Latest News

NHS charges and data skewed by definitions of short-stay patients

19 April 2012 | No comments

A new publication by the Audit Commission highlights a major cause of dispute between those who commission NHS services and those who provide them – how to classify a patient who stays in hospital for less than 24 hours.

Funding for lipreading tutors to improve life for deaf and hard of hearing people in Wales

16 April 2012 | No comments

Welsh Government funding to train lip reading tutors will help reduce social isolation for many of Wales’ deaf and hard of hearing people.

Audit Commission announces details of £50 million annual savings for public bodies

11 April 2012 | No comments

The Audit Commission has today announced the reduced scale audit fees it will charge individual councils, health and other public bodies for five years from 2012/13.

Half of people with diabetes have high blood pressure

10 April 2012 | No comments

Diabetes UK has issued a warning about the hugely damaging effect of high blood pressure, as a new analysis reveals that half of people with the condition are not meeting their blood pressure target. 

Hospital infections fall by one third

4 April 2012 | No comments

NHS staff were congratulated today as a major report shows infections in Scotland’s hospitals have reduced by a third since 2006.

Older people’s care inspection report

4 April 2012 | No comments

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is the first health board to come under scrutiny through a programme of inspections to look at care for older people in hospitals.

CQC publishes 18 more reports from its review of services for people with learning disabilities

4 April 2012 | No comments

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) today publishes a further 18 reports from a targeted programme of 150 unannounced inspections of hospitals and care homes that care for people with learning disabilities.

Local transport gets £11m investment

3 April 2012 | No comments

Calls for doctors to speed up dementia diagnoses

2 April 2012 | No comments

GPs across the country have drastically different rates of identifying dementia, with a mere 37 per cent of sufferers in the south west receiving a diagnosis compared with 46 per cent in the north east and almost 70 per cent in parts of Northern Ireland, according to figures released by the Alzheimer’s Society.

Age UK predicts the elderly who meet their own costs will be increased by up to 150,000 by 2025

2 April 2012 | No comments

What many are calling a “stealth cut” is apparently responsible for a tax on the elderly that has yet to make it to headlines, an age UK prediction has said.

Health Secretary thanks NHS staff and sets out ambition for clinically-led NHS

30 March 2012 | No comments

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has thanked NHS staff for their work over the last year and reassured them the Health and Social Care Act ‘explicitly supports the core principles of the NHS’.

Staffordshire care home has failed to protect people’s safety and welfare says regulator

29 March 2012 | No comments

Shenstone Hall Nursing Home in Lichfield is not meeting six essential standards.

Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia

29 March 2012 | No comments

The Prime Minister has launched a programme of work which aims to deliver major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015.

Topping out ceremony for new Health and Wellbeing Centre

29 March 2012 | No comments

A topping out ceremony to mark the completion of the highest level of the building for the multi-million pound international innovation centre specialising in the health and wellbeing sector which is being constructed in Truro was held this week.

CQC announces regulatory fees updates

29 March 2012 | No comments

Following two consecutive consultations on the fees that it charges to health and social care providers, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced changes to its fee structure and the

Some care homes and hospitals are still not meeting their obligations on liberty safeguards, says CQC

28 March 2012 | No comments

Awareness of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in care homes and hospitals grew in 2010-2011 but staff training on how to apply them was still patchy, leading to inconsistent practice, says the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

£4 million for innovative solutions to tackle healthcare problems

28 March 2012 | No comments

RCN unveils position statement on the education and training of HCAs

28 March 2012 | No comments

The Royal College of Nursing has warned that nationally recognised training for health care assistants (HCAs) is essential to deliver high quality patient care.