Free pair of NHS ‘Valentine’s Day’ pants for people who get tested for chlamydia:
Young people in Northamptonshire are being offered a free pair of special edition ‘Valentine’s pants’ by the NHS if they have a chlamydia test before February 14. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
Monday, 4 February 2013
Northampton General Hospital praised for sharing information to help cut violent crime
Northampton General Hospital praised for sharing information to help cut violent crime:
Northampton General Hospital has been praised in a national report looking at how health organisations can help reduce violent crime. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
Northampton General Hospital has been praised in a national report looking at how health organisations can help reduce violent crime. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
Complaints up on private NHS transport firm
Complaints up on private NHS transport firm:
A private company that won an NHS contract to carry Northamptonshire patients to hospital appointments has seen a rise in complaints. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
A private company that won an NHS contract to carry Northamptonshire patients to hospital appointments has seen a rise in complaints. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
Carer suspended while ‘neglect’ investigated
Carer suspended while ‘neglect’ investigated:
A care company in Northampton has suspended an employee after a mentally ill man was left in a car in freezing temperatures. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
A care company in Northampton has suspended an employee after a mentally ill man was left in a car in freezing temperatures. Northampton Chronicle & Echo
MPs call for criminal inquiry into toxic hip implants
MPs call for criminal inquiry into toxic hip implants:
MPs have called for an inquiry after it emerged that a company sold toxic hip implants used in thousands of operations in Britain despite knowing for at least three years that they were potentially dangerous.
Telegraph Health News
MPs have called for an inquiry after it emerged that a company sold toxic hip implants used in thousands of operations in Britain despite knowing for at least three years that they were potentially dangerous.
Telegraph Health News
Call for universal HPV jab:
A British charity has called for schoolboys to be given the HPV vaccine in an effort to cut cases of throat cancer.
The Throat Cancer Foundation wants the decision to immunise girls – introduced in 2008 to protect against the virus that causes cervical cancer – to be extended to all 12-year-olds as protection against other cancers.
Australia is currently the only country to routinely offer universal...Healthcare Today
A British charity has called for schoolboys to be given the HPV vaccine in an effort to cut cases of throat cancer.
The Throat Cancer Foundation wants the decision to immunise girls – introduced in 2008 to protect against the virus that causes cervical cancer – to be extended to all 12-year-olds as protection against other cancers.
Australia is currently the only country to routinely offer universal...Healthcare Today
Department of Health launches 12 week consultation to establish a full set of NICE quality standards and guidance for social care
Department of Health launches 12 week consultation to establish a full set of NICE quality standards and guidance for social care: Source: Department of Health
The Department of Health is looking for ideas from care users, their families and carers, service commissioners, care providers, and front line staff to help decide on future topics for NICE guidance and standards for social care.
Some of the potential NICE standards for discussion in the consultation include:
. Falls
. Deprivation of liberty safeguards
. Medicines management in home-based settings.
The role of NICE in driving up the quality of social care is outlined in The Caring for our Future White Paper. The 12 week consultation ends on 26 April 2013.
Responses to the consultation can be made online or by downloading a full copy of the NICE consultation document.
The Department of Health is looking for ideas from care users, their families and carers, service commissioners, care providers, and front line staff to help decide on future topics for NICE guidance and standards for social care.
Some of the potential NICE standards for discussion in the consultation include:
. Falls
. Deprivation of liberty safeguards
. Medicines management in home-based settings.
The role of NICE in driving up the quality of social care is outlined in The Caring for our Future White Paper. The 12 week consultation ends on 26 April 2013.
Responses to the consultation can be made online or by downloading a full copy of the NICE consultation document.
GMC issues new prescribing guidance
GMC issues new prescribing guidance:
Good Practice in Prescribing and Managing Medicines and Devices strengthens and broadens the current advice on prescribing medicines to include medical devices and gives key updates on using unlicensed medicines.
While doctors should usually prescribe medicine within the terms on their licence, unlicensed medicines are commonly used in some areas such as paediatrics, psychiatry and palliative care. NHS Networks
Good Practice in Prescribing and Managing Medicines and Devices strengthens and broadens the current advice on prescribing medicines to include medical devices and gives key updates on using unlicensed medicines.
While doctors should usually prescribe medicine within the terms on their licence, unlicensed medicines are commonly used in some areas such as paediatrics, psychiatry and palliative care. NHS Networks
Making health services adolescent friendly: developing national quality standards for adolescent friendly health services.
Making health services adolescent friendly: developing national quality standards for adolescent friendly health services.:
This guidebook describes methods to promote accessibility for adolescents to the health services necessary to improve their health and wellbeing (including sexual and reproductive health services). The guidebook provides advice for the development of quality standards of health provision for young people. CASH Full News Feed
This guidebook describes methods to promote accessibility for adolescents to the health services necessary to improve their health and wellbeing (including sexual and reproductive health services). The guidebook provides advice for the development of quality standards of health provision for young people. CASH Full News Feed
NHS patient confidentiality 'at risk' from central database
NHS patient confidentiality 'at risk' from central database:
BMA and privacy groups warn transfer of patients' records without consent could breach rights and damage trust in doctors
The confidentiality of millions of NHS patients will be put at risk by a new central database of medical records, privacy campaigners and doctors' leaders have warned.
The British Medical Association and privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch said the transfer of patients' records without their consent could breach patient confidentiality and damage trust in doctors. The information to be stored on the database includes drinking habits, NHS numbers, illnesses and reasons for treatment.
The files, which will not state the patient's name, can be accessed by researchers to assess the nation's health, analyse demand for services and improve treatment.
The details, referred to by the NHS as "patient identifiable components", will include information including diagnosis of cancer or mental illness, date of birth, postcodes and a patient's date of death.
GPs will be required to send the information as part of Everyone Counts: Planning for Patients 2013/14, a programme designed to extend the availability of patient data across the health service. The central database will be run by the NHS's Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "We may be witnessing the beginning of the end for patient privacy in the NHS. Forget putting patients in charge of their medical records, this new giant database will put NHS managers in charge of our most confidential information. Not only have the public not been told what is going on, none of us have been asked to give our permission for this to happen.
"To claim a database that includes your NHS number, date of birth and postcode is anonymous is simply not true. The risks of re-identification on a mass scale are very real and do not seem to have been taken into account at all."
A BMA spokesman said that the proposals were too broad: "Sharing patient data to help inform commissioning decisions is an important process that can help to improve NHS services, but it must only be done with strict safeguards in place. Patients must be given the option to opt out of any scheme that seeks to transfer identifiable information about them from their records to another source."
Tim Kelsey, national director for patients and information at the NHS Commissioning Board, said that data sharing was vital for improving the NHS: "This does not put patient confidentiality at any risk. Data quality in the NHS needs to improve: it is no longer acceptable that at a given moment no one can be sure exactly how many patients are currently receiving chemotherapy, for example." Guardian
The confidentiality of millions of NHS patients will be put at risk by a new central database of medical records, privacy campaigners and doctors' leaders have warned.
The British Medical Association and privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch said the transfer of patients' records without their consent could breach patient confidentiality and damage trust in doctors. The information to be stored on the database includes drinking habits, NHS numbers, illnesses and reasons for treatment.
The files, which will not state the patient's name, can be accessed by researchers to assess the nation's health, analyse demand for services and improve treatment.
The details, referred to by the NHS as "patient identifiable components", will include information including diagnosis of cancer or mental illness, date of birth, postcodes and a patient's date of death.
GPs will be required to send the information as part of Everyone Counts: Planning for Patients 2013/14, a programme designed to extend the availability of patient data across the health service. The central database will be run by the NHS's Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "We may be witnessing the beginning of the end for patient privacy in the NHS. Forget putting patients in charge of their medical records, this new giant database will put NHS managers in charge of our most confidential information. Not only have the public not been told what is going on, none of us have been asked to give our permission for this to happen.
"To claim a database that includes your NHS number, date of birth and postcode is anonymous is simply not true. The risks of re-identification on a mass scale are very real and do not seem to have been taken into account at all."
A BMA spokesman said that the proposals were too broad: "Sharing patient data to help inform commissioning decisions is an important process that can help to improve NHS services, but it must only be done with strict safeguards in place. Patients must be given the option to opt out of any scheme that seeks to transfer identifiable information about them from their records to another source."
Tim Kelsey, national director for patients and information at the NHS Commissioning Board, said that data sharing was vital for improving the NHS: "This does not put patient confidentiality at any risk. Data quality in the NHS needs to improve: it is no longer acceptable that at a given moment no one can be sure exactly how many patients are currently receiving chemotherapy, for example." Guardian
People with schizophrenia are significantly more likely to die from heart disease and cancer
People with schizophrenia are significantly more likely to die from heart disease and cancer:
Since starting this blog two years ago, I have written about a number of studies that highlight the health inequalities faced by people with severe mental illness. The evidence keeps piling up and it’s really quite shocking that we are not doing more to diagnose and treat physical health problems in people with conditions such [read the full story...] The Mental Elf
Since starting this blog two years ago, I have written about a number of studies that highlight the health inequalities faced by people with severe mental illness. The evidence keeps piling up and it’s really quite shocking that we are not doing more to diagnose and treat physical health problems in people with conditions such [read the full story...] The Mental Elf
Friday, 1 February 2013
Web site of the month: Health Knowledge
Web site of the month: Health Knowledge:
Health Knowledge was created for people working in public health, but contains high quality learning resources that are of use to the wider health care audience.
The site hosts a Public Health Textbook which covers all relevant public health skills and competencies and is free to access (as are all the things on Health Knowledge).
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As well as the e-learning content there is a section of interactive learning material which includes presentations with an audio element and other material such as videos and workbooks that walks users through each subject. Areas covered in this section include:
A highlight is the material on critical appraisal called Finding and Appraising the Evidence. These six modules provide a general introduction to critical appraisal before taking you through the process of how to find evidence, and then going on to look at different types of research, such as randomised control trials and finishing with how to make sense of the evidence, which looks at statistics and outcome measures.
Each section also ends with a quiz to test your learning and there are links to further resources. This is an excellent introduction to a complex topic and is highly recommended. NHfT Library Services
Health Knowledge was created for people working in public health, but contains high quality learning resources that are of use to the wider health care audience.The site hosts a Public Health Textbook which covers all relevant public health skills and competencies and is free to access (as are all the things on Health Knowledge).
You will also find a number of e-learning resources covering epidemiology, health information and statistical methods. Each comes with a pre-course assessment, learning materials and ends with a final assessment which is graded and can be printed off for recording against CPD.
As well as the e-learning content there is a section of interactive learning material which includes presentations with an audio element and other material such as videos and workbooks that walks users through each subject. Areas covered in this section include:
A highlight is the material on critical appraisal called Finding and Appraising the Evidence. These six modules provide a general introduction to critical appraisal before taking you through the process of how to find evidence, and then going on to look at different types of research, such as randomised control trials and finishing with how to make sense of the evidence, which looks at statistics and outcome measures.
Each section also ends with a quiz to test your learning and there are links to further resources. This is an excellent introduction to a complex topic and is highly recommended. NHfT Library Services
Response to consultation on front of pack nutrition labelling
Response to consultation on front of pack nutrition labelling:
The response to a joint consultation held on behalf of health ministers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on front of pack nutrition labelling has been published.
UK health ministers wish to move towards a more consistent form of front of pack nutrition labelling that either shows just the amount of energy (in kilocalories and kilojoules), or shows the amount of energy plus fat, saturates, sugars and salt.
Research shows that having this information consistently on as many food products as possible is the best way to help consumers make better informed, healthier, food choices.
The consultation on front of pack nutrition labelling was held from 14 May to 6 August 2012. The consultation asked 16 questions to help determine how best to achieve more consistent labelling.
The response to a joint consultation held on behalf of health ministers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on front of pack nutrition labelling has been published.
UK health ministers wish to move towards a more consistent form of front of pack nutrition labelling that either shows just the amount of energy (in kilocalories and kilojoules), or shows the amount of energy plus fat, saturates, sugars and salt.
Research shows that having this information consistently on as many food products as possible is the best way to help consumers make better informed, healthier, food choices.
The consultation on front of pack nutrition labelling was held from 14 May to 6 August 2012. The consultation asked 16 questions to help determine how best to achieve more consistent labelling.
- Read the response to the consultation on front of pack nutrition labelling
- Read the written ministerial statement on the response to the consultation
Department of Health
CQC report: Monitoring the Mental Health Act in 2011/12
CQC report: Monitoring the Mental Health Act in 2011/12:
This is the third annual report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on its monitoring of the use of the Mental Health Act 1983, which is the law under which a person with a mental disorder may be detained and treated in hospital against their wishes or treated in their community under a community treatment order.
This report focused on dignity, involvement, care and the recovery of people who are subject to the Act and found that 15% of people receiving care under the Act are not being involved in the decisions made about their care. Care Quality Commission (CQC)
This is the third annual report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on its monitoring of the use of the Mental Health Act 1983, which is the law under which a person with a mental disorder may be detained and treated in hospital against their wishes or treated in their community under a community treatment order.
This report focused on dignity, involvement, care and the recovery of people who are subject to the Act and found that 15% of people receiving care under the Act are not being involved in the decisions made about their care. Care Quality Commission (CQC)
New GMC guidance for investigating assisted suicide complaints
New GMC guidance for investigating assisted suicide complaints:
New guidance on how the General Medical Council (GMC) deals with complaints against doctors who may have helped patients commit suicide has been published today.
New guidance on how the General Medical Council (GMC) deals with complaints against doctors who may have helped patients commit suicide has been published today.
South London Healthcare NHS Trust: notice of decision by Secretary of State
South London Healthcare NHS Trust: notice of decision by Secretary of State:
This notice of the Secretary of State's decision in relation to South London Healthcare NHS Trust aims to secure sustainable provision of health services to those patients served by the trust and in the south east London health economy. It states that the trust will be dissolved, with each of its hospitals taken over by a neighbouring hospital trust. These mergers are subject to approval from the relevant regulators. All
3 hospitals within the trust will be required to make the full £74.9 million of efficiencies identified by the Trust Special Administrator.
All vacant or poorly utilised premises will be vacated, and sold where possible. The Department of Health will pay for the excess costs of the PFI buildings and write off accumulated debt so that the new organisations are not saddled with historic debts. It will also negotiate an appropriate level of transitional funding to cover
implementation.
This notice of the Secretary of State's decision in relation to South London Healthcare NHS Trust aims to secure sustainable provision of health services to those patients served by the trust and in the south east London health economy. It states that the trust will be dissolved, with each of its hospitals taken over by a neighbouring hospital trust. These mergers are subject to approval from the relevant regulators. All
3 hospitals within the trust will be required to make the full £74.9 million of efficiencies identified by the Trust Special Administrator.
All vacant or poorly utilised premises will be vacated, and sold where possible. The Department of Health will pay for the excess costs of the PFI buildings and write off accumulated debt so that the new organisations are not saddled with historic debts. It will also negotiate an appropriate level of transitional funding to cover
implementation.
Kings Fund Blogs
Thousands of women with advanced ovarian cancer left 'frustrated' after Nice denies them drug: Thousands of women will be denied a drug for ovarian cancer - the first advance in almost 20 years - because it is too expensive, the NHS spending watchdog has said.
Telegraph
Telegraph
The medicinal power of literature: Books on prescription to be introduced
The medicinal power of literature: Books on prescription to be introduced:
People consulting their local GP over mental health issues may find they are written a surprising prescription, one redeemed at the local library rather than a pharmacy. Independent
People consulting their local GP over mental health issues may find they are written a surprising prescription, one redeemed at the local library rather than a pharmacy. Independent
Thursday, 31 January 2013
New drug and alcohol service to be launched
New drug and alcohol service to be launched:
A new drug and alcohol service will be launched on Friday (February 1), to be run by health and social care charity CRI. Evening Telegraph
A new drug and alcohol service will be launched on Friday (February 1), to be run by health and social care charity CRI. Evening Telegraph
NHS offering private care in pilot plan in county - Northampton Chronicle & Echo
NHS offering private care in pilot plan in county - Northampton Chronicle & Echo:
 Northampton Chronicle & Echo | NHS offering private care in pilot plan in county Northampton Chronicle & Echo Under the NHS's new 'any qualified provder' (AQP) policy, NHS Northamptonshire has selected parts of podiatry and musculoskeletal services to be the first AQP services. It means patients with particular ailments will be asked by their GP ... Unions ... |
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