In addition to broken bones, falls may lead to prolonged lies on the floor, with resulting complications, and they are a common precipitant for people moving into long-term care, or needing more help at home.
Thursday, 5 September 2013
New chairman for troubled hospital
New chairman for troubled hospital A hospital in Northamptonshire which failed to meet government targets for A&E treatment appoints a new chairman and four board members. BBC News
What are the real costs of falls and fractures?
What are the real costs of falls and fractures? David Oliver
Falls and fall-related injuries are a major challenge to health and care systems and to the older people who suffer them. Around one in three people over 65 and one in two people over 80 fall at least once each year. Falls account for around 40 per cent of all ambulance call-outs to the homes of people over 65 and are a leading cause of older people’s use of hospital beds. Each year there are around twice as many fractures resulting from falls as there are strokes in the over 65s.
Thousands of women's lives could be saved by blood test
Thousands of women's lives could be saved by blood test Thousands of women's lives could be saved by simple blood test to detect signs of a heart attack, research suggests. Telegraph
Good hygiene may be to blame for soaring Alzheimer's
Good hygiene may be to blame for soaring Alzheimer's Modern cities and improved hygiene could be behind rising rates of Alzheimer's in Britain and the rest of the developed world, scientists say.
Telegraph
Telegraph
Quarter of GPs offer Patient Access
Quarter of GPs offer Patient Access A quarter of GPs in England are now actively using Emis' Patient Access, which can be used to give patients access to their records and transactional services such as online booking. EHI News
National PACS Programme broke even
National PACS Programme broke even The programme to deliver picture and archiving communications systems to hospitals in England has saved almost as much money as it cost, according to figures released by the National Audit Office under the Freedom of Information Act. EHI News
Hospital trust that failed to ensure patients' safety is fined £350k
Hospital trust that failed to ensure patients' safety is fined £350k Basildon hospital admitted failing to protect patients and visitors after two people died after contracting legionnaires' disease
A hospital trust has been ordered to pay fines and costs of £350,000 for failing to ensure the safety of its patients.
Basildon hospital admitted failing to protect patients and visitors between 2006 and 2007 after James Compton, 74, and Raymond Cackett, 54, died after contracting legionnaires' disease. Six others were also infected by chronic Legionella.
Bosses also pleaded guilty to a similar count after a patient, who was on the hospital's elderly ward, was injured after falling five metres from an unrestricted window.
Sentencing at Chelmsford crown court, the judge David Turner said: "These are failures of very different kinds but each is in its own way serious."
He ordered the Essex hospital – one of 14 named in a report into abnormally high death rates by the NHS medical director, Sir Bruce Keogh – to pay a fine of £100,000 for the legionnaires' offence and £75,000 for the fall.
Crossing boundaries: improving integrated care for people with mental health problems
Crossing boundaries: improving integrated care for people with mental health problems
Mental Health Foundation -
Mental Health Foundation -
This report sets out the findings from the Mental Health Foundation’s Inquiry into integrated health care for people with mental health problems, which ran from April 2012 to June 2013. Its aim was to identify good practice, generate discussion, and draw up key messages on integrated healthcare for people with mental health problems.
Psychiatrists and nurses admit lying to dementia patients
Psychiatrists and nurses admit lying to dementia patients More than two thirds of psychiatrists and nearly all nurses questioned in research have admitted lying to dementia patients.
Telegraph
Telegraph
Stopping tamoxifen 'ups breast cancer death risk'
Stopping tamoxifen 'ups breast cancer death risk' “Hundreds of women are dying needlessly every year as they stop taking breast cancer drugs because of the unbearable side effects,” reports The Daily Telegraph.
The news is based on a study looking at whether women prescribed tamoxifen after breast cancer surgery took the drug as prescribed (adherence).
Researchers wanted to compare the cost-effectiveness of tamoxifen after breast cancer surgery for women who were highly adherent with those whose adherence to treatment was low.
Researchers analysed data on just over 1,000 Scottish women prescribed tamoxifen to try and reduce risk of cancer recurrence. They found that women with low “adherence” (stopping or taking it irregularly) to tamoxifen had shorter time to cancer recurrence, increased medical costs, and poorer quality of life.
However, despite the headlines, we can’t tell why the women didn’t stick with their treatment. The reasons people stop taking potentially life-saving treatment are complex, and can be due to many factors, including psychosocial and health factors, as well as side effects.
Currently, women given tamoxifen after breast cancer surgery are advised to take it for five years, and the results of this study support this. The study authors suggest that it would be cost-effective for the health service to intervene to encourage women to continue taking tamoxifen daily for the whole five-year period.
Where did the story come from?
Links To The Headlines
Hundreds of women dying needlessly after quitting cancer drugs. The Daily Telegraph, September 4 2013
Lethal toll as women quit ‘unbearable’ cancer drug tamoxifen. The Times, September 4 2013
Breast cancer drug could save lives of more than 400 women, study shows. The Guardian, September 4 2013
Skipping breast cancer drugs costs lives, warns charity. BBC News, September 4 2013
Links To Science
McCowan C, et al. The value of high adherence to tamoxifen in women with breast cancer: a community-based cohort study. British Journal of Cancer. Published online September 3 2013
NHS Choices
Commissioning inclusive services
Commissioning inclusive services The National Inclusion Health Board has produced a new guide to help bring a greater focus on tackling health inequalities, by supporting JSNAs and JHWSs to identify the needs of the most vulnerable and set clear priorities for how these can be met.
The guide can be found on the LGA’s Knowledge Hub. NHS Networks
Good practice guidance
Good practice guidance NICE Good practice guidance provides advice and guides good practice for those in health and social care involved in handling, prescribing, commissioning and making decisions about medicines. NICE
News story: Local Clinical Research Network hosts announced by the NIHR
News story: Local Clinical Research Network hosts announced by the NIHR The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Local Clinical Research Network will distribute £280 million of NIHR funding per year to hospitals and surgeries across England to pay for research nurses, scans, x-rays and other clinical research costs.
The network will help to increase the opportunities for patients to take part in clinical research, and will be responsible for making sure that studies are carried out efficiently. It also supports the government’s strategy for UK Life Sciences by improving the environment for life-sciences research in the NHS.
Clinical research provides evidence about ‘what works’, and on how the NHS can provide better treatments for NHS patients across all areas of medicine. The promotion, conduct and use of clinical research is included in the NHS Constitution, which pledges that patients will be informed of research studies they may be able to take part in.
Last year, more than 630,000 patients took part in clinical research studies supported by the NIHRClinical Research Network.
Dr Daniel Poulter, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health, said:
Department of HealthThese changes will give patients around the country better access to clinical research. That means new treatments will be developed faster and available for patients earlier.The UK’s position as a world leader in the field of research is something we are rightly proud of. The network provides a platform for exciting studies to take place and build on that reputation.
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