University of Northampton paramedic students to star in BBC3 documentary

University of Northampton paramedic students to star in BBC3 documentary Nine paramedic students at the University of Northampton are due to star in a series of the BBC3 show, Junior Paramedics: Your life in their hands. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Two Northampton care homes banned from admitting new elderly patients

Two Northampton care homes banned from admitting new elderly patients Two care homes in Northampton have been banned from admitting new elderly people after multiple concerns were raised by inspectors, it has emerged. Northampton Chronicle 

Hospital chains: a recipe for success?

Hospital chains: a recipe for success? Jeremy Hunt has asked Sir David Dalton to advise him how to ‘make it easy for NHS super-heads to take over struggling organisations’. Sir David was an obvious choice of an NHS super-head. His trust’s most recent annual report needs a whole page for the awards it received in the last year, including Best Acute Trust nationally in the NHS Staff Survey (2012). The tireless pursuit of error-free care leaps from the page. How easy then will it be for Sir David to find ways for him and other ‘super-heads’ to inculcate a culture of success into ‘struggling’ organisations?

Minding that gap: the NHS funding challenge

Minding that gap: the NHS funding challenge We thought Monitor’s analysis in 'Closing the Funding Gap' deserved more attention, so last month invited a group of notables to mull over the findings, says Jennifer Dixon, with four main messages coming from the event. The Health Foundation

Violence and health and wellbeing boards: a practical guide for health and wellbeing boards

Violence and health and wellbeing boards: a practical guide for health and wellbeing boards As well as the personal cost, violent incidents, including gang and youth violence, violence against women and children, domestic violence, sexual violence and elder abuse, impose a considerable financial burden on local healthcare systems. NHS Confederation

Baby-boomer drug and alcohol warning

Baby-boomer drug and alcohol warning There is a growing problem of drug and alcohol misuse among older people, campaigners are warning. BBC News

See also:

• It's about time: tackling substance misuse in older people Drugscope
• Soaring numbers of over-40s are taking heroin, using cannabis and binge drinking The Daily Mail
• Baby boomer generation faces drink and drugs warning The Independent

Three-person baby details announced

Three-person baby details announced How the creation of babies using sperm and eggs from three people will be regulated in the UK has been announced. BBC News

See also:

• Open consultation: Serious mitochondrial disease: new techniques to prevent transmission Department of Health
• Draft regulations for ‘three-parent babies’ released OnMedica

Caesareans linked to obesity in offspring

Caesareans linked to obesity in offspring Babies born by caesarean section are more likely to be obese adults, the Daily Mail reports, after an analysis found a link between caesarean section and obesity in later life. However, a direct link between the two remains unproven.

Breast cancer: fall in proportion of women screened in England

Breast cancer: fall in proportion of women screened in England The proportion of women screened for breast cancer in England has fallen slightly, latest figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show.

Commissioning the conditions for safer surgery

Commissioning the conditions for safer surgery This report makes a series of recommendations for new standards and systems to further improve the safety of surgery in English hospitals. The main recommendations of the report cover three themes: standardise, educate and harmonise. In response, NHS England has committed to identifying practical ways to take forward the report’s recommendations to eradicate never events from surgical procedures. NHS England

• Report
• NHS England - Surgical Never Events Taskforce

Public Health England is failing as a champion of public health, MPs say

Public Health England is failing as a champion of public health, MPs say The organisation ‘has yet to strike the right tone’ on tackling alcohol misuse, smoking and obesity. OnMedica

Physical health monitoring in serious mental illness is a priority in psychiatry, but where is the evidence that it works?

Physical health monitoring in serious mental illness is a priority in psychiatry, but where is the evidence that it works? It is widely acknowledged that individuals with serious mental illnesses (SMI) such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe depression have increased rates of mortality, due to poor physical health. As well as reducing quality of life and function and decreasing life expectancy, physical illness can worsen these mental illnesses. The reasons for this include lifestyle [read the full story...] The Mental Elf

Proposed wilful neglect law may see up to 240 health prosecutions a year

Proposed wilful neglect law may see up to 240 health prosecutions a year Government wants criminal offence to be introduced in England following Mid Staffs hospital scandal.

How NHS Change Day became the biggest movement in the health service's history

How NHS Change Day became the biggest movement in the health service's history Thousands of staff and patients will take part in the second NHS Change Day, pledging to do something to improve the service.

Pledges ordinary, pledges extraordinary,
Pledges about care, whether coronary or pulmonary.Pledges by children, pledges by medics,Pledges about talking, pledges about ethics.People are pledging because they care,We love the NHS and need it there.

Children taken into care for being too fat

Children taken into care for being too fat

Up to 74 morbidly obese children are estimated to have been taken into care over the last five years, according to figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws. The Independent

Jeremy Hunt visits Alzheimer's centre in Paris

Jeremy Hunt visits Alzheimer's centre in Paris Health secretary unveils plans for a revolution in dementia care in the UK during international summit in Paris where he hailed scientific advances which could bring about predictive tests for such conditions within five years. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Health secretary Jeremy Hunt pledges faster diagnosis for dementia The Guardian