Corby health body manages to balance its books

Corby health body manages to balance its books Corby’s health chiefs have said they have managed to balance their £110m books with some spare change at the end of the last financial year.

Corby Clinical Commissioning Group - the country’s smallest CCG - had a spending budget of £110.097m with £2.002m of savings to make. They managed it with £71,000 to spare.

Although the full accounts have not yet been signed off so are not available to view, interim chief financial officer Stuart Rees who joined Corby CCG on April 1, said that there was lots of work to do to ensure the organisation stayed in the black. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Northampton-based charity spent £4 million on failed projects

Northampton-based charity spent £4 million on failed projects St Andrew's Healthcare spent millions of pounds on two projects that brought no benefit to its patients or staff, its latest accounts show.

The registered charity that runs St Andrew's Hospital has disclosed in its 2017/2018 annual report that £2,1 million was spent looking into whether it should expand its Birmingham operation, a venture which never transpired. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Ambulance crews attacked 135 times in 12 months in Northamptonshire

Ambulance crews attacked 135 times in 12 months in Northamptonshire East Midlands Ambulance Service has welcomed the news that anyone who assault an ambulance crew member could face a doubled prison sentence.

It comes after frontline staff suffered 476 assaults since April, including five incidents involving spitting, five involving knives, two involving firearms and three involving racial abuse.

In Northamptonshire, there were 135 assaults in 2017/2018, eleven of which caused injury and 41 of which when the assailant was drunk. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Acute medical care in England: Findings from a survey of smaller acute hospitals

Acute medical care in England: Findings from a survey of smaller acute hospitals This profile of smaller hospitals in England finds trusts struggling to recruit and retain acute medical staff. Services across the country are configured in a wide variety of ways, with little evidence of an 'ideal' model for acute medical care emerging from our research. Nuffield Trust

Social care funding in England: call for evidence

Social care funding in England: call for evidence This inquiry will focus on the funding challenges faced by the social care system in England. The Committee is seeking to assess the effectiveness of different funding models, the shortfalls in delivery and to make recommendations on how future social care demands can be met in England. The deadline for submissions is 9 October 2018. House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee

Pathologists shortage 'delaying cancer diagnosis'

Pathologists shortage 'delaying cancer diagnosis' Patients are facing delays in diagnosis because of severe shortages among pathology staff, according to a report seen by the BBC.

A survey by the Royal College of Pathologists found only 3% of the NHS histopathology departments that responded had enough staff.

Histopathologists are doctors and scientists who diagnose and study diseases such as cancer.

Hundreds more pathologists are now working in the NHS, health chiefs said. BBC News

NHS bosses will be sacked if they fail to stamp out 'alarming' bullying of hospital staff

NHS bosses will be sacked if they fail to stamp out 'alarming' bullying of hospital staff NHS bosses will be sacked if they fail to stamp out what ministers admit are “alarming” levels of bullying of hospital staff, under a new crackdown.

A “fit and proper person” test is set to be toughened to include a legal duty to act on the victimisation of health workers by both patients and colleagues, The Independent has learnt.

The uncomfortable truth is that many psychiatric wards have a culture of sexual assault

The uncomfortable truth is that many psychiatric wards have a culture of sexual assault Sexual assault and harassment is “commonplace” on inpatient psychiatric wards, according to Dr Paul Lelliott, the deputy chief inspector of hospitals and mental health lead at the Care Quality Commission (CQC), following the publication of an important, national report this week. This is not news to psychiatric patients, who have been raising the issue for more than 50 years. Will this report provide the #MeToo wake-up call on sexual violence that mental health services desperately need? Or will the currents of denial, avoidance, victim blaming and silencing that swirl around sexual assault, and which psychiatric discourse specifically enable, block progress as they have time and time again? The Independent

Matt Hancock, you need to hear what happened to my daughter during a mental health crisis

Matt Hancock, you need to hear what happened to my daughter during a mental health crisis My daughter has endured the most devastating lack of continuity of care during the past six years under a depleted mental health service. The Independent

See also:

• Out of Area Placements in Mental Health Services - June 2018 NHS Digital
• Mental health patients sent 300 miles from home due to lack of beds The Guardian

NHS mental health crisis worsens as 2,000 staff quit per month

NHS mental health crisis worsens as 2,000 staff quit per month Pledge to boost services undermined by failure to retain thousands of key workers, minister admits

Thousands of nurses, therapists and psychiatrists are quitting NHS mental health services, raising serious doubts about ministerial pledges to dramatically expand the workforce.

Two thousand mental health staff a month are leaving their posts in the NHS in England, according to figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). The news comes as services are already seriously understaffed and struggling to cope with a surge in patients seeking help for anxiety, depression and other disorders. Continue reading... The Guardian

Sick of waiting at the doctor's? The app will see you now

Sick of waiting at the doctor's? The app will see you now The public sector should be leading the charge with queue-busting tech, not leaving innovation to private companies

It hasn’t been all that long since Matt Hancock was best known for his app, which he called Matt Hancock, in a very Ronseal approach to technology. Not long after being promoted from a digital minister to culture secretary, Hancock rolled out the app in a bid to keep his constituents up to date with local goings-on, and to create a space for feedback. Naturally, Hancock got the piss taken out of him on social media. But aside from legitimate data concerns with the app accessing users’ photos – seemingly even when permission was not given; but that, unfortunately, isn’t a niche breach – the derisive response was, for the most part, unjustified.

People can’t have it both ways: dissing politicians for not being innovative or digitally astute, and then mocking the few who seem genuinely interested in technology and how it can change politics for the better. Continue reading... The Guardian

Health regulator withholding vaccines results making it impossible to establish if drugs could be harmful

Health regulator withholding vaccines results making it impossible to establish if drugs could be harmful The failure of England's public healthy body to publish results of three major studies into vaccines for children makes it impossible for experts to establish whether the drugs could be harmful, scientists have claimed.

Hundreds of children took part in three potentially risky Government drug trials, but Public Health England (PHE) breached the law by failing to add the findings to the official register set up to allow the scientific community to scrutinise the outcomes.

Experts have accused PHE of an “incomprehensible” violation of the trust of parents who gave their consent for their children to take part in the tests. The Daily Telegraph

More than 3 million people in Britain now vape, data suggests

More than 3 million people in Britain now vape, data suggests ASH estimates there are around 3.2 million vapers in Britain in 2018 – in the region of six per cent of the total population. It is 10 per cent up on the amount estimated for 2017. The Daily Mail