News

The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has recently published a report titled ‘Adult Social Care: LGO – the single point of contact for complaints’.  The report aims to help improve services and good administration by analysing key trends highlighted from adult social care complaints, providing an insight into issues affecting all users of social care. Four …

Local Government Ombudsman publishes report on social care complaints Read More »

The Family Doctor Association has said that GP’s need one month’s notice prior to a CQC inspection. GP practices in England must register with the CQC by 1 April 2013 and CQC will inspect the practice once every two years. CQC will also be able to make unannounced visits but the majority of GP surgeries …

GP’s Demand One Month’s Notice Prior to CQC Inspection Read More »

Terminally ill patients are being supplied with special cards warning doctors not to place them on a controversial death pathway. The cards come as a result of a mounting backlash against overuse of the Liverpool Care Pathway which enables medical staff to withhold fluid and drugs from a patient while they are heavily sedated, speeding …

Death Pathway Refusal Cards Read More »

Regular checks on doctors are to take place by the end of 2012 after the General Medical Council announced its decision to introduce the process of assessing doctors’ skills. Annual appraisals will take place for all doctors in the UK and this will feed into an assessment every five years. As long as there are …

GMC to Monitor Doctors Read More »

A great deal of public attention has focussed on the introduction in England of a universal system of deferred payments for residential care which, it is proposed, will take effect from April 2015. However, an area that has received limited media coverage is the less sensational commitment to improving the information available to support people …

The White Paper: Caring for our future: reforming care and support: an information revolution? Read More »

Services for vulnerable children are set for a major overhaul which will see the role of health services, police, probation and local authority services come in for closer inspection. At present, unannounced child protection inspections are carried out by Ofsted, but these only scrutinise in depth the performance of the local authority. Inspection of the …

Ofsted to Work with CQC Read More »

An investigation by BBC London has highlighted the need for the General Medical Council (GMC) to clampdown on how doctors prescribe Botox.  An undercover nurse secretly filmed a doctor teaching what have been described as “wrong and unacceptable” practices to nurses during a Botox training session. The doctor in question was secretly filmed suggesting that, …

Ban on Botox prescriptions over the phone and internet Read More »

The government have not fully committed to a cap on care costs for the elderly and disabled in England, saying they need to consider cheaper options first due to the current economic climate. Ministers revealed funding ideas including a higher cap or asking people to pay a fee to opt in to the system. The …

Cap on Care Costs Delayed Read More »

Doctors have been told to report concerns about child abuse to the General Medical Council. The GMC claims that high-profile cases where doctors have been accused of giving misleading evidence in child protection cases and a fear of complaints by parents were preventing doctors from raising the alarm. The GMC will issue new guidance highlighting …

Doctors to Raise Child Abuse Alarm Read More »

A new study exploring the link between stress and dementia has been launched by the Alzheimer’s Society in the hope of finding new ways to prevent dementia or better ways to manage the condition. The investigation, funded by the Alzheimer’s Society, will monitor 140 people with mild cognitive impairment or “pre-dementia” and look at how …

Does Stress Cause Dementia? Read More »