KGH placed into special measures

KGH placed into special measures Kettering General Hospital has been placed into special measures after being rated as ‘inadequate’ by health regulators.

The hospital has come under heavy criticism from the Care Quality Commission in a new report.

Two out of five areas rated – safe and well-led – were given the lowest score possible following the inspection in October last year, meaning the hospital is rated overall as ‘inadequate’. Northamptonshire Telegraph

See also:

• Kettering General Hospital Care Quality Commission

(Elective) hips don’t lie: data reveals pressures on hip replacement services

(Elective) hips don’t lie: data reveals pressures on hip replacement services Our recent report illustrated how financial pressures in the health system are having a very different impact in four different service areas. Whereas genito-urinary medicine and district nursing services have seen an impact on access to, and quality of, their services, neonatal and elective hip replacement services were not affected to the same extent by the same pressures. However, for elective hip replacement services, despite having much to celebrate it appears the impact of financial pressures is beginning to show.

National data shows that the number of elective hip replacements increased by 90 per cent between 2000/1 and 2015/16. While some of this growth can be attributed to population increase, the growth in the rate of elective hip procedures is far higher than the rate of population growth in the elderly, who are the main recipients of such surgery. There have also been dramatic improvements in elective waiting times (for all patients), with average waits reducing by about nine weeks since 2007. All of which suggests an expanding service treating more patients. The King's Fund

Referral-to-treatment waiting times and forecasts

Referral-to-treatment waiting times and forecasts This report estimates that the number of people waiting longer than 18 weeks for planned operations could exceed 800,000 by 2020. The analysis finds that demand for elective operations is rising, with the number of people waiting for treatment forecast to hit 5 million in 2020. The report recommends that patients be made aware of their right to choose where they receive NHS treatment in order to help patients access care as quickly as possible. NHS Confederation

Quality Principles for NHS Apprenticeships

Quality Principles for NHS Apprenticeships A set of principles to help employers in health care organisations deliver quality apprenticeships have been developed by National Skills Academy for Health and Health Education England.

NHS complaints procedures in England

NHS complaints procedures in England This briefing paper provides information on the standard NHS complaints procedures and also the other options available to patients. House of Commons Library

Charlie Gard case: Doctors can withdraw baby's life support

Charlie Gard case: Doctors can withdraw baby's life support Doctors can withdraw life support from a sick baby with a rare genetic condition against his parents' wishes, a High Court judge has ruled.

Specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital said eight-month-old Charlie Gard has irreversible brain damage and should be moved to palliative care.

His parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard, from London, had wanted to take him to the US for a treatment trial.

They said they were "devastated" by the decision but intended to appeal. BBC News

Tainted blood

Tainted blood Families of people infected with HIV and hepatitis by NHS treatments still seek a public inquiry. BBC News

Two in five GPs set to quit in next five years, study finds

Two in five GPs set to quit in next five years, study finds GP leaders have warned of an 'enormous crisis' after 40% of GPs in south west England said they would quit in the next five years. GPonline

See also:

• RCGP calls for urgent action to stop GPs leaving the profession Royal College of General Practitioners 
• Two in five NHS GPs ready to quit within five years The Daily Mail
• Two in five GPs could quit soon with money 'not worth' the workload The Daily Telegraph
• Two in five GPs in south-west of England plan to quit, survey finds The Guardian
• Almost half of GPs plan to quit NHS due to 'perilously' low morale, survey suggests The Independent

Why axeing 18-week surgery target won't create more capacity in A&E

Why axeing 18-week surgery target won't create more capacity in A&E Reducing elective surgery seriously hits trusts’ financial performance and is no substitute for extra emergency care

Press coverage of the recent Next steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View [pdf] concentrated heavily on the argument that a lower 18-week elective surgery target in 2017/18 will make it easier to recover performance against the four-hour accident and emergency target. But false linkages between the two targets are hiding the real risk for the NHS.

While the lower elective surgery target is a welcome, but painful, acceptance of reality, the linkage between the two targets is neither direct nor strong. And overemphasising that linkage underplays the serious risks the NHS faces next winter. Continue reading... The Guardian

What we need is a national social care service

What we need is a national social care service A centralised, free-at-the-point-of-use NHS and council-run, means-tested social care aren’t working together – and patients are paying the price

Neil Kinnock was on the radio at the weekend, talking about his hero Aneurin Bevan with the journalist Matthew Parris and one of Bevan’s biographers, John Campbell. Any conversation about Bevan’s life is mostly about the NHS and so it was this time, too. But it was a useful reminder of how, among all the battles fought over its creation, among the fiercest was the question of replacing a patchwork of local provision with a single centralised structure that tried to guarantee that everyone got the same level of care wherever they lived. At that the point the radical, big-government approach petered out. Social care was left where it always had been, with local councils.

Councils argue that keeping older people well is about much more than care homes and clearing hospital beds Continue reading... The Guardian

NHS to offer tracking apps to those at risk of suicide and self-harm

NHS to offer tracking apps to those at risk of suicide and self-harm People at risk of suicide or self-harm will be offered tracking apps allowing the NHS to monitor their texts and alert doctors to changes in their moods.

NHS England is to announce a £35m investment in digital technology aimed at slashing sucide rates and boosting mental health.

The plans include trials of an app which will monitor the content of texts, and the regularity of phone calls, to alert services to potential risks.

The prototype, developed with Stanford University, means that software would detect the use of “key words” associated with heightened risk, as well as highlighting changes in behaviour - such as an increase in late night phone calls. The Daily Telegraph

Hip implant maker was alerted to safety fears, as surgeon told them: ‘It borders on unethical to market’

Hip implant maker was alerted to safety fears, as surgeon told them: ‘It borders on unethical to market’ British patients were fitted with controversial hip implants despite the company behind them being warned by experts that the type of device was unsafe, secret documents reveal.

A senior engineer working for DePuy reported in 1995 that metal-on-metal constructions were “unpredictable” and parts prone to “catastrophic breakdown” five years before DePuy’s hips began to be implanted in Britons.

More than 20,000 patients were later fitted with the implants, which experts say can deposit toxic ions into the bloodstream as they wear. Thousands were left in agony and had to have costly operations to have them replaced with safer alternatives. The Daily Telegraph