Thursday 4 October 2018

Northamptonshire County Council: 'Mistakes' made in care contract

Northamptonshire County Council: 'Mistakes' made in care contract A former leader of a cash-strapped council - which is paying up to £2m a year for empty care beds - has admitted "mistakes were made" in the signing of the deal.

The 25-year elderly care contract was negotiated by Northamptonshire County Council in 2003 under Labour.

The authority said this week the centres had been operating below 30-50% occupancy for several years.

The previous leader said the deal was "unanimously accepted". BBC Northampton

Home to school transport and learning disability services targeted in Northamptonshire County Council savings

Home to school transport and learning disability services targeted in Northamptonshire County Council savings Home to school transport funding will be severely reduced from next year as the county council tries to balance its books.

Savings plans will also target better contract management of learning disabilities suppliers in the two most visible budget cuts for 2019/20.

Northamptonshire County Council announced yesterday morning its new ‘stabilisation plan’ to make £20m of savings for this financial year, and a further update on addressing the £35m unfunded deficit from the last financial year (2017/18). Northamptonshire Telegraph

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Changes to staffing patterns at A&E could improve viability of smaller hospitals, research suggests

Changes to staffing patterns at A&E could improve viability of smaller hospitals, research suggests Improving A&E triage processes, encouraging groups of clinicians to pool their capacity at the hospital ‘front door’ and ending the practice of separating out services like ambulatory care units could be essential measures to shore up smaller hospitals, researchers argue today.

These recommendations come in a new Nuffield Trust report looking at the ways in which hospitals serving between 140,000 and 300,000 people run medical services for acutely ill patients.

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Be the change : ensuring an effective response to all in psychiatric emergency equal to medical care - recommendations from the first international summit on urgent and emergency behavioural healthcare

Be the change : ensuring an effective response to all in psychiatric emergency equal to medical care - recommendations from the first international summit on urgent and emergency behavioural healthcare According to this report, care for people in mental health crisis does not adequately address the needs of the community it is intended to serve. It outlines ten recommendations that if fulfilled would make urgent and emergency psychiatric health care ‘minimally adequate’, and calls on governmental agencies, policy makers and health and social services to take radical action to address inequalities and improve mental health crisis care. NHS Clinical Commissioners

Industry funders involved in most aspects of funded trials

Industry funders involved in most aspects of funded trials Few industry-funded trials in high impact journals are conducted without the involvement of industry employees in their design, conduct and reporting but this fact is sometimes downplayed or even omitted altogether, according to research* published online today by the BMJ. Although academics believed industry collaboration to be beneficial, some reported loss of academic freedom. In their separate opinion piece**, two of the study authors urged academics to refuse collaboration where industry demands control over trial design, conduct, data, statistical analysis, or reporting. OnMedica

‘Tech tsunami’ putting NHS services at risk, GP leaders warn

‘Tech tsunami’ putting NHS services at risk, GP leaders warn A “tech tsunami” being championed by the likes of health secretary Matt Hancock is destabilising the NHS in a way that increases health inequalities and profits private firms, GP leaders have said.

Warning about the growing “digital divide” the chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, has called government to invest in NHS technology to ensure all patients can benefit. The Independent

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Brexit uncertainty sees UK patients cut from heart attack drug trial

Brexit uncertainty sees UK patients cut from heart attack drug trial UK patients have been cut from an international clinical trial to test a new heart attack drug because of uncertainties about registering new medicines after Brexit.

The drug, dutogliptin, is being tested to see if it can help regenerate cardiac muscle after a heart attack and patients in Exeter, Leeds and Clydebank in Scotland were due to take part. The Independent

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Theresa May tells tragic tale of her god daughter's cancer death as she announces new NHS plan

Theresa May tells tragic tale of her god daughter's cancer death as she announces new NHS plan Theresa May has spoken about how the death of her god daughter from cancer has fuelled her determination to improve diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

The Prime Minister said a new cancer strategy would increase early diagnosis rates from one-in-two to three-in four within a decade.

Under the plans, the NHS will create a national network of “one stop shops” for cancer checks to drive up detection rates. The Daily Telegraph

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Young doctors being attacked on social media by patients, top medic warns

Young doctors being attacked on social media by patients, top medic warns Doctors should limit their use of social media to avoid attacks by angry patients and shadowy lobby groups, one of the profession’s leaders has warned.

Dr Clare Gerada, former chair of the Royal College of GPs, said younger doctors in particular are increasingly subject to online “vitriol” and “hate”.

Now medical director of the NHS Practitioner Health Programme (PHP), a service to support under-pressure staff, she told The Telegraph that millennial doctors should take themselves off social media for periods in order to protect their mental health. The Daily Telegraph

Australia set to be first country to wipe out cervical cancer

Australia set to be first country to wipe out cervical cancer Australia is on track to eliminate cervical cancer in the next 20 years, making it the first country in the world to wipe out the disease.

A study in the Lancet Public Health journal has shown that if vaccination and screening continue at their current level cervical cancer rates will drop to less than six in 100,000 by 2022 and to below four in 100,000 by 2035. The current rate in Australia is seven cases per 100,000, compared to 10 per 100,000 in the UK. The Daily Telegraph