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.
One of the main healthcare stories this week was that private health groups may have to sell hospitals. The Guardian's social affairs editor, Randeep Ramesh, wrote that the Competition Commission (CC) recommended that Britain's largest private hospital groups sell up to 20 hospitals and end incentive schemes that encourage doctors to send patients to particular private providers in return for cash.
The Telegraph, meanwhile, reported that patients overpay by £200m at private hospitals. More than 100 hospitals clustered around major cities in the UK hold monopolies to the "detriment" of consumers, according to new research by the CC. The report, which has taken a year to compile, has identified the main culprits as HCA, BMI, Spire, Ramsay, and Nuffield. These companies account for 70% of the UK's £5.5bn private healthcare market between them.
And, Alan Maynard, professor of economics at the University of York, said in a piece for Comment is free that the private healthcare market isn't working.
Pricing transparency and the avoidance of excess returns on capital are an essential part of customer protection. However, that has to be complemented with improved transparency in the quality of patient care. This can only be better achieved by integrating patient outcome data, which would enable insurers and the NHS to identify deficient outliers and ensure good quality care. Sadly private sector capitalists and public sector policy makers seem incapable of implementing these essential policies.
At the beginning of the week, the Telegraph reported that a lack of nationwide standards means hospital food is 'worse than prison meals'. The article said a new study revealed the standard of hospital meals varies greatly across the country.
The BBC had this video that showed behind the scenes at the award-winning hospital kitchen at Darlington Memorial hospital.
The data blog at the Guardian asked how much money do hospitals spend on their patients' meals? It illustrated that the high cost of patients' meals doesn't necessarily mean good food.
• The BBC said there was concern at mortality rates at two Lanarkshire hospitals. Health inspectors are to assess patient safety at three Lanarkshire hospitals following concerns about above average mortality rates.
• The Guardian reported that Mid Staffs trust is to be prosecuted over the death of a diabetic patient. The Health and Safety Executive is to bring criminal proceedings over the death of Gillian Astbury, 66, in 2007.
It also had a story that said experts are to examine end-of-life care after the axing of the Liverpool care pathway. The government is to announce the Leadership Alliance for the Care of Dying People will bring together health and social care groups to improve care for people at the end of their lives.
• Randeep Ramesh wrote that NHS hospital complaints have risen by 1.9%. The NHS is receiving 3,000 patient complaints every week and the total number of complaints was 162,019 in 2012-13 – about 430 a day.
• And the Guardian ran this piece that said better kidney care could save up to 42,000 lives a year. Acute kidney injury costs NHS more than it spends on breast, lung and skin cancer combined.
• Vidhya Alakeson, deputy chief executive at the Resolution Foundation, blogged for the Nuffield Trust about the potential and challenges of personal health budgets. She concluded:
As the roll out of personal health budgets proceeds in the NHS, it will be critical to monitor their take up and to closely track spending to ensure that the potential they offer to personalise care does not cause additional expense for an already cash-strapped NHS.
• Paul Zollinger-Read, chief medical officer at Bupa, wrote for NHS Voices that truly learning from Francis rests on a cultural shift outside of hospitals.
In the future, more people will be accessing healthcare outside of hospital settings – managing long-term conditions at home or receiving healthcare in a nursing home. If we are to truly learn from the Francis report, then the cultural shift must take place outside of hospitals – outside of institutions and buildings, and outside of the public and independent sector.
• Meanwhile, Jane Jones, assistant director of the Health Foundation, listed ten top tips for measuring patient and carer experience. She wrote:
Questions remain about the best ways to assess and, more importantly, act on patient feedback, especially as patients move between different parts of the health service. The understanding of patient experience is so often side-lined as too subjective and divorced from the 'real' clinical work of measuring effectiveness and safety. I believe we still have a long way to go to make this central and critically important to the way we redesign and deliver healthcare services.
Here's a selection of other stories from around the web:
HSJ (subscription): Satisfaction survey 'damages staff morale and alarms patients'
HSJ: Inherited care liability adds to CCG's financial woes
GP Online: Can US health models fit the NHS?
Pulse: Patient experience scores may be included in GP ratings, says NHS England chief
The Independent: Charging foreigners would damage NHS, doctors say
BBC: Prof Steve Field named chief inspector of GPs
Our most read pieces on the network have been:
• Working time directive hinders junior doctors' progress
• Mental health care overlooked by NHS review of emergency services
• GPs continue to do battle with government over telehealth
• KPMG report urges radical new look at long-term care
• Five minutes with ... a director of strategy and policy
We'll be back with our daily live blog on Monday. Meanwhile, if there's something you particularly enjoyed reading this week, please add a comment below or tweet us.
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Sarah Johnson
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