Latest news with #patientSafety
BBC News
2 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
'Hardline' BMA blocks emergency pleas for strike doctors to work
NHS bosses have criticised the British Medical Association for its "increasingly hardline" approach in rejecting emergency requests for striking doctors in England to return to work.A system known as 'derogation' is in place whereby the NHS can ask for resident doctors, who are taking part in a five-day walkout, to cross the picket line where patient safety is at of Sunday evening, 18 requests by hospitals for derogations had been rejected in this strike - the twelfth in the long-running pay dispute - with nine BMA said while it was ready to respond to emergencies, poor planning and the push to continue non-urgent care in this strike had stretched staffing too much. However, NHS England accused the doctors' union of putting safety at risk, criticising a "remote BMA panel" for "second-guessing" doctors on the ground who were trying to look after patients.A central committee of senior BMA doctors makes decisions on each derogation England said it was particularly worried about a number of requests relating to cancer care being turned it said the BMA was sitting on some requests for hours, with some rejected because hospitals would not pay striking doctors premium rates to come back this strike started, the BMA had only agreed to five derogations during the whole dispute. 'Rigorous' Among the requests agreed was a doctor to work at Nottingham City Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit over the BMA members were also brought in to work a night shift at the Northern General in the BMA rejected a request by Milton Keynes Hospital for a doctor to carry out prostate cancer checks. In that case the BBC understands a doctor did return to work under their own volition.A BMA spokesman added: "It remains our position that this agreement will be available for the NHS to rely upon should a safety-critical, urgent event occur."That process is there day and night throughout industrial action, and we remain ready to respond to any emergency requests."However, we need to be clear that the purpose of this agreement is not to facilitate the continued delivery of non-urgent care at the same time as senior doctors are covering for residents taking industrial action, as trusts simply do not have enough senior doctors to do that safely."NHS England sources said it was particularly disappointed with the rejections as the national organisation was now vetting every request from hospitals to ensure a consistency in approach between different request, they said, was based on "rigorous assessment"."We absolutely recognise the legal right for people to strike, but we also recognise that it's essential to maintain as many services for patients as possible," they five-day strike by resident doctors is due to run until 07:00 on Wednesday morning.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Heart attack patients diverted as IT outage hits hospitals
Two major NHS hospitals in the South West, Cheltenham and Gloucestershire, experienced a significant IT outage on Wednesday, forcing staff to resort to paper systems. The trust confirmed the outage was due to a server issue, not a cyber-attack, but it led to the diversion of heart attack patients and affected internal telephone systems. This IT failure occurred just before a five-day resident doctor strike, which NHS leaders have warned could compromise patient safety. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has urged the British Medical Association to suspend its guidance advising doctors not to disclose strike participation, citing difficulties in maintaining safe patient care. There is an ongoing dispute between the BMA and NHS England regarding the maintenance of routine care during the strikes, with the union arguing it would endanger patients.
New York Times
20-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
A Push for More Organ Transplants Is Putting Donors at Risk
Last spring at a small Alabama hospital, a team of transplant surgeons prepared to cut into Misty Hawkins. The clock was ticking. Her organs wouldn't be usable for much longer. Days earlier, she had been a vibrant 42-year-old with a playful sense of humor and a love for the Thunder Beach Motorcycle Rally. But after Ms. Hawkins choked while eating and fell into a coma, her mother decided to take her off life support and donate her organs. She was removed from a ventilator and, after 103 minutes, declared dead. A surgeon made an incision in her chest and sawed through her breastbone. That's when the doctors discovered her heart was beating. She appeared to be breathing. They were slicing into Ms. Hawkins while she was alive. Across the United States, an intricate system of hospitals, doctors and nonprofit donation coordinators carries out tens of thousands of lifesaving transplants each year. At every step, it relies on carefully calibrated protocols to protect both donors and recipients. But in recent years, as the system has pushed to increase transplants, a growing number of patients have endured premature or bungled attempts to retrieve their organs. Though Ms. Hawkins's case is an extreme example of what can go wrong, a New York Times examination revealed a pattern of rushed decision-making that has prioritized the need for more organs over the safety of potential donors. Share your story about the organ transplant system We will not publish any part of your submission without contacting you first. We may use your contact information to follow up with you. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Doctors regulator failing ‘abysmally' to protect Jewish patients, says Streeting
The doctors' regulator is 'failing abysmally to protect Jewish patients', Wes Streeting has said. The Health Secretary said he would be 'hauling in' the General Medical Council's (GMC) leaders to explain themselves, during a Government summit on anti-Semitism in the health sector on Tuesday. Mr Streeting said the regulator's chief executive and chairman would need to explain 'why they are failing so publicly and abysmally in their responsibility to protect Jewish staff and Jewish patients '. The summit was hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on anti-Semitism and Lord Mann, the Government's independent adviser on Anti-Semitism. In a speech, first reported by Jewish News, Mr Streeting said there had been 'cases of medics who've said things that would make me feel uncomfortable [to be] treated by those medics and even unsafe being treated by the[m] and I am not Jewish.' 'There are cases that our country's medical regulator should be taking seriously, and they should be taking all steps necessary to keep patients safe and I do not see the evidence that this is the case.' He said the Board of Deputies' newly published Commission on Anti-Semitism, which was co-chaired by Lord Mann and Penny Mordaunt, the former defence secretary, had made for 'pretty sobering reading'. 'It concludes that anti-Semitism has crept into our country's civil society in a way that hasn't happened before, including our National Health Service,' he said, adding that he takes that finding 'with the utmost seriousness'. He said he just 'cannot understand how there have been so many high-profile cases where the GMC doesn't take action' and that it was a 'shameful and sorry state of affairs'. 'I'm frankly sick and tired as the person who has a responsibility to the public, as a democratically elected representative of the people, of being told by the people who are charged with regulating a life and death service, that it's all too complicated and all too difficult,' he said. There have been 454 complaints of antis-Semitism made to the GMC about 131 doctors, data released to Jewish News found. A number of doctors have been allowed to continue practising medicine or working for the NHS, either by the GMC or its independent tribunal, despite allegations of anti-Semitism, and in the face of attempted crackdowns by Mr Streeting and his predecessor, the former Tory health secretary, Victoria Atkins. The GMC cannot suspend or strike doctors off the register itself, but refers cases it believes warranting such action to an independent tribunal. Dr Wahid Shaida, who ran the Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir until its ban last year, never lost his licence to practice, despite being revealed as the group's UK leader when it emerged that he celebrated the Oct 7 massacre by Hamas as a 'very welcome punch on the nose' to Israel. Dr Martin Whyte, a paediatrician who was removed as deputy chairman of the British Medical Association's junior doctors' committee in April 2023 after writing on social media 'Hahaha zeig heil hahaha gas the Jews', similarly faced no reprimand. A doctor who said Hammersmith would be better if it was 'Jew free' was found not to be racist but 'comfortable with discriminatory language' by the General Medical Council's independent tribunal. Dr Dimitrios Psaroudakis, a consultant gynaecologist, was only given a three month suspension after saying Hammersmith in London would be better if it was 'Jew free'. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) found he was not racist but 'comfortable with discriminatory language' This week, it has emerged that Dr Rehiana Ali, an NHS neurologist that described the former leader of Hamas as a 'legend' has had a temporary suspension from the medical register lifted by the MPTS, which is independent of the GMC and makes the final judgement. Dr Ali had previously said Israel's killing of Yahya Sinwar had turned the Oct 7 mastermind into a 'legend' and 'male role model'. In separate posts, the consultant neurologist also said the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, had turned him into a 'legend' who was 'completely untouchable'.
CTV News
10-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Ontario doctors warn of increase in DIY medicine
The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) is sounding the alarm on what it says is a concerning increase in the number of patients turning to do-it-yourself medical solutions rather than getting expert advice from doctors. 'We know people are going online,' Dr. David D'Souza said. 'The aspect of looking is not necessarily a problem; it's the interpretation of it.' D'Souza, a radiation oncologist in London, Ont., said patients are often drawn to ideas that seem 'all natural' or that seem to offer 'miraculous' results or options with no unpleasant side effects. He cited a study which found that about a third of the most popular social media posts about cancer from 2018-2019 contained factually incorrect information. 'You might say, well, what's the big deal? What's the problem with it? Well, most of them are potentially harmful,' he said. D'Souza was one of several doctors who took part in a news conference hosted by the OMA Wednesday, calling attention to the rising trend of do-it-yourself medical solutions. Doctors on the panel said they are increasingly encountering self-diagnoses based on internet research or having to answer questions from patients about viral videos suggesting that fast food can cure migraines or that CBD oil can shrink tumours. Some are even trying to treat themselves. 'I had a patient who had a tube going into their kidney because it was blocked – it's called a nephrostomy tube – due to their cancer. And they actually tried to put the twine from a weed whacker in to get out the sludge that was in there,' D'Souza recalled. 'They were asking about actually putting in a little bit of Lysol to clear it out.' While he managed to dissuade them, other patients have chosen to go with alternate treatments based on their own research, sometimes with devastating effects. One young woman, D'Souza recalled, came to him with a diagnosis of cervical cancer. 'She was not ready to accept conventional treatment and decided she was going to pursue other remedies that she had heard about,' D'Souza said. 'She came back two years later, unfortunately, with her disease having progressed and spread, and in a lot of pain, and unfortunately, our ability to control her cancer and give her a long-term good outcome was severely compromised.' Patients making diagnoses with online quizzes Dr. Valerie Primeau, a psychiatrist from North Bay, Ont., said she's seeing more and more people using quick online tools to diagnose themselves with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, and other problems. 'The first concern, obviously, is misdiagnosis,' Primeau said. 'And there's certain disorders that are higher risk of misdiagnosis, specifically bipolar disorder.' She noted that if you think you have an illness, that could increase anxiety about having an illness, which could itself have negative health impacts. Best practices around treatment can also change dramatically in just the space of a couple of years, she said, information that medical experts are more likely to be appraised of than online resources. 'So that can be dangerous, as well as being given unfiltered advice about how to manage the illness, which is not likely to be evidence-based,' Primeau said. She estimated around a third of the patients she sees come to her with self-diagnoses and estimates that proportion will increase. 'It's happening more right now, and I foresee it continuing to happen more and more, especially with AI technology getting more and more available and more and more sophisticated,' Primeau said. 'I have patients now that talk to ChatGPT to get advice.' Social media a source of medical misinformation Dr. Alyse Goldberg, a Toronto endocrinologist who focuses on fertility and treating hormonal conditions, said existing technologies, particularly social media, are already driving people to health information that may not be reliable. She showed examples of posts, presented to her by social media accounts she doesn't even follow, which described 'invisible signs of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)' and 'tips' about other disorders she regularly discusses. 'You get targeted in terms of what therapeutic options your physician may be giving you, but then reasons to avoid some evidence-based treatment,' Goldberg said. While some of the solutions presented by the posts might sound amazing, they may not be tested or evidence-based. Nevertheless, seeing the posts could 'fracture the relationship with the physician,' Goldberg said, especially if the patient feels that good options have been 'withheld.' Some of the posts might also push users toward products that aren't effective or appropriate and Goldberg said it's important to think about 'who's trying to make money off of us and use our symptoms of medical experiences in order to self promote.' OMA President Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman said the organization is particularly concerned about the rise in diagnosis and self-treatment among young people, who tend to lean heavily on information from the Internet. 'When you break it down by generations, we're also seeing a higher uptake, especially in some of our very young populations, who are still in their teens and early 20s, who are looking more at social media and in terms of how they quantify how reliable or credible a source is versus other generations,' Abdurrahman said. She also pointed out that combatting misinformation is a wider problem society is grappling with right now. 'We want to come and address and talk about this, and talk about how to get credible information, because we know misinformation and disinformation is something that, as a society we are managing, and health-care is not immune to this.' While there are many pitfalls and problems with self-diagnosis and treatment, doctors point out that it can be beneficial to do some research from legitimate sources if it leads you to consult a physician who can more accurately diagnose a problem. The doctors also stress that it's important for medical professionals to be communicative with their patients rather than judgmental, recognizing that sometimes a prescribed course of treatment can leave patients feeling like they don't have control. 'Rather than coming back with a judgmental tone, I embrace the fact that they are communicating,' D'Souza said. They also acknowledge that access to family doctors, and financial barriers to certain kinds of medical tests and assessments could also be driving people into the arms of Dr. Google, where quick answers are easy to come by. 'Our phones now are intelligent. They listen to us and they look at our trends,' Primeau points out. 'And if we talk about something that we're concerned about, they will show us posts that relate to that. So the answers seem more immediate, and people want that. People are looking for answers, and they get that validation from that access on social media.'
