More and more of us are drinking ourselves into hospital

More and more of us are drinking ourselves into hospital: The number of people being admitted to hospital with alcohol-related conditions is continuing to rise despite work to tackle the problem. Evening Telegraph

Midwives in call for car parking help after clamping upset

Midwives in call for car parking help after clamping upset:

HOSPITAL bosses want community maternity staff in Northamptonshire to be immune from some parking restrictions after clampers prevented a midwife from being available for a home birth. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Work in progress: meeting local needs with lower workforce costs

Work in progress: meeting local needs with lower workforce costs:

The report is also supported by a number of supplementary tools which may help local authorities with workforce planning. NHS Networks

Plans to improve cancer intelligence published

Plans to improve cancer intelligence published:

Plans to tackle deficiencies in cancer intelligence are set out in a new framework published today .

The Cancer Intelligence Framework sets out the actions that are being taken to ensure that high quality, timely intelligence is available to all those who need it to play their part in improving cancer outcomes.

It is intended to ensure clarity and accountability about who will do what, and when, in improving cancer intelligence, improving the information that is available, removing duplication and maximising efficiency.

Developments are needed in particular in order to improve intelligence on screening, access to diagnostic tests from primary care, chemotherapy, date of recurrence and costeffectiveness, as well as a major drive to modernise cancer registries.

This cancer intelligence framework has been produced by the National Cancer Intelligence Network following a commitment made by the Department of Health to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in May 2011.

The PAC identified a number of areas where urgent improvement is required and this framework meets the commitment made to the Committee to set out, with timelines, the actions being undertaken to address this. Department of Health

NHS health MOT provision 'patchy'

NHS health MOT provision 'patchy': The provision of health MOTs for the over-40s in England has been "slow and patchy", says a UK charity. BBC News

Thousands of diabetes deaths avoidable, report finds

Thousands of diabetes deaths avoidable, report finds: Up to 24,000 deaths a year among diabetes patients could be prevented through better management, an analysis of England's National Diabetes Audit has found. GP Online

Medicines for children website launched

Medicines for children website launched: Source: Royal Pharmaceutical Society

WellChild, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), and the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group (NPPG) have launched the new Medicines for Children website, currently providing access to information leaflets on over 100 key medicines. Please see the link below for details.

An evaluation of the use of performance measures in health care

An evaluation of the use of performance measures in health care:

This evaluation report describes how performance measures are being used by a wide array of organisations and the types of measures being used for different purposes; summarises key barriers and facilitators to the use of measures; and identifies opportunities for easing the use of performance measures moving forward.

• Report


• Report summary


• RAND - publications

NHS whistleblowers call for better protection - Channel 4 News

NHS whistleblowers call for better protection - Channel 4 News:

Channel 4 News

NHS whistleblowers call for better protection Channel 4 News They are also sceptical about plans by the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to tighten up the whistleblowing policy by incorporating it into the NHS constitution next year. Dr Holt said that it had not legal foundation and so could not be challenged. ... Leigh, Day & Co | Baby P whistleblower says NHS still 'too dangerous' for ...Linex Legal (press release) (registration) all 8 news articles »

NHS whistleblowers are being gagged, says consultant paediatrician

NHS whistleblowers are being gagged, says consultant paediatrician:

Kim Holt, who raised concerns about a clinic where Baby P was treated, says employment laws are used to silence critics

A consultant paediatrician who raised concerns about a clinic where Baby Peter was treated days before his death has accused NHS managers of using employment laws to gag potential whistleblowers.

Kim Holt said there was a need to "change the culture of the NHS to one of openness and transparency and not one where the truth is often hidden and employment laws misused to silence critics.

"Whistleblowing should be actively encouraged within the NHS. As the evidence given to the Mid Staffordshire inquiry from people too scared to raise concerns showed, without the 'safety valve' provided through an effective whistleblowing procedure patients may be harmed or even killed."

Holt was speaking before the formal launch of a lobby group, Patients First, made up of whistleblowers within the NHS. In 2006 she and colleagues raised concerns over poor record-keeping and understaffing at St Ann's clinic in Haringey, north London, a move she has previously said led to her being removed from the clinic.

The following summer, Peter Connelly was seen by an inexperienced locum doctor days before he was killed. The locum failed to spot signs that the 17-month-old boy, who was on Haringey's child protection register, had been physically abused.

Holt has also said she was offered £120,000 to withdraw her complaints after Baby Peter's death, a claim Great Ormond Street denied, but in June this year, the hospital, which supplied doctors for the clinic and Haringey primary care trust, apologised for the "difficult time" she had had. Holt now works at the Whittington hospital in north London.

The health minister Anne Milton said: "Staff on the frontline know when patient services need to improve. That's why staff who blow the whistle are crucial in helping to raise standards and we are determined to support them.

"We have already brought in a contractual right to raise concerns and issued clear guidance to NHS organisations that all their contracts of employment should cover staff whistleblowing rights. We are also putting the rights of whistleblowers in the NHS Constitution. So-called 'gagging clauses' are simply unacceptable, and void under the Public Interest Disclosure Act. We will continue to do everything we can to support whistleblowers." The Guardian

Emergency patients facing hospital delays

Emergency patients facing hospital delays: Emergency patients taken to hospital by ambulance are increasingly facing long waits before they can be handed over to the care of doctors and nurses at overstretched accident and emergency wards, figures show. The Telegraph

40% of hospital drugs 'administered incorrectly'

40% of hospital drugs 'administered incorrectly': Four in ten hospital patients are being administered drugs incorrectly according to a study published today by the Journal of Advanced Nursing. The Independent