Chief executive and chairman at KGH resign

Chief executive and chairman at KGH resign The chairman and chief executive at Kettering General Hospital have both announced their resignations.

Graham Foster has been chairman since September 2013 with chief executive David Sissling joining just over six months later.

Mr Sissling has been on sick leave since September 2016 after suffering a brain haemorrhage and though he has now recovered, he has decided not to return to his role.

Mr Foster has announced he would also now like to resign to enable a new chairman and a new chief executive to be recruited together. Northamptonshire Telegraph

See also:

• Kettering Hospital: Waiting list row bosses resign BBC Northampton

Learning from Scotland’s NHS

Learning from Scotland’s NHS This is the first in a new series looking at each of the four health services of the UK in a detailed and qualitative way, while asking what lessons they hold for the other countries.

It looks at how health care in Scotland is different, where its approach seems to solve problems being faced elsewhere in the UK, and whether that approach could be transplanted to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It also assesses whether there are areas where Scotland could learn from its peers. The Nuffield Trust

Investigation into NHS continuing healthcare funding

Investigation into NHS continuing healthcare funding The National Audit Office has today published the findings of its investigation into NHS continuing healthcare. NHS continuing healthcare (CHC) is a package of care provided outside of hospital that is arranged and funded solely by the NHS for individuals who have significant ongoing health care needs.

NHS 'rationing leaves patients in pain'

NHS 'rationing leaves patients in pain' Vital NHS operations and treatments are being increasingly rationed in England, leaving patients in pain, doctors say.

The treatments affected include hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery to help restore sight as well as drugs for conditions such as arthritis.

Such care is normally given routinely, but the British Medical Journal has found evidence it is being cut back.

The joural obtained data showing more doctors are having to resort to special appeals to get their patients treated.

Local health bosses have blamed the tighter restrictions on a lack of funding.

But medics and patients' groups said the restrictions being placed on non-emergency treatment were "unfair" and meant patients spent longer in pain or were going without treatment. BBC News

See also:

• Pressure on NHS finances drives new wave of postcode rationing The BMJ
• Patients forced to beg NHS to fund cataract or hip surgery The Daily Mail
• Doctors forced to plead with NHS for treatments for patients, BMJ finds The Guardian
• Patients face long delays for routine operations because of NHS rationing The Independent

FGM: More than 5,000 new cases in England

FGM: More than 5,000 new cases in England The NHS in England recorded 5,391 new cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the past year, data reveals.

Almost half involved women and girls living in London, NHS Digital found.

A third were women and girls born in Somalia, while 112 cases were UK-born nationals.

The practice is illegal in the UK and it is compulsory for family doctors, hospitals and mental health trusts to report any new cases in their patients.

FGM - intentionally altering or injuring the female external genitalia for non-medical reasons - carries a sentence of up to 14 years in jail.

It is the second time that NHS Digital has released annual FGM figures for England.

Most of the cases were spotted by midwives and doctors working in maternity and obstetric units. BBC News

See also:

• Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Annual Report 2016/17 NHS Digital
• NHS attended to 9,000 FGM cases in England last year, report reveals The Guardian

Is there institutional racism in mental health care?

Is there institutional racism in mental health care? Black people are being failed by the UK's mental health services because of "institutional racism", it has been warned. How does this affect those who experience it?

When Eche Ogbuono, who has bipolar disorder, was sectioned under the Mental Health Act, he should have been taken to a safe environment - usually a hospital - for a medical assessment.

Instead, he was taken straight to a police station.

"Being in the police cell was probably the worst thing they could have done to me in the state of mind that I was in," he tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.

Under the Mental Health Act, a person can be detained if they are considered to be suffering from a mental disorder and in immediate need of care or control. BBC News

Doctors using Snapchat to send patient scans to each other, panel finds

Doctors using Snapchat to send patient scans to each other, panel finds Report says NHS clinicians sending scans using photo messaging app is ‘clearly insecure, risky and non-auditable’

Doctors are using Snapchat to send patient scans to each other, a panel of health and tech experts has found, concluding the “digital revolution has largely bypassed the NHS”.

Clinicians use camera apps to record particular details of patient information in a convenient format, the panel said in a report, describing it as “clearly an insecure, risky, and non-auditable way of operating, and cannot continue”. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Independent Reviewers release first annual report on DeepMind Health DeepMind Health Independent Review Panel
• Google NHS deal rebuked again by DeepMind panel BBC News
• NHS doctors use Snapchat to send patients' scans, report says The Daily Telegraph

Brexit fears trigger exodus of crucial EU health and social care workforce

Brexit fears trigger exodus of crucial EU health and social care workforce The public sector in the UK is increasingly reliant on European labour – but concerns over their future status are driving workers away

Hospital wards, nursing homes and other adult care services are losing vital staff as a result of Brexit, according to unions, NHS and social care providers.

The warning comes a year after the UK voted to leave the EU – and as the number of non-British EU nationals in the health and social care workforce has grown exponentially in the past eight years. In 2016, 209,000 people working in the sector in the UK were EU nationals, up from 121,000 in 2009 – a rise of 72% – according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Continue reading... The Guardian

New mother Catherine Carver describes postnatal psychosis

New mother Catherine Carver describes postnatal psychosis After childbirth, Catherine Carver became convinced that her baby had been swapped and social workers were plotting to kill her. She recounts her terrifying journey into postpartum psychosis. The Daily Mail

Buildings at three NHS trusts fail fire safety tests

Buildings at three NHS trusts fail fire safety tests Buildings at three NHS trusts in England have failed fire safety tests in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster, NHS Improvement has said.

All NHS trusts and foundation trusts have been asked to carry out urgent fire safety checks following the inferno which has left 80 people dead or missing presumed dead.

Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust is taking steps to remove cladding from one of its buildings following a negative test result.

NHS Improvement said the building is not used for inpatient accommodation and "measures are being put in place to ensure the safety of the building while the cladding is removed".

Cladding from a building at North Middlesex University Hospitals NHS Trust has also failed the test and is being removed. It does not house any inpatients. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Grenfell Tower fire: Three hospitals fail fire safety checks BBC News
• Three NHS buildings fail post-Grenfell fire safety tests The Guardian