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Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a painful form of inflammatory arthritis. It includes non-radiographic AS which is where X-ray changes are not present but inflammation is visible on an MRI in the sacroiliac joints or spine. Radiographic AS is where changes...
There are a lot of worrying cases of Strep A which is causing alarm across the country and parents and carers need to be vigilant. There has also been a request for GPs to exercise a low tolerance when a child presents with symptoms to prescribe...
Pyoderma gangrenosum is a rare skin condition that causes painful ulcers and can be difficult to treat. It is not infectious or contagious so you cannot catch it from another person. The cause of pyoderma gangrenosum is often unknown but it can be related...
A report commissioned by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has identified a “significant risk to women receiving timely and appropriate care and treatment, exposing them to the risk of harm” at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust...
The Ockenden Inquiry into maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust reviewed almost 1,600 maternity incidents over a 20-year period and found that a staggering 201 babies could have survived had the Trust provided appropriate...
Prior to the pandemic, NHS England agreed that GPs would need to offer appointments between 9-5 on Saturdays and weekday evening appointments between 6.30pm to 9pm to make it easier for patients to get appointments. There has been much criticism of the...
One in two people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetime and prostate cancer is one of the four most common types of cancer in the UK. Prostate cancer affects the prostate which is a small gland located in the pelvis which...
On 21 st September every year, people come together from all around the world to recognise and raise awareness of Alzheimer’s Disease. With over 50 million people living with dementia worldwide, global research is vital to share learning and...
What is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)? RSV is a common respiratory virus which usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. However, the virus can be very serious for infants and older adults. Public Health England have said that...
The British Dentistry Association have reported that there is more than 10 million backlog of dentist appointments due to many dental practices closing during the pandemic. Although most practices have now reopened, they are working at a much reduced...
What is a stroke? A stroke is when the blood supply to the brain is cut off. It is a medical emergency and can be life threatening so urgent treatment is essential. It can affect both adults and children. There are 2 main causes of strokes:...
NHS England has announced an extra £95m in funding for maternity care. This is a well needed boost to this area of medicine which can demonstrate the extreme highs and darkest lows in life. The additional funds will facilitate the recruitment...
In the UK somebody has a stroke every five minutes meaning that there are 100,000 strokes every year. What is a stroke? A stroke is when brain cells die because the blood supply to the brain is cut off. They cause more...
Brain injuries can occur at any stage of life and can have a long-lasting and life altering effect on those who suffer from them and their families. Read our top ten tips for those who have or those who care for someone with an acquired brain...
When a patient is referred by a GP to a hospital with a suspicion of cancer, it is an incredibly worrying time and early diagnosis and treatment is key. NHS England have set a target that 85% of patients should start treatment within 62 days of the...
Although you have been able to access your own medical records for some time now, did you know that you no longer need to pay for the request? Since the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulations in 2018, a patient’s request to...
The Royal College of Radiologists has warned that doctors should prepare for delays in obtaining some drugs in the days following Britain’s exit from the EU. Guidance has been released for radiologists advising them to keep their “workload...
Are we becoming over reliant on IT systems and simply ignoring human observations? On Wednesday, it was revealed that up to 270 women in England may have died because they did not receive invitations to a final routine breast cancer screening, due to an...
The Department of Health propose to introduce fixed recoverable costs in clinical negligence cases and place a restriction on the medical expert fees which are vital in investigating these cases. The current proposals set to introduce this regime for...
The government have introduced a proposal to fix legal recoverable costs in clinical negligence cases, and the consultation is due to expire on the 2nd of May. The current cost regime that we have is that the opponent, the losing party, pays the...
Compensation in clinical negligence claims can often be received by way of a lump sum intended to cover the remaining period of the claimant’s life. The money is intended to put the claimant back into the same position they would have been in,...
Cosmetic surgery firms are “behaving like double glazing salesmen”, according to an MP, who has told parliament that more needs to be done to protect the public from poor industry standards. Kevan Jones, Member of Parliament for North Durham...
At Stephensons we specialise in helping families and individuals affected by cerebral palsy to claim the compensation they deserve - families like Declan’s. In the video below, Declan’s mum and dad, Julie and Ian, describe the anguish they...
An independent review is expected to conclude that the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) should be phased out in England. The LCP was developed at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital alongside the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute. The aim of the LCP was...
An independent report recently claimed that the Care Quality Commission failed to properly investigate maternal and infant deaths at Furness General Hospital. The CQC were called to investigate the Maternity Unit at Furness General Hospital due to...
A groundbreaking study has developed a ‘no frills’ IVF kit which will cut the price of IVF from thousands of pounds to just £170. The new kit could be made available to the thousands of infertile British couples who are denied treatment on...
The chief executive of Tameside Hospital in Greater Manchester, Christine Green, has stepped down. Her resignation follows a loss of faith in her ability to improve the hospital's record of poor patient care by MPs, doctors and NHS regulators. Tariq...
The 5th July 2013 marked the NHS’ 65th Birthday. It is the world’s largest publicly funded health service and has helped save millions of lives. The NHS was implemented by the Labour government in 1948 and promised to provide care, which would...
On a rainy day in December 2010, Frank Kelly, 79, was found by his son, stood in the middle of the car park outside Worcestershire Royal Hospital wearing just his sodden pyjamas after nurses claimed they had simply ‘lost him.’ Sadly, Mr Kelly...
Currently three people in the UK die every day as a result of a shortage of donor organs. Wales have decided to attempt to improve these statistics by becoming the first UK nation to give the green light to an opt-out system where consent will be presumed. ...
New Government plans recently unveiled could see hospital and care home managers face criminal prosecution if they fail to meet national care standards. Bosses will not be looking at the prospect of going to prison but they could face unlimited fines....
The BBC has recently reported on the story of two “never events” occurring at the same hospital in Devon in June 2013. According to the Department of Health, a “never event” is an incident that is so serious and preventable that they...
A couple from Cambridgeshire have received an undisclosed amount of compensation after severe abnormalities were caused to their unborn daughter when her mother was prescribed an acne drug during pregnancy. Sarah Sharma was given isotretinoin, an acne...
A heavily pregnant woman with appendicitis died on the operating table after two unsupervised junior surgeons had removed one of her ovaries by mistake. Maria De Jesus, 32, was admitted for surgery at Queen's Hospital in Romford, Essex to have her...
The pressures on Accident and Emergency Departments have been in the spotlight this week among revelations from the president of the College of Emergency Medicine that overcrowding could lead to more deaths and serious illness. It has been reported that...
Over 250 women are being called back to The Royal Bournemouth Hospital in Dorset for cancer checks after concerns that a junior doctor failed to follow correct procedures. Earlier this month the hospital sent letters to 272 patients who had undergone breast...
The BBC and Daily Mail have recently reported on the sad case of baby Jessica Strong, who died at 11 days old after contracting an infection at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. Jessica, who had been born...
The Telegraph has reported 14 NHS Trusts are under investigation due to mortality rates. It was found that nine of the Trusts which were investigated have been labelled as ‘outliers’ on the Hospital...
The Manchester Evening News has reported the tragic story of a baby who died at St. Mary’s Hospital in Manchester. Baby Maninder Singh was starved of oxygen at birth after midwives failed to notice that he had...
The Daily Mail has recently reported that father-of-three Mr Edward McKean, 52, died in hospital after a junior doctor left life-saving drugs off his medication chart. In April 2012, Mr McKean underwent surgery to...
The Telegraph has recently reported that gagging orders (also known as ‘compromise agreements’) which prevent NHS whistleblowers raising concerns about patient safety are to be banned. NHS staff leaving...
The health and social care system is struggling to deal with patients with dementia according to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which has just published its Care Update (Issue 2: March 2013). According to the...
Some deaths at Royal Bolton Hospital may have been wrongly attributed to septicaemia, a report has found. It was revealed by the Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group that in March 2011 to April 2012 there were 800...
The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is expected to tell the Commons today of the “shocking underperformance” of the NHS, leading to an estimated 30,000 premature deaths each year in the UK. His comments are...
The Department of Health has recently surveyed 101,000 doctors, nurses and paramedics of which, 37% of them revealed they would not recommend their own hospital to friends or family. The study found that there were only...
In 2010 it was recognised by the Government that the NHS needed modernising to meet the new challenges of today and to avoid the crises of tomorrow. In 2012 the Health and Social Care Act received its Royal Assent and...
The result of the public inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which is the Trust responsible for Stafford Hospital, was published on 6th February 2013. In his report, Mr Francis QC outlines some 290 recommendations as a result of his...
The Nursing Times has reported that more than a half of nurses believe their ward or unit is dangerously understaffed. Last week, the Nursing Times conducted an online poll of nearly 600 of its readers on issues...
Almost 1 in 10 patients visiting A&E at Stepping Hill Hospital have to wait for longer than the 4 hour target set by the Government to be seen. The health regulator, Monitor, has instructed hospital bosses to...
The Daily Mail has recently reported on the tragic case of a mother of three who died following a puncture to the stomach during a gastric band operation. Tracey Korkmaz, 41, underwent a gastric sleeve operation in...
The second annual State of Maternity Services Report by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has revealed that in 2011 there were 688,120 babies born in England, up more than 124,000 since 2001. The continuing baby boom...
Having cosmetic surgery is potentially a life changing decision. It can have a positive or a negative impact. You only need to look at the recent media coverage regarding PIP implants to see how cosmetic surgery can go wrong. ...
Lord Saatchi began work towards the Medical Innovations Bill towards the end of 2011. The first reading of the Bill before Parliament was on 3rd December 2012.Lord Lord Saatchi began work towards the Medical Innovations Bill towards the end...
The Telegraph has recently reported that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are demanding ‘immediate improvements’ to Basildon Hospital’s paediatric unit after a number of ‘serious incidents’ there. ...
The Daily Mail has recently reported on the Official Statistics revealed by the NHS that at least 1.8 million sensitive papers went missing throughout the health service in just 12 months. This equates to 5,000 confidential records being lost...
The Telegraph has recently reported that in 2011/12 there were 161 incidents of foreign objects left inside patients, including swabs, needles, screws, instruments and wires. These incidents are described by the NHS as...
BBC News Health website has stated women who are invited to have breast cancer screening in the UK are to be given more information about the potential harms of being tested. An independent review has been set up to...
The Daily Mail has recently reported that Joseph O’Reggio who is now 11 years old, has been awarded £6 million in compensation for his injuries caused by complications at his birth. Joseph was born at New...
Studies have shown that the chance of dying in hospital is between 10 and 14 per cent higher if admitted as an emergency at the weekend, rather than during the week. Why is this? According to a...
Up to half a million people have to share one out-of-hours GP in parts of England, reports the Telegraph. A third of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) have reduced their spending on out-of-hours services, which is a notable increase in numbers, compared to the...
The Daily mail has recently reported that a businessman from Weston-super-Mare had to have part of his right leg amputated after being told a serious diabetic infection was merely ‘athlete’s foot’. Bob...
The Telegraph has recently reported that hospitals are failing to admit to their mistakes that result in serious harm to patients because they fear being sued. The researchers were investigating how closely the NHS...
The BBC has recently reported that two-year-old Georgia Keeling, who had meningitis, was wrongly diagnosed with swine flu by paramedics hours before her death on 4 August 2009. An inquest into her death held at Norwich...
A Ministry of Justice report has revealed that coroners have issued a record number of recommendations to hospitals, in order to prevent future patient deaths. The Ministry of Justice published a report last...
The Ministry of Justice has announced they will not proceed with implementation of the proposed Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme in April 2013. The scheme threatened general damages, those which compensate for pain...
We were delighted to hear this week that our Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence teams have been short listed for the second consecutive year in the 2012 Proclaim Personal Injury Awards, in the ‘Claimant team of the year’ category. In...
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), hundreds of hospital patients are dying of dehydration each year. The figures reveal that dehydration was a contributing factor in 812 deaths and the cause of a further 155 deaths in 2010, the latest...
The number of complaints in the UK made to the General Medical Council (GMC) about doctors has risen 23% in the past year, the regulator says. The report from the GMC said that in 2011 there were 8,781 complaints...
The Daily Mail has recently reported that nearly one in ten patients saw their GP five or more times before being referred to hospital to be tested for cancer. The Daily Mail has also reported that on average, 25% of those who go on to be...
On August 31st, German company Grunenthal issued an apology to all the victims of the thalidomide birth defects tragedy. This is the first apology that has been issued by the company since the drug was released on to the market over half...
When the NHS took over medical care in jails from the Prison Medical Service in 2005, it was hoped that this would improve the medical treatment of prisoners dramatically. However, The Guardian has recently published a...
Official NHS data taken from the ‘NHS Safety Thermometer,’ which was launched in April this year, has shown that more than 20% of patients in some NHS Hospitals suffer harm due to avoidable accidents, complications and mistakes....
The Telegraph has recently reported that the new leader of the British Medical Association Dr Porter, has warned that key services throughout the NHS are being rationed as a result of budget cuts. Dr Porter said that...
The Guardian has recently reported that in the last year, written complaints to the NHS rose by more than 8%, with the service receiving more than 3,000 complaints a week. The NHS Information Centre have reported that...
The Guardian has recently reported that there are almost 5,000 fewer nurses working for the NHS than there were in May 2010. New NHS workforce figures show that there are 276,608 qualified nurses working in the health service, 4,823 fewer than...
A BBC Wales investigation has revealed that compensation payouts by the NHS in Wales have almost doubled since 2009. The figures, obtained by the BBC using Freedom of Information requests, indicate that Health Boards...
The Manchester Evening News has recently reported that a 12-year-old girl with cerebral palsy died just 16 hours after being admitted to Tameside Hospital. Emma Stones was admitted with flu-like symptoms but died hours...
A recent study performed by the Royal College of Physicians has estimated that thousands of hospital deaths could be prevented each year if patient observation charts are standardised. The study, which looked at hospitals throughout the...
BBC News has reported a 20-year-old woman grew to be 6ft 5ins tall because of the effect on her growth of an undiagnosed tumour in her pituitary gland. Kate Woodward had explained to the High Court that she felt like a...
Official figures released by the National Cancer Intelligent Network (NCIN) have revealed that some GPs are three times less likely to refer a patient to a specialist, causing thousands of cancer patients being treated too late and missing out...
A recent survey of all primary healthcare providers in the UK has revealed that around 40% are failing to implement the recommended screening programmes to detect tuberculosis among those most at risk Last year, a...
There has been a very sad case in the news recently concerning a seven month old baby who died after being refused access to Stafford Hospital. The baby, Holly, was found unconscious in her cot by her mother. An...
The Telegraph has recently reported that as many as 6,000 deaths which are attributable to miscalculated deterioration of a patient’s condition could be prevented if a standard bedside health chart was introduced. ...
Last week it was reported by The Guardian that Furness General Hospital is facing 37 compensation claims over deaths and injuries to both mothers and babies as a result of poor care provided by its maternity department. Figures also revealed...
The Telegraph has recently reported that Ambulance staff at the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) left 78-year-old Harold Tinsley for just over 45 minutes after neighbours had called 999 when he had fallen outside his house on the...
Kane Gorny, 22, died in May 2009 of dehydration while under the care of St George’s Hospital staff. It was heard at the inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court that a post-mortem examination found dehydration caused high sodium...
There are currently ten hospitals in England that perform child heart surgery and approximately 3,600 operations are carried out each year on children born with heart defects. However, groups including the Royal College...
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has recently released a report into the failures of health and social care providers across England. The report found that more than one in four are failing to meet essential standards of quality and safety....
A recent Italian ruling has reignited the debate over the controversial MMR jab and its potential links with autism. An Italian court held that nine-year old Valentino Bocca’s autism was provoked by the MMR jab he was given when he was...
NHS managers in England and Wales have been accused of ‘shocking discrimination’ in the provision of mental health services. A report commissioned by the Mental Health Group of the London School of Economics...
The Telegraph has recently reported on the NHS Litigation Authority’s figures (NHSLA) which have revealed that in 2010-2011, more than £98 million in compensation payments were made to patient’s whose illnesses were not...
Ministers have this week announced that age discrimination relating to decisions on whether to treat NHS patients is to be outlawed following a consultation conducted by the Home Office. The Government is implementing...
The Mail Online has recently reported that over 1,200 women who underwent smear tests at the Brough and South Cave medical practice in Hull during the last 13 years have been advised they will need to have their smear tests retaken. This was...
The Guardian has recently reported on the Royal and Liverpool Broadgreen University Trust’s plans to install thirty surveillance cameras within their Intensive Care Unit, Kidney Dialysis Department and in one of their Operating Theatres....
The first private company to run an NHS hospital has signed a deal which will see it take the first £2 million in profits, despite the hospital being £40 million in debt. In February 2012, Circle Healthcare...
The Telegraph has reported in the last few weeks that the myth that removing the tonsils does not work has led to a 40 per cent rise in the number of children admitted to A & E in the last decade suffering from painful tonsillitis....
A recent General Medical Council (GMC) report has revealed that GPs are making too many errors when prescribing medication to patients. Estimates have suggested that the numbers involved could be as high as 1 error in every 6 patients receiving...
An inquest last month heard that Harry Connolly, aged just 19 months, was a “victim of basic errors by medics”. These errors cost Harry his life, he died in April 2011. A post-mortem examination revealed he died of dehydration and...
Joanne Green, a mother from Urmston, has recently been raising awareness regarding the infection of Group B Streptococcus, which cost the lives of her unborn twins who tragically were stillborn at 36 weeks. The NHS...
Figures released recently suggest that almost 8,000 NHS patients a week are sent home from hospital in the middle of the night, amid claims the practice is being used to relieve pressure within the Health Service. The...
