Northampton General Hospital denies late rush to hit A&E target - Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Northampton General Hospital denies late rush to hit A&E target - Northampton Chronicle & Echo:

Northampton General Hospital denies late rush to hit A&E target Northampton Chronicle & Echo By Nick Spoors TREATMENT for more than 8000 A&E patients was pushed through just before they would have breached the waiting time target at Northampton General Hospital, figures show. The yearly NHS figures for 2011 show about 95 per cent of emergency ...

NHS to get £28m cash boost to improve access to dentists

NHS to get £28m cash boost to improve access to dentists:

820,000 more people have already been given access to an NHS dentist since May 2010. Twenty eight million pounds of funding will be announced, which will bring the number of extra people now able to access an NHS dentist to one million.

The funding will be given to PCTs, who have bid for the cash to spend on expanding local services in ways that best meet their patients’ needs. NHS Networks

Personal health budgets and NHS Continuing Healthcare

Personal health budgets and NHS Continuing Healthcare:

This is aimed at healthcare professionals who will have a specific role in this initiative or are considering the future implementation of personal health budgets. Personal health budgets and NHS Continuing Healthcare is the first of a number of informative documents on the subject. NHS Networks

Vitamin D – advice on supplements for at risk groups

Vitamin D – advice on supplements for at risk groups:

This letter from the Chief Medical Officers for the United Kingdom published today, raises awareness of the risk of vitamin D deficiency amongst certain groups particularly:

• All pregnant and breastfeeding women



• Infants and young children under 5 years of age



• Older people aged 65 years and over



• People who have low or no exposure to the sun



• People who have darker skin

The letter also contains a list of recommendations issued by all the UK health departments for people at-risk on whether they may need to take vitamin D supplements. Vitamin D – advice on supplements for at risk groups

Brains may be wired for addiction

Brains may be wired for addiction: Abnormalities in the brain may make some people more likely to become drug addicts, according to scientists. BBC News - Health

GP leaders turn back on NHS plans

GP leaders turn back on NHS plans: The Royal College of GPs calls for the health bill to be scrapped, heaping more pressure on the government's controversial reforms in England. BBC News - Health

Health Bill: 137 changes made to win over House of Lords

Health Bill: 137 changes made to win over House of Lords: The Government has made 137 late amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill in an effort to ease the concerns of worried peers. Kings Fund Health News

Tax and regulate sugar like alcohol and tobacco, urge scientists

Tax and regulate sugar like alcohol and tobacco, urge scientists: Sugar is as toxic to the liver as alcohol and is at the root of obesity and certain types of liver disease, claim US scientistsSugar should be regulated in the same way as alcohol and tobacco because its increasing use in processed foods poses a significant danger to public health, according to a group of scientists. They advocate controlling sales to children under 17 and taxing sugary foods.Sugar, they argue, is as toxic to the liver as alcohol and overconsumption is at the root of growing public ...Kings Fund Health News

Food poisoning link to UK watermelons

Food poisoning link to UK watermelons:

Watermelons may be the source of a salmonella outbreak across the UK which has affected 35 people, leading to one death.
Independent

Outbreak of Salmonella Newport

Outbreak of Salmonella Newport: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) is investigating an outbreak of a strain of Salmonella Newport infection among 30 people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since the beginning of December 2011. Cases of illness caused by the same strain have been confirmed in Scotland, Ireland and Germany.

Andrew Lansley pledges a million more people will have access to an NHS dentist - Daily Mail

Andrew Lansley pledges a million more people will have access to an NHS dentist - Daily Mail:

Andrew Lansley pledges a million more people will have access to an NHS dentist Daily Mail By James Chapman NHS dentists are to treat an extra million patients following a shake-up in funding. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley will today pledge that everyone who lost their NHS dentist since 2006 will now have access to one.

Saving lives by responding first

Saving lives by responding first: Setting up an emergency first responder team in a south Northamptonshire village. BBC Northampton News

Northampton General Hospital denies late rush to hit A&E target

Northampton General Hospital denies late rush to hit A&E target:

TREATMENT for more than 8,000 A&E patients was pushed through just before they would have breached the waiting time target at Northampton General Hospital, figures show. Northampton Chronicle

Personal health budgets and NHS Continuing Healthcare

Personal health budgets and NHS Continuing Healthcare:

The Department has published a discussion paper which explores personal health budgets for people receiving NHS Continuing Healthcare. This is aimed towards healthcare professionals who will have a specific role in this initiative or are considering the future implementation of personal health budgets. Personal health budgets and NHS Continuing Healthcare is the first of a number of informative documents on the subject.

Personal health budgets are currently being piloted in the NHS in England, with over 2,700 participants across 20 sites. A number of sites are piloting personal health budgets with people eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare. In October 2011, the Secretary of State for Health announced that subject to the evaluation, by April 2014 everyone in receipt of NHS Continuing Healthcare will have a right to ask for a personal health budget, including a direct payment. This will form part of a broader rollout of personal health budgets to people with long term health conditions.

A personal health budget is an amount of money that is allocated to an individual to allow them to meet their health and well-being needs in a way that best suits them. At the heart of a personal health budget is a care plan which sets out the individual’s health (and social care) needs and includes the desired outcomes, the amount of money in the budget and how this will be spent. The care plan has to be agreed between the individual and the professional, before being checked and signed off by the NHS.

Personal health budgets potentially offer greater integration of health and social care for both individuals who need care and their carers, and better partnership working between the NHS and local authorities. Personal health budgets and NHS Continuing Healthcare provides more information about the recent Government announcement and how these budgets are relevant to people receiving NHS Continuing Healthcare and how personal health budgets change the NHS Continuing Healthcare pathway. Department of Health

Developing the NHS Commissioning Board

Developing the NHS Commissioning Board:

These documents have been produced for patients, clinicians, staff and the public. They set out the initial thinking on how the new commissioning system could work and the NHS Commissioning Board’s role within that system.

Developing the NHS Commissioning Board (published July 2011)

Developing the NHS Commissioning Board: Update (published October 2011)

Prostate drug too costly for NHS

Prostate drug too costly for NHS: A drug which could extend the life of prostate cancer patients is too expensive to be used on the NHS in England and Wales, a health watchdog says. BBC News

DH expect 25-35 CSOs in England

DH expect 25-35 CSOs in England: The Department of Health has estimated that there will be between 25 and 35 commissioning support organisations in the reorganised NHS in England - equivalent to one for every two primary care trust clusters. EHI News

EMIS unveils new patient.co.uk

EMIS unveils new patient.co.uk: EMIS has re-launched its patient information website with a new look and plans for a a series of apps; including one that will let patients book an appointment from their smartphone. EHI News

Behaviour change among overweight and socially disadvantaged adults: A longitudinal study of the NHS Health Trainer Service

Behaviour change among overweight and socially disadvantaged adults: A longitudinal study of the NHS Health Trainer Service: This article examines the findings of a study which looked at the potential for the NHS Health Trainer Service (HTS) to improve population health and reduce health inequalities through behaviour change interventions.

Please contact your local health library to obtain the full-text of this article: http://www.hlisd.org/AtoZBrowse.aspx?browsetype=library

Consultation on Commissioning Outcomes Framework indicators

Consultation on Commissioning Outcomes Framework indicators

As part of the process to develop a Commissioning Outcomes Framework (COF) stakeholders have the opportunity to comment on potential new indicators, which have been mapped against the five domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework, encompassing the three dimensions of quality (effectiveness, patient experience and safety). The consultation will close at 5pm on Wednesday 29 February 2012; please see the link below for further information. NICE