NHS trust sends confidential medical records to wrong address in Northamptonshire

NHS trust sends confidential medical records to wrong address in Northamptonshire A mental health patient from Northamptonshire has described her shock at an NHS blunder which saw her sent someone else’s medical details in the post. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Woman from Raunds fights for best drugs after being infected with Hepatitis C from contaminated blood

Woman from Raunds fights for best drugs after being infected with Hepatitis C from contaminated blood A 60-year-old woman has vowed to fight for the best available drugs after she contracted Hepatitis C from contaminated blood given to her by the NHS before 1991. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Is the NHS delivering too much of the wrong things?

Is the NHS delivering too much of the wrong things? More health care is not always better health care. Sometimes the NHS delivers services that people don’t want or need: the problem of overuse.

Overuse happens when health care is delivered even though the potential for harm outweighs the benefits. It’s bad for people receiving care because they get services which might make them worse – or at least waste their time and mean they are treated unnecessarily; it’s bad for the NHS because resources are used that could have been better spent elsewhere; and it’s bad for other people who need care because there’s less money around to pay for it. It’s also bad for other public services too, whose budgets are being cut while NHS spending is protected.

So, where might the NHS be delivering too much? The King's Fund

Childhood flu programme: information for healthcare practitioners

Childhood flu programme: information for healthcare practitioners Updated guidance on the flu vaccination programme for children, information on the vaccination and how to administer it. Public Health England

Diabetes uses 10% of NHS drugs bill

Diabetes uses 10% of NHS drugs bill Diabetes now accounts for 10% of the NHS drugs bill in England, according to official figures. BBC News

See also:

• Diabetes medicines account for one tenth of all prescribing in primary care Health and Social Care Information Centre
• Diabetes costs soar to 10% of total primary care prescribing budget GP Online

'Appalled' inspectors evacuate care home

'Appalled' inspectors evacuate care home Elderly and brain injured young people placed at risk due to poor care and lack of staffing at a care home in Bedfordshire. OnMedica

Video warning on car smoking ban

Video warning on car smoking ban From October it will be illegal to smoke in a car with anyone under 18 present. OnMedica

Female doctors are less likely to face being struck off or sued for negligence

Female doctors are less likely to face being struck off or sued for negligence  Regulator the General Medical Council has seen a 64 per cent increase in complaints between 2010 and 2013. Medico-legal action includes doctors facing disciplinary action and malpractice claims. The Daily Mail

Promote e-cigarettes over harmful tobacco smoking, say experts

Promote e-cigarettes over harmful tobacco smoking, say experts Royal Society for Public Health says health bosses should encourage people to quit tobacco for nicotine-only e-cigarettes and proposes licensing tobacco sellers

Health chiefs across the UK have been urged to take a less negative attitude towards e-cigarettes and embrace their use in the battle against more harmful tobacco smoking. The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) says a public education programme is needed to differentiate the problem ofaddiction to nicotine, which is an ingredient in both e-cigarettes and tobacco, from the inhaling of dangerous chemicals such as tar and arsenic in tobacco cigarettes.

NHS stop smoking services should offer more help to people seeking to end their habit by using e-cigarettes, the society says, calling also for new “exclusion zones” barring smoking, but not e-cigarettes, outside schools, bars and pubs and in public squares and parks. Continue reading... The Guardian

New programme aims to identify what matters most to patients

New programme aims to identify what matters most to patients Always Events pilot projects see healthcare staff working with patients and their families to improve the quality of care

For patients, details that might seem minor to health professionals can make a powerful difference – and shape how they view their care. Details such as ensuring the translator booked to help a patient communicate with a hospital consultant speaks the correct dialect; or checking that a patient with a learning disability has the name and a picture of the person in charge of their care when they transfer between one health setting and another.

This is latter example is one of the standards – or so-called Always Events – introduced by Lancashire Care NHS trust. It’s one of three pilot sites in NHS England’s Always Events programme– being run with the international patient-focused health charity Picker Institute and the Institute for Health Innovation (IHI) – aiming to put the patient firmly at the centre of care decisions. Continue reading... The Guardian

Abolish GP catchment areas and let patients choose any doctor, says Thatcherite thinktank

Abolish GP catchment areas and let patients choose any doctor, says Thatcherite thinktank The study from the IEA - which heavily infludenced the thinking of Margaret Thatcher in the 1970s and 1980s - also said hospitals should only be paid according to a fixed results tariff, which would determine whether hospitals survived or closed because of their poor service. The Daily Telegraph