Leading for integrated care: 'If you think competition is hard, you should try collaboration'

Leading for integrated care: 'If you think competition is hard, you should try collaboration' The NHS long-term plan has reinforced the role of integrated care systems (ICSs) in establishing more collaborative working and joined-up care for patients and their local populations. ICSs will cover the whole of England by 2021.

As these systems evolve, strong leadership is needed to bring NHS, local authority, private and third sector organisations together.

Our interviews with the chairs and leads of both ICSs and the remaining sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) found that while progress is being made, there are also a number of challenges. The King's Fund

Nursing staff stretched to breaking point over workloads

Nursing staff stretched to breaking point over workloads Findings from the RCN’s recent employment survey show that nursing staff across the UK are under such pressure that six out of 10 say they cannot provide the level of care they want to.

The annual survey, which was first carried out in 1986, also shows that barely a quarter of respondents think their pay is appropriate for the level of responsibility and stress they face at work. Three in 10 say they have suffered physical abuse from patients, or patients’ relatives, in the last 12 months.

The survey also highlighted that health care assistants are increasingly being asked to take on the duties of registered nurses. Royal College of Nursing

See also:

• RCN Employment Survey 2019 Royal College of Nursing
• 'We try our best as nurses, but it's not enough' BBC News

Patients’ experience of mental health services

Patients’ experience of mental health services  NHS England has published the latest statistical information on patients’ experience of mental health services in the NHS. This is an update to include results from the 2019 Community Mental Health Survey.

Prevention and mental health: understanding the evidence so that we can address the greatest health challenge of our times

Prevention and mental health: understanding the evidence so that we can address the greatest health challenge of our times This resource provides information on the scale of mental health problems in society, what shapes our mental health, an integrated model of mental health, how life events can affect mental health, the relationship between physical and mental health, the meaning of prevention and how society must change to put prevention front and centre.  It is aimed at policymakers, health professionals, mental health advocates and their families and friends. Mental Health Foundation

Estimating need in older people: findings for England

Estimating need in older people: findings for England This report outlines how ill health, poverty, unmet needs for care and support, poor housing, loneliness and social isolation are profound challenges for many older people. It estimates the numbers and percentages of people aged 65 and over in England with these disadvantages, and collates insights from older people’s own voices about the experience of living with them. Age UK

Smartphone 'addiction': Young people 'panicky' when denied mobiles

Smartphone 'addiction': Young people 'panicky' when denied mobiles Almost a quarter of young people are so dependent on their smartphones that it becomes like an addiction, suggests research by psychiatrists.

The study, from King's College London, says such addictive behaviour means that people become "panicky" or "upset" if they are denied constant access.

The youngsters also cannot control the amount of time they spend on the phone.

The study warns that such addictions have "serious consequences" for mental health. BBC News

See also:

• Prevalence of problematic smartphone usage and associated mental health outcomes amongst children and young people: a systematic review, meta-analysis and GRADE of the evidence (open access) BMC Psychiatry
• One in four children are 'addicted to their smartphones': Teenagers and young people become anxious and depressed when they're separated from their devices, new study reveals The Daily Mail
• Study finds one in four youngsters 'addicted' to smartphones ITV News

‘Disgraceful’: Furious families confront NHS trust bosses over maternity scandal as it emerges true extent may never be known

‘Disgraceful’: Furious families confront NHS trust bosses over maternity scandal as it emerges true extent may never be known The full extent of failings by the hospital trust at the centre of the largest NHS maternity scandal may never be known, it has emerged.

The chair of the independent investigation into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust has warned that some records going back more than two decades may have been destroyed under NHS rules.

Writing exclusively for The Independent, midwife Donna Ockenden said she would strive to deliver answers for families, and she issued a public appeal for any parents with concerns about poor maternity care at the Shropshire trust to come forward.

See also:

• Shropshire baby deaths: 'This review is our babies' legacy' BBC News
• Midwife warns full extent of NHS maternity scandal in Shrewsbury and Telford may not be known The Daily Telegraph
• As the head of the review into the Shrewsbury and Telford maternity deaths, I ask any family affected to come forward (Donna Ockenden) The Independent
• NHS bosses threatened with lawsuit for blocking maternity report during election campaign The Independent

Hospital admissions for pensioners with drug-related conditions rises sixfold in ten years, figures reveal.

Hospital admissions for pensioners with drug-related conditions rises sixfold in ten years, figures reveal. The number of hospital admissions for pensioners with drug-related conditions has increased sixfold in the past decade, NHS figures have revealed.

Charities have said that more older people living with addiction, and that the social isolation of older people can exacerbate problematic drug use such as opium, making it more difficult to recover.

Figures released today by NHS Digital showed that in 2018/19 there were 3,078 admissions for those 65 and over, rising more than sixfold from 484 in 2008/9. The Daily Telegraph

Number of GPs in England FALLS by more than 300 in year despite Government pledge to hire more

Number of GPs in England FALLS by more than 300 in year despite Government pledge to hire more The NHS has haemorrhaged hundreds of GPs again this year despite Government pledges to hire thousands more, figures show.

Official data up to September revealed 339 family doctors quit the heath service in the last 12 months.

And almost as many GPs left the NHS between June 2018 and June 2019 as did in the entire three years to March.

Doctors' union the British Medical Association (BMA) said falling GP numbers mean strained GPs are risking their own health to catch up with huge workloads. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Drastic action needed to reverse declining GP numbers trend, says RCGP Royal College of General Practitioners
• The Government's pledge to boost GP ranks by 5,000 has fallen short by over 90%, new NHS figures have shown. The Daily Telegraph

Hospitalizations surge for sepsis, UTIs and kidney failure when air quality is poor, study reveals

Hospitalizations surge for sepsis, UTIs and kidney failure when air quality is poor, study reveals Hospital admission go up for a host of life-threatening illnesses - including sepsis, kidney failure and urinary tract infections - never before linked to pollution on days when air quality is poor, a new study reveals.

Even low exposure raises the risk of the potentially fatal illnesses, according to the research.

It adds to evidence there is no safe amount of tiny particles called PM2.5s that are pumped into the atmosphere by traffic and industry. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Short term exposure to fine particulate matter and hospital admission risks and costs in the Medicare population: time stratified, case crossover study (open access) The BMJ
• Yaguang Wei: The dangers of air pollution for human health The BMJ
• The health effects of fine particulate air pollution (editorial) The BMJ
• Impact of air pollution may be worse than previously thought OnMedica