Thursday 24 September 2015

Patient safety incident reporting continues to improve

Patient safety incident reporting continues to improve  A six-monthly data report on patient safety incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) between 1 October 2014 and 31 March 2015.

Acute hospitals, mental health services, community trusts, ambulance services and primary care organisations report incidents to the NRLS where any patient could have been harmed or has suffered any level of harm. The reporting of incidents to a national central system helps protect patients from avoidable harm by increasing opportunities to learn from mistakes and where things go wrong. NHS England

Childhood flu programme training slides for healthcare professionals

Childhood flu programme training slides for healthcare professionals This slide pack has been developed for trainers and leaders of the childhood flu programme.  Public Health England

Common mental health disorders linked with increased risk of violent reoffending in ex-prisoners

Common mental health disorders linked with increased risk of violent reoffending in ex-prisoners Ian Cummins considers the implications of a new cohort study of convicted prisoners in Sweden, which links psychiatric disorders with violent reoffending. The Mental Elf

NHS uncovers 1000 FGM cases in England

NHS uncovers 1000 FGM cases in England There were more than 1,000 newly recorded cases of female genital mutilation in England between April and June, NHS data reveals. BBC News

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MMR vaccination rate down for first time in eight years

MMR vaccination rate down for first time in eight years Data from Health and Social Care Information Centre shows 92.3 per cent of children vaccinated with first dose of MMR by their second birthday. The Daily Telegraph

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Mental health research 'needs boost'

Mental health research 'needs boost' More investment in mental health research would quickly save the health service money, a major European study says. BBC News

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Prepare for a catastrophic NHS winter meltdown

Prepare for a catastrophic NHS winter meltdown The 90% of trusts predicting a deficit are caught in a catch-22: to skimp on staffing and standards, or spend money they don’t have.

The NHS is on the brink of a major, messy failure. If nothing is done to address the underlying issues now, the failure will be deep with grave consequences and a long recovery. This winter things are set to go catastrophically wrong.

Pressure on health services normally reduces in summer, often producing undue optimism about how they will cope come winter and delaying necessary preparations. Last summer there was virtually no reduction in pressure. Oddly, this failed to dent the optimism. The revised story was that unrelenting pressure had become a year-round phenomenon, so increased numbers and longer waits were now normal and the coming winter wouldn’t be any worse. Continue reading... The Guardian

GPs need more support and training to spot childhood cancers

GPs need more support and training to spot childhood cancers Too many children are being diagnosed with cancer at A&E because family doctors don’t have adequate knowledge about the symptoms

Childhood cancers can be difficult to diagnose: symptoms are often similar to other illnesses and, because it is rare, a GP is only likely to see one or two cases in their whole career. But the impact of a cancer diagnosis is devastating and it’s vital that we find ways to reduce potential delays in diagnosis.

It’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and in the lead up to it, Clic Sargent polled parents who have children with cancer or have had cancer in the past. Six in 10 told us they felt the GPs they saw had insufficient knowledge of the key symptoms. A third said they felt their child had a delayed diagnosis and just under half saw their GP at least three times before their child was diagnosed. Continue reading... The Guardian

Why the new NHS junior doctors' contract is pushing me to Malta

Why the new NHS junior doctors' contract is pushing me to Malta Pay cuts and unsafe working hours are pushing our young doctors' loyalty to the NHS, and Britain, to its breaking point. I know I'm not alone. The Daily Telegraph