Thursday 9 November 2017

The Care Quality Commission has rated Northampton Hospital as good.

The Care Quality Commission has rated Northampton Hospital as good The Care Quality Commission has rated Northampton Hospital as good.

It was the first inspection at the hospital in three years and included an unannounced visit in August.

Some aspects of the hospital - such as caring for elderly patients, management of emergency care and end of life care - were noted for outstanding practice.

It's a huge turnaround for the hospital, which in 2014 was told it 'required improvement'. BBC Northampton

The Autumn Budget: Joint statement on health and social care

The Autumn Budget: Joint statement on health and social care The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund are urging the government to address the critical state of health and social care in its forthcoming Autumn Budget.

The briefing calls on the government to recognise the immediate funding pressures facing the sector in 2018/19, which will see NHS funding growth fall to its lowest level in this parliament. The government must also act to close the growing funding gaps facing the health and care system, which are now having a clear impact on access to care.

A productive workplace is built on teamwork and a shared vision

A productive workplace is built on teamwork and a shared vision Improving productivity in the UK has become a national priority. Health care delivery is not immune to this challenge although those of us working in the sector may have lost sight of the amount of waste there is. The public definitely haven’t. Wastefulness is one of the most common criticisms of the NHS.

Within the NHS, we need to talk about productivity whether we are clinicians and/or managers. We have a responsibility to provide quality care as efficiently as possible. One of the challenges is that addressing this requires clinicians and managers to work together. This happens every day but isn’t always easy because the mindsets and approaches to a problem can be so different. The King's Fund

Nine NHS groups consider vasectomy funding cuts

Nine NHS groups consider vasectomy funding cuts Nine NHS groups in England are considering or have cut funding for vasectomies in a bid to reduce costs.

Currently, men can have the operation free on the NHS but some authorities will only consider authorising it in "exceptional circumstances".

Managers say the proposed cutbacks are due to "a time of significant financial challenge."

But health organisations have expressed concerns that the proposals could cause a "contraceptive crisis". BBC News

Birth complications 'twice as common' in some hospitals

Birth complications 'twice as common' in some hospitals Women are twice as likely to suffer serious blood loss and severe tears during childbirth in some hospitals, according to an audit of maternity services in Great Britain.

Third and fourth-degree tears occurred in one in 30 vaginal births but in some units in 2015-16 it was one in 15.

The report showed that while most women had a safe birth, there were some variations in care.

It covers 149 out of 155 NHS trusts and boards in England, Scotland and Wales. BBC News

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Jeremy Hunt’s seven day working targets ‘not linked’ to fewer weekend deaths, says study

Jeremy Hunt’s seven day working targets ‘not linked’ to fewer weekend deaths, says study NHS standards intended to ensure senior clinicians and staff responsible for urgent tests are available at weekends have no link to reduced death rates, a study has found.

Researchers evaluated 123 NHS trusts on the seven-day working standards but found no link between performance and differences in outcomes of patients admitted at the weekend or mid-week – the so-called weekend effect.

The findings cast more doubt over the evidence base used by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to force through a "seven-day working" contract that led to the first all-out doctors strike in NHS history. The Independent

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What is a nurse? Baffling number of job roles leaves patients and bosses confused

What is a nurse? Baffling number of job roles leaves patients and bosses confused Because the job title is not protected, anyone can call themselves a nurse. It diminishes the work of the highly trained staff on the NHS frontline.

If you walk into a hospital, care home or GP surgery in England today, you might see someone who calls themselves a nurse. But are they a nurse? What kind of qualifications, skills and experience do they have? Can you tell? The word “nurse” has become embedded over hundreds of years in society’s collective psyche – usually as a generic, female carer of some kind. Continue reading... The Guardian

Jacqui Dyer: Talking about race and mental health is everyone’s business | Hélène Mulholland

Jacqui Dyer: Talking about race and mental health is everyone’s business | Hélène Mulholland As a government adviser on its new review of the Mental Health Act, Jacqui Dyer aims to address the ‘dirty secret’ that black people are too often detained in inpatient facilities.

For Jacqui Dyer, trying to talk about the issue of race and inequality in mental health services is sometimes like “pulling teeth”. Yet the over-representation of black people in inpatient mental health services is part of the country’s “dirty secret” that needs to be addressed once and for all.

“Wherever there is exclusion or detention in this society, that’s where you find over-representation of black people,” says Dyer, who argues that the notion of the black person as “big, black and dangerous” still prevails within institutional service settings.

Even when black adults do manage to access talking therapies, we don’t have the same outcomes Continue reading... The Guardian

NHS chief takes high-risk punt by pointing out May and Hammond's miserliness

NHS chief takes high-risk punt by pointing out May and Hammond's miserliness Simon Stevens’s public warning of dangers of ‘underfunding NHS by £20bn-£30bn a year’ is spectacular in its lack of diplomacy.

Simon Stevens’s warning to Theresa May and Philip Hammond of the risks they are running by “underfunding our health services by £20bn-£30bn a year” was spectacular for being so public, pointed and premeditated. It was a plea, a protest, a challenge and an attempt at persuasion all rolled into one, though longer on direct threat than his usual diplomatic subtlety.

The NHS England chief executive’s speech at the NHS Providers conference may yield the extra £4bn for the health service next year that he said it needed. Or, depending on its reception in Downing Street and the Treasury, it could lead to the end of his three-and-a-half-year stint as the man trusted – until now – by ministers to run and save the NHS. Continue reading... The Guardian

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NHS spends £16 on rubber gloves which can be bought for 35 pence

NHS spends £16 on rubber gloves which can be bought for 35 pence Hospitals are spending up to £16 for packs of rubber gloves which can be bought for just 35 pence, new NHS league tables show.

The Health Secretary said the NHS could save up to a £1 billion a year by opting for cheaper products, as he announced new tables naming the most and least efficient spenders.

Speaking at the NHS Providers conference in Birmingham, Mr Hunt said the health service “needs more funding, it is impossible to argue anything else”. He said he would make the case to the Treasury to go "as far as we can" in boosting funding.

But the Health Secretary also said trusts needed to use their resources more efficiently. The Daily Telegraph

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Scrap surgical masks and robots to help save NHS £150m

Scrap surgical masks and robots to help save NHS £150m Surgical masks and robotic operations are a waste of NHS money and should be scrapped to help save the NHS £150million a year.

That's the view of Imperial College London experts who have carried out a review on cost-cutting measures the cash-strapped health service can make.

Researchers from the Department of Surgery and Cancer, found 71 commonly performed procedures or practices that are costly but make little or no difference to patients' safety.

It comes as the NHS's financial watchdog warned lives are being cut short because hospitals are having to ration routine operations. The Daily Mail

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Alcohol death rates soar among Baby Boomers

Alcohol death rates soar among Baby Boomers The 'wine o'clock' habit has begun to take a deadly toll on the baby- boomer generation, figures reveal. They show the likelihood of a British woman in her 60s dying from drink is up a third. The Daily Mail