What if NHS leaders were more representative of their patients?

What if NHS leaders were more representative of their patients? The NHS if is a collection of essays that explores hypothetical scenarios and their impact on the future of health and care. Our aim is to encourage new thinking and debate about possible future scenarios that could fundamentally change health and care. This essay, by Vijaya Nath, looks at the current leadership structure of the NHS and discusses how increased diversity could improve performance. The King's Fund

STPs: where are we now and what happens next?

STPs: where are we now and what happens next? Sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) have now been produced by NHS and (sometimes) local government leaders in 44 parts of England. The plans are important, setting out the proposed direction for health and care services over the next five years. But they been developed at significant speed and, for the most part, without the involvement of frontline staff or patients. They also propose major changes to services that will be unpopular with politicians. The King's Fund

Winter pressure in accident and emergency departments

Winter pressure in accident and emergency departments Accident and Emergency departments in England are managing unprecedented levels of demand. On average, over 40,000 people attended a major, or type 1, accident and emergency department each day across the NHS in 2015–16. Over the same period only 88.2% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours—well short of the Government’s target of 95%. The variation in performance between providers was also striking, ranging from 64% to 99% in one survey from July 2016.

Achieving safe and timely performance in urgent and emergency care is an increasing challenge primarily as a result of growing and rapidly evolving demand as patients attend with more complex conditions but also as a result of system-wide pressures affecting the ability of the NHS and social care to cope. Health Select Committee

See also:

• The King’s Fund comments on the Health Select Committee’s Winter Pressures in Accident and Emergency report The King's Fund
• A&Es are refusing to take patients parked outside in ambulances The Daily Mail
• Shortage of 3,000 A&E doctors revealed amid warnings NHS faces 'toughest winter yet' The Daily Telegraph

How blurring the lines between health and social care can benefit local communities

How blurring the lines between health and social care can benefit local communities Hertfordshire has a proud record of working in partnership across health and social care. It’s not something new, and they have been doing it for over a decade as Iain Macbeath, Director of Health and Community Services Hertfordshire County Council and part of the East and North Hertfordshire vanguard explains in this blog. NHS England

Adult social care funding: 2016 state of the nation report

Adult social care funding: 2016 state of the nation report This report looks at the state of funding for adult social care and current pressures. It contains a series of short essays by senior figures in the care sector offering personal views and expert perspectives. Local Government Association

NHS structures 'complex and confused'

NHS structures 'complex and confused' The way the NHS in England is organised is hindering its ability to meet its challenges, a review led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn says.

Mr Milburn said the current system was "confused and complex".

The review, for consultants PwC, called for a gradual evolution of the structures, saying those who worked in the health service supported reform.

But the Department of Health said its plan for the future would be "delivered within the NHS's existing structures". BBC News

See also:

• NHS staff and public want reforms to end confusion in current national health and social care system PwC
• Redrawing the health and social care architecture PwC

Care homes will have to reveal patient eviction numbers

Care homes will have to reveal patient eviction numbers Care homes will have to reveal how many patients they have evicted against their wishes, the regulator says. BBC News

Exclusive: GP practices serving more than 5m patients could close in the next year

Exclusive: GP practices serving more than 5m patients could close in the next year More than 5m patients in England could be forced to look for a new GP over the next year as surgery closures hit record levels, a poll suggests. GP Online

MPs to debate Capita’s failures to deliver on contract

MPs to debate Capita’s failures to deliver on contract Doctors’ leaders have welcomed the announcement that MPs will hold an end of day adjournment debate next week on Capita’s multiple failures to deliver on its Primary Care Support Services contract. They have called for urgent action to correct shortcomings, which they said have left GPs unable to provide safe, effective care to their patients.

NHS England revealed last month that in the first seven months after Capita took over primary care support services, hundreds of GP practices were not paid on time for services such as dispensing; dozens of patients received incorrect screening results; thousands of duplicate screening invitations were sent out; and telephone problems meant that customer support was unavailable during crucial pilot periods. OnMedica

'Just say death!' Plays teach healthcare workers about end-of-life care

'Just say death!' Plays teach healthcare workers about end-of-life care Dying is taboo among health and care professionals who sometimes prioritise medical initiatives over individuals and families

Seth Goodburn seemed fit and well until two weeks before he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died just 33 days after diagnosis, spending much of that short time in hospital. In the emotional whirlwind of coping with the poor prognosis his wife, Lesley, felt their hopes for Seth’s end-of-life care were sidelined by medical professionals trying to do their job.

“The NHS focuses on the medicine and trying to fix people even when that’s not possible,” she says. “A lot of the conversations and decisions that we might have made were overshadowed by dealing with what was the next medical treatment and intervention.” Continue reading.. The Guardian

UK regulator approves drug that could extend lives of breast cancer patients

UK regulator approves drug that could extend lives of breast cancer patients National Institute for Health and Care Excellence gives NHS go-ahead to prescribe eribulin after new evidence shows drug may have ‘substantial’ benefits

Women with later-stage breast cancer may gain up to three months of extra life after health regulators gave the NHS the green light to prescribe the first new drug to treat the disease in almost a decade.

About 1,500 women a year in England who have locally advanced breast cancer, or whose disease has spread despite two rounds of chemotherapy, will be eligible to receive the life-extending drug. On average, they usually only have two years to live after they have been diagnosed. Continue reading... The Guardian

Patients wait two months to have hair washed after nurses said not their job to help the sick bathe

Patients wait two months to have hair washed after nurses said not their job to help the sick bathe Patients were forced to wait two months to have their hair washed because nurses said it was not their job to help the sick bathe or shower, a damning report says.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in south London has been ordered to make urgent improvements after watchdogs found A&E staff failing to monitor patients’ vital signs, with sick patients treated in chairs and corridors due to overcrowding.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) intervened after hospital staff failed to notice that a patient with blood poisoning was deteriorating badly. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Hospital made patients 'wait two months to have their hair washed' The Guardian