Kettering Hospital purchases new £1m MRI scanner

Kettering Hospital purchases new £1m MRI scanner Kettering Hospital has purchased a £1m new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to improve care for the 12,500 local people who need these scans each year. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Guidance: Care Act 2014 Part 1: factsheets

Guidance: Care Act 2014 Part 1: factsheets The Care Act received Royal Assent on 14 May 2014. These factsheets have been produced to accompany Part One of the Act. Department of Health

Busting bureaucracy: collaborative audit findings and recommendations

Busting bureaucracy: collaborative audit findings and recommendations This report makes a series of recommendations to help acute trusts spend less time on paperwork and more time providing direct care to patients. The HSCIC has been working with 16 acute trusts in England to understand local burdens of bureaucracy, since a pledge to increase efficiency and reduce burden was made last year by the Secretary of State for Health. The recommendations relate to controlling burden and bureaucracy, implementing processes and technology adoption. Health and Social Care Information Centre

• Report
• Top ten tips
• Self-assessment toolkit

Risk, safety and recovery

Risk, safety and recovery This briefing paper finds that mental health services can manage risk more effectively by involving service users in planning for safety. It argues that risk and safety are rightly major concerns in mental health care but that traditional methods of assessing risk have stood in the way of helping people to recover their lives. It argues that jointly produced ‘safety plans’ can be more effective ways of managing risk as well as enabling people to get on with their lives. Centre for Mental Health

NHS 'failing disabled and seriously ill teenagers' transferred to adult services

NHS 'failing disabled and seriously ill teenagers' transferred to adult services Care Quality Commission report criticises doctors and hospitals for leaving vulnerable young people confused and stressed

The NHS is failing disabled and seriously ill teenagers by depriving them of vital services such as pain relief when they become adults, the service's watchdog warns today.

In a highly critical report published on Monday the Care Quality Commission (CQC) castigates doctors and hospitals for leaving vulnerable young people confused and stressed when they start being cared for as adults by different health professionals. Continue reading... The Guardian

Cancer charity claims older patients are being denied life-saving surgery

Cancer charity claims older patients are being denied life-saving surgery Macmillan Cancer Support claims that those aged 75 or over are being discriminated against.

Older lung cancer patients are being denied life-saving surgery, a charity has said. Those aged 75 or over who are otherwise in good health and whose cancer has not spread are five times less likely to be given life-extending surgery than younger patients, Macmillan Cancer Support said.

England and Wales have the worst five-year lung-cancer survival rates in Europe among the over 75s, a spokesman said. Continue reading... The Guardian

NHS midwives consider strike after Jeremy Hunt's U-turn on 1% pay rise

NHS midwives consider strike after Jeremy Hunt's U-turn on 1% pay rise Union recommends industrial action after health secretary rejects proposal despite it being approved by George Osborne

Midwives could go on strike for the first time in protest at what they say is ministers "assaulting" their living standards by denying them a 1% pay rise promised to all NHS staff.

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM), the midwives' union, has taken the unprecedented step of recommending to its members in England that they agree to take industrial action, including strike action, to try and force a coalition U-turn. Continue reading... The Guardian

Fine print of care rules could 'screen out' frail elderly and disabled, charities warn

Fine print of care rules could 'screen out' frail elderly and disabled, charities warn New frailty test for social care hinges on "worryingly vague" notion of "well-being", charities say. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Campaigners criticise care changes BBC News

Students' sexual and mental health services hit by cuts

Students' sexual and mental health services hit by cuts Students and doctors have warned the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, that he risks "failing an entire generation", as university GP practices attempt to cope with funding cuts which they say threaten to shut down surgeries and wipe out vital sexual and mental health services for students. The Independent