Tuesday 24 October 2017

How IoT and virtual reality can make the NHS great again - Information Age

How IoT and virtual reality can make the NHS great again Northampton General Hospital launched its own AR app in response to the increasing number of customers who were consuming their information digitally. Information Age

Whole-system transformation needs whole-system engagement

Whole-system transformation needs whole-system engagement Recently, the Fund hosted a visit by leaders of the health system in Canterbury, New Zealand. In this blog, the first of three drawing on experiences shared during the visit, Chris Ham focuses on how Canterbury’s leaders began transforming care and the results they delivered. The King's Fund

Tobacco control policy overview

Tobacco control policy overview The Government’s new tobacco control plan was published in 2017, and seeks to reduce smoking overall and target this inequality in smoking rates. This briefing paper provides a summary on the tobacco control plan, tobacco control policies and smoking cessation services. House of Commons Library

Performance tracker: autumn 2017

Performance tracker: autumn 2017 This report finds that the government has spent over £10 billion in five years just to keep troubled services - such as hospitals and prisons - going and argues that the extra funding is not solving underlying issues that public services are facing. In the analysis of health and social care services, it finds that hospitals are spending more with no sign of improvement in key pressure points; adult social care is lacking a clear plan for what happens once emergency funding has run out; and GP numbers are not rising despite plans to improve services. The report calls for urgent action on policy and decision making in order to deal with the building pressures on public services. Institute for Government

County care markets update 2017

County care markets update 2017 This independent report, authored by LaingBuisson, shows that people who pay for their own care are paying weekly fees almost 50 per cent higher than councils, due to cuts in local authority funding and rising demand for services. The analysis shows that self-funders are filling a gap of £670 million per year in England's counties. County Councils Network

How operating theatres are wasting two hours a day

How operating theatres are wasting two hours a day NHS hospitals could carry out 280,000 more non-emergency operations a year by organising operating theatre schedules better, a new study suggests.

The research, which looked at data from 2016, found more than two hours were wasted each day on the average operating list.

The study says avoidable factors like late starts led to the loss of time.

The analysis, seen by the BBC ahead of publication, looked at theatres in 100 NHS Trusts in England.

A total of 1.64 million routine surgical procedures were carried out in 2016, including eye, ear, nose and throat operations and orthopaedic procedures. BBC News

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Dentist fines: Mistakes over addresses hitting thousands

Dentist fines: Mistakes over addresses hitting thousands Many fines incorrectly imposed after dental treatment are because of mistakes over patients' addresses, says a health watchdog.

The latest figures show 385,000 fines were issued in the last financial year - and dentists say tens of thousands of £100 fines have been wrongly applied.

Healthwatch in Kirklees says problems with address records are a big factor.

The NHS accepts this accounts for some of the incorrect fines and says it is planning an information campaign.

The British Dental Association (BDA) last week called for urgent action to tackle a wave of £100 fines being wrongly applied to dental patients who had free treatment, with particular concerns about confusion among vulnerable people. BBC News

Pregnant and ill migrants going without medical care as Government intensifies NHS immigration policy

Pregnant and ill migrants going without medical care as Government intensifies NHS immigration policy Pregnant and seriously ill migrants are going without medical care because they are afraid of receiving bills they cannot pay and subsequently being referred to the Home Office, new studies show.

Research, seen exclusively by The Independent, shows a third of vulnerable migrants requiring medical treatment had been deterred from seeking timely healthcare because of concerns that their information would be shared with the Home Office as a result of the NHS charging process.

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Women fought for abortion rights. Fifty years on, the service is in crisis

Women fought for abortion rights. Fifty years on, the service is in crisis The NHS has been outsourcing the procedure and failing to train specialist staff. Now hundreds of women can’t get an abortion, putting their lives at risk

Half a century after abortion was made legal in England, Scotland and Wales, outsourcing of NHS services and a subsequent lack of specialist doctors mean that hundreds of women each year are prevented from having an abortion, sometimes seriously threatening their health, according to leading medics.

“The system is broken. It’s in crisis. Not fit for purpose,” says professor Lesley Regan, the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). Continue reading... The Guardian

Government health officials attack Calvin Harris for tweet

Government health officials attack Calvin Harris for tweet Government health officials have attacked superstar Calvin Harris after he controversially claimed the flu jab is a 'neurotoxin shot'.

The Scottish DJ, who has 12.7 million followers on Twitter, became embroiled in a row on the social media site after telling them the vaccine contains mercury.

His false allegations were dismissed by various experts, including Mail on Sunday's resident GP Dr Ellie Cannon, with whom he engaged in a war of words. The posts have since been deleted.

Angry doctors were concerned that his claims may deter millions from getting the flu jab - leaving them vulnerable to the dreaded Aussie flu outbreak that is expected to blight the UK in the coming weeks. The Daily Mail