Our roundup of the best healthcare news, comment and analysis from around the web
Welcome to our weekly roundup of healthcare news from around the web.
The news that the Care Quality Commission has uncovered "a catalogue of failings" at Whipps Cross University hospital in east London was widely reported this week. The failings were found during two unannounced inspections in May and June and included uncaring staff, blood-stained equipment, poor hygiene standards, patients not being helped to eat and a high mortality rate, wrote the Guardian's Denis Campbell.
Roy Lilley picked up on the story in his NHS Managers blog. He wrote:
The Whipps Cross CQC report was horribly familiar. It could have been cut and pasted from the Francis Report on Mid-Staffs ... The toxic cocktail of shortage of money and a scramble to try and balance the books to become an FT is what scuppered Mid-Staffs. It was an identical story at Bart's.
Meanwhile, writing for the Nuffield Trust blog, Emma Churchill said the CQC's plan to launch its new inspection regime in acute trusts first will not be an easy task:
An aggregate rating could hide pockets of poor performance within an organisation as trusts are large and complex institutions. Instead, the goal for hospitals should be to introduce ratings that drill down to a departmental or service level.
Also hitting the headlines this week was the news that the number of patients waiting for hospital treatment is at a five-year high, with almost 2.9 million people on the list. Writing for the Guardian, Rowena Mason said Monitor has warned that some hospitals are having to cancel non-urgent operations or other treatment "to deal with increased A&E and non-elective pressures".
In other news, Sarah Bosely reported that surgeons, dentists, midwives and other healthcare workers who have HIV are to be allowed to perform all kinds of procedures on patients, following the lifting of an outdated ban. In a Guardian video, England's chief medical officer, Sally Davies, said the old rules are outdated as those receiving proper treatment are not infectious:
As part of the raft of reforms to the UK's HIV policy, home-testing kits that allow people to test themselves for HIV will be legal in the UK from next spring, writes the Independent.
Meanwhile Zara Aziz, a GP partner, argued that charging for GP appointments will cost the NHS more in the long run. She warned:
There is a significant danger that cost would deter the most vulnerable people from attending, especially early on in their illness when medical interventions could be more successful. Current levels of demand are not sustainable, but the "knee-jerk" response of introducing charges is not the answer. Past and present health campaigns (such as to detect early signs of cancer or stroke) have been very successful and must be extended more widely to encourage self-help measures for minor illnesses. This can significantly free up NHS time.
And in a piece for Comment is free Sarah Wollaston, Conservative MP for Totnes and a former GP, said community treatment orders are not helping people with mental illness. She argued that the use of compulsory detention in hospital has not dropped as expected, and the Department of Health needs to find out why.
• An editorial in the Lancet said the NHS is being treated like a "failing bank" by ministers. In an issue published on Friday, they wrote: "One might be forgiven for thinking that the current coalition government views the NHS as a failing bank or business." The Telegraph reported that high-performing NHS trust chief executives could be promoted to become "superheads" to turn round failing hospitals, under new government plans.
• Writing for the BBC, Johnny Marshall, NHS Confederation director of policy, asks: Is reality TV a help or a hindrance to the NHS? He says:
Is there too much fixation on the hospital model, the wonder services and miracle drugs breaking new barriers, and not enough on the care outside hospitals that provides just as essential a purpose?
• Angela McNab, chief executive of Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care partnership trust, says treating people with compassion is a by-product of organisational cohesiveness.
• And writing for the King's Fund blog, Belinda Weir ponders the unlikely question: why is an NHS leader like a stand-up comedian?
Here's a run through of the rest of the week's healthcare news and views:
Guardian: Breastfeeding for six months can delay breast cancer onset by a decade
Guardian: Teenage drinking raises risk of early dementia, study suggests
BBC: Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS trust boss gets £25k rise
BBC: Did the London Olympics boost the nation's health?
Telegraph: Wales is prescription capital of Britain
Telegraph: Elderly people with dementia put at risk, say MPs
Telegraph: Ombudsman: Patients suffer from a 'toxic cocktail' in NHS
Independent: Charity boss lobbied Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, over NHS privatisation, documents show
Independent: GP practices and hospital to host internet training sessions for NHS patients
Pulse: Practices facing unsustainable pressure as hospitals 'dump' work on GPs, survey finds
GP Online: NHS England launches future of general practice consultation
GP Online: Invest in primary care to tackle A&E pressure, BMA urges
Here's a round up of the most read pieces on the Healthcare Professionals Network:
Five minutes with ... the nurse turned chair of PJ Care Ltd
Why we're heading for a global healthcare crunch – and how to avoid it
New doctors need more support as they begin their careers, survey finds
Hospital charities fight to raise funds as giving slows in austerity Britain
'We should not miss the opportunity for change within the NHS'
Why healthcare managers welcome the Berwick report
If there's something you particularly enjoyed reading this week, please add a comment below or tweet us @GdnHealthcare
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Claire Burke
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