Final decision made on Northamptonshire ambulance stations

Final decision made on Northamptonshire ambulance stations: Ambulances will be stationed at 13 points across the south of Northamptonshire, after the plans were approved by the East Midlands Ambulance Service board. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

See also:

• Health chiefs make final decision on county’s ambulance services Evening Telegraph
• Ambulance station plans approved BBC News

NHS service in county achieves top award - Northampton Herald and Post

NHS service in county achieves top award - Northampton Herald and Post:

Northampton Herald and Post

NHS service in county achieves top award Northampton Herald and Post The Sett, based in Duston and run by Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT), has been accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatry's Quality Network for Inpatient CAMHS (QNIC). QNIC aims to demonstrate and improve the quality of ...

Protection or prosecution? Learning from Denmark

Protection or prosecution? Learning from Denmark: Following the publication of the Francis report, John Illingworth looks at the Danish Patient Safety Act, which includes some key obligations, most crucially for frontline personnel to report adverse events, for hospital owners to act on the reports and for the National Board of Health to disseminate learning and advice from them. The Health Foundation

Fears over launch of NHS 111 line

Fears over launch of NHS 111 line: Doctors are questioning the safety of a new non-emergency NHS telephone advice line in England. BBC News

Nurses to first train in basic care

Nurses to first train in basic care: Nurses will have to spend time as healthcare assistants as part of a measures to be unveiled by ministers in response to the Stafford hospital inquiry. BBC News

See also:

• Mid Staffordshire NHS scandal: Government accepts that student nurses need more hands-on experience The Independent
• Nurses to train in basic care for a year The Daily Telegraph
• Nurses must spend a year on basic care The Guardian
• You're not too posh to wash a patient: Minister orders student nurses back to basics to improve compassion in NHS The Daily Mail

Life on the front line of the NHS

Life on the front line of the NHS: What is life like on the front line of the NHS? BBC News

Quality and outcomes framework guidance for 2013/14 published

Quality and outcomes framework guidance for 2013/14 published: NHS Employers, the NHS Commissioning Board and the General Practitioners Committee have jointly published the 2013/14 Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) guidance.

Dementia: scoping the role of the dementia nurse specialist in acute care

Dementia: scoping the role of the dementia nurse specialist in acute care: This report highlights the significant contribution dementia nurse specialists could make in hospital settings, based on research which found that if properly funded and trained they could reduce hospital stays for older people by one day on average, saving almost £11,000,000 a year. It recommends that there should be at least one whole-time dementia specialist nurse for every 300 hospital admissions for people with dementia.

• Report
• RCN - press release

What about the children?: joint working between adult and children's services when parents or carers have mental ill health and/or drug and alcohol problems

What about the children?: joint working between adult and children's services when parents or carers have mental ill health and/or drug and alcohol problems: This thematic inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission explored how effectively adult and children’s services worked together to ensure that children affected by their parents’ or carers’ difficulties were supported and safe. The report draws on evidence from
cases in nine local authorities and partner agencies and from the views of parents, carers, children, practitioners and managers. It calls on the government to make it a mandatory requirement for mental health services to collect data on children whose parents or carers have mental health difficulties and report on such data nationally.

• Report
• Summary
• Ofsted - publications

Will the Francis report make a difference to the NHS in the long term?

Will the Francis report make a difference to the NHS in the long term?: Those working in the sector must accept that the report alone will not be enough to stop the failings in the short term.

Jeremy Hunt: Immigrants are 'clogging up' UK hospitals

Jeremy Hunt: Immigrants are 'clogging up' UK hospitals: Immigrants who should not be entitled to free healthcare have "clogged up" hospitals across the country, forcing British people to wait longer for treatment, Jeremy Hunt has claimed. The Daily Telegraph

Give mental health same priority as physical, says Royal College of Psychiatrists

Give mental health same priority as physical, says Royal College of Psychiatrists: Mental health should be given as much priority as physical health, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has claimed, as those with severe mental illness die 15 to 20 years sooner. The Daily Telegraph

See also: Whole-Person Care: From Rhetoric to Reality – achieving parity between mental and physical health Royal College of Psychiatrists