NHS winter pressures: how well prepared is the NHS in England?

NHS winter pressures: how well prepared is the NHS in England? Hospitals’ attempts to cope in winter symbolise the wider problems facing the NHS and social care. Winter pressures shine a particularly harsh spotlight on the gap between rising demand and stagnating budgets. Last winter hospitals struggled, even without a flu outbreak or a prolonged cold spell. Headlines shouted of overflowing emergency departments, with ‘black alerts’ in some hospitals leading to diverted ambulances, cancelled operations and patients waiting on trolleys for hospital beds.

Planning for this winter began in the summer. NHS England and NHS Improvement proposed action in four interlinked areas to prepare as well as possible for the winter. In a series of four blogs, we will explore these plans and compare the NHS and social care system’s current winter preparedness with that of 2016. The Health Foundation

Reducing inequalities in children and young people’s mental health

Reducing inequalities in children and young people’s mental health When Theresa May stood on the steps of Downing Street to address the nation for the first time as Prime Minister, she identified several ‘burning injustices’, the first of which was that ‘if you’re born poor, you will die on average nine years earlier than others’.

She reiterated this in one of her first major speeches as Prime Minister, when she went on to set out a personal commitment to tackling the burning injustice of mental illness and promised to publish a Green Paper on children and young people’s mental health. Now that this has been published, how does it measure up in linking inequality and mental health? The King's Fund

Mental health services for post-16 students in England

Mental health services for post-16 students in England This briefing paper gives an outline of recent studies on the mental health of students, Government mental health policy for students, support in further and higher education providers, the legal duties of providers and discusses issues raised. It finds that young adults aged 16–24 today are more likely than previous generations of young adults to experience mental health issues and the numbers of students reporting mental ill health is increasing. House of Commons Library

Out in the cold: lung disease, the hidden driver of NHS winter pressure

Out in the cold: lung disease, the hidden driver of NHS winter pressure The report warns that a failure to address a predictable and obvious seasonal variation in respiratory admissions is at the heart of our A&E winter crisis. It's potentially causing patients needless harm.

Our analysis reveals that this annual fluctuation has consistently repeated over the last 7 years. Yet many hospitals have failed to adapt their services to cope with the surge in respiratory admissions. British Lung Foundation

See also:

• It's time to start talking about lung disease and the A&E winter crisis British Lung Foundation
• Call for more hospital beds to cope with winter breathing difficulties The Guardian

Vaginal mesh ban 'a retrograde step', surgeons say

Vaginal mesh ban 'a retrograde step', surgeons say Banning vaginal mesh implants would remove an important treatment for some women suffering from a prolapse, says the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Some women benefit from the implants and should have a choice, it said.

The health watchdog NICE is expected to recommend that the implants be banned.

Around 800 women are taking legal action against the NHS and mesh manufacturers, saying they have suffered from painful complications. BBC News

See also:

• Panorama investigation reveals medical company failed to fully inform doctors of vaginal mesh risks The Independent

Police reveal 'unlawful' mental health detentions

Police reveal 'unlawful' mental health detentions Police chiefs in England and Wales say they may be unlawfully detaining arrested people needing mental health care more than 2,000 times a year.

Some people have been held in police cells for several days because there is no hospital bed for them, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) says.

It says an inquiry into such mental health provision is needed.

The government said the use of police custody for people detained under the Mental Health Act had fallen sharply. BBC News

Mental health: Jeremy Hunt says the NHS needs to 'be better' at dealing with crisis patients

Mental health: Jeremy Hunt says the NHS needs to 'be better' at dealing with crisis patients The health secretary says the NHS must be better at dealing with mental health crisis cases.

Jeremy Hunt, who's in charge of the health service in England, was speaking to Newsbeat about our iPlayer documentary My Mind and Me.

He watched Radio 1 listener Bex talk about failures when she needed urgent help after a mental health crisis.

Mr Hunt admits there's a "bottleneck in parts of the country" for mental health beds. BBC News

I'm a doctor, and in October I tried to commit suicide. I ended up as a patient on the very hospital wards I work on - The Independent

I'm a doctor, and in October I tried to commit suicide. I ended up as a patient on the very hospital wards I work on My time as an inpatient brought home to me, in a way no other experience ever could, the scale of the problem before us


Last weekend saw the walkout en masse of social mobility tsar Alan Milburn and all three of his fellow commissioners. In his resignation letter, Milburn, a former Labour cabinet minister, stated that the Government lacks “the necessary bandwidth to ensure the rhetoric of healing social division is matched with the reality”.

Sadly, much like the noble cause of improving social mobility, a gulf now exists in mental health care between the rhetoric and the reality of government policy. The Independent

I’m quitting as a hospital boss: dire NHS funding problems give me no choice | Bob Kerslake

I’m quitting as a hospital boss: dire NHS funding problems give me no choice | Bob Kerslake Our deficit at King’s College hospital, London, means we will be put into financial special measures, while what the NHS really needs is a fundamental rethink

I have this weekend decided to stand down from my role as chair of King’s College hospital, London.

This was not a decision that I took lightly. I love King’s and have the highest regard for the people who work there. But in the end I have concluded that the government and its regulator, NHS Improvement, are simply not facing up to the enormous challenges that the NHS is currently facing. This is especially true in London where the demands of a rapidly growing population are not being matched by the extra resources we need.

The right thing for me to do therefore is to step down and to do so publicly Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Lord Kerslake resigns as King's College Hospital Trust chair BBC News
• Lord Kerslake quits role as chairman of NHS trust The Daily Mail
• Lord Kerslake quits as NHS trust chairman over 'unrealistic' funding cuts The Daily Telegraph
• NHS trust boss resigns in protest over underfunding of health services The Guardian
• Review into NHS funding needed, says former chief after resignation The Independent

Stephen Hawking joins lawsuit aimed at foiling Hunt's NHS shake-up

Stephen Hawking joins lawsuit aimed at foiling Hunt's NHS shake-up Physicist’s dispute with health secretary is reignited as he joins action against changes he fears could lead to more privatisation

Stephen Hawking has reignited his public dispute with Jeremy Hunt by joining a legal action aimed at scuppering an NHS shake-up that he fears will lead to greater privatisation and rationing of resources.

The physicist has become a party to a lawsuit that is seeking to stop the introduction of the first accountable care organisations (ACOs) into the NHS in England in April. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Campaigners prepare judicial review to block roll-out of ACOs GPonline
• Stephen Hawking joins lawsuit fighting against Tory 'plans to privatise NHS' The Independent

Rising numbers forced to take time off work to see a GP, poll finds

Rising numbers forced to take time off work to see a GP, poll finds Rising numbers of people are being forced to take time off work to see a GP, despite Government pledges to offer appointments 8am to 8pm, new polls suggest.

Ministers have promised to improve access to family doctors, with a target for all patients to be able to see GPs at evenings and weekends by 2019.

But the survey suggests the situation is deteriorating, amid a drop in the number of family doctors. The Daily Telegraph

Third of GPs plan to close surgeries to new patients

Third of GPs plan to close surgeries to new patients One three family doctors plan to close their surgeries to new patients, a survey found.

They claim that without drastic action they will be unable to give safe care to those already on their books.

One in ten GPs said they had already closed surgery lists to new patients temporarily within the past 12 months.

A further 28 per cent – nearly a third – admitted they were considering doing so. The Daily Mail

See also:

• More than a third of GP practices may close lists to new patients Pulse

Hospital tracks patients' movements via wristbands

Hospital tracks patients' movements via wristbands A hospital has become the first to issue all staff and patients with electronic 'wristbands' to track their movements through 'big brother' style technology.

In an NHS trial, the Countess of Chester Hospital, in Cheshire, has more than 4,000 infrared sensors above beds and doorways that read data chips on patients' and staff's wristbands to record where they are.

Findings reveal the time from a patient being discharged from the Cheshire hospital to their bed being ready for a new patient is less than two-and-a-half hours, down from approximately four hours as staff can automatically see when their bed becomes available.

The system, known as TeleTracking Technologies, also tells staff about patients' specific needs and helps them move efficiently around the hospital. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Pilot trusts using real-time technology to increase bed capacity NHS Improvement
• NHS patients electronically tagged in attempt to boost bed efficiency The Daily Telegraph