NHFT Libraries Health News: 11/12/13

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Toddlers being offered free flu vaccine

Toddlers being offered free flu vaccine
Parents of toddlers are being encouraged to arrange flu vaccinations for their children this winter. Evening Telegraph

News story: New website comparing adult social care services launched

On the website you can select your local authority from the map or drop-down menu, or type in your postcode to find out how carers and people receiving local authority funded care and support in your area rate factors such as:

quality of their life
satisfaction with care services
feeling safe

The Department of Health has worked with the Health and Social Care Information Centre to produce a website that allows people to access, understand and use the ASCOF data.

Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb said:

We want people to be able to know how well their local authority is performing. This will highlight those councils doing really well, but it will also enable people to hold their council to account if it fails to deliver good results from adult social care services, such as helping people to live independently or giving them genuine choice and control over their care and support. This online tool will provide people with the information they need to do this in a clear, accessible format.

We want everyone to get better care and I hope this website will help to drive improvement across all local authorities so that this is a reality.

The data is based on HSCIC data sets published from 2012 to 2013. Final data for 2012 to 13 for all ASCOF measures will be added on 17 December 2013, and provisional data for 2013 to 14 is expected to be available in summer 2014. Department of Health

The Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework for 2014 to 2015 is also published today.

Scotland approves new cancer drugs

Scotland approves new cancer drugs
Scotland becomes the first part of the United Kingdom to approve two new cancer drugs for routine use on the NHS. BBC News

Telehealth can play an important role in the future of healthcare

Applications of telehealth can speed up diagnosis, as well as improve patient treatment and longer-term outcomes

Telehealth has already helped to transform the way healthcare services are accessed and provided. For any healthcare organisation, patient care is the priority, and telehealth has proven to be a groundbreaking way of providing fast, high-quality and convenient care services.

GPs and hospitals are beginning to realise the potential for face-to-face video communication, improving access to care and easing pressure on the healthcare system. Virtual consultation and remote diagnosis have become reality and offer incredible potential to shape the GP surgery of the future and increase access to specialist services from within the primary care system.

This technology could significantly reduce the burden on secondary healthcare provision in the UK, particularly at a time when A&E services are struggling to deliver crucial care.

New network seeks to fill gap in training and development

My Health Skills will allow professionals to drive content and share best practice

Training and continuous improvement were central to the Francis and Cavendish reports. However, solutions that have an impact on behaviour and delivery of relevant skills take time and commitment to implement. They require patience, leadership and passion to deliver change through people, and need more than a knee jerk reaction to the current or next Mid-Staffs.

Launching on Monday 11 November, our new network, My Health Skills, will provide a platform for professionals looking to continue their own learning and development online, encouraging those who are passionate about workforce transformation to share best practice, resources, access information and provide a platform to voice their opinion.

A hidden workforce crisis in the NHS?

A hidden workforce crisis in the NHS?
The RCN has today launched a report which reveals there are nearly 20,000 nursing vacancies currently unfilled in England; a ‘hidden workforce crisis’ that could have serious consequences for the NHS.

Boss at cancer scandal NHS trust had no experience running hospitals

Boss at cancer scandal NHS trust had no experience running hospitals
The hospital at the centre of a major cancer scandal has been ordered to explain how it appointed a chief executive with no experience of NHS management, whose only work for the health service was four years as a junior doctor.Telegraph Health News

National survey on patient and public involvement in the appraisal and governance of doctors

National survey on patient and public involvement in the appraisal and governance of doctors
This national survey aims to help the NHS Revalidation Support Team understand how local healthcare organisations can strengthen patient and public involvement in the appraisal and governance of doctors and support the introduction of medical revalidation. The survey closes on 22nd November 2013.
NHS Evidence

Scan could detect those on brink of heart attack

"Heart attack risk identified by new scan," is the BBC News headline, reporting on the development of a scan that could help doctors identify fatty build-ups (plaques) in the arteries. These plaques are characteristic of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease and can trigger a heart attack if they rupture.

The news comes from a study that tested the use of a PET-CT scanner to identify "high-risk" plaques that had, or could, rupture. The PET-CT scan uses a radioactively labelled chemical to produce 3D images. The chemical normally used is a glucose-like substance called fludeoxyglucose (FDG), which is taken up by body tissues. However, recent studies suggest that sodium fluoride (NaF) is a more effective way of identifying plaques.

The current study involved 40 people who recently had a heart attack and 40 people with stable angina. The patients had PET-CT scans using either FDG or NaF as the radioactively labelled chemical. They were also tested using coronary angiography, which is currently the gold-standard method of looking at blockages in the heart arteries.

In almost all of the people who had had a heart attack, NaF was taken up by the "culprit" fatty deposits that had caused the blockage. The results also confirmed that NaF was better than FDG at showing these blockages. Almost half of the people with stable angina were found to have high-risk deposits using the NaF technique.

While this sounds promising, only a small number of patients have been studied. It remains to be seen whether the new test improves outcomes for people with coronary heart disease.

NHS clinical commissioning groups code of governance

NHS clinical commissioning groups code of governance
This governance code aims to support clinicians in developing good governance arrangements and to help build and maintain public trust in clinicians and the NHS. NHS Networks

Updated guidelines on the prevention and management of sickness absence

Updated guidelines on the prevention and management of sickness absence
These updated guidelines outline the key principles that NHS organisations should follow to prevent and manage sickness absence. NHS Employers News