Thursday 24 January 2013

Extra baby unit planned at Northampton General Hospital - Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Extra baby unit planned at Northampton General Hospital - Northampton Chronicle & Echo:

Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Extra baby unit planned at Northampton General Hospital
Northampton Chronicle & Echo
NGH has been awarded �480,000 for a midwife-led unit. By John Harrison Published on Thursday 24 January 2013 07:00. Northampton General Hospital has been awarded £480,000 to improve maternity services, the Government will announce today.

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Revalidation: opportunity or challenge?

Revalidation: opportunity or challenge?: On 3 December 2012 the UK was the first nation, and the General Medical Council (GMC) the first regulatory body, to implement large-scale changes to the regulation of its medical workforce. By April 2016 it is expected that the ‘vast majority’ of the UK’s 220,000 doctors would have undertaken revalidation – the process by which licensed doctors will demonstrate that they are up to date and fit to practise. Revalidation has been a popular topic in our leadership work with medical directors, GPs and consultants, having presented both opportunities and challenges. So what have we learnt so far?

Information overload: tackling bureaucracy in the NHS

Information overload: tackling bureaucracy in the NHS: The NHS Confederation has for many years emphasised the need to tackle the bureaucratic burden in the NHS.

'Blacklist' of failed NHS managers planned

'Blacklist' of failed NHS managers planned:
NHS managers who are deemed as having presided over failure in the NHS could be blacklisted.
Government ministers are considering the option of placing senior health officials who significantly under-perform on such a list in a move that would effectively see them prevented from working in the health service in the future.
HSJ has reported that the option is one of a range of suggestions being considere... Healthcare Today

New meningitis B vaccine approved for UK use

New meningitis B vaccine approved for UK use:

Much of the media are reporting the news that a new meningitis B vaccine called Bexsero has been licensed by the European Commission. This means the vaccine should soon be available for use in the UK.

A fat lot of good that will do: minister loses health argument by stereotyping the poor

A fat lot of good that will do: minister loses health argument by stereotyping the poor:
Anna Soubry may have thought she was making an innocent observation about the nature of society when she declared that she could recognise the poor because they were fat. The Independent

See also:

Private health contractor's staff told to cut 999 calls to meet targets

Private health contractor's staff told to cut 999 calls to meet targets:  Leaked email from Serco managers tells workers to manipulate computer system to 'stop the clock' on emergency calls
Call handlers staffing an out-of-hours GP service run by the private contractor Serco have been told to make new checks before calling 999 when they receive what appear to be emergency cases in order to cut down the number of referrals they make to the ambulance service.

NHS maternity units to share £25m fund to improve childbirth experience

NHS maternity units to share £25m fund to improve childbirth experience: More than 100 hospitals in England will share money to modernise maternity units in midst of ongoing baby boom.

NHS maternity units will get new birthing pools, more family rooms so dads can sleep over and extra midwife-led units after winning slices of a £25m fund to improve women's experiences of childbirth.
More than 100 hospitals in England will share the £25m, which will modernise maternity units and help the NHS cope with an ongoing decade-long baby boom during which births have been at their highest rate for 40 years.

Have NHS managers got the right skills?

Have NHS managers got the right skills?: With three CCGs recently warned, healthcare leaders must be able to engage staff and patients if they are to deliver change
Managers in both acute trusts and clinical commissioning groups have been scrutinised by the NHS leadership in the last few days and found wanting.

Homeopathy is 'rubbish', says chief medical officer

Homeopathy is 'rubbish', says chief medical officer: Homeopathic remedies are "rubbish" and do not serve as anything more than placebos, England's chief medical officer has claimed. The Daily Telegraph

Monday mornings see double the average number of A&E attendances in England

Monday mornings see double the average number of A&E attendances in England: January 23, 2013: English A&E departments see the most attendances on a Monday morning - dealing with double the hourly average - new figures suggest. NHS Information Centre

Gaining Ground: Care Management Programs to Reduce Hospital Admissions and Readmissions Among Chronically Ill and Vulnerable Patients

Gaining Ground: Care Management Programs to Reduce Hospital Admissions and Readmissions Among Chronically Ill and Vulnerable Patients: Preventable hospital admissions and readmissions are indicators of health system fragmentation associated with suboptimal patient outcomes and avoidable costs of care. This synthesis report looks at three case studies that illustrate the potential of care management programs to address this problem by improving care coordination and transitions among high-risk patients. The Commonwealth Fund

Health Inequalities & People with Learning Disabilities in the UK: 2012

Health Inequalities & People with Learning Disabilities in the UK: 2012This annual report summarises the latest evidence about the extent, nature and determinants of health inequalities experienced by people with learning disabilities in the UK.  Each year the report includes a more detailed look at evidence related to particular groups of people with learning disabilities, this year the focus is on challenging behaviour. Learning Disabilities Observatory