|
Other news
Paul Burstow announces revision of
mental health strategy
Writing in Community Care magazine,
Care services minister Paul Burstow reveals that he is determined
to give "mental
health parity with physical health in the NHS". Mr Burstow
believes that key to this is the proposal to replace process
targets with "a new focus on patient outcomes. He said “Over this
summer, we are discussing with patients and clinicians which
outcome measures should be used to judge the Health Service in the
future. I passionately believe a person's general well-being and
overall mental health should form part of this assessment. There is
no health without good mental health and certainly no
well-being."
New guidelines from NICE
'Delirium:
diagnosis, prevention and management' is a care
guideline which covers the care of adults (18 or over) with, or at
risk of, delirium in hospital and in long-term residential care or
a nursing home. It does not look at people receiving end-of-life
care, or people under the influence of or withdrawing from drugs or
alcohol, or people with delirium associated with drugs or
alcohol.
'Quality
standard for dementia' is a service guideline defining a high
standard of care within this topic area. It provides specific,
concise quality statements, measures and audience descriptors, and
there is a description of what a high-quality dementia service
should look like.
Fears over the use of Community Treatment
Order for people with mental illness
More than 7,000 community treatment orders
(CTOs) have been issued to date - a far higher number than was
expected. This raises concerns about the number of people under
compulsory treatment, according to
a study from the Mental Health Alliance. The report points to
"serious concerns" about the increase, including the
"disproportionate use" of CTOs for people from black and minority
ethnic communities, and the possibility that people are being
discharged from hospital earlier than they should be.
National Reference Group
for S12 and AC approval: Dr Martin Stefan, Chair
The National
Reference Group for S12 and AC approval brings together all the
regional S12/AC panel chairs and administrators across England and
has now produced guidance on the approval process for Approved
Clinicians, which supplements the New Roles guidance. Regional
Approval Panels will now consider applications from higher trainees
in their final year of training who have been offered locum
consultant posts, rather than restricting this as before to
trainees in their final 6 months. We also encourage trainees
approaching the completion of their specialist training who are not
intending to take up locum posts to undergo initial training and to
submit their applications in advance, to expedite approval once
they are on the Specialist Register.
Care Quality Commission – new survey of
people using community mental health services
Some people who use community mental health
services in England are still not getting the care and support that
fully meets their needs, according to
a survey published by the Care Quality Commission. The survey
captures the views of more than 17,000 people aged 16 and over who
had contact with specialist community mental health services
between July and September 2009.
News from other organisations and the
NHS
The arts and media
Events: The impact of electronic records
on the doctor-patient relationship: 5 November
This conference aims to explore the implications of
new electronic patient record technologies for the therapeutic
relationship and to consider the clinical, legal, ethical and
personal implications of central storing and widespread sharing of
personal medical data, and of the potential for such storing
sharing which new forms of the electronic record bring. The
conference will reflect on how these changes may impact on the
therapeutic relationship, and also to consider how the quality of
the therapeutic relationship can be safeguarded in the digital age.
Events Organiser: tel: 020 8938 2548; email: events@tavi-port.org.
|