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Content ArticleWhen leaving hospital with medicines, there can be a lot of information to take in. This checklist designed by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS) is designed to help patients and their carers use medications safely when they leave hospital. It includes: Questions to consider before you leave hospital Questions to consider when you’ve left hospital Further useful resources Medicines safety and governance pharmacist Jen Flatman has written a blog about how the checklist was developed.
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Content ArticleSpecialised services typically care for small numbers of patients with rare or complex conditions. They are commonly overlooked in debates around the future of the NHS. This is despite costs growing by over 50% in eight years, and now exceeding £20bn per year. The spotlight is returning, with proposals from NHS England to change how these services are planned, with power and responsibility being devolved down to new Integrated Care Boards – sub-regional structures across England. This report sets out a series of recommendations which Policy Exchange believe should underpin these reforms, including refinement of the services into more logical groupings, an expanded role for patient and carer input into service design, and stronger ministerial and financial oversight to ensure the sustainability of service delivery for the longer term.
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Content ArticleNot knowing how to unfold or even sit in a wheelchair the right way can cause a catastrophic injury to patients, visitors, volunteers, and staff of a healthcare facility. Wheelchairs are one of the most common assistive devices used in healthcare facilities, from admission to discharge. They are often found at the entrance of a facility for use by both patients and visitors with mobility issues. Hospital volunteers, transport staff, and clinical staff use wheelchairs to take patients to different care areas to have tests performed. Many facilities require that patients be transported in a wheelchair upon discharge. However, not knowing the proper method of unfolding a wheelchair or where to place your hands when sitting down in the seat can cause injuries, specifically to fingers, ranging from lacerations to amputations.
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Content ArticleFor people who have been diagnosed with dementia, accessing post-diagnosis support can be challenging, particularly when the systems meant to provide support are confusing, limited or in some areas, non-existent. The World Alzheimer Report 2022 looks at the issues surrounding post-diagnosis support, a term that refers to the variety of official and informal services and information aimed at promoting the wellbeing of people with dementia and their carers. This report explores the aspects of living with dementia following diagnosis, through 119 essays written by researchers, healthcare professionals, informal carers and people living with dementia from around the world. These expert essays are accompanied by the results of a survey carried out in May 2022, with responses from 1,669 informal carers in 68 countries, 893 professional carers in 69 countries and 365 people with dementia from 41 countries.
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Content ArticlePerceptions of care work as low skilled continue to persist, despite the pandemic highlighting just how vital care workers are. In recent years there has been increased debate around the ‘professionalisation’ of this staff group, which generally refers to the creation of a statutory register of staff and their professional regulation. This new Nuffield Trust report reviews what the evidence shows about the professionalisation of care workers in other countries.
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Content ArticleCall 4 Concern enables patients, relatives and carers to call for help/advice from the Acute Intervention Team when they are concerned about a patient’s condition, and/or they feel that their concern is not being addressed by the ward team. County Durham and Darlington share their Call 4 Concern leaflet.
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Content ArticleThis article discusses how medication safety can be improved in Canada. It explores the complexities of aging, what can go wrong with medication, 'Best Possible Medication Histories', the role of pharmacists and paramedics, engaging with patients and their families, and improving communication across the healthcare system.
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Content ArticleThe Quality Network for Inpatient Working Age Mental Health Services (QNWA) based within the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Centre for Quality Improvement are pleased to announce the publication of their 8th edition standards. Since the publication of the first edition standards in 2006, the Network has grown to include over 140 members from the NHS and private sector. This new edition of standards aims to reflect the changes in working practices and legislation over the last two years in addition to placing greater emphasis on equality, diversity and inclusion as well as sustainability in inpatient mental health services. The eighth edition standards have been drawn from key documents and expert consensus and have been subject to extensive consultation with professional groups involved in the provision of inpatient mental health services, and with people and carers who have used services in the past.
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Content ArticleCall 4 Concern is a patient safety initiative enabling patients and families to call for immediate help and advice when they feel concerned that they are not receiving adequate clinical attention. Here is the University Hospitals Sussex Trust's leaflet.
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Content ArticleCall for Concern is a patient safety service for adult inpatients, families and friends to call for help and advice if you or your family are concerned that there is a noticeable change or deterioration in condition. This service is delivered by the Critical Care Outreach team who are available 24 hours a day to help support ward teams in the care of acutely ill patients. We also offer emotional support to patients and their families who have recently been discharged from the Critical Care Unit as this can be an anxious time. When can I call? After you have spoken to the ward team or doctor but feel the healthcare team are not recognising or responding to your concern. If you have been a patient in Critical Care and are experiencing difficulties such as anxiety, bad dreams, low mood or feeling emotional.
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Content ArticleFrimley Health has launched a new service for members of the public to independently raise concerns if they believe a patient’s clinical condition is deteriorating. The Call 4 Concern programme enables friends, relatives – and the patients themselves - to make a direct referral if their concerns have not been alleviated by first speaking to the medical team. The Trust’s critical care outreach practitioners will then review the patient, liaise with the medical team and take any appropriate action. At Frimley Park Hospital, call 07717 303231. At Wexham Park Hospital call 07909 930728. The Call 4 Concern programme is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and has previously been successfully implemented by several other NHS organisations.
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Content ArticlePeople with living dementia or mild cognitive impairment and their family carers face challenges in managing medicines. This review, published in Age and Ageing, identifies interventions to improve medicine self-management for people with dementia and mild cognitive impairment and their family carers, and the core components of medicine self-management that they address.
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Content ArticleThis report published by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) looked to identify and explore remediable factors in the clinical and organisation of the physical healthcare provided to adult patients admitted to a mental health inpatient setting. The report suggests that a physical healthcare plan should be developed when patients are admitted to a mental health inpatient setting. Other key messages aimed at improving care include calls to: formalise clinical networks/pathways between mental health and physical health care; involve patients and their carers in their physical health care, and use admission as an opportunity to assess and involve patients in their general health, and include mental health and physical health conditions on electronic patient records.
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News Article“Smart socks” that track sweat levels, heart rate and motion are being given to dementia patients to alert carers if they are becoming distressed. The unintrusive technology was developed by Dr Zeke Steer, of Bristol Universit. Dr Steer wanted to find a way to spot the early warning signs of distress, so carers or relatives could intervene with calming techniques to de-escalate the situation. The hi-tech hosiery - which look and feel like normal socks - use e-textiles to transmit data in real time to an app, which alerts carers when stress levels are rising. The socks are now being trialled among mid to late stage dementia patients. Researchers think they will also help people with autism and other conditions that affect communication. Fran Ashby, manager from Garden House Care Home, in Bristol, said: “We were really impressed at the potential of assisted technology to predict impending agitation and help alert staff to intervene before it can escalate into distressed behaviours. “Using modern assistive technology examples, like smart socks, can help enable people living with dementia to retain their dignity and have better quality outcomes for their day to day life.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 9 May 2022
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Content ArticleIn patient experience research, participants frequently report the impact that mesothelioma has on their mental health yet there have been very few studies specifically focused on mental health and mesothelioma. In patient experience research, participants frequently report the impact that mesothelioma has on their mental health yet there have been very few studies specifically focused on mental health and mesothelioma. This new study from the Mesothelioma UK research centre aims to create an understanding of the impact of mesothelioma on the mental health of patients, their families and close friends, and what people do to improve their mental health and well-being.
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News ArticleThe carer who admitted the manslaughter of Adelaide woman Ann Marie Smith, who had cerebral palsy, has been jailed for at least five years and three months for her criminal neglect. Sentencing Rosa Maria Maione in the Supreme Court, Justice Anne Bampton said the 70-year-old was grossly negligent, with her care for Smith falling well short of the standard expected. “You did not mobilise her from the chair in which she was found. You did not toilet her properly and you did not clean her properly,” she told Maione on Friday. “You did not feed her a nutritional diet or monitor her intake. You knew you were not capable of properly supporting her and you did not seek assistance in providing for Ms Smith’s needs." “Despite the deterioration in Ms Smith’s health, you did not seek assistance from your supervisor or medical professionals until it was too late.” Justice Bampton said Maione had absolutely no insight into Smith’s physical condition leading up to her death. “Your incompetence, lack of training, lack of assertiveness and lack of supervision produced an environment where you failed to provide appropriate care,” she said. “Every person living with a disability, every person who requires support, every parent, carer and support worker of persons living with a disability, I have no doubt shudders with fear when they hear of the utter lack of care and human dignity afforded to Ms Smith in those last months of her life.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 March 2022
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Content Article
It’s time to rename the ‘visitor’: reflections from a relative
Anonymous posted an article in By patients and public
In my first blog, ‘Visiting restrictions and the impact on patients and their families’, I highlighted how the pandemic has shone a stark spotlight on so many inequities and inconsistencies in access to health and social care. I wanted to draw attention to how visiting restrictions can result in worse outcomes for patients and their families. In my second blog I want to focus on the terms ‘visiting’ and ‘visitor’ and discuss what defines a visitor and why, in my opinion, it requires redefining and renaming.- Posted
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Content ArticleThis study in the British Journal of General Practice looked at the association between continuity of GP care and potentially inappropriate prescribing in patients with dementia, as well as the incidence of adverse health outcomes. The study authors found that for patients with dementia, consulting with the same doctor consistently, resulted in: 35% less risk of delirium 58% less risk of incontinence 10% less risk in emergency admission to hospital less inappropriate prescribing. The results demonstrate that increasing continuity of care for patients with dementia could improve their treatment and outcomes.
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News ArticleMore than 167,000 children are believed to have lost parents or caregivers to Covid during the pandemic – roughly one in every 450 young people in the US under age 18. The count updates the October estimate that 140,000 minors had lost caregiving adults to the virus, and is four times more than a springtime tally that found nearly 40,000 children had experienced such loss. In a report titled Hidden Pain, researchers from the COVID Collaborative and Social Policy Analytics published the new total, which they derived by combining coronavirus death numbers with household-level data from the 2019 American Community Survey. The death toll further underscores the daunting task facing schools as they seek to help students recover not just academically, but also emotionally, from a pandemic that has already stretched 22 months and claimed more than 800,000 American lives. It’s an issue of such elevated concern that Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, on 7 December, used a rare public address to warn Americans of the pandemic’s “devastating” effects on youth mental health. An accompanying 53-page report calls out the particular difficulties experienced by young people who have lost parents or caregivers to the virus. Bereaved children have higher rates of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder than those who have not lost parents, according to a 2018 study that followed grieving children for multiple years. They are more than twice as likely to show impairments in functioning at school and at home, even seven years later, meaning these children need both immediate and long-term counseling and support to deal with such a traumatic loss. “For these children, their whole sky has fallen, and supporting them through this trauma must be a top priority.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 December 2021
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Content ArticleUniversity Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust has published a guide to help parents and carers know what to do when young children fall ill. It gives advice on when and where to seek treatment for children suffering from common illnesses or injuries. The guidance, written by doctors, focuses on coughs, minor head injuries, vomiting and fever. The trust said it hoped to help families avoid long waits in A&E departments. Advice in the guide aims to help people decide whether to seek help from their GP, call 111, visit A&E or treat children at home.
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Content ArticleThis white paper sets out the UK Government's 10-year vision for adult social care, and provides information on funded proposals that they will implement over the next three years. It highlights the factors that will cause an increase in demand for social care over the next decade and identifies stakeholders who the proposed changes to social care will affect. A key proposal in this white paper is the cap on how much individuals in England will contribute to their care costs from October 2023, which aims to make care costs predictable and limited.
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Content ArticleIn this interview with Dr. Robert Mentz, Editor-in-Chief and Dr. Anu Lala, Deputy Editor at the Journal of Cardiac Failure, Kristin and Will Flanary (AKA Lady and Dr. Glaucomflecken) share their experience as co-patient and patient. Will suffered a cardiac arrest in May 2020 and the experience of discovering her husband, having to perform CPR and waiting in isolation for news left his wife Kristin with significant trauma. The interview explores the experience of those involved in medical trauma who are not the patient themselves, the 'co-patient', and the ways in which healthcare professionals can support them to process their experience.
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- Coronary heart disease
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Content ArticleIn his account in the Journal of Cardiac Failure, Kristin Flanary describes her experience of discovering her husband having a cardiac arrest, giving him CPR and the subsequent wait for information on his condition. She then describes the trauma she experienced in the weeks and months following the incident. She highlights that healthcare providers can play an important role in helping relatives or non-patients who have been part of a medical emergency process their experiences.
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Content Article
Carer knows best… A blog by Miriam Martin
Miriam Martin posted an article in Community care
Many people are taking on more caring responsibilities for their relatives and friends who are disabled, ill or older and who need support. For Carers Rights Day, Miriam Martin, Chief Executive of Caring Together, looks at the role carers play at hospital discharge, why poor quality discharge can put the patient at risk and discusses what more can be done to support carers when patients return home from hospital. -
Content ArticleThis report published by Carers UK looks at carers’ recent experiences of hospital discharge under the discharge to assess model. It reveals the devastating toll on carers where it is clear that they have been left with unacceptable levels of caring responsibilities which are unsafe in some situations. This has placed intolerable stress upon carers and has had negative outcomes for people needing care and support. A very clear thread from carers’ experiences shows that carers have not been involved, consulted or given the right information in order to care safely and well. If carers are considered to be partners in care, then, like health and care professionals, they need access to relevant information to help them support a person needing care safely.