By John Tingle A recent report for the patient safety and justice charity, AvMA (Action against Medical Accidents) identifies some short comings in the way the NHS statutory duty of candor is regulated. The report is not all doom and gloom, however. Some improvements are also noted.
By John Tingle The NHS (National Health Service) in England is in very deep water when it comes to the increasing costs of clinical negligence claims made against it. NHS litigation compensation damage awards and costs over recent years have shot upwards to reach record heights threatening some would argue the very sustainability and fabric…
By John Tingle Matt Hancock, the recently appointed Government, Health and Social Care Secretary, made a keynote speech on patient safety in London recently. The speech spelled out the future direction of NHS (National Health Service) patient safety policy development in England and also contained some very useful observations and policy which have relevance to…
By John Tingle Good communication is an essential prerequisite for good and safe patient care. To effectively communicate is an everyday life skill and it’s one of the most basic that we all must master in some way. From a patient safety context, poor health carer communication practices are a worldwide problem which continues to…
By Temple University Center for Public Health Law Research The newest map on LawAtlas.org analyzes state laws governing the production, sale, and regulation of cottage food operations. Typically, commercial food production is required to take place in certified commercial kitchens that are heavily regulated. Cottage foods laws regulate the production and sale of certain foods…
By John Tingle “Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States,” says a new report by the World Health Organization. And in the United Kingdom, “recent estimations show that on average, one incident of patient harm is reported every 35 seconds.” Patient safety remains an issue of concern for all…
By John Tingle Our National Health Service turns 70 in July and has made remarkable achievements since its inception on July 5, 1948. The NHS is quite rightly an institution to be proud of, and it is envied across the world. Admittedly, the NHS does have its problems, but these should not detract from an…
By John Tingle One thing that strikes the UK visitor to the USA is the vast array of large public and private hospitals that exist with many having trauma and emergency rooms. Private hospitals don’t exist on this scale in the UK. Our major hospitals are public, state run NHS (National Health Service) hospitals. Independent,…
By John Tingle Failings in National Health Service (NHS) care for patients with mental health problems is a worryingly persistent story in the English media. Many reports show harrowing and dramatic failings in NHS care provision for the mentally ill some of which result in avoidable deaths.The Health Service Ombudsman (HSO) represents the final stage…
This new post by Nicholas Bagley and Rachel Sachs appears on the Health Affairs Blog. Although drug formularies are ubiquitous in Medicare and the private insurance market, they’re absent in Medicaid. By law, state Medicaid programs that offer prescription drug coverage (as they all do) must cover all drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,…
