HSIB published its report on Maternal deaths during the first wave of COVID-19. The report takes a closer look at the impact that COVID-19 had during the initial period of March to May 2020.
HSIB published its report into Maternal deaths during the first wave of COVID-19. The report National Learning Report: Maternal death: learning from maternal death investigations during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic | HSIB takes a closer look at the impact that COVID-19 had during the initial period of March to May 2020.
HSIB considered 20 maternal deaths which occurred during this time frame to see whether the pandemic played a part and to consider how this could be addressed should we find ourselves in this situation again. In this report HSIB identify 7 key themes which include changing guidance and confusing messaging, unprecedented demand for health services and the pressures this placed on staff and the barrier created by the use of PPE.
HSIB spoke with the families of the women to understand their concerns to help them make recommendations for the future should we find ourselves in this scenario again. A strong message which came out from those family conversations was the impact of the restriction on women being able to take partners/family/friends to appointments or indeed to have them with them during the early part of labour. The requirement to attend alone left women without an advocate in what is already a vulnerable and emotional situation, further heightened by fears around the pandemic.
The report also identified an element of racial disparity in the figures and identifies that more work needs to be done to understand the increased risk of maternal deaths for women of Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and with higher socio-economic deprivation.
While it is important to remind ourselves that fortunately maternal deaths in the UK are rare, occurring in fewer than 10 per 100,00 pregnancies any baby left without a mother is one baby too many and so the work done by HSIB in reviewing the impact on maternal deaths from the pandemic can only be a positive step to seeking to reduce that figure even more.
Although the HSIB report is centred around maternal deaths in a pandemic the recommendations surrounding clearer communication with women, especially from the specific communities and backgrounds identified above are important for all providers of maternity services.
The BMA is advising all NHS / HSCNI consultants to ensure extra-contractual work is paid at the BMA minimum recommended rate and to decline offers of extra-contractual work that doesn't value them appropriately.
NHS England has published (October 2022) new guidance - Assuring and supporting complex change: Statutory transactions, including mergers and acquisitions.
NHS England has issued an updated (publication 11 October 2022) suite of Complex Change guidance about how it will assure and support proposals for complex change that are reportable to it. New and (where it is still in force) existing Complex Change guidance are as follows.
Created at the end of the Brexit transition period, Retained EU Law is a category of domestic law that consists of EU-derived legislation retained in our domestic legal framework by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. This was never intended to be a permanent arrangement as parliament promised to deal with retained EU law through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (the “Bill”).
It is clear that the digital landscape, often termed cyberspace, is a man-made environment, in which human behaviour dominates and where technology both influences and aids our role in it — through the internet, telecoms and networked computer systems, which are often interdependent. The extent to which any organisation is potentially vulnerable to cyber-attack depends on how well these elements are aligned.
In Mogane v Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered whether it was fair to dismiss a nurse as redundant on the basis that that her fixed-term contract was due to expire before that of her colleague.
Three months on from the commencement of the new statutory Integrated Care Systems (ICS) Anja Beriro and Gerrard Hanratty reflect on the main themes and issues that have come from the new relationship between local government and health.
The majority of people do not feel the need to embellish their CV to get that coveted position and move on up the career ladder. Their worthiness and benefit to the hiring organisation are easily demonstrated through the recruitment process – application, psychometric testing, selection day or interview.
On Saturday 15 October a wave of light swept the internet when thousands of people flooded social media with pictures of candles to remember the babies that they have lost. This event signifies the end of Baby Loss Awareness Week which aims to break the silence that is associated with baby loss in pregnancy and infancy.
The Coronavirus Act 2020 allowed any registered medical practitioner to sign a medical certificate of cause of death (“MCCD”), even if the deceased was not attended to during his or her last illness and not seen after death, provided that the medical practitioner could state the cause of death to the best of their knowledge and belief.
