Major review finds failings at Northampton hospital caused woman to die from un-diagnosed broken back

Major review finds failings at Northampton hospital caused woman to die from un-diagnosed broken back A major review enacted after a 57-year-old woman's broken back went unnoticed has called for raft of improvements to be made to a Northampton hospital ward branded as 'medieval' by a grieving family. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Corby MP to keep ‘close eye’ on Urgent Care Centre tender process

Corby MP to keep ‘close eye’ on Urgent Care Centre tender process The newly-elected MP for Corby says he will be keeping close tabs on the tender process at the town’s Urgent Care Centre. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Investigation: clinical correspondence handling at NHS Shared Business Services

Investigation: clinical correspondence handling at NHS Shared Business Services  The findings from an investigation into how NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) handled unprocessed clinical correspondence. In March 2016 NHS SBS informed NHS England and the Department of Health (the Department) that it had discovered a backlog of approximately 435,000 items of unprocessed clinical and other correspondence. NHS SBS accepts it had a contractual responsibility to process misdirected clinical and other correspondence. National Audit Office

See also:

• More than 1,700 patients at risk over NHS mail blunder BBC News
• NHS data loss could have delayed treatment for thousands The Daily Mail
• NHS data loss scandal left at least 1,788 patients facing potential harm GPonline
• Hundreds of patients potentially harmed by undelivered NHS mail The Guardian

Far from home, far from hope

Far from home, far from hope An investigation has discovered a rise in the number of adult mental health patients placed in out-of-area beds. Keith Cooper examines the impact on patients, their families and the doctors who care for them. British Medical Association

See also:

• Out of area beds: a new low? British Medical Association
• Mental health patients are being sent 600 miles away The Daily Mail
• Almost 6,000 mental health patients sent out of area for care last year The Guardian
• Number of mental health patients treated miles from home surges by 40% The Independent

Government ‘reneging on promise to fund 10,000 extra nursing places’

Government ‘reneging on promise to fund 10,000 extra nursing places’ Scrapping nursing bursaries was supposed to expand training places – but that pledge has been quietly dropped, universities say

Universities are warning that the government is quietly reneging on its promise to provide 10,000 new nursing degree places, intended to relieve pressure on the NHS.

Student nurses must spend 50% of their degree working under supervision, usually in a hospital. But universities have told Education Guardian that not a single extra nursing training place has been funded or allocated for the future. It would cost £15m over five years to fund training placements for 10,000 new nurses, according to the Council of Deans of Health, the body that represents university faculties of nursing. Continue reading... The Guardian

£1bn bedblocking fund not being spent properly, say 40% of hospitals

£1bn bedblocking fund not being spent properly, say 40% of hospitals Hospital bosses say local councils are failing to properly boost social care provision so that more patients can be discharged

More than 40% of British hospitals say they cannot guarantee patients will receive safe care next winter because a sum of £1bn earmarked to reduce “bedblocking” is not being spent properly.

Hospital bosses claim that many local councils are failing to put the emergency funding into schemes to help patients get home quicker by improving social care support for them. Continue reading... The Guardian

Millions wasted on 'rubbish' homeopathic remedies on NHS

Millions wasted on 'rubbish' homeopathic remedies on NHS Homeopathic therapies have costed the NHS £577,529 in the last five years. But the true bill could be ten times more. England's chief medical officer says they're no better than placebos. The Daily Mail

Patients are being 'belittled and bewildered' by the NHS

Patients are being 'belittled and bewildered' by the NHS Mark Porter, chair of the British Medical Association, said that 'too many' patients are being failed by the NHS 'too often' at its annual conference in Bournemouth. The Daily Mail

See also:

• The doctor won't see you now! The Daily Mail

Government is deliberately creating a health crisis to privatise the NHS, doctors claim

Government is deliberately creating a health crisis to privatise the NHS, doctors claim Doctors leaders have accused the Government of a conspiracy to create a crisis in hospitals in order to usher in the back-door privatisation of the NHS.

The British Medical Association passed a motion claiming ministers are using plans launched last year, ostensibly as a means to reform over-spending facilities, as a front for selling off the health service.

They fuelled the row by also accusing political leaders of “scapegoating” doctors as a means of “distracting the public from and under-funded service”.  The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Politicians 'duck and dodge' NHS deficit British Medical Association
• BMA quarterly survey British Medical Association
• Head of doctors' union claims crisis caused by government The Daily Mail
• BMA attacks 'political choice' to underfund NHS as public concern grows GPonline

Too many children are sun tanned because parents are increasingly abandoning sun cream, NHS England warns

Too many children are sun tanned because parents are increasingly abandoning sun cream, NHS England warns The image of a sun-kissed child on a summer's day may strike most parents as the picture of health.

But health experts claim that a golden glow may be more harmful than it appears as they warn that too many children are becoming sun tanned because parents are increasingly abandoning sun cream.

The warning comes as research from NHS England and the Met Office found almost two fifths of parents mistakenly believe that suntans are a sign of good health.

NHS England said the findings showed a "worryingly relaxed attitude" towards sun care among the parents of young children, highlighting the fact that one in ten parents of children aged 2-7 admitting they have encouraged them to sunbathe.

The study, of 1,000 parents with children aged 11 and under, found that more than a fifth do not apply any sunscreen on their child until they are visibly starting to burn. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Suntans on children 'are not healthy' BBC News