The NHS under the coalition government Part two: NHS performance

The NHS under the coalition government Part two: NHS performance This report, the second part of 'The NHS under the coalition government', looks at how well the NHS has performed under the coalition government. The report acknowledges that assessing the performance of any health service is an inexact science for many reasons, but using routinely available data, the report creates a conventional ‘production path’ – describing the financial inputs to the NHS before detailing its outputs, such as hospital admissions, or A&E attendances. The King's Fund

See also:

• NHS problems worst 'since 1990s' BBC News
• VIDEO: NHS England 'deteriorating' BBC News
• News story: Improving health and care Department of Health
• Patient care will deteriorate as NHS heads for £2bn deficit, says thinktank The Guardian
• Think-tank warning on future of NHS Northamptonshire Telegraph
• RCGP response to King's Fund report on NHS performance Royal College of General Practitioners 

Does the Lefroy Bill ring a bell?

Does the Lefroy Bill ring a bell? Avoidable harm is the scourge of any complex health care system. So legislation to try and eradicate it sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? We at the Health Foundation, with the support of members of the Berwick Advisory Group, disagree, says John Illingworth.

Major new taskforce launched to chart roadmap for mental health services and priorities over next five years

Major new taskforce launched to chart roadmap for mental health services and priorities over next five years Seize the moment for major improvements in mental health and wellbeing says Stevens

The tide of public opinion is shifting in favour of dramatically improved mental health services, Simon Stevens says as he launches a new taskforce to forge change.

As signalled in the NHS Five Year Forward View, a new Taskforce is being established to develop a new five year national strategy for mental health, for people of all ages across England.

It will explore the variation in the availability of mental health services across England, look at the outcomes for people who are using services, and identify key priorities for improvement. It will also consider ways of promoting positive mental health and wellbeing, ways of improving the physical health of people with mental health problems, and whether we are spending money and time on the right things. It will report later this year.

Service users and experts by experience, alongside families and carers will be involved throughout in the shaping strategy, alongside other stakeholders.

The Taskforce will be chaired by Paul Farmer the CEO of mental health charity Mind and made up of health and community leaders and experts in the field of mental health including specialist doctors, charities, service users and their families. The Vice Chair will be Jacqui Dyer who has a background in adult mental health commissioning as well as community and family social work. NHS England

New whistleblowing code of practice for employers and guidance for prescribed persons

New whistleblowing code of practice for employers and guidance for prescribed persons This page updates employers on new guidance issued by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills on whistleblowing. NHS Employers

All new healthcare assistants and social care support workers will need to get a Care Certificate in their first 12 weeks of employment.

All new healthcare assistants and social care support workers will need to get a Care Certificate in their first 12 weeks of employment. The Care Certificate assesses the fundamental skills, knowledge and behaviours that are required to provide safe, effective and compassionate care. It will be awarded to staff in health and care roles who can demonstrate that they meet each of the 15 Care Certificate standards, including:

• caring with privacy and dignity
• awareness of mental health (including dementia and learning difficulties)
• safeguarding
• communication
• infection control

It is referred to in the CQC’s guidance as a benchmark of how providers can meet the staffing regulations, and may be actively looked for by CQC inspection teams.

The Care Certificate was a recommendation from the Cavendish review, which made suggestions on how to improve the quality of care provided by health and care support workers in the wake of the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

More detailed information can be found here. Health Education England 

Mental health aftercare in England and Wales

Mental health aftercare in England and Wales From 1 April 2015 the local authority responsible for mental health aftercare services, under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (the Act), will normally be the one where the person was ordinarily resident immediately before they were detained under the Act. This document has details about arrangements for referring disputes over ordinary residence in cases where one or more authority in dispute is in England and one or more is in Wales. These arrangements only apply where services are provided under section 117 of the Act. Department of Health

VIDEO: What makes a healthy high street?

VIDEO: What makes a healthy high street? A new study by the Royal Society for Public Health lists the healthiest and unhealthiest high streets in the UK, putting Shrewsbury at the top and Preston at the bottom. BBC News

Calling up a storm

Calling up a storm A "disaster". A "disgrace". "Extremely worrying". "Significantly problematic". A "total meltdown". "Chaos threatening patient care". A history of the NHS 111 service. E-Health Insider

Frequent antibiotic use linked to higher type 2 diabetes risk

Frequent antibiotic use linked to higher type 2 diabetes risk "Repeated antibiotic use linked to diabetes," BBC News reports.

New research has studied over 200,000 people from the UK who were diagnosed with diabetes between 1995 and 2013. Researchers counted the number of antibiotic prescriptions they had during an average five-year period before they were diagnosed. They compared the number of prescriptions given to an age- and gender-matched control group of over 800,000 people.

They found that people taking antibiotics were more likely to develop diabetes, and those taking more were at a higher risk. For example, people who took five or more antibiotic courses in the five-year period before diagnosis had around a third higher risk of developing type 2 diabetesthan those taking no antibiotics.

We should not assume that the results mean antibiotics definitely cause diabetes. It could be the other way round.

Royal College outlines criteria for stopping treatment in very sick children

Royal College outlines criteria for stopping treatment in very sick children New practice framework aims to minimise suffering and guide doctors through legal and ethical issues. OnMedica

Don’t dismiss web savvy patients as cyberchondriacs, doctors told

Don’t dismiss web savvy patients as cyberchondriacs, doctors told The practice is going to become more common, so work with them, says medical defence body. OnMedica

Drug-resistant TB could kill 75 million people over the next 35 years, experts claim

Drug-resistant TB could kill 75 million people over the next 35 years, experts claim The warning, which is a global figure, came from Jim O'Neill, a former investment bank chief appointed last year by UK Government to head a review into antimicrobial resistance. The Daily Mail

See also:

• The Price of Pandemic: Counting the cost of MDR-TB All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Tuberculosis

NHS reform: what next for the world’s best health system?

NHS reform: what next for the world’s best health system?Despite the pressures of an ageing population and scant resources, the NHS is the envy of many. Yet the three main parties agree it must adapt to survive. How do they see its future?

The National Health Service has been judged the best health system in the world. It’s certainly the issue which matters most to voters, the opinion polls tell us. But what will the NHS look like in the years to come? How will it cope in the face of an ageing population and unprecedented funding pressures?

With NHS England’s own estimates suggesting there will be a cash shortfall of up to £30bn a year by 2020, making the NHS fit for the future is an urgent priority. In advance of the general election, politicians from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour set out their competing visions for the health service at the Guardian’s health hustings debate. Continue reading... The Guardian