News Archive

January 2021

Regulators on Maternity Safety 

On Tuesday 19^th January the Health Select Committee heard from both the Andrea Sutcliffe , CEO of the Nursing and Midwifery Council and Charlie Massey CEO of the General Medical Council  both about their efforts to reduce the fear of speaking out felt by many doctors, nurses and midwives and the importance of eliminating a blame culture. Andrea  Sutcliffe  spoke about the adversarial nature of our current system and Charlie Massey  on the lessons learned from the Bawa-Garba case. Andrea spoke about the  Future Midwife Standards and the way forward for the Midwifery profession.

January 2021

The High Court  permits an appeal by the UK  gender identity service

NHS trust has been allowed to appeal against a high court decision that barred it from referring under-16s for puberty-blocking treatment. 

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January 2021

Covid-related deaths in care homes in England jump by 46%

Deaths in care homes in England have hit the highest level since mid-May, according to the latest official figures, which revealed a 46% jump in coronavirus-related deaths in the last week as the more transmissible variant of Covid-19 causes very concerning issues in care homes. 

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January 2021

NHS CEO Sir Simon Stevens pays tribute to staff

Chief executive of NHS England marked the anniversary of the first confirmed coronavirus patients being treated by paying tribute to his staff’s “extraordinary work in a year like no other”. Sir Simon Stevens said: “The pandemic is the greatest public health emergency in NHS history, but in the past 12 months the NHS has achieved things many would have thought impossible.”

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January 2021

Bullying on NHS maternity units and poor training a risk to safety, Select Committee told by regulators

Doctors and midwives working in maternity services face worse levels of bullying than any other part of the NHS, MPs on the Select Committee have been told. 

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January 2021

‘I have never seen so many nurses cry during shifts’ – the mental health of NHS workers is  a significant concern

NHS staff are physically and emotionally exhausted. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed a system affected by staff shortages and inadequate funding – a system that has  relied on goodwill for many years. 

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January 2021

Pregnant women going for scans alone in Covid 19 pandemic are told they cannot film baby 

Pregnant women attending scans and appointments alone are being told they cannot record or take photographs of their unborn child to show their partner, according to a survey. 

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January 2021

Maternity staff face burnout amid staff  shortages

Maternity staff are facing extreme burnout during the pandemic as staff shortages and longer, shift patterns lead to the workforce becoming increasingly overwhelmed. The warnings come as a report by Make Birth Better, shared exclusively with the Independent, found many healthcare staff report having received no emotional support at all. 

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January 2021

NHS will take ‘months’ to return to normal after Covid-19 pandemic ends, Hopson says

NHS is likely to take ‘months’ to return to normal service provision after the Covid 19  pandemic. Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, warned that the NHS workforce is “exhausted and traumatised”. Politicians and  patients should neither expect nor pressurise the NHS to immediately resume speedy diagnostic and treatment services because that is “not possible”, Hopson says.

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January 2021

Most new and expectant mothers feel more anxious due to Covid 

Recent research by leading maternity charity Tommy’s found a high level of anxiety in new and expectant mothers due to the Covid 19 pandemic

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January 2021

Test and trace needs radical overhaul to prevent further Covid-19 surges in England – experts
The Guardian reports  that England’s test-and trace system will fail to prevent further surges of Covid-19 without significant  improvement. In the article concerns  are raised about the use of inexperienced call-centre workers to carry out the role of clinically trained staff. The Government’s £22 billion programme is  said to be under  significant strain as it attempts to contact nearly triple the number of infected people and more than double the number of close contacts compared with last  month.

The Guardian report.

January 2021

Covid-19 vaccine to be offered to every adult by autumn, says Secretary of State
Sky News Online reports that the Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, said every adult will have been offered the Covid-19 vaccine by autumn 2020. The announcement comes as Matt Hancock told Sky News more than 200,000 people are currently getting a Covid-19 vaccination every day and the government is on course to reach its target of two million vaccinations a week. Separately, BBC Online reports how Matt Hancock confirmed regular rapid testing for people without Covid-19 symptoms will be made available across England this week. The community testing regime – which will be expanded to cover all 317 local authorities – uses rapid lateral flow tests, which can return results in 30 minutes. There has been some concern about the accuracy of lateral flow testing. 

Sky News Online report.
BBC Online report.