Wednesday 4 October 2017

Deprivation of liberty safeguards

Deprivation of liberty safeguards Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were introduced into the Mental Capacity Act by the Mental Health Act 2007. This briefing describes recent and proposed changes, including the Law Commission review. House of Commons Library

NHS: Jeremy Hunt wants 5,000 new nursing training places

NHS: Jeremy Hunt wants 5,000 new nursing training places More than 5,000 new places on nursing training courses are to be created each year as part of government efforts to boost the NHS workforce in England.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said more current NHS staff would be able to retrain as nurses through a four-year apprenticeship at local hospitals.

Announcing what he said was a 25% total rise, he told the Tory conference "our NHS is nothing without its nurses".

He also said all NHS staff would be offered flexible working arrangements.

The Royal College of Nursing says there are 40,000 vacant nursing positions in the health service while the Nursing and Midwifery Council warned this summer that the number of people leaving their register was outstripping those joining and the trend was accelerating. BBC News

See also:

Hunt 'confident' EU NHS workers will be allowed to remain post Brexit

Hunt 'confident' EU NHS workers will be allowed to remain post Brexit Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has said he is confident that the 150,000 EU staff who work in the NHS and social care will be allowed to remain in the UK, with the same rights and benefits as they currently have, following Brexit. GPonline

Switch to vaping could prevent millions of premature deaths

Switch to vaping could prevent millions of premature deaths Over 6 million premature deaths could be prevented if smokers switched to e-cigarettes over a ten-year period.

This is the finding of a study published this week in Tobacco Control.

A research team, led by Dr David Levy at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC, modelled the impact for public health if large numbers of cigarette smokers switched to e-cigarettes (vaping) under two scenarios – an Optimistic Scenario where smoking prevalence falls to 5% over a ten-year period and a Pessimistic Scenario where it falls to 10%.

For the Optimistic Scenario, the researchers presumed similar patterns of e-cigarette use to now and used published evaluations of likely harm reductions. OnMedica

The NHS needs a digitally savvy workforce to ensure its survival

The NHS needs a digitally savvy workforce to ensure its survival Frontline staff are frustrated they can’t make more use of digital tools and data but a new academy could help by training 300 technology leaders

It was in the early hours of a Saturday morning that I admitted 83-year-old Mrs J, who was brought in feeling unwell and drowsy with a chesty cough.

After carrying out investigations, we treated her for a chest infection with antibiotics and fluids. I was called back an hour later. Mrs J was not well. Her blood pressure was dropping, her lips swelling and she had started to develop a rash. It became evident she was allergic to the antibiotic we had given her. Continue reading... The Guardian

Bill for urgent repairs at NHS hospitals reaches almost £1bn

Bill for urgent repairs at NHS hospitals reaches almost £1bn Report finds crumbling state of hospitals is putting staff and patients at risk and could lead to health and safety prosecutions

Hospitals are at growing risk of “catastrophic failure” because the bill for urgent repairs for problems that threaten staff and patient safety has soared to almost £1bn, an NHS report reveals.

The cost of undertaking urgent “high-risk” maintenance in hospitals jumped last year from £775.5m to £947.1m – a rise of 22% – according to figures published by the NHS’s statistical arm. Continue reading... The Guardian

Half of dentists plan to quit the NHS within five years

Half of dentists plan to quit the NHS within five years Dental services are facing a crisis as more than half of dentists plan to leave the NHS within five years, a study reveals today.

It found that 58 per cent want to go private, move overseas, retire or quit the profession.

Many of those who want to leave the NHS are newly qualified and under the age of 35. The Daily Mail