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According to recent research conduct by the Open University, NHS staff shortages are apparently costing the taxpayer around £1.5bn a year in temporary staff.

With the Royal College of Nursing saying there’s around 40,000 nursing vacancies, and widespread shortfalls in staff across the country, the cost of plugging the rota gaps is putting an even greater financial strain on the NHS funding situation. It’s thought that around half a billion pounds could be saved if these shortages were plugged with permanent staff instead of temps.

This all makes for worrying reading.

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According to a recent study, millions of people are at risk of dementia from drugs used to treat conditions like depression, incontinence and Parkinson’s disease.

The study findings indicate that the risk of developing dementia could be increased by a third later on in life when patients are taking certain types of medications.

Millions may be affected by prescriptions of anticholinergic medications that are used to control muscle contractions or help with mental health condition that are thought to potentially increase the risk of impaired memory functions later on in life.

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Ambulance ‘misfuelling’ incidents are said to be putting lives at risk, with campaigners saying misfuelling incidents are threatening patient safety.

According to reports gleaned from a Telegraph Freedom of Information request, there have been more than 750 incidents of “misfuelling” with ambulances since 2012, which can put ambulances out of action for weeks at a time in some cases.

As a result of the issue, some NHS Trusts are said to be trialling alerts to prevent misfuelling incidents occurring.

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The Injury Lawyers are investigating the breaking news that hundreds of women may have died in an NHS breast cancer screening scandal.

Women aged between 68 and 71 who were supposed to have received a letter inviting them for lifesaving breast cancer screening never received their invitations because of an IT glitch that happened in 2009.

The glitch was discovered in January this year, and the government believes that as many as 270 people have died as a result of not having breast cancer screening, and these deaths may be linked to the glitch.
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According to experts, the NHS may be heading for a summer crisis after the recent winter crisis that has seen the healthcare sector stretched to dangerous levels.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has reportedly claimed that the performance of the NHS in the coming summer months is set to be as bad as it was over winter, where the NHS was faced with increasingly high levels of admissions.

If the NHS is set for a summer crisis, patients’ health – and lives – may well be at risk.
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The NHS crisis worsens, according to the latest information from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), which is a huge worry for increasing medical negligence claims. It’s thought that more than two-thirds of staff believe patient safety has declined over the past year since the last time key questions about the state of the NHS were asked.

Around 1,500 NHS employees were asked the same questions they’d been questioned about last year on the conditions they’re working in and the quality of care available, and some 80% are reportedly worried about the ability to keep patients safe, with 84% citing demoralised staff as a result of increased pressure on the NHS.
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According to media sources, GP practices in five areas of the country are offered agreements where they can be paid from the savings amounted from not referring patients to hospitals.

This incredibly controversial “profit share” system could allow GPs to cash in from not referring patients to hospitals, which leads to serious concerns over the quality of care and advice that may be given.

If doctors have the power to put profit before people, it may only be a matter of time before a patient is not referred to a hospital and suffers as a result.
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We were recently made aware that some chiefs in the NHS believe that medical negligence victims should settle for an apology and nothing more. There was also a suggestion that many would.

It all comes down to cutting the legal costs that the NHS is facing; but denying a victim’s rights to fair and reflective justice is not the way forward for this. Many of these headlines burst from the press pages and they often paint the lawyers in the worst kind of light.

Here are some reasons as to why this theory of just saying sorry to a victim of medical negligence is fundamentally flawed.
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Medical reports are often seen as absolutely vital when it comes to a personal injury claim. Most of the time, the medical report will form the very basis of your claim.

Your injuries and suffering, no matter how great, should be backed up by a medical report written by an expert to give an objective and impartial medical opinion. Courts are wary of claimants over exaggerating in order to claim more money, and the point of a medical report is to substantiate the injuries with a formal report from an approved expert.
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In April 2014, 606 former and current students at the University of Derby were ‘at risk’ of HIV after a health worker negligently reused syringe barrels when taking blood tests and conducting vaccinations.

An investigation was opened and led by NHS England after the nurse put hundreds of students at risk of HIV and other serious infections like hepatitis. Those 606 students were contacted for blood testing who received either blood tests and/or vaccinations between September 2005 and October 2013.
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