Thursday 19 October 2017

Two arrested in Latimer Grange care home neglect inquiry

Two arrested in Latimer Grange care home neglect inquiry Two people have been arrested by police investigating allegations of neglect at a Northamptonshire care home.

The pair were detained after allegations that include criminal offences against current and past residents of Latimer Grange Care Home.

Insp Kev Wooldridge, of Northamptonshire Police, said safety of residents was their "primary concern".

Officers started looking into the care home in Burton Latimer following a BBC investigation in June. BBC Northampton

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Brexit may be dominating political debate, but the NHS cannot be ignored

Brexit may be dominating political debate, but the NHS cannot be ignored Party conference season saw some positive noises about politicians’ plans for the NHS. But serious issues have still not been addressed, says Anita Charlesworth.

Autumn is upon us. For young people that means heading off to university, for politicians it’s off to party conferences. Attending a party conference bears striking similarities to fresher’s week. The parallels between university life and political conferences were most stark at Labour, which is reinventing the party conference as we know it.

The main parties’ conferences are now over and the dust is settling on the post-election landscape. The NHS’s position in that landscape is complex. The health service clearly matters to the public – according to one poll it was second only to Brexit in shaping people’s voting decisions in the last election. However, despite the service’s undoubted salience, it’s also clear that the focus of Westminster is fundamentally elsewhere. The Health Foundation

Public engagement – pitfalls, barriers and benefits

Public engagement – pitfalls, barriers and benefits It is often argued that the intensity of the public’s relationship with the NHS insulates the service from necessary change. However, like any relationship, it is not quite as straightforward as that. The King's Fund

New technology, earlier diagnosis and better coordination of care in cancer

New technology, earlier diagnosis and better coordination of care in cancer The NHS is on-track to transform cancer services in England by 2020/21 according to a report published today by NHS England’s National Cancer Programme. The report details the investment the NHS is making in cancer transformation, including £130m over the period 2016/18 in new and upgraded radiotherapy equipment and £200m over the next two years. NHS England

Emergency department survey 2016

Emergency department survey 2016 The CQC asked people about their experiences of emergency departments. This report contains the analysis of the results. Patients were generally positive when answering questions about their interactions with staff. Positive responses were also received to questions asking about information provision and communication regarding care and treatment whilst in the emergency department. However, there were less positive results for questions asking about: receiving timely pain relief; emotional support; and information provision when leaving the emergency department. Care Quality Commission

Hundreds of families block organ donation

Hundreds of families block organ donation Organs from 505 registered donors could not be made available for transplant in the last five years because of objections from relatives.

BBC 5 live found that almost a third of families blocked organ donation because they felt the process took "too long".

The law states that consent lies with the deceased, but in practice, relatives' wishes are always respected.

The NHS wants to reduce the number of "overrides" by encouraging prospective donors to talk to their relatives.

In England, NHS figures showed that 457 people died last year whilst waiting for an organ transplant. BBC News

Active elderly live independently and avoid social care

Active elderly live independently and avoid social care Greater encouragement of older people to keep physically active would allow them to live more independently and could also reduce the need for social care, saving money, experts have argued in the BMJ this morning. In their joint analysis, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and others urge a change in attitude from seeing functional decline and the need for social care as an ‘inevitable’ consequence of ageing to regarding it as avoidable; and they call on national and local organisations to act to encourage opportunities for people to be active, incorporating this aim into built environments and transport. OnMedica

Self-harm among girls aged 13 to 16 rose by 68% in three years, UK study finds

Self-harm among girls aged 13 to 16 rose by 68% in three years, UK study finds Data from GP practices between 2001 and 2014 showed rates of self-harm for boys stayed roughly steady – but soared upwards for girls in recent years

Self-harm reported to GPs among teenage girls under the age of 17 in the UK increased by 68% over just three years, research has revealed.

The study also found that self-harm among young people aged 10-19 was three times more common among girls than boys, with those who self-harmed at much greater risk of suicide than those who did not.

If it was just down to greater awareness, then you would expect to see it in girls aged 10-12 and 17-19 Continue reading... The Guardian

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Elderly patient could be put at risk by pressure to empty NHS beds, warns social care chief inspector 

Elderly patient could be put at risk by pressure to empty NHS beds, warns social care chief inspector Pressures on hospitals to empty thousands of beds ahead of winter could risk the safety of frail elderly patients, the chief inspector of social care has warned.

Andrea Sutcliffe said she was concerned that vulnerable patients would be moved into inadequate facilities, after councils were told funding could be cut if they do not reduce bedblocking rates in their local hospitals.

She told a conference: “I worry that if people focus just on moving people through the system quickly then does that mean that they will force the discharge of somebody that is old and frail into a service which we have rated ‘inadequate’, which would put them at risk potentially.” The Daily Telegraph

When it comes to smokers' burden on the NHS, it may well be that they contribute more in tax than they take

When it comes to smokers' burden on the NHS, it may well be that they contribute more in tax than they take The NHS has come under criticism after plans to ban patients from surgery unless they quit smoking were revealed.

The logic behind the move is that smokers are a higher burden the health service due to the illnesses that they pick up as a result of their own decision, but this clear-cut, utilitarian approach has come under fire.

It has been accused of going "against the principles of the NHS", but does it even make financial sense?

Many would argue that smokers contribute far more in tax than is needed to deal with the costs of their potential health issues - we've dug into the numbers to see if they add up. The Daily Telegraph

Vaginal mesh victims deserve an apology, Tory MP warns

Vaginal mesh victims deserve an apology, Tory MP warns Dr Sarah Wollaston, health committee chairman, said the Government 'cannot allow' the scandal-hit procedure to continue to be offered to women for problems after childbirth. The Daily Mail

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