Feedback from service users is crucial for improvement in maternity care

Feedback from service users is crucial for improvement in maternity care Feedback from users of NHS maternity services has a key role to play in tracking quality of care and shaping service improvements, according to a new report published by The King’s Fund.

User feedback in maternity services highlights the importance of collecting and using feedback. It emphasises the key role of leaders in prioritising, communicating and acting on feedback as part of a culture of improvement.

The report, which is aimed primarily at maternity service providers, is based on research commissioned by the Department of Health to explore the benefits of locally developed ways of collecting and using feedback. King's Fund

See also:

• Listening to feedback in maternity services (blog) King's Fund

General practice facing ‘double whammy’ of losing £33m in funding this year, and up to £760m in 2020 despite government plans to save general practice

General practice facing ‘double whammy’ of losing £33m in funding this year, and up to £760m in 2020 despite government plans to save general practice General practice is at risk of losing £33m in 2016/17, through underspending by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), and up to £760m in 2020, through the roll out of regional NHS plans, according to Royal College of General Practitioners' Chair Dr Maureen Baker.

UK Ebola nurse taken to hospital under police escort

UK Ebola nurse taken to hospital under police escort A Scots nurse who was treated for Ebola is in a stable condition after being taken to hospital under police escort.

Pauline Cafferkey, 40, was admitted to Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after being taken from her home in South Lanarkshire at 09:30.

She is undergoing routine monitoring by the Infectious Diseases Team and remains in a stable condition. BBC News

Wasted money?

Wasted money? The NHS says there's "no good-quality evidence" that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for any health condition, yet it funds it. Why and to what extent?

Homeopathy is an extremely controversial issue - so it's no surprise it came top of our poll of readers when we asked what they would like us to investigate. BBC News

See also:

• Wirral health chiefs scrap homeopathy funding BBC News

PM ‘disconnected from reality’ when it comes to NHS

PM ‘disconnected from reality’ when it comes to NHS The chair of the British Medical Council has accused the Prime Minister of being out of touch when it comes to the health service.

Responding to comments on the NHS made by Prime Minister, Theresa May at the Conservative party conference, Dr Mark Porter, chair of BMA council, said:

“There is a real disconnect between the rhetoric of Theresa May’s speech, and the reality facing the NHS. Nothing in today’s speech will address the concerns of patients, the public and frontline NHS staff on how the NHS will rise to the enormous challenges facing it.” OnMedica

See also:

• Jeremy Hunt among most passionate NHS advocates ever, says Theresa May GP Online

Junior doctors' contract should be scrapped, says senior doctor

Junior doctors' contract should be scrapped, says senior doctor The junior doctors’ contract “should be scrapped, a leading doctor argues today in a top medical journal.

In an editorial * for The BMJ today, Neena Modi, Professor of neonatal medicine and president of the UK Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, says the junior doctors contract “should be discarded and replaced with one drawn on a clean sheet.”

Professor Modi says the total breakdown of trust between government and junior doctors “represents a catastrophic failure of senior leadership at all levels.” OnMedica

Number of killings by mental health patients falls

Number of killings by mental health patients falls Study suggests that improved NHS care could be behind fall in number of homicides but suicide increases

The number of killings by patients being treated for mental health problems is falling, probably as a result of improved NHS care, a major new report reveals today.

But the number of suicides has increased across the UK since the financial crash in 2008 – except in Scotland – with middle-aged men the most likely group to take their own life. There are concerns that every year dozens of patients may be killing themselves after they have been wrongly released from hospital because mental health units have too few beds. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• The National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness University of Manchester
• Suicide risk 'higher in community' BBC News

Alcohol continues to be sold at 'pocket money prices', report finds

Alcohol continues to be sold at 'pocket money prices', report finds Study from Alcohol Health Alliance finds cider on sale at 16p a unit, way below the 50p minimum recommended unit price

Alcohol continues to be sold at “pocket money” prices across the UK, with white cider on offer for pennies, according to a report.

The study from the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) concluded that little has changed in recent years when it comes to people being able to buy cheap booze from supermarkets and off-licences. Continue reading... The Guardian

Fear patients are being put at risk because vital money is not being invested in GPs

Fear patients are being put at risk because vital money is not being invested in GPs Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of GPs, will say that up to £800million earmarked for practices is instead being used to bail out debt-ridden hospitals. The Daily Mail

Why Alzheimer's in women is being missed: Their better memory of words means early signs of the disease go undetected

Why Alzheimer's in women is being missed: Their better memory of words means early signs of the disease go undetected Females have an inbuilt buffer against the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s – meaning it is not spotted until later, researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York found. The Daily Mail