Kettering General Hospital admits missing drugs mistakes target

Kettering General Hospital admits missing drugs mistakes target A hospital in special measures has admitted making three times as many harmful drug mistakes than its target.

There were 50 "medication incidents causing harm" at Kettering General in the five months to September, according to an internal report.

This is when a patient is given the wrong medication or dosage, misses a dose, or has a reaction to a drug.

The hospital aims for no more than 36 such incidents per year but said it had introduced further safety improvements. BBC Northampton

Use antbiotics correctly, KGH pharmacist urges

Use antbiotics correctly, KGH pharmacist urges Kettering General Hospital is urging local people to use antibiotics in the right way during a world awareness week designed to combat the rise of dangerous antibiotic resistant organisms.

The hospital’s antibiotic pharmacist, and her team, will be promoting the appropriate use messages in the hospital’s Foundation Wing atrium and in key staff areas throughout World Antibiotic Awareness Week (November 13 to 19).

The international campaign – which is supported in the UK by Public Health England – aims to encourage the correct, limited and targeted, prescription of antibiotics and to encourage patients to complete their courses, as per their doctors’ instructions, to prevent resistance. Northamptonshire Telegraph 

Health matters: preventing infections and reducing AMR

Health matters: preventing infections and reducing AMR This professional resource outlines the importance of infection prevention and control and how it can contribute to reducing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Public Health England

Commissioning children's palliative care in England: 2017 edition

Commissioning children's palliative care in England: 2017 edition The report sets out what clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities are claiming they do to plan, fund and monitor (a process known as ‘commissioning’) care for the 40,000 children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions in England.

Our ambition is to use this research to work with government and commissioners to help improve the commissioning process, to highlight gaps and start to identify where it is working well so others can learn how to improve commissioning. Together for Short Lives

See also:

• I'm dealing with life-threatening situations - but I'm not a clinician, I'm a mum' BBC News

Behavioral Design Teams: The Next Frontier in Clinical Delivery Innovation?

Behavioral Design Teams: The Next Frontier in Clinical Delivery Innovation? A crucial element may be missing from the design of many health care services, programs, and policies: consideration for the role of human behavior. In this issue brief, Ted Robertson and colleagues from ideas42, a nonprofit focused on innovative solutions to social problems, discuss the potential of behavioral design in health care delivery. The Commonwealth Fund

UK most overweight country in Western Europe says OECD

UK most overweight country in Western Europe says OECD Britain is the most obese nation in Western Europe, with rates rising faster than any other developed nation.

Obesity rates have doubled over the past two decades, and 63% of UK adults are overweight, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Britain is now sixth heaviest - "considerably worse" than the rest of the 35-member club of wealthy nations.

The UK's comparatively high adolescent drunkenness rate is also a key concern.

However, the OECD Health at a Glance report said the overall health and life expectancy of Britons remained average - aided by a reduction in smoking and adult drinking - despite a noted shortage in hospital beds and staff. BBC News

See also:

• UK has the HIGHEST obesity rate in Western Europe The Daily Mail

NHS mental health services turn away 150 vulnerable children a day

NHS mental health services turn away 150 vulnerable children a day At least 150 children a day are being turned away by overstretched NHS mental health services as services head towards “crisis point”, the NSPCC children’s charity has warned.

More than 100,000 children referred to NHS child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) have had their referrals rejected in the past two years, figures released under the Freedom of Information act show.

It means one sixth of the 650,000 young people, referred for psychological support to prevent their conditions deteriorating, were not seen. The Independent

NHS cracks down on mental health patients being sent out of area

NHS cracks down on mental health patients being sent out of area Thousands treated away from home region in practice seen as expensive and potentially harmful to vulnerable people

Mental health trusts are being forced as part of an NHS England crackdown to reveal how many patients they are sending elsewhere for treatment because they have too few beds.

Health service bosses want to compel the 54 NHS mental health trusts in England to start publishing details every month on the number of adults they have to arrange inpatient care for outside their own area. Continue reading... The Guardian

Long waits in A&E have increased by 557% in seven years, NHS data reveals

Long waits in A&E have increased by 557% in seven years, NHS data reveals Demand for extra funding grows as figures reveal number of “trolley waits” longer than four hours now exceeds 45,000 per month

Philip Hammond is under intense pressure to pump more money into the NHS in his budget this month as new official figures show the number of people waiting more than four hours in A&E has soared by 557% since the Tories came to power in 2010.

The NHS data published last week, described as “staggering” by Labour, shows the total number of patients enduring so called “trolley waits” of over four hours has risen from 6,932 in October 2010 to 45,532 last month. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Woman with ruptured spleen died after ​85-minute ambulance wait The Guardian

Theresa May tells NHS boss he will be accountable for winter performance

Theresa May tells NHS boss he will be accountable for winter performance PM tells Simon Stevens he will be personally responsible for how well GPs and hospitals in England cope, leaving allies to fear he is being lined up as ‘fall guy’

Theresa May has made NHS boss Simon Stevens personally responsible for ensuring the health service does not end up in a crisis this winter, amid renewed tension between him and ministers.

The prime minister told Stevens that he would be held accountable for how well hospitals and GP services in England cope at a tense, previously unreported, meeting at Downing Street in September. Continue reading... The Guardian

UK patients 'suffering as they cannot afford assisted dying overseas'

UK patients 'suffering as they cannot afford assisted dying overseas ' With many spending their final months in pain, a campaigner says: ‘This is not how a civilised country should treat its citizens’

Thousands of terminally ill people who want to travel abroad to end their life in specialist clinics can not afford the costs of doing so, leaving them to face often “painful and traumatic deaths at home”, according to a new report.

The study by the campaign group Dignity in Dying says the UK is outsourcing death to Dignitas – the assisted dying organisation in Switzerland – which only the better off can afford. Continue reading... The Guardian

Britain is in the grip of a stress epidemic because of 'always on' culture, survey finds

Britain is in the grip of a stress epidemic because of 'always on' culture, survey finds British adults are suffering a stress "epidemic" because of the "always on" workplace culture, a survey has found.

Pressure at work, financial worries and concerns about health all contribute to the culture of stress, the new report warns.

Four out of five adults feel stressed during a typical week, while almost one in 10 were stressed all the time, a survey of 4,000 people by insurance giant Axa found.

Workplace stress was linked to the "always on" culture, with most people taking calls or checking emails in the evenings and at weekends. The Daily Telegraph

Doctors threaten court action in bid to prevent smartphone consultation service from going ahead

Doctors threaten court action in bid to prevent smartphone consultation service from going ahead Family doctors have threatened court action to prevent a newly launched smartphone video consultation service from going ahead.

Delegates at the British Medical Association's annual GP's conference said the new GP at Hand service, which offers remote appointments within two hours, risked "favouring the well above the ill".

Run by technology company Babylon, the service became available to millions of patients in London on Monday and will soon extend across the country.

The firm is encouraging patients to switch from their current GP surgery, which critics said risked "cherrypicking" the most healthy while depriving practices of the money needed to care for those with more complex illnesses. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• LMCs demand judicial review over smartphone GP service GPonline
• Smartphone app offers NHS GP appointments ITV News