Monday 20 June 2016

Northampton parents of terminally ill baby locked in court fight with doctors to keep him alive

Northampton parents of terminally ill baby locked in court fight with doctors to keep him alive Parents of a terminally ill baby who were told their son has just one year to live have been forced into a High Court battle with doctors to keep him alive.

Frank Musselwhite, 39, and Danielle Manuel, 22, were devastated when little Rimari was born with severe spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) on April 10.

The cruel condition is caused by deterioration in the nerve cells connecting the brain and spinal cord to the body’s muscles.

Rimari cannot breathe or swallow unaided, requires 24-hour care and a ventilator, and his parents say they were told he is unlikely to see his first birthday. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

The future of social care

The future of social care The King’s Fund has a long history of analysis and comment on social care issues but has traditionally been a health-focused organisation, so in my new role as Fellow in Social Care Policy I’m keen to help expand our work in this area.

I hope that my appointment is representative not only of a broader commitment to the importance of social care for good health and wellbeing, but also a wider recognition that without good, personalised and sustainable social care, the NHS cannot remain the vital institution it has been and must continue to be.

More school nurses needed to tackle childhood mental health crisis

More school nurses needed to tackle childhood mental health crisis At least three children in every classroom now suffer from a mental health problem.

But an RCN survey shows that without substantial investment in school nursing it won’t be possible to provide them with effective mental health support.

The number of school nurses has fallen by 10% since 2010 to only 2,700 caring for more than 9 million pupils.

The survey reflects the significant pressure on the current school nursing workforce. Royal College of Nursing

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Pregnant women with epilepsy need ‘specialist care’ to reduce preventable deaths, new guidelines reveal

Pregnant women with epilepsy need ‘specialist care’ to reduce preventable deaths, new guidelines reveal While most women with epilepsy give birth safely, healthcare professionals must do more to control the condition in pregnant women, according to new guidanceRoyal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

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NHS student bursary cut 'reckless', unions say

NHS student bursary cut 'reckless', unions say Plans to scrap bursaries for student nurses and other front-line staff in England are reckless, unions and charities are warning. BBC News

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Sickle cell disease: Nurses need better training, says health union

Sickle cell disease: Nurses need better training, says health union The NHS needs nurses to be better trained in dealing with people who have Sickle Cell Disease, a health union warns. BBC News

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Exclusive: GP prescribing system has 'failed to learn lessons from Shipman'

Exclusive: GP prescribing system has 'failed to learn lessons from Shipman' Flaws in the primary care prescribing system - highlighted earlier this week by GP Online - show that the NHS has failed to take on board recommendations from the inquiry into serial killer Harold Shipman, according to senior GP. GP Online

First national mental health priority is to hold CCGs to account, says Murdoch

First national mental health priority is to hold CCGs to account, says Murdoch The newly appointed National Mental Health Director told NHS Confederation yesterday (16 June) that her first priority is to hold commissioners to account on mental health care.

Claire Murdoch, who was appointed in April and officially began the post this week, said: “We need to have a clearer way of holding our commissioners transparently to account on what they’re doing in mental health.”

She also laid out ambitious targets to be achieved by 2020 as part of the government’s commitment to improving mental health care.

These included ensuring that at least 50% of hospitals had 24-hour psychiatric liaison services, that the Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) programme reached 25% of people in need, reducing suicides by 10%, and ending the practice of placing children in out of area psychiatric services. National Health Executive

North Middlesex A&E staff describe unit as unsafe and unsupported

North Middlesex A&E staff describe unit as unsafe and unsupported Report reveals treatment allegedly so poor that doctors working at unit would not advise their friends and relatives to use it

Staff working in a troubled A&E unit have criticised it as “unsafe, unsupported and relentless” because its care is putting patients at such serious risk, a secret NHS report reveals.

Treatment at North Middlesex hospital’s emergency department is allegedly so poor that none of the doctors interviewed who work in it would advise their friends or relatives to seek medical help there, according to the unpublished report by Health Education England (HEE), the NHS’s workforce agency. Continue reading... The Guardian

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Patients need a more active role in healthcare decision-making

Patients need a more active role in healthcare decision-making Sharing decision-making with patients and the wider community can improve care, help internal NHS collaboration and engage vulnerable people.

As a passionate supporter of patient engagement, I have come to value the significance of patient experience in improving leadership practices that deliver better care.

Over the last year, I have met health and social care leaders, including those in the community and voluntary sectors, to discuss ways to involve patients and communities in planning, developing and delivering sustainable, person-centred services. The aim of our work is to align patient and community leadership with clinicians and managers. Continue reading... The Guardian

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NHS boss says promise of £8bn in extra funding may be far from enough

NHS boss says promise of £8bn in extra funding may be far from enough Simon Stevens uses major speech to NHS leaders to remind Jeremy Hunt that 2014 blueprint said up to £21bn may be needed

The boss of the NHS has told Jeremy Hunt that the health service may need closer to £21bn extra over the next few years, far more than the £8bn ministers have promised.

In pointed remarks made on Friday and aimed at the health secretary, Simon Stevens said people should not “rewrite history” on the exact sums the NHS in England will need by 2020. Hunt has repeatedly stressed that the government has pledged to boost the NHS budget by £8bn over that period because that is the amount set out in a blueprint unveiled in 2014 called the NHS Five Year Forward View, which Hunt, David Cameron and George Osborne now call “the Stevens plan”. Continue reading... The Guardian

Cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi 'too pricey for the NHS'

Cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi 'too pricey for the NHS' The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence rejected the drug, which has been shown in clinical trials to improve lung function and respiratory symptoms in people with cystic fibrosis. The Daily Mail

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BMA says Brexit claims on NHS are 'farcial and fatuous'

BMA says Brexit claims on NHS are 'farcial and fatuous' Campaigners for Brexit have made "farcial and fatuous" claims about the benefits of Britain leaving the EU, the head of the British Medical Association has said.

In a keynote speech to hundreds of doctors at the union's annual conference, Dr Mark Porter will condemn claims by Vote Leave that the NHS would receive billions of pounds of extra funding were the UK to vote to leave the EU.

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have said that the health service would get a "£100m a week cash transfusion" if Britain left the NHS.

But the BMA chief will say the claim is "based on fantasy figures" which are designed to deceive the public. The Daily Telegraph

Scrap pay limits for agency doctors, medics say

Scrap pay limits for agency doctors, medics say Doctors are to call for the removal of limits on pay for locum doctors, following Government attempts to clamp down on “extortionate” payments.

Medics will urge the British Medical Association (BMA) to launch a campaign against the restrictions – and to boycott hospitals which try to enforce them.

The new limits were introduced last November in an attempt to stop the NHS spending up to £3,500 per doctor, per shift. The Daily Telegraph