Hospitals remain under significant pressure with bed occupancy at the second highest level recorded this winter last week, new figures show today. More than 19 in 20 beds were occupied across adult general and acute hospital wards (95.7%) in the week ending 15 January, according to the weekly statistics. Over 14,000 beds were taken up […]

A National Patient Safety Alert has been issued by the NHS England National Patient Safety Team on the safe use of oxygen cylinders where patients in hospital do not have access to medical gas pipeline systems. National Patient Safety Alert – Use of oxygen cylinders where patients do not have access to medical gas pipeline […]

A joint National Patient Safety Alert has been issued by the NHS England and NHS Improvement National Patient Safety Team and the British Association of Dermatologists on the risk of inadvertent oral administration of potassium permanganate. National Patient Safety Alert – Inadvertent oral administration of potassium permanganate About this alert Potassium permanganate is routinely used […]

A National Patient Safety Alert has been issued on the infection risk when using FFP3 respirators with valves or Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PARPs) during surgical and invasive procedures. National Patient Safety Alert – Infection risk when using FFP3 respirators with valves or Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) during surgical and invasive procedures About this […]

A National Patient Safety Alert has been issued on the elimination of bottles of liquefied phenol 80%. The alert has been issued by the NHS England and NHS Improvement National Patient Safety Team, British Orthopaedic Association, The Association of Coloproctology Great Britain and Ireland, and Royal College of Podiatry. National Patient Safety Alert – Elimination […]

A National Patient Safety Alert has been issued on the risk of inappropriate anticoagulation of patients with a mechanical heart valve. National Patient Safety Alert – Inappropriate anticoagulation of patients with a mechanical heart valve About this alert All patients with prosthetic mechanical heart valves require life-long oral anticoagulation with a vitamin K antagonist (VKA), […]

A National Patient Safety Alert has been issued asking all providers that use piped medical air to eliminate the risk of inadvertently connecting patients to medical air via a flowmeter instead of oxygen. National Patient Safety Alert – Eliminating the risk of inadvertent connection to medical air via a flowmeter About this alert Air flowmeters […]

A potentially life threatening TikTok trend, involving tiny magnets that can be easily swallowed, has triggered the NHS to call for a ban. These tiny magnetic balls are widely sold as creative toys, with a recent TikTok craze seeing them used as fake facial piercings by teenagers. The viral prank sees people place two magnetic […]

A joint National Patient Safety Alert has been issued by the NHS England and NHS Improvement National Patient Safety Team and Royal College of Emergency Medicine on the need for urgent assessment/treatment following ingestion of ‘super strong’ magnets. National Patient Safety Alert – Urgent assessment/treatment following ingestion of ‘super strong’ magnets About this alert Small […]

The NHS has teamed up with law enforcement and security agencies to warn the public not to fall victim to con men trying to exploit the coronavirus vaccine campaign. England’s top GP has joined the head of Action Fraud, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in issuing joint advice […]