Monday 22 June 2015

Missing patient from Northampton hospital with ‘serious’ mental health issues could be a danger to the public

Missing patient from Northampton hospital with ‘serious’ mental health issues could be a danger to the public

It is believed that a man with ‘serious mental health issues’ who went missing from St Andrew’s Hospital in Northampton yesterday could be a danger to the public. Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Migration rules 'may cause NHS chaos'

Migration rules 'may cause NHS chaos'

Thousands of foreign nurses in junior posts could be forced to leave the UK under new migrant salary rules, causing "chaos" in the NHS, unions warn. BBC News

Jeremy Hunt outlines plans for GP services – video

Jeremy Hunt outlines plans for GP services – video


Health secretary Jeremy Hunt promises extra investment and help for under-pressure GP services on Friday. He says the government wants to recruit 1,000 'physician associates' into GP practices by 2020. They will be among 5,000 extra clinical staff he wants England's 8,500 surgeries to hire over the next few years so that the NHS can help primary care services cope with the challenges posed by an ageing population. Guardian

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Google search vs doctor diagnosis – always an imperfect balance

Google search vs doctor diagnosis – always an imperfect balance


Bronte Doyne’s death from cancer after she was told to stop googling her symptoms raises questions about the doctor-patient relationship

The death of teenager Bronte Doyne from cancer after she was told to stop googling her symptoms exposes how many professionals want to ignore the advances of the information age and cling to the old power relationship between doctors and patients.

Bronte begged doctors to listen to her after online research on an authoritative US website convinced her that her rare liver cancer had returned. She died 16 months after being told she would survive. Just days before her death she wrote: “Can’t begin to tell you how it feels to have to tell an oncologist they are wrong. I had to, I’m fed up of trusting them.” Her mother described doctors at Nottingham University hospitals NHS trust as aloof and evasive. Guardian

Related: Humanity lies at the heart of an NHS worth keeping

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VIDEO: Babies to get meningitis B vaccine

VIDEO: Babies to get meningitis B vaccine

All newborn babies in England and Scotland are to be offered a vaccine to combat meningitis B from September, the government has announced. BBC News

Host universities announced for HEE/NIHR Masters In Clinical Research Studentships

Host universities announced for HEE/NIHR Masters In Clinical Research studentships


HEE and NIHR are delighted to announce the successful universities who will be hosting the Masters in Clinical Research Studentships for the next three years.

Following a tender process, ten universities across England will host ten studentships with the first intake starting in September 2015. Details of the universities can be found here.

The Studentships form part of the HEE/NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic (ICA) programme open to non-medical healthcare professions, details of eligible professions along with criteria applicants need to meet can be found here. The Studentships are designed for non-medical healthcare professionals who aspire to a career that combines continued clinical practice with independent research, and provides a comprehensive grounding in, and experience of, clinical research.

Please contact HEE.RI@nhs.net for any general enquiries, any course specific queries should be directed to the relevant host institution contact.

Breast Cancer relapse risk could help thousands after surgery and chemotherapy

Breast Cancer relapse risk could help thousands after surgery and chemotherapy

Researchers from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London say a test could identify women whose lives could be saved if they took cancer drugs for longer after surgery and chemotherapy. Daily Mail

Understanding care quality: confronting complexity

Understanding care quality: confronting complexity

How will we know whether the quality of care in the NHS is improving or deteriorating under the new government? Or whether and how the financial pressures on the service are affecting the quality of patient care?

The NHS has to collect vast swathes of data on the quality of care it provides, but this gives us only a tiny glimpse into the nature of the million-plus patient contacts that take place every couple of days. This is not only because the data collected comes from a very small sample of NHS activity, but also because the ways in which the information is collected (the topics it focuses on, how questions are posed, and the types of information used to generate answers) shape the data generated about the quality of patient care. This is not to say that the data produces ‘untruths’, but rather that it only offers insights into some aspects of care, in some places, at some moments. Had the focus or design of any of our quality measurement tools been different, then some quite different truths may have emerged.

Doctors 'bullied' over safety fears

Doctors 'bullied' over safety fears

Hospital doctors face being "bullied and harassed" if they raise concerns about patient safety, the British Medical Association claims. BBC News

Smoking is associated with an increased risk of dementia

Smoking is associated with an increased risk of dementia

Caroline Struthers reports on a recent meta-analysis, which finds that smoking is associated with an increased risk of dementia. The review finds that quitting smoking reduces the risk to the same level as those who have never smoked. Mental Elf