🚨 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...

🔓 Surgeons accused of racism, bullying and toxic power struggle 2/6: 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:

🚨 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

🚨 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

🚨 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…

🚨 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

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…

📣 EXCLUSIVE: Every child in England left infertile by cancer treatment will be given the chance to become a parent, thanks to a multi-million pound new service and cutting edge science backed by @NHSEngland from next year 🧵 1/4
thetimes.co.uk/article/3842c6… For more than a decade NHS teams have been offering fertility preservation on a near pro-bono basis, working in their own time. But not everywhere did it. Now 750 children a year will get help. Three babies have already been born and another is on the way 2/4

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Rishi Sunak is funneling thousands of NHS patients into private hospitals but are they safe? The Sunday Times has learned of hundreds of cases of unnecessary surgery. 🧵 1/9 thetimes.co.uk/article/8d7007… Breast surgeon Ian Paterson harmed hundreds of his patients. But was he really a rogue? Compensation for negligence (excluding his victims) shows unnecessary surgery is the single largest category. This is only a glimpse into the opaque world of private healthcare 2/9

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Internal NHS reports reveal hospital buildings are at imminent risk of "catastrophic" collapse, with significant loss of life, as a result of crumbling concrete: thetimes.co.uk/article/school… NHS managers could face charges under corporate manslaughter legislation, one report warns as another raises fears asbestos could be released meaning staff would need FFP3 masks (!)

🚨 INVESTIGATION: How #LucyLetby - Britain's worst child killer - was promised a role at Alder Hey Children's Hospital by managers who dismissed fears she was a killer.

The Sunday Times has the definitive story of how she almost got away with murder 🧵1/7thetimes.co.uk/article/lucy-l… After successfully persuading the Countess of Chester Hospital that she was being victimised by doctors, managers offered her support for a masters degree or training as an advanced nurse. Letby had a 'victim statement' read to the trust board 2/7

The social care crisis is leading to deaths. This coroner's report details one potentially avoidable death due to a delayed discharge from hospital. The warning has been sent to @SteveBarclay And the delayed discharges cause ambulances stacking outside A&E delaying patients being seen. That is killing people too. Another coroner's report:

🚨 Exclusive: Rishi Sunak to announce a £1bn cash injection to fix NHS staffing crisis delivering thousands of extra nurses & doctors over 15 years - but the £1bn is only part of the cost with the rest of the plan unfunded. Story with @HarryYorke1
thetimes.co.uk/article/rishi-… 1/4 No.10 is still working on the plan, but it is expected to announce a doubling of medical school places for doctors to 15,000 by 2028-29. It will also promise 24,000 nurses and midwives by 2030 & 2k more trainee GPs #workforceplan 2/4 thetimes.co.uk/article/rishi-…

Exclusive: Hospices are warning more people could die alone, without pain relief, as soaring costs and flat NHS funding means hospices are closing beds and making staff redundnant to fill a £186m blackhole 1/n
thetimes.co.uk/article/e801b5… @hospiceuk #PalliativeCare The Sunday Times spent a day with hospice workers, as @hmtreasury has rejected a £30m rescue pacakge bid proposal from @hospiceuk to try and stop services closing down 2/n thetimes.co.uk/article/e801b5…

Tomorrow marks 10 years since the Mid Staffs public inquiry report was published.

I asked Sir Robert Francis KC to sit down with me to discuss the NHS today and his reflections a decade on from his report... #MidStaffs 🧵 1/5 But is the NHS culture better than #MidStaffs era now? 2/5

🚨 EXC: Chair of Mid Staffs inquiry, Sir Robert Francis KC warns @SteveBarclay: "What we are witnessing across the NHS is the Mid Staffs scandal playing out on a national level, if not worse.”

Comes amid plans to block buy care beds to free up hospitals
thetimes.co.uk/article/8892ee… Hundreds of patients were abused and neglected at Stafford Hospital between 2005 & 2009, with many elderly patients left lying in their own faeces, unable to eat or drink and suffering falls or going without essential medication. A&E was described as "immune to the sound of pain"

🚨 Exclusive: "The poor patient was deceased and had been for some hours...How awful it must be, being alone, calling for help and nobody comes until it’s too late.”

My big read on the NHS this week as UK excess deaths is among the highest in Europe:
thetimes.co.uk/article/why-is… My colleague @RachelLavin has taken an in-depth look at UK and EU excess deaths - something other than Covid and flu is driving our deaths higher than most other countries. @ActuaryByDay believes it is the NHS crisis:

🚨 Exclusive: Hospitals across the country are reporting shortages of portable oxygen cylinders as the sheer number of patients in "grossly overcrowded" A&Es has soared:
thetimes.co.uk/article/d55b3f… The Sunday Times has been told of problems across the country, including in Surrey, where GPs were told in a leaked message from Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board that hospital mortuaries in the area were nearing capacity thetimes.co.uk/article/d55b3f…

While I wait for The Sunday Times to be put to bed...2022 has been a busy year. Here are just some of my specific stories that I think worthy of noting as we had into the #NewYear 1) First up from Feb is this story where we revealed the fact midwifery staffing was going into reverse for the first time with serious concerns about care and maternity units closing 323 times in 2020-21

https://twitter.com/ShaunLintern/status/1490252332751327233?s=20&t=BuUVpIHv-BMsvbZIOTdEwg

🚨 Extreme pressure at @WalsallHcareNHS has seen all teaching for doctors cancelled next week - the trust has also told staff it is seeing its worst ever pressures in A&E: Yesterday @RCHTWeCare declared a critical incident saying its region was seeing "considerable strain" on services:

🚨 @UHDBTrust declared a critical incident last night - cancelling all meetings and training to ensure clinical staff "are on wards and patient facing" Hospitals in Leicester have declared a critical incident due to "high levels of patient attendance" bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…