Wednesday 23 October 2019

These are the faces of all the award-winning staff and volunteers at Northampton General Hospital

These are the faces of all the award-winning staff and volunteers at Northampton General Hospital Staff and volunteers at Northampton General Hospital were recognised for their hard work and around the clock care at the hospital's annual awards ceremony. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Securing money to improve mental health care... but no staff to spend it on

Securing money to improve mental health care... but no staff to spend it on The NHS long-term plan commits £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to provide high-quality evidence-based mental health services to an additional 2 million people. To provide this, mental health services will need 27,460 new posts, which are additional to the 21,000 posts specified in the mental health workforce plan for England. But how can services achieve this if they are already running out of staff to deliver care? The King's Fund

Delivering the NHS long-term plan's ambition of ageing well: old age psychiatry as a vital resource

Delivering the NHS long-term plan's ambition of ageing well: old age psychiatry as a vital resource This guidance is to help local areas plan and deliver specialist services, led by old age psychiatrists, to meet the needs of older people. It brings together views from older people, service users, carers and a wide range of health and social care professionals. Royal College of Psychiatrists

    Poor toilet hygiene behind E. coli superbug spread

    Poor toilet hygiene behind E. coli superbug spread People not washing their hands after going to the toilet, rather than undercooked meat, is behind the spread of a key strain of E. coli.

    Experts looked at thousands of blood, faecal and food samples.

    They found human-to-human transmission was responsible - "faecal particles from one person reaching the mouth of another".

    Public Health England said hand-washing and good hygiene were key to preventing the spread of infections. BBC News

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    Drugs: UK should consider legalising possession, MPs say

    Drugs: UK should consider legalising possession, MPs say The government should investigate decriminalising the possession of all illegal drugs in a bid to prevent the rising number of related deaths, a group of MPs has said.

    The health and social care committee said the level of such deaths in the UK had become a public health "emergency".

    It found the UK's position on drugs was "clearly failing" and called for a "radical new approach" in policy. BBC News

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    'Greedy' pharmacist who tippexed 1,500 prescriptions jailed for defrauding NHS - Sky News

    'Greedy' pharmacist who tippexed 1,500 prescriptions jailed for defrauding NHS A pharmacist who defrauded £76,000 from the National Health Service by using Tippex to alter prescriptions has been jailed for 16 months.

    For six years, Michael Lloyd billed the NHS for expensive liquid dementia medication while dispensing the same drug in its cheaper, tablet form.

    The judge at Cardiff Crown Court labelled 52-year-old Lloyd "greedy". Sky News

    First drug to slow Alzheimer’s disease could soon be on the market

    First drug to slow Alzheimer’s disease could soon be on the market A potentially “ground-breaking” drug which appears to slow Alzheimer’s disease could soon change the lives of thousands of dementia sufferers.

    The treatment offers new hope to patients in the early stages of the most common form of dementia, which affects about 850,000 people living in the UK.

    Biogen says its drug, aducanumab, would be the first treatment to “reduce the clinical decline” of patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease if approved. The Independent

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    Boris Johnson drawn into row over 'unsafe' Hillingdon hospital

    Boris Johnson drawn into row over 'unsafe' Hillingdon hospital Hospital in prime minister’s constituency has moved child patients because of subsidence

    Boris Johnson has been drawn into a row over the future of his local hospital, parts of which are so dangerous that patients have been moved out of wards to ensure their safety.

    The prime minister has become involved in a dispute involving NHS chiefs and local MPs over whether Hillingdon hospital in his north-west London constituency should be rebuilt where it stands, when it is knocked down, or on another site. The Guardian

    Elderly people having to 'fend for themselves' as 40,000 fewer pensioners receive care despite rising demand

    Elderly people having to 'fend for themselves' as 40,000 fewer pensioners receive care despite rising demand Elderly people are being left to “fend for themselves”, a charity has warned, as 40,000 fewer pensioners are receiving council care despite rising demand.

    Figures released by NHS Digital yesterday [TUES] reveal that the number of people receiving long-term care has fallen each year - from from 872,520 in 2015-16 to 841,850 in 2018-19.

    Statisticians say that this has mainly been driven by a fall in care for those aged 65 and over, down 39,060 to 548,435. The Daily Telegraph

    Doctors will send almost one million NHS patients for singing, gardening or art classes

    Doctors will send almost one million NHS patients for singing, gardening or art classes Doctors will send almost one million NHS patients for singing, gardening or art classes under a £5million Government scheme.

    Ministers will launch the National Academy for Social Prescribing to co-ordinate the wider roll-out of arts, sport and leisure activities for patients across the country.

    Such 'social prescribing' has been shown to help people with illnesses including depression, loneliness and heart disease. The Daily Mail

    Anorexia cases are almost DOUBLE estimates in 2006, figures suggest

    Anorexia cases are almost DOUBLE estimates in 2006, figures suggest Anorexia is twice as common among young children in the UK now than it was a decade ago, researchers claim.

    Around 3.2 youngsters out of every 100,000 eight to 12-year-olds were diagnosed with the eating disorder in 2015.

    This is double that of the estimated 1.5 cases per 100,000 in 2006, according to scientists at King's College London. The Daily Mail

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