Serial whistleblower unfairly sacked

Serial whistleblower unfairly sacked A large mental health provider unfairly dismissed a nurse with a record of whistleblowing because it feared he was seeking to highlight care failures, a tribunal has ruled.

A judge decided Noel Finn was wrongly dismissed by St Andrew’s Healthcare, largely because of his roles in exposing scandals at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre and in the government’s Personal Independence Payments assessment centre.

The tribunal’s judgement, released last week, showed the charity was worried Mr Finn was going to investigate their organisation, and forced him out in 2017. Health Service Journal

Hundreds more psychiatric beds needed to help end practice of sending patients hundreds of miles for treatment

Hundreds more psychiatric beds needed to help end practice of sending patients hundreds of miles for treatment HUNDREDS more NHS mental health beds are needed urgently in England to help end the “shameful” practice of sending severely ill patients far from home for treatment, says the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

The practice, known as out-of-area placements (OAPs), happens when there isn’t a local hospital bed for the patient to be admitted to. Allowances are made where this is for highly specialist care.

The Government has pledged to end all inappropriate adult OAPs for acutely ill patients by 2021 but despite intensive efforts progress on reducing that number has stalled. On July 31, 745 people were being treated inappropriately out of area, official figures show.

The impact on patients and their loved ones can be devastating, causing huge emotional damage and even setting back those patients’ recovery. It can also be challenging for staff. Royal College of Psychiatrists

See also:

• Service capacity in England Royal College of Psychiatrists
• Exploring Mental Health Inpatient Capacity The Strategy Unit
• Mental-health beds shortage 'causing distress' BBC News
• Hundreds of mental health beds needed to end 'shameful' out-of-area care The Guardian
• Mental health patients still being sent hundreds of miles from home for hospital beds The Independent

New NHS online training to help people get home from hospital quicker

New NHS online training to help people get home from hospital quicker NHS England and Health Education England have today launched ActNow, an e-learning tool developed for health service and care staff to help them reduce hospital delays for patients. Nearly 350,000 patients currently spend over three weeks in acute hospitals each year.

Transforming imaging services in England: a national strategy for imaging networks

Transforming imaging services in England: a national strategy for imaging networks This strategy sets out a proposal for implementing collaborative imaging networks on a national basis across England. This approach will deliver better quality care and better value services for patients and provide hardworking NHS staff opportunities to develop their career and increase their productivity. NHS England and NHS Improvement

Ear, nose and throat surgery: GIRFT programme national specialty report

Ear, nose and throat surgery: GIRFT programme national specialty report The GIRFT review of ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery services visited 126 units across the country and found that thousands more people could be treated on a day case basis rather than having an overnight stay in hospital. Through a series of recommendations and by sharing the good practice of units with higher-than-average day case rates, the GIRFT report aims to: ensure more patients are treated without the worry or inconvenience of a stay in hospital; make ENT departments more resilient to pressures on beds; and allow trusts to free up beds for use by other specialties. Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT)

NHS Property Services set up to fail

NHS Property Services set up to fail NHS Property Services Limited has made progress in tackling some of the issues that it inherited when it was set up. However, it has struggled to get its tenants to sign rental agreements for the properties they occupy, and it is unacceptable that 70% of its tenants still do not have rental agreements in place. Without these agreements, it is very difficult to run an effective property management company and provide value for the NHS and taxpayers from the £3.8 billion estate that it was set up to manage. The lack of rental agreements has led to many bills being disputed, outstanding debt has almost tripled, to £576 million in March 2019, and £110 million of debt has been written off in the last five years. Public Accounts Select Committee

See also:

• NHS company that owns 18% of GP premises 'set up to fail', MPs warn GPonline
• NHS Property Services was 'set up to fail', says public accounts report Pulse

Hospitals in court for £1.5bn rate rebate claim

Hospitals in court for £1.5bn rate rebate claim NHS trusts should be treated as charities and get a £1.5bn business rate refund, a court has heard.

Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is leading 16 other trusts against 45 local authorities, including Derby City Council.

The High Court heard trusts should qualify as they worked with hospitals "plainly for the public benefit".

But barristers for the authorities said no such claims had been made before and any refund would hit public finances. BBC News

Daily exercise can 'neutralise' the risk of depression even those with a high genetic risk of the condition

Daily exercise can 'neutralise' the risk of depression even those with a high genetic risk of the condition Around half an hour of exercise a day can “neutralise” the risk of developing depression, even in those with a family history of the condition, research suggests.

Scientists said the Harvard study - the first of its kind - shows “genes are not destiny”.

On average, every 35 minutes spent on activities such as yoga and dance classes, or using a treadmill, rowing machine or cross-trainer appeared to lower the risk of depression by 17 per cent, the research found. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Physical activity offsets genetic risk for incident depression assessed via electronic health records in a biobank cohort study (abstract) Depression and Anxiety
• Exercising more significantly reduces the odds of depression The Daily Mail

DNA test could save lives of thousands of children by identifying inherited diseases in babies

DNA test could save lives of thousands of children by identifying inherited diseases in babies Thousands of young lives could be saved by a DNA test unveiled by scientists yesterday.

The screening process checks for inherited diseases in babies.

It allows doctors to start early treatment on a range of conditions from epilepsy to cystic fibrosis. Lethal diseases could be stopped in their tracks. The Daily Mail

See also:

• All children to receive whole genome sequencing at birth, under ambitions laid out by Matt Hancock The Daily Telegraph

Government bans UK drug companies from selling MMR vaccine to other countries

Government bans UK drug companies from selling MMR vaccine to other countries The Government has banned pharmaceutical companies in the UK from selling the measles vaccine to other countries.

This move makes MMR – a vaccine which protects against measles, mumps and rubella – the latest to have been added to a 'no export' list.

It comes after a list of another 27 medications were banned in October from being parallel exported by firms in the UK. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Guidance: Medicines that cannot be parallel exported from the UK Department of Health and Social Care