Friday 25 January 2013

Free NHS winter warmth packs at Northamptonshire events - Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Free NHS winter warmth packs at Northamptonshire events - Northampton Chronicle & Echo:

Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Free NHS winter warmth packs at Northamptonshire events
Northampton Chronicle & Echo
NHS Northamptonshire is 'spreading the warmth' at events around the county by giving advice and practical tips on how to keep warm as part of their 'Wrapped Up' campaign. The outreach team will be giving out winter packs to those who may be vulnerable ...

The King's Fund responds to Andy Burnham's speech launching the Labour Party's health and care policy review

The King's Fund responds to Andy Burnham's speech launching the Labour Party's health and care policy review: Responding to the Shadow Secretary of State's speech launching the Labour Party's health and care policy review, Chris Ham, Chief Executive of The King's Fund, said:
'Andy Burnham's diagnosis of why the NHS and social care needs to change is the right one. The demands of an ageing population, changing burden of disease and rising patient expectations mean that fundamental change is needed.
'His prescription for change is ambitious and his vision of delivering integrated care, co-ordinated around the needs of the individual, will be widely welcomed. But it leaves a number of unanswered questions, not least how plans as radical as these could be implemented while keeping his promise not to embark on further structural change.
'We have argued that it is time to think differently about how to respond to the future challenges facing the NHS and social care. Andy Burnham has responded to the challenge to think differently, but the ideas he has articulated today leave many questions unanswered.' Kings Fund

Direct Commissioning: planning guidance document published

Direct Commissioning: planning guidance document published:
The NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) has today published a document which supports the planning for Direct Commissioning responsibilities for 2013/14.
Supporting planning for 2013/14 for Direct Commissioning follows the publication of Everyone Counts: Planning for Patients 2013/14 which outlined the incentives and levers that will be used to improve services from April 2013 – the first year of the new NHS, where improvements and outcomes are delivered through existing and new commissioning routes.
The new document describes the processes that will be used to support planning for the next financial year.  It aims to support the NHS Commissioning Board’s national, regional and area teams to ensure that every plan is as strong as it can be, by designing an approach that achieves national consistency and improves quality and equity of access to services. This should be in the context of local priorities and in conjunction with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local Health and Wellbeing Boards. NHS Commissioning

Mobile Health Worker Project

Mobile Health Worker Project: This study aimed to better understand the requirements of mobile working. The final report examines 11 NHS pilot sites and outlines the benefits of mobile technology for health staff and patients. Findings include: greater productivity; an increase in available time for patient contact; less unnecessary journeys as well as time spent travelling; and significant reductions in data duplication. CASH Full News

NICE publish first guideline for psychosis and schizophrenia in children and young people

NICE publish first guideline for psychosis and schizophrenia in children and young people: Everyone who read the extracts from Michael Schofield’s memoir, published by the Guardian on January 19th, must surely have been moved by the sometimes harrowing description of his daughter Janni who was diagnosed with child-onset schizophrenia aged just 7 years old. Janni is an exception, as schizophrenia generally starts between the ages of 15 and [read the full story...] Mental Elf

Methods for the estimation of the NICE cost effectiveness threshold

Methods for the estimation of the NICE cost effectiveness threshold:
This study aimed to develop methods to estimate the NICE cost-effectiveness threshold making use of routinely available data. The methods used in this study provide an empirically-based and explicit
quantification of the scale of opportunity costs the NHS faces when considering whether the health benefits associated with new technologies are expected to offset the health that is likely to be forgone elsewhere in the NHS.
Research paper
Kings Fund

Homeopathy should not be available on the NHS

Homeopathy should not be available on the NHS:
Chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies has criticised homeopathy as being “rubbish”, describing practitioners as “peddlers”.
She said she was “perpetually surprised” homeopathy was still available on the NHS and raised concerns that homeopaths can prescribe pills and potions to treat malaria and other illnesses. Her views, which conflict with policy of the heath service, were expressed as s...Healthcare Today

Prostate cancer trebled in 30 years

Prostate cancer trebled in 30 years:
Cancer Research UK has released figures which suggest that boys born in 2015 will be almost three times as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point as those born in 1990.
The charity has suggested that the increased use of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, which picks up a wide variety of prostate cancers, and the ageing population are key factors in explaining the increase with 41,000 me...Healthcare Today

NHS drug decisions 'flawed'

NHS drug decisions 'flawed':
The Government’s drugs watchdog has hit back at criticism by European researchers over the system it utilises to recommend which medicines should be funded for NHS use.A study, funded by the European Commission, said the system applied by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was flawed and should be scrapped.NICE, however, responded by saying the measure it uses for ass... Healthcare Today

System used to decide whether drugs are cost-effective for NHS 'is flawed'

System used to decide whether drugs are cost-effective for NHS 'is flawed': The formula used to decide whether NHS patients can have access to costly drug treatments is flawed and should be scrapped, according to a European Commission-funded study. Daily Telegraph