Handling Complaints with a Compassionate Human Touch

Handling Complaints with a Compassionate Human Touch The NHS complaints system still exposes many patients to a grueling and unsatisfactory process, despite numerous high level calls for reforms, a new report warns.

A survey of more than 1,200 patients found high levels of dissatisfaction with the complaints process with patients frequently encountering unhelpful and defensive staff, complicated procedures to negotiate and sometimes dishonest replies. The Patients Association

See also:

• Press release The Patients Association
• New complaints charter The Patients Association
• Reporting and investigations – a new way ahead for patient safety? Health Foundation
• Patients fear being victimised when they complain to NHS Daily Mail
• How the NHS should listen and act on patient complaints The Guardian

Serious problems with children’s and adolescents’ mental health services

Serious problems with children’s and adolescents’ mental health services A report published on 5 November 2014,  concludes that there are serious and deeply ingrained problems with the commissioning and provision of children’s and adolescents’ mental health services. Health Select Committee

See also:

• Children's and adolescents' mental health and CAMHS Health Select Committee
• Child mental health services 'unfit' BBC News
• CAMHS are working in the dark due to data drought, MPs warn Community Care
• Children left with 'no escape' from cyberbullying, MPs warn The Daily Telegraph
• Mental health of children and young people 'at risk in digital age' The Guardian
• An insight into youth mental health services: 'I was suicidal. I needed help' The Guardian
• 263 children sectioned under the mental health act were held in police cells last year The Independent

VIDEO: Inside UK-funded Ebola centre

VIDEO: Inside UK-funded Ebola centre An 80-bed Ebola treatment centre, funded by the UK and built by the British Army, is to open its door near Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital. BBC News

See also:

• VIDEO: Road separates living from dying BBC News
• There's no Ebola vaccine 'as virus only affected African nations', WHO chief says Daily Mail

RCN announces new President and Deputy President

RCN announces new President and Deputy President The results of the elections for RCN President and Deputy President have been announced. Royal College of Nursing

Short height 'linked to dementia death risk'

Short height 'linked to dementia death risk' "Short men more likely to die from dementia," The Daily Telegraph reports, though the results of the study it reports on are not as clear cut as the headline suggests.

Researchers combined the results of 18 surveys, which included more than 180,000 people. They aimed to see whether reported height was associated with deaths from dementia over 10 years of follow-up.

They found decreasing height was associated with higher rates of death from dementia. Each standard deviation decrease in height was associated with a 24% increase in risk of dementia death for men, and a 13% increase for women. This was after adjustment for factors such as age and smoking.

However, there are important limitations to consider. Despite the large cohort size, only 0.6% of the cohort died from dementia. These are small numbers on which to base any analysis.

Also, despite the trend, none of the smaller height categories were associated with a significantly increased risk of dementia death.

So, for both men and women, the smallest people in the study did not have a significant increased risk of dementia when compared with the tallest.

This means the association seen between height and dementia death isn't entirely convincing.

GPs will not control primary care commissioning under new CCG reforms

GPs will not control primary care commissioning under new CCG reforms Clinicians will not control commissioning of primary care when CCGs are handed expanded powers, NHS England has revealed. GP Online

See also:

• POLL: Should GPs control primary care commissioning? GP Online

Trade agreement between EU and US - ‘bad for patients’

Trade agreement between EU and US - ‘bad for patients’A free trade agreement between the European Union and USA goes against the interest of UK patients, experts warn this week.

In an editorial in The BMJ, John Hilary, Executive Director of campaign group War on Want warns that The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is designed to meet the interests of corporations rather than patients. OnMedica

MPs vote to make sex selection abortion illegal

MPs vote to make sex selection abortion illegal MPs vote 181 to 1 for a motion brought forward by a cross-party alliance of MPs in an effort to end uncertainty over the law. The Daily Telegraph

Is general practice in crisis?

Is general practice in crisis? A policy briefing that provides an evidence-based overview of the current state of general practice in England, and offers policy-makers some potential solutions. Nuffield Trust

See also:

• Is general practice really in crisis? Moving beyond the headlines Nuffield Trust
• Are the family doctor's days numbered? Local GPs increasingly choosing federalism The Independent
• Can General Practice survive NHS England's Five Year Forward View? The Information Daily
• General Practice ‘in crisis’ and ‘in need of reform’ OnMedica