Displaying items by tag: NHS

Archie Battersbee’s parents, Hollie and Paul from Southend-On-Sea, have been fighting a legal battle since their son was found unconscious with a ligature around his neck in a tragic accident in April. On 15 July, Mr Justice Hayden ruled ‘it is in Archie's best interests for life-support to be removed as it is futile, compromises Archie’s dignity and serves only to protract his death rather than prolong his life.’ Archie's family appealed the decision. At the time of writing, the president of the Family Division of the High Court, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Peter Jackson are considering arguments at a Court of Appeal. Pray for Archies’ parents who said, ‘Planned death is another name for euthanasia, which is illegal in this country. It is for God to decide what should happen to Archie, including if, when and how he should die’.

Published in British Isles
Friday, 15 July 2022 10:08

Harassment in UK healthcare

Female doctors have launched an online campaign that exposes shocking gender-based discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault in healthcare. Surviving in Scrubs is an issue for all healthcare workers, say the campaign’s founders, Becky Cox and Chelcie Jewitt, who are encouraging women to share stories of harassment and abuse to ‘push for change and to reach the people in power’. The campaign has called for the GMC, which regulates doctors, to explicitly denounce sexist and misogynistic behaviour towards female colleagues and ‘treat them with respect’. Over 40 stories have been shared on the campaign’s website, ranging from sexual harassment by patients to inappropriate remarks and sexual advances from supervisors. The report stopped short of detailing where racism and classism overlap, but they wrote on Twitter: ‘Sexism in the healthcare workforce is intersectional. Race, disability, sexuality, ethnicity, class, gender all interlink to create a multitude of experiences. Sexism doesn’t exist in a vacuum.’

Published in British Isles

Ritchie Herron lived as a woman for five years and is suing the NHS for pressuring him into the ‘biggest mistake’ of his life. While battling mental health issues, strangers on the internet said he was trans. The NHS clinic he visited didn’t take his mental health crisis into account or counsel him about the impact of ‘sex swap’ surgery. The gender clinic diagnosed ‘transsexualism’ after two 30-minute appointments and prescribed testosterone-suppressing drugs. They ignored family concerns when they warned doctors ‘Ritchie was on strong antidepressants and had many complex issues’. Ritchie was then asked if he wanted genital surgery. Although uncertain, he said yes because ‘having surgery would make therapy available to him.’ The following year he had irreversible surgery and immediately regretted his decision saying, ‘Transition is being sold on a mass scale. It’s sinister. I’m proof the whole system must become far more robust. How many more people are there out there like me?’

Published in British Isles
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Some medical students need to work multiple part-time jobs to afford to complete their degrees. Final year students have stopped training because they don't have enough money to survive.

For that year, they get a bursary to live on (maximum £6,458). It is not enough - especially for those from low-income backgrounds. They are campaigning for better NHS bursaries. Penny Sucharitkul hopes to be a vascular surgeon, but the money does not even cover her rent. She is from a single-parent family, and relying on Universal Credit after her father lost his job during the pandemic. On top of studying full-time, she works as a martial arts instructor and a clinical research assistant. She says working-class students are treated unfairly. ‘We're getting up at 6 am, training all day, then going to work again. It’s incredibly taxing on our mental health. We're burning people out before they've even started in the NHS.’

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 31 March 2022 22:34

NHS mental health - 1,500 deaths

Richard worked in the City of London and had a PhD in political science He was 30 when he was admitted to the Linden Centre, Chelmsford, over fears he would harm himself after a recurrence of depression. His father said they left Richard with scissors, razors, shoelaces, electrical cords and a dressing gown cord. Someone else had taken their own life there three months earlier, but hazards in its layout were still in place. ‘It is the same errors and the same flaws, time after time. People are still dying, needlessly.’ A public inquiry has learned of the deaths of 1,500 people who were in the care of Essex mental health services over a 21-year period. The ongoing inquiry began taking evidence from the public in December. Recurring themes are concerns over patients' physical, mental, and sexual safety while on wards. See also

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 31 March 2022 22:30

NHS maternity scandal

The police are investigating 600 cases of maternity care in a probe of hospital failings pointing to hundreds of baby deaths. Sajid Javid revealed the scope of the police inquiry during a Commons statement on Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust on 30 March. Mistakes at its hospitals led to babies being stillborn, dying after birth, or being left badly brain damaged. West Mercia police are investigating whether there was evidence to support a criminal case against the trust or any individuals involved. They have been talking to medical experts and prosecutors. The inquiry remains active, but no arrests have been made. The review, led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, examined 1,600 incidents amid parents' fears over safety spanning the years 2000 to 2019, and concluded that catastrophic failures and repeated mistakes may have led to the deaths of nine mothers and 200+ babies and left other infants with major injuries.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 10 February 2022 21:24

Watchdog to review charity's accounts

The Charity Commission is to review the accounts of the charity set up in honour of Captain Sir Tom Moore, who raised almost £33m for the NHS. Accounts show the Captain Tom Foundation gave out grants of £160,000 to four charities but spent more than £162,000 in management costs in its first year. Its financial statement also showed reimbursement costs of £16,097 paid to Club Nook Limited, a company run by Hannah Ingram-Moore, Captain Tom's daughter. These costs were said to be for accommodation, security and transport relating to Captain Sir Tom ‘travelling around the UK to promote the charity’. The foundation said it welcomed the commission's input.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 20 January 2022 20:20

Public delaying cancer check-ups

Macmillan Cancer Support says that there have been nearly 50,000 fewer cancer diagnoses across the UK since the start of the pandemic. This risks an increase in late-stage diagnoses, reducing survival chances. Past surveys have suggested people are reluctant to come forward during surges in Covid cases because they did not want to be a burden to the health service. NHS England cancer director Dame Cally Palmer added it was vital people did not delay now even though hospitals were under huge strain. ‘NHS staff are working hard to ensure that those who are coming forward for checks can be seen quickly so that cancer can be caught at an earlier stage.’ Health minister Maria Caulfield added NHS staff had gone ‘above and beyond’ to keep cancer care going. ‘The NHS is open.’ The plea comes as pressure on hospitals has started to ease a little.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 13 January 2022 20:57

Struggling to treat patients safely

Patricia Marquis, of the Royal College of Nursing, said the NHS was clearly ‘struggling to treat patients safely’. NHS medical director Prof Stephen Powis said the Omicron variant was putting huge pressures on hospitals, not just because of the numbers of patients being admitted - about 2,000 a day on average - but also because of staff absences. But he added, ‘Despite this, once again, NHS staff pulled out all the stops to keep services going for patients’. Pray for the Government to find a way to meet the financial needs of the NHS so that the six million people on waiting lists for routine operations and care can have their procedures. In December nearly 27% of patients arriving at emergency departments waited over four hours. Demand for ambulances is high, with crews struggling to reach patients within the seven-minute target.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 06 January 2022 21:28

Care homes closing doors as Omicron spreads

Hundreds of care homes are refusing new admissions for 14 to 28 days because of Omicron, increasing pressure on hospitals unable to discharge patients into the community, and adding another pressure to an already challenging situation. 70% of MHA homes, a not-for-profit care provider, are refusing new residents because of Covid outbreaks and staff shortages. Four Seasons Healthcare has two or more cases in 40% of its homes: government guidance is not to accept new arrivals. The chief executive of NHS Providers said, ‘Patients deteriorate if they are fit to discharge but can’t leave their hospital beds’. He said it was also difficult to find room for serious cases coming via accident and emergency departments. Temporary settings may be installed to allow hospital patients to be released, and some health trusts have set up temporary care facilities in hotels with live-in staff from abroad.

Published in British Isles