Category Archives: NHS

Criminal acts of violence at UK GP surgeries almost double in five years

Posted on by

Doctors say violence now commonplace as surgeries struggle to cope with ‘unmanageable levels of demand’

Criminal acts of violence at GP surgeries across the UK have almost doubled in five years, new figures reveal, as doctors’ leaders warn of a perfect storm of soaring demand and staff shortages.

Police are now recording an average of three violent incidents at general practices every day. Staff are facing unprecedented assaults, abuse and aggression by patients, with surgeries struggling to cope with “unmanageable levels of demand” after years of failure to recruit or retain sufficient numbers of family doctors.

Continue reading...

GPs tell of ‘appalling’ abuse as violence at UK surgeries worsens

Posted on by

Doctors say staff ‘afraid and at risk’ of patient violence and aggression as services come under pressure

The number of violent incidents at general practices in the UK recorded by the police has almost doubled in the last five years, according to an investigation by the BMJ.

GP leaders say “appalling” assaults, harassment and other forms of abuse aimed at doctors and their staff have worsened during the pandemic, as surgeries came under growing pressure and sections of the media perpetuated the false notion that services were “closed”.

Continue reading...

Nurse fined £10k over NHS pay protest in lockdown wins compensation

Posted on by

Greater Manchester police agree to withdraw penalty notices issued to two nurses for socially distanced protest in March 2021

Two NHS nurses have won compensation from Greater Manchester police (GMP) after being fined over a socially distant protest about NHS pay during lockdown.

Karen Reissmann, a 61-year-old mental health nurse who worked throughout the pandemic, received a £10,000 fixed penalty notice for organising the protest on 7 March 2021 over the government’s proposed 1% pay rise for NHS workers.

Continue reading...

Death of woman with epilepsy may be re-examined after Diane Stewart case

Posted on by

Exclusive: mother of Emily Whelan hopes tests that helped prove Stewart was murdered may shed light on daughter’s death

The mother of a woman with epilepsy who died in 2016 hopes the high-profile murder of Diane Stewart could hold the key to establishing her daughter’s cause of death.

Emily Whelan, 25, was found unresponsive in her bedroom in Leeds on 7 November 2016 and pronounced dead the next day at Leeds general infirmary.

Continue reading...

Women in England with breast cancer may qualify for drug that buys ‘precious’ time

Posted on by

Nice approves Keytruda, which with chemotherapy can lengthen survival of women with triple negative breast cancer

Women with advanced breast cancer in England will be able to benefit from a new type of immunotherapy on the NHS after a U-turn by the medicines watchdog.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has overturned its draft rejection of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and said women in England can take the drug in combination with chemotherapy.

Continue reading...

Thousands of NHS workers may quit for better-paid jobs, ministers warned

Posted on by

Exclusive: health leaders call for uplift for lowest-paid staff, to prevent ‘mass exodus’ to pubs and supermarkets

The NHS faces a “mass exodus” of thousands of staff to better-paid jobs in pubs, shops and supermarkets as a result of the cost of living crisis, ministers have been warned.

Health leaders fear significant numbers of lower-paid workers will leave for higher wages in the private sector amid rising food and heating bills and soaring inflation. The NHS already has 110,000 vacancies, and there are fears that a further deepening of the workforce crisis will “jeopardise” the ability of hospitals to tackle record-high waiting lists.

Continue reading...

Racism in UK maternity care risks safety of Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity women – study

Posted on by

Participants in charity’s year-long inquiry describe being ignored and feeling patronised and dehumanised

Systemic racism within UK maternity care is risking the safety of people from Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity backgrounds, often with devastating consequences, according to a report by the childbirth charity Birthrights.

More than 300 people with lived and professional experience of racial injustice in a maternity setting gave evidence to an expert panel chaired by Shaheen Rahman QC, a barrister who specialises in clinical negligence, as part of the charity’s year-long inquiry into the issue.

Continue reading...

Revealed: one in five patients leave some A&E departments in England without treatment

Posted on by

Long waiting times and difficulty in accessing other NHS facilities drive a trebling in those leaving without completing care

More than one in five patients at some hospitals are leaving accident and emergency departments before completing treatment, and in some cases before being seen for assessment at all, with the rate across England trebling since before the pandemic.

Experts told the Observer that the increase was probably driven by a combination of long A&E waiting times and by difficulties accessing NHS facilities such as GPs, community health services and NHS 111.

Continue reading...

The nurses getting huge bills for quitting the NHS – podcast

Posted on by

International nurses working for NHS trusts are being trapped in their jobs by clauses in their contracts that require them to pay thousands of pounds if they try to leave. Shanti Das reports

Nurses are the backbone of the NHS. For the past two years as Covid-19 gripped the country, people lauded NHS staff as heroes. Many nurses join the NHS from abroad, attracted by the stability of the work, the ethos and a chance for a new life in the UK. But joining the NHS from abroad comes with strings attached.

The Observer’s Shanti Das tells Nosheen Iqbal that some nurses working for NHS trusts and private care homes are being trapped in their jobs by clauses in their contracts that require them to pay thousands of pounds if they try to leave. In extreme cases, nurses are tied to their roles for up to five years and face fees as steep as £14,000 if they want to change jobs or need to return home early.

Continue reading...

Numbers of nurses and midwives leaving NHS highest for four years

Posted on by

More nurses leave NHS than at any time since Covid struck, many reporting stress as their main reason

More than 27,000 nurses and midwives quit the NHS last year, with many blaming job pressures, the Covid pandemic and poor patient care for their decision.

The rise in staff leaving their posts across the UK – the first in four years – has prompted concern that frontline workers are under too much strain, especially with the NHS-wide shortage of nurses.

Continue reading...

Author of review into aborted GP data sharing in England opted out of scheme

Posted on by

Prof Ben Goldacre cited risks of deanonymisation as his main reason for withdrawing his consent

The author of a government review into medical data sharing personally opted out of the aborted plan to share GP health data, a parliamentary committee has heard.

Prof Ben Goldacre, a former Guardian columnist and the author of the Goldacre Review, exercised his right to opt out of the Government’s General Practice Data for Planning and Research scheme, he told the Commons Science and Technology committee, because he was concerned about the risks of deanonymisation.

Continue reading...

Dentist shortage in south-west England leaves patients doing DIY treatments

Posted on by

Children and adults forced to live in agony because they are unable to register for NHS care in Somerset, charity says

Many patients in south-west England are being left in dental pain because they are unable to register for NHS care, with some so desperate that they are even resorting to DIY treatment, it has emerged.

The charity Healthwatch in Somerset has reported that it is almost impossible for a new patient to register for an NHS dentist in the county, which is leading to adults and children living in agony, self-treating, or travelling out of the area for help.

Continue reading...

Hundreds of mentally ill prisoners denied urgent treatment in England

Posted on by

Most seriously ill inmates left to wait in cells often due to bed shortages at secure hospitals, data shows

Hundreds of severely mentally ill prisoners in urgent need of hospital treatment are being left in prison cells due to bed shortages in secure NHS psychiatric units, an investigation has discovered.

Freedom of information (FoI) responses from 22 NHS trusts reveal for the first time that just over half of the 5,403 prisoners in England assessed by prison-based psychiatrists to require hospitalisation were not transferred between 2016 and 2021 – an 81% increase on the number of prisoners denied a transfer in the previous five years.

Continue reading...

NHS ambulance service cuts presence at Gatwick airport and sports venues

Posted on by

South East Coast service stops providing onsite paramedic at airport to focus on 999 response

An NHS ambulance service is cutting back its presence at Gatwick airport and major sports events so it has more crews available to answer 999 calls, amid unprecedented pressures.

The South East Coast ambulance service (Secamb) has ended a longstanding arrangement under which Gatwick paid it to have an ambulance car and paramedic on site.

Continue reading...

30,000 cancer patients waiting for treatment in England

Posted on by

Experts call on ministers to tackle chronic staff shortages, with delays worsened by pandemic

Tens of thousands of patients are still waiting to start cancer treatment in England due to disruption during the pandemic, according to NHS figures, as medical charities called on the government to tackle chronic staff shortages in the health service.

Following a dramatic slump in cancer referrals in 2020, the number of people being investigated for the disease bounced back in the past year, data from NHS England and NHS Improvement show, rising from 2.4 million to a record 2.66 million.

Continue reading...

Javid orders inquiry into NHS gender identity services for under-18s – reports

Posted on by

The health secretary is planning an overhaul of services offered to young people who question their gender identity, the Times reports

An inquiry into the impact on under-18s of NHS treatment for gender dysphoria is to be launched by the UK government, according to reports.

The health secretary, Sajid Javid, is said to be concerned that vulnerable children are being given gender hormone treatment before alternatives have been explored, according to the Times, and is planning an overhaul of services.

Continue reading...

One in eight privately rented homes in England pose threat to health, MPs say

Posted on by

Serious health and safety risks costing NHS £340m a year, public accounts committee report finds

More than one in eight privately rented homes in England pose a serious threat to people’s health and safety, costing the NHS about £340m a year, according to a report from a committee of MPs.

It also uncovered evidence of unlawful discrimination, with an estimated one in four landlords unwilling to let to non-British passport holders.

Continue reading...

Third of GPs in England want to quit within five years, survey finds

Posted on by

Practitioners’ struggles include increased workloads, greater demand from patients, and paperwork

A third of GPs in England say they want to quit within five years, according to a regular survey which warns that clinical doctors are especially unhappy with the number of hours they work.

The survey of 2,195 GPs undertaken in 2021 found 33% planned to leave “direct patient care” by 2026. The figure represents a return to levels last seen in 2015, after plans to quit peaked in 2018 when two in five GPs wanted to stop seeing patients within five years.

Continue reading...

Non-compliant online STI tests put patients at risk, experts warn

Posted on by

Few sexually transmitted infection test kits available online meet official standards, BMJ study finds

Patients are being put at risk in the UK because very few sexually transmitted infection (STI) tests offered online meet official standards, experts have warned.

The NHS provides free in-person tests for STIs via its network of sexual health and genitourinary medicine clinics. Patients can also order tests via the internet from both NHS-commissioned and private providers, a practice that has become increasingly popular during the pandemic.

Continue reading...

As Britain learns to live with Covid, it faces a new pandemic of disruption

Posted on by

Staff shortages, delays and rising prices are playing havoc with the healthcare, education, farming, hospitality and travel sectors

Although the UK no longer faces the threat of lockdowns or intensive care units being imminently overrun, coronavirus is still disrupting much of society and the economy.

As Britain learns to live with Covid, the virus is still playing havoc with our daily lives, and these difficulties have been compounded by post-Brexit chaos in some in sectors.

Continue reading...