Workforce and Training

Private mental health group The Priory fined £300,000 over death of 14-year-old girl

17.04.19: Private mental health group The Priory healthcare group has been fined £300,000 for breaching health and safety laws following the death of 14-year-old Amy El-Keria. El-Keria was treated at Priory Group’s Ticehurst House psychia...

Routine breech scans could lower mother and baby mortality rates and save NHS money, researchers say

17.04.19: Scanning mothers-to-be late in their pregnancy could prevent 15,000 unexpected breech births, 4,000 emergency C-sections, and the deaths of up to eight babies a year, new research has shown. Breech births, where a baby’s bottom or fee...

City council rejoins ICS after reforms agreed in privatisation and accountability row

17.04.19: Nottingham City Council is to rejoin its local NHS integrated care system (ICS) after significant reforms were made to the way the system runs in order to address concerns over accountability and privatisation. The local authority’s e...

Lessons from Mid-Staffordshire scandal being lost as NHS staffing levels are ‘putting patients’ lives at risk’

17.04.19: One in four NHS wards routinely operate with staffing levels so low they threaten patient safety, researchers have warned. Hospital wards are still understaffed to the extent that patients’ lives are being put at risk, researchers at...

NHS Property Services awards Mitie with extension to facilities management mega-contract

16.04.19: NHS Property Services (NHS PS) has awarded an extension to a three-year contract to deliver engineering, landscaping and security services across the health service to Mitie. The contract will see Mitie deliver mechanical and electrical ser...

Our Health Heroes

16.04.19: Dean Royles, strategic workforce advisor at Skills for Health and co-author of ‘An Introduction to Human Resource Management,’ discusses the upcoming Our Health Heroes Awards. There are many metaphors to describe staff working i...

A&E patients ‘poorly managed’ and workers overstretched at Portsmouth hospital

16.04.19: Patients are being “poorly managed” and the frail and elderly are left in “unacceptable states of undress” by overstretched staff at a Portsmouth hospital, the CQC has found. Inspectors have told the trust that runs...

NHS rolls out new digital portal for home care vacancies in bid to reduce hospital discharge delays

16.04.19: A new digital portal that allows hospital staff to find care home spaces for patients is to be rolled out across the NHS in a bid to reduce delays. The ‘Capacity Tracker’ is being rolled out by NHS England to hospitals, care hom...

Nearly 4m GP appointments could be freed up by 2022 under newly extended NHS pilot scheme

15.04.19: NHS England has extended a scheme which has freed up half a million hours for patients in the last year and could now see four million appointments saved by 2022. The Time for Care scheme encourages practices to try innovations to cut burea...

‘Dishonest’ solicitor struck off for overcharging NHS with ‘unreasonable’ clinical negligence bills

15.04.19: A “dishonest” solicitor who overcharged the NHS whilst pursuing clinical negligence cases has been struck off after the High Court judged he had showed a “serious lack of integrity.” Andrew Good, who founded the Hull...

Mixed reviews for ‘full of jargon’ NHS App pilot ahead of summer rollout

12.04.19: NHS Digital has published the results of the pilot phase of the NHS App, finding that users were “enthusiastic” about using the app to order prescriptions but appointment bookings were “full of jargon.” A number of c...

Mental health hospital placed into special measures after claims of abuse and unexplained injuries

12.04.19: An Essex mental health hospital has been placed into special measures after allegations of abuse of patients by staff and a number of incidents of unexplained injuries to patients. Inspectors found that “safety was not a priority&rdqu...

Midwives found guilty of misconduct in Telford hospital baby death

12.04.19: Two midwives have been found guilty of misconduct for their roles in the death of a four-day-old baby at a maternity unit in Shropshire. At a misconduct hearing in London it was alleged that Laura Jones and Hayley Lacey did not properly mon...

Lewisham surgery placed in special measures over ‘concerning’ risk to patients and ‘ineffective’ governance

11.04.19: The CQC has placed a Lewisham surgery in special measures after patients were being put at risk by the absence of clear systems and processes to keep patients safe and “ineffective” governance. Dr Bhupinder Batra’s practic...

Targets missed again as NHS spring performance figures shows hospitals ‘creaking at the seams’ despite record number of patients seen on-time

11.04.19: Hospitals are still “creaking at the seams” under record-high demand as the latest official data shows the NHS’s performance against the four-hour A&E target is at its lowest level since records began. Spring has seen...