Majority of Northamptonshire patients have access to out of hours doctors' appointments

Majority of Northamptonshire patients have access to out of hours doctors' appointments The vast majority of patients in Northamptonshire had some access to out of hours appointments with a doctor at the end of September, according to NHS figures.

Data gathered from 61 practices in the NHS Nene CCG during the month showed that 11 per cent of patients, that’s some 67,194 people, could book an appointment on Saturday, Sunday or out of hours on a weekday.

A further 71 percent or 450,556 people had access at some of those times. But 114,200 had no access to appointments outside usual hours. Daventry Express

Briefing highlights 'pressing challenges facing NHS', says NHS Employers in response to report on staff shortages

Briefing highlights 'pressing challenges facing NHS', says NHS Employers in response to report on staff shortages Responding to the report, titled The health care workforce in England: Make or break?, Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said:

“This briefing clearly highlights the pressing challenges facing the NHS in relation to its workforce.

“Employers are clear that there is much they need to do in their organisations to improve the experience of their people. National action is also required: we must secure more flexibility with the use of the apprenticeship levy, as well as reinstating funds to support CPD and workforce development.

“We will also continue to campaign, alongside our colleagues in the Cavendish Coalition, for a post-Brexit migration system that supports the recruitment of both highly trained health professionals and much needed, and valued, lower-wage roles in social care.”

Right treatment, right time

Right treatment, right time This survey of over 1,600 people on their experiences of care and treatment shows that people severely affected by mental illness are often waiting the longest for treatment and receiving the worst care. It found: 28 per cent were not referred to an appropriate service by their GP, 56 per cent did not receive treatment in the appropriate time, and 51 per cent found they did not receive treatment for a sufficient and appropriate length of time. Rethink Mental Illness
 

Letting local systems lead: how the long-term plan could deliver a more sustainable NHS

Letting local systems lead: how the long-term plan could deliver a more sustainable NHS According to this report, the NHS long-term plan must help bring about a “breakthrough” in the development of local health and care systems by allowing them greater freedom and minimising central control. The report calls for a focus on tackling the barriers to local system working as NHS England prepares to publish its blueprint for the coming decade. NHS Confederation

Medication for mental health: Call to 'end pill-shaming'

Medication for mental health: Call to 'end pill-shaming' "You're weak for taking them." "Why do you need that?" "I wouldn't date someone taking medication."

These are all examples of pill-shaming - where people criticise others and make them feel guilty for taking medication for their mental health.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is worried that people are being made to feel so ashamed that they're put off getting help for conditions such as anxiety and depression. BBC News

Blackpool hospital medic held over poisoning claims

Blackpool hospital medic held over poisoning claims A healthcare professional at a hospital has been arrested over the alleged administration of poison or a noxious substance to patients.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust raised concerns over care to some patients on 8 November, Lancashire Police said.

The allegations related to the alleged mistreatment and neglect of some patients on the stroke unit in November, police said. BBC News

Hospital noise levels growing worse, say researchers

Hospital noise levels growing worse, say researchers Noise levels in hospitals are getting worse, research suggests.

Anyone who has ever stayed overnight in a hospital will know how difficult it can be to sleep, surrounded by staff, machinery, trolleys and telephones.

In the UK, 40% of hospital patients are bothered by noise at night, according to in-patient surveys.

But it's not only the patients' wellbeing that may be affected - high noise levels can also have an impact on staff performance and burnout rates.

Researchers from King's College London say noise levels in intensive care - where the most vulnerable patients are looked after - regularly exceed 100 decibels. BBC News

Mental health patients have been thrown down the Brexit rabbit-hole | Zoe Williams

Mental health patients have been thrown down the Brexit rabbit-hole | Zoe Williams Normal government has effectively ceased, leaving a crucial health review on hold

The whole thing reads like a misprint: if you present at your GP’s with mild to moderate depression or anxiety, you will wait, on average, six weeks for treatment, which itself sounds like a significant amount of time. But if you arrive with a very severe mental illness – schizophrenia or bipolar disorder – you will wait much longer, 14 weeks, just for an assessment. The average wait for treatment to begin is 19 weeks. One in six people wait longer than six months. Parking the human beings for a second, it makes no sense as a system: physical and mental health are not equivalent, and having a psychotic episode is not the same as breaking your leg. But in the broadest possible terms, this is like fast-streaming people with arthritis while leaving cancer sufferers in a half-year limbo. It’s not a system anyone would design; it’s hard to fathom how it could simply evolve.

Reading the report from the charity Rethink Mental Illness, though, you cannot park the human beings for very long. Heartbreaking testimonies leap off the page: “These answers were on behalf of my husband, who sadly took his own life six weeks ago … I truly believe that, if he had received therapy sooner, he would still be here.” “I was left for months at a time with no contact from my community psychiatric nurse. Following a suicide attempt, I did not hear from them for a month.”

All the determination in the world cannot make more hours in the day, magic more staff on to community psychiatric teams The Guardian

America’s opioid crisis is a warning to the NHS | Chris McGreal

America’s opioid crisis is a warning to the NHS | Chris McGreal The US watchdog that is supposed to protect patients is in thrall to an industry profiting from addiction

Years into America’s opioid epidemic, as the death toll climbed into the hundreds of thousands, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a hearing to consider a drug company application to approve a new high-strength painkiller.

The FDA assembles advisory committees of doctors and scientists to weigh the arguments for and against new drugs. In 2012, an opioid 10 times more powerful than regular painkillers, Zohydro ER, was on the agenda. By then, no one was in any doubt about the ravages of the worst drug epidemic in US history. So far, it has claimed at least 350,000 lives. Around 150 people a day are dying in a crisis with roots in the push for the mass prescribing of opioid painkillers that took off two decades ago.

If one company was making money from a dangerous drug then others were entitled to too The Guardian

Elderly are being 'taken for a ride' by care homes charging thousands in hidden fees, health minister warns

Elderly are being 'taken for a ride' by care homes charging thousands in hidden fees, health minister warns Vulnerable elderly people are being “taken for a ride” by unscrupulous care homes charging them thousands of pounds extra in hidden fees, a health minister has warned.

Care homes have been found to be charging families for care for weeks after residents had died, selling dead residents’ possessions and keeping the cash, and demanding fees for services which were never provided.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today ordered care homes to provide the public with upfront and fair information, amid concern that families are falling victim to underhand tactics that cost them dearly. The Daily Telegraph

Outsourcing firms could be banned from carrying out NHS cancer screening services

Outsourcing firms could be banned from carrying out NHS cancer screening services Outsourcing companies could be banned from carrying out NHS cancer screening services following scandals where thousands of women were not invited for vital checks.

Health chiefs will launch a major national overhaul of cancer screening programmes with aim of cutting the number of deaths of patients whose diseases could have been caught earlier.

The announcement follows revelations that up to 48,500 women did not receive information regarding cervical cancer screening after a system error at Capita, which is contracted to provide support services across England. The Daily Telegraph

Pensioners are THREE TIMES more likely to hide any mental health conditions

Pensioners are THREE TIMES more likely to hide any mental health conditions YouGov surveyed 2,000 adults for the UK pensioner’s charity Independent Age - and found that 24% of them felt uncomfortable with people knowing they were depressed. The Daily Mail