Excl: Hospitals falling back on crucial checks and treatment for sepsis
31 deaths identified in past 5 yrs where coroners have warned of systemic problems with diagnosing and treating sepsis, including 9 cases relating to children, many deemed avoidable
Exclusive: NHSE leak reveals 1m patients on hidden waiting list
This includes hundreds of thousands of children - biggest waiting lists are for services such as child development & speech and language therapy
NEW: Staff ‘crying every day’ in ‘chaotic’ department
— University Hospitals Birmingham service described as “chaotic”
— Report reveals some Heartlands Hospital haematology trainees “crying every day”
— Department placed under GMC “enhanced monitoring”
🚨 Some professional news 🚨
After six years as reporter, chief, then investigations
@EADT24
@ipswichstar24
I’m leaving to become a journalist & correspondent
@HSJnews
Sad to leave some brilliant colleagues, but I’m so excited to start in mid-October!
BREAKING:
@timkendall1
writes to MH trusts confirming
@NHSEngland
’s position that SIM (serenity integrated mentoring) or similar models must no longer be used in MH & trusts must eradicate key elements from services
Confirms
@HSJnews
Feb exclusive
“I just feel completely helpless. If this carries on, I could end up bankrupt, or even homeless."
Furious flat owners on flagship waterfront say they are facing a “shocking” half-yearly bill of more than £6.5k per apartment - me for
@ipswichstar24
NEW:
@HSJnews
exclusive from me - NHS England has ordered a blitz on physical health checks for people with severe mental illnesses and learning disabilities, in a bid to stop the mortality gap growing
Mark Docherty of
@OFFICIALWMAS
said patients were “dying every day” from avoidable causes created by ambulance delays and that he could not understand why
@NHSEngland
and the
@CareQualityComm
were “not all over” the issue
Absolutely thrilled (and shocked) to win this award! So many amazing regional journalists nominated
@EditorsUK
. Brilliant to win alongside my very talented colleague
@CEThomson
🥳
NEW: Overwhelmed autism diagnosis services are restricting who can be referred for assessments amid “unprecedented” demand
Some areas now only accepting referrals for patients in crisis situations
📣 1/ It’s my first week
@HSJnews
and I’m excited to say my new national brief is mental health and learning disabilities, taking over from the brilliant
@Rebeccasmt
- please get in touch with tips and info, my email is emily.townsend
@wilmingtonplc
.com and DMs are open 📨
BREAKING:
@mariacaulfield
announces a rapid review into patient safety in mental health inpatient settings in England
According to ministerial statement
As snow begins to transform
@ipswaterfront
into a winter wonderland once again, I thought I’d share some photographs of this beautiful part of the world through the seasons 📸
According to an internal document, seen by
@HSJnews
, autistic people without a learning disability are approximately 51% more likely to die in a single year vs the general population
After a fascinating two years covering the mental health patch
@HSJnews
I’m moving over to cover wider patient safety and quality from Monday.
Keen to speak with people in the know, DMs are open for tips and coffee invites ☕️
Or, email emily.townsend
@hsj
.co.uk in confidence
NEW: Cygnet Healthcare fined £1.53m - largest fine ever issued by a court after CQC prosecution of a mental health service - over death of young woman at Cygnet Hospital Ealing in 2019
📢 Some personal news 📢
Delighted to announce I’ll be joining
@Archant
’s investigations unit as a correspondent from April 6.
Send tips 🔎 to emily.townsend
@archant
.co.uk or my DMs are open 📥
I’ll be updating my portfolio with my latest work here ⬇️
BREAKING:
@SteveBarclay
announces a statutory public inquiry into deaths
@EPUTNHS
mental health trust
Comes after
@EssexMHInquiry
raised serious concerns over staff engaging with non-statutory probe
Families including
@MelanieLeahy
have been fighting for this for several years
NEW: Plight of St Francis Tower 'shrink-wrapped' residents raised by
@tomhunt1988
in
@HouseofCommons
- as
@ICladiators
say the only way 'terrible' situation can change is if rules & guidance change. Full story + video⬇️
Mental health shadow minister resigns, saying
@Keir_Starmer
"made it clear that [he] [does] not see a space for a mental health portfolio in a Labour cabinet"...
It's been an honour to serve as the Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health. I'll continue to fight for a Labour Goverment, to change this country for the better.
NEW: ‘Staggering’ rise in restraint of black people in mental healthcare
The rate of people from black backgrounds being restrained in mental healthcare has more than doubled in the past 6 years, widening gap with other racial groups, acc to NHS data
NEW: The author of a parliamentary report into “failing” eating disorder services in 2017 says the number of concerning deaths still being reported five years on is “very distressing”
NEW: We reveal today that a fire expert warned of cladding dangers at Suffolk's tallest building three years before Grenfell - residents and flat owners say the problems were 'kept quiet'
@ukcag
@EOCS_Official
Right care, right person launches in London today
Means police will limit calls they respond to (see pic)
NHS says 8 in 10 people sectioned would benefit more from community support than hospital admission
Key test will be if community services (where available) have capacity
Trusted journalism is so important - particularly right now when scrutiny is even more vital. I love my job because through it I’m lucky enough to give people in my community a voice and push for change. Don’t let it disappear
#buyapaper
#LocalNewsMatters
We've learned of serious concerns within
@NHSEngland
about neglect of the community & mental health backlogs, while the discrepancy with acute initiatives has been branded "immoral" by a trust CEO
While this is obviously welcome news - and looking at slightly different things - but given how quickly this has been upgraded, why did it take govt so long to grant the Essex families a statutory inquiry into their loved ones’ mental health deaths?
BREAKING:
Public inquiry into the NHS handling of Lucy Letby case upgraded to full statutory inquiry.
This will compel witnesses to give evidence under oath
"I feel like a convict living in a prison cell with bars on my windows with no fresh air and no view, paying for the privilege.”
Meet the
#Ipswich
tower block families now living behind metal bars, weeks after their building was wrapped in plastic
Excl: Leaked data reveals ‘distressing’ scale of mental health A&E delays
— 20pc of MH cases in A&E spending 12+ hrs in dpt – at least 2x rate of physical illness
— Acute hospitals buying private beds to cope
— Patient stuck in struggling dept for 3+ weeks
More than 100k people were waiting for an autism assessment in England in March 2022 – a rise of almost 40 per cent in a year.
@HSJnews
understands that, in recent months, growing numbers of people on the waiting list are only being diagnosed with autism when they are sectioned
Tim Nicholls of
@Autism
said interpreting and letting doctors know symptoms can be difficult for autistic people, there may be sensory difficulties at GPs + people may also be tired of engaging with a health system that doesn't understand them
1/
@amandapritchard
@hcwomenleaders
#InternationalWomensDay2022
: "There is no corner of our NHS where sexual harassment, assault, physical violence, abuse or bullying can be justified."
"It should never be laughed off, explained away or brushed under the carpet. It is never OK.”
Good to see national
@BBCNews
@SarahCorkerNews
covering the Ipswich cladding crisis - ICYMI, see our piece from last month on the families living in dangerous flats worth £0
The huge ongoing problems revealed in community health services are reflected in many mental health, learning disabilities and autism services too – these are also normally based in the community & often not counted in the consultant-led “referral to treatment” waiting list
NEW:
@babylonhealth
partnerships w/
@uhbtrust
&
@rwt_nhs
are ending,
@HSJnews
has learned. Royal Wolverhampton, which agreed a 10-year deal in 2020, confirmed "all elements of its partnership are ceasing". Babylon says it's "no longer economically viable"
CEOs of
@EquallyWellUK
@CentreforMH
&
@Rethink_
write open letter to
@SteveBarclay
as people with severe mental illness & their carers excluded from autumn flu vaccination programme
This is despite group having higher risk of dying/being hospitalised due to infectious disease👇
NEW: 1/
@WestSuffolkNHS
has apologised to a patient in mental health crisis who reported being sexually assaulted by a fellow male patient in the hospital's A&E - after they wrote in official notes that the attack 'didn't happen'
NEW: NHS England 'mindful of risks' of new policy of police responding to far fewer mental health incidents to both patients and a service ‘already under enormous pressure’
National chief warns 'no unilateral withdrawal can possibly be safe'
Community treatment orders - which are used disproportionately against black and ethnic minority patients (11x for black backgrounds) - should be abolished, the committee says, except those involved in criminal proceedings/under sentence, where continued use should be reviewed
NEW: 1/ In
@UKHouseofLords
this pm - former NHS England chief executive Lord Stevens of Birmingham proposing three amendments to Health and Care Bill on mental health investment (see our
@HSJnews
exclusive from Friday: )
They thanked the work of campaign group StopSIM which
@timkendall1
says has taught the NHS “valuable lessons” about importance of engagement with people with lived experience in design, delivery and evaluation of service models
The bill for cladding repairs on St Francis Tower seems to be going up - I spoke to
@StFrancisTower1
who is marching
@ukcag
on Westminster next week to ‘end the cladding scandal’ - about his concerns
Excl: CEO compares lack of investment into mental health estate to “institutionalised discrimination”, after no new schemes were accepted onto the ‘new hospitals’ prog
@HSJnews
can reveal nearly 50 MH bids were submitted but none made it
With
@zoetidman
NEW: First of '40 new hospitals', Midland Metropolitan University Hospital
@MidlandMetUH
, has opening delayed to spring 2024. Planning for it started more than a decade ago. More
@HSJnews
shortly
It’s now been almost a month since we first uncovered conditions at St Francis Tower - companies involved inc
@managetheblock
still won’t respond despite mounting concerns about people’s safety/wellbeing. Who is behind them? Me via
@ipswichstar24
@EADT24
Three elements which must be eradicated from mental health services include police involvement in delivery of therapy (which NHSE says is not the same as saying all joint work with the police must stop)
Integrated care boards and local councils should have strengthened duties to ensure there is adequate supply of community services for people with a learning disability or autistic people, to avoid long-term, inappropriate detention in hospitals
NEW: Huntercombe Hospital in Stafford downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’ by
@CQCpressoffice
- inspectors found lack of kindness, compassion and respect for children
“You can’t tell what the weather is like outside, it feels suffocating and oppressive. It’s like living in a prison cell."
The tower block families living behind 'suffocating' plastic wrap while cladding is replaced - me via
@ipswichstar24
@EADT24
@ukcag
Further NHSE data identifies disproportionate use of antipsychotics (6x more prescribed for autistic people) and fewer breast screenings (-14pc for autistic people vs non-autistic) -
@tim_nicholls
says "utterly wrong in this day and age autistic people experience such inequality"
Birmingham and Solihull integrated care board confirms David Rosser, former
@uhbtrust
CEO who was criticised in
#Bewick
report published earlier, has "taken decision to retire" & no longer continuing his role as 'regional director for digital health and care'
NHS boss keeping ICB job despite several complaints upheld against her in a previous role
Danielle Oum quit as
@bsmhft
chair last Oct
Independent Sep 22 review leaked to
@HSJnews
found she did not always act with “honesty, truthfulness and clarity”
NHSE ex-national clinical director said the lives of people in this group were "not valued in the same way" and were overlooked in terms of risk during ministerial decisions during covid. Vaxx guidance didn't include everyone on LD register as clinically vulnerable until Feb 21