Good afternoon and welcome to my regular patient safety update. This week we look at the latest on the Omicron variant, a record-breaking compensation case, and Seni’s Law which we should all know about. As ever you can sign up to receive this update via our website here and please tell any friends you think might enjoy it.

OMICRON IN THE COMMUNITY There are now more than 400 confirmed cases of Omicron across the UK, more than anywhere in Europe, and the Downing Street party won’t make it any easier if the government wants to introduce pre-Xmas restrictions. Yesterday the Health Secretary confirmed what we all suspected earlier this week – there is now “community transmission across multiple regions of England” of the Omicron variant. He announced a series of measures designed to buy time whilst the seriousness of the variant is determined. At the moment the UKHSA is just reporting that Omicron has a “shorter window between infection and infectiousness.” The Prime Minister reportedly told Cabinet that it may be more transmissible than the Delta strain although the WHO say the vaccines should prevent serious illness. If you want the best overall summary listen to Neil Ferguson on the Today programme this morning (0710). But all is not lost with Martin Kemp helping to drive up demand for boosters.

NHS PREPARATIONS? With this degree of uncertainty we obviously need to be preparing the NHS for worst case scenarios. We just cannot have another 45,000 people not starting cancer treatment as happened last year or thousands dying from heart attacks and strokes at home from fear of going to their local hospital. I said in the Commons that “when we switch the NHS on for omicron we must not switch other services off”. But with 13,000 operations cancelled in the last two months alone the NHS is clearly already struggling so this is going to be very tough whatever the news on Omicron. 

£2.8M COMPENSATION PAID The highest settlement for a stillborn case was paid by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust to Sarah and Jack Hawkins, the parents of Harriet, after a report found her death was “almost certainly preventable”. An official external report found that there had been 13 separate failures in their care but I was once again struck not just by the tragic circumstances of Harriet’s death but the belligerent attitude of the Trust in responding to it. As Jack Hawkins put it, they had to fight to be heard - surely an NHS built on principles of public service can avoid this? Also further evidence, if more is needed, that independent investigations of serious maternity incidents are essential.

I’LL BE BACK Simon Stevens made a cracking opening speech in the Lords about the Health Bill and not just because he strongly supported my workforce amendment. He totally encapsulated why the current bill is sensible and necessary - but where it can and needs to be improved. Good that he is not remaining silent, he will be a strong addition to the Lords.

NATIONAL GRIEF AWARENESS WEEK has been running from 2nd to 8th December and you can find all sorts of useful information and help from the good grief trust. There is no set way to grieve but there is a lot of support out there so if you need it, please do make use of their wonderful resources.

USE OF FORCE LAW IN PLACE Seni’s Law came into force yesterday and should help protect patients in mental health units from disproportionate use of force and restraint. The Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act was passed in 2018 but the guidance and regulations bringing it into force were published earlier this week. The Select Committee’s inquiry into the treatment of autistic people and people with learning difficulties heard horrendous stories of how restraint was still used and called for immediate action on this. We are still waiting for the government’s response but Seni’s Law is a fitting legacy for Olaseni Lewis.

COVID LATEST STATS The ONS reported another increase in the number of people testing positive in the community with 1 in 60, up from 1 in 65, having the virus. That’s just shy of 900,000 people in England. There has been a 12% increase in cases over the last seven days with more than 7,000 patients in hospital with the virus. The number of daily new admissions does seem to be holding steady at between 700-800 a day but everyone is holding their breath…as will you be ahead of next week’s final Patient Safety email of the year :-)

Jeremy Hunt