Thursday, 12 January 2012
Breast implant scare sparks medical device regulation review
Breast implant scare sparks medical device regulation review: A review of medical device regulation is to be launched in the wake of safety concerns around PiP breast implants, health secretary Andrew Lansley has announced. GP Online
Promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals
Promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals: The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published an information rights strategy, setting out its approaches to education, enforcement, regulatory practice and governance. It lists five priority areas that the ICO will focus on: health, credit and finance, criminal justice, internet and mobile services, and security
NHS Confederation releases joint statement on health and social care integration with ADASS
NHS Confederation releases joint statement on health and social care integration with ADASS: The NHS Confederation, in conjunction with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has produced a joint statement on integrating health and social care services.
Can governments do it better? Merger mania and hospital outcomes in the English NHS
Can governments do it better? Merger mania and hospital outcomes in the English NHS:
This study found that mergers are unlikely to be the most effective way of dealing with poorly performing NHS hospitals. It looked at the wave of hospital consolidation in the late 1990s and early 2000s – in which around half the acute hospitals in England were involved in a merger – and found that these mergers brought few benefits.
Risk appetite for boards
Risk appetite for boards:
Treasury guidance requires the boards of all public sector organisations to publish a public statement of risk appetite. These publications aim to support boards around risk appetite as well as informing partners, suppliers and commissioners on this topic.
NICE funds open online access to The Lancet for NHS and social care staff in England
NICE funds open online access to The Lancet for NHS and social care staff in England: As part of its drive to provide open access to high quality evidence, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has signed a three-year agreement with Elsevier to fund a national subscription to the online version of The Lancet.
Advice from NICE aims to improve commissioning for end of life care
Advice from NICE aims to improve commissioning for end of life care: NICE has published its guide for commissioners of end-of-life care services, the latest in its series of good practice guides to support commissioners in designing high quality, evidence-based services to improve outcomes for patients and to help the NHS make better use of resources.
Unison accepts government's pension deal
Unison accepts government's pension deal
Public Finance
It also means the NHS scheme negotiations would enter the 'final phase', he added. This ends in late January, after which Unison will take any final offer back to its members in a full ballot. Prentis added: 'No contribution rises in local government ...
Healthcare assistants working out of their depth, NHS survey warns
Healthcare assistants working out of their depth, NHS survey warns:
Helpers being asked to look after intensive care patients and administer drugs without proper training, study finds
Healthcare assistants are taking on jobs, including looking after intensive care patients, for which they are not always properly trained, according to research.
A survey of more than 2,500 NHS staff found examples of healthcare assistants (HCAs) working beyond their competence, sometimes putting patients at risk.
Nurses cited cases in which HCAs had administered drugs without proper training, while others were left in sole charge of patients with complex needs.
Examples from the 2,554 people who responded to the Nursing Standard survey – made up mostly of qualified nurses and nursing students – said HCAs were also managing colleagues and running units and clinics.
Some nurses said HCAs had received training, but others said this was lacking or that HCAs were not competent in interpreting information about patients.
One respondent said HCAs were involved in "caring for 'low-risk' ventilated tracheostomy patients in an intensive care environment". The respondent added: "The registered nurse working next to them is expected to supervise and overlook everything they do, but this is an impossible task when they themselves are looking after a level three ventilated patient.
"As far as I'm concerned, this is dangerous practice and unfair on all parties concerned."
Several respondents said HCAs monitored patients' vital signs but did not understand the results.
Some HCAs took blood pressure readings "but do not know what is normal or not" while others fail to notice when a patient is deteriorating, according to the survey.
Other examples included HCAs drawing up care plans with no training, interpreting blood levels, caring for complex wounds and carrying out electrocardiograms (ECGs) for heart patients.
HCAs also gave antipsychotic medication without proper training, and one respondent said: "As a nurse manager, I tend to supervise any practice that is deemed complex. ECGs are the most common, but prior to being a manager I witnessed an HCA doing a catheterisation. They had no training and I was horrified."
There were further cases in which HCAs acted as members of emergency or resuscitation teams and "gave medication without knowing what the drugs are for and side effects".
Standards set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) say nurses can delegate aspects of patient care to HCAs, including administering medicines. However, the nurse is "accountable to ensure that the … care assistant is competent to carry out the task".
But one nurse in the survey said: "There is sometimes an attitude from unregistered staff that it doesn't matter what they do because ultimately it is the registered nurse looking after the patient who will take responsibility.
"No matter how hard we try to uphold standards, it is impossible to be aware of everything going on with our patients, and we have to rely on support staff to provide a high standard of care without having to directly supervise them at all times."
In October, the government unveiled plans for a code of conduct and training for HCAs, but ministers are not in favour of statutory regulation.
The plan is designed to "bring clarity" to the training HCAs need to deliver more advanced tasks, although this training will be voluntary.
Dr Peter Carter, the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), has said the NHS is too reliant on untrained HCAs who are asked to pick up nursing skills as they go along. He said assistants were employed to help nurses with basic tasks such as washing and feeding, but ended up doing much more.
Tanis Hand, an HCA adviser for the RCN, told Nursing Standard: "It is important for nurses to understand the principles of delegation and that HCAs are not put into situations that they are not fully prepared for."
Howard Catton, the RCN's head of policy, said: "These findings make it clear that, if we want to maximise patient safety, we need to push forward with mandatory regulation of support workers.
"There is also a clear need for education and training of support staff to ensure we do not separate tasks from the knowledge required for clinical assessment and decision-making."
The head of nursing for the union Unison, Gail Adams, said: "This list reaffirms our findings that HCAs are delivering most bedside nursing as well as many extended roles. I question whether some of these roles are appropriate, given the lack of consistency and training."
Carter said of the survey: "Today's findings add further weight to the case for mandatory regulation and guaranteed training standards for HCAs, which the RCN has been calling for for some years and throughout the health and social care bill process.
"The RCN is clear. A voluntary or optional scheme does not go far enough – not only would it continue to put patients at risk, it would also do a great disservice to the hardworking, dedicated HCAs who would welcome regulation."
Lord Howe, the health minister, said: "Healthcare assistants aim to give the very highest quality of care to patients, but they shouldn't be allowed to carry out tasks they are not qualified for.
"Employers must take responsibility for the quality of services provided, and professionals like nurses must ensure appropriate delegation and supervision of tasks." The Guardian
EU laws put NHS patients at risk, warn senior doctors
EU laws put NHS patients at risk, warn senior doctors:
Heads of two royal colleges want urgent action over poor language skills and 'stifling effect' of working time directive
NHS patients are at risk because of European laws that govern how overseas doctors work in the UK, the heads of two royal colleges have said.
They claimed "urgent action" was needed on the issue of EU doctors' language skills and criticised the restriction on the number of hours a week trainees can work for.
In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Professor Norman Williams, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Sir Richard Thompson, the president of the Royal College of Physicians, wrote: "The language competency of doctors from the EU working in Britain, and the stifling effect of the European working time directive [EWTD] on the time that trainee doctors have to learn on the job, need urgent action.
"EU laws that apply to all sectors can have unintended consequences in healthcare that can put patients at risk, whether in Britain or other member states.
"The increased mobility of health professionals in the EU has highlighted huge variations both in the practical abilities of professionals of similar grades, and in the systems set up to ensure quality, in different member states."
The letter also urged the European commission to introduce an alert system when a doctor was struck off in another country.
The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said he had already taken steps to stop doctors with poor English practising in the UK.
"We agree that for too long patients have been let down by European rules which allowed doctors to operate in the UK without the necessary safeguards," he said.
"That's why I announced last year new rules on checking doctors' language skills and new powers to take action against doctors who can't speak English properly.
"We want to revise the EWTD to give the NHS the flexibility it needs on training. Our overriding concern must be to protect patients."
The EWTD limits the length of a doctor's working week to 48 hours. The Guardian
Heads of two royal colleges want urgent action over poor language skills and 'stifling effect' of working time directive
NHS patients are at risk because of European laws that govern how overseas doctors work in the UK, the heads of two royal colleges have said.
They claimed "urgent action" was needed on the issue of EU doctors' language skills and criticised the restriction on the number of hours a week trainees can work for.
In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Professor Norman Williams, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Sir Richard Thompson, the president of the Royal College of Physicians, wrote: "The language competency of doctors from the EU working in Britain, and the stifling effect of the European working time directive [EWTD] on the time that trainee doctors have to learn on the job, need urgent action.
"EU laws that apply to all sectors can have unintended consequences in healthcare that can put patients at risk, whether in Britain or other member states.
"The increased mobility of health professionals in the EU has highlighted huge variations both in the practical abilities of professionals of similar grades, and in the systems set up to ensure quality, in different member states."
The letter also urged the European commission to introduce an alert system when a doctor was struck off in another country.
The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said he had already taken steps to stop doctors with poor English practising in the UK.
"We agree that for too long patients have been let down by European rules which allowed doctors to operate in the UK without the necessary safeguards," he said.
"That's why I announced last year new rules on checking doctors' language skills and new powers to take action against doctors who can't speak English properly.
"We want to revise the EWTD to give the NHS the flexibility it needs on training. Our overriding concern must be to protect patients."
The EWTD limits the length of a doctor's working week to 48 hours. The Guardian
NHS 'will be destroyed' by private health care companies, warns doctor
NHS 'will be destroyed' by private health care companies, warns doctor: The future of the NHS is at risk because private health care providers are failing to fulfil their duty of care to patients, a doctor has warned.
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
NHS forced to boost NHS negligence fund
NHS forced to boost NHS negligence fund: Andrew Lansley has been forced to provide an additional £185million boost to help the NHS fund legal battles owing to increasing numbers of negligence claims, it has been revealed.
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily TelegraphThousands being denied IVF on the NHS
Thousands being denied IVF on the NHS: Thousands of women are being denied fertility treatment as NHS trusts cut IVF by up to 60 per cent to save money, it has emerged.
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
New eHealth resource now available for RCN members
New eHealth resource now available: A new interactive resource from the RCN will help nursing staff understand eHealth.
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
CCGs pass first step towards authorisation
CCGs pass first step towards authorisation: The majority of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) across England have passed the first step towards authorisation, the DH commissioning czar has said. GP Online
Liberating the NHS: developing the healthcare workforce - from design to delivery
Liberating the NHS: developing the healthcare workforce - from design to delivery:
This policy framework sets out a new approach to workforce planning and the education and training of the health workforce. It builds on responses to earlier public consultations and the advice of the NHS Future Forum.
Hospitals feed patients on 90p a meal, official figures show
Hospitals feed patients on 90p a meal, official figures show: Some hospital trusts commit just £2.57 for each patient's daily food and drink, according to the latest statistics, despite growing concern about poor nutrition on wards.
The Telegraph
The TelegraphHealthcare assistants 'doing nurses' tasks'
Healthcare assistants 'doing nurses' tasks': Patients are being put at risk by healthcare assistants who have been asked to take on tasks for which they have not been properly trained, nurses have warned.
The Telegraph
The TelegraphNew Guidelines to Control Group A Streptococcal (GAS) Infections in UK Hospitals Launched
New Guidelines to Control Group A Streptococcal (GAS) Infections in UK Hospitals Launched: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) together with the group A streptococcal (GAS) Working Group* has today launched new guidelines for the investigation, control and prevention of GAS infection in acute healthcare settings, including maternity units, in the UK. Health Protection Agency
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