Scientists help Northamptonshire schoolboy write for first time by printing off new hand

Scientists help Northamptonshire schoolboy write for first time by printing off new hand An eight-year-old boy from Northamptonshire has a new hand thanks to state-of-the-art 3D printing. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

CQC review of how NHS trusts investigate and learn from deaths

CQC review of how NHS trusts investigate and learn from deaths CQC is carrying out a review of how NHS trusts identify, report, investigate and learn from deaths of people using their services.

This follows a request from the Secretary of State for Health, which was part of the Government’s response to a report into the deaths of people with a learning disability or mental health problem in contact with Southern Health Foundation NHS foundation Trust.

CQC’s review will consider the quality of practice in relation to identifying, reporting and investigating the death of any person in contact with a health service managed by an NHS trust; whether the person is in hospital, receiving care in a community setting or living in their own home. The review will pay particular attention to how NHS trusts investigate and learn from deaths of people with a learning disability or mental health problem. Care Quality Commission

See also:

• NHS deaths to be investigated after man drowned in bath BBC News

Gauging where we are with a paper-free NHS

Gauging where we are with a paper-free NHS As NHS England launches the results of the digital maturity self-assessment for secondary care providers, the Head of Technology Strategy in the Digital Technology team explains the opportunities and challenges ahead

The health of the nation: averting the demise of universal healthcare

The health of the nation: averting the demise of universal healthcare This college of essays explores the background to the current pressures on the NHS and ideas that have been proposed for reform. The publication features contributions from eleven authors, including Richard Murray from The King's Fund, from across the political spectrum and covers a wide range of suggestions covering public health and behaviour change; change management; technological innovations; and the future of commissioning. Civitas

Assessing the impact of health care expenditures on mortality using cross-country data

Assessing the impact of health care expenditures on mortality using cross-country data This paper examines the body of literature which has explored the relationship between levels of public health expenditure and mortality, using a global cross-section or panel of country-level data. Centre for Health Economics

GPs in A&E departments fail to curb demand

GPs in A&E departments fail to curb demand Primary care services that are located in emergency/urgent care facilities often do not reduce demand on A&E services and are not cost-effective, concludes a study published today in Emergency Medicine Journal. OnMedica

New standards for cosmetic surgery issued

New standards for cosmetic surgery issued Doctors who carry out cosmetic procedures in the UK are being issued with new guidance from the General Medical Council (GMC) today designed to ensure better and safer care for patients. OnMedica

See also:

• Tough new standards for doctors carrying out cosmetic procedures The General Medical Council
• Guidance for doctors who offer cosmetic interventions The General Medical Council
• New cosmetic surgery rules could see practitioners struck off for offering deals and misleading patients The Independent

Sir Bruce Keogh is part of the problem, not the solution, to junior doctors' row

Sir Bruce Keogh is part of the problem, not the solution, to junior doctors' row NHS England medical director has implied that junior doctors are callous but has failed to explain how the NHS can deliver seven-day services.

Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of the NHS England, and others have described the junior doctors’ contract dispute as a workplace one about terms and conditions. Others see it is as a key battlefront that goes beyond that remit – an effort to save a crumbling NHS.

Keogh is part of the problem, not the solution to the junior doctors’ dispute. Earlier this year, at the instigation of the Department of Health, he toughened the language of a letter he was writing to the BMA, which raised the possibility that junior doctors may not be available to help hospitals in the event of a Paris-style terrorist attack. The implication was that juniors were being callous, unprofessional and not understanding the gravity of their actions. Their collective 53,000 worth of opinions on the way they were being treated by his boss, and now him, did not matter in the slightest. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Jeremy Hunt could end this doctors strike tomorrow. I wish our critics would recognise that The Daily Telegraph
• Former chief medical officer resigns over junior doctors strike The Daily Telegraph
• Junior doctors' strike will put lives in danger warns Dame Sally Davies The Daily Mail

Where’s the harm in GPs prescribing over-the-counter medicines for free? | Ann Robinson

Where’s the harm in GPs prescribing over-the-counter medicines for free? | Ann Robinson Doctors need to prescribe responsibly. But some susceptible patients might not be able to afford sun-blocking cream to prevent skin cancer.

The Mail is up in arms. “The NHS spends millions handing out toothpaste, Calpol and Berocca vitamin pills,” begins an article in the paper on Monday. “Patients are also routinely prescribed Strepsils, Bonjela, Rennie indigestion pills and even Alka-Seltzer.” Apparently this costs the NHS tens of millions a year, “while vital surgery and cancer drugs are rationed”. What a bunch of scroungers we all are.

But is it true? Are profligate GPs prescribing useless drugs for wanton people and draining the NHS of vital funds? The truth is a bit more complicated.

Lots of people get free prescriptions, and more than 80% of all dispensed items are to people who are exempt from them Continue reading... The Guardian

NHS pressuring women to have natural birth over caesarean section due to cost

NHS pressuring women to have natural birth over caesarean section due to cost Some mothers-to-be have to beg hospitals for caesareans, according to the boss of human rights charity Birthrights. This is despite guidelines saying C-sections should be offered to all women who ask. The Daily Mail