Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced measures to help cut the death toll in hospitals this winter. The Government is investing £250 million into hospitals. This will provide for nearly 3000 extra staff and almost 2,500 more beds which will be made available to over-stretched hospitals to cut the winter death toll. Most of the …
NHS figures have highlighted the problem of delays in discharging patients from hospitals. Last month, the number of days “lost” by patients who needed beds was the highest for more than three years. Senior doctors working in accident and emergency departments say it is a major cause for concern. The problem facing hospitals is making …
Last week, the CQC released a State of Care report which looked at the quality of care in hospitals. In particular, it focused on the pressures on accident and emergency services due to an increase of admissions for ‘avoidable’ conditions. The report also looked at other health and social care services which considered findings of …
The government’s response to the Francis Report has outlined that wilful neglect will be made a criminal offence in England and Wales. This means that doctors and nurses could face jail sentences if found guilty of the new offence. The offence is intended to apply only to the most extreme types of poor care. If …
New offence of wilful neglect to be introduced for health professionals Read More »
The government has today (19 November 2013) published a full response to the 290 recommendations made in the Francis Report by Robert Francis QC. The Francis Report was commissioned following the public enquiry into failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. Some of the main actions referred to in the government response include: Hospitals in …
The CQC have recently used their enforcement powers to issue penalty notices on a care home, fining them £8000 for failure to meet medication regulations. CQC issued the penalty notice in response to identified failures not being addressed properly. Concerns were first raised following an inspection in November 2012 with CQC informing the provider they …
During discussions over next year’s GP contract the British Medical Association and NHS England have agreed to allocate each of the 100,000 most frail patients in England to a specific named GP who will be responsible for coordinating their care. The plans are intended to begin in April 2014. The move is intended to relieve …
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said he is planning to announce a failure regime for GPs. This follows the new failure regime applied to NHS hospitals which allows commissioners to place hospitals in “special measures” in order to fix significant concerns regarding patient care or the way a hospital is run. Mr Hunt is also …
NHS Chiefs say that a two-tier A&E system should be created in England to improve services. NHS England carried out a review and suggested that 40 – 70 of the biggest units specialising in heart attacks, strokes and trauma should become major emergency centres. This would leave the remaining A&E departments to deal with less …
There was a recent appeal against an Employment Tribunal decision, which raised the question of the correct approach to determining what hours are to be paid at the minimum rate of the National Minimum Wage when averaged with other working hours. In this case the Claimant claimed she should be paid for the following: 1. …
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