Hospitals, GPs and other healthcare providers will in future have to log every time a patient suffers harm or dies as a result of treatment.

According to the Guardian, NHS organisations will have to detail every mistake, accident and incident that leads to a patient suffering pain, trauma, injury or death. Previously the system has been one of voluntary reporting of patient safety incidents to the the National Patient Safety Agency. But this has had serious criticism as it obviously makes for skewed statistics and allows for errors to be ignored and go unreported.

Lord Patel, the NPSA’s chairman said, “Patient safety needs to improve and making reporting mandatory will help that happen.” However, he also stated that he did not believe that this would lead to an increase in medical negligence claims.
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All products must pass be safe for the consumer to use; if they are not, they are breaking health and safety regulations and are negligent for any accidents or suffering that occurs. So, what’s the recent news on this?

Go Go Hamsters; the must have toy for 3-10 year old this Christmas? Well, according to recent news, health and safety concerns have been raised regarding the material used in the manufacturing of these cute robotic critters that has sparked allegations that toy is potentially dangerous (source).
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We have previously explored claims for psychological injuries and how anxiety can affect us in different ways. But what causes anxiety?

Road traffic accidents often lead to bouts of anxiety experienced by many individuals as they experience situational anxiety whilst travelling in vehicles following accidents. This may be whilst travelling as a passenger or as a driver and it can be very debilitating for some.

Individuals often experience an increase in heart rate, hot flushes, a feeling of disorientation and nausea. Affects vary between individuals and some people experience far worse affects or much lesser.

It is not just physical events which can cause us feelings of anxiety as life events such as exams, work and family problems can lead to such affects.
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A Tesco Express store in Birmingham city centre has been temporarily closed by environmental health officers. The closure was unexpected and occurred on Monday and is ongoing while environmental health officers inspect the site.

According to the BBC, the store at 150 Wharfside Street, Birmingham currently displays a notice stating that it has been subjected to a hygiene emergency prohibition notice issued by the council. The environmental health officers who attended the site were satisfied that the store ‘poses an immediate risk of injury to health’. Further details of what has caused the closure have yet to be revealed but Tesco have announced that they will issue a statement later today on the matter.
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A boy aged 6 years old who suffered brain damage in a fall at his nursery has been awarded substantial damages to help pay for his care. Young James Pitcher now requires 24 hour care following a fall from a changing table at the Headstart Nursery in Croydon in August 2004.

According to the BBC, the incident left James quadriplegic and unable to swallow effectively. He is not expected to live past 15. In 2008 he was allocated £1,320,000 and the final sum for the care will remain confidential.
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I have authored several articles in the last couple of months with the subject of violent assaults and the often tragic and devastating consequences they can result in. It’s never nice to hear of a story of a violent and unprovoked assault in any circumstances, and in particular in one’s home city of Hull in an area that I myself have enjoyed the odd walk or two, at the marina near Hull’s famous ‘The Deep’ aquarium.

Hull Crown Court yesterday heard of the drink fuelled assault that ended in tragedy as two teenagers pleaded guilty to murder and robbery, the Daily Mail has reported (source).

In the early hours of 7^th April 2009, 35 year old Simon Ash had gone for a late night stroll on the marina to clear his head when he was unfortunate enough to be sighted by two teenage thugs looking for trouble after a night of heavy drinking. The pair stalked Mr Ash who subsequently dialled 999 and informed local police he was being followed and chased by the teens, and told the operator “they are trying to kick my head in.”
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A national day of mourning is taking place in Russia today after the death toll hits 112 following a blaze at the Lame Horse Nightclub in the city of Perm, Sky News (source) and the BBC have reported (source).

It is reported that around 130 people were admitted to hospital with serious burns and 80 victims were flown to Moscow St Petersburg and Chelyabinsk for medical treatment. Entertainment events and television programs have been cancelled with flags flying at half mast as Russia mourns the tragedy and pays its respects to the victims and the families of those involved.

People have gathered at the central morgue in Perm to lay flowers and light candles outside the venue the tragedy occurred at, and the first funerals have in the central cathedral in Perm with all day memorial services taking place.
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Drink driving – I discussed this yesterday. But it seems there is a lot more out there on road traffic accidents and the effects of drink related driving…

In the run up to Christmas the BBC have reported that the current drink driving limit is to be reviewed by legal experts following a recent move to lower the current limit, and laws are to be tightened on driving under the influence of narcotics (source).

The current drink driving limit is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood or the equivalent of roughly (and by roughly we mean very roughly – this should not be used as a guide and is a very broad comparative spectrum!) two pints of ordinary strength a beer for a man. An independent research report is to be conducted by Sir Peter North and will be presented to the Transport Secretary Lord Adonis before April 2010.

According to the report, there is growing public concern over the driving under the influence of narcotics and there is support for lowering the drink drive limit to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, coming at the launch of the government’s £1.2m anti-drink-drive campaign for Christmas.
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7 cancer patients are set to sue a hospital for medical negligence after wrongly being given the ‘all clear’ following errors in the screening program.

The error took place at Accrington Victoria Hospital in East Lancashire and there are actually 18 reported cases of misdiagnosis!

The errors were down to one radiologist whom had failed to pick up on the disease on reviewing the screening results. It is reported that he has thankfully not worked for the trust since April this year but that does not make up for the lives he has jeopardised!
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A hospital in Plymouth has admitted to numerous failings in its treatment of a 79- year-old man.

According to the BBC, Mr Cecil Barnes was admitted to hospital in July 2008 to undergo surgery on his bladder. However, he collapsed on his return to the ward and equipment used to resuscitate him was either faulty or used incorrectly and he later died.

Following his collapse, the first machine that staff used to try and clear his airway and resuscitate him was faulty. A different machine was brought in but the staff were unfamiliar with the equipment and it was not properly switched on.  A third machine was then tried, but again this was not switched on because staff did not regularly use it and did not know how to operate it.
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