Friday 25 April 2014

“A third” of Northamptonshire`s community mental health nurses at risk of redundancy

“A third” of Northamptonshire`s community mental health nurses at risk of redundancy About a third of community psychiatric nurses in Northamptonshire have been placed at risk of redundancy, patients have claimed.
Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which provides NHS mental health services across the county has confirmed that it has begun several separate staff consultations over job losses, including some of its community psychiatric nurses. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

EXCLUSIVE: Grandmother with fractured pelvis locked in toilet at Northampton General Hospital for an hour

EXCLUSIVE: Grandmother with fractured pelvis locked in toilet at Northampton General Hospital for an hour A faulty emergency cord in a Northampton General Hospital toilet left a great grandmother shocked and distressed when she was locked in there for more 
than an hour. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

See also:

We can learn more from India than how to cut costs

We can learn more from India than how to cut costs Here’s a puzzle for you. You have a population of one million people, three psychiatrists, and no mental health nurses. How do you go about delivering mental health care?

Resource constraints of this order are something we rarely have to contemplate in the UK, but are a daily reality in India and many other countries. Despite the differences in the scale of the resources available, the underlying challenge of improving quality within limited budgets is one shared by health systems across the world, and in the UK there has been increasing interest in the lessons that might be learnt from innovations in lower-income countries.

Health atlas shows risks by area

Health atlas shows risks by area A new online map of England and Wales allows people to enter their postcode and find their community's level of risk of developing 14 conditions, such as heart disease and lung cancer. BBC News

Lung and pancreatic cancers may be on the rise

Lung and pancreatic cancers may be on the rise "Lung cancer will soon become the biggest cancer killer among women," the Mail Online reports, while ITV News reveals that pancreatic cancer "poses [a] growing threat". Both headlines are prompted by a study that has estimated future cancer trends across the EU.

The researchers estimate there will be approximately 1.32 million deaths from the eight most common cancers in 2014. They predict that in women, deaths from breast and colorectal cancers will decrease, but lung cancer rates are expected to increase by 8%.

The generation strain: collective solutions to care in an ageing society

The generation strain: collective solutions to care in an ageing society The number of older people in need of care is expected to outstrip the number of family members able to provide informal care for the first time in 2017, according to a report by IPPR. It shows that the average annual cost for an older person who pays for a typical package of care has increased to £7,900 a year, an average £25,000 for home care and an average £36,000 for a nursing home.By 2030, an estimated 230,000 older people in England who need care of more than twenty hours a week could be left without family to help, according to IPPR. The report says that the number of people aged 65 and over without children to care for them will almost double before the end of the next decade and that by 2030, there will be more than 2 million people in England without a child to care for them if needed. Institute for Public Policy Research

11% rise in women overdue for cervical screening

11% rise in women overdue for cervical screening There has been a substantial rise in the number of women who are overdue for screening for cervical cancer, with 11% more now overdue, compared to three years ago, data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre shows. OnMedica

GPs face growing pressure on child mental health referrals as CCGs impose further cuts

GPs face growing pressure on child mental health referrals as CCGs impose further cuts Exclusive CCGs are making cuts to the funding of child and adolescent mental health services, despite concerns from GPs that services are already overstretched, an  investigation has revealed. Pulse

Are clinical commissioning groups coping with the changes in the NHS?

Are clinical commissioning groups coping with the changes in the NHS? With CCGs just over a year old, do they have the ability to provide the bold leadership needed to make the necessary changes to local healthcare?

Are clinical commissioning groups coping with the changes in the NHS? The answer is very mixed. CCGs are still relatively young organisations. They have just completed their first year as commissioning bodies responsible for setting strategic priorities for their patch and commissioning care for secondary (acute and mental health) and community care, and for co-ordinating closely with public health and social care.

This is no small task. There are many cultural, organisational, budgetary and policy boundaries that divide and disintegrate care for patients and for populations. It is really too early to tell whether CCGs will have the ability to provide the bold local leadership to make the changes necessary to integrate care seamlessly for their population. The goal must be to manage the care landscape so that individuals can navigate the different sectors without encountering barriers or boundaries.Continue reading... The Guardian

Foreign doctors are vital to the NHS

Foreign doctors are vital to the NHS Recent reports risk creating a wave of distrust among patients, which could lead to future recruitment problems

From its inception, the NHS was built with the help of foreign workers and professionals from across the world. Thousands of doctors emigrated from the Indian subcontinent, Africa and Caribbean islands, recruited by a health service afflicted by an acute post-war shortage of medical staff.

Recent reports on foreign doctors have given adverse publicity, which is a matter of grave concern. Two issues are the pass rates of international medical graduates (IMGs) in GP exams as well as the rates of suspensions and erasures from the General Medical Council register which are in danger of creating sensationalism and marginalising dedicated NHS doctors.Continue reading... The Guardian