Tuesday 24 April 2018

Talking about the ‘return on investment of public health’: why it’s important to get it right

Talking about the ‘return on investment of public health’: why it’s important to get it right The increasingly common misunderstanding and misuse of the term ‘return on investment’ and its conflation with ‘cost saving’ to public services – usually the NHS – are a cause for concern. The King's Fund

Investigation: WannaCry cyber attack and the NHS

Investigation: WannaCry cyber attack and the NHS On Friday 12 May 2017 a computer virus, known as WannaCry, which encrypts data on infected computers and demands a ransom payment to allow users access, was released worldwide. WannaCry was the largest cyber attack to affect the NHS in England, although individual trusts had been attacked before 12 May.

The National Audit Office investigation focused on the ransomware attack’s impact on the NHS and its patients; why some parts of the NHS were affected; and how the Department and NHS national bodies responded to the attack.

Retention from an organisational development perspective

Retention from an organisational development perspective How did University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust focus on staff retention? This case study features key learning points, discusses how the trust overcame certain challenges, and highlights a number of additional resources which may be useful for organisations seeking to address retention of the workforce. NHS Employers

A cross-party solution to NHS pressures?

A cross-party solution to NHS pressures? Just before Easter, Theresa May announced she had finally accepted the case for a longer-term, and bigger financial commitment to the NHS.

But how much to pay, and how to find the money is not yet decided.

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has appealed to his colleagues for ideas, promising in a letter to all Tory MPs that solutions for the NHS and proposals on social care will be settled by the summer.

But a cross-party group of MPs including former ministers, is again urging the government to convert National Insurance into a specific tax for the NHS.

That proposal is part of a wider set of principles upon which they would base a commission to look at the health service's long-term pressures, that is being published today. BBC News

New ban on epilepsy drug in pregnancy

New ban on epilepsy drug in pregnancy An epilepsy drug that can damage unborn babies must no longer be prescribed to girls and women of childbearing age in the UK unless they sign a form to say that they understand the risks.

Drug regulator the MHRA says the new measures it's introducing will keep future generations of children safe.

Those already on valproate medication should see their GP to have their treatment reviewed.

No woman or girl should stop taking it without medical advice though. BBC News

Government announces Jamaican nurse recruitment partnership amid Windrush scandal

Government announces Jamaican nurse recruitment partnership amid Windrush scandal The government has announced a recruitment drive to attract new NHS nurses from Jamaica despite the unfolding scandal over the deportation of Windrush generation Britons after decades in the UK.

In the second phase of “earn, learn, return” partnerships, Jamaican nurses will come to work in the NHS for a fixed term of around three years and then return with new skills and experience, the Government said.

The scheme is intended to increase the NHS workforce by 5,500 full time nurses and help address a record 34,000 unfilled nursing and midwifery posts across the health service in England. The Independent

GMC to review why BME doctors receive more fitness-to-practise referrals

GMC to review why BME doctors receive more fitness-to-practise referrals The GMC has commissioned new research to investigate why a disproportionate number of black and minority ethnic (BME) doctors are subject to fitness-to-practise referrals. GPonline

NHS England faces first legal challenge to plans for health shake-up

NHS England faces first legal challenge to plans for health shake-up Judicial review on Tuesday one of two examining legality of accountable care organisations

NHS England faces a legal challenge to its plans to overhaul how the health service operates, which critics say are unlawful and could lead to patients being denied treatment.

Campaigners on Tuesday will try to derail plans to introduce of “ accountable care organisations” (ACOs), which they say could force doctors to decide what care a patient needs based on how much money is available rather than how sick someone is. Continue reading... The Guardian

Catastrophic blunders are happening to 9 NHS patients every week

Catastrophic blunders are happening to 9 NHS patients every week Catastrophic hospital blunders deemed so serious that they should never take place are happening to nine NHS patients every week.

There were more than 430 so-called ‘never events’ logged at NHS trusts across England in the 11 months between last April and March this year.

Bungling doctors have operated on the wrong body parts, mixed up organs and left surgical tools inside patients a staggering number of times.

And the worst eight hospitals were today named and shamed - with Guys and St Thomas’ in London responsible for 10 errors. The Daily Mail