Big changes to the NHS patient safety landscape expected in 2025

Martha's Rule emerged from the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of 13-year-old Martha Mills from sepsis in 2021. The Coroner concluded that she would not have died had she been moved earlier...

Delivering inclusive hypertensive care in the prison service

Hypertension is known to be a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is the major cause of death in the UK. In Birmingham, around 12% of the population are estimated to be affected,...

That common condition: the human race

In our polarised world, divisions seem to deepen as each day passes. There is an urgent need for all of us to revisit and reaffirm the notion of our shared humanity. The concept of the human race as a...

Global progress and Never Events

The progress report from WHO offers important insights into strategies adopted, trends, issues, challenges, opportunities and so on. This will be a key resource for all stakeholders in patient safety...

Words matter: does the new RCN definition of nursing devalue the RNA?

‘The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to peaceful death) that he would perform...

Black History Month 2023: what is it like to be Black and British right now?

The treatment of a young Black female gymnast in Ireland who was ignored because she is Black has been receiving widespread circulation and comment in the media. It is 2023 and it has been described...

The regulation of medical devices in the UK: recent changes

‘Any instrument, apparatus, appliance, software, implant, reagent, material or other article intended by the manufacturer to be used alone, or in combination, for human beings…’. .

An ambassador for women

Applying utilitarianism to the presumed consent system for organ donation to consider the moral pros and cons

Utilitarianism is, in essence, a consequentialist theory that rests on the fundamental premise that the morally preferable action is that which produces the most good overall—it is associated with...

Strategies to enhance applications to postgraduate nursing programmes

Ever since the passing of the Nurses Registration Act in December 1919, leading to state registration for appropriately trained nurses, there has been a shortfall in the number of nurses needed to...

Independent review seeks to tackle obesity and other diet-related diseases

The report seeks to radically change both the way we eat and what we eat. Although obesity is high on its agenda, this is not its only goal—it is wide reaching and references the government's Climate...

Strategies and policies to tackle the problems associated with long COVID

In many respects the pathological morbidities associated with long COVID resemble those of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Some of the most common...