The NHS can rise to the challenge, Simon Stevens tells NHS leaders

The NHS can rise to the challenge, Simon Stevens tells NHS leaders NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens sets out critical steps the Health Service must take to address head-on the challenges it faces over the next five years and beyond. NHS England

See also:

• Speech by Simon Stevens, CEO NHS England, to the NHS Confederation Annual Conference 2014 NHS England
• NHS 'failing elderly patients' BBC News
• GPs could merge with hospital services, says NHS chief executive GP Online
• NHS faces ‘defining moment’ in its history but it can rise to its challenges OnMedica
• New NHS boss: service must become world leader in personalised medicine The Guardian
• NHS hospitals to be given bonuses for treating patients well The Daily Telegraph

Patient and Family-Centred Care toolkit

Patient and Family-Centred Care toolkit Patient and Family-Centred Care toolkit This toolkit is a step-by-step guide to improving processes of care and staff–patient interactions, using a technique called Patient and Family-Centred Care. It aims to offer a simple way for health care organisations to show their commitment to patients’ experience of the care they receive while also attending to the wellbeing of the staff who deliver that care. The toolkit evolved from the Patient and Family-Centred Care programme.

This initiative was run jointly by the Health Foundation and The King’s Fund to develop a small number of exemplary hospitals and a team of professional staff and managers who could demonstrate their achievements to others and bring sustainable improvement in patients' experience and outcomes.

• Toolkit
• Blog about the toolkit

New mileage rates from 1 July 2014

New mileage rates from 1 July 2014 Changes to the rates of reimbursement for the additional costs incurred by employees who travel on NHS business. NHS Employers

See also:

• NHS trusts to save millions on mileage adjustment NHS Employers

The Gold Guide (fifth edition) is now available

The Gold Guide (fifth edition) is now available This fifth edition of A Reference Guide for Postgraduate Specialty Training in the UK (the “Gold Guide”) sets out the arrangements agreed by the four UK Health Departments for core and/or specialty training programmes.

The Gold Guide is applicable to trainees taking up appointments in core and/or specialty training programmes which commence on or after 1 August 2007. This edition is a consolidation of earlier versions of the Gold Guide and replaces the first, second and third editions of the Gold Guide with immediate effect. Health Education England

'Male hormones' in womb linked to autism

'Male hormones' in womb linked to autism “Boys who develop autism may be exposed to higher levels of hormones…in the womb,” The Daily Telegraph reports.

Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), commonly known as autism, is more common in males, but the reason why is still unknown. One hypothesis is that there may be factors in the development of male infants that increase their risk of ASD, such as exposure to certain hormones.

This study measured sex hormone levels in the amniotic fluid (which surrounds and supports the baby) of over 300 boys. Hormone levels were found to be higher in boys who developed ASD.

However, this does not necessarily mean this is the cause of ASD. The average levels were higher, but many of the boys who developed ASD had normal and low levels, meaning there has to be other factors that play a role in the development of these conditions.

These findings have no immediate implications.

The open data era in health and social care

The open data era in health and social care This report contains a blueprint for the NHS in England to develop a research and learning programme for the open data era in health and social care. It suggests ways to enable a conversation about how the health and care system can maximize the impact of sharing open data through establishing priorities and clear ways of measuring benefits. The GovLab

• Full report
• Executive summary

Establishing incentives and changing cultures to support data access

Establishing incentives and changing cultures to support data access This study seeks to understand the factors that help and hinder researchers in making data more widely available, and to investigate the need to create new incentives to facilitate data sharing. In addition to a review of previous work on this topic, the research encompassed a web survey, expert interviews and focus group discussions with researchers and data managers. The report makes a series of recommendations to funders and research leaders about how they could work to build incentives and embed cultural change. Wellcome Trust

• Report
• Supporting materials

Early death and violent crime rates have risen in people with schizophrenia

Early death and violent crime rates have risen in people with schizophrenia Eight times as likely to die early as general public; emphasises need for secondary prevention, say researchers OnMedica

Only an injection of cash can avert an NHS crisis | Denis Campbell

Only an injection of cash can avert an NHS crisis | Denis Campbell Its new chief executive Simon Stevens is on a mission to save the NHS. But will the coalition come up with a pre-election bailout?

Suddenly the rhetoric around the NHS has got very dramatic. The service is "at a defining moment". Says who? None other than Simon Stevens, NHS England's new chief executive. His self-declared mission: to make the NHS sustainable. No pressure, eh? Interestingly, the ex-Labour special adviser personally wooed by David Cameron to take the job seems relaxed about being seen so widely as the service's saviour. Today brings his first big speech. Stevens' turn at the NHS Confederation's annual conference in Liverpool this week will expand upon themes he set out last week about reorganising services out of hospital care and making proper support for older people the top priority. Rarely have an NHS leader's views been more eagerly anticipated, or important. Answers and action are urgent.

The King's Fund, not an organisation given to hyperbole, recently warned that "the NHS is rapidly approaching a major crisis". The threat in the near future is of a service that, without a significant injection of extra cash, will run out of money and see deficits becoming common, care standards slipping or both. Continue reading... The Guardian

Baby dies after contracting bacterial infection from contaminated drip feed

Baby dies after contracting bacterial infection from contaminated drip feed One baby has died and 14 others are being treated for blood poisoning after a harmful bacteria entered their drip feed in one of the worst contamination scandals in NHS history, it has been revealed. The Independent

See also:

• Hospital feed 'poisons 15 babies' BBC News
• Feed firm 'saddened' by baby death BBC News
• One baby dead and 14 with blood poisoning from contaminated drip The Daily Telegraph
• Baby dies of blood poisoning from contaminated IV drip The Guardian
• Premature Baby Dies At St Thomas' Hospital, 15 Others Infected The Huffington Post