Digital monitoring equipment for the long-term ill and elderly to be increased in Northamptonshire

Digital monitoring equipment for the long-term ill and elderly to be increased in Northamptonshire Plans to extend the use of home monitoring technology for Northamptonshire’s adults in care will help prevent hundreds of hospital visits - a council chief claims - though opponents of “telecare” fear the new technology is a savings driver. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

See also:

• NHS IN CRISIS: Don’t get ill or head online to save NHS millions say health bosses Northamptonshire Telegraph

Read all about it: media coverage of NHS rationing

Read all about it: media coverage of NHS rationing ‘NHS spending… back to the 50s’

‘Hip operations banned if you can sleep: NHS bids to save millions with a new pain threshold test as it rules out surgeries on those deemed too fat’

‘Referral centres cause 'dangerous' NHS delays’

This is just a tiny sample of the NHS-related headlines in newspapers this winter. The health service is a source of public interest and media scrutiny regardless of the economic and political context, but the spotlight has intensified over recent weeks as pressures have deepened. As part of the work for our forthcoming report on NHS financial pressures, we examined how the media have reported on NHS pressures in recent years by looking at coverage of the controversial and sometimes highly emotive term ‘rationing’. The King's Fund

Pioneering venture launched to help solve ‘capital finance conundrum’

Pioneering venture launched to help solve ‘capital finance conundrum’ A pioneering new initiative is set to radically transform NHS organisations’ ability to tap into local economic opportunities.

The Local Growth Academy, an exciting cross-sectoral venture, has been launched to help NHS organisations understand how to access the new and emerging finance mechanisms determining local infrastructure planning.

With capital finance severely constrained yet critical to realising the ambitions of local plans, the Local Growth Academy aims to build NHS organisations’ capacity to maximise their contribution and involvement in local developments. NHS Confederation

Retirement on hold: supporting older carers

Retirement on hold: supporting older carers This report gives an insight into the experiences of older carers and highlights the need for greater support for these unpaid carers. Some of the key issues that are highlighted include the health of older carers and the use of personal finances to support care needs. Carers Trust

Saving STPs: achieving meaningful health and social care reform

Saving STPs: achieving meaningful health and social care reform This report identifies three key barriers to STPs being successfully implemented and outlines a series of changes to overcome these barriers. It argues that engagement with the plans are dominated by CCGs and NHS providers with input from other parties limited. It also finds that mixed messages regarding the focus of STPs from national bodies and a lack of leadership have left STPs struggling with the challenges of reform and implementation.Reform

NHS Wi-Fi launched in GP surgeries

NHS Wi-Fi launched in GP surgeries More than five million patients will be able to access free to use Wi-Fi in early adopter GP practices, enabling them to link in with local health clinics and services and paving the way for future developments in digital patient care. NHS Digital

Doctors use virtual reality to prepare children for scans

Doctors use virtual reality to prepare children for scans Doctors have started using virtual reality to help children overcome their fear of MRI scanners in hospitals.

Although not dangerous, the scanners are very loud and some people don't like being in very small spaces.

Doctors at King's College Hospital in London have been using VR to reassure patients facing MRI scans before they experience the real thing. BBC News

Over 1,000 GPs registered with mental health support service

Over 1,000 GPs registered with mental health support service More than 1,000 patients have registered with an app for the GP Health Service, launched earlier this year to help GPs facing depression, burnout, addiction and other mental health issues. GP Online

Approaches to integrated care ‘too top down’, says health alliance

Approaches to integrated care ‘too top down’, says health alliance Approaches to integrating health and social care have been “too top down”, while insufficient emphasis has been placed on rebuilding shattered community trust, contends the New NHS Alliance.

The recent report on health and social care integration, published by spending watchdog the National Audit Office, has bought into sharp focus just how important it is for organisations across health and social care to work more closely and cohesively together for the benefit of local communities and patients, it says. OnMedica

Revealed: the NHS plan to close, consolidate or ‘reshape’ 11 maternity units

Revealed: the NHS plan to close, consolidate or ‘reshape’ 11 maternity units Eleven maternity and neonatal units across England face closure, consolidation or ‘reshaping’ under plans to transform obstetrics care in the NHS. i’s investigation into proposals to remodel the health service in order to plug a £22 billion hole by 2021 reveals major changes across England. iNews

Web chemists fuel superbugs crisis by selling antibiotics

Web chemists fuel superbugs crisis by selling antibiotics Scientists at Imperial College London found that antibiotics were illegally available without prescription on 45 per cent of the first 20 online pharmacy websites they looked at. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Online access to antibiotics undermines GPs' hard work to tackle AMR, says RCGP Royal College of General Practitioners

Care cuts may have fuelled largest rise in death rates for 50 years

Care cuts may have fuelled largest rise in death rates for 50 years Cuts to social care budgets and the “widespread failure” of NHS services may have fuelled the biggest rise in death rates for 50 years, research by Oxford University suggests.

The study said an “unprecedented” spike in mortality - with 30,000 excess deaths in 2015 - could be linked to budget reductions for councils, and a rapid deterioration in performance by health services.

Researchers said increases in death rates were likely to continue, with recent levels the highest they have been for three years, without “urgent intervention” to boost funding for health and social care.

But the Department of Health last night disputed the findings, accusing report authors of “personal bias” and ignoring regular fluctuations. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Why has mortality in England and Wales been increasing? An iterative demographic analysis (open access) Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
• What caused the spike in mortality in England and Wales in January 2015?  (open access) Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
• Health cuts most likely cause of major rise in mortality, study claims The Guardian