Public services will be hit on strike day

Public services will be hit on strike day:

Schools, hospitals, bin collections, libraries, job centres, courts, day centres and many other services are expected to be hit when public sector workers strike over pension reforms next week. Evening Telegraph

St Andrew’s hospital restructure putting jobs ‘at risk’

St Andrew’s hospital restructure putting jobs ‘at risk’:

A PRIVATE mental health hospital in Northampton could shed at least 20 staff. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Getting personal? Making personal budgets work for people with dementia

Getting personal? Making personal budgets work for people with dementia:

It calls for the personal budget system to be adapted to meet the specific needs of people with dementia. More …. NHS Networks

Have your say in our webchat about health and care information

Have your say in our webchat about health and care information:

Using information help improve health, care and wellbeing is the hot topic for a webchat on Tuesday 22 November at 3.30pm.

NHS Future Forum leads Professor David Haslam and Jeremy Taylor will take part in the chat. They are looking for people’s views on the following issues:

• How can information be improved for users of service and professionals?



• How can we ensure information is available that enables people to take more control of their own care and enable shared decision-making?



• How can we ensure that information supports improved care and better integration of services while protecting patient confidentiality?



• How can we open up access to information and support people to use it?



• How would you like to see data used to improve the quality of NHS services?



• What are the benefits of giving patients access to their health care records in primary care?



• How can cultural and behavioural change be fostered to stimulate collection and use of data among all professionals?

David Haslam is National Clinical Adviser to the Care Quality Commission, an expert member of the National Quality Board and chair of their Quality Information Committee. Jeremy Taylor is chief executive of National Voices, the national coalition of health and social care charities.

Join the webchat

Urgent mental health care warning

Urgent mental health care warning: People with urgent mental health problems are struggling to get emergency treatment in England and Wales, campaigners say. BBC News

Cancer survival progress charted

Cancer survival progress charted: Overall median survival periods for cancer have risen from 12 months to nearly six years since the 1970s, but with little change in some cancers, figures show. BBC News

Home care firms face inspections

Home care firms face inspections: Companies offering home care services in England are to be subject to inspection from April, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) announces. BBC News

GPs may be stripped of responsibility to sign off long-term sick patients

GPs may be stripped of responsibility to sign off long-term sick patients: GPs should be stripped of their responsibility to sign off patients on long-term sick, a government-commissioned review is set to recommend. GP Online

DoH report backs incentivising practices to cut urgent care

DoH report backs incentivising practices to cut urgent care: Practices should receive financial incentives for cutting their patients' use of urgent care, according to the author of a DoH-sponsored report. Public Service

Industrial action FAQs and free legal advice line

Industrial action FAQs and free legal advice line: Dean Royles has written to HR directors in the NHS to highlight the latest resources we have made available to help employers plan and prepare for the proposed day of action on 30 November. NHS Employers

New service launched to help GP commissioners face their biggest challenge

New service launched to help GP commissioners face their biggest challenge: A new service for GP commissioners launched by the Mental Health Network and pharmaceutical firm Janssen will link up GPs using a social networking programme to help them commission mental health services more effectively. NHS Confederation

NHS patients in England face 'confusing mix' of urgent healthcare

NHS patients in England face 'confusing mix' of urgent healthcare:

Report from alliance of NHS workers says increased services at GPs and A&E units make it hard to know where to go

Patients face such a confusing mix of places to seek urgent health care or advice in England that their safety could be at risk, the government has been warned.

The services that had proliferated between GP surgeries and A&E departments made it difficult to define who was responsible for care as patients moved across organisational boundaries within the NHS, according to the NHS Alliance, representing commissioners, and the Primary Care Foundation, a company that advises on best practice.

Calling for the system of 24/7 care outside hospital to be simplified, their report said: "In addition to NHS Direct [the phone and web advice service], general practice, emergency departments and the ambulance service, a host of new facilities, including walk-in centres, urgent care centres, polyclinics, equitable access centres and GP-led health centres all offer a slightly different range of services available at varying times."

Most people on average only used out-of-hours services once every six years and A&E every three years, but such fragmentation without clean lines of responsibility put both staff and public at risk, said the report.

It also challenged the idea that it was better for patients and for organisations that treatment was prioritised under triage arrangements, saying these were often used to cope with delays caused by poor planning. "There is a real danger that the assumption is made that the assessed patient is safe to wait when, in reality, the condition of some patients can change rapidly."

A new 111 service planned to merge with NHS Direct over the next two years could potentially undermine the role of GPs, said the report, while successive governments' demands for frequent retendering of out-of-hours GP services were criticised too. "Tendering is expensive (estimated as at least £100,000 for the commissioner and for each provider involved) and disruptive and in some cases may lead to too much focus on the tender price rather than the quality, patient safety and the overall cost to the wider healthcare system."

The report said: "If a provider is to invest in a service, the time horizon needs to be long enough to make it worthwhile – or at least five years. Short contracts and short-term extensions will discourage investment in training, equipment, staff and systems." The Guardian

Goverment planning to privatise swathes of NHS, claim GPs

Goverment planning to privatise swathes of NHS, claim GPs: GPs claim a leaked document shows that the Government plans to privatise large swathes of the NHS under its reforms. The Telegraph

Patients face drugs shortage as medicines sold abroad: inquiry launched

Patients face drugs shortage as medicines sold abroad: inquiry launched: NHS patients are facing a critical shortage of vital medicines as pharmacists and hospitals sell the drugs abroad for profit, MPs have warned as a major investigation into the practice is launched. The Telegraph

RCN calls for investment in community nursing

RCN calls for investment in community nursing: The Royal College of Nursing has called for a renewed investment in community nursing as a new RCN report highlights the value of community nurses. Royal College of Nursing

Advice on reducing the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning over winter

Advice on reducing the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning over winter: With the start of Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week, the Health Protection Agency is advising people to have their fossil fuel and wood burning appliances - such as boilers, heaters and cookers - checked by an appropriately registered engineer before the winter sets in. Health Protection Agency