🚨 ICYMI in yesterday's print Sunday Times - One of England's largest and high profile NHS trusts @GSTTnhs may need a bail out from @DHSCgovuk to cover day to day spending. It is part of a wider £4.5bn spending crisis sweeping the NHS 🧵 1/7
Hospitals across England have been told to cut costs and consider closing some services. At @GSTTnhs staffing costs needed to be cut by a third in the year ahead, equivalent to £55 million with another £39 million in savings needed from other areas 2/7
If @GSTTnhs can't get control of an underlying £84m deficit it may need a loan from the NHS to cover costs. Info sent to staff below: 3/7
But @GSTTnhs are not alone. Across the NHS trusts are cutting the amounts they will pay staff working extra shifts or agency and trusts face substantial deficits this year: 4/7
At @OUHospitals a message to staff from the CEO makes clear some of the cuts needed there to control a £53m deficit 5/7
"There are no easy answers here" says @sallygainsbury from @NuffieldTrust who warns this could all impact on the care for patients: 6/7
Why is the NHS in this situation? I'm told it's a combination of flat increases in spending coupled with consequences linked to collapsing social care & community services meaning patients are sicker and staing longer in hospitals. What's happening in your area? END 7/7
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🚨 This weekend The Sunday Times paywall is down, meaning my and my colleagues back catalogue of incredible investigations and stories are FREE to read.
I thought I'd give you 5 stories I think deserve your time: 1/6
You hear a lot about bullying and racism within the NHS - rarely have I come across such a bad case as this at Barts that we published recently...
The Sunday Times is campaigning for victims of the sodium valproate drug disaster to get compensation. Why? Because the children and families are suffering like this: 🔓 3/6 thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/…
💔 Ryan and Emmie should have been watching baby Quinn grow up for the past 3 years. Instead, they've had to battle the NHS and its regulator to get the truth for Quinn who died at Nottingham Hospitals from care so bad it has been judged criminal: thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/…
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust was fined £1.67 million in a rare criminal prosecution by the CQC last week over Quinn's death and 2 other babies. But its first response to the couple's detailed 10-page dossier of evidence was a brutal 2 sentence email:
Quinn died after being starved of oxygen because his mother had a placental abruption - staff didn't give them safety advice, call logs went missing and medical records were incorrect. The trust was described as obstructive by the coroner. It admitted liability only last year.
🚨 INVESTIGATION: 1,540 children across England have been misdiagnosed by NHS hearing tests. Leaked @NHSEngland documents reveal concerns at 90 units. Insiders say NHSE hasn't acted despite evidence of the scale of harm 🧵1/8 thetimes.com/article/e23d4f…
Papers marked 'official sensitive, restricted and confidential' (🤣) detail widespread systemic failings in paediatric audiology testing. 480 children have been moderately or severely harmed, in other words left without hearing aids and at risk of permanent development delays 2/8
Health secretary @wesstreeting was only briefed about the crisis on Friday last week...he told me: "This is an appalling state of affairs...it is outrageous that these failings will have potentially serious developmental consequences for children." 3/8 thetimes.com/article/e23d4f…
🚨 How did Salford Royal Hospital - dubbed the safest in England - fail to investigate the death of a teenager and allow a dangerous surgeon to continue operating for 7 years, harming dozens of patients?
I've been asking questions for 8 yrs. Let me tell you about it...🧵1/9
In 2007, Catherine O'Connor died after losing 14 litres of blood. An expert review in 2022 said spinal surgeon John Bradley Williamson's “unacceptable and unjustifiable” actions “directly contributed” to her death. Read more here: 2/9 thetimes.co.uk/article/surgeo…
A major report by a barrister brought in to examine Salford Royal's handling of concerns about Williamson was published this week. It details significant governance failures by Salford Royal when Sir David Dalton was CEO 3/9
🚨 INVESTIGATION: Top NHS boss Sir David Dalton was warned about a 'butcher' surgeon in 2014 harming patients. Now his victims want a full recall of patients, backed by a whistleblower doctor who says he knows more have been harmed 🧵1/7 thetimes.co.uk/article/cd69ae…
Spinal surgeon John Bradley Williamson harmed dozens of patients in botched surgery at Salford Royal, Spire Manchester and Manchester Children's Hospital. Injuries includes misplaced spinal screws, catastrophic bleeding, paralysis and disability 2/7
A review of patients over a 5 year period found multiple cases of harm. Now victims say all his patients should be reviewed.
Michelle Nolan takes morphine daily for pain and has been told by Spire her care was sub-standard "People deserve the truth, lives have been ruined" 3/7
Why are maternity services not improving? With stillbirths & maternal deaths rising, families are demanding a national inquiry. @DOckendenLtd tells The Sunday Times not enough has been done while @MidwivesRCM criticises ministers. Lets get into it: 🧵 1/n thetimes.co.uk/article/9e9088…
Excited to be having their first baby, Neil and Katie Russell thought @sathNHS would be safe in 2021 after years of scrutiny. But neglect and poor care saw their daughter Poppy starved of oxygen. The trust tried to blame them for her death 2/n thetimes.co.uk/article/9e9088…
"We made a conscious decision to go to Telford and that’s a decision we will forever regret" said Neil.
"We’re not just another sob story," Katie told me: "This seems to be right across the UK." The CQC agrees, 65% of units aren't safe enough. 3/n thetimes.co.uk/article/9e9088…