Wednesday 21 January 2015

Boss of Northamptonshire NHS trust quits to set up own firm

Boss of Northamptonshire NHS trust quits to set up own firm The boss of the NHS in Northampton has quit to set up his own private company. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Pharmacists seconded to Northampton General Hospital to help reduce bed blockers

Pharmacists seconded to Northampton General Hospital to help reduce bed blockers Pharmacists have volunteered to work weekends to help relieve pressure on NGH’s emergency department at busy times. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Complaints and Raising Concerns

Complaints and Raising Concerns While patient safety and the treatment of complaints and concerns have become high profile issues in the last few years, this is only the beginning of a process of change with significant scope for further improvement. The Health Select Committee

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New resources available on care and support planning

New resources available on care and support planning The Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) Partnership publishes new advice for councils on meeting Care Act 2014 requirements to ensure people, families and carers lead development of their own care and support plans. This complements the care and support planning animation published by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) on Friday 16th January and the Coalition for Collaborative Care/NHS England handbook to be published later this week.

TLAP’s ‘Delivering Care and Support Planning’ has been developed with people who use services to show what good care and support planning looks like in practice. It is backed up with examples from councils across England who are leading the way in this area. It describes the principles for what people want in a care and support planning process, the elements that need to be in place and recommendations for councils so they can be both Care Act compliant and person-centred in their approach.

The RCGP’s film brings care and support planning to life in a three-minute video animation, narrated by RCGP President ,Professor Mike Pringle. It depicts a typical 10-minute GP consultation with a person who has multiple and complex illnesses and how care and support planning could lead to much better outcomes for everyone involved. The animation demonstrates how doctors can save time and improve health and social outcomes for people with long term conditions, noting the key role that carers, families and the wider community play in ensuring good person-centred care.

The guide & template support plans can be downloaded from the TLAP website here.

The animation can be viewed on the RCGP website or via Youtube. Coalition for Collaborative Care

Better Training Better Care evaluation reports published

Better Training Better Care evaluation reports published The BTBC programme aimed to improve the quality of training and learning for the benefit of patient care by enabling the delivery of the key recommendations from Sir John Temple’s Time for Training and Professor John Collins’ Foundation for Excellence.

Both reports set out what was achieved, the benefits that were realised and opportunities that have arisen, as well as the challenges and lessons learnt. Health Education England and NHS Employers

NHS: The parties' spending plans

NHS: The parties' spending plans What the different parties say they will spend on the NHS. BBC News

'Punishments' for benefits claimants with mental health issues rocket, figures show

'Punishments' for benefits claimants with mental health issues rocket, figures show Benefit claimants with mental health problems are more likely to be punished and have their payments stopped, new figures have revealed. ITV News

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Does moderate boozing reduce heart failure risk?

Does moderate boozing reduce heart failure risk? "Seven alcoholic drinks a week can help to prevent heart disease," the Daily Mirror reports. A US study suggests alcohol consumption up to this level may have a protective effect against heart failure.

This large US study followed more than 14,000 adults aged 45 and older for 24 years. It found those who drank up to 12 UK units (7 standard US "drinks") per week at the start of the study had a lower risk of developing heart failure than those who never drank alcohol.

The average alcohol consumption in this lower risk group was about 5 UK units a week (around 2.5 low-strength ABV 3.6% pints of lager a week).

At this level of consumption, men were 20% less likely to develop heart failure compared with people who never drank, while for women it was 16%.

The study benefits from its large size and the fact data was collected over a long period of time.

But studying the impact of alcohol on outcomes is fraught with difficulty. These difficulties include people not all having the same idea of what a "drink" or "unit" is.

Health minister calls for party unity on NHS

Health minister calls for party unity on NHS Norman Lamb warns that health service will break up unless agreement allows necessary big decisions to be taken.

The Liberal Democrat health minister, Norman Lamb, has appealed for an end to party political conflict over the future of the NHS, warning that the health service will “break up” in the next parliament unless the necessary “big decisions” are taken.

Predicting that the next five years will be “crunch time” for the NHS, he added there was a major gap between the views of experts and those of the public in terms of understanding what needed to be embarked up to sustain the service into the future. Continue reading... The Guardian

Councils get emergency £25m for social care to tackle hospital blockages

Councils get emergency £25m for social care to tackle hospital blockages Ministerial committee approves funds to be shared between 65 councils where local hospital has the most delayed discharges

Ministers have approved an emergency injection of £25m for social care for older people in areas where hospitals are facing the biggest problems of delayed patient discharges.

The new cash is going to 65 councils in England this week and must be spent by the end of March. The councils will have to show how they have eased pressure on their local hospitals. Continue reading... The Guardian

Five ways to improve mental health care in 2015

Five ways to improve mental health care in 2015 Greater investment, taking a more mainstream approach and a payment system that is fit for purpose could help to raise the profile of mental health Continue reading... The Guardian

Care for elderly in state of 'calamitous decline' amid £1bn of austerity cuts

Care for elderly in state of 'calamitous decline' amid £1bn of austerity cuts Care of the elderly in England is in a state of “calamitous, quite rapid decline” a leading charity boss has warned, with hundreds of thousands fewer people receiving care than five years ago. The Independent

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Nurse accused of poisoning hospital patients ‘chose victims at random’

Nurse accused of poisoning hospital patients ‘chose victims at random’ A nurse accused of murdering three patients and injuring 18 others by poisoning them with insulin caused panic at his hospital while choosing his victims “completely at random”, a court has heard. The Independent