Whistleblowers raise safeguarding concerns about brain injury ward at St Andrews Hospital in Northampton

Whistleblowers raise safeguarding concerns about brain injury ward at St Andrews Hospital in Northampton A recent inspection found that the services for people with acquired brain injuries at St Andrews Hospital in Northampton ‘requires improvement’ after a number of concerns were raised about patient care.

The hospital, in Billing Road, was visited by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in October 2022 and - in a report published this week - rated the safety and leadership of the services as ‘requires improvement.’  Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Children waiting two years for mental health support

Children waiting two years for mental health support Some children and teenagers have been waiting up to two years for mental health support, a council investigation has found.

A cross-party group of West Northamptonshire councillors found the system to help school pupils was "worse than expected".

The group made several recommendations including providing more money to support services. BBC Northampton

NHS Staff Survey 2022: key findings - NHS Employers

NHS Staff Survey 2022: key findings The NHS National Staff Survey 2022 results, published 9 March 2023, highlight the ongoing challenges within the NHS. 

The annual survey, carried out in autumn 2022, covers staff in all 215 NHS trusts in England, across all roles.  

This year’s results illustrate a decline in certain key markers of staff experience. While staff discontent on pay is reflected in a fall in staff feeling well rewarded.

The results demonstrate lower staff confidence in the quality of care they feel able to deliver, compared with last year. There has also been a decrease in staff morale. NHS Employers

See also:

• NHS staff burnout highlights desperate need for workforce plan to focus on retention and wellbeing The Health Foundation
• NHS Confederation responds to NHS Staff Survey NHS Confederation
• NHS Employers responds to NHS Staff Survey NHS Employers
• Response to latest NHS Staff Survey results NHS England
• Staff survey and performance figures “stark illustration” of backdrop to strikes Nuffield Trust
• NHS England survey ‘lays bare’ staff in crisis, says RCN, warning change cannot wait Royal College of Nursing
• Just 62% of NHS staff are happy with care patients get, damning annual workforce survey reveals The Daily Mail
• Three in 10 NHS staff in England often think of quitting, survey finds The Guardian
• NHS staff survey: One in three often consider leaving Personnel Today

NHS continues to make huge strides reducing waits for patients despite winter pressures

NHS continues to make huge strides reducing waits for patients despite winter pressures The number of people waiting longest for routine care has fallen, despite hospitals having to contend with high levels of winter viruses and strike action, new figures show today.

Thanks to the hard work of staff, the NHS is making significant progress against its elective recovery plan, with the number of people waiting over 18 months cut by over 9,000 in January compared to the previous month – and down almost two thirds on its peak in September 2021 (from 124,911 down to 45,631). NHS England

See also:

• NHS Combined Performance Summary February 2023 NHS England
• Latest NHS performance figures – our response Healthwatch
• The King's Fund responds to latest NHS performance statistics The King's Fund
• NHS Confederation responds to the latest performance statistics NHS Confederation
• NHS Winter Watch Week 14 NHS Providers
• RCN responds to latest NHS performance statistics

Productivity of the English National Health Service: 2020/21 update

Productivity of the English National Health Service: 2020/21 update NHS productivity compares growth in health care outputs and inputs: the more outputs produced with a given amount of inputs, the higher the productivity growth. This assumes that more health care – such as operations in hospitals – generates more health for society. However this report finds that this assumption did not necessarily apply during the pandemic because hospitals were told to cancel as much non-emergency care as possible to free up acute beds and reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection. It also describes how, at the same time, the overall cost of the health care inputs – such as staff, beds, and medicines – remained or even increased because the pandemic required the employment of extra staff where possible and also extra spending on new safety measures. Centre for Health Economics

Progress with delivering the Emergency Services Network

Progress with delivering the Emergency Services Network According to this report, plans for a new communication network for emergency services have fallen further behind schedule, with the Home Office spending almost £2 billion on it since the programme began in 2015. The new Emergency Services Network will enable every police, fire, and ambulance service across England, Scotland and Wales to continue to communicate by voice and data, between the field and control rooms. National Audit Office

NHS crisis causing continued higher-than-normal levels of death

NHS crisis causing continued higher-than-normal levels of death Deaths in England and Wales have remained above average post-Covid lockdowns, with NHS delays likely to ‘have had substantial impact’

The crisis in the NHS is leading to continued higher-than-usual death levels in England and Wales, experts have said.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that almost 170,000 more people than normal died in England and Wales between March 2020, when coronavirus was declared a pandemic, and the end of 2022 – 11% higher than the five-year average. The Guardian

More than 500 deaths in England last year after long ambulance wait

More than 500 deaths in England last year after long ambulance wait Exclusive: figure is more than double the comparable fatalities in 2021, in what a union calls a ‘hidden scandal’ of delays

More than 500 seriously ill patients died last year before they could get treatment in hospital after the ambulance they called for took up to 15 hours to reach them, an investigation by the Guardian reveals.

The fatalities included people who had had a stroke or heart attack or whose breathing had suddenly collapsed, or who had been involved in a road traffic collision. The Guardian

See also:

• Undercover Ambulance: NHS Chaos (documentary) Channel 4 Dispatches
• Britain's broken NHS, like you've never seen before The Daily Mail
• ‘What the hell is going on when you can’t get an ambulance?’ The Guardian

NHS prescriptions to rise 30p to £9.65 in April despite the 'tax on health' being frozen last year

NHS prescriptions to rise 30p to £9.65 in April despite the 'tax on health' being frozen last year The cost of an NHS prescription will rise to £9.65 this year, the Government announced today. 

Patients in England will, from April 1, be forced to pay an extra 30p to collect their medication from a pharmacy.

Campaigners have long called the fee patients must pay to secure certain drugs like warfarin or asthma inhalers an 'unfair tax on health'. The Daily Mail

See also:

• NHS prescription charges from 1 April 2023 Department of Health and Social Care