Monday 16 March 2015

Large number of youngsters say they are affected by depression, stress and anxiety in Northamptonshire

Large number of youngsters say they are affected by depression, stress and anxiety in Northamptonshire About 15 per cent of young people in Northamptonshire feel depressed ‘most of the time’, a study suggests. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Buck passing for failure to prosecute FGM must stop

Buck passing for failure to prosecute FGM must stop The Home Affairs Committee publishes its report, Female genital mutilation: follow-up, on 14 March 2015, following a revisit of the issue of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

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Social care should be free at the end of life

Social care should be free at the end of life A report that looks at the state of end of life care since the independent Review of the Liverpool Care Pathway, chaired by Baroness Neuberger, and finds great variation in quality and practice across both acute and community settings. It makes a number of recommendations for improvement, and in particular recommends that social care should be free at the end of life. Health Select Committee

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Press release: Scarlet fever: second year of high activity

Press release: Scarlet fever: second year of high activity Public Health England (PHE) has reported a continued substantial increase in scarlet fever notifications across England. This is the second year in a row of exceptional activity. A total of 754 new cases were reported in England last week (2 to 8 March) and 5746 since the season began in September (week 37 in 2014 to week 10 2015). This compares to 2833 cases for the same period last season. Public Health England

Work and wellbeing in the NHS: why staff health matters to patient care

Work and wellbeing in the NHS: why staff health matters to patient care This report shows that staff health and wellbeing in the NHS is often seen as an optional extra - as less than two thirds of trusts have a staff health and wellbeing plan in place. It says that high quality patient care relies on skilled staff who are not only physically and mentally well enough to do their jobs, but also feel valued, supported and engaged. It also states that good staff health, wellbeing and engagement can reap significant benefits for patient safety including reduced MRSA infection rates and lower patient mortality rates. The Royal College of Physicians

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Access to hospital care: is the NHS on target?

Access to hospital care: is the NHS on target? This briefing examines how hospital trusts in England are performing against six national targets. The paper argues against the notion that dips in performance can be attributed to a handful of poorly performing hospital trusts, and finds there has been deterioration across the board in some measures. The Nuffield Trust

Mental health 'to get funding boost'

Mental health 'to get funding boost' Mental health services in England will receive extra funding in next week's Budget, Liberal Democrat Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander says. BBC News

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A&E target missed whole of winter

A&E target missed whole of winter The NHS has missed its A&E waiting time target for every week of winter, figures show. BBC News

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RCN launches toolkit to help prevent suicide in LGBT youth

RCN launches toolkit to help prevent suicide in LGBT youth The RCN, in collaboration with Public Health England (PHE), has launched a toolkit to guide nurses and other health professionals in the prevention of suicide in lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender (LGBT) young people. Royal College of Nursing

Do people with depression perceive time differently?

Do people with depression perceive time differently?"How depression affects our sense of time: Hours drag on and even stand still," is the somewhat over-hyped headline from the Mail Online.

As the old saying goes – Time flies when you’re having fun. So does the reverse also ring true? Does feeling depressed slow down your perception of time? Two German researchers tried to find out.

They pooled the results of previous studies, which lead to 433 depressed people being compared with 485 non-depressed people. The results tentatively suggest that some people with depression may perceive time as going more slowly than those without.

No difference was found in their ability to estimate actual time durations in tests (for example, trying to judge when a minute had passed).

The study has a number of limitations, meaning we should be cautious in assuming that the findings are reliable. Their statistical methods, for example, made it more likely to find a statistically significant result by chance and they noted that using other methods would have wiped out any differences between the groups.

GPs could be asked to vaccinate 3.3m teenagers against meningitis strain

GPs could be asked to vaccinate 3.3m teenagers against meningitis strain GPs could be asked to vaccinate all 14- 18-year-olds in England against a strain of meningococcal disease, under a programme announced by Public Health England (PHE). GP Online

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How patients can help we GPs make the NHS run better

How patients can help we GPs make the NHS run better If the health service is going to thrive, patients must use the system more efficiently by keeping their scheduled appointments. Continue reading... The Guardian

Over a quarter of board members on new bodies commissioning NHS care have links to the private health sector

Over a quarter of board members on new bodies commissioning NHS care have links to the private health sector More than a quarter of board members on the new bodies charged with commissioning care for the NHS have links to the private health sector, new analysis shows. The Independent

PM steps in after NHS whistleblower is pursued for £100,000 in costs after losing her case on legal technicality

PM steps in after NHS whistleblower is pursued for £100,000 in costs after losing her case on legal technicality David Cameron has asked Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Health, to investigate why a whistleblower at one of the country’s largest mental health trusts is being pursued for almost £100,000 in costs after losing her case on a legal technicality. The Independent