Showing posts with label nhs. Show all posts

Thursday 13 September 2012

Mid Staffs NHS trust ''may be privatised''

12 September 2012

Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stafford Hospital where over 1,000 patients died unnecessarily, could be privatised, Unison has claimed.

With major debts (it is expected to be £46.6m in the red in 2014/15 and likely to incur debts of £14.5m every year, the trust is being looked at by the foundation trust regulator Monitor.

One option could be to put the trust "in special administration", which the union is suggesting could mean some level of privatisation.

Unison's head of nursing Gail Adams said: "Monitor should not fall into the trap of thinking that the answer to Mid Staffs' problems lie within the private sector.

"Improvements are being made at the hospital, but its problems cannot be solved overnight. The upheaval and uncertainty of turning the hospital over to a private company would only set this vital process back.

Hospitals 'on brink of collapse'

By Nick Triggle

Health correspondent, BBC News

Hospital beds are being closed, but demands are increasing

Hospitals in England could be on the brink of collapse because of rising demand and the increasing complexity of patients' conditions, doctors warn.

The Royal College of Physicians' report said the number of beds had been cut by a third over the past 25 years.

It said at the same time emergency admissions had started rising and hospitals were seeing older patients with a wider variety of conditions

The college said this process now meant urgent care was being compromised.

And it warned the problems could lead to another scandal like that surrounding the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, which became the subject of a public inquiry after regulators said poor standards had led to needless deaths.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) said standards were slipping in hospitals throughout England.

It cited the way older patients were repeatedly moved around wards, the lack of continuity of care while in hospital and tests being done during the night as some of the examples of how care was suffering.

The college also highlighted the results of feedback from its members, which showed concern about discharge arrangements and workload.

The report said in some ways the NHS had been a victim of its own success. Advancements in medicine had led to people living longer, but this meant they were increasingly developing complex long-term conditions such as dementia as a result.

Doctor Andrew Goddard of the Royal College of Physicians: ''The winter pressure is an all-year pressure''

Prof Tim Evans, of the RCP, said: "This evidence is very distressing. All hospital patients deserve to receive safe, high-quality sustainable care centred around their needs.

"Yet it is increasingly clear that our hospitals are struggling to cope with the challenge of an ageing population who increasingly present to our hospitals with multiple, complex diseases.

"We must act now to make the drastic changes required to provide the care they deserve."

The report said the solution lay in concentrating hospital services in fewer, larger sites that were able to provide excellent care round-the-clock, seven days a week.

But it also said this would require improvements in community services as there were many patients who ended up in hospital because of a lack of help close to home.

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "These latest findings are alarming but, unfortunately, not surprising.

"It is painfully evident that the healthcare system stands on the brink of crisis.

"People with dementia are going into hospital unnecessarily, staying in too long and coming out worse."

Health minister Dr Dan Poulter said: "It is completely wrong to suggest that the NHS cannot cope - the NHS only uses approximately 85% of the beds it has available, and more and more patients are being treated out of hospital, in the community or at home.

"But it is true that the NHS needs fundamental reform to cope with the challenges of the future.

"To truly provide dignity in care for older people, we need to see even more care out of hospitals. That's why we are modernising the NHS and putting the people who best understand patient's needs, doctors and nurses, in charge."

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Sunday 2 September 2012

NHS announces new deadline to register claims For cases during the period 1st April 2004 – 31st March 2011 the deadline for individuals or their families and representatives to notify the relevant PCT will be 30th September 2012. For cases during the period 1st April 2011 – 31st March 2012 the deadline for individuals or their families and representatives to notify the relevant PCT will be 31st March 2013

NHS announces new deadline to register claimsFor cases during the period 1st April 2004 – 31st March 2011 the deadline for individuals or their families and representatives to notify the relevant PCT will be 30th September 2012.For cases during the period 1st April 2011 – 31st March 2012 the deadline for individuals or their families and representatives to notify the relevant PCT will be 31st March 2013

Wednesday 22 August 2012

NHS hospital trusts invited to expand abroad

NHS staff from Great Ormond Street Hospital took part in the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony

An agency will aim to link hospitals such as Great Ormond Street with foreign governments that want access to British-run health services.High-profile NHS hospitals in England are to be encouraged by the government to set up profit-making branches abroad to help fund services in the UK.

Investment would have to be drawn from hospitals' private UK work, but with profits ploughed back into the NHS.

A patients' group said the move was a "distraction" at a time of "upheaval".

The drive, building on an initiative first started under the Labour government, is set to be launched by the Department of Health and UK Trade and Investment this autumn.

The BBC understands the initiative is unlikely to involve regular district or general hospitals but would target world-renowned hospitals like the Royal Marsden, Great Ormond Street and Guy's and St Thomas'.

“David Stou

'Benefit patients'

NHS staff taking part in the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony

It would mirror schemes such as that of Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, which in 2007 built a unit of the same name in Dubai. Children's hospital Great Ormond Street also has interests abroad.

In 2010, Labour's Health Secretary Andy Burnham set up NHS Global to help the health service make the most of the global market for healthcare and the coalition now wants to build on this.

A source close to current Health Secretary Andrew Lansley emphasised that hospitals would be able to pay for their investments abroad using only revenue generated from their private patients in the UK.

Any profits made overseas would be ploughed back into the health service and so benefit NHS patients, the source added.

The Health and Social Care Act, which was passed by Parliament earlier this year, eased the way for hospital trusts to expand their work in the private sector.

Health Minister Anne Milton said: "This is good news for NHS patients who will get better services at their local hospital as a result of the work the NHS is doing abroad and the extra investment that will generate.

"This is also good news for the economy, which will benefit from the extra jobs and revenue created by our highly successful life sciences industries as they trade more across the globe.

"The NHS has a world-class reputation, and this exciting development will make the most of that to deliver real benefits for both patients and taxpayers."

Moorfields medical director Chris Canning said no taxpayers' money had been spent on its Dubai venture and it had been in profit for the past three years while "raising the reputation and profile" of the NHS and the hospital, and making money to reinvest in UK health services.

David Stout, deputy chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents organisations around England, denied the scheme would divert attention away from health services and said an international exchange of ideas could in fact improve local services.

"This is not about distorting what the NHS offers to UK citizens, this is about how we can exploit the brand of the NHS internationally," he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.

When asked if the NHS could end up under-funded by taxation because of increasing funds raised abroad, he said: "We are not talking about completely skewing the way the health service funding comes in - this will be marginal in the scheme of a £100bn organisation organisation in the NHS."

'Rampant commercialisation'

However, the move was criticised by the Patients Association.

"The key and only focus of an NHS hospital should be to provide treatment to patients on the NHS. We would be very concerned by any moves which would see commercial ventures, which are naturally going to be important for hospitals because they need to use them to raise revenue, would simply result in the attention of the hospitals being taken away from the core purpose - to treat patients in the UK and instead be focused on these hospitals abroad," said Michael Watson, of the group.

Andy Burnham, Labour: "The government's plan fundamentally alters the character of the NHS"

Labour began the initiative while in government, but shadow health minister Jamie Reed criticised the coalition's plans.

He said: "At a time when staff are losing their jobs and waiting times are rising, the government's priority should be sorting out the mess it has created in our NHS.

"Under David Cameron we're seeing a rampant commercialisation of the NHS. He needs to get a grip and start focusing on patients, not profits."

Thursday 10 May 2012

Most NHS costs wasteful, says Diabetic Medicine

Diabetes: Most NHS costs wasteful, says Diabetic Medicine

More frequent health checks and risk assessments could reduce the cost of diabetes

The majority of NHS spending on diabetes is avoidable, says a report in the journal Diabetic Medicine.

It suggests that 80% of the NHS's £9.8bn annual UK diabetes bill goes on the cost of treating complications.

Experts say much of this is preventable with health checks and better education - something the Department of Health says it is tackling.

The report also predicts that by 2035, diabetes will cost the NHS £16.8bn, 17% of its entire budget.

“Start Quote

If this rise in diabetes is allowed to continue, it will simply be disastrous for NHS budgets”

Baroness Barbara YoungChief executive of Diabetes UK

BBC Health: Diabetes treatment

There are 3.8 million people living with diabetes in the UK.

The study looked at annual direct patient care costs for both types of diabetes, with Type 2 at £8.8bn being far higher than that of Type 1 at £1bn.

Both Type 1 diabetes, which tends to appear in childhood, and Type 2 diabetes, often linked to diet, lead to problems controlling the amount of sugar in the blood.

Complications occur when people with diabetes sustain high levels of glucose over a long period. This can lead to increased chances of developing disease-related complications, such as kidney failure, nerve damage, damage to the retina, stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Budget crash

Baroness Barbara Young, from Diabetes UK - one of the charities involved in the Impact Diabetes report - said: "The report shows that without urgent action, the already huge sums of money spent on treating diabetes will rise to unsustainable levels that threaten to bankrupt the NHS.

"If this rise in diabetes is allowed to continue, as is happening at the moment, it will simply be disastrous for the NHS and wreck NHS budgets. I think we have a car crash coming.

"But the most shocking part of this report is the finding that almost four-fifths of NHS diabetes spending goes on treating complications that in many cases could have been prevented.

"That's hugely wasteful - in human life, in the quality of human life, and in NHS budgets. We need to stop this now and make sure people get the right sort of care early on in their condition."

Baroness Young speculated that investing in better education and more frequent health checks to reduce the risk of complications could actually be less expensive than the current approach.

Type 2 diabetes is often linked to lifestyle and diet

She said: "We need to make sure... that we prevent people getting diabetes through good risk assessment and early diagnosis to prevent spending on avoidable complications."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said that this was something they were doing.

"We agree that diabetes is a very serious illness and one that has a big impact on the NHS.

"That's why we are tackling the disease on three fronts. First, through prevention of Type 2 diabetes - encouraging people to eat well and be more active. Second, by helping people to manage their diabetes through the nine annual health care checks performed in primary care. And by better management of the condition in hospital."

Different challenges

Karen Addington, from Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) - which was also commissioned the report - said: "It's the first time that we have been able to see the cost of the unavoidable autoimmune condition Type 1 diabetes separately.

"This is important because the causes of Type 1 and the challenge it presents are very different to Type 2, and only medical research can lift this burden on families, the NHS and the economy."

The report was authored by the York Health Economic Consortium and developed in partnership between Diabetes UK, JDRF and Sanofi diabetes.

At a separate conference in Copenhagen, the cost of diabetes has also been under discussion.General Yves Leterme, from the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development said: "Preventing and treating diabetes and its complications costs about 90bn euros (£73bn) annually in Europe alone.

"With health budgets already under great pressure and national budgets severely strained, for the sake of our health and the health of our economies we must find ways to prevent and manage diabetes in a cost-effective manner."

Friday 9 December 2011

high-risk surger

Care for high-risk surgery 'falling short'

The expert panel described the findings as "disturbing" after reviewing nearly 20,000 patients in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death found four in 10 got poor or inadequate treatment.The care given to high-risk surgery patients is falling short of acceptable standards, an independent review says.

In particular, it highlighted a lack of pre-op checks and insufficient use of critical care facilities after surgery.

Those designated as high-risk patients tend to be drawn from groups who have a number of other health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease; age and weight are also factors.

Death risk

They are estimated to make up about 10% of the surgical workload, but 80% of deaths.

Of the 20,000 cases looked at by the review team across 300 hospitals, nearly 4,000 involved high-risk patients having either emergency or elective surgery.

Of these, they carried out in-depth reviews on 829.

Over all, the team judged the care in 43% of cases to be poor or inadequate. Of the rest, 48% got good care and for 9% there was insufficient data to make a proper assessment.

Where care was not up to scratch there were some common themes, the report said.

A fifth whose surgery was planned were not seen in a pre-assessment clinic, which led to higher death rates among this group.

And only 22% of high-risk patients were sent to critical care following surgery. The rest were sent to other wards and had a death rate more than three times higher.

Experts also found patients were not being told about their risk of death, with fewer than a tenth of high-risk patients having their estimated risk put in their notes.

In conclusion, the report recommended introducing a nationwide system for identifying patients who are at high-risk of dying or suffering complications after surgery.

It also called for all high-risk patients to be seen and "fully investigated" in pre-assessment clinics.

Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, described the report as "shocking".

"The NHS needs to be far more open and transparent about the risks patients are exposed to," she said.

NHS medical director Prof Sir Bruce Keogh said: "The vast majority of operations performed by the NHS are safe and successful, but all patients, especially those at high risk, should receive good care and all the information that they need about their treatment - anything less is simply unacceptable."

Thursday 17 November 2011

NHS: Crackdown on 'hidden waiting' ordered by ministers

Patients should be seen within 18 weeks for non-emergency care in England

Ministers are ordering a crackdown on "hidden" waiting in the NHS in England.

Hospitals currently have to see non-urgent patients within 18 weeks but there are nearly 250,000 on lists who have waited for longer than this.

Ministers believe there is not enough incentive for these patients to be treated, meaning some are left "languishing" unnecessarily.

They are demanding NHS managers reduce the number of long waiters by about 50,000 by April.

The whole backlog is not being targeted as it is accepted that some patients wait longer than 18 weeks for justifiable reasons - perhaps because they have to lose weight before having surgery or for personal or work commitments.

There is particular concern within the government about some of the longest waits being seen. Among the 250,000 who have been waiting for longer than 18 weeks are just over 100,000 who have waited for more than six months and 20,000 waiting at least a year.

Analysis

The government's latest NHS initiative is being viewed with a certain degree of irony within the health service.

This was an administration that came to power promising to move away from what it said was the target culture created by Labour.

Within months of seizing the reins ministers announced the 18-week waiting time target was being relaxed.

But that is not how it feels now for those on the front-line.

When criticism of the government's reforms was at its peak in the early summer the prime minister reiterated his commitment to the 18-week limit. Managers were left in no doubt, there was to be no let up.

And now there is growing concern about long waiters, ministers have responded by introducing what is effectively a new target to tackle the perverse incentives of an existing target.

However, these figures should be seen in the context of the total size of the waiting list, which currently stands at 2.6 million for non-emergency care, such as knee and hip replacements.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has blamed the targets established by the Labour government which he said had created a perverse incentive whereby the NHS was free to leave patients "languishing" on waiting lists.

He said: "Because of Labour's perverse approach, the NHS actually had an incentive not to treat patients.

"The new approach we will take from next year will clamp down on this practice. We will reduce the number of patients on hidden waiting lists, ensuring everyone gets access to the treatment they need."

Jo Webber, deputy policy director of the NHS Confederation, said she welcomed what the government was trying to do.

"This indicator will shine a spotlight on one of the many aspects of patient waiting the government does not currently measure."

NHS waiting in numbers

There are currently 2.6 million patients on waiting lists for non-emergency treatment in England
Of those, nearly 250,000 have waited for longer than 18 weeks
Of which, just over 100,000 have waited for longer than six months and 20,000 for more than a year
The NHS sees about 300,000 in-patients a month and nearly 900,000 out-patients

But shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said the government was having to introduce these new rules because of Mr Lansley's failure to "get a grip" on waiting times.

And he added the government's overhaul of the NHS would just make matter worse as NHS hospitals would become distracted by competing with the private sector.

"This will take us straight back to bad old days of the Tory NHS, where patients are forced to choose between waiting longer or paying to go private."

He said there was some evidence the longest waits were actually going down.And Professor John Appleby, of the King's Fund, a health think tank, questioned whether the current system was creating perverse incentives.

"If they really want to tackle the longest waits they could simply say that no patient should wait longer than a year before treatment begins," he added.

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Thursday 13 September 2012

Mid Staffs NHS trust ''may be privatised''

Mid Staffs NHS trust ''may be privatised''

Hospitals 'on brink of collapse'

Hospitals 'on brink of collapse'

Sunday 2 September 2012

Wednesday 22 August 2012

NHS hospital trusts invited to expand abroad

NHS hospital trusts invited to expand abroad

“David Stou

Thursday 10 May 2012

Most NHS costs wasteful, says Diabetic Medicine

Diabetes: Most NHS costs wasteful, says Diabetic Medicine

“Start Quote

Friday 9 December 2011

high-risk surger

Care for high-risk surgery 'falling short'

Thursday 17 November 2011

NHS: Crackdown on 'hidden waiting' ordered by ministers

NHS: Crackdown on 'hidden waiting' ordered by ministers

Analysis

NHS waiting in numbers

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More patients in Scotland given antidepressants

Thursday 13 September 2012

Mid Staffs NHS trust ''may be privatised''

Hospitals 'on brink of collapse'

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Sunday 2 September 2012

Wednesday 22 August 2012

NHS hospital trusts invited to expand abroad

“David Stou

Thursday 10 May 2012

Diabetes: Most NHS costs wasteful, says Diabetic Medicine

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“Start Quote

More on This Story

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Friday 9 December 2011

Care for high-risk surgery 'falling short'

Thursday 17 November 2011

NHS: Crackdown on 'hidden waiting' ordered by ministers

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Analysis

NHS waiting in numbers

Featured post