Northampton six-year-old starved of oxygen during birth to receive £1 million NHS payout for future care:
A YOUNG girl left severely brain damaged after being starved of oxygen during her difficult birth is to receive a £1 million NHS payout. Northampton Chronicle and Echo
Tuesday 27 March 2012
Survey reveals staff saw potentially harmful mistakes made at Northampton General Hospital
Survey reveals staff saw potentially harmful mistakes made at Northampton General Hospital:
FOUR in 10 Northampton General Hospital staff saw potentially harmful mistakes in the space of a month, new figures suggest. Northampton Chronicle and Echo
FOUR in 10 Northampton General Hospital staff saw potentially harmful mistakes in the space of a month, new figures suggest. Northampton Chronicle and Echo
Why continuity of care is crucial for patients | Lara Sonola
Why continuity of care is crucial for patients | Lara Sonola: Continuity and co-ordination is essential for safe, effective and high quality care and it matters to everyone. However, for older patients it has fundamental importance. (Blog, 23 Mar 2012) Kings Fund
Partnership working for child health programme
Partnership working for child health programme:
The documents include guidance, health visiting attributes, health visiting factsheets and questions and answers. NHS Networks
The documents include guidance, health visiting attributes, health visiting factsheets and questions and answers. NHS Networks
Third of babies 'to live to 100'
Third of babies 'to live to 100': A third of babies born in 2012 in the UK are expected to live to 100, according to a new report. BBC News
NHS ageism 'harming elderly care'
NHS ageism 'harming elderly care': The elderly are being passed around hospitals in England like parcels, often going without treatment because of ageist attitudes, a report suggests. BBC News
Health Bill now set for royal assent by Easter
Health Bill now set for royal assent by Easter: The Health Bill is set to receive royal assent and become law by Easter after completing its passage through parliament last week. GP Online
Choose and Book use on downward slope
Choose and Book use on downward slope: Usage of Choose and Book has fallen from a high of 57% to 50%, with some areas almost halving their use of the Department of Health's e-booking system. E-Health Insider
Seven-day NHS 'unaffordable' says BMA
Seven-day NHS 'unaffordable' says BMA: Attempts to make hospitals work seven days a week are unaffordable because the move will cost the NHS billions of pounds a year, the British Medical Association has warned. Daily Telegraph
Co-codamol recalled
Co-codamol recalled: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has warned that some batches of co-codamol could contain incorrect strengths of the painkiller.The MHRA said a problem in manufacturing the pills could have resulted in the mistake, which meant some packets of batch LL1701, which expires in September 2014, contain 30mg instead of 8mg of co-codamol per tablet.While the 8mg tablets can be bought from ... Healthcare Today
Health reforms could damage NHS, warns draft risk register
Health reforms could damage NHS, warns draft risk register:
Document points to danger of emergencies being less well managed and increased use of private sector driving up costs
Emergencies in the NHS could be less well managed under the government's controversial health reforms, according to a draft version of a risk register on the bill (PDF) which has been leaked.
Labour claimed the register served as a "damning indictment" of the health reforms which recently passed into law after a bruising parliamentary battle.
The warnings about the threat posed by the bill were issued in a draft version of the risk register, dated 28 September 2010, which was leaked to the health writer Roy Lilley.
The government has been criticised for refusing to comply with a ruling by the information commissioner to publish the Transition Risk Register, drawn up on 10 November 2010, after an FOI request by the former shadow health secretary, John Healey.
The register sets out the risks posed by the health and social care bill which will devolve 60% of the NHS's £100bn budget to new GP-led consortia. The draft version of the register warned of:
• A longer term danger to the NHS's ability to cope with emergencies. It said: "The NHS role in emergency preparedness/responsiveness is more difficult to manage through a more devolved organisation, and so emergencies are less well managed/ mitigated."
• Greater costs if new GP-led consortiums make greater use of the private sector. "One example of area where system could be more costly is if GP Consortia makes use of private sector organisations/staff which adds costs to the overall system."
• A danger that the new system is set up too quickly, threatening the running of the NHS.
• A loss of financial control. "Financial control is lost due to the restructuring of budgets distributed between or allocated to organisations within the system [to be clarified]," it said.
• Unfavourable media coverage. "Public reputation. There is a risk that the transition will be presented in a negative light via the media. Two of the biggest risks which have already surfaced in the media are i) that the reforms will continue to be characterised through the prism of privatisation and ii) financial cuts."
Health secretary Andrew Lansley's reforms were built on demolishing a layer of management – the primary care trusts which currently purchase care on behalf of patients. But the document highlights the risk that the reforms would sow confusion between rival bodies on the ground during the transition to Lansley's new look NHS. Civil servants also rate highly the danger that the £20bn savings may not materialise as managers lose focus and that the quality of patient care suffers.
The Department of Health said that it did not comment on leaks. But it is understood that the leaked document looked familiar to officials. Ministers are likely to argue that the document is an early draft drawn up four months before the publication of the health and social care bill. Since then the bill has undergone two major changes during the government's "listening exercise" last spring and in a series of parliamentary amendments. Ministers will also say that a report to be published on Tuesday shows that the NHS is on course to meet the so called "Nicholson challenge" to save £20bn over the course of this parliament.
But Labour seized on the document. Liz Kendall, the shadow social care minister, said: "This is a damning indictment of the health bill – forced through by the Tories with cover from the Lib Dems. It shows beyond doubt the high risks the bill poses to patients and taxpayers. The government has repeatedly tried to hide these risks, but its own assessment of the bill makes them devastatingly clear. Patients and the public will not forget or forgive David Cameron for his reckless NHS gamble."
Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary, said: "Now we know why David Cameron refused to publish the risk register before the bill was through parliament – it's because civil servants were telling him his reorganisation was likely to cause major damage to the NHS. David Cameron will never be forgiven for knowingly taking these risks with the country's best-loved institution."
Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a critic of the reforms, tweeted that the risk register was "very scary reading & should have been disclosed long ago".
Healey said: "This is exactly the type of information that the public and parliament lacked while the bill was being debated. This shows how unprepared the NHS and civil service were for this huge NHS reorganisation."
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We have always been open about risk and have published all relevant information in the impact assessments alongside the bill. As the latest performance figures show we are dealing with those risks, performance is improving – waiting times are down and mixed sex wards are at an all time low - and we are on course to make the efficiency savings that the NHS needs to safeguard it for the future." The Guardian
Emergencies in the NHS could be less well managed under the government's controversial health reforms, according to a draft version of a risk register on the bill (PDF) which has been leaked.
Labour claimed the register served as a "damning indictment" of the health reforms which recently passed into law after a bruising parliamentary battle.
The warnings about the threat posed by the bill were issued in a draft version of the risk register, dated 28 September 2010, which was leaked to the health writer Roy Lilley.
The government has been criticised for refusing to comply with a ruling by the information commissioner to publish the Transition Risk Register, drawn up on 10 November 2010, after an FOI request by the former shadow health secretary, John Healey.
The register sets out the risks posed by the health and social care bill which will devolve 60% of the NHS's £100bn budget to new GP-led consortia. The draft version of the register warned of:
• A longer term danger to the NHS's ability to cope with emergencies. It said: "The NHS role in emergency preparedness/responsiveness is more difficult to manage through a more devolved organisation, and so emergencies are less well managed/ mitigated."
• Greater costs if new GP-led consortiums make greater use of the private sector. "One example of area where system could be more costly is if GP Consortia makes use of private sector organisations/staff which adds costs to the overall system."
• A danger that the new system is set up too quickly, threatening the running of the NHS.
• A loss of financial control. "Financial control is lost due to the restructuring of budgets distributed between or allocated to organisations within the system [to be clarified]," it said.
• Unfavourable media coverage. "Public reputation. There is a risk that the transition will be presented in a negative light via the media. Two of the biggest risks which have already surfaced in the media are i) that the reforms will continue to be characterised through the prism of privatisation and ii) financial cuts."
Health secretary Andrew Lansley's reforms were built on demolishing a layer of management – the primary care trusts which currently purchase care on behalf of patients. But the document highlights the risk that the reforms would sow confusion between rival bodies on the ground during the transition to Lansley's new look NHS. Civil servants also rate highly the danger that the £20bn savings may not materialise as managers lose focus and that the quality of patient care suffers.
The Department of Health said that it did not comment on leaks. But it is understood that the leaked document looked familiar to officials. Ministers are likely to argue that the document is an early draft drawn up four months before the publication of the health and social care bill. Since then the bill has undergone two major changes during the government's "listening exercise" last spring and in a series of parliamentary amendments. Ministers will also say that a report to be published on Tuesday shows that the NHS is on course to meet the so called "Nicholson challenge" to save £20bn over the course of this parliament.
But Labour seized on the document. Liz Kendall, the shadow social care minister, said: "This is a damning indictment of the health bill – forced through by the Tories with cover from the Lib Dems. It shows beyond doubt the high risks the bill poses to patients and taxpayers. The government has repeatedly tried to hide these risks, but its own assessment of the bill makes them devastatingly clear. Patients and the public will not forget or forgive David Cameron for his reckless NHS gamble."
Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary, said: "Now we know why David Cameron refused to publish the risk register before the bill was through parliament – it's because civil servants were telling him his reorganisation was likely to cause major damage to the NHS. David Cameron will never be forgiven for knowingly taking these risks with the country's best-loved institution."
Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a critic of the reforms, tweeted that the risk register was "very scary reading & should have been disclosed long ago".
Healey said: "This is exactly the type of information that the public and parliament lacked while the bill was being debated. This shows how unprepared the NHS and civil service were for this huge NHS reorganisation."
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We have always been open about risk and have published all relevant information in the impact assessments alongside the bill. As the latest performance figures show we are dealing with those risks, performance is improving – waiting times are down and mixed sex wards are at an all time low - and we are on course to make the efficiency savings that the NHS needs to safeguard it for the future." The Guardian
Dementia patients locked in rooms to make them 'easier to manage'
Dementia patients locked in rooms to make them 'easier to manage': Staff in care homes and hospitals are routinely ignoring patients' human rights over restraint techniques, official report warns.
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
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