Unit where police take people detained under the Mental Health Act not up to national standards say inspectors

Unit where police take people detained under the Mental Health Act not up to national standards say inspectors The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found during a one day well-led inspection in October that Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust’s (NHFT) 136 suite at the Berrywood Hospital in Duston was not up to national guidelines.

A 136 suite is where people detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act by the police on concerns they are suffering from a mental disorder are taken. Once in the suite, the person is assessed to establish whether they need treatment. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Group B Strep: ‘A common bug could have killed my baby’

Group B Strep: ‘A common bug could have killed my baby’ The mother of a child who developed meningitis and sepsis because of a bacterial infection called Group B Strep is calling for all pregnant women to be tested for it. Currently the test is only available privately - and some women are still not being told about the potential threat the bug poses to their baby.

Bethany Rashley had a straightforward pregnancy until 33 weeks, when she experienced possible labour pains and noticed her baby was moving less than it had before. She went into Kettering General Hospital, was kept in for a few days, and then sent home. BBC News

Public perceptions of the NHS and social care

Public perceptions of the NHS and social care This report presents the findings of a research project commissioned by the Health Foundation and conducted by Ipsos MORI.

The polling suggests there is an increasing willingness among the public to pay more tax for health and social care.

A majority of people – 62% – said it was completely or somewhat unacceptable to have to sell your own home to pay for social care.

An increasing proportion want to see NHS-funded care delivered exclusively through the NHS (as opposed to via private providers).

The polling also indicates very strong support for EU workers in the NHS and social care being allowed to stay in the UK after Brexit.

Health and social care funding: what’s in, what’s out and who offers the most?

Health and social care funding: what’s in, what’s out and who offers the most? If you think that comparing the funding commitments of the different political parties is a job for statisticians, think again. Admittedly, to make sense of the different offers does require the skills of a Gertrude Cox (the First Lady of Statistics, in case you didn’t know), but they must be leavened with a healthy dose of Miss Marple. As we are often asked which manifesto is the most generous to health and social care, I am channeling both to help answer the question. The King's Fund

Latest RCEM data shows true scale of the number of patients waiting longer than 12 hours in A&E

Latest RCEM data shows true scale of the number of patients waiting longer than 12 hours in A&E The first publication of data from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s 2019-20 Winter Flow Project shows that existing data does not reflect the true scale of the problem of 12 hour stays in A&E.
RCEM data shows that in the first week of December over 5,000 patients waited for longer than 12 hours in the Emergency Departments of 50 Trusts and Boards across the UK.

The sample of trusts and boards from across the UK is the equivalent to a third of the acute bed base in England.

From the beginning of October 2019 over 38,000 patients have waited longer than 12 hours for a bed at the sampled sites across the UK – yet data from NHS England reports that in England alone a total of only 13,025 patients experienced waits over 12 hours since 2011-12. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine

See also:

• A&E trolley waits over 12 hours could be affecting tens of thousands more than official data suggests The Independent
• NHS England 'covering up' true scale of 12 hour hospital waits iNews

General Election 2019: NHS boss - Parties 'ducked' big issues

General Election 2019: NHS boss - Parties 'ducked' big issues Politicians have "ducked" the big issues in health and social care during the election, a leading NHS boss says.

At the start of the campaign, NHS Providers chief Chris Hopson urged parties not to make "empty promises" or create "unrealistic expectations".

There have since been manifesto pledges of millions more in NHS funding and extra staff from both main parties.

But Mr Hopson says they have not offered "credible answers" to the NHS's biggest challenges. BBC News

See also:

• Politicians and the NHS – they’ve ducked the big tackles NHS Providers
• Party manifestos offer 'too little too late' on NHS pension tax crisis GPonline
• The NHS is set for a post-election windfall – but staffing must be the priority The Guardian
• Hospital patients will see their doctors less without action, warns UK top doctor The Independent
• NHS promises from all major parties are 'not physically possible' Metro

Patient data from GP surgeries sold to US companies

Patient data from GP surgeries sold to US companies Dealings with international pharma raise new fears about American ambitions to access NHS

Data about millions of NHS patients has been sold to US and other international pharmaceutical companies for research, the Observer has learnt, raising new fears about America’s growing ambitions to access lucrative parts of the health service after Brexit.

US drugs giants, including Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly, have paid the Department of Health and Social Care, which holds data derived from GPs’ surgeries, for licences costing up to £330,000 each in return for anonymised data to be used for research. The Guardian

See also:

• NHS gives Amazon free use of health data under Alexa advice deal The Guardian
• Conservative government giving NHS data to Amazon for free, documents reveal The Independent

NHS appoints 'head of flexible working' in bid to push part-time jobs

NHS appoints 'head of flexible working' in bid to push part-time jobs The NHS has appointed a “Head of Flexible Working” in a bid to encourage more part-time work in the health service.

The appointment - reporting to a “Head of Improving People Practices” - follows warnings from health chiefs that the NHS needs to recruit significantly more staff, because millennial workers do not expect to work the hours their predecessors put in. The Daily Telegraph

Patients should no longer consider cancer diagnosis a death sentence, experts insist

Patients should no longer consider cancer diagnosis a death sentence, experts insist Cancer should increasingly be seen as a manageable condition like diabetes rather than thought a death sentence, experts said last night.

The Institute of Cancer Research says huge progress that allows patients to live longer is being overshadowed by a focus on the ‘Holy Grail’ of finding a cure.

Survival time from cancer has roughly doubled in a decade, and the average patient now lives more than ten years after diagnosis. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Cancer research offers more hope than people think Institute of Cancer Research
• Cancer cure search is overshadowing progress of sufferers living longer with the disease, experts warn The Daily Telegraph

NHS has paid almost £600million in compensation to patients it had failed to diagnose correctly

NHS has paid almost £600million in compensation to patients it had failed to diagnose correctly NHS hospitals have paid out almost £600million in compensation to patients in the last three years for failing to diagnose them correctly.

There have been 4,097 payouts, totalling £583million, to patients who didn't receive a crucial diagnosis.

It means that the NHS is settling claims at the rate of 26 every week at a cost to the health service of £3.7million every week. The Daily Mail