Tuesday 2 August 2016

EMAS sets up frequent callers team after one man rings for ambulance 500 times in 12 months

EMAS sets up frequent callers team after one man rings for ambulance 500 times in 12 months One man called the East Midlands Ambulance Service a staggering 500 times last year.

Now a dedicated team has been set up to deal with the more than 10,000 repeat calls EMAS received in 2015.

A small number of patients called more than 100 times, with one man having made a staggering 514 callouts in 12 months. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Northampton hospital seeking staff and nurses for Europe’s biggest mental health unit for adolescents

Northampton hospital seeking staff and nurses for Europe’s biggest mental health unit for adolescents Recruitment has begun for Europe’s largest adolescent mental health facility in Northampton.

FitzRoy House at St Andrew’s Hospital is seeking 50 nurses and support staff for ground-breaking new care facility.

FitzRoy is set to welcome young people in early 2017, when it will support up to 110 young people with some of the most complex mental health needs in the UK. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Mental health and general practice: intertwined futures

Mental health and general practice: intertwined futures Many in the mental health sector had been eagerly awaiting NHS England’s implementation planproposing how the Mental Health Taskforce report, The five year forward view for mental health,will be put into practice. If successful, the significance of the plan could extend well beyond the mental health sector: some of the most important opportunities relate to the way in which people with mental health problems could be supported in general acute hospitals and in general practice. The King's Fund

Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust uses online platform to engage with all staff

Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust uses online platform to engage with all staff Find out how Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust introduced an online engagement platform to reach out to all staff within its large geography. NHS Employers

Hospital or home? Report sheds light on number of people with learning disabilities receiving inpatient care

Hospital or home? Report sheds light on number of people with learning disabilities receiving inpatient care This report provides an overview of the number of people with learning disabilities and/or autism receiving inpatient care in hospital.

The Learning Disabilities Statistics Annual Overview is the first annual report of its kind from NHS Digital (Health and Social Care Information Centre). It brings together various sources of statistics to produce robust data on the number of people with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder.

Hospital acquired foot ulcers reduced by 50 per cent since diabetes inpatient audit launched

Hospital acquired foot ulcers reduced by 50 per cent since diabetes inpatient audit launched Only 1.1 per cent of inpatients with diabetes developed a new foot lesion during their admission to hospital, a significant decrease from 2.2 per cent when inpatient auditing began in 2010.

However, more than two thirds (67.0 per cent) of inpatients included in the 2015 audit did not have a specific diabetic foot risk examination during their hospital stay and 31 per cent of hospital sites still do not have a multi-disciplinary diabetic foot care team, despite being highlighted as important in each audit round. Addressing these could further impact on this devastating and costly preventable complication. NHS Digital (Health & Social Care Information Centre)

NICE wants GPs to prevent 8,000 strokes a year

NICE wants GPs to prevent 8,000 strokes a year NICE wants GPs and CCGs to follow new guidance that could help to prevent around 8,000 strokes per year from happening.

The new NICE indictors for CCGs are designed to help improve the identification and management of atrial fibrillation (AF), which can increase the risk of stroke.

NICE’s indicators measure the quality of care a person receives and the impact this has on their health, focusing on where improvements can be made.

Stroke is the third largest cause of death in the UK and each year in England around 110,000 people have a stroke with AF thought to be the cause of a fifth of these.

NHS Improvement has calculated that around 8,000 AF related strokes could be prevented if the condition was better managed, also saving the NHS £95 million a year. OnMedica

High Court to rule on whether NHS England should fund new preventative HIV drug PrEP

High Court to rule on whether NHS England should fund new preventative HIV drug PrEP The High Court is due to rule on whether the NHS should fund a“game-changing” preventative treatment for HIV in England.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, known as PrEP, is an anti-retroviral drug used to stop HIV from becoming established in the event of transmission.

When taken consistently, it has been shown to reduce the risk of infection in people who are at high risk by more than 90 per cent. The Independent

See also:

Everyone tells me the NHS is in crisis – but that's not what I see

Everyone tells me the NHS is in crisis – but that's not what I see As a soon-to-be mental healthcare professional, I don’t see the bad. I see a health service that needs more support, love and care

It’s no secret that the NHS is fighting a battle. We see it every day in the arguments to and fro, between the NHS and the government.

Every time I log on to Facebook I’m invited to another protest against the junior doctor contracts, or about the NHS student bursaries. At one point every single message in my inbox was a petition, I spent the whole evening signing, sharing and sending them around. I wanted to save the NHS too. Continue reading... The Guardian

GPs should be a gateway to social care and support services

GPs should be a gateway to social care and support services Report champions greater emphasis on community-based support, social prescriptions and prevention

The main role of GPs has always been treating common medical conditions and referring patients to hospitals or other services for urgent and specialist treatment.

But gradually the role of GPs and primary care teams are changing. Driven by the integration agenda – which seeks a greater level of collaboration across frontline services – but also by the changing nature of the population’s health needs and rising demand on the NHS, new kinds of primary care services are being established. Continue reading... The Guardian

'Worst case of chickenpox' sparks call for vaccination rethink

'Worst case of chickenpox' sparks call for vaccination rethink Sarah Allen, whose toddler son spent five days in hospital fighting usually mild illness, urges review of eligibility for immunisation on NHS

A mother whose two-year-old son spent five days in hospital fighting a severe case of chickenpox has called for anyone who wants them to get vaccinations on the NHS against the disease.

Sarah Allen urged ministers to rethink eligibility for immunisation, under which only those looking after children with a weakened immune system, for example because they are undergoing chemotherapy, can receive it. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

Nine in ten junior doctors' posts filled despite fears about mass exodus

Nine in ten junior doctors' posts filled despite fears about mass exodus The number of junior doctors taking up new posts this month has exceeded previous years, despite claims there would be a mass exodus following rows over a new contract.

Official figures show that 6,673 junior doctors have just entered specialist training – compared with 6,547 who took up a post last summer.

The “fill rate” of 89.94 per cent marginally exceeds that of last year, when 89.75 per cent of posts were filled. The Daily Telegraph