Second Wellingborough day care centre could close

Second Wellingborough day care centre could close A day care centre for the elderly in Wellingborough faces closure after losing its funding. Northamptonshire Telegraph

See also:

• Day care centre closure backed BBC Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire woman died days after routine hernia operation at NGH

Northamptonshire woman died days after routine hernia operation at NGH A lack of ‘continuity of care’ contributed to the death of a former scrapyard owner who passed away days after a routine operation to remove a hernia at Northampton General Hospital. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Priorities for the next government

Priorities for the next government The general election will come at a pivotal time for health and social care. An unprecedented funding squeeze has left the NHS on the brink of financial crisis, while reductions in local government funding have led to significant cuts in social care services. The next government must ensure that the focus on improving quality of care established in the wake of the Francis report is sustained. It will also need to set in train a transformation of services to meet the needs of patients more effectively. Looking further ahead, the big question is how to provide adequate funding to meet future demand for health and social care. The King's Fund

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Positive and proactive care: reducing the need for restrictive intervention

Positive and proactive care: reducing the need for restrictive intervention The Department of Health has launched guidance aimed at promoting the development of therapeutic environments and minimising all forms of restrictive practices so they are only used as a last resort. This briefing, produced by the NHS Confederation in collaboration with the Care Quality Commission, provides a summary of the guidance, highlighting what it means for providers in practice.

Ebola vaccine trial begins

Ebola vaccine trial begins A trial of an experimental vaccine against the Ebola virus is to begin in Oxford. BBC News

See also:

• Ebola global security threat - Obama BBC News

Comparing lean and quality improvement

Comparing lean and quality improvement This white paper discusses the relationship between quality improvement and lean and how either or both could best be utilised to improve care systems. Institute for Health Improvement

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Strategic commissioning of long-term care: can we get more for less?

Strategic commissioning of long-term care: can we get more for less? This white paper seeks to analyse the state of the UK market in care services for older people, to identify the market failures (and achievements) and to ask if there are any ways to correct the failures – especially the key issue which dogs providers of care services working for a publicly funded clientele, which is the mismatch between public sector commissioners’ need to contain costs in an extended period of austerity, and providers’ need to earn an adequate return in order to sustain existing services and develop the new ones. Laing & Buisson

More than money: closing the NHS quality gap

More than money: closing the NHS quality gap The financial gap in NHS finances has been projected to reach £30bn by 2021. This report discusses the implications of this financial gap for quality of care in the NHS. It argues that additional resources alone will not be enough to close the ‘quality gap’: the difference between the quality of care the NHS should deliver, and what it is capable of delivering. Increasingly tight budgets make it likely that the quality gap will get wider. The report highlights the changes needed in order to change how the NHS delivers services and is able to improve care to make it more efficient. The Health Foundation

Sugar intake guideline 'needs lowering'

Sugar intake guideline 'needs lowering' “Sugar intake must be slashed further,” reports BBC News today.

The news reports follow an ecological study estimating the burden of disease caused by sugar-related tooth decay in adults and children across a life course, in a number of different countries.

It calculated that the burden would be significantly reduced by setting a target limit of less than 3% of total energy intake from sugar. This is much lower than the current figure outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO), which says that sugars should be less than 10% of a person’s daily calorie intake.

This reassessment of the target figure is not official from either the WHO or Public Health England, but has led to widespread media reports stating, “action needed to curb sugar” (Mail Online), while others have outlined possible sugar bans in schools and hospitals (The Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph) or sugar-related taxes. These angles were not put forward in the academic publication, which only suggested new, lower targets for sugar intake should be developed. It did not specify how to achieve them.

Soaring GP workload has left morale in tatters, BMA poll shows

Soaring GP workload has left morale in tatters, BMA poll shows Three quarters of GPs say their workload is unmanageable or unsustainable, according to a snapshot BMA poll that shows the profession's morale is lower than that of any other branch of medical practice. GP Online

The NHS will improve only when there is nowhere to hide its failures

The NHS will improve only when there is nowhere to hide its failures Exposing huge variations in quality will deliver better hospitals and care homes, says the health regulator, the CQC.

It is a pity that politics makes it so difficult to discuss rationally the future of health and social care, especially when almost everyone agrees that the demands of current and future generations need to be met very differently from those of the past. Most importantly, we have to find better ways of caring for people suffering from long-term medical and social conditions associated with old age. We have discovered new ways of living longer but not always living better. The current system no longer effectively meets the needs of our ageing population. There is however, a catalyst for change that could provide a new framework for any conceivable government after next May. I call this intelligent transparency.

Intelligent transparency means putting into the public domain clear, simple, easy to understand information about health and social care. Continue reading... The Guardian

Greater risk of dementia for those with diabetes

Greater risk of dementia for those with diabetes Charities urge the public to take heed of 'mounting evidence' that a healthy lifestyle protects against dementia as study finds far greater risk for those with diabetes. The Daily Telegraph