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The UK Statistics Authority has warned Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt over false information he gave over accident and emergency waiting times in England. On 2 July David Cameron stated that the average wait time for an accident and emergency assessment had fallen from 77 minutes to 30 minutes since the coalition came into power. A …

Health Secretary Warned Over False Waiting Times Data Read More »

New draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the treatment of those in their last days of life has been put forward this week. The draft guidance comes in the wake of the phasing out of the highly criticised Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP). The new guidance issued by NICE …

New draft guidance on end-of-life care proposed Read More »

This month, the Department of Health (DoH) updated the Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance under the Health & Social Care Act 2008. This change has been implemented to reflect the structural changes which have occurred in the NHS from 1 April 2013. The revised Code of Practice …

Department of Health revises code of practice on prevention of infections Read More »

In the last parliament, a key part of the Care Act legislation was the Tory commitment to limiting care bills to £72,000 for the elderly and young adults with disabilities. However, it has been regrettably announced by the House of Commons that this cap on care will not be implemented until 2020. This major ‘U-turn …

Jeremy Hunt faces criticism as cap on care costs is delayed Read More »

CQC has recently published its annual report for 2014-15 which analyses its achievements over the past year and its goals for the future. In particular, it reports on the implementation of its new inspection model which has been designed and implemented over the past two years. The report recognises that there have been many changes …

CQC publishes annual report for 2014-15 Read More »

Since March 2012, CQC has faced heavy criticisms surrounding its ability to regulate health and social care. However, a recent report published by the National Audit Office has emphasised CQC’s ‘substantial progress,’ in embedding changes to its inspection approach following the execution of a three-year transformation program. CQC’s response Inevitably, CQC has welcomed NAO’s encouraging …

CQC still to implement changes despite positive NAO report Read More »

Health Secretary, Jeremey Hunt, has said that the introduction of a new electronic booking system will enable patients, for the first time, to make ‘truly informed’ choices about the hospital they select. It is understood that from next year onwards, GP’s will be able to pass on information about CQC ratings and waiting times for …

CQC ratings to be shown to patients encouraging “informed” hospital choice Read More »

Care home costs are increasingly rising due to the cost of complying with the latest guidelines and regulations. According to data released by business and support organisation, The Forum of Private Business, when compared to other small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES), costs for care businesses are averaging £21,250 which is £7000 more than other SMES. …

Care home budgets and the cost of compliance Read More »

It was announced yesterday that this autumn will see the introduction of new multi-agency child protection inspections. Such ‘Joint Targeted Area Inspections” (JTAI) will aim to highlight “good” and “poor” practice, scrutinising and assessing the work of many local authorities including: social-care, health, police, education and probation on how well they work together to safeguard …

Ofsted and CQC to introduce ‘new joint targeted inspections’ Read More »

The Royal College of Psychiatrists which commissioned a consultation into ‘improving acute inpatient psychiatric care for adults in England’ has produced an interim report of its findings. The commission was set up by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to probe the factors behind problems securing hospital admissions for mental health patients in parts of the …

Report on mental health beds published Read More »