Focusing on better-value care While the NHS waits for the government to respond to calls to put more funding into health services – the annual shortfall in funding is expected to reach £20 billion by 2022/23 – it is more important than ever that those working in the NHS ensure that existing budgets are being used responsibly. The King's Fund
Monday, 29 January 2018
NHS winter crisis: when a plan is not a plan
NHS winter crisis: when a plan is not a plan The government and the National Emergency Pressures Panel – the new panel set up by national NHS bodies and the Department of Health to respond to pressure on the NHS this winter – insist that the NHS has a better plan and is better prepared and ready for the challenges it is now facing than in previous years. The ongoing media interest and the experience of patients and staff would suggest that, despite all this planning, the NHS is in full-blown crisis. The King's Fund
NHS England announces consultation on ACO contracts
NHS England announces consultation on ACO contracts NHS England has announced it will be launching a consultation on the contracting arrangements for Accountable Care Organisations (ACOs).
There is widespread support for ending the fragmented way that care has been provided to improve services for patients and the NHS has been working towards this in a number of ways.
ACOs are just one of these ways and are intended to allow health and care organisations to formally contract to provide services for a local population in a coordinated way.
There is widespread support for ending the fragmented way that care has been provided to improve services for patients and the NHS has been working towards this in a number of ways.
ACOs are just one of these ways and are intended to allow health and care organisations to formally contract to provide services for a local population in a coordinated way.
Timetable for implementation of the workforce disability equality standard
Timetable for implementation of the workforce disability equality standard NHS England has published an indicative timetable for implementation of the workforce disability equality standard, find out more information. NHS Employers
Regulation of independent health care providers: consultation
Regulation of independent health care providers: consultation This consultation seeks views on proposed changes to the way in which independent health care providers are regulated. The proposed changes cover the quality ratings used and the methods used to monitor, inspect and rate services. The consultation will close on 23 March 2018. Care Quality Commission
NHS England lifts suspension on non-urgent operations
NHS England lifts suspension on non-urgent operations The suspension of non-urgent operations to ease winter NHS pressures in England is to be lifted from February.
Hospitals had been advised to defer non-urgent operations until mid-January, which was then extended in a bid to free up hospital staff and beds.
Announcing the end of the suspension, an NHS emergency panel said pressures on the service had eased in January.
Hospitals should be able to plan a "return to a full elective care programme" from next month, it said. BBC News
Hospitals had been advised to defer non-urgent operations until mid-January, which was then extended in a bid to free up hospital staff and beds.
Announcing the end of the suspension, an NHS emergency panel said pressures on the service had eased in January.
Hospitals should be able to plan a "return to a full elective care programme" from next month, it said. BBC News
Doctors 'being pressurised into manipulating patient records to meet A&E targets'
Doctors 'being pressurised into manipulating patient records to meet A&E targets' NHS doctors are being pressured into manipulating patient records to ensure hospitals do not miss waiting-time targets, according to frontline medics.
Senior managers are allegedly encouraging doctors to participate in fraudulent activity and whistleblowers say patient safety is being put at risk as trusts look to avoid breaches.
Hospitals are expected to have treated, assessed or discharged patients within four hours of entering A&E, and no patient should wait longer than 12 hours before being admitted to a ward, according to government rules. The Independent
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Senior managers are allegedly encouraging doctors to participate in fraudulent activity and whistleblowers say patient safety is being put at risk as trusts look to avoid breaches.
Hospitals are expected to have treated, assessed or discharged patients within four hours of entering A&E, and no patient should wait longer than 12 hours before being admitted to a ward, according to government rules. The Independent
See also:
- How accurate is hospital A&E data? BBC News
Number of young carers in UK soars by 10,000 in four years, figures show
Number of young carers in UK soars by 10,000 in four years, figures show The number of recognised young carers in the UK has risen by more than 10,000 in four years, prompting concerns that they are taking up the slack from increasingly pressured adult social care services.
An analysis of the most recent government figures by The Independent shows that in May 2017 there were 41,870 16-to-24-year-olds who qualified to receive the carer’s allowance, compared with 31,080 in 2013 – an increase of 35 per cent.
Those aged 16 and 17 saw an even bigger rise during the same period – up by 54 per cent from 1,400 to 2,150.
An analysis of the most recent government figures by The Independent shows that in May 2017 there were 41,870 16-to-24-year-olds who qualified to receive the carer’s allowance, compared with 31,080 in 2013 – an increase of 35 per cent.
Those aged 16 and 17 saw an even bigger rise during the same period – up by 54 per cent from 1,400 to 2,150.
NHS admits doctors may be using tools made by children in Pakistan
NHS admits doctors may be using tools made by children in Pakistan Closer scrutiny demanded as NHS supplier concedes surgical instruments in routine use could be product of child labour
Children as young as 12 are making surgical instruments in hazardous conditions in Pakistan, prompting fears that the tools could be used in the NHS, the Guardian has discovered.
In Sialkot, Punjab, where 99% of Pakistan’s surgical instrument production is centred, illegal child labour was witnessed in at least a dozen small workshops. Continue reading... The Guardian
Children as young as 12 are making surgical instruments in hazardous conditions in Pakistan, prompting fears that the tools could be used in the NHS, the Guardian has discovered.
In Sialkot, Punjab, where 99% of Pakistan’s surgical instrument production is centred, illegal child labour was witnessed in at least a dozen small workshops. Continue reading... The Guardian
Nursing has been woefully managed. No wonder there's a crisis | Richard Vize
Nursing has been woefully managed. No wonder there's a crisis | Richard Vize From ditched bursaries to poor pay, the policies behind the NHS recruitment and retention crisis have been laid bare in a new report
The health select committee’s report on the nursing workforce is a excoriating critique of the multiple errors in policy and practice that have created a recruitment and retention crisis. Indeed, it is difficult to identify a single aspect of nursing workforce management that is not being mishandled.
The UK has relatively few nurses compared with many EU countries – yet there are still 36,000 NHS nursing vacancies in England. Around 33,000 of these are filled with bank and agency staff, which ramps up costs.
It is difficult to identify a single aspect of nursing workforce management that is not being mishandled Continue reading... The Guardian
The health select committee’s report on the nursing workforce is a excoriating critique of the multiple errors in policy and practice that have created a recruitment and retention crisis. Indeed, it is difficult to identify a single aspect of nursing workforce management that is not being mishandled.
The UK has relatively few nurses compared with many EU countries – yet there are still 36,000 NHS nursing vacancies in England. Around 33,000 of these are filled with bank and agency staff, which ramps up costs.
It is difficult to identify a single aspect of nursing workforce management that is not being mishandled Continue reading... The Guardian
Saving the NHS means forcing us to change the way we lead our lives | Nick Cohen
Saving the NHS means forcing us to change the way we lead our lives | Nick Cohen It’s not just Big Macs that would have to go: M&S, Waitrose, transport and sport must be rethought for the common good
If you imagine a healthy future for Britain, or any other country that has put the hunger of millennia behind it, you see a kind of dictatorship. Not a tyranny, but a society that ruthlessly restricts free choice. It is a future that views the mass of people as base creatures jerked around by desires they cannot control. Expert authority must engineer their lives from above for their own good and the common good.
That we need to change radically was shown by a mass study of the health of 300,000 people that was at once entirely shocking and wholly predictable. Newcastle University found obesity and the lack of exercise (the two go together, of course) in the middle aged mean two-thirds will have more than one chronic illness when they reach 65. These bleakly titled “multiple morbidities” will afflict them simultaneously. (For in the future, illnesses will not come as single spies but in battalions.) Most are the natural consequence of our high calorie/low exercise world: arthritis, cancer, diabetes, dementia and strokes. Continue reading... The Guardian
If you imagine a healthy future for Britain, or any other country that has put the hunger of millennia behind it, you see a kind of dictatorship. Not a tyranny, but a society that ruthlessly restricts free choice. It is a future that views the mass of people as base creatures jerked around by desires they cannot control. Expert authority must engineer their lives from above for their own good and the common good.
That we need to change radically was shown by a mass study of the health of 300,000 people that was at once entirely shocking and wholly predictable. Newcastle University found obesity and the lack of exercise (the two go together, of course) in the middle aged mean two-thirds will have more than one chronic illness when they reach 65. These bleakly titled “multiple morbidities” will afflict them simultaneously. (For in the future, illnesses will not come as single spies but in battalions.) Most are the natural consequence of our high calorie/low exercise world: arthritis, cancer, diabetes, dementia and strokes. Continue reading... The Guardian
More than 7,000 doctors warn medics will be too scared to admit mistakes after pediatrician is struck off
More than 7,000 doctors warn medics will be too scared to admit mistakes after paediatrician is struck off Doctors have warned they may be less likely to admit mistakes after a pediatrician was controversially struck off for causing the death of a young boy.
More than 7,500 medics have signed a letter raising deep seated concerns about last week’s decision to strike Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba from the medical register.
It comes after Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, raised similar concerns, warning that the decision could have implications for patient safety if doctors felt they could not admit openly to their mistakes. The Daily Telegraph
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More than 7,500 medics have signed a letter raising deep seated concerns about last week’s decision to strike Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba from the medical register.
It comes after Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, raised similar concerns, warning that the decision could have implications for patient safety if doctors felt they could not admit openly to their mistakes. The Daily Telegraph
See also:
NHS blunders led to 137 men losing a testicle in six years
NHS blunders led to 137 men losing a testicle in six years A series of NHS blunders have caused 137 men to lose one of their testicles in the past six years, according to latest figures.
Some £2.8 million in compensation was dished out to those who were affected by the 'devastating' incidents - around £20,000 each.
The statistics, released by NHS Resolution - which is the litigation authority, revealed some of the most horrific cases that have occurred. The Daily Mail
Some £2.8 million in compensation was dished out to those who were affected by the 'devastating' incidents - around £20,000 each.
The statistics, released by NHS Resolution - which is the litigation authority, revealed some of the most horrific cases that have occurred. The Daily Mail
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