Friday 22 September 2017

Reassurances over Danetre Hospital as Daventry MP shares letter from NGH chief operating officer

Reassurances over Danetre Hospital as Daventry MP shares letter from NGH chief operating officer Danetre Hospital is not closing, Northampton General Hospital’s chief operating officer has said, after members of the public and Daventry’s MP wrote to her for clarification on the situation.

Deborah Needham, who is also the deputy chief executive at NGH, wrote a letter to Chris Heaton-Harris, which he has published on his website.

Although some services have been moved to Northampton, forcing patients to travel to the town for certain procedures, Danetre Hospital continues to operate. Daventry Express

Neonatal care improving, but key measures show variation in care

Neonatal care improving, but key measures show variation in care The latest National Neonatal Audit Programme report (NNAP), published by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), shows improvements in care for preterm babies in England, Scotland and Wales, but also reveals variations in service delivery which means many babies are still not getting the care they need.

Commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) as part of the National Clinical Audit and patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP), the NNAP report assesses whether babies requiring specialist neonatal care receive consistent high quality treatment. It is an annual audit which this year assessed the care given to nearly 100,000 babies, with 98% of neonatal units responding.

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Public sector pay: still time for restraint?

Public sector pay: still time for restraint? The government is considering easing the current restraint on the pay of public sector workers. It had previously announced in 2015 that public sector pay scales would only increase by an average of one per cent per year up to and including 2019–20. This briefing note describes the trade-offs faced by the government when deciding how to set public sector pay. Institute for Fiscal Studies

Mental health staff on long-term stress leave up 22%

Mental health staff on long-term stress leave up 22% The number of NHS mental health staff who have had to take sick leave because of their own mental health issues has risen by 22% in the past five years.

Those taking long-term leave of a month or more rose from 7,580 in 2012-13 to 9,285 in 2016-17, BBC freedom of information requests found.

The union Unite said cuts to staff and services were putting extra pressure on front-line mental health workers.

The Department of Health said it was transforming mental health care.

Out of 81 mental health authorities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, 58 provided the BBC with comparable information. BBC News

Epilepsy drug warnings 'not reaching women', survey shows

Epilepsy drug warnings 'not reaching women', survey shows Almost 70% of women surveyed about a powerful epilepsy drug have not received new safety warnings about the dangers of taking it during pregnancy, the BBC has been told exclusively.

Sodium valproate, known as Epilim, carries a 10% risk of physical abnormalities in unborn babies.

About 20,000 children have been harmed by valproate medicines in the UK since the 1970s.

The medicines regulator said the drug had been kept under constant review.

Babies exposed to the drug in the womb have a 40% risk of developing autism, low IQ and learning disabilities. BBC News

Almost 10,000 EU health workers have quit the NHS since Brexit vote

Almost 10,000 EU health workers have quit the NHS since Brexit vote Staff losses will intensify recruitment problems at health service, which now has 40,000 vacant nursing posts

Around 10,000 EU nationals have quit the NHS since the Brexit referendum, it has emerged.

NHS Digital, the health service agency that collects data on the NHS, found that in the 12 months to June, 9,832 EU doctors, nurses and support staff had left, with more believed to have followed in the past three months. Continue reading... The Guardian

Revealed: top 10 NHS trusts for unnecessary deaths

Revealed: top 10 NHS trusts for unnecessary deaths Patients are dying at a higher than expected rate at ten NHShospital trusts, raising “alarms” about their safety, new figures reveal.

Campaigners have condemned as “very troubling” official mortality data suggesting significant numbers of unnecessary deaths at seven per cent of all English trusts.

Five of these institutions, including two named in a national report into serious hospital failures, have shown an unexpectedly high number of deaths for the second year running in the 12 months up to March 2017. The Daily Telegraph

NHS emergency services spend thousands on fat mannequins

NHS emergency services spend thousands on fat mannequins Emergency services are forking out thousands on special 25-stone mannequins – so crews can practice rescuing plus-size patients without injuring themselves.

The super-size bariatric mannequins – known as 'Bariquins' – are being used by fire and ambulance staff because of the increasing number of obese casualties they treat.

Treating overweight patients injured 1,000 members of NHS employees between 2011 and 2015 and cost hundreds of thousands of pounds in payouts.

The creators of the plus-sized dummies now hope they will help reduce injury to workers and reduce the burden on the tax-payer. The Daily Mail