Tuesday 17 January 2017

Plea to donate your favourite book to Northampton General Hospital

Plea to donate your favourite book to Northampton General Hospital A campaign to create a library of town's favourite books was launched by Northampton General Hopspital this morning. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

County council to charge some adults in need of care £50 under new assessment proposals

County council to charge some adults in need of care £50 under new assessment proposals Adults in need of care who earn more than £23,250 per year in savings and capital investments will need to pay for their own care services, Northamptonshire County Council papers reveal. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Allied Health Professions into Action: Using Allied Health Professionals to transform health, care and wellbeing

A new online resource from allied health professionals ‘AHPs into Action’ is a product for leaders and decision makers, to inform and inspire the system about how AHPs can be best utilised to support future health, care and wellbeing service delivery. It offers examples of innovative AHP practice and a framework to develop a plan of delivery. ‘AHPs into Action’ defines how AHPs can support STPs implement the triple aim set out in the Five Year Forward View; driving improvements in health and wellbeing, restoring and maintaining financial balance and delivering core quality standards. NHS England

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Eating disorders can strike in mid-life

Eating disorders can strike in mid-life Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia, affect a small but substantial number of women in their 40s and 50s, UK research suggests.

The study, involving more than 5,000 women, found just over 3% reported having an eating disorder.

Some said they had experienced it since their teens, others developed it for the first time in their middle age. BBC News

GPs back stand against conversion therapy

GPs back stand against conversion therapy Doctors have added their support to a joint statement issued today which rejects the use of conversion therapy on people due to their sexual orientation or gender identity issues.

Major UK organisations have been working against conversion therapy for many years and published a Memorandum of Understanding against the practice in 2015 as well as updating the document to warn against conversion therapy in relation to gender identity and sexual orientation (including asexuality).

Several organisations including the RCGP, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, GLADD – The Association of LGBT Doctors and Dentists, NHS Scotland, the National Counselling Society, Stonewall, and The British Psychological Society have issued a new statement. OnMedica

Patients’ champion accuses ombudsman of poor service

Patients’ champion accuses ombudsman of poor service Some patients are receiving a poor service from the ombudsman in a complaints system that is overly complex, lacking in compassion and unresponsive, according to charity the Patients Association.

The Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), however, has rejected the accusations saying that it handles the vast majority of cases thoroughly and fairly, but said it always wanted to improve its service.

In a report* published today by the Patients Association, it said a significant number of patients and family members who submitted complaints to the PHSO felt that they received a poor quality service. OnMedica

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Frances Cappuccini: Hospital blamed for death of young mother just hours after having baby

Frances Cappuccini: Hospital blamed for death of young mother just hours after having baby The death of a young mother just hours after she gave birth to her second son was a result of “failures, inadequate diagnosis and treatment” at the hospital caring for her, a coroner has said.

Frances Cappuccini, 30, died at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury, Kent, shortly after giving birth to her son, Giacomo, by Caesarean section.

The school teacher suffered heavy bleeding and was anaesthetised, but went into cardiac arrest and died at 4.20pm on 9 October, 2012. The Independent

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NHS crisis: the one act of self-sacrifice that could rescue our health service

NHS crisis: the one act of self-sacrifice that could rescue our health service Major alerts, cancer operations cancelled, patients dying, yet Theresa May still won’t listen. But maybe there’s a tipping point that could force a response

From every previous NHS crisis, the tipping point should have come last week. Prime ministers crumple when people die – as they have in the Royal Worcester’s corridors. When opinion polls send concern about the NHS soaring above everything else at 61%, above immigration at 41% and Brexit at 36%, sirens should wail inside No 10. But no, not yet.

When the Royal College of Surgeons protests at cancer operations cancelled, is that a tipping point? When nearly half of all hospitals declare major alerts for lack of beds, that’s an emergency. There’s no winter flu, no Arctic weather, just pressure from underfunding, like an aneurysm about to burst. But the prime minister is not for turning, not yet. Continue reading... The Guardian

Private health insurance sales surge amid NHS crisis

Private health insurance sales surge amid NHS crisis Ongoing crisis in public healthcare and economic recovery may have triggered first rise in seven years, but impeding Brexit means future is uncertain

The number of people in Britain taking out private medical insurance has risen significantly for the first time since 2008, amid fears about the ongoing crisis gripping the NHS.

After falling steeply between 2008 and 2011 and then staying flat, demand for private medical insurance cover in Britain rose by 2.1% in 2015 with just over 4 million people insured. Continue reading... The Guardian

Sale of prescription drugs on eBay costing NHS thousands

Sale of prescription drugs on eBay costing NHS thousands The black market in prescription drugs is costing the NHS thousands of pounds - and one man was caught trying to flog an arthritis medication he no longer needed for £250 a box. The Daily Mail

NHS patients harmed as doctors prescribe WRONG meds

NHS patients harmed as doctors prescribe WRONG meds Philippa Gillespie from Haverfordwest and Robert Welch from Grimsby are just two of the victims of medication errors in NHS hospitals whose stories have emerged in the past 18 months alone. The Daily Mail

Show your passport and fuel bill to get NHS maternity care

Show your passport and fuel bill to get NHS maternity care Patients will be told to show a utility bill and passport before routine operations as part of a new crackdown on health tourism, with 20 British hospital trusts carrying out the ID checks. The Daily Mail

Half of women in labour experience 'red flag' maternity risks, report finds 

Half of women in labour experience 'red flag' maternity risks, report finds Half of women in childbirth are being put in danger, with many saying they are made to feel like “cattle” in understaffed maternity wards, a major report warns.

New mothers said they had been left alone in labour, with long delays for pain relief, stitches and even to be washed after giving birth.

The study by the National Childbirth Trust and the National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) found 50 per cent of new mothers had experienced “red flag” events during labour. The Daily Telegraph

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Don't blame the elderly: only one in five A&E patients are pensioners, says former Health Secretary

Don't blame the elderly: only one in five A&E patients are pensioners, says former Health Secretary Winter gridlock in NHS hospitals is not being caused by elderly patients, but by working-age people with “nowhere else to go”, a former Conservative health secretary has said.

Stephen Dorrell’s comments came as new figures revealed just one fifth of patients attending A&E last year were over 65.

He told the Telegraph the new data showed it was wrong to blame pensioners for the crisis.

Meanwhile Age UK said it was often the elderly who suffered worst in jam-packed emergency departments, where cases of older patients languishing on trolleys for more than 12 hours has tripled in the last two years. The Daily Telegraph