Free pair of NHS ‘Valentine’s Day’ pants for people who get tested for chlamydia:
Young people in Northamptonshire are being offered a free pair of special edition ‘Valentine’s pants’ by the NHS if they have a chlamydia test before February 14. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
Monday, 4 February 2013
Northampton General Hospital praised for sharing information to help cut violent crime
Northampton General Hospital praised for sharing information to help cut violent crime:
Northampton General Hospital has been praised in a national report looking at how health organisations can help reduce violent crime. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
Northampton General Hospital has been praised in a national report looking at how health organisations can help reduce violent crime. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
Complaints up on private NHS transport firm
Complaints up on private NHS transport firm:
A private company that won an NHS contract to carry Northamptonshire patients to hospital appointments has seen a rise in complaints. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
A private company that won an NHS contract to carry Northamptonshire patients to hospital appointments has seen a rise in complaints. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
Carer suspended while ‘neglect’ investigated
Carer suspended while ‘neglect’ investigated:
A care company in Northampton has suspended an employee after a mentally ill man was left in a car in freezing temperatures. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
A care company in Northampton has suspended an employee after a mentally ill man was left in a car in freezing temperatures. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
MPs call for criminal inquiry into toxic hip implants
MPs call for criminal inquiry into toxic hip implants:
MPs have called for an inquiry after it emerged that a company sold toxic hip implants used in thousands of operations in Britain despite knowing for at least three years that they were potentially dangerous.
Telegraph Health News
MPs have called for an inquiry after it emerged that a company sold toxic hip implants used in thousands of operations in Britain despite knowing for at least three years that they were potentially dangerous.
Telegraph Health News
Call for universal HPV jab:
A British charity has called for schoolboys to be given the HPV vaccine in an effort to cut cases of throat cancer.
The Throat Cancer Foundation wants the decision to immunise girls – introduced in 2008 to protect against the virus that causes cervical cancer – to be extended to all 12-year-olds as protection against other cancers.
Australia is currently the only country to routinely offer universal...Healthcare Today
A British charity has called for schoolboys to be given the HPV vaccine in an effort to cut cases of throat cancer.
The Throat Cancer Foundation wants the decision to immunise girls – introduced in 2008 to protect against the virus that causes cervical cancer – to be extended to all 12-year-olds as protection against other cancers.
Australia is currently the only country to routinely offer universal...Healthcare Today
Department of Health launches 12 week consultation to establish a full set of NICE quality standards and guidance for social care
Department of Health launches 12 week consultation to establish a full set of NICE quality standards and guidance for social care: Source: Department of Health
The Department of Health is looking for ideas from care users, their families and carers, service commissioners, care providers, and front line staff to help decide on future topics for NICE guidance and standards for social care.
Some of the potential NICE standards for discussion in the consultation include:
. Falls
. Deprivation of liberty safeguards
. Medicines management in home-based settings.
The role of NICE in driving up the quality of social care is outlined in The Caring for our Future White Paper. The 12 week consultation ends on 26 April 2013.
Responses to the consultation can be made online or by downloading a full copy of the NICE consultation document.
The Department of Health is looking for ideas from care users, their families and carers, service commissioners, care providers, and front line staff to help decide on future topics for NICE guidance and standards for social care.
Some of the potential NICE standards for discussion in the consultation include:
. Falls
. Deprivation of liberty safeguards
. Medicines management in home-based settings.
The role of NICE in driving up the quality of social care is outlined in The Caring for our Future White Paper. The 12 week consultation ends on 26 April 2013.
Responses to the consultation can be made online or by downloading a full copy of the NICE consultation document.
GMC issues new prescribing guidance
GMC issues new prescribing guidance:
Good Practice in Prescribing and Managing Medicines and Devices strengthens and broadens the current advice on prescribing medicines to include medical devices and gives key updates on using unlicensed medicines.
While doctors should usually prescribe medicine within the terms on their licence, unlicensed medicines are commonly used in some areas such as paediatrics, psychiatry and palliative care. NHS Networks
Good Practice in Prescribing and Managing Medicines and Devices strengthens and broadens the current advice on prescribing medicines to include medical devices and gives key updates on using unlicensed medicines.
While doctors should usually prescribe medicine within the terms on their licence, unlicensed medicines are commonly used in some areas such as paediatrics, psychiatry and palliative care. NHS Networks
Making health services adolescent friendly: developing national quality standards for adolescent friendly health services.
Making health services adolescent friendly: developing national quality standards for adolescent friendly health services.:
This guidebook describes methods to promote accessibility for adolescents to the health services necessary to improve their health and wellbeing (including sexual and reproductive health services). The guidebook provides advice for the development of quality standards of health provision for young people. CASH Full News Feed
This guidebook describes methods to promote accessibility for adolescents to the health services necessary to improve their health and wellbeing (including sexual and reproductive health services). The guidebook provides advice for the development of quality standards of health provision for young people. CASH Full News Feed
NHS patient confidentiality 'at risk' from central database
NHS patient confidentiality 'at risk' from central database:
BMA and privacy groups warn transfer of patients' records without consent could breach rights and damage trust in doctors
The confidentiality of millions of NHS patients will be put at risk by a new central database of medical records, privacy campaigners and doctors' leaders have warned.
The British Medical Association and privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch said the transfer of patients' records without their consent could breach patient confidentiality and damage trust in doctors. The information to be stored on the database includes drinking habits, NHS numbers, illnesses and reasons for treatment.
The files, which will not state the patient's name, can be accessed by researchers to assess the nation's health, analyse demand for services and improve treatment.
The details, referred to by the NHS as "patient identifiable components", will include information including diagnosis of cancer or mental illness, date of birth, postcodes and a patient's date of death.
GPs will be required to send the information as part of Everyone Counts: Planning for Patients 2013/14, a programme designed to extend the availability of patient data across the health service. The central database will be run by the NHS's Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "We may be witnessing the beginning of the end for patient privacy in the NHS. Forget putting patients in charge of their medical records, this new giant database will put NHS managers in charge of our most confidential information. Not only have the public not been told what is going on, none of us have been asked to give our permission for this to happen.
"To claim a database that includes your NHS number, date of birth and postcode is anonymous is simply not true. The risks of re-identification on a mass scale are very real and do not seem to have been taken into account at all."
A BMA spokesman said that the proposals were too broad: "Sharing patient data to help inform commissioning decisions is an important process that can help to improve NHS services, but it must only be done with strict safeguards in place. Patients must be given the option to opt out of any scheme that seeks to transfer identifiable information about them from their records to another source."
Tim Kelsey, national director for patients and information at the NHS Commissioning Board, said that data sharing was vital for improving the NHS: "This does not put patient confidentiality at any risk. Data quality in the NHS needs to improve: it is no longer acceptable that at a given moment no one can be sure exactly how many patients are currently receiving chemotherapy, for example." Guardian
The confidentiality of millions of NHS patients will be put at risk by a new central database of medical records, privacy campaigners and doctors' leaders have warned.
The British Medical Association and privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch said the transfer of patients' records without their consent could breach patient confidentiality and damage trust in doctors. The information to be stored on the database includes drinking habits, NHS numbers, illnesses and reasons for treatment.
The files, which will not state the patient's name, can be accessed by researchers to assess the nation's health, analyse demand for services and improve treatment.
The details, referred to by the NHS as "patient identifiable components", will include information including diagnosis of cancer or mental illness, date of birth, postcodes and a patient's date of death.
GPs will be required to send the information as part of Everyone Counts: Planning for Patients 2013/14, a programme designed to extend the availability of patient data across the health service. The central database will be run by the NHS's Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "We may be witnessing the beginning of the end for patient privacy in the NHS. Forget putting patients in charge of their medical records, this new giant database will put NHS managers in charge of our most confidential information. Not only have the public not been told what is going on, none of us have been asked to give our permission for this to happen.
"To claim a database that includes your NHS number, date of birth and postcode is anonymous is simply not true. The risks of re-identification on a mass scale are very real and do not seem to have been taken into account at all."
A BMA spokesman said that the proposals were too broad: "Sharing patient data to help inform commissioning decisions is an important process that can help to improve NHS services, but it must only be done with strict safeguards in place. Patients must be given the option to opt out of any scheme that seeks to transfer identifiable information about them from their records to another source."
Tim Kelsey, national director for patients and information at the NHS Commissioning Board, said that data sharing was vital for improving the NHS: "This does not put patient confidentiality at any risk. Data quality in the NHS needs to improve: it is no longer acceptable that at a given moment no one can be sure exactly how many patients are currently receiving chemotherapy, for example." Guardian
People with schizophrenia are significantly more likely to die from heart disease and cancer
People with schizophrenia are significantly more likely to die from heart disease and cancer:
Since starting this blog two years ago, I have written about a number of studies that highlight the health inequalities faced by people with severe mental illness. The evidence keeps piling up and it’s really quite shocking that we are not doing more to diagnose and treat physical health problems in people with conditions such [read the full story...] The Mental Elf
Since starting this blog two years ago, I have written about a number of studies that highlight the health inequalities faced by people with severe mental illness. The evidence keeps piling up and it’s really quite shocking that we are not doing more to diagnose and treat physical health problems in people with conditions such [read the full story...] The Mental Elf
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