The true cost of mental health: Depression and anxiety 'loses global economy £651 BILLION each year'

The true cost of mental health: Depression and anxiety 'loses global economy £651 BILLION each year' A study conducted by the World Health Organisation reveals that the equivalent of 12 billion working days - or 50 million years - are lost annually to poor mental health. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Investing in treatment for depression and anxiety leads to fourfold return World Health Organization
• Scaling-up treatment of depression and anxiety: a globalreturn on investment analysis (open access) Lancet Psychiatry 
• 50 million years of work could be lost to mental illness by 2030, says World Health Organisation report The Daily Telegraph
• Better mental health treatment would boost nations' economies - WHO Thomson Reuters Foundation

Boots accused of telling staff to abuse patient medication scheme

Boots accused of telling staff to abuse patient medication scheme Boots has been accused of ordering its staff to review the medicines of patients who do not need it - including its own staff. The NHS pays pharmacies £28 per review. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Boots staff under pressure to milk the NHS for cash, says pharmacists' union The Guardian

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

Sustainability and transformation plans: a major new development in commissioning health and care

Sustainability and transformation plans: a major new development in commissioning health and care

July 2016 sees the deadline for the production of sustainability and transformation plans - joint plans produced by NHS providers, CCGs, local authorities, and other health and care services (including VCSE partners) for 44 geographical areas across England. NHS Networks

NHS England backs innovative care initiative

NHS England backs innovative care initiative


NHS England has today announced a £1.75m investment in an innovative family-based initiative to help more people to be cared for in a home, not a hospital.

The Shared Lives model will support people who have needs which make it hard for them to live on their own, by carefully matching them with a carer to share their family and lives, giving care and support in the community. NHS Commissioning

Tens of millions to be reinvested in patient care thanks to NHS devices deal

Tens of millions to be reinvested in patient care thanks to NHS devices deal

NHS England has today announced a new nationwide system for purchasing expensive medical devices and implants which will see savings of over £60 million ploughed back into specialist care in its first two years. NHS Commissioning

Guidance for commissioners of psychiatric intensive care units (PICU)

Guidance for commissioners of psychiatric intensive care units (PICU)


This guidance was produced in partnership with the National Association of Psychiatric Intensive Care and Low Secure Units (NAPICU) to support the commissioning of high-quality PICUs and improve patient experience. It seeks to empower and enable commissioners, managers and clinicians to jointly develop high quality PICUs. It provides summary guidance which will assist commissioners to meet the needs of their local population, and achieve the ambitions of the Five Year Forward View focusing on patient safety, clinical effectiveness and patient experience. NHS Clinical Commissioners
Guidance
Press release

CentreForum Commission on Children and Young People's Mental Health: state of the nation

CentreForum Commission on Children and Young People's Mental Health: state of the nation


This is the first report from the commission and their research has revealed the problems young people face when trying to access mental health care. Services turn away, on average, nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of children and teenagers referred to them by their GPs, teachers or others. The analysis of services’ eligibility criteria shows that this is often because there are high thresholds for access to their services, preventing often the most effective treatment of mental health conditions - early intervention. CentreForum
Report
Press release

Nurses could safely take half of GPs' appointments, says thinktank

Nurses could safely take half of GPs' appointments, says thinktank


Reform argues letting practice nurses deal with more minor ailments could relieve strain on GPs and save £700m

Only one in three people who visit a GP surgery are ill enough to need to see a doctor and many of the remainder could talk to a practice nurse instead, a report claims.

Letting nurses deal with more ailments could free up enough GP time to allow them to offer patients appointments lasting up to 20 minutes, it concludes. Guardian

Continue reading...

New cancer imaging could show if treatment attacking disease within days

New cancer imaging could show if treatment attacking disease within days

The technique has been tested on a person in the UK for the first time as part of a study. Independent

Patients do want to see GPs at weekends as demand for appointments found to soar

Patients do want to see GPs at weekends as demand for appointments found to soar

Analysis by the think-tank Reform contradicts claims by GPs that weekend appointments are unpopular. Some practices in Yorkshire and Cornwall have already dropped weekend slots. Daily Mail