4.23pm Public Health England has defended its policy on NHS Health Checks. In a statement medical director Paul Cosford said although PHE recognises the programme is “not supported by direct randomised controlled trial evidence, there is nonetheless an urgent need to tackle the growing burden of disease which is associated with lifestyle behaviours and choices”.
He added: “All elements of the health checks follow well recognised and evidenced clinical pathways approved by NICE and the existing relevant evidence, together with operational experience accruing on the ground, is compelling support for the programme.” Read the full statement here.
2.21pm HSJ’s tablet app is now available for Android devices. The new app means Android users can access HSJ’s award-winning journalism on the move or save it to read offline. It contains every story from the most recent issue of the magazine, plus all the latest content from hsj.co.uk. Android users can download it from the Google Play store.
11.54am NHS England has “soft launched” a flagship transparency project which allows patients to give real time feedback on their hospital experience, HSJ’s James Illman reports.
However it has dropped an ambition to have every trust signed up by 2015, in order not to overburden the service, and avoid a rushed implementation which could spark problems similar to the 111 urgent care number fiasco.
However it has dropped an ambition to have every trust signed up by 2015, in order not to overburden the service, and avoid a rushed implementation which could spark problems similar to the 111 urgent care number fiasco.
11.18am A new briefing on mental health, drug and alcohol services from Centre for Mental Health, Drugscope and Alcohol Concern urges commissioners to tackle the poorly integrated support received by those with overlapping needs. Making recovery a reality in your community: A briefing for commissioners of mental health, drug and alcohol services argues that by focusing on what matters most to people’s lives – a home, a job, family and friends – services can enable people with multiple needs to build better lives on their own terms.
11.08am For anyone interested in taking part in HSJ’s learning disability week twitter chat on Thursday, this is the article that will be under discussion.In it author Daniel Marsden, a practice development nurse for people with learning disabilities at East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, shares the benefits of a scheme to recruit people with learning difficulties as interns at the trust.
10.52am The Times leads it front page with a story questioning the value of NHS Health Checks. It reports on research by the Nordic Cochrane Centre which found that the £300m Health Check programme “operates in direct conflict with the best available evidence” and is likely to lead to patients taking drugs they do not need. The researchers analysed 14 randomised trials on international health checks which involved 183,000 individuals. Health checks are offered to all 15 million people aged between 40 and 74.
10.39am The Daily Mail today devotes most of page 12 to a story about how a record number of care homes and hospitals were issued with official warnings last year.
The Care Quality Commission issued 910 “warning notices” – which the paper says are only used when care is so bad that providers are failing to comply with the law.
“The Shaming of UK’s Care Homes”, reads the headline. There is also a box detailing “the damning dossier” with examples of “cocky staff”, “residents ignored”, “filthy commodes”, “missed medication”, “faulty alarms” and “unexplained injuries”.
Click here if you want to read more.
10.14am New on HSJ this morning: Our reporter David Williams has done his maiden finance column, on outcome based commissioning. Commissioners hope the innovation will enable the integration of services across primary, secondary, and at times social care. So it seems like a good time to ask, what could possibly go wrong, and what are the pioneers doing to mitigate against it?
9.35am: The number of safeguard applications to deprive people of their liberty has risen for the third year running new figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show.
9.02am: HSJ.co.uk will on Thursday host a Twitter chat for Learning Disability week.
9am: The government has announced that: “New legislation comes into force today which will mean that physiotherapists and podiatrists in the UK will be the first to be able to independently prescribe medication to their patients”
8.40am: Good morning, the health service is collecting more data than ever before, but it can only help patients if it knows how best to use it, say Hilary Thomas and Lizzie Tuckey. Without better population based data, we cannot reliably predict outcomes for the majority of patients and we cannot easily see whether one drug adds more value than another, beyond the boundaries of a clinical trial.
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