Category Archives: Hospitals

Doctors were forced to apologise for raising alarm over Lucy Letby and baby deaths

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Guardian investigation also reveals Countess of Chester hospital executive feared contacting police would ‘damage reputation’

Lucy Letby’s colleagues were ordered to apologise to her after repeatedly raising concerns that the nurse may have been behind a series of unexplained baby deaths, the Guardian has learned.

Senior doctors had warned for months that Letby was the only staff member present during the sudden collapses and deaths of a number of premature babies on the Countess of Chester hospital’s neonatal unit.

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Cyberattack disrupts hospital computer systems across US, hindering services

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‘Data security incident’ began Thursday at facilities operated by California’s Prospect Medical Holdings

A cyberattack has disrupted hospital computer systems across the United States, forcing emergency rooms in several states to close on Thursday and ambulances to be diverted.

Many primary care services remained closed on Friday as security experts worked to determine the extent of the problem and resolve it.

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Nose-picking healthcare workers more likely to catch Covid, data suggests

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Rhinotillexis may be underestimated cause of transmission between staff, say researchers

Nose-picking should be given greater consideration as a potential health hazard, researchers have said, after finding healthcare workers who engaged in rhinotillexis were more likely to catch Covid than those who refrained.

Scientists in the Netherlands say research has previously found healthcare workers who had direct contact with Covid patients were more likely to catch Covid than those who did not.

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Leeds hospital trust apologises after rapper MF Doom Dumile Daniel Thompson died in its care

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London-born musician Dumile Daniel Thompson, 49, had a lack of oxygen to his brain after a reaction to a blood pressure drug

An NHS trust has apologised for the substandard care given to MF Doom, an underground rap icon who died aged 49 while having hospital treatment.

The artist behind songs including Accordion and That’s That, whose real name was Dumile Daniel Thompson, died in October 2020 due to a lack of oxygen to his brain after a reaction to a drug prescribed for blood pressure.

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Plans to shorten medical training put quality of NHS care at risk, doctors say

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Unions say government proposals to cut training by a year and introduce apprenticeships could dilute skills

Plans to shorten medical training could dilute the calibre of doctors entering the NHS in England and damage the quality of care patients receive, doctors’ leaders have warned.

Government proposals to cut doctors’ time in medical school from five to four years, and to introduce medical apprenticeships, could “water down” training for health service staff, they said.

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UK aid should not fund private hospitals in developing countries, says Oxfam

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Development charity says patients denied treatment or held hostage until fees paid in private facilities in India and Kenya

Private hospitals in India and Kenya accused of refusing people on low incomes vital healthcare, or holding them hostage until bills have been paid, benefit from UK government investment funds, according to a report by Oxfam.

Investments worth hundreds of millions of pounds by government-backed agencies are used to facilitate the “impoverishment and even the imprisonment of the very people [the private hospitals] are supposed to be helping”, said the development charity.

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Heatwave brings surge in A&E patients as England doctors’ strike begins

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Some hospitals record highest ever A&E attendance figures as heat, high pollen count and air pollution bring rise in demand

A&E units across the UK are experiencing a surge in patients seeking care as a direct result of the heatwave, which is leaving many people unwell with shortness of breath, heat exhaustion and sunburn.

The number of people suffering problems as a direct result of the sustained high temperatures in many parts of the country has resulted in some hospitals recording their highest A&E attendance figures.

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Man arrested after car crashes into Downing Street gates – UK politics live

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Armed officers at the scene but no reports of injuries, Metropolitan Police says

Rishi Sunak is being interviewed on ITV’s This Morning.

He says immigration levels are too high, but he rejects claims it is out of control. This is from the Daily Mirror’s Lizzy Buchan.

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Record rise in people using private healthcare amid NHS frustration

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Data prompts speculation NHS inability to cut waiting lists could make private healthcare ‘new normal’

Record numbers of people are paying for private healthcare, spending up to £3,200 on having a cataract removed and £15,075 on a new hip, amid growing frustration at NHS waiting lists.

Across the UK last year 272,000 people used their own funds to cover the cost of having an operation or diagnostic procedure at a private hospital. That was up from 262,000 the year before and a sharp rise on the 199,000 who did so in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic struck.

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Woman died on floor after waiting over five hours for ambulance in Wales

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Family of Rachel Rose Gibson believe she had heart attack at home five minutes from hospital in Wrexham

A 58-year-old woman died alone curled up in a blanket on the floor of her bedroom as she waited more than five hours for an ambulance.

Relatives of Rachel Rose Gibson believe she had a heart attack at her home in Wrexham, north Wales, only a short drive away from a hospital, but died before an ambulance reached her.

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Police identify 19 suspects in Gosport hospital opioid deaths inquiry

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Investigation into premature deaths of more than 450 people at community hospital will be ‘decisive’, say Kent and Essex police

Police investigating the deaths of hundreds of patients at a community hospital say they have identified 19 suspects.

An independent police investigation was launched into Gosport War Memorial hospital, in Hampshire, after inquiries found that hundreds of patients had their lives shortened through the use of opioids.

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Warnings over NHS data privacy after ‘stalker’ doctor shares woman’s records

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Exclusive: Victim speaks of feeling violated by hospital doctor incident that expert says is evidence of ‘systemic’ flaw in England

The confidentiality of NHS medical records has been thrown into doubt after a “stalker” hospital doctor accessed and shared highly sensitive information about a woman who had started dating her ex-boyfriend, despite not being involved in her care.

The victim was left in “fear, shock and horror” when she learned that the doctor had used her hospital’s medical records system to look at the woman’s GP records and read – and share – intimate details, known only to a few people, about her and her children.

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Nurses’ union makes apparent U-turn over staffing exemptions during strike

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Two trusts and one children’s hospital to receive emergency nursing staff after RCN had said there would be no derogations

The Royal College of Nurses appears to have U-turned on its decision to allow no exemptions to hospitals during this weekend’s strike action, with nurses now due to work in an emergency capacity in dozens of hospitals across England.

Nurses will be working across several NHS trusts – including Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust, in London, and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS foundation trust – in wards including intensive care and A&E. This is despite the RCN vowing when strike action was announced that exemptions would not be made for any hospitals.

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NHS leader asks union to let striking nurses go back to work for emergencies

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Health service bosses say patient safety could be at risk when nurses in England stage 28-hour stoppage from Sunday evening

An NHS leader has urged the Royal College of Nursing to let striking nurses leave picket lines and go back to work in their hospital if emergencies occur during their strike this weekend.

Matthew Taylor made the appeal as the NHS braced itself for renewed disruption to services as a result of the first strike by nurses since they rejected the government’s improved pay offer.

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Further England nurses’ strikes present ‘severe challenge’ to NHS

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NHS leader says threat of joint strike with junior doctors could pose hardest challenge yet

A 48-hour nurses’ strike in England in May will present “severe challenges”, and the threat of coordinated industrial action with junior doctors could pose the “most difficult challenge” to date, an NHS boss has said.

Speaking after a four-day junior doctors’ strike ended at 7am on Saturday, Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said fresh strike action announced by the Royal College of Nursing from 30 April until 2 May, and the possibility of stoppages continuing into next winter, was “extremely worrying and concerning”.

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A&E staff in England struggling to spot abuse cases in infants, says watchdog

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HSIB report identifies several barriers to child safeguarding in hospital emergency departments

Staff in hospital emergency departments in England are struggling to spot when infants are being physically abused by their parents, raising the risk of further harm, an investigation has found.

Clinicians often do not know what to do if they are concerned that a child’s injuries are not accidental because there is no guidance, according to a report from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) that identifies several barriers to child safeguarding in emergency departments.

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AMA president warns of ‘more illness, more loss of life’ from Covid as cases rise

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Gatherings over Easter long weekend expected to cause further increase in infections, with Victoria already 60% up in past fortnight

Covid-19 cases are expected to rise further across Australia after family gatherings over the Easter long weekend, amid warnings of increasing pressure on hospital staff and a possible new wave of infections.

Most states and territories have recorded consistent increases in cases over the past two months, with Victoria recording a 60% jump in cases in the last fortnight. On Friday the state reported 5,772 new cases over the previous seven-day period.

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Critically ill patients ‘will inevitably die’ due to junior doctors’ strike

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Exclusive: leading heart surgeons urge BMA to exempt staff working on critical care units in England

Critically ill patients “will inevitably die” because hospitals are having to cancel surgery as a direct result of next week’s junior doctors’ strike in England, leading heart surgeons have warned.

There were bound to be fatalities among people with serious heart problems whose precarious health meant they were “a ticking timebomb” and needed surgery as soon as possible, they said.

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Peak of 2022 heatwave forced fifth of UK hospitals to cancel operations – research

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Findings reveal level of disruption over three days in July when temperatures reached as high as 40C

Almost a fifth of hospitals in the UK were forced to cancel operations during the three days in July last year when temperatures soared highest, research suggests.

The findings, published in a letter to the British Journal of Surgery, are based on surveys of surgeons, anaesthetists and critical care doctors who were working during the peak of last year’s heatwave, from 16-19 July, when temperatures reached as high as 40C in some parts of the country.

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Doubts grow over number of NHS doctors helped by pension giveaway

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New figures reveal only 100 hospital doctors left NHS in 2022 due to voluntary early retirement, despite claims by Jeremy Hunt

The number of hospital doctors that could be helped by Jeremy Hunt’s pensions giveaway has been cast into doubt, after new figures revealed that only 100 of them left the NHS last year due to voluntary early retirement.

Criticism has mounted about the measure announced in the budget, which would scrap the up to 55% tax levied on lifetime pension pots worth just over £1m and raise the annual allowance threshold from £40,000 to £60,000.

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