Cancer diagnosis delays 'kill 500 a year'

Cancer diagnosis delays 'kill 500 a year': Delays in diagnosing women with ovarian cancer are costing 500 lives a year, a charity claims today. The Independent

Suicide rates among men rise to ten-year high

Suicide rates among men rise to ten-year high: The number of suicides in the UK rose "significantly" in 2011, official figures revealed today, with the rate of men taking their own lives reaching its highest level for nearly a decade. The Independent

See also:

• Alarm at rise in UK suicide rate The Guardian
• 'Significant' rise in UK suicides BBC News

Ice warning for Northamptonshire

Ice warning for Northamptonshire: Light snow is predicted for the county and the Met Office is warning of icy conditions on the roads. BBC News

Time to Change - national mental health campaign launched

Time to Change - national mental health campaign launched: A new national campaign has been launched to encourage people to talk about their mental health problems. Mental health problems affect one in four of us but nearly nine out of ten people who... Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Icy weather increases pressure on ambulance crews

Icy weather increases pressure on ambulance crews: Ambulance bosses say the recent freezing conditions mean East Midlands Ambulance Service crews have dealt with 900 more calls than during the same period last year. Evening Telegraph

Shifting care closer to home: slogan or solution?

Shifting care closer to home: slogan or solution?: As The King's Fund argued in Transforming the delivery of health and social care: the case for fundamental change, any discussion about developing new models of care must focus on shifting care closer to home. However, there is a danger of 'shifting care closer to home' becoming just a slogan and consequently not being examined sufficiently. It is not a step forward to relocate an activity that should really be stopped or redesigned, or to move care closer to home when this is less convenient for the patient or leads to a reduction in the quality of care.

VIDEO: Will telehealth improve NHS care?

VIDEO: Will telehealth improve NHS care?: A major challenge facing the NHS is how to care for people with long-term illnesses, so could telehealth be the answer? BBC News

VIDEO: Birth rate boom 'a strain on NHS'

VIDEO: Birth rate boom 'a strain on NHS': England is seeing a massive increase in its birth rate which is putting a strain on the NHS, midwives warn. BBC News

Shenley Hospital: Life under observation

Shenley Hospital: Life under observation: The hospital that wasn't afraid to try strange new treatments BBC News

The revolution will be digitised

The revolution will be digitised: The NHS Commissioning Board's director of patients and information argues that digital is the biggest single answer to the productivity, quality and efficiency challenges faced by the NHS. E-Health Insider

Fitness for work: the Government response to ‘Health at work – an independent review of sickness absence’

Fitness for work: the Government response to ‘Health at work – an independent review of sickness absence’: This publication outlines the Government's response to the independent review of the sickness absence system. It highlights the support that healthcare professionals and GPs in particular, require in helping individuals back to work. It supports the recommendations of the review that fit note guidance is in need of revision and GP knowledge and awareness of the benefit system requires improvement.

• Government response
• Original review
• DWP - press release

The other care crisis: making social care funding work or disabled adults in England

The other care crisis: making social care funding work or disabled adults in England: This report highlights the improvements needed in adult social care for disabled people, with a £1.2 billion funding gap for social care
support for disabled people under 65 being revealed. It aims to add to the ongoing debate surrounding the funding of adult social care in England and urges the Government to address the funding gap.

• Report 
• Scope - news

Child asthma hospital admissions fell after smoking ban, study shows

Child asthma hospital admissions fell after smoking ban, study shows: Admissions fell by 12.3% in first year and more than 3% in each of the next two years, according to analysis of NHS figures
The number of children admitted to hospital after serious asthma attacks has fallen steeply in England since smoking was banned in public places such as bars, restaurants and offices.

Sir Ian Kennedy: Patients at risk from Mid-Staffs care failings across NHS

Sir Ian Kennedy: Patients at risk from Mid-Staffs care failings across NHS: Patients are being put at risk across the NHS by the same kind of poor care uncovered at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust, yet the new health care regulator is not equipped to identify the failings, an expert has said. The Daily Telegraph

Interactive calculator: do you win or lose with the new BMI?

Interactive calculator: do you win or lose with the new BMI?: Researchers at Oxford University have updated the body mass index with a new formula that they say more accurately estimates body fat. Use the interactive tool to see how your BMI is different under their proposal for a new system. The Daily Telegraph

Debbie Thomason sues Northampton Hospital over late diagnosis - BBC News

Debbie Thomason sues Northampton Hospital over late diagnosis - BBC News:

BBC News

Debbie Thomason sues Northampton Hospital over late diagnosis BBC News Debbie Thomason was taken to Northampton General Hospital in May 2011 in "excruciating pain" after she had sneezed. Her lawyers say the hospital failed to diagnose cauda equina syndrome, a spine condition, and operate before it was "too late to prevent ...

VIDEO: NHS reform to improve standards?

VIDEO: NHS reform to improve standards?: The NHS is about to undergo its biggest overhaul since its creation 65 years ago, but what will the government's changes mean for patients? BBC News

Why bed sores matter more than reforms

Why bed sores matter more than reforms: What they tell us about the state of the NHS BBC News

Integration is about patient benefits, not organisational processes, says Don Redding

Integration is about patient benefits, not organisational processes, says Don Redding: Last year, when the NHS Confederation asked you, its members, what major changes were required to meet future challenges, the vast majority of you (77 per cent) cited the integration of care – more than any other change. With rapidly decreasing budgets, local authorities and health and wellbeing boards too are acutely aware of the … Continue reading » NHS Voices

Medical management of people who use illegal drugs: new report from the BMA

Medical management of people who use illegal drugs: new report from the BMA: There has been a great deal of debate about illicit drugs in recent weeks. Just before Christmas, we had the House Affairs Committee report, which highlighted the downward trend in recorded drug use over recent years. Earlier this week the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform published their report on legal highs, which recommended a [read the full story...] The Mental Elf

The future of health and social care timeline

The future of health and social care timeline: This timeline picks out some of the key trends - from changes in
population make-up to advances in technology - that will affect how health and social care is delivered over the next 20 years.

• Interactive presentation
• The King's Fund - Time To Think Differently

Nationwide review of A&E

Nationwide review of A&E:
A review of A&E services across the NHS is set to take place.
With concerns over a “fragmented” service and rising patient numbers, the NHS medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has announced he will lead a review of the model of urgent and services.
Senior medical professionals fear the level of care – particularly at nights and weekends – is becoming unsafe and one way to address this... Healthcare Today

Hospital pays £1,800 a day for a nurse in NHS staff crisis

Hospital pays £1,800 a day for a nurse in NHS staff crisis: NHS hospitals are hiring agency nurses at rates of up £1,800 a day in a bid to plug dangerous staff shortages, an investigation has found. The Daily Telegraph

British baby boom pushing maternity wards to 'tipping point'

British baby boom pushing maternity wards to 'tipping point': A baby boom has pushed maternity services in the UK to a ''crucial tipping point'', with midwives under intense strain and hospitals struggling to cope. Daily Telegraph

Jeremy Hunt warns of 'bits of Stafford' across the NHS

Jeremy Hunt warns of 'bits of Stafford' across the NHS: Medical failures that saw up to 1,200 patients die needlessly at Stafford hospital are occuring throughout the NHS, Jeremy Hunt has warned. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Cases of neglect exist across NHS, says Jeremy Hunt The Guardian

Cabinet at war as ministers fight local hospital closures

Cabinet at war as ministers fight local hospital closures: Senior cabinet ministers have come out against plans to close hospital wards in their constituencies, in an apparent challenge to Department of Health plans to rationalise the NHS. The Independent

NHS chief: Hospitals are bad for old people's health

NHS chief: Hospitals are bad for old people's health:
Hospitals are "very bad places" to care for frail, elderly patients and new ways must be found to treat them in the community, the new independent head of the NHS has warned. The Independent

Snow warning for Northamptonshire

Snow warning for Northamptonshire: The Met Office warns there could be significant snowfall in Northamptonshire and advises people to prepare for disruption. BBC Northamptonshire

See our Netvibes page for local travel, traffic and weather information.

Ambulance service misses callout targets

Ambulance service misses callout targets: New figures show that ambulances fail to reach a third of the most serious emergencies within the target time. Evening Telegraph

Boss of Northampton hospital questions mental health spending

Boss of Northampton hospital questions mental health spending: The chief executive of St Andrew’s Healthcare, which runs St Andrew’s Hospital in Northampton has questioned MPs about broken pledges on Government spending. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Will 2013 be the year of meaningful public engagement with service change?

Will 2013 be the year of meaningful public engagement with service change?: The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) is the latest to join the growing chorus of medical colleges calling for change in hospital services with RCS President Professor Williams’s statement launching their new report: ‘2013 needs to be the year patients, politicians, clinicians and managers come together to support historic change in the NHS and create a lasting legacy for all of our population.’

Communicating efficiently or safely?

Communicating efficiently or safely?: Cultures of high-reliability are built from the deep assumptions and default positions we collectively bring to our work. We need to get better at noticing and circulating the small moments and striking stories that help us improve our most basic assumptions as well as our basic practices, says Carl Macrae. The Health Foundation

Phone apps 'delay skin diagnosis'

Phone apps 'delay skin diagnosis': People relying on smartphone applications to decide whether their moles are cancer could be putting themselves at risk of misdiagnosis. BBC News

Exclusive: CCGs can save £750m on tests

Exclusive: CCGs can save £750m on tests: Huge variation in the cost of pathology tests in England is wasting millions of pounds in NHS funding and could put unfair pressure on GPs, official figures suggest. GP Online

Hunt?s plan for austerITy

Hunt?s plan for austerITy: The right-wing think-tank Policy Exchange holds events in what it calls an 'ideas space'. The name conjures up the plush, free-wheeling, bare-foot wonk-ing that was so mercilessly pilloried by the last series of 'The Thick of It.' E-Health Insider

Nearly half of the young people who present to hospital with self-harm are not given essential psychosocial evaluations

Nearly half of the young people who present to hospital with self-harm are not given essential psychosocial evaluations: Last September I blogged about a cohort study in the Lancet that highlighted the links between self-harm and poor physical health. This same dataset (drawn from over 30,000 patients from 6 hospitals in Oxford, Manchester and Derby from 2000-7) has now spawned a longitudinal study published in the European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry journal. This [read the full story...] The Mental Elf

Is it possible for children to 'grow out' of autism?

Is it possible for children to 'grow out' of autism?: "Children can 'grow out of' autism, psychologists say, challenging the established view that autism is a permanent, incurable condition," The Independent has reported.

Trainee nurses should be selected on compassion to avoid repeat of Mid-Staffs scandal: expert

Trainee nurses should be selected on compassion to avoid repeat of Mid-Staffs scandal: expert: Trainee nurses should be assessed for compassion and kindness before being taken on to courses, expert says. The Daily Telegraph

NHS opens door on widespread A&E closures

NHS opens door on widespread A&E closures: The medical director of the NHS is to open the door on a nationwide programme of A&E closures, by launching a review of the "fragmented" service the network provides. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• NHS blueprint to shake up emergency care provisions, says director The Guardian

The NHS's troubled relationship with technology

The NHS's troubled relationship with technology: Why has IT proved such a thorny issue for NHS? BBC News

VIDEO: Disabled people 'missing basic needs'

VIDEO: Disabled people 'missing basic needs': A report from five leading charities says that more than a third of people with disabilities aren't getting enough support with basic needs. BBC News

HR and social media in the NHS - new briefing published

HR and social media in the NHS - new briefing published: We have published guidance to help the NHS realise the benefits of social media and implement a more permissive approach to its use. NHS Employers

Commitment to safeguard medical graduate jobs

Commitment to safeguard medical graduate jobs:

Government makes pledge on foundation programme Related items from OnMedica Payments for NHS training come under fire New doctors ‘poorly prepared’ in acute care Young doctors call for urgent medical workforce review NHS will reach ‘breaking point’ Consultant-delivered care will help junior training

A review of the potential benefits from the better use of information and technology in health and social care

A review of the potential benefits from the better use of information and technology in health and social care: This study, commissioned by the Department of Health from PriceWaterhouse Coopers, found that measures such as text messages for communicating negative test results, electronic prescribing and electronic patient records could improve care, allow health professionals to spend more time with patients, and save billions of pounds. It cites examples of good practice from across the UK, and estimates that £4.4 billion per year could be reinvested in improving care by making similar use of information and technology. 

• Report
• Department of Health - news

Call for limit on sleeping pill prescriptions

Call for limit on sleeping pill prescriptions: Doctor have been warned to only issue prescriptions of sleeping pills and tranquillisers in exceptional circumstances.
The move has been led by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and 17 other organisations including the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Department of Health, which together produced the consensus statement, recognising that su... Healthcare Today

A bigger say in the NHS for patients

A bigger say in the NHS for patients: Greater patient involvement in the health service could lead to better quality care and more efficiency savings.

Scandal-ridden NHS trust to be broken up

Scandal-ridden NHS trust to be broken up: The NHS trust at the centre of the worst health service scandal in more than a decade has no future, an NHS regulator has concluded.The Independent

Benefits of technology shown in mobile health worker project

Benefits of technology shown in mobile health worker project: The benefits of mobile technology for health staff and patients are outlined today in the final report of the mobile health worker project, a study on introducing mobile devices at 11 NHS pilot sites.

GP's long-term conditions scheme saves £2,000 per patient

GP's long-term conditions scheme saves £2,000 per patient: A GP-led care programme that aims to reduce hospital admissions for patients with long-term conditions could save the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds. GP Online

'Grave concerns' over new GP data set

'Grave concerns' over new GP data set: GPs and privacy experts have "grave concerns" about an extensive new data set to be extracted from GP practices. E-Health Insider

SMEs 'enthusiastic' for app directory

SMEs 'enthusiastic' for app directory: Healthcare app developers are excited about the NHS Commissioning Board's new online apps directory, which is now live.E-Health Insider

Updated staff engagement toolkit now available

Updated staff engagement toolkit now available: Our popular online toolkit Engaging your staff: the NHS staff engagement resource has been updated with ten new case study examples and revised text in key sections. NHS Employers

Spirituality and ageing: implications for the care and support of older people

Spirituality and ageing: implications for the care and support of older people: This report examines how person-centred care can be achieved by addressing the spiritual needs of older people. 

• Report
• IRISS - publications

Flu stretching hospitals in US

Flu stretching hospitals in US: Healthcare services and drug supplies are being stretched to the limit in the United States as the authorities warn this year's flu season is severe.Official figures indicate that influenza is now "widespread" in 41 states, with high numbers of cases reported in New York, where state governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a public health...  Healthcare Today

Going paperless 'would save NHS billions' - BBC News

Going paperless 'would save NHS billions' - BBC News:

BBC News

Going paperless 'would save NHS billions' BBC News ... long in the offing. It was Mr Hunt's predecessor Andrew Lansley who first pledged in 2010 to start an information revolution to ensure patients could use the web to report their experiences, rate NHS organisations and access their records so there ... Hunt: Paperless NHS in five yearsWalesOnline Jeremy Hunt attacks the NHS again. Why criticising the health service is both ...Telegraph.co.uk (blog) Hunt: NHS 'should go' paperless by 2018Health Service Journal The Guardian -TopNews United States -Daily Mail all 166 news articles »

NHS regulator rules out tax exemptions for private health firms

NHS regulator rules out tax exemptions for private health firms: Monitor responds to critics by confirming recommendations on tax exemption will not be part of NHS competition review.

Reform of system for approving NHS drugs taking too long, say MPs

Reform of system for approving NHS drugs taking too long, say MPs: Health committee criticises lack of progress two years after consultation document on subject was published.
Government proposals to change the system for approval of drugs that can be used in the NHS are still in a "nebulous" state and taking an unacceptably long time to be worked out, say MPs.

Why NHS funding needs a total rethink

Why NHS funding needs a total rethink: The health service no longer offers cradle to grave care, which is free at the point of use. It needs a new financial model.

NHS admits widespread restrictions on cataract surgery

NHS admits widespread restrictions on cataract surgery: Sight-saving cataract operations are being restricted across about half of England, the medical director of the NHS has admitted. The Daily Telegraph

Doctors are refusing to carry out 'pointless' tests for dementia, warns Jeremy Hunt

Doctors are refusing to carry out 'pointless' tests for dementia, warns Jeremy Hunt: Doctors are refusing to carry out tests for dementia as they believe it is pointless as there is no effective cure available, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said.The Independent

HPA update on seasonal norovirus activity: 15 January 2013

HPA update on seasonal norovirus activity: 15 January 2013: Latest figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show there have been 4,407 laboratory confirmed cases of norovirus this season (from week 27 to week 01 2013). The latest figures are 56 per cent higher than the number of cases reported at this point last year, when there were 2,828 cases.

Staff levels have never put patients at risk: NGH

Staff levels have never put patients at risk: NGH: The head of nursing at Northampton General Hospital has slammed claims that inspectors had labelled the trust “dangerously understaffed”. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

NGH ‘needs to test everyone for HIV virus’

NGH ‘needs to test everyone for HIV virus’: A charity has called for HIV tests for everybody admitted to Northamptonshire hospitals to tackle levels of the virus, which are double the national average. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

BMA guide to contract changes

BMA guide to contract changes: This guide looks at what the government's proposals may mean for general practice.

'Historic' breast cancer drug move

'Historic' breast cancer drug move: Women in England and Wales with a strong family history of breast cancer could be offered preventative medication on the NHS for the first time. BBC News

Uneven dementia care 'disgraceful'

Uneven dementia care 'disgraceful': There is a "disgraceful" variation in the number of people being diagnosed with dementia across the UK, according to the Alzheimer's Society. BBC News

Hepatitis C: a projection of the healthcare and economic burden in the UK

Hepatitis C: a projection of the healthcare and economic burden in the UK: This report assesses the healthcare and economic burden of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the UK. It used a cohort simulation model to estimate the prevalence of HCV infection, including the number of persons who live with HCV infection at different disease stages, and the number of deaths that can be attributed to HCV infection through to 2035. It also examines the healthcare and societal costs that are associated with HCV infection under different scenarios of diagnosis and treatment rates.

• Report
• RAND - publications

Lady Neuberger to investigate claims on care for dying patients

Lady Neuberger to investigate claims on care for dying patients: Care services minister, Norman Lamb, appoints peer to carry out review of Liverpool Care Pathway after months of denunciations.
The Liverpool Care Pathway for the dying must survive the current controversy because doctors need guidelines to help their patients at the end of life, but possibly stripped of its tainted name, said care services minister Norman Lamb.

How health and wellbeing boards will work

How health and wellbeing boards will work: As the healthcare sector gears up for April, the national director of health and wellbeing board implementation explains how he envisages the boards working.

Let's make dementia a word and not a sentence

Let's make dementia a word and not a sentence: Attitudes towards dementia need to change just as they have done towards cancer - but more swiftly, writes Jeremy Hunt. The Daily Telegraph

Liverpool Care Pathway needs name change, says Norman Lamb

Liverpool Care Pathway needs name change, says Norman Lamb: The Liverpool Care Pathway - the controversial set of clinical guidelines for those close to death - should undergo a name change, a minister has suggested.The Daily Telegraph

Widening choices for older people with high support needs

Widening choices for older people with high support needs:
Widening choices for older people with high support needs
Older people with high support needs want greater choice and control over their lives and a wider range of options. This study identifies the benefits and potential of options based on mutuality (people supporting each other) and / or reciprocity (people contributing to individual and group well-being).The study found that... read more The Joseph Rowntree Foundation

17 hospitals 'not safely staffed'

17 hospitals 'not safely staffed': Northampton General Hospital is ordered to take action after a watchdog finds it is failing to provide safe staffing levels. BBC News

See also:

• Hospital watchdog warns 17 have unsafe staffing levels The Guardian
• Seventeen NHS hospitals have dangerously low numbers of nurses The Daily Telegraph

MPs in combined hospital campaign

MPs in combined hospital campaign: Three Northamptonshire MPs put aside political differences for a joint campaign to protect services at Kettering General Hospital. BBC Northamptonshire

'Too many' referred to care homes

'Too many' referred to care homes: Too many people are sent to care homes through hospital referrals "far too early", says a county councillor. BBC Northamptonshire

VIDEO: 'NHS must learn lessons' after Savile

VIDEO: 'NHS must learn lessons' after Savile: The NHS "must learn lessons" from the Jimmy Savile scandal, according to the health secretary. BBC News

71 per cent of NHS 111 calls not handled by medical staff

71 per cent of NHS 111 calls not handled by medical staff: The vast majority of calls made to the non-emergency NHS 111 phone service are not being dealt with by medical professionals Public Service

America struggling in the fight against flu

America struggling in the fight against flu: 18 states across America have declared a flu epidemic, as the flu season causes hospital closures and widespread concern about the rate of infection across the country. NHS Employers

Why hospitals are doomed. Chris Mimnagh explains.

Why hospitals are doomed. Chris Mimnagh explains.: There is a change going on in the way we think about healthcare. The realisation that we can no longer afford to do what we’ve always done is looming large for all suppliers. Whether it’s expressed as the Nicholson Challenge or described eloquently as Hospitals on the edge, our existing systems have grown up with … Continue reading » NHS Voices

NHS safety thermometer 2013/14: CQUIN guidance

NHS safety thermometer 2013/14: CQUIN guidance: Developed for the NHS by the NHS as a point of care survey instrument, the NHS Safety Thermometer provides a ‘temperature check’ on harm that can be used alongside other measures of harm to measure local and system progress. This guidance explains how this tool can be used to achieve CQUIN goals for 2013/14. It outlines a step-by-step process to aid understanding data and how to use it to set improvement goals and measure improvement over time.

• Guidance
• Supporting documents
• 'Harm Free' Care - news

NHS compensation system unsustainable, says insurer

NHS compensation system unsustainable, says insurer: Liabilities reached £16.7bn in 2011 under system requiring payouts to cover cost of private care for victims of negligence
Compensation settlements for medical negligence running into billions of pounds are placing an unsustainable burden on the NHS, according to an organisation that insures doctors.

Control room staff receiving bonuses for not sending ambulances to emergencies

Control room staff receiving bonuses for not sending ambulances to emergencies: Control room staff are receiving bonuses for not sending 999 ambulances to emergencies, it has emerged. The Daily Telegraph

NHS hospitals failing to feed patients

NHS hospitals failing to feed patients: A dozen NHS hospitals across England are failing to meet patients' basic nutritional needs, according to the health safety watchdog. The Daily Telegraph

Private NHS providers could be exempt from corporation tax

Private NHS providers could be exempt from corporation tax: Private health care firms performing NHS services may not have to pay corporation tax on their profits under draft proposals being considered as part of a government-commissioned review into NHS competition. The Daily Telegraph

Is this the loneliest generation?

Is this the loneliest generation?:
Government officials have been ordered to find out exactly how lonely Britain's population is, amid concerns that "the most isolated generation ever" will overwhelm the NHS. The Independent

The NHS Change Model Twitter Club

The NHS Change Model Twitter Club:

NHS Change Model

The NHS Change Model is a framework for change to help NHS commissioners and providers improve how they go about improvement and deliver NHS goals for quality and value through a common language for change. There is a video on the site that offers an introduction to the model.

The Twitter Club is a regular fortnightly conversation for anyone interested in the Change Model and will be used to help further develop it.

The Twitter Club operates on Wednesdays between 4 and 5 pm and uses the hashtag #NHSchange.

If you are unfamiliar with Twitter, the club page provides an overview on how to set up an account and get started, as well as how to join in the conversation. You can also take the Twitter Tour!

The next event is on Wednesday the 16th of January and the discussion will be on "How can we use and share information to drive change and transformation"

Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter too!

Public consultation on future of hospital will start in spring

Public consultation on future of hospital will start in spring: The future of Kettering General Hospital will be discussed at a public consultation expected to start in late spring or early summer. Evening Telegraph

County to get £57 million grant over two years to improve public health

County to get £57 million grant over two years to improve public health: The Government has announced funding for public health budgets which for the first time will be given to local authorities rather than the NHS to improve health across local communities. Evening Telegraph

Fight against care home expansion continues

Fight against care home expansion continues: Opponents to a plan to significantly expand a rural care home are pledging to continue their fight, after wrongly believing their campaign had been a success. Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Ambulance station plans ‘likely to change’ after delay

Ambulance station plans ‘likely to change’ after delay: The strength of opinion about plans to close ambulance stations in the East Midlands has forced a delay in the final decision. Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Report casts doubt on benefits of joint commissioning

Report casts doubt on benefits of joint commissioning: The study, carried out by professors at the University of Birmingham for the National Institute of Health Research, warns that new financial pressures will make joint commissioning and joint working even harder in the future.

Hunt – we must expose NHS care failings

Hunt – we must expose NHS care failings: The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has called for the NHS to be inspected and rated Ofsted-style Public Service

Sickness absence: learning from the devolved nations

Sickness absence: learning from the devolved nations: The report, “Work as a health outcome in the devolved nations: How Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales tackle sickness-related worklessness” details schemes that are making progress on reducing sickness absence. NHS Employers

£5.45 billion budget for local public health services

£5.45 billion budget for local public health services:

Funding ring-fenced for two years Related items from OnMedica Formula aims to aid local authorities on public health services funding Public health fears escalate Doctors’ leaders call for more regulation on public health Hunt praises GPs for ‘extraordinary dedication’ Budget may lead to 'slash and burn' cuts for NHS

Developing supportive design for people with dementia

Developing supportive design for people with dementia: This publication marks the completion of 26 Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) schemes in 23 NHS acute, community and mental health hospitals in England to improve the environment of care for people with dementia. This publication seeks to provide practical, value-for-money examples to encourage and inspire staff and their organisations to provide an environment of care that better supports people with dementia.

• Report
• Enhancing the Healing Environment project
• The King's Fund - publications

Britain's stress levels rising

Britain's stress levels rising: A study by the Mental Health Foundation has highlighted the principal reasons behind rising stress levels in Britain as money and job worries.
Almost six out of 10 people who responded to the survey by the charity said their life had become more stressful in the past five years. Chief executive Andrew McCulloch said the findings suggested that many people were not managing their stress levels and treating it as a... Healthcrae Today

New strain blamed for record norovirus outbreak

New strain blamed for record norovirus outbreak: The emergence of a new Australian strain of norovirus – the 'winter vomiting bug' – has featured in most newspapers today. The Daily Telegraph reports that the new strain is to blame for the record number of cases of the virus seen this winter, which it terms a 'severe norovirus season'.

NHS transplantation 'safe from German-style scandal'

NHS transplantation 'safe from German-style scandal': Organ transplantation on the NHS is safe from the kind of scandal currently rocking Germany, one of the Britain's top transplant surgeons has said. The Daily Telegraph

Haemorrhagic fever carried by UK rats: scientists

Haemorrhagic fever carried by UK rats: scientists: The potentially deadly hantavirus has been found in rats in the UK for the first time, scientists have confirmed after a man was diagnosed with the disease. The Daily Telegraph

Flu activity update: 10 January 2013

Flu activity update: 10 January 2013: Latest figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) up to 6 January 2013 show that flu activity remain at similar levels to those reported in the previous week based on a number of indicators, including GP consultation rates in England and the proportion of calls to NHS direct.