Daughter fears her mother's health will 'spiral' after dementia care review is launched in Northamptonshire

Daughter fears her mother's health will 'spiral' after dementia care review is launched in Northamptonshire A decision to review the use of a specialist dementia carer team across Northamptonshire could have a drastic effect on those suffering from the condition, a worried daughter believes.

Barclaycard worker Lynn Johnson looks after her mother at her bungalow in Kingsthorpe every evening and relies on the support of an Olympus Care team for help.

The specialist dementia carers come in three times a day to get 85-year-old Sylvia out of bed, dressed, fed and supplied with medication throughout the day.

But Northamptonshire County Council is set to launch a review of the contracts it holds with its domiciliary dementia care providers. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

£3.2bn a year needed to reverse impact of government cuts to public health services

£3.2bn a year needed to reverse impact of government cuts to public health services The Health Foundation has calculated that an additional £3.2bn a year is required to reverse the impact of government cuts to the public health grant and ensure that it is re-allocated according to need.

The grant enables local authorities to deliver vital public health services, such as obesity programmes, drug and alcohol services and sexual health services, but a new briefing paper by the independent charity shows that it has seen a £700m real terms reduction in funding between 2014/15 and 2019/20 – a fall of almost a quarter (23.5%) per person.

See also:

• Taking our health for granted: Plugging the public health grant funding gap The Health Foundation
• Damaging Tory cuts to obesity and cancer prevention budgets will cost £3.2bn to reverse, report warns The Independent

Local authorities receive 5,100 new requests for adult social care assistance a day

Local authorities receive 5,100 new requests for adult social care assistance a day New figures from NHS Digital show that local authorities received 1.8 million new requests for adult social care support in 2017-18, an increase of 1.6 per cent on 2016-17 and equivalent to 5,100 new requests per day.

These requests were received from 1.3 million people; those aged 65 and over accounted for 71.6 per cent of the requests. Similar to previous years, 77.1 per cent of the requests originated from the community and 20.1 per cent originated from a discharge from hospital.

See also:

• The King's Fund responds to new figures from NHS Digital on adult social care The King's Fund
• Social care crisis: Councils receive 5,100 new requests for adult care EVERY DAY amid soaring demand The Daily Mail

Stopping fraud against the NHS: new plans announced

Stopping fraud against the NHS: new plans announced The government has announced how it will take tougher action on fraud and save hundreds of millions of pounds for the NHS over the next 5 years, increasing the money available for improving patient care. Department of Health and Social Care

Reducing Pre-registration Attrition and Improving Retention

Reducing Pre-registration Attrition and Improving Retention A report and set of resources aimed at supporting the NHS and higher education providers in reducing the level of student attrition has been launched by Health Education England.

The RePAIR (Reducing Pre-registration Attrition and Improving Retention) project covered four fields in nursing (adult, child, learning disabilities and Mental Health), plus midwifery and therapeutic radiotherapy) and looked at making effective interventions to improve retention across the student journey – from pre-enrolment to two-years post-qualification.

Let down by 'agonising' end-of-life care

Let down by 'agonising' end-of-life care Staff shortages and inadequate training mean that end-of-life care for elderly people is often unacceptable, a leading expert has warned.

Andrea Sutcliffe, of the Care Quality Commission, told the BBC every nursing home needed to be capable of supporting people at the end of their lives.

Her call follows complaints from some relatives that their loved ones are dying distressing and painful deaths.

There is no legal requirement for end-of-life training for care home staff. BBC News

Public may have to stockpile drugs in no-deal Brexit

Public may have to stockpile drugs in no-deal Brexit The public may have to stockpile medicines if there is a no-deal Brexit, industry leaders say.

Martin Sawer, of the Healthcare Distributors Association, told MPs industry was "very concerned" about a no-deal as it could have "catastrophic" consequences for the supply of drugs.

The government has asked firms to start stockpiling a six-week supply of drugs.

Mr Sawer said there was no need for the public to do the same "yet", but the picture could change very quickly. BBC News

See also:

• ‘No-deal Brexit’ risks supply of medicines to patients Healthcare Distributors Association

'Hundreds more' vaginal mesh implants need removal due to complications within a decade

'Hundreds more' vaginal mesh implants need removal due to complications within a decade Hundreds more women in England who received vaginal mesh implants to treat incontinence will need the procedure reversed, a study suggests.

In a study of nearly 100,000 English women, 3,137 (3.3 per cent) required the implant to be removed within a decade. This is a third larger than the number of reversals reported in an NHS audit of the procedure.

NHS England estimated just 2.6 per cent had to be removed because of complications, but the rate may be even higher for younger women as 4.4 per cent of those aged 18 to 39 had a removal. The Independent

Bullying in the NHS costing the service more than £2 billion per year in England, research warns

Bullying in the NHS costing the service more than £2 billion per year in England, research warns Bullying and harassment in the NHS could be costing more than £2 billion per year in England alone, warns new research.

The figures come from the first comprehensive estimate of the financial costs of bullying and harassment in the NHS.

The study, published in the journal Public Money and Management, used data from NHS Digital to gauge the impact of bullying on sickness absence, employee turnover, productivity, sickness presenteeism, and employment relations. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• The price of fear: estimating the financial cost of bullying and harassment to the NHS in England Public Money and Management

Suicide rates among British schoolgirls at highest ever level as modern pressures take toll

Suicide rates among British schoolgirls at highest ever level as modern pressures take toll Suicide rates among schoolgirls and young women have hit a record high, new figures show, as experts warned that the pressures of modern life were fuelling the rise. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Avoidable mortality in the UK: 2016 Office for National Statistics

UK has the highest sepsis death rates for women

UK has the highest sepsis death rates for women Sepsis death rates in Britain are five times higher than the best performing country in Europe, a new study suggests.

A scientific analysis of 36 rich nations ranked the UK as being the worst for women and it placed near the bottom of the table for men.

There are 35.4 deaths from sepsis - a violent immune response to an infection - for every 100,000 women and 40.3 for every 100,000 men in the UK.

The US ranked seventh worst for women - but avoided being named as one of the ten biggest offenders in men. The Daily Mail

See also:

• AI doctor could boost chance of survival for sepsis patients Imperial College London
• The Artificial Intelligence Clinician learns optimal treatment strategies for sepsis in intensive care (abstract) Nature Medicine
• UK sepsis death rate five times higher than Europe's best-performing country The Independent

Health inspectors take 'urgent action to protect people' at a maternity unit

Health inspectors take 'urgent action to protect people' at a maternity unit The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it was taking action at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust following inspections at its maternity and emergency departments. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Shropshire baby death trust told to report weekly to CQC BBC News