The latest news from the patient's perspective
This theme looks at the issues that relate to partnership working and shared decision making. It covers people’s human rights including the right to privacy and confidentiality.
Age UK
More than 50,000 people have died waiting for care while ministers dither over long-awaited plans to overhaul the funding of social care. Age UK estimated that 54,000 people have died while waiting for a care package in the 700 days since the government first said in March 2017 it would publish its social care green paper, which has since been delayed several times.
BBC News
A failure to identify those patients not entitled to free NHS care is costing Scotland's health boards hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. Holyrood's health committee made the claim after figures showed NHS Scotland was owed more than £3.2m by overseas patients who had received treatment. GPs are not required to note a person's country of origin before treating them.
BBC News
GPs in England must start routinely using email instead of sending letters to communicate with patients, the health secretary says. Matt Hancock wants email to become the default option by 2021. He said there was no reason why doctors could not email a test result or prescription - although people who did not use email would still be able to request letters were sent.
BMJ
As the first national centres start to provide this developing radiotherapy technology in the UK, Matthew Limb reports on the hopes and expectations of doctors, policy makers, and patients Advocates view this winter’s opening of the NHS’s first high energy proton beam therapy unit, at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, as a landmark for the National Health Service.
Carers UK
This research reveals that 2.6 million people have quit their job to care for a loved one who is older, disabled or seriously ill, with nearly half a million (468,000) leaving their job in the past two years alone - more than 600 people a day. This is a 12 per cent increase since Carers UK and YouGov polled the public in 2013.
FoNS Centre for Nursing Innovation
This project aimed to re-develop the way resident information/data is gathered and recorded. It wanted to achieve a person-centred approach to collecting the information and to generate knowledge by participating in the older person’s (resident’s) life world, creating a collaboration between the older person and the carers.
FoNS Centre for Nursing Innovation
This project aimed to improve team working by improving staff morale, team culture and collaborative working, improve patient and relative experience and reduce patient safety incidents.
Guardian
This study finds one in 14 cases in under-35s could be avoided if teenagers did not use the drug. Scientists believe they have identified about 60,000 cases of depression in adults under 35 in the UK.
Guardian
Ministers urged to consider revoking patent on life-extending Orkambi, which NHS cannot afford. Campaigners are calling on the government to urgently intervene over the cost of a drug that could extend the lives of thousands of children but which manufacturers have set at £105,000 per patient per year, a price the NHS cannot afford.
NHS England
Personalised care will benefit up to 2.5 million people by 2024, giving them choice and control over their mental and physical health. This document confirms how personalised care will be rolled out across England by 2023/24.
Nuffield Trust
This briefing breaks down a range of indicators to see whether drives to integrate services have led to improvements for patients. Overall, there is limited evidence that patients are benefitting from better integrated care: only one of the seven indicators has improved, three have deteriorated, and three show either no change or an inconsistent pattern.
Royal College of Occupational Therapy
This short report identifies three key factors to enable personalised care: focusing on a person’s strengths and balancing choice and risk; enabling people to take part in daily activities that are important to them and eEnsuring people stay connected to family, friends and communities.
Telegraph
Smart speakers like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri are to be used by the NHS to analyse patient conversations and spot if they suicidal, it has emerged. A new report published today into the technological future of the health service has called for trusts to embrace robots and artificial intelligence and said that London was already planning to embed AI into its mental health services to pick up those in danger of self harm.
