Tuesday 10 April 2012

Target failure may cost trust £5.2m

Target failure may cost trust £5.2m:
POSSIBLE fines for failing to hit speed targets next year could “jeopardise the future viability” of East Midlands Ambulance Service, finance chiefs have claimed. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Doctors failed to spot toddler's fatal illness on THREE occasions before he died - Daily Mail

Doctors failed to spot toddler's fatal illness on THREE occasions before he died - Daily Mail:

Daily Mail
Doctors failed to spot toddler's fatal illness on THREE occasions before he died
Daily Mail
With his worried mother Lucy at his side, Harry was admitted to Northampton General Hospital that evening, before being discharged the next day. However when he was unable to keep down fluids, his family took him back to the same hospital on April 28.
Inquest into death of 19-month-old-boy to hear evidence from mother who ...Northampton Chronicle & Echo

all 3 news articles »

Are we expecting too much from the Care Quality Commission? | Anna Dixon

Are we expecting too much from the Care Quality Commission? | Anna Dixon: A report by the Public Accounts Committee has once again highlighted the challenges the Care Quality Commission has faced since it was set up in 2009. But are we expecting too much from a quality regulator? (Blog, Anna Dixon) Kings Fund

Materials to support improved access and reduced waiting times in elective care

Materials to support improved access and reduced waiting times in elective care:
You can access the Referral to Treatment consultant-led waiting times rules, methodology papers, Frequently Asked Questions, and practical tools for waiting list management.
A range of tools to help providers manage capacity and demand and elective waiting lists are also available on the NHS Interim Management and Support (IMAS) website.

Referral to Treatment waiting times statistics

The monthly Referral To Treatment (RTT) data collections monitor the length of time from referral through to treatment.

Elective care commissioning pathways

There are a number of elective care condition based and symptom based commissioning pathways available. These show a structured approach to commissioning local services.
You can also view an Inflammatory Arthritis Patient Pathway – a guide to what information is available and might be useful to patients at every key stage of their journey. Department of Health

Diabetes blood pressure warning

Diabetes blood pressure warning: Half of people with diabetes in England are failing to keep control of their blood pressure, risking a range of "damaging" complications, figures suggest. BBC News

VIDEO: Malaria fight 'badly compromised'

VIDEO: Malaria fight 'badly compromised': Scientists have found new evidence that resistance to the front-line treatments for malaria is increasing. BBC News

Exclusive: NHS Commissioning Board may stipulate staff CCGs employ

Exclusive: NHS Commissioning Board may stipulate staff CCGs employ: The NHS Commissioning Board (NCB) will have powers to stipulate types of staff clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) employ, according to draft authorisation guidance to be discussed next week. GP Online

NHS spending on drugs fell in 2011

NHS spending on drugs fell in 2011: The NHS in England spent less on its drugs budget last year, bucking the longstanding upward trend.This is because a number of major drugs have lost patent protection in the last few years. The NHS in England spent ;8.81 billion for all of its prescription medicines in primary care last year, a 0.1% drop compared to the ;8.83 billion spent in 2010. The data comes from the NHS Information Centre and shows that amount spent on prescription drugs by GPs in England.read more

Healthcare market to be investigated

Healthcare market to be investigated:

Calls have been made for an investigation into the private healthcare market in the UK, which is worth £5.5bn.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has asked the Competition Commission to launch an inquiry – which could take two years - following a public consultation earlier this year after which it said it suspected competition was being restricted.
The OFT holds the view “that the private healthcare... Healthcare Today

Four-year doctor training urged

Four-year doctor training urged:

The RCGP has said the period of time for GP training should be extended to four years.
It is making a submission along those lines to the Medical Programme Board of Medical Education England (MEE) to see the 12-month increase in the current GP specialty training period to reflect growing demands on GPs and primary care as the main setting for an increasing amount of patient services.
It is also suggesti... Healthcare Today

New smoking rules help those wanting to stop, says Andrew Lansley

New smoking rules help those wanting to stop, says Andrew Lansley:
Government to press ahead with measures to discourage smoking as ban on tobacco promotion in shops comes into force
Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has hailed the ban on smoking in public places for the way it had changed attitudes and ensured that smoking was ceasing to be a "part of life".
As a ban on tobacco promotion in large shops came into force in England on Friday, Lansley pledged to press ahead with measures to discourage smoking.
He said the new rules were designed to ensure all large shops and supermarkets in England must hide cigarettes and tobacco products from public view. "It's also about supporting smokers who want to give up," the health secretary told BBC Breakfast.
"There's more than a third of smokers who say they want to stop. Each year we have nearly 800,000 smokers who try to quit, 50% succeed. We want to continue to increase that proportion, help more people to stop." The Department of Health said the new restrictions were necessary because evidence suggests cigarette displays could encourage young people to start smoking. Figures released by the department showed that more than 300,000 children under the age of 16 try smoking every year. It estimates 5% of children between the ages of 11 and 15 are regular smokers.
Lansley dismissed the idea that young people could find smoking more exciting if tobacco was hidden.
"The culture is about moving to a place where tobacco and smoking isn't part of normal life: people don't encounter it normally, they don't see it in their big supermarkets, they don't see people smoking in public places, they don't see tobacco vending machines," he said. "We are going to continue to try to act against smoking for the simple reason that most smokers want to quit and it is the biggest avoidable cause of early mortality."
Lansley's strong praise for the smoking ban, imposed by a free vote in parliament in 2006, shows he has changed his views. In the 2005 general election he called, as shadow health secretary, for voluntary agreements on whether to ban smoking. Labour called for a partial ban while the Liberal Democrats called for an outright ban.
Lansley admitted in February 2006, when MPs voted in favour of the ban, that he was proposing a "complex" series of positions. This involved tabling an amendment to ban smoking in parts of private clubs to which children have access. But he voted against government plans as the Tories tried to ensure private clubs would be exempt from the ban.
He told MPs then: "The voting might be complex, but the principles involved are pretty straightforward. We must reduce smoking and the exposure to secondhand smoke. We should not permit people's liberty to choose whether to smoke to extend to a licence to cause harm to others, but we cannot allow legislation to intrude into the choices that people make in their private space."
Jean King, of Cancer Research UK, told the BBC: "We want everything we can possibly do to make cigarettes unavailable and inaccessible and something that children don't see as a normal product … we need to do everything we can to prevent young people getting hold of cigarettes." The Guardian

Cancer diagnosis among catalogue of NHS fax blunders

Cancer diagnosis among catalogue of NHS fax blunders: Sensitive medical records including a patient's diagnosis of cancer were faxed to strangers by NHS hospitals. The Daily Telegraph

Christina Patterson: More nurses, better paid than ever – so why are standards going down?

Christina Patterson: More nurses, better paid than ever – so why are standards going down?:
Let's get one thing straight. There never was a golden age of nursing. Florence Nightingale wasn't Jesus, and nor were the people she recruited and trained. There was a report to a select committee, triggered by a scandal in poor nursing, in 1892. There was another one in 1932, and another in 1939. There have been scandals in nursing for as long as nursing has been around. The Independent

NHS managers draw up plans to cope with first mass walkout by doctors

NHS managers draw up plans to cope with first mass walkout by doctors:
National Health Service managers have been told to draw up contingency plans to deal with the threat of the first-ever strike by doctors in England, which could take place within two months. The Independent

Community services governance indicators: Monitor's requirements for 2011/12

Community services governance indicators: Monitor's requirements for 2011/12: This document summarises Monitor’s requirements for community services governance indicators for 2011/12.