Thursday 2 April 2015

Labour's health chief Andy Burnham promises support to rebuilding Northampton General Hospital

Labour's health chief Andy Burnham promises support to rebuilding Northampton General Hospital Labour's health chief Andy Burnham has promised his support to rebuilding Northampton General Hospital during a campaign visit to the town yesterday. Northants Herald and Post

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Northampton man speaks of medical disaster which killed five of his family through infected NHS blood

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Northampton man speaks of medical disaster which killed five of his family through infected NHS blood A man from Northampton who caught hepatitis from infected NHS blood and has lost five cousins to the medical disaster, is calling for more medical help for survivors. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

SPECIAL REPORT: Hectic day in the life of an ambulance paramedic on the frontline in Northampton

SPECIAL REPORT: Hectic day in the life of an ambulance paramedic on the frontline in Northampton You might only need them for a few minutes – if you are unfortunate enough to need them at all – but, when I went on a shift with an ambulance crew, I was amazed to see how much time and effort they devote to patients. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Co-commissioning: a new relationship between GPs and their CCG

Co-commissioning: a new relationship between GPs and their CCG Co-commissioning has arrived. Today 64 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) take on fully delegated responsibility for commissioning general practice, while 87 CCGs take on joint commissioning responsibilities working with NHS England. That’s about 70 per cent of CCGs taking on a greater role in the commissioning of services from their member GP practices.

Up until now, CCGs have had a statutory duty to support quality improvement in primary care, but NHS England has been responsible for commissioning duties. From today, CCGs that take on fully delegated co-commissioning responsibilities will be responsible for – among other things – commissioning general medical services, including performance management of the GP contract, awarding new contracts, and renewing or varying existing ones. The King's Fund

CQC publish revised guidance on the fit and proper person requirements

CQC publish revised guidance on the fit and proper person requirements The new standards are intended to provide clear benchmarks for directors which all providers must meet. NHS Employers

Training our NHS Health Workers: Should the UK train more of its staff?

Training our NHS Health Workers: Should the UK train more of its staff? Our country's health system is highly reliant on overseas health workers who often stay less than a year, as well as agency staff who work on a temporary basis at extremely inflated costs. Many posts in unfavourable specialities such as emergency medicine are currently vacant and there is a severe and growing GP recruitment crisis.

In this report, Edmund Stubbs suggests that these job and training vacancies and our reliance on agencies and overseas staff prove that fears of possible unemployment amongst medical professionals, were training to be increased, are unjustified. The report argues that an increased number of UK trained staff might in fact bring increased competition for posts and thereby help fill positions in less desirable specialities as well as in more remote locations around the country. Civitas

A guide to economic assessment in nursing

A guide to economic assessment in nursing This guide is a collection of articles that explain some of the principles of economic assessment and describe the most common approaches in the context of nurse-led service innovation. The series aims to enable readers to critically examine economic assessments in the context of nurse-led service innovation. It introduces a tried-and-tested methodology, with associated tools and templates, used to conduct economic assessments in nursing. OPM Group

Drug giant 'blocks' eye treatment

Children’s hospital builds sleep app

Children’s hospital builds sleep app A free app to help improve children’s sleep has been launched by doctors at the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London. BBC News

VIDEO: 'We must plan for future of NHS'

VIDEO: 'We must plan for future of NHS' As the 2015 election campaign gathers pace, the BBC speaks to a manager in the National Health Service - Matthew Fitzpatrick from London. BBC News

Your secrets for sale: Now the NHS is in the dock after it's revealed details of patients who bought prescriptions online are sold off

Your secrets for sale: Now the NHS is in the dock after it's revealed details of patients who bought prescriptions online are sold off Thousands of users of an online prescription service have had their data sold without their knowledge, a Mail investigation can reveal today.

Their names and addresses have been handed to companies that target the sick.

Many of the patients used the Pharmacy 2U service because they were disabled or too ill to travel to their nearest surgery. Others used the firm’s online doctor consultations. The Daily Mail

Paracetamol 'not effective' for lower back pain or arthritis

Paracetamol 'not effective' for lower back pain or arthritis "Paracetamol doesn't help lower-back pain or arthritis, study shows," The Guardian reports on a new review.

The review found no evidence that paracetamol had a significant positive effect, compared to placebo (dummy treatment) in relieving pain and disability in cases of acute lower back pain and was only minimally effective in osteoarthritis.

Before you start clearing out your medicine cabinet, the results of this review are not as clear-cut as reported.

The findings for lower back pain are based on three randomised controlled trials (RCTs), which, when grouped together, found no difference for pain relief, disability or quality of life between paracetamol and placebo. However, there are limitations in each of these studies. Two of the studies were small and the third only looked at acute lower back pain up to six weeks, when paracetamol may not be strong enough.

They did actually find that paracetamol slightly improved pain and disability from osteoarthritis of the hip or knee compared to placebo.

The study does not prove that paracetamol is no better than placebo for other types of back pain, such as chronic back pain (pain that persists for more than six weeks).

Exclusive: GPC opposes pooling practice funding with hospital or social care budgets

Exclusive: GPC opposes pooling practice funding with hospital or social care budgets Bids to pool core practice funding with hospital or social care budgets under integrated care pilots are a 'red line' that must not be crossed, the GPC has warned. GP Online

Boy left disabled during birth could receive record £15m compensation

Boy left disabled during birth could receive record £15m compensation James Robshaw faces a lifetime of dependence after complications during his birth left him with cerebral palsy. The Daily Telegraph

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St John Ambulance 'The Chokeables' advert helps parents save lives of 36 babies

St John Ambulance 'The Chokeables' advert helps parents save lives of 36 babies An animated video demonstrating how to save a choking baby has saved the lives of least 36 infants, St John Ambulance (SJA) has announced. The Independent

See also:

Lessons from the East: China's Rapidly Evolving Health Care System

Lessons from the East: China's Rapidly Evolving Health Care System In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party established a state-run health care system that relied on community health workers to provide free primary care in villages across China. The system brought enormous public health gains to the nation’s 1.3 billion residents. The Commonwealth Fund’s David Blumenthal and coauthor William Hsiao of the Harvard School of Public Health identify important insights from China’s radical health system experimentation. The Commonwealth Fund