NHS Constitution: Fact or Fiction?

NHS Constitution: Fact or Fiction?:
The Patients Association is today publishing new evidence which suggests the public, patients, carers and doctors have very limited knowledge of NHS patients’ rights.

The survey found that the three most important priorities for patients and the public when receiving NHS services are: the right to be involved in decisions about their care, rights to information about treatment and rights to be treated with dignity and respect.

NICE reveals its recommended measures for the NHS Commissioning Outcomes Framework

NICE reveals its recommended measures for the NHS Commissioning Outcomes Framework:
NICE and the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care have published their recommendations for which health care measures are suitable to go in the Commissioning Outcomes Framework for 2013/14.

AUDIO: Staff 'nervous' in private-run hospital

AUDIO: Staff 'nervous' in private-run hospital: The private health company Circle took over Hinchingbrooke Hospital Trust in Cambridgeshire six months ago. Karen Jennings, assistant general secretary of Unison, gives her impression. BBC News

AUDIO: Hinchingbrooke 'one of the best in UK'

AUDIO: Hinchingbrooke 'one of the best in UK': Circle's chief executive Ali Parsa gives his verdict on the six months since the private health company took over Hinchingbrooke Hospital Trust in Cambridgeshire. BBC News

DH rationing review ignored use of thresholds to limit treatment

DH rationing review ignored use of thresholds to limit treatment: Ministers have admitted that a DH investigation into rationing in the NHS only looked at caps on activity and not at thresholds to accessing treatments. GP Online

Councils won't get control of NHS money

Councils won't get control of NHS money: But they will have a key part in making health reforms work in communities, says Sir David Nicholson Public Service

Costs of eating disorders in England: economic impact of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and other disorders focussing on young people

Costs of eating disorders in England: economic impact of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and other disorders focussing on young people:
This report aims to provide a comprehensive view of the overall costs to society of eating disorders in England, especially amongst young people, and the costs to the NHS, employers and employees. It reveals that the overall healthcare costs are estimated at £80-£100m; costs of reduced GDP up to £2.9bn; and costs of reduced length of life and health up to £6.6bn.

• Report
• Executive summary for commissioners
• beat - press releases

End of life diabetes care

End of life diabetes care:
This strategy aims to summarise a consistent but high-quality approach towards end of life care for people with diabetes by providing a series of clinical care recommendations. It builds on the Department of Health's end of life care strategy whilst focusing on the special issues and challenges provoked by end of life care for patients with diabetes.

• Strategy
• Clinical care recommendations
• Supplementary documents
• NHS Diabetes - news

COPD commissioning toolkit

COPD commissioning toolkit:
This toolkit aims to make it easier to commission better outcomes for people with COPD by bringing together the clinical, financial and commercial aspects of commissioning in one place. Alongside the toolkit itself, service specifications and costing tools have also been published. It is part of the suite of tools and resources to help to implement the Outcomes Strategy for COPD and Asthma and NHS Companion document.

• Toolkit 
• Outcomes strategy
• Further information and supporting documents

NICE boss in 'sue NHS' message

NICE boss in 'sue NHS' message:

The chairman of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has told patients they should sue health authorities if they deny them drugs deemed cost effective for use on the NHS.
His comments come amid growing evidence that trusts were acting unlawfully and denying drugs approved by NICE for use on the NHS.
He said some health trusts were also wrongly using “delaying tactics” be... Healthcare Today

Will patients really die this week because of new NHS hospital doctors?

Will patients really die this week because of new NHS hospital doctors?:

Today is "black Wednesday", day one of the killing season, when hospital death rates spike by 6%. But is it really true? Help us find the facts
• Data journalism from the Datablog
August 1 is the day when thousands of new doctors begin work in NHS hospitals around the country or move to new jobs. If you believe today's Telegraph, this is "Black Wednesday", the start of the "killing season".

Studies have shown that patients admitted as an emergency on the first Wednesday in August are six per cent more likely to die than on the previous Wednesday

Hope for the NHS

Hope for the NHS: Telegraph View: Allowing doctors, nurses and other health professionals to run their own hospitals points the way for our health service The Daily Telegraph

UK becoming nation of ‘happy pill poppers’ fears

UK becoming nation of ‘happy pill poppers’ fears:

The UK is in the grip of a ‘happy pill boom’ according to the Daily Mail, with ‘almost 50 million’ antidepressants prescribed in 2011.
The reports are based on figures released today for prescriptions dispensed by GPs, pharmacists and other health professionals in the community during 2011.
It shows that antidepressants such as Prozac and Seroxat account for the largest annual rise in prescriptions from 2010 to 2011. Just under 46.7 million prescriptions for antidepressants were dispensed in 2011, a rise of 3.9 million on 2010.