Media Hub

10
Dec 2014

Exodus of senior nurses from NHS leads to warning of skills gap

Over 1,000 matrons and 3,400 other senior nurses have been lost by the NHS in England in the last four years, thought to be brought about by a combination of cuts to staffing and an ageing workforce. These new figures have led to warnings that there may be a lack of “vital experience and knowledge”…

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08
Dec 2014

NHS hospitals missing cancer diagnoses and patients being sent home too early

According to the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman Dame Julie Mellor, patients are being sent home too early from hospital, and in many cases before it is safe for them to leave, putting them at serious risk and adding a “massive cost” to the NHS for emergency readmissions. She added serious failings such as missed cancer…

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08
Dec 2014

£2.5bn spent on agency staff to meet increasing demand on NHS

In an attempt to improve patient safety, new figures have shown that £2.5bn was spent last year on part-time agency staff by NHS hospitals. The overspend has been driven by hospital bosses employing more nursing staff in an attempt to improve patient safety in the wake of the Mid Staffordshire care scandal, and also by…

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05
Dec 2014

Honesty being put at the heart of healthcare under new guidelines for doctors, nurses and midwives

A public consultation on draft joint guidance has been launched by the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, to encourage doctors, nurses and midwifes to be open and honest about mistakes. The guidance covers the need to learn from when something goes wrong and a patient is harmed in some way, as…

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05
Dec 2014

Anonymity fears amongst junior doctors

A new report by the General Medical Council has found that junior doctors still lack the confidence to whistle-blow on patient safety concerns, with nearly one in 10 experiencing bullying in the workplace. The survey of 50,000 trainee doctors saw a considerable decline in the amount of raised patient safety concerns (0.8 per cent compared…

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02
Dec 2014

£2bn more needed next year for NHS England

Health think tank the King’s Fund has said that £2bn should be provided to NHS England next year. The call for extra money has come at a time when the deficit is increasing and performance is deteriorating, with targets being breached for cancer treatment, hospital operations and accident and emergency waiting times. In the last…

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