Teamwork in maternity units key to reducing baby deaths and brain injuries during childbirth

Teamwork in maternity units key to reducing baby deaths and brain injuries during childbirth Adherence to best practice on fetal monitoring and neonatal care also identified as crucial to improving outcomes.

A detailed analysis of all stillbirths, neonatal deaths and brain injuries that occurred during childbirth in 2015 has identified key clinical actions needed to improve the quality of care and prevent future cases, reveals a summary report from the Each Baby Counts initiative.

Each Baby Counts is a national quality improvement programme, launched in October 2014, aiming to halve the number of babies who die or are left severely disabled as a result of preventable incidents occurring during term labour (after 37 weeks) by 2020.

The investigation team has now conducted 2,500 expert assessments of the local reviews into the care of 1,136 babies born in the UK in 2015 – 126 who were stillborn, 156 who died within the first seven days after birth and 854 babies who met the eligibility criteria for severe brain injury*.

The reviewers concluded that three quarters of these babies - 76% - might have had a different outcome with different care. This finding was based on 727 babies where the local investigation provided sufficient information to draw conclusions about the quality of care. A quarter of the local investigations were not thorough enough to allow full assessment. Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

See also:

• How to make labour wards safer BBC News
• Midwives' mistakes 'causing stillbirths' The Daily Mail
• Most baby tragedies could have been prevented with right care, audit finds The Daily Telegraph

Getting the dementia pathway right

Getting the dementia pathway right In this scenario – using a fictional patient, Tom – we examine a dementia care pathway, comparing a sub-optimal but not atypical scenario against an ideal pathway. At each stage we have modelled the costs of care, to the commissioner and the impact on the person and their family’s outcomes and experience. NHS RightCare

Juniors doctor morale: Understanding best practice working environments

Juniors doctor morale: Understanding best practice working environments As part of the work to enhance junior doctors’ working lives, Health Education England undertook a listening exercise to gather together the themes affecting junior doctors’ morale and to understand their experiences of the best training environments.

The report highlights the work taking place across the NHS to address these themes, and suggests ways for health organisations to move forward. In so doing, it seeks to move the conversation forwards towards tangible changes for doctors in training. There is also an accompanying case study.

Experts write manifesto for evidence-based medicine

Experts write manifesto for evidence-based medicine Experts have produced their ‘manifesto for evidence-based medicine’ in response to what they say is the systematic bias, wastage, error, and fraud in the research that underpins patient care. They lament the questionable integrity of much of today’s evidence, the lack of research answering questions that matter to patients, and the lack of relevant evidence to inform patients’ and clinicians’ shared decision-making, and have called for a series of measures to help rectify the situation.

The authors of the editorial, in The BMJ, from the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at the University of Oxford and The BMJ itself, argue that too many research studies are poorly designed or executed, and too much of the resulting research evidence is withheld or disseminated piecemeal. OnMedica

Number of GP practices drops by more than 650 in four years

Number of GP practices drops by more than 650 in four years The number of GP practices in England has dropped by more than 650 in the four years since NHS England was founded, while average list sizes have risen by around 900 patients, official data suggest. GPonline

The NHS must act to tackle its looming workforce crisis

The NHS must act to tackle its looming workforce crisis Vacancies, an increase in demand for services, workplace pressure and low morale could be worse than funding issues

The workforce crisis enveloping the NHS could soon eclipse funding as the most serious problem.

There are tens of thousands of vacancies, far too few new staff are coming through; the pressure on those in post is relentless and morale is dangerously low. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Eleanor Smith MP: ‘NHS staff are undervalued – and demoralised’ The Guardian

Funding alone won’t fix the social care system

Funding alone won’t fix the social care system Alzheimer’s Society is investing in three new research centres of excellence that aim to find ways to improve quality of life and care

The election campaign led the public to the misconception that the “dementia tax” is a new issue. The reality is that decades of squeezed government funding have left people with dementia and their families enduring inadequate care, crippling costs and impossible choices. The Queen’s speech on Wednesday will hopefully promise to create a long-term, sustainable system for funding dementia care that doesn’t leave the burden of cost on individuals.

But fixing the system goes beyond funding. The government needs to adopt a more cost-effective approach that starts with preventing or slowing the rate that people need to access services. Investing money in ways to improve quality of life – and the quality of support people affected by dementia receive from the start of the care pathway – will alleviate the demand and reduce the costs incurred at a later stage. Continue reading... The Guardian

Pets should be allowed to visit their owners in hospital, senior nurses say

Pets should be allowed to visit their owners in hospital, senior nurses say Pets should be allowed to visit owners in hospital, and animal therapy offered to patients to boost mental and physical health, the Royal College of Nurses says.

New guidance will for the first time encourage hospitals to be more welcoming to four-legged friends, and to introduce “animal-assisted therapy” to calm the nerves of anxious patients.

A survey of 750 nurses found almost half had worked with animals - including ponies and chipmunks, as well as cats and dogs - at some point in their careers. In total, 82 per cent said that animals – dogs in particular – encouraged patients to be more physically active, while nearly 60 per cent said their presence appeared to speed physical recovery. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Don't be scared to let animals on wards, say nurses BBC News