Northampton Hospital: Bung left in gynaecological patient

Northampton Hospital: Bung left in gynaecological patient Surgical staff left medical equipment in a patient undergoing a hysterectomy at a hospital in Northamptonshire.

The bung was left in place after the procedure at Northampton General Hospital.

A report which went before the hospital's public trust board said the patient was discharged home and the bung fell out four days later.

The hospital has apologised for the incident and said it had learned from the error.

It was one of two "never events" to happen at the hospital in Cliftonville in 2016. BBC Northampton

Some junior doctors in Northampton unpaid after payroll error

Some junior doctors in Northampton unpaid after payroll error Northampton General Hospital is working to resolve a pay error that has seen members of its newest cohort of junior doctors unpaid this month. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

The childhood obesity plan – brave and bold action?

The childhood obesity plan – brave and bold action? After months of waiting and numerous delays, the government’s childhood obesity plan was finally published in mid-August (which also happened to be during the Olympics, when most of us were sitting and watching comfortably from our sofas – and when parliament was not sitting, in this case definitely a bad thing).

Expectations were high. Writing in the Daily Telegraph just a month ago, Simon Stevens labelled obesity ‘the new smoking’ and called for an ‘activist’ strategy with comprehensive action on food reformulation (changing the nutritional content of processed foods) and on promotions and advertising of unhealthy food and drink. Jeremy Hunt has described the rise in childhood obesity as a ‘national emergency’ and promised a ’game-changing’ response from the government. Now that the dust has settled, was it worth the wait? The King's Fund

Chart: how stressful GPs in the UK find their job

Chart: how stressful GPs in the UK find their job 59% of GPs in the UK describe their job as extremely or very stressful, higher than anywhere else in the Commonwealth Fund Survey. The Health Foundation

Bias in leadership: What's your story?

Bias in leadership: What's your story? In his insightful blog Dan Robertson from the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion, talks about bias in leadership and the key qualities of an exceptional leader. NHS Employers

Third 'given wrong initial heart attack diagnosis'

Third 'given wrong initial heart attack diagnosis' Almost a third of patients in England and Wales are being given the wrong initial diagnosis after a heart attack - with women having a far higher chance of being affected, a study suggests. BBC News

Quick turnaround GP appointments are 'running general practice into the ground'

Quick turnaround GP appointments are 'running general practice into the ground' GP appointments should be lengthened to 15 minutes and limited to 25 a day per doctor, industry leaders have said.

The British Medical Association (BMA) suggested the changes in a bid to stop general practice being “run into the ground”. The Independent

See also:

• Safe working in general practice British Medical Association
• 'Patients at risk' from length of GP consultations BBC News
• Doctors call for GP appointments to be extended by five minutes The Daily Mail
• GP appointments should be five minutes longer, says BMA The Guardian

Why are we making nurses pay for their training when the NHS needs to recruit 25,000 each year just to keep going?

Why are we making nurses pay for their training when the NHS needs to recruit 25,000 each year just to keep going? Andrew Street, a professor of health economics at York University, is speaking out after the Government confirmed it is scrapping nursing bursaries, with nurses now having to apply for a student loan. The Daily Mail

The NHS will simply collapse unless politicians have the courage to reform it

The NHS will simply collapse unless politicians have the courage to reform it Despite the Conservative Party having promised to increase NHS spending by £8 billion a year during this parliament – the minimum demanded by its managers – we learn of a crisis within the institution that promises a financial shortfall of £20 billion by 2020-21. Without (so far) any consultation, the NHS proposes a massive reorganisation that could include hospital closures and cuts, and these could start within months, just as the NHS suffers its winter overload. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• The King's Fund responds to reports on NHS sustainability and transformation plans The King's Fund
• NHS England statement on Sustainability and Transformation Plans NHS England
• New tax needed to fund NHS and care, says ex-minister BBC News
• NHS Chiefs plotting a 'glut' of service closures across the country to tackle black hole The Daily Mail
• Former minister calls for new tax to save NHS and social care  The Guardian
• The NHS is ailing. Is a ringfenced tax the best remedy? | Ian Birrell The Guardian
• NHS plans could bring benefits but we're barred from telling the public The Guardian
• The NHS secret is out. And local communities won't like it The Guardian

Doctors' watchdog places one in four hospitals on danger watch list

Doctors' watchdog places one in four hospitals on danger watch list Almost 80 hospitals have been placed under surveillance by health watchdogs over concerns about patient safety and their ability to train doctors.

The General Medical Council said it had taken the “special measures” as part of efforts to prevent a repeat of the Mid Staffs scandal.

The regulator stepped in after finding alarming levels of bullying, handover systems so poor that desperately ill patients got “lost” and left at risk of serious harm during weekends, unmanageable workloads and bed shortages in intensive care. The Daily Telegraph