Coming of age in the NHS

Coming of age in the NHS How best can we engage and support our staff and patients to lead the necessary redesign to achieve quality, reliability and the required efficiencies? asks Suzie Bailey. The Health Foundation

AUDIO: Wasted prescriptions cost NHS £300m

AUDIO: Wasted prescriptions cost NHS £300m Jan James, managing director of NHS campaign Medicine Waste talks about the cost of wasted prescription medication. BBC News

Ministers: Improve work fitness test

Ministers: Improve work fitness test Atos, the company which carries out "fitness-for-work" tests on disabled people, is told to improve its services, after an "unacceptable reduction" in quality. BBC News

Plain packs 'help smokers to quit'

Plain packs 'help smokers to quit' Plain packaging for cigarettes seems to make tobacco less appealing and encourages smokers to quit, suggests a study. BBC News

See also:

• 'No excuse' to delay plain cigarette packs after new study, say campaigners The Independent
• 'No excuse for delay on plain cigarette packaging, say campaigners The Daily Telegraph

Skin cancer survival all-time high

Skin cancer survival all-time high Eight out of 10 men and nine out of 10 women, diagnosed with the most dangerous form of skin cancer will survive the disease, says a new report. BBC News

Nurses recorded wrong waiting times

Nurses recorded wrong waiting times Two nurses from Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust are found to have inaccurately recorded patient waiting times in accident and emergency. BBC News

Nurses still struggling to influence IT

Nurses still struggling to influence IT The Royal College of Nursing has called for more nursing input into IT and more IT training for nurses after a survey uncovered a lack of confidence in clinical systems. E-Health Insider

Leicester telehealth scheme expanded

Leicester telehealth scheme expanded A telehealth project for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has prevented 107 hospital admissions in Leicester over the past 30 weeks. E-Health Insider

People with epilepsy 'have higher risk of early death'

People with epilepsy 'have higher risk of early death' "People with epilepsy 11 times more likely to die prematurely, study finds," is the news in The Daily Telegraph. The story comes from a large long-term study of records of people with epilepsy. The study compared them with their unaffected siblings and the general population.

NHS Health Check implementation review and action plan

NHS Health Check implementation review and action plan This review argues that checking 40-74-year-olds’ blood pressure, cholesterol, weight and lifestyle could identify problems earlier and prevent 650 deaths, 1,600 heart attacks and 4,000 cases of diabetes a year. Before local authorities took over responsibility for commissioning Health Checks in April, there was considerable variation in how widely they were offered. PHE, which leads the NHS Health Check programme, has now launched a ten-point plan to help councils roll them out to 20 per cent of their eligible local population a year –15 million people by 2018/19.

• Review and action plan
• Department of Health - press release

GPC sets out plan to integrate all unscheduled care

GPC sets out plan to integrate all unscheduled care CCGs should integrate all out-of-hours unscheduled care under GP leadership, according to the GPC. GP Online

Could 'good egg' Jeremy Hunt be the saviour of the NHS?

Could 'good egg' Jeremy Hunt be the saviour of the NHS? The health secretary seems to think like a patient and gets down to the nitty gritty by working in hospitals

I have come to the conclusion that the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is a good egg. As a long-term NHS customer, he does seem to think like a patient. What's more, he has two of the same bees buzzing in his bonnet as I have: that GPs should take back oversight of out-of-hours care, and that the lack of effective IT in the NHS is a disgrace.

Mid-Staffs nursing chief: I’m not to blame

Mid-Staffs nursing chief: I’m not to blame

The former director of nursing at the scandal-hit Stafford Hospital has told a disciplinary hearing that the word "nursing" in her job title was "misleading", as she blamed frontline staff for catastrophic care failings at the hospital. The Independent

Junior doctors' 100-hour weeks 'put patient safety at risk'

Junior doctors' 100-hour weeks 'put patient safety at risk' Junior doctors have warned that they are being left exhausted by 100-hour weeks and 12-day rotations that put patient safety at risk. The Independent