Monday 26 January 2015

Car scheme for Kettering area patients

Car scheme for Kettering area patients A new initiative has been set up in Kettering borough to give residents of the towns and villages an affordable option to travel to medical appointments. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Hospital staff failed to recognise Northamptonshire mother as a suicide risk despite previous attempts

Hospital staff failed to recognise Northamptonshire mother as a suicide risk despite previous attempts Failures to record an inpatient’s suicide attempts on a ‘risk assessment’ log were partly to blame for her death days later at a Northampton Hospital - a coroner has ruled. BBC News

NHS pledges to publish any limits placed on outgoing Northamptonshire chief’s new business

NHS pledges to publish any limits placed on outgoing Northamptonshire chief’s new business An NHS trust in Northamptonshire has promised to make public the ‘contractual restrictions’ placed on its outgoing boss before he leaves to set up his own company. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

What are we willing to do to preserve the NHS as we know it?

What are we willing to do to preserve the NHS as we know it? If we want to maintain a high quality health service, sacrifices must be made, and according to the Health Foundation these will continue well beyond the next parliament, says India Keable-Elliott from CentreForum.

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International Profiles of Health Care Systems, 2014: Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States

International Profiles of Health Care Systems, 2014: Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States This publication presents overviews of the health care systems in these countries.

Each overview covers health insurance, public and private financing, health system organization and governance, health care quality and coordination, disparities, efficiency and integration, use of information technology and evidence-based practice, cost containment, and recent reforms and innovations.

In addition, summary tables provide data on a number of key health system characteristics and performance indicators, including overall health care spending, hospital spending and utilization, health care access, patient safety, care coordination, chronic care management, disease prevention, capacity for quality improvement, and public views. The Commonwealth Fund

Press release: 'Be Clear on Cancer' campaign highlights links between heartburn and cancer

Press release: 'Be Clear on Cancer' campaign highlights links between heartburn and cancer A national ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaign is launched today (26 January 2015) urging people to visit their doctor if they have heartburn most days for 3 weeks or more, as this can be a sign of oesophageal or stomach cancer.

The campaign launch coincides with results of a new survey commissioned by Public Health England, which reveals only 1 in 2 people (55%) would visit their doctor if they had heartburn most days for 3 weeks or more.

Early diagnosis of oesophageal or stomach cancer (also known as oesophago-gastric cancers) is crucial and means treatment is more likely to be successful. Around 67% of people diagnosed with oesophago-gastric cancers at the earliest stage survive for at least 5 years. This figure drops to around 3% for those diagnosed at a late stage.

The cost of being unhealthy

The cost of being unhealthy How the nation's life choices are taking a toll on the NHS. BBC News

The 'problem' of medical drug prices

The 'problem' of medical drug prices Newsnight's Chris Cook assesses the difficulty of drug pricing. BBC News

WHO vows reform after Ebola 'shocks'

WHO vows reform after Ebola 'shocks' The World Health Organization sets out plans for reform, admitting it was too slow to respond to the "horrific" Ebola outbreak in West Africa. BBC News

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VIDEO: How winter wards help hospitals

VIDEO: How winter wards help hospitals Fiona Trott reports from James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough which is using special winter wards to ease bed blocking in other parts of the hospital, including A&E. BBC News

Overcrowded hospitals killed 500 last year, claims top A&E doctor

Overcrowded hospitals killed 500 last year, claims top A&E doctor Ministers warned that the NHS is facing ‘a disaster’ of ever-busier accident and emergency departments and bed-blocking

Up to 500 patients died last year as a direct result of harm they suffered when hospitals became dangerously overcrowded, Britain’s A&E doctors have warned.

About 350 of the deaths were among patients who had not been diagnosed or given medical treatment quickly enough. Another 150 were not admitted because of bed shortages, even though their condition meant they would usually have been found a place on a ward. The College of Emergency Medicine’s figures have raised concern that growing turmoil in A&E units, and hospitals generally, is doing real harm. Continue reading... The Guardian

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£240m tech fund 2 raided by Treasury

£240m tech fund 2 raided by Treasury The second round of NHS England's technology fund has been raided by the Treasury to shift money towards dealing with A&E pressures in the run up to the general election. E-Health Insider

New doctors offered NHS fund ‘golden hello’ to become GPs

New doctors offered NHS fund ‘golden hello’ to become GPs Total of £10m designed to encourage newly qualified medics to boost numbers and stave off existing GPs from early retirement

Newly qualified doctors will be offered “golden hellos” if they become a GP under a £10m NHS plan to help overcome the growing shortage of family doctors.

The initiative is part of a new package of measures designed to boost the number of GPs joining the profession, deter early retirement and encourage those who have taken a career break, for example to work abroad or have children, to rejoin the workforce. Continue reading... The Guardian

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'Anonymous' NHS database could still allow patients to be identified, expert warns

'Anonymous' NHS database could still allow patients to be identified, expert warns A controversial plan to transfer the medical records of NHS patients from GP surgeries to a national database has failed to address a major privacy concern that jeopardises patient confidentiality, according to a leading IT security expert. The Independent

Broadmoor financial scandal: The £4m of NHS funds wasted at high-security hospital

Broadmoor financial scandal: The £4m of NHS funds wasted at high-security hospital A financial scandal has erupted at the UK’s largest mental health trust, causing several clinical projects to be scrapped by the organisation responsible for looking after more than 20,000 patients a year – including some of the most violent criminals based at Broadmoor high-security hospital. The Independent