More New Guidance from NICE and the Importance of Healthcare Quality.

Last month it was NG 97: Dementia, this month an equally important one NICE Guideline 100: Rheumatoid arthritis in adults: management

As with Dementia, the flowchart has also been updated making it easy to follow.

At the same time, they have also updated the Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality Standard (now Q33) which has 7 recommendations that it would be worth becoming aware of. Rheumatoid Arthritis affects over 400,000 people in the UK making it one of the most prevalent long-term conditions health professionals see. If you need to know more about rheumatoid arthritis its worth looking at the NHS Direct entry which you can see by Clicking Here

In the wake of the celebrations to mark #NHS70 and in the light of recent negative publicity about the health of the NHS, it’s probably a good time to mention this.  A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank has claimed low-quality healthcare services are holding back progress on improving health in countries at all income levels. (i.e. the NHS is not alone in the problems its facing).

te report highlights that 1 in 10 patients is adversely affected during treatment in high-income countries. Adherence to clinical practice guidelines in eight low- and middle-income countries was below 50 per cent in several instances. Also, 10% of hospitalised patients in low- and middle-income can expect to acquire an infection during their stay, as compared to 7% in high-income countries. The report outlines the steps health services, health workers, governments, citizens and patients needed to take to improve healthcare quality. It would be a shame to let this important report slip under the radar because of #TrumpVisitUK and the Brexit mess. See:

OECD/WHO/World Bank Group (2018). Delivering Quality Health Services: A Global Imperative. World Health Organization. Geneva, Switzerland.

DOI:10.1787/9789264300309-en.

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Hello from Manchester’s @BSGManchester2018 #BSG2018

 

So this week I am at the British Society of Gerontology (BSG) Conference 2018. I don’t think that I have ever been to a larger Conference and there is so much in the Conference Programme that it is almost big enough to require a wheelbarrow!

Anyway, later today I am speaking with Becky Moran the Care Home Educational Facilitator (CHEF) from NHS Lanarkshire talking about the BSG study day we held back in August 2017. See This Link for our report to Ageing Issues

At the conference the following has been announced that other people might be interested in.

Firstly, the Centre for Better Ageing at https://www.ageing-better.org.uk/ is releasing a new report today called Home Adaptations: A Typical Journey, which explores personal and professional perspectives on home adaptations. Go to the website and download it.

Secondly, Ageing and Society have released some full-text versions of some of its most interesting articles online. There are a range of topics so if you want to take a look at what is available see www.cambridge.org/ASO-BSG18

Finally, the Centre for Policy on Ageing has pooled together some of its Information Resources. An interesting one to look at is called “Policies on Ageing” which is an online resource providing easy access to government policy documents and key national reports and briefings that are raising the profile of issues around the support of older people and an ageing population. See:

www.cpa.org.uk/cpa/policies_on_ageing

Hope you find something interesting.

 

Happy Birthday to #ourNHS70

The NHS celebrates its 70th Birthday on Thursday 5th of July 2018. I am not going to bang on about how wonderful it is. Lots of people will do that. If you need reminding see: The History of the NHS in Charts and #ourNHS70

Lots of things to watch out for this week as a result.

The NHS: To Provide all People is a good starting point. This is a film poem that charts the emotional and philosophical map of what defines the NHS and the personal experiences at the heart of the service and recognises its achievements and the challenges it faces. Based on real interviews conducted with NHS staff.

The BBC centrepiece of the season was NHS 70 Live, a 90-minute event broadcast live from a hospital on BBC Two. Hosted by Nick Robinson and Anita Rani. The programme asked some of the big questions about the NHS today and its future. Drawing on landmark independent research from four leading think tanks, the programme gave audiences a chance to contribute to the wider conversation around the NHS.

More details of what can be found on the BBC related to the NHS at 70 can be found here

The highlights on ITV include the NHS Heroes Awards and A&E Live. Their programme line-up can be found at ITV marks NHS70

Well that’s enough on Telly and catch-up to keep you busy for quite a while!  Don’t forget there ar also many local events. On Thurday I’ll be in Manchester at the #BGS2018 Conference “Ageing in an Unequal World” conference. Say hello to me if you are there as well.

All Healthcare Professionals Should Learn from the Gosport Inquiry Says British Geriatrics Society

I chose not to Blog about this last week. However, that’s not an indication that I don’t think its important. Quite the reverse really, however, the events are so tragic its hard to know what to say other than I hope justice prevails.

For more about the story see: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/gosport-war-memorial-hospital-deaths-scandal-jane-barton-shipman-a8406456.html

below is the response of the British Geriatrics Society.

The British Geriatrics Society is calling all healthcare professionals to review the Gosport Independent Panel Report, and to learn from these shocking events which led to the deaths of over 450 patients who were given opiate painkillers “without medical justification” from 1989 to 2000 at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in Hampshire. The Inquiry found there was […]

via The British Geriatrics Society calls for all healthcare professionals to learn from the Gosport Inquiry to help prevent future tragedies — British Geriatrics Society

More sad stories to follow I suspect and I have no doubt I’ll be blogging some more about this in future!

Where Did That Green Paper Go? Plus NICE Dementia Guidance is Newly Updated

An important announcement from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) this week regarding Dementia Care. NICE have revised updated the previous Dementia Guideline, (CG42) which had been in existence since 2006 (although parts of it were revised and updated during this period) and have replaced it with a new NICE Guideline called NG97: Dementia: assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers

On their site NICE point out that the new guideline addresses how dementia should be assessed and diagnosed. It covers person-centred care and support, tailored to the specific needs of each person living with dementia. As part of this, it can help professionals involve people living with dementia and their carers in decision-making so they can get the care and support they need. It also addresses care coordination and staff training, and how dementia may impact on the care offered for other conditions.

They also mention what it does not do, which is also quite important that you are aware of. It does not cover every aspect of dementia care or support, or areas where recommendations would be the same for people with or without dementia. It focuses on areas where:

• there is variation in practice, and enough evidence is available to identify what works best
• people living with dementia need different care and support to people in the same situation who do not have dementia.

When I discuss using the NICE guidelines with my students I tend not to talk about the paper/online full written version but point them to the NICE Pathway. This has also been updated and is available here

Its been quite a disappointing week for Social Care in England as the UK government postponed the publication of the Adult Social Care Green Paper following the announcement of increased funding for the NHS. (Let’s not hold our breaths for too long to see if that’s true). The Green Paper was announced in November 2017 and is considered key to reforming social care in England which everyone knows is in dire straits. It was due for release before the end of the summer but now who knows?

There was some indication about what it ought to contain here and more about the delay here

Not Enough Publicity. This is All About Improving Older People’s Care!

Two important documents that have been published this week. One from NHS Improvement and another from Public Health England.

Despite their importance though you’d be hard-pressed to know they were available.

So there is now a guide to reducing long hospital stays and further guidance on falls and falls prevention and you probably haven’t even noticed.

So first of all reducing long hospital stays. In NHS England, nearly 350,000 patients currently spend over three weeks in acute hospitals each year. Many are older people with a reduced functional ability (frailty) or who have a cognitive impairment. The benefits to the UK NHS and other healthcare systems of reducing hospital bed occupancy are clear. However, as everyone knows trying to achieve this is very difficult, particularly during the winter pressure for beds. So what can be done?

This week NHS Improvement released their “Guide to Reducing Long Hospital Stays”. Click the link and you’ll get to the page you can download it from.

Their guide is primarily aimed at acute and community trusts, but also makes reference to how system partners can play a supporting role.

Also this week (yesterday June 14th.) Public Health England’s Guide on Falls was updated.  Called Falls: applying All Our Health the guide includes core principles for healthcare professionals to follow and a large number of resources and examples of good practice from some key national agencies. Click on the link and go and explore, and see if you can adopt some of the measures suggested or check if you are doing these already.

So if these are such an important phenomenon to tackle why did these document releases not get more publicity?

RSHP Report #ThatAgeOldQuestion Says No More Anti-Ageing

Today the Royal Society for Public Health, here in the UK has published a report called “That Age Old Question” which examines how our attitudes to ageing can affect our health and wellbeing. Sad to say of course that they conclude that societal Ageism is well and truly with us and have listed 10 key recommendations from the report on their website at That Age Old Question

I think the worrying thing for me is the reported attitudes of younger people who seem to either believe a number of myths about ageing or accept them as truth! We also seem to have created a culture that is still obsessed with trying to stay young looking. The RSHP is calling for an end to the use of the term “anti-ageing” because I am sorry to say there is no such thing (but don’t forget your sunscreen and give up the fags).

To download the full report and watch a video about the report CLICK HERE

To see what the reaction has been to their call go to #ThatAgeOldQuestion

Well, if that depresses you then here is some inspiration for Dementia Awareness Week in Scotland  #DAW2018 If you haven’t seen it, the winner of NHS Patient Award for Nursing and Midwifery was Fiona Chaabane. Fiona works with people with cognitive disorders focusing on Young-onset Dementias. To find out more about her, and her work Click Here

She features from 8:00 mins through to 16:12 mins.