Tuesday 17 September 2013

New technology speeds treatment for skin cancer patients at Northampton ... - Northampton Chronicle & Echo

New technology speeds treatment for skin cancer patients at Northampton ... - Northampton Chronicle & Echo
New technology speeds treatment for skin cancer patients at Northampton General Hospital. editorial image. Published on the 16 September 2013 09:58. State-of-the-art technology donated to a leading hospital's ...

Corby residents can help shape health service

Corby residents can help shape health service Residents in Corby are being given the chance to shape local health services. Evening Telegraph

HSJ online conversation gives backing to 7-day services – Andrew Snowball

HSJ online conversation gives backing to 7-day services – Andrew Snowball  Andrew Snowball, the Health Service Journal’s Head of Engagement, explains how the magazine’s readers are supporting the call for 24/7 care:
There is a growing sense of inevitability behind the recent calls for the NHS to be a seven-day service.
In June, health secretary Jeremy Hunt described the new £3.8bn social care commissioning pot – on condition that services operate seven days – as a “game changer” and   a “huge moment in NHS history”.
Then later in the summer he outlined his expectations for patients to receive the same quality of care at the weekend as they do during the week.
And NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh has backed the ambitions, putting pressure on consultants to accept weekend working and launching a Seven-Day Services Forum initially looking at urgent and emergency care and diagnostics services to try to make it a reality.
These hopes for the NHS to provide services when patients need them are not just the latest top-down directive – they are shared by the NHS workforce, as HSJ discovered when we held a “conversation” with our readers.

Online consultations can save valuable time for both patients and doctors

Online consultations can save valuable time for both patients and doctors  Many in the NHS remain sceptical, but online consultations could reduce the need for face-to-face appointments with GPs by 40%
Patients need to be able to consult their doctor online. Having to take half a day off work for a 10-minute consultation is a high price to pay when the technology exists that would allow it to be done online from the patient's home or work. For some patients, the travel involved in getting to an appointment is harmful in itself. I have seen patients with physical disabilities in pain from the long distances they have had to travel to see their specialist. In a few cases, the appointment itself has risks – cystic fibrosis patients can give each other infections when sat together in the same waiting room.
In my opinion, it's important to offer online consultations when they are appropriate. But for the best of reasons, many in the NHS remain deeply sceptical about consulting online. Time-pressed doctors and GPs are not sure what an online consultation actually is. They fear it might take up even more of their time.

Maternity survey shows one-to-one care from the same midwife is safer – and cheaper

Maternity survey shows one-to-one care from the same midwife is safer – and cheaper  Care provided by a midwife who stays with the same mother-to-be throughout her pregnancy and during birth is as safe as shared maternity care and significantly cheaper, according to a new study.  Independent

Midwife sacked over HIV disclosures defends right to blow whistle

Midwife sacked over HIV disclosures defends right to blow whistle  Midwife who was sacked after revealing foster parents were not told that children had HIV defends her right to "whistleblow".Telegraph

NHS spells out breast cancer screening risks

NHS spells out breast cancer screening risks  Revised leaflet sent to women invited for screenings contains more detail about overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment
Women invited for breast cancer screening are being told more about the risks involved, despite fears that candour about the possibility of being wrongly diagnosed could discourage some from attending.
The letter and leaflet which women who are invited for screening receive have been overhauled, and give much more detail about the risk of overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment.
The NHS has made the changes after growing controversy about the value of the procedure. Some experts claim the potential harm, including deaths from the long-term negative effects of unnecessary treatment, outweigh the estimated 1,300 lives a year saved by screening women aged 50-70.

Transparency data: DH workforce information: July 2013

Transparency data: DH workforce information: July 2013 
Information about the number of people employed by DH and its agencies during July 2013 including:
  • staff headcount by grade
  • the number of agency workers
  • the number of specialist contractors and consultants
  • payroll staff costs

Chlamydia screening rise in general practice

Chlamydia screening rise in general practice  Of the 76 practices involved, those that fully engaged with the intervention doubled their chlamydia testing. More .....  NHS Networks

Future hospital: caring for medical patients

Future hospital: caring for medical patients  Future Hospital: Caring for Medical Patients focuses on the care of acutely ill medical patients, the organisation of medical services, and the role of physicians and doctors in training across the medical specialties in England and Wales.  NHSNetworks

GMC seeks views on plans to check language skills of European doctors

GMC seeks views on plans to check language skills of European doctors  Patients will be better protected following new checks to ensure the English language skills of doctors from Europe are good enough to safely treat them, in plans revealed by the General Medical Council (GMC).

Friends and Family Test for GPs by 2015

Friends and Family Test for GPs by 2015  All GPs, community and mental health services must be collecting Friends and Family Test data from January 2015.  EHI News

Flu vaccination letters to staff

Flu vaccination letters to staff 
NHS Employers 
These letters to all staff groups, signed by Jane Cummings, Viv Bennett, David Salisbury, Karen Middleton, Bruce Keogh, Paul Cosford and Sally Davies, are accompanied by clinical evidence emphasising the safety of the influenza vaccination. They also provides answers to some of the key questions commonly asked and aims to dispel any doubts or fears, whilst highlighting the importance of receiving regular vaccination.

Health Foundation Insight research programme studies

Health Foundation Insight research programme studies  Eight new research studies, funded by the Health Foundation, aim to generate new knowledge in the areas of patient safety or person-centred care, where: there is the potential for greatest impact; there is a need to develop the evidence for improvement; or the findings are most likely to inspire improvement in the quality of care.