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Friday 24 May

Further coverage today on yesterday’s BBC story which said there has been a 42% reduction in the number of district nurses over the decade. The Times reports that a study by the Royal College of Nursing has claimed that cuts in the number of district nurses mean that patients are stranded in hospital for days after they should be discharged. The study found a strong link between the length of time patients spent in hospital and the quality of care available closer to their home. Patients in Britain spend longer in hospitals than elsewhere in the European Union because of shortages in community care. Dr Peter Carter is quoted in The Times, Daily Express and Daily Telegraph as saying: “With this huge reduction in the numbers of district nurses, while at the same time the massive growth in the population and more and more people with complex conditions, I have to say unfortunately we really are failing people who deserve so much more".

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Thursday 23 May

The BBC are running a number of articles across TV and radio focusing on the 42% reduction in the number of District Nurses over the last decade. Dr Peter Carter was interviewed in advance for Radio 4’s Today programme and BBC Breakfast and said: "With this huge reduction in the numbers of district nurses, while at the same time the massive growth in the population and more and more people with complex conditions, I have to say unfortunately we really are failing people who deserve so much more". Chief Nursing Officer Jane Cummings was also interviewed on the Today programme

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Tuesday 21 may

A chief inspector of GPs is to be appointed as part of a push to improve services outside of hospitals, ministers are set to announce. In a speech to the King’s Fund on Thursday, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will say that the problems being seen in A&E units are linked to the way GPs work. Mr Hunt will promise to bring back the family doctor – one GP responsible for all the patient’s care – as part of plans to make care more personal.

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Saturday 18-Monday 20 May

The Daily Mail reports that fifty hospital beds have been axed every week since the last election - pushing overstretched accident and emergency wards ever closer to breaking point. Since May 2010, the number of general and acute beds available overnight on hospital wards has fallen by more than 6,500. Dr Peter Carter is quoted as saying: “Removing beds from acute services will only store up problems for the future unless there is investment in community services. Without this investment, patients will inevitably end up in A&E departments and hospitals for treatment they could be receiving in the community, placing further pressure on the system”.

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Friday 17 May

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will today unveil plans for a £260m system for electronically prescribing drugs in a first step towards a totally digital NHS by 2018. The fund will at first be used for electronic prescriptions in hospitals before being rolled out to GPs. Mr Hunt said the electronic system will improve patient safety by reducing prescription mistakes and making medical information about patients more readily available to medical staff.

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