All Patient safety articles – Page 268

  • News

    Patient Safety

    2007-10-09T00:00:00Z

    Winner Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS TrustFacing the Challenge - Healthcare Acquired InfectionsThe dramatic improvements seen at a trust that once had some of the worst MRSA bacteraemia reduction figures in the country is ultimately the result of one overarching theme - making infection prevention rather than infection control the ...

  • News

    More midwives needed to ensure safety

    2007-10-09T00:00:00Z

    More midwives and obstetricians are needed to ensure safe care is provided for women in labour and their babies, says a report published today.Safer Childbirth: minimum standards for the organisation and delivery of care in labour also recommends the need for access to senior staff to provide advice and support ...

  • Comment

    Hygiene: staff won't follow where they are not led

    2007-10-04T09:00:00Z

    After the years of media scrutiny, policy statements, regulations, inspections and public outcry - not to mention the avoidable deaths and illnesses - it is hard to comprehend why many acute trust boards are failing to make hygiene standards a priority.

  • News

    Maternity death rates worsening for poorer mums

    2007-10-04T09:00:00Z

    Maternity mortality rates have increased, the maternity services czar has revealed.

  • News

    Healthcare Commission finds hygiene code is 'not hitting the headlines' in acute trusts

    2007-10-04T09:00:00Z

    Acute trust boards are not taking enough responsibility for controlling infection in their hospitals, the healthcare watchdog has warned.Spot checks on 43 hospitals by the Healthcare Commission have revealed concerns that boards are not regularly discussing opportunities for improvement or ensuring infection control data is analysed effectively.

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Infection control: middle of a chain reaction

    2007-10-01T09:00:00Z

    By making the most of partnership working, new technologies and ongoing vigilance, Plymouth Hospitals trust was able to make great strides in the fight against infection

  • HSJ Knowledge

    Andrew Castle on innovation in obstetrics

    2007-09-28T09:00:00Z

    A dip into the history of obstetrics shows how inventiveness is one of its trademarks, says Andrew Castle

  • News

    'Search and destroy' infections, says Lansley

    2007-09-28T00:00:00Z

    Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley has called for a 'search and destroy' tactic to be used against hospital infections.He said: 'Discussions with the Centre for Hospital-Acquired Infections in Nottingham suggest that it will require a six-year programme to bring the levels of MRSA down in line with Holland and Denmark.

  • Comment

    Michael White on this year's Labour conference

    2007-09-27T09:00:00Z

    I filed this column, from Labour's Bournemouth conference, a little later than usual this week. Gordon Brown had brought the annual leader's speech forward by 24 hours (he is in such a hurry, that man) and I wanted to catch what he had to say.

  • Comment

    Labour conference: localist messages do not cover a nasty whiff of central control

    2007-09-27T09:00:00Z

    The speeches at Labour's annual conference mapping out the principles for Gordon Brown's stewardship of the NHS highlighted the tensions with which the new ministerial team is grappling.

  • News

    Safety first as government gets tough on causes of superbugs

    2007-09-27T09:00:00Z

    Gordon Brown has put patient safety at the top of the government’s priorities for the acute sector, promising stronger rules on hospital cleanliness.

  • Comment

    Media Watch: for and against healthcare privatisation

    2007-09-27T09:00:00Z

    HSJ readers will be well aware of the three-month battle to get health secretary Alan Johnson off the fence and spelling out his policy on the private sector.This week that battle spilled off the pages of HSJ and the Financial Times and into The Times and The Guardian. A coincidence? ...

  • Comment

    Data on mental health patient safety must be presented accurately

    2007-09-25T17:42:00Z

    Chris Heginbotham’s commitment to the well-being and safety of mental health inpatients is sincere and I share some of his concerns, but I must set the record straight about the more alarming aspects of the impression created by his recent interview, writes Louis Appleby

  • News

    New hospital hygiene regulator announced

    2007-09-25T00:00:00Z

    The Department of Health has announced the next steps in its bid to improve cleanliness and infection control in hospitals.

  • Comment

    Dismissing improvement programmes misses the point

    2007-09-24T15:50:00Z

    Alan Maynard's criticism of the quality improvement efforts under way for more than a decade in the NHS, and specifically of the role of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in that work, abounds with misunderstandings, write Stephen Thornton and Don Berwick

  • News

    WHO warns on safety of children's medicines

    2007-09-21T00:00:00Z

    Medicines for children need to be more tightly monitored for safety, the World Health Organisation has warned.

  • Comment

    Media Watch

    2007-09-20T17:06:17Z

    The papers are again keen to expose the 'scandal' of hospital food - this time the focus is on hospital kitchens. The Observer told readers of a 'searing indictment' of their cleanliness after government inspection reports revealed 'that breaches of food hygiene laws include infestations of mice and cockroaches, kitchen ...

  • News

    Executives face fresh scrutiny on hospital infection outbreaks

    2007-09-20T09:00:00Z

    The government wants a new power to place a legal requirement on NHS chief executives to report MRSA and Clostridium difficile outbreaks to the Health Protection Agency.

  • Comment

    Media Watch: breaking the habit

    2007-09-20T09:00:00Z

    This week columnists seized on the case of a smoker apparently denied an NHS operation to fix his broken ankle unless he gives up a 20-a-day habit.

  • Comment

    Heather Walker on clinical measures

    2007-09-19T00:00:00Z

    'Death is only one outcome. As far as the NHS is concerned, very little is known about the other outcomes of those discharged from hospital. Do patients actually feel any better for the healthcare intervention they have just undergone?'