Tuesday 11 December 2018

Relentless staff shortage leaves home care sector struggling

Relentless staff shortage leaves home care sector struggling Squeezed funding and staff shortages are severely affecting home care services in some areas, a new report from The King’s Fund and the University of York has found.

Home care in England: views from commissioners and providers finds that the market for home care providers is extremely fragile, with squeezed margins and low fees forcing providers to leave. In 2017 providers handed back home care contracts in more than one in three local authorities, and some of the largest providers have withdrawn from the publicly funded home care market altogether.

A better future for adult social care

A better future for adult social care In this report the pensions and risk consultancy, Hymands and Robertson, calls for cross party political bravery to address the crisis in adult social care so that older adults and their carers can be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. Lack of public understanding of the scale of the crisis is one of the biggest barriers to the implementation of a sustainable and fair funding system. Hymans and Roebertson

Puzzle solving 'won't stop mental decline'

Puzzle solving 'won't stop mental decline' Doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku does not protect against mental decline, according to a new study.

The idea of "use it or lose it" when it comes to our brains in later life has previously been widely accepted.

But the new Scottish study showed that people who regularly do intellectual activities throughout life have higher mental abilities.

This provides a "higher cognitive point" from which to decline, say the researchers.

But the study did not who that they decline any slower. BBC News

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Child advice chatbots fail to spot sexual abuse

Child advice chatbots fail to spot sexual abuse Two mental health chatbot apps have required updates after struggling to handle reports of child sexual abuse.

In tests, neither Wysa nor Woebot told an apparent victim to seek emergency help.

The BBC also found the apps had problems dealing with eating disorders and drug use.

The Children's Commissioner for England said the flaws meant the chatbots were not currently "fit for purpose" for use by youngsters. BBC News

'I was aged 24, and dead for five minutes'

'I was aged 24, and dead for five minutes' More than 80,000 young people in the UK could be living with undiagnosed heart conditions, the British Heart Foundation has warned. If undetected, the consequences can be fatal.

"My lips had started going blue, I'd stopped breathing, my heart had stopped," Lora D'Alesio tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme, recounting how she went into cardiac arrest. BBC News

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Most CCGs failing to provide learning disability crisis support

Most CCGs failing to provide learning disability crisis support New data has suggested more than half of local commissioning areas are still failing to offer crisis services to patients with autism and learning disabilities, despite NHS England making this mandatory from 2019.

In 2015, NHS England said local commissioners must ensure crisis services were in place by March 2019 to help reduce the number of hospital admissions for these patients. But data HSJ collected from clinical commissioning groups has indicated many areas are at risk of missing this deadline. Health Service Journal

Treating an issue the size of mental health shouldn’t be trial and error – but it’s going that way for GPs

Treating an issue the size of mental health shouldn’t be trial and error – but it’s going that way for GPs If you spend any time reading or watching the news, you will not be a stranger to the great work being done to break down the stigma around mental illness. As a former GP, who regularly had to make the difficult diagnoses of mental health conditions, what we really need is help for these professionals who are for many, the first port of call.

We still don’t really know what causes many mental illnesses. There are a number of risk factors; some about the context of people’s lives, others more biological or about how people think, but one risk factor plus another does not equal being unwell.

How can it be treated? And while it may seem ambitious – how can it be prevented? I wasn’t surprised to see that recent figures from mental health research charity MQ reveal that 8 out of 10 GPs feel it’s trial and error to find a mental health treatment that works for patients. The Independent

Demand for NHS staff rises as EU applicants 'drop off a cliff'

Demand for NHS staff rises as EU applicants 'drop off a cliff' Hiring pressures at health service intensify to highest level since 2011, poll suggests

The sharp slowdown in EU migrant workers coming to Britain has pushed the hiring needs of the NHS and the wider public sector to the highest levels in seven years.

According to a poll of 2,102 employers across nine different industry sectors by the recruitment firm ManpowerGroup, which is used by the Bank of England as an early indicator for changes in the jobs market, hiring intentions in the public sector were at the highest level since 2011. The Guardian

Only a third of NHS staff have had flu jabs, as health bosses threaten to take workers off frontline duties if they carry on putting patients at risk

Only a third of NHS staff have had flu jabs, as health bosses threaten to take workers off frontline duties if they carry on putting patients at risk Only a third of NHS staff have had their flu jabs in some hospitals, posing a risk to patients.

Health bosses are aiming to vaccinate all workers this flu season and those who refuse face being taken off frontline duties.

But unions say some are too busy to get the jab, while others simply don't like needles.

The Camden and Islington Foundation Trust in north London said only 33 per cent of staff had so far been vaccinated. The Daily Mail