment options that are available. There are also the psychological effects – with waiting causing major stress and anxiety for cancer patients and their loved ones.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 13 June 2024 -
News Article
Childhood, interrupted: 12-year-old Toby’s life with Long Covid
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
In the latest Office for National Statistics survey, published in April, 111,816 children (aged three to 17) in England and Scotland were estimated to be suffering from Long Covid during the four-week period ending 7 March. More than 20,000 of these children have found their ability to undertake day-to-day activities has been “limited a lot”. For Toby, it has meant pain, crushing fatigue and sadness – as well as months off school. Dr Binita Kane is a Manchester-based consultant respiratory physician with a special interest in Long Covid. Her experience comes from being a doctor treating patients with Long Covid and also being the mother of a girl with Long Covid. She says that the 2 million people struggling with Long Covid in England and Scotland have created a massive challenge for the health service. The model for post-Covid services was set up in 2020, and in terms of scale and pace the UK was ahead of the game then. But things have moved on and the NHS hasn’t kept up. “The NHS is a juggernaut,” Kane says. “It cannot change things in a rapid way unless you put the weight of everything behind it, like we did in acute Covid.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 June 2024 -
News ArticlePatients with cancer and those needing emergency operations were among those who had their treatment cancelled this week due to a major cyberattack on NHS hospitals in London. More than 200 emergency and life-saving operations, including those which should be done within 24 hours, had to be cancelled by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust (GSTT) and King’s College University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. It is not yet clear how long the disruption will last, however hospitals are concerned they will struggle if it continues for more than a few days. According to a source, Synnovis carries out tens of thousands of tests a day but is unable to do so as it cannot access systems. The Independent revealed: More than a third of procedures and operations have been cancelled, which includes over 3,000 non-surgical appointments and hundreds of patients who have been referred for urgent cancer diagnosis. Mothers waiting to have c-sections have also had their procedures cancelled and hospitals are investigating potential harm. Transplant operations have been cancelled and hospitals have had to reduce the number of people they’re able to book in. Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 June 2024
-
Content ArticleSohier Elneil, surgeon, expert in women’s pain, and founder of the first NHS vaginal mesh removal centre, speaks to the Rebecca Coombes about fighting for better care for her female patients.
-
News Article
‘I had to do an 80-mile trip’: the stress caused by UK drug shortages
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients have described the effect on their health and wellbeing of the “new normal” of drug shortages in the UK, which has led to three-month delays and 80-mile round trips to acquire medication. Simon Bell, a 43-year-old data analyst from Tyne and Wear, has cystic fibrosis and requires medication that allows him to digest food. “For people with cystic fibrosis, the part of our pancreas which releases enzymes and allows us to digest food doesn’t work, so we have to take these tablets, which does the job of what’s missing from our pancreas,” he says. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Bell says he has been experiencing shortages of Creon 25000, the drug he takes, and once was unable to get his medication for more than three months. Bell decided he had no choice but to stockpile the medication when he could get it, as the effects of going without the drug are much graver than taking a lower dose. “I went three months without getting any, so after that I started just to build up stock by not taking my full amount of medication every month, so now I always keep three months’ supply. Doctors would never advise this but I feel like I have no choice,” Bell says. The situation has prompted concerns for Bell that his other medications will begin experiencing shortages, which could make him seriously ill. “Kaftrio is an expensive drug that if we stop taking would make us really seriously ill,” he says. “If I couldn’t get hold of that medication that would have serious implications in terms of health, long-term health and my ability to work. It could be quite devastating.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 April 2024 -
Content ArticleBreast cancer related lymphoedema (BRCL) is an under-recognised health condition that occurs in 20% of women after receiving breast cancer treatment. BRCL can affect a patient's physical and mental health and is costly to the NHS. In this blog, James Moore, a biomedical engineering researcher at Imperial College, talks about how he has involved patients in designing an innovative solution to this issue.
-
News Article
Jammed 999 lines and not enough ambulances to go round
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
This is a sick country, getting sicker. NHS waits will take years to clear, if at all. While people wait, they get sicker. When more and more people slip into absolute poverty – a fifth of people now – they get even sicker. More sicken as they age, and that peak has not yet been reached. Every part of the NHS feels at the sharp end, coping mostly because, amazingly, they just do, even with no end in sight to the stress. NHS data released last week on people waiting more than 18 weeks with serious heart problems suggests some will probably die before they get treatment. When waiting patients have heart attacks and strokes they call an ambulance – so there’s been an astonishing 7% rise in those category 1 calls. At an ambulance dispatch centre in Kent, Polly Toynbee listens in to calls like this at the South East Coast Ambulance Service dispatch centre in Gillingham, north Kent, covering Surrey, Sussex and Kent. She sat with D, a seasoned and sympathetic emergency medical adviser, call handler and life-and-death decider. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 April 2024 -
Community Post*Trigger warning. This post includes personal gynaecological experiences of a traumatic nature. What is your experience of having a hysteroscopy? We would like to hear - good or bad so that we can help campaign for safer, harm free care. You can read Patient Safety Learning's blog about improving hysteroscopy safety here. You'll need to be a hub member to comment below, it's quick and easy to do. You can sign up here.
- Posted
- 294 replies
-
5
-
- (and 5 more)
-
News ArticleA gran was left lying outside in the cold facing a seven hour wait for an ambulance following a fall before finally being rescued — by firefighters. Betsy Hulme, 83, was left in agony with a broken hip when she tumbled in her back garden in Leek, Staffordshire. Son Steve, 60, a former ambulance technician, dialled 999 only to be told it would be several hours until paramedics could get to them due to long handover delays. After a further three hours of Betsy waiting on cold concrete slabs while soaked in rain water, desperate Steve decided to drive to a nearby fire station to ask for help. Fire crews then came to rescue to lift gran-of-four Betsy into her son's car who took her to hospital where she remains after undergoing a hip repair operation. Dad-of-two Steve, of Leek, has now branded emergency response times as “absolutely disgusting”. He said: "It’s opened my eyes if I’m honest. It’s absolutely disgusting. I’m so grateful and thankful to the fire service - but it really isn’t their job. I can't remember in my time working as an ambulance technician going to someone and saying, 'I’m sorry it’s taken us twelve hours to get here'." “It was never anywhere near those ridiculous times when I worked there until 2000 and something has gone drastically wrong since. I can't speak highly enough of the boys and girls who work in the NHS, it's the people above them. Its systemic change that's needed." Read full story Source: Wales Online, 4 April 2024
-
News ArticleA new private ambulance service will offer faster travel to A&E for those caught out by half-day waits for NHS ambulances, The Independent can reveal, in a sign of a growing “two-tier” health service. MET Medical ambulance service will begin by charging £99 for a call-out, and could serve thousands of people a week, its chief executive Dave Hawkins has said. Mr Hawkins, who is a paramedic himself, said he launched the service after seeing his elderly relatives wait too long for NHS ambulance services following falls. It comes as waiting times for ambulance service reached a crisis point in the last year, with frail and vulnerable people waiting hours for an ambulance. Ambulance response times hit record highs over 2022-23, with people who should have an ambulance within 20 minutes waiting an hour and 30 minutes in December 2023. According to estimates from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, 34,000 patients were likely to have suffered harm due to these delays – this hit a high of more than 60,000 in December 2022. MET Medical will still have to wait to deliver patients if they are seen as a priority, but it said its patients are likely to be lower priority and can be dropped at A&E without waiting for a handover. Mr Hawkins said vulnerable patients waiting for an ambulance can wait up to 12 hours. “It’s that moment when you’re out of options, it’s really a horrible place to be, particularly if it’s a loved one … It is a shame, like we’ve seen from the stats and everything, that the health service is failing us." Read full story Source: The Independent, 3 April 2024
-
News Article
NHS faces ‘avalanche’ of demand for autism and ADHD services, thinktank warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS is experiencing an “avalanche of need” over autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but the system in place to cope with surging demand for assessments and treatments is “obsolete”, a health thinktank has warned. There must be a “radical rethink” of how people with the conditions are cared for in England if the health service is to meet the rapidly expanding need for services, according to the Nuffield Trust. The thinktank is calling for a “whole-system approach” across education, society and the NHS, amid changing social attitudes and better awareness of the conditions. It comes days after the NHS announced a major review of ADHD services. Thea Stein, the chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, said: “The extraordinary, unpredicted and unprecedented rise in demand for autism assessments and ADHD treatments have completely overtaken the NHS’s capacity to meet them. It is frankly impossible to imagine how the system can grow fast enough to fulfil this demand. “We shouldn’t underestimate what this means for children in particular: many schools expect an assessment and formal diagnosis to access support – and children and their families suffer while they wait.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 4 April 2024 -
Content ArticleLong waiting times for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments can prevent people from getting the vital care and medication they need. Health and education support often relies on a formal diagnosis, without which there can be severe negative consequences. Estimates show that there might be as many as 1.2 million autistic people and 2.2 million people with ADHD in England, and providing them with the right support is no small task. Recent news reports have highlighted a huge rise in demand for autism and ADHD diagnoses amid increased awareness and understanding of neurodiversity. Exploring referrals and waits for autism and ADHD assessments is a key first step to understanding the scale of the issue, which can then be used to drive improvements and change. This blog from the Nuffield Trust looks at what the data is telling us.
-
News ArticleA&E staff are unable to properly look after the most vulnerable mental health patients or treat them with compassion because emergency departments are so overwhelmed, top medics have warned. An exclusive report shared with The Independent shows more than 40% of patients who needed emergency care due to self-harm or suicide attempts received no compassionate care while in A&E, according to their medical records. The data, collated by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), prompted a warning from top doctor Dr Adrian Boyle that mental health patients are spending far too long in A&E – where they are cared for by staff who are not specifically trained for their needs – before being moved to an appropriate ward. Dr Boyle, who is president of the RCEM, said there had been some progress in improving care for a “historically disadvantaged” group, but added: “Patients with mental health problems are still spending too long in our emergency departments, with an average length of stay of nearly 10 hours and this has not really improved. “An emergency department is frequently noisy and agitating, the lights never go off and cannot be described as an environment that promotes recovery.” When a patient goes to A&E after a self-harm attempt, they should receive an assessment by a clinician into the type of self-harm, reasons for it, future plans or further suicidal thoughts. The college said it indicates a “significant gap” in the NHS’ ability to provide holistic care for mental health patients with complex needs and warned “urgent” improvements are needed. Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 March 2024
-
News Article
Endometriosis: Women in Wales waiting 10 years for diagnosis
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The wait to be diagnosed with endometriosis has increased to almost ten years, a "devastating" milestone say women with the condition. It now takes almost a year more than before 2020 to be diagnosed, according to research published by Endometriosis UK, which is setting up new volunteer-led support groups in Wales. The wait in Wales is also the longest in the UK, the research found. The Welsh government said it knew there was "room for improvement". "Nobody listened to me, and to feel like women are still going through that 20 years after my diagnosis is horrific," said Michelle Bates. The 48-year old from Cardiff was diagnosed aged 25 after suffering with "harrowing" pain from age 13 onwards - a 12-year wait. "I went back and forth to the GP with my mum, who was the only one who believed in my pain," she said. The study by Endometriosis UK, which is based on a survey of 4,371 people who received a diagnosis of endometriosis, showed almost half of all respondents (47%) had visited their GP 10 or more times with symptoms prior to receiving a diagnosis, and 70% had visited five times or more. It also found 78% of people who later went on to receive a diagnosis of endometriosis - up from 69% in 2020 - were told by doctors they were making a "fuss about nothing", or comments to that effect. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 March 2024
