Learning from the four UK health systems

Learning from the four UK health systems: Following devolution in 1999, the UK now has one National Health Service but four different versions of it. But hardly anyone seems to be paying attention to that fact. As a result, a huge opportunity is going to waste.

MPs urge action on female mutilation

MPs urge action on female mutilation: Female genital mutilation is not being properly tackled in the UK as police and social workers are afraid to be seen as politically incorrect, MPs say. BBC News

Hospitals treat more child obesity

Hospitals treat more child obesity: Doctors in England and Wales see a four-fold increase in the number of children and teenagers admitted to hospital for conditions linked to obesity. BBC News

See also:

• Child obesity hospital admissions quadruple The Daily Telegraph
• Childhood obesity cases up four-fold in a decade: Nearly 21,000 aged five to 19 treated in hospital for weight-related conditions The Daily Mail

NHS faces fraud risk as private provision rises, warns report

NHS faces fraud risk as private provision rises, warns report: Recent NHS reforms could open the door to increased fraud in the health service, a think tank has warned. GP Online

E-referrals service gets offical launch

E-referrals service gets offical launch: The new NHS e-referrals service has been officially launched by Beverly Bryant, NHS England's director of strategic systems and technology. E-Health Insider

A voice and a choice: a showcase of four years of new ideas and practice

A voice and a choice: a showcase of four years of new ideas and practice: This report explores the need for new ways of supporting young people’s mental health, as well as what commissioners are looking for in an ideal support service. It outlines examples of current best practice, the challenges encountered, and acquired learning from supporting young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

• Report
• Mental Health Foundation - publications

Don't claim acupuncture works, NHS hospital told: Institution criticised over leaflets that made bogus claims about the treatment

Don't claim acupuncture works, NHS hospital told: Institution criticised over leaflets that made bogus claims about the treatment: The Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine (RLHIM), which offers alternative treatments from hypnosis to homeopathy, has been told to stop misleading patients. The Daily Mail

The extraordinary silence around the Mid Staffs scandal

The extraordinary silence around the Mid Staffs scandal: Three hundred people died from suspected criminal negligence at Mid Staffs. There is evidence that managers, health officials and Government ministers knew something was going terribly wrong. And yet those who want answers are met with a wall of silence, writes Charlotte Leslie MP. The Daily Telegraph

NHS cash-for-access: salespeople 'posing as medical staff' to obtain pictures

NHS cash-for-access: salespeople 'posing as medical staff' to obtain pictures: Unqualified maternity ward photographers have been posing as medical staff and claiming pictures need to be taken for "security reasons" to obtain images and personal details, mothers have said. The Daily Telegraph

Head of NHS blames Treasury for use of secret gagging orders

Head of NHS blames Treasury for use of secret gagging orders: Sir David Nicholson embroiled in a row with George Osborne after he tries to blame the Treasury for use of gagging orders. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• VIDEO: 'Catalogue of errors linked to Sir David' BBC News
• Sir David Nicholson must be answerable over 'scandalous' gagging orders, says minister The Daily Telegraph
• NHS chief denies cover-up over £2m gagging orders The Guardian

How bad doctors can hide failings

How bad doctors can hide failings: Underperforming doctors will be able to secretly opt out of new government league tables, thwarting the Health Secretary's attempts to open up the NHS to scrutiny, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Surgeons can opt out of NHS tables rating their performance The Guardian

E-cigarettes to be licenced and treated as 'medicines' for first time in UK

E-cigarettes to be licenced and treated as 'medicines' for first time in UK:
Miracle cure for smoking or saviour of the tobacco industry, next big thing or fleeting celebrity fad - the electronic cigarette divides opinion, but its status in the UK has just become much clearer. The Independent

Fury at Jeremy Hunt’s U-turn on child heart units

Fury at Jeremy Hunt’s U-turn on child heart units:
It has taken a dozen years, involved one of the worst scandals in the NHS’s history and involved five reports. But today, the national plan to concentrate children’s heart surgery in fewer centres for safety reasons was torn up and its architects sent back to the drawing board. The Independent

See also: 

• NHS England reaction to independent reconfiguration panel report on the proposed changes to children’s heart surgery NHS England
• VIDEO: Child heart surgery: Statement in full BBC News
• Jeremy Hunt halts Leeds, Leicester and London child heart unit closures The Independent
• Jeremy Hunt lifts heart unit suspension The Daily Telegraph
• Jeremy Hunt suspends children's heart surgery unit closures The Guardian

Manchester hospital set to introduce ‘rate my doctor’ scheme

Manchester hospital set to introduce ‘rate my doctor’ scheme:
A Manchester hospital is to become the first in the country to publish performance ratings for all its consultants, allowing patients to rate their doctor and make choices about who provides their care. The Independent

See also

• 'Pick your consultant' data released BBC News