Wednesday 24 May 2017

KGH to introduce temporary £20 all-day car park charge

KGH to introduce temporary £20 all-day car park charge Kettering General Hospital will temporarily increase its all-day parking charge to £20 while work on the second deck of Car Park B takes place. Northamptonshire Telegraph

What the public thinks about NHS and social care services

What the public thinks about NHS and social care services The Health Foundation commissioned Ipsos MORI to do a survey of the general public in Great Britain on their views about funding of the NHS, as well as the provision of NHS and social care services.

The survey was carried out in May 2017. We have analysed some of the findings from the survey. We have also provided comparisons with the results of an Ipsos MORI survey that we commissioned in 2015 and with NatCen’s British Social Attitudes survey of 2014.

Patching up NHS cybersecurity: five lessons to be learned

Patching up NHS cybersecurity: five lessons to be learned Earlier this month, the NHS was hit by the largest cyber incident in its short digital history. The incident led to significant disruption of services for several days, with networks and email shut down as a precaution to contain the spread to vulnerable PCs. Ambulances were diverted from some trusts struggling to cope without IT systems in their emergency departments.

In the days following the attack, many have been quick to point the finger: at managers, at the national bodies, and at government. Laying blame is easy, but the harder task is to learn from the errors so that we can reduce the likelihood and limit the damage of similar incidents in the future. So what lessons are there for the NHS and government? The King's Fund

Latest NHS sickness absence statistics published

Latest NHS sickness absence statistics published Take a look at the latest NHS Sickness absence published statistics for 2017. NHS Employers

Social care: a step forwards or a step backwards?

Social care: a step forwards or a step backwards? This briefing examines the manifesto proposals for social care and outlines the current state of social care provision and funding. Institute for Fiscal Studies

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: Ethiopian wins top WHO job

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: Ethiopian wins top WHO job Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from Ethiopia will be the next director general of the World Health Organization (WHO).

He will be the first African to head up the UN agency, after winning the most votes from 186 member states.

He replaces Margaret Chan, who will step down from her 10-year post at the end of June. BBC News

Assaults between care home residents reported daily

Assaults between care home residents reported daily Police recorded 1,200 assaults between residents living at care homes between 2014 and 2016, the BBC has found.

More than one assault a day was reported in England and Wales, an investigation by File on 4 revealed.

Some care workers said they were not always given full information about who might pose a risk.

The Care Quality Commission, the health regulator in England, said it was the responsibility of care providers to protect residents from harm or abuse. BBC News

NHS faces staggering increase in cost of elderly care, academics warn

NHS faces staggering increase in cost of elderly care, academics warn 2.8 million people over 65 will need nursing and social care by 2025 – largely because of a significant rise in dementia-related disability, research finds

The NHS and social care system in the UK is facing a staggering increase in the cost of looking after elderly people within the next few years, according to major new research which shows a 25% increase in those who will need care between 2015 and 2025.

Within eight years, there will be 2.8 million people over 65 needing nursing and social care, unable to cope alone, says the research – largely because of the toll of dementia in a growing elderly population. The research, published by the respected Lancet Public Health medical journal, says cases of disability related to dementia will rise by 40% among people aged 65 to 84, with other forms of disability increasing by about 31%. Continue reading... The Guardian

As a GP I feel powerless to help elderly people struggling to survive

As a GP I feel powerless to help elderly people struggling to survive I can refer people to mental health services and social care but they are overloaded and don’t provide much help

Recently a patient brought home to me how inadequate the help I can provide my elderly patients as a GP can be. Among more than 50 phone calls I fielded one day as one of the GPs dealing with urgent requests, there were two from a patient in her 80s who is the main carer for her husband who has dementia. She also has health issues and he is unaware of the problems they face. The receptionist learned far more about the difficulties they were having from the woman’s phone calls to the surgery and from observing them in the waiting room, than I did from my snatched telephone conversations and the scrawled note left for me. I found out later that the only way she could get to the surgery to bring the sample I requested was by locking her husband in the car outside. I knew that things were difficult, but this was a new low. Continue reading... The Guardian

Number of GPs has fallen since NHS launched 5-year rescue plan 

Number of GPs has fallen since NHS launched 5-year rescue plan The number of GPs has fallen since the NHS launched a "rescue package" to tackle crisis shortages of family doctors, official figures show.

Ministers have repeatedly pledged to bring in 5,000 more GPs, in response to a growing crisis, which has led to record numbers of practices closures across the country.

A year ago, health officials drew up a five-year plan, pledging to put general practice “back on its feet” by recruiting doctors from abroad, offering £20,000 incentives for trainees and bringing in extra support staff. The Daily Telegraph

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