All related news
08-May-2012
A young mother has been left in a coma-like state for the rest of her life following a hospital error which led to her being administered with a drug 32 times the normal dose.
Nicola Crelling was given the lethal dose of misoprostol to induce labour after being told by staff at West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, that her fourth child had died in her womb. However, hours after being given the drug, which is designed for treating ulcers, Mrs Crelling suffered a ruptured uterus and a heart attack as fluid flooded her brain, starving it of oxygen. She was left unable to walk or talk and will...
20-Apr-2012
A highly critical report by the health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has revealed that elderly patients are repeatedly being let down by staff failings at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI).
Inspectors from the CQC have issued new checks following formal warnings which were issued at the hospital last month as a result of repeated failings. Most of the patients on one ward said that they were not satisfied with their care and blamed this on staff shortages. Inspectors said that they were forced to intervene to help patients on the ward who were saying that nurses were ignoring their...
11-Apr-2012
Official figures confirm that the NHS has set aside a total of £235.4m to pay compensation to those affected by errors which have led to some babies being left with brain damage.
The figures, which come from the NHS Litigation Authority, show that there are 60 claims ongoing in which staff had allegedly failed to spot that the new-born babies they were caring for had dangerously low blood sugar levels. In the past decade, in England alone, there have been 79 claims alleging harm to babies related to undetected or untreated hypoglycaemia, which affects roughly one to three of every 1,000...
04-Apr-2012
Research from the Medical Defence Union (MDU) has shown widespread delays and, in some cases total failure, to diagnose ovarian cancer.
The MDU, which represents doctors who are accused of negligence, looked into 209 complaints made against doctors between 2002 and last year which involved the disease and in 84% of cases there had been a delay in diagnosis alleged. Those 209 complaints resulted in 71 claims against doctors and eight of these have been settled with compensation payouts ranging from £9,000 to £550,000.
Dr Rachel Sutcliffe, an MDU medico-legal advisor, said that in...
02-Mar-2012
New guidance has been issued for people with all-metal hip replacements amid fears that they could be poisoned by metal coming off the joint.
The recommendations come from the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA) and were issued hours before the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published an investigation into the implants together with BBC’s Newsnight, which alleges that thousands of people worldwide, and 50,000 in the UK alone, are in danger through having dangerously high levels of metal in their bodies because they have had the metal-on-metal implants.
One type in...
29-Feb-2012
A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel has heard details of an incident in which two babies had been switched in a hospital with one of the baby’s having been breast fed by the “wrong” mother, while a midwife had been trying to persuade a student to keep quiet about the mistake.
The incident occurred at Bassetlaw Hospital in Worksop, Nottinghamshire in November 2007 and the panel heard that both babies were taken away while their mothers rested. However, staff later delivered the wrong babies to the respective mothers.
David Clarke, for the NMC, said that once the...
16-Feb-2012
A grieving family have had a medical negligence claim against an NHS trust settled following the death of their baby which, they insist, would have been avoided had he been born during the day rather than at night.
Sarah Wallace, from Scarborough, said that she had been told by staff on duty at Scarborough District Hospital that there were staff shortages at the time her baby Harry was born. He was delivered eight weeks early, by emergency Caesarean section, in September 2009 but was immediately transferred to the special care baby unit and died the following morning from breathing...
09-Feb-2012
The health secretary Andrew Lansley has become more isolated on NHS reform following criticism by two leading doctors who had previously been prominent backers of the government’s plans.
Dr Charles Alessi and Dr Michael Dixon, influential figures in the NHS Alliance and the National Association of Primary Care have been notable for their support for the controversial reforms during the last 18 months, but are now claiming that, rather than liberating doctors, Lansley’s proposals will “suffocate” them.
Primary care trusts and strategic health authorities are set to be...
31-Jan-2012
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is to launch an inquiry into concerns that thousands of British patients may have been poisoned by their metal hip replacements.
An investigation by a Sunday newspaper revealed that 30,000 people in this country have had the implants which can cause problems when friction between the metal ball and cup leads to tiny fragments falling off which could seep into the bone. They can also potentially cause soft tissue reaction which can harm muscle and bone.
The MHRA, which is the watchdog responsible for making sure that medicines and...
09-Jan-2012
Nuffield Health healthcare company has announced that it is to pay for the investigation and surgery costs of all of its 150 patients who have been affected by the PIP breast implant scandal.
The company has said that it will pay the costs of those women who need to have their breast implants removed following concerns over the poor standard of silicone used in them. The implants were made by Poly Implant Prothese, a French firm which has since closed down.
The scandal is thought to have affected 650,000 women in total, of which 42,000 are in the UK. The PIP implants were taken off the...
04-Jan-2012
The Labour Party has called on the government to give a clearer lead to the 40,000 women in the UK who are thought to have been affected by the scandal over faulty PIP breast implants.
Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, says that a plan should be worked out by ministers together with representatives from the private cosmetic surgery industry, on what can be done for women in this country who have had the PIP implants and who should pay for any corrective treatment that is to take place.
Meanwhile, the French government has launched an investigation into how the company, Poly Implant...
28-Nov-2011
A woman who has been left in a coma after using a hair dye kit has been given just an eight percent chance of survival.
Julie McCabe, from Keighley, is on a life support machine in hospital and her husband has been warned that even if she survives she is almost certain to have permanent brain damage.
It is thought that Mrs McCabe may have suffered a severe allergic reaction after using a L’Oreal hair dye product. Doctors caring for her are asking to be provided with the kit and gloves that she used so that tests can be carried out. It is thought that the chemical para-phenylenediamine (...
31-Oct-2011
The family of a man who broke his neck in a fall have issued a complaint to a hospital after it sent him home without diagnosing the injury.
Gary Green, a labourer, was taken to Ipswich Hospital after working on the second floor of a building and falling off his ladder, landing on his head. At hospital he had X-rays and a CT scan before being sent home with doctors still unaware that he had broken two bones in his spine. He was still in excruciating pain for two days at home before going back to hospital on the advice of a physiotherapist. This time an MRI scan established that he had...
25-Oct-2011
A new report by peers in the House of Lords has expressed fears over the competence and language skills of foreign doctors and warns that it could take six years for more strictly controlled regulations to come into force.
The report, from the Lords EU committee, entitled Safety First, says that measures need to be taken now to protect patients from possible harm and that doctors, nurses, dentists and pharmacists who come into the UK from overseas should be checked to ensure they have the necessary competence and language skills as well as up-to-date experience. However, they warned...
15-Sep-2011
Nurses in Wales have objected to a decision by health bosses in the principality to ban Crocs at work.
Bosses have taken the controversial decision because they do not offer adequate protection from sharp objects and follow similar bans in hospitals in parts of the US, Canada, Sweden and Austria. All Welsh health boards have been sent the instructions which are said to be due to a number of incidents where sharp objects have pierced the soles of the shoes.
However, the decision has been criticised by nurses with Crocs being the "shoe of choice" for many within the NHS because of...
16-Aug-2011
The General Medical Council is to investigate 12 doctors who are all employed by Atos Healthcare, the firm which assesses people claiming disability benefit.
It is believed that most of the allegations involving the doctors concern their treatment of vulnerable people at the time the government's "work capability assessments" were being carried out. If it is found that they did not put the care of patients first, the doctors could be struck off.
The news that the doctors are under investigation raises fresh questions over the government's controversial welfare to work programme and...
16-Aug-2011
Police investigating the death of a care home resident have arrested an employee of the home on suspicion of assault.
The 36-year-old woman worked at the Partridge Care Centre in Harlow, Essex, a privately-run home where one woman died and two others were taken to hospital through what were believed to be overdoses of insulin. Essex County Council and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have both launched investigations and the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate has said that it is looking into the care and treatment of residents.
A spokesman said: "Investigators have spoken to...
05-Aug-2011
The government is expected to announce that it is scrapping its controversial 10-year National Programme for IT, which would have linked together all aspects of the health service under one network, and will allow local health trusts to buy computer systems that fulfil their own requirements.
The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says that the £11.4bn programme, which has been in turmoil since the first missed deadlines in 2007, is now way behind schedule and has cost much more than was originally intended. It says that, while it was a worthwhile aim, it has now wasted a great...
01-Aug-2011
The government is planning to order a review of elderly care throughout England after a health watchdog report publically criticised the private care home provider exposed by the BBC Panorama programme.
The Department of Health has already slammed as "totally unacceptable" the abuse of adults with learning difficulties which was found to have taken place at Winterbourne View home in Bristol, which was run by provider Castlebeck. Now ministers at the department are set to react to growing concern about the treatment of the elderly and the disabled from the NHS and local councils and...
25-Jul-2011
A social-care consultancy has warned that many more care homes are at risk in the coming months with the government unable to guarantee that homes will not be closed.
A survey, from analysts Laing and Buisson, shows that over half of all councils have been forced to freeze or reduce their costs and, with costs rising by an average of 2.8%, there is a widening gap between the two, which may result in staff cuts and even operators being forced to go into administration.
The warning comes in the light of news that Southern Cross Healthcare, the biggest independent care-home operator in...
19-Jul-2011
The British Medical Association (BMA) has warned doctors off befriending patients on sites such as Facebook and Twitter to avoid possible breaches of confidentiality.
New published guidance says that GPs should not post "informal, personal or derogatory comments" against patients on social networking sites and follows similar guidance from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) which has stated that a number of members of staff have been struck off for "improper" use of Facebook. The NMC has also said that the sites should not be used for whistle-blowing or the raising of concerns...
18-Jul-2011
The care home operator Southern Cross has ended weeks of speculation over its future by announcing that it is to close down.
The country's biggest operator of care homes has announced that 250 of its 750 homes are being transferred to landlords who are either run care homes already or have links to firms that do, while the future of the remaining 500 remains unclear with the ongoing threat that they could be sold.
The future of Southern Cross, which has been in the balance since March, was finalised when the landlords all announced that they would leave the group, and, once the...
05-Jul-2011
A hospital watchdog has "named and shamed" those hospitals which have the highest rates of bedsores in a bid to end a crisis said to cost the NHS £4bn a year.
Dr Foster, the NHS standards watchdog, drew up a league table of the worst offenders following a survey of 150 hospitals which found that a third had bed sore rates which were higher than the national average. At the top of the list was Warrington and Halton Hospitals Trust with Medway Trust and Southend University Hospital Trust making up the top three. Those with the lowest bed sore rates included Luton and Dunstable Hospital...
24-Jun-2011
A doctor has been cleared of misconduct, following an investigation into a stillbirth at a Yorkshire hospital.
Catherine Reiss, who was the on-call specialist at Pontefract General Infirmary, was facing allegations that she did not provide a consultant presence on the labour ward at all times and that she did not advise her junior colleague Grace Burden that Marianne Steel, who was on the ward giving birth to her son Joseph, needed help immediately.
The General Medical Council's fitness to practice panel heard that concerns about the baby's heartbeat were first identified at 9am on...
23-Jun-2011
A private hospital, which was at the centre of allegations of patient abuse, is to close later this week.
Winterbourne View, near Bristol, was featured in an investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme which showed what appeared to be patients being pinned down, slapped and doused in water. Thirteen members of staff were suspended after the programme was shown and police arrested and bailed 11 people in connection with the case.
Now Castlebeck, which owns Winterbourne, has said that it has voluntarily relinquished its hospital registration and will close on Friday when the last...
