Supporting community providers to manage and improve quality

Supporting community providers to manage and improve quality If you look at how the NHS is represented in the media, health care dramas tends to equal hospital dramas: ‘Casualty’, ‘Holby City’, even the marvellous ‘Getting on’. Community services often feature as slightly misty-eyed nostalgia of district nurses and midwives on bicycles – a bit of a blast from the past.

Hospitals can sometimes be busy, confusing places, to be avoided unless absolutely necessary, especially by people who are already vulnerable, frightened or confused. Care provided closer to (or in) people’s own homes is often preferable in many circumstances.

Today’s mantra is that co-ordinated care is better for people using health services, and will be better for the public purse too. Though no-one would argue with the former, the jury is still out on the latter. Community services are a vital part of delivering co-ordinated care, and could be the answer to many of the health service’s woes in the future.

Some Christmas cheer for the NHS?

Some Christmas cheer for the NHS? George Osborne’s Autumn Statement injection of short-term cash should stave off a pre-election NHS crisis but next summer whoever wins the general election faces a much bigger challenge: how on earth to find the money the NHS needs, says Anita Charlesworth. The Health Foundation

Briefing on the fit and proper person requirements

Briefing on the fit and proper person requirements NHS Employers, the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers has produced a briefing for employers to update them on the new fit and proper person requirements.

Access to services: the Immigration Act 2014 and key equality impacts

Access to services: the Immigration Act 2014 and key equality impacts As the Immigration Act (2014) is implemented, a new charging regime for primary care is scheduled come into force next year - which may impact voluntary sector providers and on the health of BME groups. The charge is targeted at migrants who are in the UK for less than six months and who have not paid a new health surcharge. The charging regime is set to apply to primary care such as minor surgeries, A&E, and services outside of hospital. Race Equality Foundation

Highest rates of childhood obesity in those living in deprived areas

Highest rates of childhood obesity in those living in deprived areas Latest figures show that rates of obesity among children are highest for those living in the most deprived areas of England. Health and Social Care Information Centre

See also:

• One in ten children are obese when they start primary school The Daily Mail
• Children living in deprived areas are twice as likely to be obese, health experts warn  The Daily Mail
• Warning over rising child obesity The Daily Telegraph

Lessons for social policy and practice from NICE

Lessons for social policy and practice from NICE What can be learned from NICE that might work for other institutions? There is a lot of misunderstanding about the NICE approach outside of health expert circles. This paper aims to bust some of those myths. Alliance for Useful Evidence

Monitor to launch inquiry into trust

Monitor to launch inquiry into trust Monitor launches an inquiry into the mental health trust for Norfolk and Suffolk over its £1.72m deficit. BBC News

91% of doctors want more guidance on patient’s recording consultations, survey reveals

91% of doctors want more guidance on patient’s recording consultations, survey reveals An MPS survey of over 500 members has revealed that one in five (19%) doctors have experience of patients recording their consultations. Of those, 40% were not made aware at the time that the patient was recording the consultation.

The survey also revealed that 97% of respondents are not aware of any practice or trust policy on having consultations recorded, however almost three quarters (73%) believe they have a right to decline a patient’s request to record a consultation. In addition, 91% would like more guidance on what to do should a patient ask to record a consultation. The Medical Protection Society

See also:

• Digital dilemmas - Patients recording consultations The Medical Protection Society
• Nearly one in 10 doctors say patients have covertly recorded consultations GP Online

People still dismiss cancer alarm symptoms

People still dismiss cancer alarm symptoms Public awareness campaigns aren’t encouraging people to seek medical advice. OnMedica

Political Attitudes Towards Mental Health: Damaging Or Changing?

Political Attitudes Towards Mental Health: Damaging Or Changing? So is Westminster out of touch with the issue of mental health, well the government has promised equality in our NHS but still not delivering it... Huffington Post UK

UK has fewer doctors than almost every EU country

UK has fewer doctors than almost every EU country New OECD figures show only Romania, Poland, Slovenia and Ireland have fewer doctors per head than the UK. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Health at a glance in Europe 2014: How does the United Kingdom compare? OECD

Smokers and the obese in Devon will be barred from operations as part of NHS cost cutting

Smokers and the obese in Devon will be barred from operations as part of NHS cost cutting Smokers and the morbidly obese in Devon will be denied routine operations unless they make lifestyle changes, as NHS hospitals in the county attempt to cut costs. The Independent

See also:

• Smokers and obese face surgery bar BBC News
• NHS bans obese and smokers from routine operations: Patients told they must slim down or quit cigarettes as part of cost-cutting drive  The Daily Mail

More mental health teams to be based at police stations and courts

More mental health teams to be based at police stations and courts Another thirteen trial schemes are to launch in April 2015 to place mental health professionals in police stations and courts. These schemes aim to ensure people who come into the criminal justice system with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and other vulnerabilities are recognised and are promptly referred into health and other services to get the treatment or support they need.

These new schemes, called Liaison and Diversion (L&D) will join the existing ten areas that have been taking part in a two year trial that began in April 2014, to join up police and courts with mental health services. This will mean half of the English population will be covered by such schemes from April 2015. The model will be independently evaluated to inform a business case for services to cover all of the English population by 2017/18.

By identifying someone brought into a police station or involved in court proceedings who may have a mental health problem or other vulnerabilities, L&D schemes can ensure an individual is supported through the criminal justice system and into the right mental health or social care service. It can also help the police and courts to do their jobs by providing up-to-date information on a person’s state of mind; as well as benefit the individual’s health, contribute to a reduction in re-offending, and reduce the likelihood that the individual will reach crisis-point.

For many offenders who have a mental health issue or vulnerability, prison can make their situation worse. Nearly half of all prisoners have anxiety or depression, and nearly a third of all 13-18 year old who offend have a mental health issue.

The new model has already seen over 8,400 children, young people and adults come through the service while going through the justice process.

The new L&D schemes are now delivering a service to everyone who needs it regardless of their age. Services are available 24/7 and ensure that across the trial areas they will be provided with the same level of care and service.

The thirteen additional schemes will be:

• Northamptonshire Criminal Justice Team whole of Northamptonshire

Midwife-led units safest for straightforward births

Midwife-led units safest for straightforward births More women should be encouraged to give birth at midwife-led units rather than traditional labour wards, says NICE.

See also:

• Intrapartum care: care of healthy women and their babies during childbirth (guideline) NICE
• Guidance says home births can be best BBC News
• VIDEO: Home birth 'could be best option' BBC News
• New rules say half of women who give birth don't need to visit labour ward The Daily Mail
• Doctors are not needed at births, says NHS The Daily Telegraph
• Low-risk pregnant women urged to avoid hospital births The Guardian
• New NHS guidance could mean thousands more home births The Independent

Accident and emergency survey 2014

Accident and emergency survey 2014 Read the results of our latest survey which asked people about their experiences of accident and emergency (A&E) departments in 2014. Care Quality Commission

See also:

• National A&E patient survey says services are largely caring Care Quality Commission
• Patients reporting better experience of A&E NHS England
• Top 10 'worse than expected' A&E departments The Daily Telegraph
• Report suggests 600,000 face waits of 24 hours in A&E The Daily Telegraph

Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) reports

Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) reports These two reports from SSNAP show that despite steady progress in the care of stroke patients in the UK, there are still major shortages of both nurses and doctors. The organisational audit measures the staffing levels, resources and facilities available in every hospital that cares for stroke patients acutely whilst the annual patient care audit provides answers to questions about the type of patient having a stroke, whether or not they are being treated quickly enough, receive enough therapy, where patients go for treatment including after their hospital stay, and whether they get the clot-busting drugs they require. Royal College of Physicians

• Organisational audit
• Patient care audit
• Press release

See also:

• Nurse staffing levels are key to safe stroke care Royal College of Nursing
• Stroke victims in danger because of major nurse shortage The Daily Telegraph

VIDEO: Is TTIP really a threat to the NHS?

VIDEO: Is TTIP really a threat to the NHS? There are fears the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership could open health services to privatisation. BBC News

One fifth of young adults reported taking illicit drugs last year

One fifth of young adults reported taking illicit drugs last year A report published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) shows one in five 16-24 year olds in England and Wales (18.9 per cent) reported they had taken illicit drugs in 2013-14, an increase on 2012-13 (16.2 per cent).

HIV evolving into less deadly form

HIV evolving into less deadly form “HIV is evolving to become less deadly and less infectious,” BBC News reports.

A new study showed that HIV adapts to a person’s immune system, and that some of these adaptations may reduce the virulence of the virus.

The research team looked specifically at HIV in Botswana and South Africa. It found that over time, human immune system proteins, in addition to the use of HIV drugs, may have forced the virus to change into less virulent forms.

This is consistent with the theory that viruses get less virulent over time. The optimal evolutionary strategy for a virus is to be infectious (so it creates more copies of itself) but non-lethal (so its host population doesn’t die out). The "poster boy" for successful long-living viruses is, arguably, the family of viruses that cause the common cold, which has existed for thousands of years.

The authors warn that HIV, even at the reduced virulence, can still trigger the onset of AIDS.

Similarly, this study does not show that HIV virulence in the UK is decreasing, and that the virus remains life-threatening.

Women with mental illness miss out on breast cancer screening

Women with mental illness miss out on breast cancer screening More must be done to support vulnerable women called for mammography. OnMedica