NHS IN CRISIS: ‘Stroke patients will have to travel further to fewer hospitals in future’

NHS IN CRISIS: ‘Stroke patients will have to travel further to fewer hospitals in future’ Many of the plans to shake up services in the NHS and change the way of working talk about having specialised services - but campaigners fear this may mean patients travelling further to fewer hospitals. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Delivering sustainability and transformation plans From ambitious proposals to credible plans

Delivering sustainability and transformation plans From ambitious proposals to credible plans This report examines the content of the 44 sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) that were submitted in October 2016. STPs are the main vehicle for transforming health and care services in England in line with the NHS five year forward view. The report discusses the main challenges that lie ahead in implementing STPs and realising the opportunities they identify. The King's Fund

See also:

• Politicians must be prepared to back NHS plans The King's Fund
• What next for sustainability and transformation plans? The King's Fund
• Close A&E and maternity units to save NHS, says think-tank The Daily Mail
• Politicians must not 'collude' to stop closures of unsafe hospital services The Daily Telegraph

State of the health system: beds in the NHS

State of the health system: beds in the NHS This paper presents NHS bed data from across the UK and it examines the causes and consequences of bed pressures within the health system. The report finds that in England, average bed availability has decreased over the past thirty years, with mental health beds seeing a large decline. It also finds that over the past five years, average bed occupancy rates have increased, even in areas such as day beds where the number of beds has increased but the demand has also increased as well. British Medical Association

Hospital cuts planned in most of England

Hospital cuts planned in most of England Hospital services in nearly two-thirds of England could be cut or scaled back, BBC analysis of local plans shows.

The proposals have been made by NHS bosses as part of a national programme to transform the health service and save money across 44 different areas.

The BBC found 28 affect hospital care, from full closures to centralising services such as accident and emergency and stroke care on fewer sites.

Ministers argue patients will receive better care in the community. BBC News

Speeding up the search for life-saving medicines

Speeding up the search for life-saving medicines Developing a drug from a promising molecule to a potential life-saver can take more than a decade and cost billions of dollars.

Speeding this process up - without compromising on safety or efficacy - would seem to be in everyone's interests.

And cloud computing is helping to do just that. BBC News

NHS crisis continues as fifth of hospitals on high alert for half of 2017 to date

NHS crisis continues as fifth of hospitals on high alert for half of 2017 to date A fifth of hospital trusts in England have reported a high-level alert - warning of extreme pressure affecting patient care - on 50% of days in 2017 to date or more, GPonline analysis of NHS data reveals.

Smoking cessation services face cuts

Smoking cessation services face cuts Smoking cessation services are being hit as cash-strapped local authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) look to save money. Evidence obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by The Observer reveals that an increasing number of CCGs have been instructing GPs to stop providing the services with many CCGs arguing it is no longer their responsibility as local authorities are now responsible for public health. OnMedica

NHS trusts post 'unsustainable' £886m third-quarter deficit

NHS trusts post 'unsustainable' £886m third-quarter deficit Shortfall in England, attributed to extra pressure on NHS over winter, is £300m over target for end of financial year

NHS trusts in England posted a deficit of £886m at the end of the third quarter, £300m more than the target for the end of this financial year.

NHS Improvement (NHSI), which published the figures on Monday, predicts a year-end deficit of £750m-£850m, much higher than the £580m previously described as the highest figure the health service could afford without risking major financial problems. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Worrying figures highlight how serious NHS financial position is The King's Fund
• NHS trusts overspent by nearly £900m BBC News
• NHS hospitals overspend by nearly £300m The Daily Mail
• NHS blames 'winter pressures' as trusts report deficit of £886m in nine months The Independent
• NHS set to miss target deficit cuts by over £300m OnMedica

NHS admin staff keep services running - but we're being hit by cuts

NHS admin staff keep services running - but we're being hit by cuts Computers take 20 minutes to boot up and we run stationery orders by executive level staff; things are getting worse

Secretaries, waiting list and medical records clerks, clinical audit facilitators, business analysts and IT technicians and other support staff pull together to keep essential lifesaving NHS services running smoothly. To a staff nurse, the help of a ward clerk to retrieve a patient’s medical history can be just as crucial as that of a senior consultant. Data quality officers ensuring patients are properly admitted and discharged on computer systems can have an immeasurable impact on the management of bed capacity.

Yet those of us in NHS support services work in less-than-ideal circumstances. I work in an office that is a converted ward. Save for wheeling out most of the medical equipment, it remains an abandoned clinical area. I’m always wary when manoeuvring around our cramped kitchenette – imagine the embarrassment of accidentally leaning on one of the emergency call buttons and having the rapid response CPR team come crashing in. Continue reading... The Guardian

Paramedics 'tampered with trackers' to avoid 999 calls at a scandal-hit NHS trust

Paramedics 'tampered with trackers' to avoid 999 calls at a scandal-hit NHS trust Paramedics at a scandal-hit NHS trust are accused of switching off ambulance tracking devices so they could avoid responding to 999 calls.

At least ten ambulance workers are under investigation for deliberate tampering with the trackers, so they could disappear for up to three hours at a time, putting patients at risk.

The revelations came as the current head of South East Coast Ambulance Service trust stood down in the wake of allegations that he was among those found responsible for bullying. The Daily Telegraph

Does a Biomedical Research Centre Affect Patient Care in Local Hospitals?

Does a Biomedical Research Centre Affect Patient Care in Local Hospitals? Biomedical research can have impacts on patient care at research-active hospitals. We qualitatively evaluated the impact of the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (Oxford BRC), a university-hospital partnership, on the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare in local hospitals.

The study was based around 17 interviews with leaders of the Oxford BRC’s research, and 19 interviews with senior clinicians responsible for patient care at Oxford’s acute hospitals to discover what impacts they observed from research generally and from Oxford BRC’s research work specifically.

We compared and contrasted the results from the two sets of interviews, and identified themes emerging from the senior clinicians’ responses. We also compared them with an existing taxonomy of mechanisms through which quality of healthcare may be affected in research-active settings.

The research leaders identified a wide range of beneficial impacts that they expected might be felt at local hospitals as a result of their research activity. They expected the impact of their research activity on patient care to be generally positive. Office for Health Economics