Friday 24 March 2017

Council in talks with both parties involved in funding row over Corby Urgent Care Centre

Council in talks with both parties involved in funding row over Corby Urgent Care Centre Corby Council is in talks with both parties about the funding row which has led to fears over the future of Corby’s Urgent Care Centre.

Bosses at the centre issued a warning yesterday (Wednesday) that it will close its doors to patients at 8pm on March 31 as a result of Corby and Nene Clinical Commissioning Groups’ refusing to organise the extension of a contract in line with minimum fees due under the NHS national tariff.

NHS Corby Clinical Commissioning Group issued a statement in response to this, saying the centre is not closing and even if they have to find another provider, the service will continue. Northamptonshire Telegraph

A mixed bag of results from the NHS Staff Survey

A mixed bag of results from the NHS Staff Survey The 2016 NHS Staff Survey results are a mixed bag. Close to a million staff were invited to take part in the survey, more than 400,000 responded, and overall staff engagement has increased incrementally over the past four years.

The survey highlights that there are many organisations with well-motivated and engaged staff who are delivering high-quality care day-after-day. This performance is a testament to the dedication of people in the NHS against a backdrop of many organisations working at the edge of their capacity. We should give these dedicated people our collective thanks because they keep the system going despite being under huge pressure. The King's Fund

NHS commissioning groups restricting weight loss surgery, surgeons warn – at a cost to patients and the public healthcare bill

NHS commissioning groups restricting weight loss surgery, surgeons warn – at a cost to patients and the public healthcare bill A freedom of information (FOI) request made to all NHS commissioning groups (CCGs) shows that several have adopted policies which attempt to ration weight loss surgery to the super-obese, and ignore official advice on who should be eligible for surgery.

This has made it more difficult for overweight and obese people to get effective treatment to help them lose weight despite evidence that it is safe, effective and saves healthcare costs, according to the findings of a joint report from The British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society and the Royal College of Surgeons.

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Providing physical activity interventions for people with musculoskeletal conditions report

Providing physical activity interventions for people with musculoskeletal conditions report Physical activity is a key part of a public health approach to musculoskeletal conditions and it has a range of benefits for people with musculoskeletal conditions in terms of improving quality of life and supporting people to be independent. It can reduce joint and back pain by 25% while also improving sleep, managing stress and reducing depression, anxiety and dementia and is therefore beneficial for people who have a musculoskeletal conditions and one or more other long-term health conditions. Arthritis Research UK

The effect of hospital ownership on quality of care: evidence from England

The effect of hospital ownership on quality of care: evidence from England This research investigates whether quality of care differs between public and private hospitals in England with data on 3.8 million publicly-funded patients receiving 133 planned (non-emergency) treatments in 393 public and 190 private hospital sites. The authors found no quality differences between hospitals specialising in planned treatments and other hospitals, nor between for-profit and not-for-profit private hospitals. Centre for Health Economics

Paying for it: the human cost of cut-price care

Paying for it: the human cost of cut-price care Care is being purchased across England at prices that are simply not economically sustainable. In Paying for It, we look at the human side of a care market on the brink of failure with stories from across the care system. And we look at why care is priced so low and how people in the system end up paying for cut-price care. Local Government Information Unit

British scientists in world-first TB breakthrough

British scientists in world-first TB breakthrough British scientists have made a world-first breakthrough in the diagnosis of tuberculosis.

Researchers in Oxford and Birmingham say they can isolate different strains of the disease using a process called genome sequencing.

It means patients who may have waited months to get the right drugs can now be diagnosed in just a few days - so they have a greater chance of recovery.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the breakthrough "will save lives".

Cases of TB in the UK have begun falling recently, but England still has one of the highest rates in Europe. BBC News

Discovery enables 'mass produced blood'

Discovery enables 'mass produced blood' Scientists say they have made a significant leap towards mass-producing red blood cells suitable for donation.

Red blood cells can already be made in the lab, but the problem is scale.

A team at the University of Bristol and NHS Blood and Transplant have developed a method to produce an unlimited supply.

The artificial blood will be far more expensive than conventional donation. So it is likely to be used for people with very rare blood types. BBC News

Exclusive: GPs reject DH vision of switch to 1,500 superhubs

Exclusive: GPs reject DH vision of switch to 1,500 superhubs Four out of five GPs believe the government's vision of primary care migrating from the current system to 1,500 'superhubs' would undermine general practice, a GPonline poll shows.

New child care standards could cut hospital admissions

New child care standards could cut hospital admissions Experts have published care standards to help deal with growing numbers of children and young adults attending emergency departments and to ensure they are treated appropriately.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s new Standards for Short Stay Paediatric Assessment Units (SSPAUs) were published today.

The college said the number of children and young people (15 years and under) being seen in hospital emergency departments in England rose by 7.6% between 2014-15 and 2015-16 – the equivalent of 4.4 million attendances.

There were now two and a half times more under 15-year-olds at emergency departments than over 80-year-olds in England. OnMedica

Westminster attack medics: 'It was a day London has trained for'

Westminster attack medics: 'It was a day London has trained for' As news of the terror attack broke, the capital’s NHS workers rushed into action

It was a typically busy day in the emergency department at King’s College hospital when Dr Emer Sutherland started receiving text messages from relatives and friends.

They were the first indication of the scale of the horror unfolding just two miles down the road in Westminster. Within minutes, she and her colleagues were on major alert and preparing to receive the first of many critically injured casualties. Continue reading... The Guardian

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The most common cause of cancer? Simple bad luck

The most common cause of cancer? Simple bad luck Despite the belief cancer is usually inherited or triggered by lifestyles, two thirds of cases can be put down to DNA errors, experts from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center claim. The Daily Mail

Bake Off's Prue Leith backs hospital food campaign

Bake Off's Prue Leith backs hospital food campaign The new judge on the Great British Bake Off is demanding legally enforceable minimum nutrition standards for hospital food. The DailyMail