Sunday, 25 November 2012

wrong patient

Cambridge Hospitals NHS Trust 'operated on wrong patient'

A health watchdog is taking action against a Cambridgeshire hospital trust which performed eye surgery on the wrong person.

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust performed four botched operations, including leaving instruments inside two people.

Surgeons also operated on the wrong part of the body of a patient, Monitor said.

The trust said it was "determined to improve".

It has been ordered to look at the effectiveness of its services and improve the quality and organisation of healthcare for its patients.

The trust also has to report to Monitor every month.

The regulator said that since September 2011, eight "never events" - instances which are never supposed to happen - had happened at the trust, including four between September and October last year.

Wrong lens

Monitor said that the "wrong person surgery" related to a patient who had the wrong surgical lens fitted.

Several patients were attending the hospital for similar operations at the same time, a trust spokeswoman said.

The wrong lens was fitted to the wrong patient and then quickly removed.

The patient did not suffer any ill effects, the spokeswoman said.

“Start Quote

This is not the first time we have called the trust in to explain itself”

Stephen HayMonitor

Monitor said it was also stepping in because the trust had failed to give cancer patients treatment in the recommended time and had not treated emergency patients within four hours.

It said the trust was in "significant breach" of the terms of its authorisation and was concerned that the hospital board had not dealt adequately with the range of issues the trust had faced over the years.

Monitor's chief operating officer, Stephen Hay, said: "This is not the first time we have called the trust in to explain itself.

"We are disappointed that the board has not resolved these issues."

Jane Ramsey, who became chair of the trust at the beginning of the month, said: "We are determined to reverse the situation as soon as possible.

"We will be focusing on turning this trust around.

"Our priority remains the care of our patients - they are at the heart of everything we do."

The trust, which runs Addenbrooke's and the Rosie hospital in Cambridge, has been ordered to commission a "governance and effectiveness review".

A board-level "experienced turnaround expert" should also be appointed, Monitor recommended.

Monitor is an independent regulator of NHS hospital trusts, ensuring they have good leadership and are financially robust.

Friday, 23 November 2012

kicked 99-year-old patient

Hemel Hempstead nurse kicked 99-year-old patient

A Hertfordshire nurse who called a 99-year-old patient "evil", kicked him and told him she would spit in his face has been suspended.

Christina Gavigan, a sister, tried to drag another patient along the floor by her feet at Hemel Hempstead Hospital.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) found 21 of 25 accusations proved and suspended Ms Gavigan for 12 months.

She did not attend and was not represented at the four-day Conduct and Competence Committee hearing in London.

It heard "serious concerns" were raised during one Saturday shift at the accident and emergency department in October 2008.

Ms Gavigan, a nurse for 28 years, was the leader of the shift when a "very challenging, aggressive, uncooperative and confused" man was in the unit.

The NMC heard the man was calling out "help me" but Ms Gavigan said "just leave him" and later got up close to him and called him "evil" and a "horrible man".

'Waste of space'

He was overheard to say he would spit in her face, to which she replied she would "spit in your face".

Ms Gavigan was also seen to kick him and then say "oops, I just kicked you" and told him, when he asked for a cup of tea, that he did not deserve one.

The committee found she also called a "distressed" patient a "waste of space", shouted at her and told her to shut up.

The woman had been placed on a mattress on the floor to reduce the risk of a fall, but had tried to crawl out of the cubicle.

The NMC found it proved Ms Gavigan pushed the patient along the ground with her foot, nudged her head with her foot and tried to drag her back into the cubicle by her feet.

She also slammed a door when the woman was about one metre away and was crawling along the floor.

Another sister who queried why Ms Gavigan was shouting at the patient was then verbally abused, the committee found.

She also spoke loudly to a third patient's son about his mother's condition when the patient had not been told of the situation.

The NMC concluded a suspension for 12 months, the maximum period available, sent out a clear message that Ms Gavigan's conduct was unacceptable.

Second coronavirus death reported

Friday, 23 November 2012

coronavirus

Second coronavirus death reported

The source of the virus is uncertain

A second person has died from a new respiratory illness similar to the Sars virus, according to the World Health Organization.

The WHO said three fresh cases had also been reported bringing the total to six.

All are linked to either Saudi Arabia or Qatar. However, one man has been transferred to the UK for treatment.

Doctors say the virus does not appear to readily spread from person to person.

Both reported deaths were in Saudi Arabia.

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses ranging from the common cold to the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus. They infect a wide range of animals.

In 2002 an outbreak of the Sars coronavirus killed about 800 people after it spread from Hong Kong to more than 30 countries around the world.

The WHO is still trying to work our where the infection came from. Studies show that the virus it is closely related to one found in some species of bats.

It said in a statement: "Until more information is available, it is prudent to consider that the virus is likely more widely distributed than just the two countries which have identified cases."

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Scientists have reversed paralysis

Jasper the dachshund walking again

Scientists have reversed paralysis in dogs after injecting them with cells grown from the lining of their nose.

The pets had all suffered spinal injuries which prevented them from using their back legs.

The Cambridge University team is cautiously optimistic the technique could eventually have a role in the treatment of human patients.

The study is the first to test the transplant in "real-life" injuries rather than laboratory animals.

Olfactory ensheathing cells

The only part of the body where nerve fibres continue to grow in adults is the olfactory system.

Found in the at the back of the nasal cavity, olfactory ensheathing cells (OEC) surround the receptor neurons that both enable us to smell and convey these signals to the brain.

The nerve cells need constant replacement which is promoted by the OECs.

For decades scientists have thought OECs might be useful in spinal cord repair. Initial trials using OECs in humans have suggested the procedure is safe.

In the study, funded by the Medical Research Council and published in the neurology journal Brain, the dogs had olfactory ensheathing cells from the lining of their nose removed.

These were grown and expanded for several weeks in the laboratory.

Treadmill

Of 34 pet dogs on the proof of concept trial, 23 had the cells transplanted into the injury site - the rest were injected with a neutral fluid.

Many of the dogs that received the transplant showed considerable improvement and were able to walk on a treadmill with the support of a harness.

None of the control group regained use of its back legs.

The research was a collaboration between the MRC's Regenerative Medicine Centre and Cambridge University's Veterinary School.

Professor Robin Franklin, a regeneration biologist at the Wellcome Trust-MRC Stem Cell Institute and report co-author, said: 'Our findings are extremely exciting because they show for the first time that transplanting these types of cell into a severely damaged spinal cord can bring about significant improvement.

"We're confident that the technique might be able to restore at least a small amount of movement in human patients with spinal cord injuries but that's a long way from saying they might be able to regain all lost function. '

Prof Franklin said the procedure might be used alongside drug treatments to promote nerve fibre regeneration and bioengineering to substitute damaged neural networks.

Partial repair

The researchers say the transplanted cells regenerated nerve fibres across the damaged region of the spinal cord. This enabled the dogs to regain the use of their back legs and coordinate movement with their front limbs.

The new nerve connections did not occur over the long distances required to connect the brain to the spinal cord. The MRC scientists say in humans this would be vital for spinal injury patients who had lost sexual function and bowel and bladder control.

Prof Geoffrey Raisman, chair of Neural Regeneration at University College London, who discovered olfactory ensheathing cells in 1985 said: "This is not a cure for spinal cord injury in humans - that could still be a long way off. But this is the most encouraging advance for some years and is a significant step on the road towards it."

He said the clinical benefits were still limited: "This procedure has enabled an injured dog to step with its hind legs, but the much harder range of higher functions lost in spinal cord injury - hand function, bladder function, temperature regulation, for example - are yet more complicated and still a long way away."

Jasper, a 10-year-old dachshund, is one of the dogs which took part in the trial.

His owner May Hay told me: "Before the treatment we used to have to wheel Jasper round on a trolley because his back legs were useless. Now he whizzes around the house and garden and is able to keep up with the other dogs. It's wonderful."

Jasper can be seen in the video at the top of the page before and after his treatment.

Diabetes: 1-in-3 inpatients suffer NHS error, report to claim

The care of David Joseph was criticised by the ombudsman

Almost one-in-three diabetic inpatients in Wales has experienced at least one NHS medication error, a new report by Diabetes UK Cymru is to reveal.

The charity is concerned because the number of people with diabetes in Wales rose more than a quarter in five years.

Meanwhile figures obtained by BBC Wales show only one of the seven Welsh health boards has taken on more specialist diabetic nurses in the last four years.

One board has cut staffing while the other five have kept the same total.

The Diabetes UK Cymru report to be published on Wednesday reveals diabetes is growing rapidly with an increase of 35,000 people with the condition in Wales over the past five years to 160,000 - a rise of 28%.

By 2025, the number of people with diabetes is forecast to top 250,000 with 66,000 people currently undiagnosed.

Despite the concern, the charity says 70% of adults with type 1 diabetes and 43% with type 2 are not getting simple checks, such as blood glucose tests.

Diabetes UK Cymru director Dai Williams told the BBC Wales Week In Week Out programme: "The cost of diabetes is massive - the bottom line is - it's a ticking time bomb.

"We've got people wandering around with high blood sugars, not even realising it's going to cause a problem."

The report, called State of the Nation 2012, will also claim that 29.8% of inpatients with diabetes experienced at least one medication error while on a ward.

The programme features the family of David Joseph, from Aberaeron, Ceredigion, whose care before his death in 2009 was criticised in April this year by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Peter Tyndall.

Madie Joseph said she 'foolishly' thought her husband would be safe in hospital

Mr Tyndall raised concerns over clinical record keeping by the Hywel Dda health board and made recommendations.

Mr Joseph's widow, Madie, a former nurse, tells the programme: "We thought, foolishly, that patients with diabetes in hospital would be safe and clearly he was not.

"I still don't understand how they [nurses] could have been so mistaken - so ignorant - and it mustn't happen again to another patient."

The family received an apology following the release of the ombudsman's report.

Week In Week Out has also learned about three more complaints about the treatment of diabetic inpatients at Hywel Dda health board hospitals.

Councillor Elizabeth Evans, a senior case worker for Mark Williams MP, tells the programme the complaints received over the past 18 months include concerns over fluid intake and patients not eating properly.

She says: "Every single case would go into hospital for a very different reason. So it was issues about fluid intake, about food, not eating, and obviously any diabetic specialist will tell you that a diabetic needs to eat."

In a statement Hywel Dda health board said it takes any allegation of a breach of professional standards seriously and an investigation was ongoing.

Hywel Dda was the only health board in Wales which has increased the number of specialist diabetes nurses, from seven in 2008/9 to the equivalent of 12.34 full-time staff in 2012/13.

Cwm Taf in the south Wales valleys was the only board to cut staffing, from the equivalent of 14.89 full-time nurses in 2008/9 to 12 in 2012/13.

Cwm Taf Health Board is pioneering a new scheme to cut diabetes-related medication errors in their hospitals.

It is a highly visible branding campaign called Think Glucose and involves raising awareness of diabetes with all staff throughout every ward.

Hypo Boxes on every medication trolley means treatment can be given to patients suffering a hypoglycemic attack quickly; pre-printed medication charts cut the risk of mis-reading doseage; and colour-coded blood sugar monitoring charts mean that dangerously low blood sugar levels go into a red zone - alerting staff of the need to treat the patient quickly.

The campaign has seen medication errors at one hospital, the Royal Glamorgan, decrease from 50% to 6%.

At the moment, Cwm Taf is the only health board running Think Glucose, but other health boards are showing interest - and Hywel Dda says it will be rolling out the programme in the New Year.

Week In Week Out is on BBC One Wales on Tuesday 20 November at 22:35 GMT.

Great apes may have 'mid-life crisis', a study suggests

By Jeremy ColesReporter, BBC Nature

Do chimpanzees experience a midlife low in happiness?

Chimpanzees and orangutans may experience a "mid-life crisis" like humans, a study suggests.

An international team of researchers assessed the well-being and happiness of the great apes.

They found well-being was high in youth, fell to a low in midlife and rose again in old age, similar to the "U-shape curve" of happiness in humans.

The study brought together experts such as psychologists, primatologists and economists.

Results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"What we are testing is whether the U-shaped curve can describe the association between age and well-being in non-human primates as it does in humans," psychologist and lead author Dr Alexander Weiss of the University of Edinburgh told BBC Nature.

Dr Weiss hoped the results would show a similar curve because of the close relationship between humans, chimpanzees and orangutans.

Close relatives

The study showed that male and female humans, chimpanzees and orangutans have the same U-shaped curve despite differences in social roles, and the phenomenon is therefore not uniquely human.

Testing times

The sample subjects included 508 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and orangutans (Pongo sp.) of varying ages, from zoos, sanctuaries and research centres.

They were assessed by zoo keepers, volunteers, researchers and caretakers who had worked with the primate subject for at least two years and knew its behaviour.

The animals were numerically scored for well-being and happiness on a short questionnaire, which was based on a human well-being model but modified for use in non-human primates.

Dr Weiss said that the similarities between humans, chimps and orangutans go beyond genetics and physiology.

“Start Quote

It was quite mind-blowing... to find it in apes”

Prof Andrew OswaldEconomist

For example, chimpanzees face similar social pressures and stress factors to humans.

"You don't have the chimpanzee hitting mid-life and suddenly they want a bright red sports car," explained Dr Weiss.

"But there may be other things that they want like mating with more females or gaining access to more resources."

Co-author Andrew Oswald, professor of economics at the University of Warwick, has researched human happiness for 20 years.

"One of the reasons we decided to look at ape data was that when you study humans, that U-shape is exactly the same when you adjust statistically for things like education, income and marriage.

For Prof Oswald it was "quite mind-blowing... to find it in apes".

The study showed that orangutans may experience a midlife dip in well-being and happiness

He concluded that "the mid-life crisis is real and it exists in... our closest biological relatives, suggesting that it is probably explained by biology and physiology".

The bigger picture

Psychologist Dr Weiss said that this research opens a lot of doors.

He explained that for a long time this kind of mid-life crisis was considered something specific to human society and human lives.

"And what [this study] says is that it may be a part of the picture, but it's clearly not all of the picture.

"We have to look deeper into our evolutionary past and that of the common ancestors that we share with chimpanzees, orangutans and other apes."

Join BBC Nature on Facebook and Twitter @BBCNature.

Sunday, 18 November 2012

Fears over health and loneliness of elderly this winter

Pensioners could suffer alone this winter

People are being asked to call in on their elderly neighbours this winter amid fears pensioners will suffer worse than ever.

Age UK estimates that as many as 25,000 older people could die needlessly because of the cold.

It says the drop in temperature could see an increase in health problems for older people and risk leaving them isolated in their own homes.

The charity surveyed more than 1,000 adults aged over 65 across the UK.

The responses suggest that 3.5 million people in this age group in the UK are not getting any help or support from their neighbours.

Some 7% of them do not know their neighbours at all, the survey found.

Age UK's research also found that 35% were concerned about keeping warm at home during the winter.

Health risks

The over-65s contacted were concerned about not getting out during the shorter days and worried about falling over on slippery pavements and injuring themselves.

“Start Quote

The winter can cause misery, avoidable illness and even death for too many older people”

Michelle MitchellAge UK

More than 21% said they were worried about being stranded at home.

Previous research shows that cold weather can increase the risk of health problems in older people, including heart attacks and strokes, respiratory problems, pneumonia and depression.

Feeling isolated and lonely is also known to have an impact on physical and mental health.

Michelle Mitchell, charity director general of Age UK, said winter was a difficult time.

"The winter can cause misery, avoidable illness and even death for too many older people.

"We're hoping to inspire everyone to act now to do their bit to lessen the impact of winter for older people this year.

"There is something simple that everyone can do from popping in to check on an older neighbour to making time for older relatives."

mengele plus

Sunday, 25 November 2012

wrong patient

Cambridge Hospitals NHS Trust 'operated on wrong patient'

“Start Quote

Friday, 23 November 2012

kicked 99-year-old patient

Hemel Hempstead nurse kicked 99-year-old patient

Second coronavirus death reported

Friday, 23 November 2012

coronavirus

Second coronavirus death reported

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Scientists have reversed paralysis

Olfactory ensheathing cells

Diabetes: 1-in-3 inpatients suffer NHS error, report to claim

Diabetes: 1-in-3 inpatients suffer NHS error, report to claim

Great apes may have 'mid-life crisis', a study suggests

Great apes may have 'mid-life crisis', a study suggests

Close relatives

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Sunday, 18 November 2012

Fears over health and loneliness of elderly this winter

Fears over health and loneliness of elderly this winter

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More patients in Scotland given antidepressants

Sunday, 25 November 2012

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