Northampton hospital praised for its 24-hour restaurant for staff and patients Northampton General Hospital has been praised for its round-the-clock restaurant for patients and visitors by campaigners and NHS bosses during a recent visit. One campaigner said the NHS Trust in Northampton was "leading the way for other NHS Trusts to follow.” Northants Live
KGH nurses receive awards for outstanding care Nurses from Kettering General Hospital have received DAISY Awards for the outstanding compassionate and sensitive care they have provided for patients.
ICU staff nurse Jessica Flowers, Naseby A registered nurse Brenda Mgijima, Deene B registered nurse Neethu John, and Skylark Ward staff nurse Tatiana Ururu were nominated for their awards by patients or close family members. Northamptonshire Telegraph
Addressing social care workforce challenges: what can England learn from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland? All parts of the UK are struggling with social care staffing pressures, but England has been particularly singled out for its inaction. Alongside the latest explainers in our series on adult social care across the UK, Camille Oung and Nina Hemmings look at what England can learn from social care workforce reform in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Nuffield Trust
Why can't I get care? Older people's experiences of care and support It’s been more than three years since Boris Johnson promised he would “fix care for good”. Since then, our underfunded care system has come under even greater pressure and millions of older people are paying the price.
This short report aims to explain the answer, drawing on older people’s experiences, as well as on what we know about how the social care system is supposed to work, and how it actually works in cash-strapped 2022. Age UK
See also:
Government progress on digitising the NHS rated ‘inadequate’ by Expert Panel The Government is making inadequate progress on vital commitments to digitise the NHS, an independent panel of experts has found in a new report. The digitisation of health and social care is essential to deliver the promise of improved and better integrated health and social care services, said the Government in a policy paper published in 2022.
Despite some encouraging progress, the Expert Panel found that key Government commitments on workforce and the use of patient information were either not met or were not on track to be met. The Panel found that overall progress towards improving the digital capabilities of the NHS was too slow, and often lacked support and funding. The experts concluded that social care was often missed out in commitments, stifling progress across the health and care system. House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee
See also:
Access to critical patient information at the bedside This investigation report aims to improve patient safety by supporting staff to access critical information about patients, at their bedsides, in emergency situations.
The investigation involved engagement with hospitals across England, experts in fields associated with human factors and the display of information, and national bodies with the remit of policy and strategy in the NHS. Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch
Watchdogs issue safety warnings after junior doctors left unsupervised on maternity wards Two health watchdogs have issued safety warnings after junior staff were left to work unsupervised on maternity wards previously criticised after a baby’s death.
Training regulator, Health Education England (HEE), criticised the “unacceptable” behaviour of consultants who left junior doctors to work without any superiors at South Devon and Torbay Hospital Foundation Trust’s wards.
The maternity safety watchdog Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) also raised “urgent concerns” over student midwives and “unregistered midwives” providing care without supervision. The Independent
Government’s mental health review will not prevent ‘appalling’ abuse of patients, campaigners warn A government review into mental health hospitals will fail to prevent the “appalling” treatment of patients, campaigners have warned.
The urgent inquiry into inpatient mental health services will focus solely on data, the government said on Tuesday.
The “rapid review”, launched following investigations by The Independent into “systemic abuse” across a group of children’s mental health hospitals, will last 12 weeks and is being led by a former national NHS mental health director Dr Geraldine Strathdee.
See also:
Nine viruses the World Health Organisation is concerned about Equatorial Guinea has just confirmed its first-ever outbreak of Marburg disease, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which reports that at least nine people have already died of the Ebola-related virus.
The case is the latest reminder that, for infectious diseases experts, the job is never done. The Independent
See also:
The state of community health services in England Community health services help people to stay healthy and live independently at home, but it has proved difficult to realise a long-standing ambition to deliver more services out of hospital. In this explainer, Sarah Scobie and Stephanie Kumpunen describe what community services are, who uses and provides them, who pays for them, and some of the challenges they face. Nuffield Trust
The cost of living impacts access to prescription medicines The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has released the results of a survey showing that pharmacists say the cost of living is having an impact on whether people can afford prescription medicines in England.
Failure to root out abusers in ambulance service leaves vulnerable patients at risk, watchdog warns Emergency patients are being left open to abuse when they are at their most vulnerable because of a lack of vetting of ambulance workers, watchdog officials have warned.
One watchdog official warned that abusers would even seek out work as a paramedic because it provided an “attractive environment” for exploitation. The Independent
Join family event in Northamptonshire to celebrate autism pride People are invited to an event taking place in Northamptonshire celebrating Autism Pride.
Autism Pride Day takes place at Moulton Community Centre in the village of Moulton on Wednesday, March 29 from 10am to 2pm.
The event has been organised by Northamptonshire Autism Champion Network and the Autism Advisory Panel, with support from Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Northamptonshire Telegraph
Innovation is being squeezed out of the NHS The crisis in health and social care, alongside political pressure on waiting times, has spawned a scramble for new ideas and innovations that can help ‘save the NHS’. Yet there’s no escaping the fact that turning things around will require a sustained period of investment, and action to address staff shortages.
But while there are no quick fixes, there are things that could be done right now to make a difference. And although innovation remains important, many of the steps that could make a difference in the short term are in fact well known – such as better use of existing technology, or process improvements to speed up hospital discharge and improve patient flow. The challenge is that with staff and services stretched to the limit, many organisations are struggling to put these kinds of changes in place and achieve the impact needed. The Health Foundation
Mental health sick days for NHS staff surge – and cost more than £460m in a year Mental health sick days cost the NHS almost half a billion pounds as staff anxiety and stress levels haved skyrocketed.
Costs have almost doubled compared to before the pandemic from £279 million to £468 million. The Independent
Waiting list grew by 1 million in a year, despite elective care recovery plan Commenting on the one year anniversary of the publication of NHS England’s elective care recovery plan, senior policy fellow Tim Gardner said:
'There were 7.2 million people waiting for routine hospital treatment at last count, up from 6 million a year ago. Behind these numbers are patients left in pain, and people enduring unnecessary suffering. The public and government must be under no illusion: there is still a significant mountain to climb before waiting lists are back to a more acceptable level.' The Health Foundation
