Monday 3 July 2017

Best of the best! Hospital & Outreach Education in Northampton wins honour in Education Awards

Best of the best! Hospital & Outreach Education in Northampton wins honour in Education Awards An education unit that works with children and young people who cannot attend school due to health issues has won an award at the Northamptonshire Education Awards. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Retired miner, 70, dies following botched surgery

Retired miner, 70, dies following botched surgery A retired miner has died after bungling doctors damaged the blood supply to his kidneys during routine surgery.

Gordon Withers, from Northampton, lost his life due to a catalogue of errors after undergoing an operation to treat an aneurysm.

The botched procedure left him with permanent damage to his kidney and bowel, forcing him to rely on a feeding tube to digest vital nutrients.

Northampton General Hospital, where the surgery took place, have since admitted fault - and said his death could have been avoided. The Daily Mail

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Health and social care after the election: what issues still need attention?

Health and social care after the election: what issues still need attention? The political tumult of recent weeks seems to be subsiding. The Queen’s Speech set out plans for a longer (two-year) parliamentary session, and the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party have reached a ‘confidence and supply’ agreement that gives the government a small majority in parliament. A second snap election appears less likely – for now. So, what might the new political environment mean for health and social care?

Writing in the BMJ before the Queen’s Speech, Chris Ham, chief executive of The King’s Fund, said that NHS England will ‘continue to promote evolutionary changes to the organisation of the NHS, including collaboration and in some cases mergers’. Niall Dickson, chief executive of NHS Confederation, suggested that ‘political uncertainty’ may impede service change. The King's Fund

New figures show an increase in numbers of nurses and midwives leaving the professions

New figures show an increase in numbers of nurses and midwives leaving the professions New figures that we’ve published today show an increase in the number of nurses and midwives leaving our register while at the same time, numbers joining have slowed down. This has resulted in an overall reduction in the numbers of nurses and midwives registered to work in the UK.

Recently public attention has focused on the reducing number of EU nurses and midwives joining our register. But today’s figures show that it is mainly UK nurses and midwives who are leaving the register, resulting in the overall downward trend. Nursing and Midwifery Council

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Sustainability and transformation plans (STPs): what, why and where next?

Sustainability and transformation plans (STPs): what, why and where next? This report looks at some of the reform solutions that have been identified by STPs, and also sets out the range of challenges that stand in the way of them realising their vision for improved health and efficiency. Institute for Public Policy Research

Why Bulgaria is training UK doctors

Why Bulgaria is training UK doctors Zarina Brady explains why she and others from the UK are heading to Bulgaria to study medicine. BBC News

Vagina surgery 'sought by girls as young as nine'

Vagina surgery 'sought by girls as young as nine' Girls as young as nine are seeking surgery on their genitals because they are distressed by its appearance, the Victoria Derbyshire show has been told.

Dr Naomi Crouch, a leading adolescent gynaecologist, said she was concerned GPs were referring rising numbers of young girls who wanted an operation.

Labiaplasty, as the surgery is known, involves the lips of the vagina being shortened or reshaped.

The NHS says it should not be carried out on girls before they turn 18.

In 2015-16, more than 200 girls under 18 had labiaplasty on the NHS. More than 150 of the girls were under 15. BBC News

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Organs needed

Organs needed With Scotland set to join Wales in having an "opt-out" system for organ donation, why are England and Northern Ireland not following suit? BBC News

'I fainted quite a bit': what I learned from my nursing placement

'I fainted quite a bit': what I learned from my nursing placement Nurses share their insights into what’s in store for students, from handling the workload to making new friends

You start at the deep end when training to be a nurse: you’ll be expected to take on real responsibilities from your first day on placement. We spoke to students and professionals to find out what’s in store for students. Continue reading... The Guardian

Antibiotic shortage puts patients at risk, doctors fear

Antibiotic shortage puts patients at risk, doctors fear Exclusive: supply problems with one of most widely used drugs mean doctors are being forced to ration its use and switch to less desirable alternatives

A major shortage of one of the most widely used hospital antibiotics is putting patients at risk, doctors have warned.

There is an international shortage of of piperacillin-tazobactam, an antibiotic and antibacterial combination drug known by the trade name Tazocin, which is usually used intravenously in intensive care. It is also used to treat a wide variety of conditions including cystic fibrosis, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, diabetic foot infections and neutropenic sepsis – a life-threatening condition that can arise in those receiving anti-cancer treatment. Continue reading... The Guardian

Hospitals should stop asking for cash and focus on getting better

Hospitals should stop asking for cash and focus on getting better Too many NHS hospitals equate more spending with higher quality. Lean, efficient systems deliver better care

Just as sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) and new care models show signs of faltering, a clinician-focused approach to driving costs down and quality up could make a difference.

Delegates at the BMA’s annual meeting have just voted for STPs to be abandoned. While some of the language around the vote was the usual conspiracy theory about it all being a plot to privatise the NHS, it was harder to argue with pleas for STP decisions to be based on robust, publicly-available evidence. Continue reading... The Guardian

NHS wastes £70million in a year by prescribing paracetamol

NHS wastes £70million in a year by prescribing paracetamol GPs issued more than 21,740,000 prescriptions of the everyday painkillers last year at a cost of £3.23 per item – when the pills can be bought for as little as 19p in supermarkets. The Daily Mail

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Thousands of cancer patients dying in needless agony, new data reveals

Thousands of cancer patients dying in needless agony, new data reveals Thousands of cancer patients are dying in needless pain because of disjointed care for people who have returned home to be with loved ones, experts have warned.

New data reveals one in ten people who die of cancer have inadequate pain relief in their final 48 hours.

Charities have criticised the Office for National Statistics figures as “unacceptable”, and called on the Government to make good on its manifesto pledge to improve the standard of palliative care.

Macmillan Cancer Support, which conducted the analysis, said fears of uncontrollable pain were cancer patients’ top concern as they approached the end of life. The Daily Telegraph

Big pharma cash and hospitality to doctors rises as one in three refuses to reveal earnings

Big pharma cash and hospitality to doctors rises as one in three refuses to reveal earnings Cash and hospitality given by the pharmaceutical industry to doctors has increased to more than £116 million a year, despite a drive to make the practice more transparent.

Campaigners have described as “ridiculous” new figures revealing that at least one in three clinicians taking money or treats from drug companies are still refusing to publicly disclose their earnings.

Experts on Friday called for a change in the law to bring Britain in line with the US where doctors are forced to publish all potential conflicts of interest. The Daily Telegraph