My mum could be ‘pushed from pillar to post’ fears Northampton man as care home closures loom

My mum could be ‘pushed from pillar to post’ fears Northampton man as care home closures loom With little more than a week to go before Northamptonshire County Council launches a major consultation on plans to close two Olympus elderly care homes relatives of residents in care say it is an anxious time. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

NICE releases safe staffing evidence reviews

NICE releases safe staffing evidence reviews Four evidence reviews written to support work NICE carried out on staffing levels in the NHS have been released. Under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, the documents had been withheld to give NHS Improvement time to study them in their new remit to consider service improvement. The release of the documents follows an internal review of the FOI decision. NICE

• Inpatient mental health settings
• Adult nursing care in community settings
• Accident & emergency
• Management & organisational approaches which support safe staffing in nursing & midwifery.

International Profiles of Health Care Systems, 2015

International Profiles of Health Care Systems, 2015 This publication presents overviews of the health care systems of Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The Commonwealth Fund

Government 'too slow' on diabetes

Government 'too slow' on diabetes MPs criticise the Department of Health and the NHS in England for being too slow to act in preventing and treating diabetes. BBC News

See also:

• Management of adult diabetes services in the NHS: progress review Seventeenth Report of Session 2015–16 House of Commons Public Accounts Committee
• Diabetes sufferers face 'postcode lottery' with patients in parts of the country six times more at risk of dying The Daily Telegraph

Hunt set to reveal plans on easing of general practice pressures next month

Hunt set to reveal plans on easing of general practice pressures next month Plans include bolstering workforce numbers and incentives to keep doctors in profession. OnMedica

Zika virus: Hundreds of thousands may be infected by dangerous 'shrunken brain' disease

Zika virus: Hundreds of thousands may be infected by dangerous 'shrunken brain' disease The disease is sweeping through South America, causing problems for pregnant women, who have been advised to delay their pregnancies. The Independent

See also:

• The alarming threat of Zika virus BBC News
• Mothers' fears amid Zika outbreak BBC News

The secret A&E nurse's diary: 'He stands 1cm from my face, saying he will kill me'

The secret A&E nurse's diary: 'He stands 1cm from my face, saying he will kill me' A casualty nurse describes a week of stark contrasts, from helping a 79-year-old man whose lips have turned blue to being confronted by a violent drunk

Sundays are notoriously busy in A&E. GPs are closed, and there has been no movement out from the wards so there are no free beds in the hospital. At the start of my shift there are already 83 patients in the department. People are waiting to be treated in the corridors and it’s like sardines. My heart sinks. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Knocked down, spat at and trampled on: another day in A&E - video The Guardian
• The secret sexual health doctor's diary: 'The waiting room is bursting at the seams' The Guardian
• A day in the UK's busiest maternity unit: 'We never cease to be moved by birth' The Guardian

NHS remote monitoring will allow dementia patients to stay at home

NHS remote monitoring will allow dementia patients to stay at home The NHS has teamed up with Google, IBM and Phillips to launch ground breaking projects across Britain which will see patients monitored remotely using new technology. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Can tech save the National Health Service? – Tech Weekly podcast The Guardian

Training of staff at NHS 111 call centre 'not fit for purpose', official report finds

Training of staff at NHS 111 call centre 'not fit for purpose', official report finds Review finds that under-qualified recruits were treated as 'stop-gaps' to cover shifts due to staff shortages at a call centre exposed in a Daily Telegraph investigation.

Children twice as likely to be short-sighted than 50 years ago

Children twice as likely to be short-sighted than 50 years ago Report reveals short-sightedness twice as prevalent now than in the 1960s. The Daily Telegraph