Month: August 2015

Memory loss and lapses in judgement have often been associated with dementia. However, experiencing a ‘senior moment’ is a good sign rather than a cause for concern research suggests. The study indicates that the real cause for concern is when people begin to stop noticing and fail to acknowledge memory lapses. Published in the leading …

Sharp drop in ‘memory awareness’ of people with dementia Read More »

Under plans announced in the budget it has been revealed that UK employees aged 25 and over will be paid a National Living Wage of at least £7.20 per hour from April 2016, this is planned toriseto £9 per hour by 2020. Although this is good news for most, serious concernshave been raised within the …

National living wage threatens care home viability Read More »

In the March budget it was revealed that chancellor George Osborne had reserved an extra £1.25bn for investment to improve mental health services for children and young people for the next five years. This amount was to be split equally amounting to £250m annually, and had been included within the Department of Health’s (DoH) annual …

Department of Health falls short of its promised target fund for children’s mental health services Read More »

Integrated health and care services have been the aim of central policies and local discussion for many years, and moves to decentralize health budgets to areas such as Manchester, and Cornwall are giving integration more of an incentive. Recently, the Health Foundation has thought about ways to develop quality in both health and social care …

Can we successfully integrate health and social-care services? Read More »

New guidance distributed by NHS England this week, formally outlined that struggling Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) could have their powers transferred to other CCGs, local authorities or providers. The guidance explains how special measure can be used for CCGs in the future being “applied to a CCG facing persistent performance, financial or governance problems where …

Failing CCGs may have their powers transferred, as new rating systems come into play Read More »

The current situation and status of adult social care is under ‘stress and strain’, according to Andrea Sutcliffe, the chief inspector of Adult Social Care at CQC. In her damning critique of the care sector in England, she highlighted how budget cuts had put the system under intense pressure, with carers being demoralised by long …

Adult social care being stretched to dangerous limits Read More »

CQC have recently announced that they will be taking a location based approach to inspections to test out how well coordinated healthcare services are in local areas. This new proposal is to be tested by a pilot which will assess whole health systems in North Lincolnshire and Greater Manchester. However, as mentioned by Professor Steve …

CQC announces pilot project to assess whole health systems Read More »

Although progress has been made in changing attitudes to mental health for the better, there is still a long way to go. According to the CQC report, ‘Right here, right now -help, care and support during a mental health crisis’, a person experiencing a mental health crisis is yet to receive the same quality of …

CQC mental health crisis care review Read More »

Yesterday, in a letter sent to NHS providers, Jane Cummings, the chief nursing officer announced discussions regarding the progress being made to create an advisory group of senior nurses and experts, which would be able to provide ‘systematic oversight’ to junior staff across the health service. NHS England stated how such a group would work …

NHS England sets out to implement safe staffing ‘advisory’ group Read More »

Legal Aid was brought into effect through the Legal Advice & Assistance Act 1949 and the main aim of the act was to provide legal assistance to the poor and those with limited means who might be able to contribute to the cost of the legal advice and assistance provided to them. In 1950 legal …

The ever decreasing scope of Legal Aid Read More »