Massive changes to frontline services in Northamptonshire announced during budget

Massive changes to frontline services in Northamptonshire announced during budget Massive changes to frontline services run by Northamptonshire County Council have been agreed at a budget meeting at County Hall in Northampton. Northamptonshire Telegraph

See also:

• Council to outsource all services BBC Northampton
• Biggest shake up of Northamptonshire County Council for 125 years is approved Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Let’s start promoting wellbeing, not just treating illness

Let’s start promoting wellbeing, not just treating illness We need to start seizing the opportunities to promote wellbeing collaboratively – between us, our communities and our health service, says Natalie Koussa. The Health Foundation

A problem shared? Essays on the integration of health and social care

A problem shared? Essays on the integration of health and social care This essay collection discusses how we can develop a system that responds to the needs of a patient in the round – whether in hospital or at home. With contributions from leading politicians, experts and those on the front line, the collection sets out views on the future role of commissioners, providers, patients and family carers, and sets out alternative perspectives on future funding for the NHS and social care. Our assistant director, Richard Humphries, contributed an essay on funding a future health and social care service. Social Market Foundation

Rationing in the NHS

Rationing in the NHS This briefing paper looks at what public attitudes to rationing and policy-setting are; how rationing decisions are currently made and how much explicit rationing there is; how NICE and the Cancer Drugs Fund are working; and how much money rationing can save. The Nuffield Trust

• Report
• Survey results
• Nuffield Trust - press release

Staff engagement: six building blocks for harnessing the creativity and enthusiasm of NHS staff

Staff engagement: six building blocks for harnessing the creativity and enthusiasm of NHS staff There is now an overwhelming body of evidence to show that engaged staff deliver better health care. Trusts with more engaged staff tend to have lower levels of patient mortality, make better use of resources, and have stronger financial performance and higher patient satisfaction, with more patients reporting that they were treated with dignity and respect. This paper encourages boards and other leaders to focus on staff engagement and suggests a number of questions boards can ask to assess their organisation’s level of staff engagement. The King's Fund

Methods for the estimation of the NICE cost effectiveness threshold

Methods for the estimation of the NICE cost effectiveness threshold Cost-effectiveness analysis used by NICE is essentially an assessment of whether the health expected to be gained from the use of a new medical technology exceeds the health likely to be forgone as other NHS activities are displaced to accommodate the additional costs of the new technology. The cost-effectiveness threshold represents an estimate of the health forgone as services are displaced. Currently the threshold used by NICE has little empirical basis. The aim of this research project is to develop and to demonstrate methods for threshold estimation which make best use of routinely available NHS data, allowing scrutiny by a range of stakeholders, improving accountability and predictability. Centre for Health Economics, University of York

Patients face fines on free scripts

Patients face fines on free scripts Patients with life-long conditions are being fined up to £100 for taking their free prescriptions, the BBC has discovered. BBC News

Priority call on child mental health

Priority call on child mental health Child mental health services in England must be prioritised more to tackle the complex problems they face, a leaked draft taskforce report says. BBC News

Resistant-malaria 'enormous threat'

Resistant-malaria 'enormous threat' Drug-resistant malaria has spread in Myanmar and has now reached the border with India, scientists report. BBC News

'Unsafe' trust in special measures

'Unsafe' trust in special measures The mental health trust for Norfolk and Suffolk is the first in England to be put in special measures. BBC News

See also:

• News story: Monitor puts Norfolk and Suffolk into special measures Monitor

'Sick-note' culture to be stamped out under radical new scheme

'Sick-note' culture to be stamped out under radical new scheme Anyone ill for more than four weeks will face a fit-for-work test in a radical new scheme aimed at stamping out the “sick-note culture” which costs the economy billions of pounds each year.

All GPs will be expected to refer patients to a company that will assess their ability to work and draw up a plan for their return. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Fitness tests to combat the culture of sicknotes: Britons who are off more than four weeks face assessment to see if they are fit to work The Daily Mail

Barts Health chief executive and chief nurse resign

Barts Health chief executive and chief nurse resign News of departures of Peter Morris and Prof Kay Riley comes a fortnight after trust reported £93m deficit.

The chief executive and chief nurse of Barts Health NHS trust in London have announced their resignations, a fortnight after the trust reported a £93m deficit.


Peter Morris has been chief executive for six years, while Prof Kay Riley has been at Barts for eight years. Last summer Barts’ deficit was expected to be around £44m, but on 5 February it was announced that it had more than doubled. Continue reading... The Guardian

The learning disabled should live in the community, not under lock and key

The learning disabled should live in the community, not under lock and key Three decades after the closure of long stay hospitals began, thousands of disabled people are still waiting to move into the community.

Last week we finally got the news that many of us have been hoping for: 3,000 people living in outdated and inappropriate Assessment and Treatment (A&T) units will be discharged. They will live where they belong, surrounded by their family and friends and in the community, with appropriate support.

The NHS has the power to close the 58 NHS operated A&T units, but not the 49 operated by the private sector. Continue reading... The Guardian

Increasing levels of suicide among men are linked to austerity

Increasing levels of suicide among men are linked to austerity More men are taking their own life than at any time since 2001, with the highest suicide rates occurring in deprived areas amid growing evidence of the link between austerity and suicide. The Independent

See also:

• Suicides in the United Kingdom, 2013 Registrations Office for National Statistics
• Policy paper: Suicide prevention: second annual report Department of Health
• Suicide in men 'highest since 2001' BBC News
• Rise of middle-aged suicide in men: 45 to 59 year olds most likely to take their own lives with 'heavy drinking, self-harm and a refusal to seek help often to blame The Daily Mail
• Why are so many middle-aged men committing suicide? The Daily Telegraph
• Male suicide rate worst since 2001, ONS reveals The Daily Telegraph