Hospital sends GPs 15,000 letters in a single day
A “technical failure” caused a hospital trust to send 15-20,000 discharge letters to local GP practices on the day before the Easter bank holiday weekend, some of which dated back four months.
Seven trusts still to set maximum ambulance handover times
Seven trusts among the poorest performers for ambulance handovers have yet to to implement the flagship NHS England policy designed to tackle the problem.
Top trusts failed mortuary security checks
Some of England’s most prestigious trusts have been caught with inadequate security for their mortuaries – despite recent high-profile breaches, HSJ can reveal.
Patient Safety Watch: Barriers to learning
HSJ hosts the Patient Safety Watch newsletter, written by Patient Safety Watch chief executive James Titcombe
Revealed: Dozens of safety probes kept secret by trusts
Trusts are still keeping reports that reveal serious patient safety concerns secret, HSJ has discovered.
CQC examining service which ‘gave 14 people unnecessary cancer treatment’
Fourteen patients have raised concerns they may have received unnecessary chemotherapy with “debilitating side effects” at the same hospital, some for a decade or more, HSJ has been told.
Revealed: Roof leaks and derelict buildings at hospitals with most empty space
More than 10,000 square metres of hospital space is being left vacant across some of England’s largest hospitals because of disrepair and decay.
Trust appoints new chair from ICB
An acute trust in the West Midlands has appointed a new chair from its neighbouring integrated care board.
Carbon Copy: The high price of high emissions
The ideas, policies and challenges at the heart of the NHS goal for net zero emissions, from HSJ sustainability correspondent Zoe Tidman.
£800m deal to transfer control of community services to acutes
An integrated care board is planning to hand over control of community services worth an annual £80m to two acute trusts for the next five to 10 years.
High profile director hired by trust to lead recovery from scandal
A trust which has been at the centre of a series of scandals over the last year has appointed a former regional director as its group chief medical officer.
Trust pauses EPR go live amid roll out problems
A large teaching trust has delayed the launch of its new electronic patient record system, with no new date yet set.
40-year CEO chooses not to ‘keep going forever’
A group CEO who is one of the longest-serving leaders in the NHS is retiring after four decades as a chief executive.
Strike exemption requests not approved despite staffing concerns
Updated: Several trusts’ requests for exemptions from junior doctors’ strike actions — citing difficulties securing enough shifts to safely staff services — were not approved, and in one case withdrawn by the British Medical Association.
Modernisation Agency chief returns to lead improvement drive
The director of the Modernisation Agency in the early 2000s is returning to lead a new national service improvement drive, NHS England has announced, while asking systems and providers to “baseline” their improvement needs and capability.
Poverty and clinical need both key when prioritising patients for treatment says NHSE lead
Factors like deprivation should be considered in prioritising waiting lists, NHS England’s inequalities director has said, but in a ‘very sophisticated, thoughtful way’ alongside clinical need and waiting times.
Big rise in trusts ‘red rated’ for infant mortality
Nearly a fifth of trusts providing maternity care have been red rated for their infant mortality rates in a national audit.
Public do not support plans to prioritise patients based on ethnicity and deprivation
There is little public support for prioritising waiting lists based on factors such as ethnicity, deprivation or lifestyle habits, despite a growing number of trusts exploring such an approach, new research has found.