Plus: Health warning issued over use of popular pain killers
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Hello everyone, Let's dive right in, shall we? This week, the health secretary finally listened to campaigning families and appointed Donna Ockenden to chair the inquiry into maternity failures at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. The decision comes after months of distressing accounts from women who say they were harmed by poor care at the trust. One mother, Rachel Cooper, shared a harrowing story with me about how she has been left living with a colostomy bag after doctors missed her third-degree tears following the birth of her son. As Health Check readers will know, Ms Ockenden is currently chairing the Nottingham maternity inquiry, which is due to report in June, and previously led the Shrewsbury and Telford inquiry. Leeds – which is as large an NHS trust as Nottingham – will no doubt be just as significant an undertaking. Over the past few weeks, we have also published stories about crisis-hit St Andrew's Healthcare Northampton Hospital. Now, following mounting pressure, NHS England has taken the dramatic step of moving hundreds of patients out of the hospital. More on that below. Finally, last week I attended the Nuffield Trust summit, where Sir Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, gave a punchy speech about misinformation. I asked him about the recent controversy surrounding a trial aimed at testing the safety of puberty blockers for children experiencing gender dysphoria – here's what he had to say. |
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NHS England made a shock move this week, sending a letter to local health chiefs ordering them to plan the removal of 287 patients from St Andrew's Healthcare's Northampton hospital. This privately run mental health hospital, which can take more than 400 patients, cares for some of the country's most complex and seriously ill people. It also provides specialist services, including inpatient care for deaf patients, and acts as a national referral centre when local hospitals cannot meet patients' needs. |
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In January, The Independent revealed St Andrew's Healthcare had more than a dozen staff members arrested in relation to multiple police probes |
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As someone who has covered mental health services for years, I know that concerns about care at St Andrew's Northampton are not new. The Independent revealed in January that the hospital faced multiple police investigations into allegations of abuse, rape, and neglect, including two patient deaths in October 2024 and February 2025. More than a dozen staff members were arrested in connection with these cases, though some have since been released without further action. NHS England says the patient removals are necessary because it "still does not have adequate assurance that patient safety is improving at the rate it needs to." Patients will either be transferred to other hospitals or discharged, with 24/7 oversight maintained at the Northampton site during the process. For me, this situation also highlights a wider problem: the NHS relies heavily on private and independently run mental health hospitals. That reliance seems to make it harder to act quickly when serious care concerns arise, raising questions about the effectiveness of regulatory oversight. |
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