Corby’s Urgent Care Centre set to be made appointment-only

Corby’s Urgent Care Centre set to be made appointment-only Corby’s Urgent Care Centre will remain open - but patients may soon have to book an appointment beforehand.

The future of the centre will be decided at an extraordinary meeting of Corby CCG on Tuesday (January 30).

If approved by the governing body’s board, patients would no longer be able to walk in to the complex and have an appointment. Instead, they will have to book on the phone or online. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Against the odds: Successfully scaling innovation in the NHS

Against the odds: Successfully scaling innovation in the NHS This report from the Innovation Unit and the Health Foundation calls for new approaches to scaling tried and tested health care innovations. It highlights the need to create the right conditions to spread these successfully across the NHS.

Through a public crowdsourcing campaign and an expert working group, the report's authors identified a shortlist of 10 innovations that have successfully spread across the NHS in recent years. From these, they have drawn out insights into how scale might be more effectively pursued and supported in the future..

NHS agency staffing and the impact of recent interventions

NHS agency staffing and the impact of recent interventions Agency staff can attract high prices and be administratively expensive. Where agencies have significant market power, they may attract permanent NHS staff and put more pressure on local services. In the first six months of the 2015/16 fiscal year, year-on-year growth in agency spending reached 30 per cent and the total bill was on track to reach £4 billion. This briefing explores some of the reasons for this increase in the use of agency staff. Office of Health Economics

Provision of mental health care to adults in the emergency department

Provision of mental health care to adults in the emergency department This bulletin relates to an investigation of a woman experiencing a mental health crisis who, having presented to her general practitioner, ambulance service and the emergency department of her local hospital, subsequently took her own life. A preliminary investigation reviewed the care pathway of the woman spanning the two years preceding her death. Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch

Transition from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to Adult Mental Health Services

Transition from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to Adult Mental Health Services This bulletin relates to an investigation into the transition from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to Adult Mental Health Services. It looks at the impact the issue of safety has had, or is having, on people and services across the healthcare system. It also describes the way mental health services are commissioned and delivered. Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch

What it's like to hear voices

What it's like to hear voices Sammee has been hearing voices for most of her life and she and her brother Shabs have, together, found ways to try and cope.

Have you ever heard voices? One in ten of us will apparently hear a voice when there's nobody there at some point in our lives. India Rakusen and the Like Minds team have been finding out what it’s like, how people cope and how to help someone else. BBC News

One cigarette a day 'increases heart disease and stroke risk'

One cigarette a day 'increases heart disease and stroke risk' Smokers need to quit cigarettes rather than cut back on them to significantly lower their risk of heart disease and stroke, a large BMJ study suggests.

People who smoked even one cigarette a day were still about 50% more likely to develop heart disease and 30% more likely to have a stroke than people who had never smoked, researchers said.

They said it showed there was no safe level of smoking for such diseases.

But an expert said people who cut down were more likely to stop. BBC News

Number of homeless people sleeping on streets in England hits highest level on record

Number of homeless people sleeping on streets in England hits highest level on record More than 4,500 people were recorded as sleeping rough on any given night in autumn last year – a figure that has more than doubled since 2010

The number of people sleeping rough in England has hit a record-high – after a 73 per cent increase over the last three years.

Official government data shows that on any given night in autumn last year, 4,751 people were recorded sleeping on the streets, a figure that has more than doubled since 2010.

Campaigners have described the rise as a “catastrophe” following continual rises since 2010, urging that evidence shows how the problem can be fixed and calling on the Government to take" swift action" to tackle the problem. The Independent

NHS hospitals facing serious shortages of vital equipment

NHS hospitals facing serious shortages of vital equipment Staff are struggling to cope with surge in patient numbers amid squeeze on finances

Hospitals are suffering serious shortages of vital medical equipment such as ventilators, pumps to administer drugs, and oxygen cylinders during the NHS’s ongoing winter crisis, the Guardian can reveal.

The surge in numbers of people needing care has also led to some hospitals running out Continue reading... The Guardian