The Government has published the End of Life Care Strategy - promoting high quality care for all adults at the end of life which is the first for the UK and covers adults in England. Its aim is to provide people approaching the end of life with more choice about where they would like to live and die. It encompasses all adults with advanced, progressive illness and care given in all settings. The strategy has been developed by an expert advisory board chaired by Professor Mike Richards, National Cancer Director, and including key stakeholders from statutory health, social care, third sector organisations, professional and academic organisations. The strategy has been informed and shaped by the work on end of life care undertaken by strategic health authorities for the NHS Next Stage Review.
The government's kneejerk reaction to allow patients to top-up NHS care with treatment paid for privately is another nail in the coffin of the universal healthcare. We believe sanctioning top-ups is too simple an answer to a very thorny, complex and emotional issue, and doing so risks some serious unintended consequences. There is a danger that this might appease middle England but disregard the real health challenges facing us.
The NHS drugs watchdog has loosened the terms of approval for expensive treatments that extend life in patients with a short life expectancy. Drugs that would normally be ruled out of use on the NHS because they did not represent a cost effective use of resources are now more likely to be made available.
The UK government has quietly dropped a passage in the draft handbook to the NHS constitution that said that ministers had decided to give researchers the right to trawl medical records for research participants without the need for patients’ consent. Organisations that are charged with safeguarding patient confidentiality had objected strongly to a section in the draft handbook that said, "Patients can . . . expect that a health professional or a research professional who owes the same duty of confidentiality as a health professional may use care records, in confidence, to identify whether they are suitable to participate in approved clinical trials. Appropriate patients will be notified of opportunities to join in, and will be free to choose whether they wish to do so, after a full explanation."
The confidentiality of medical records is threatened by government plans to relax laws on data protection, doctors' leaders told the Guardian yesterday. Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association, said the profession was "extremely concerned" about legislation tabled by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, which would allow the Department of Health to share information on NHS databases with other ministries and private companies.
NICE has introduced new criteria for appraising end of life treatments. James Raftery looks at how they might affect availability by applying them to previously refused drugs
The NHS's spending watchdog acted unlawfully when it decided to restrict access to drugs that could help thousands of older women with the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, the high court ruled today. A judge ruled that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) wrongly failed to disclose the economic reasoning behind a decision in October to restrict the supply of strontium ranelate, a drug manufactured by Servier laboratories under the brand name Protelos.
A lesbian couple have won the right to NHS treatment to help them have a baby after threatening to sue health chiefs. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC) had denied Caroline Harris and Julie McMullan IVF treatment as they were not classified as an infertile couple. The health board said it had reviewed its position in light of regulations, including the Equality Act. The women, who were suing the health board for treatment costs, said they had not yet been offered a settlement. The couple were claiming £20,000 after unsuccessful private fertility treatment, which followed them being refused NHS help. They had taken their case to the Court of Session in Edinburgh and a judicial review of the decision was due to take place at a later date. The health board at first stood by its refusal, but it has now agreed to offer the couple treatment at an assisted conception unit.
A therapeutic programme hailed by ministers as a hi-tech, cost-effective solution to Britain's growing problem of depression and anxiety has been widely ignored by the NHS, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without access to treatment. Opposition politicians and charities have accused the government of creating a postcode lottery.
I'm not the only woman who has tried to make herself disappear. Anorexia nervosa, the disorder of pathological self-starvation, is on the rise, with an 80% increase in hospital admissions among teenage girls over the last decade. Pressure groups and parents complain that there is still a chronic shortage of specialist care, with many GPs apparently reluctant to refer patients for treatment in the early stages of the disease. And this approach leaves children and their families to struggle on alone - usually until it is too late for simple intervention.
The NHS Constitution was published on 21 January 2009. It was one of a number of recommendations in Lord Darzi’s report ‘High Quality Care for All’ which was published on the 60th anniversary of the NHS and set out a ten-year plan to provide the highest quality of care and service for patients in England. The NHS belongs to us all. The NHS Constitution brings together in one place for the first time in the history of the NHS, what staff, patients and public can expect from the NHS. As well as capturing the purpose, principles and values of the NHS, the Constitution brings together a number of rights, pledges and responsibilities for staff and patients alike. These rights and responsibilities are the result of extensive discussions and consultations with staff, patients and public and it reflects what matters to them.
The Handbook to the NHS Constitution is here to give NHS staff and patients all the information you need about the NHS Constitution in one place. It acts as a guide to: - patients’ rights and pledges - responsibilities of patients and the public and staff - staff rights and NHS pledges to its staff At the back of this Handbook is an appendix, which outlines the legal source for both the patient and staff rights in the NHS Constitution.
Doctors should apologise and provide explanations to patients and their relatives when treatment goes wrong, according to guidance from the NHS Litigation Authority, the body which defends the NHS against legal claims for clinical negligence. The letter from (KCL MA MEL alumnus) Stephen Walker. the authority’s chief executive, replaces an earlier circular that warned NHS bodies to take care when providing explanations "so as to avoid future litigation risks."
Aims: This Handbook represents initial good practice guidance and resources to help PCTs to review current decision-making processes about the funding of medicines with co-operation from Provider Trusts and other stakeholders. Intended audience: Healthcare professionals. Publication history information: Published February 2009. Access: Available to the general public.
The National Library of Guidelines is a collection of guidelines for the NHS. It is based on the guidelines produced by NICE and other national agencies. The main focus of the Library is on guidelines produced in the UK, but where no UK guideline is available, guidelines from other countries are included in the collection. NICE issues guidelines of very high quality. They are based on a systematic review of the evidence and have extensive consultation not only with clinicians but also with patients and, where relevant, industry. Professional associations do not have the resources to carry out this type of consultation but they can follow the principles set out in the AGREE protocol which helps guideline writers minimise bias, meet the needs of all stakeholders and maximise clarity.
Aims: These guidance notes have been produced to help healthcare workers and organisations to achieve uniformly high standards in making DNAR decisions and in ensuring that all relevant aspects of these decisions are recorded and communicated to others effectively. They are not intended to be a comprehensive guide to decisions about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Intended audience: Healthcare professionals. Publication history information: Published May 2009. Access: Available to the general public.
This site explains how the law now allows people to make decisions to refuse treatments including those that sustain life. Many people want to achieve a natural and dignified death, this is one way to help achieve it. This is a free and non-profit NHS website. We suggest people enter the site using the relevent menu section (above). Many people benefit from looking at both sections.