Tag Archives: hospital

British hospital to become first in Europe to use Skype for consultations

March 10, 2014   Carers, hospital, internet

A hospital in Staffordshire is set to become the first in Europe where doctors consult with their patients via Skype

11:23AM GMT 10 Mar 2014

 

A hospital is set to become the first in Europe to tackle waiting times by getting overworked doctors to consult with their patients via Skype.

Managers at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire claim using the online video calling service could reduce outpatient appointments by up to 35 per cent.

They argue that using Skype will help free up consultants’ time and car parking spaces – while also helping patients who are unable to take time off work.

If approved, they would become the first UK hospital to use Skype to consult with patients.

The proposals, by Staffordshire’s biggest hospital, also include doctors treating patients via email consultations.

The move – which is part of a range of schemes to ease pressure on the hospital, which is coping with big increases in demand – has been welcomed by health campaigners.

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Why social care professionals should pledge for NHS Change Day

March 3, 2014   Carers, hospital, Social care
Social care is essential to effective health services, we need to see more pledges about integration

 

Time for change! Pledges range from improving patient outcomes to being punctual for meetings.

NHS Change Day started with a single tweet in 2012. A small group of healthcare staff decided they wanted to work together to do something better for patients.

In 2013, more than 189,000 people made their own personal pledge to do something different to improve care. Last week, the 2014 total was already 280,000.

The mission of the day is to inspire and mobilise people everywhere to take action by making a personal public pledge to make a difference – no matter how big or small. Everyone counts and every pledge matters.

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Prince Charles: good food in hospitals should be a priority

January 31, 2014   Cancer, hospital, Older care

Prince Charles said ‘food is a medicine in itself’ and called for greater emphasis on good quality hospital meals

By Alice Philipson

7:06AM GMT 31 Jan 2014

Prince Charles wants the NHS to see “food as a medicine in itself”, claiming better hospital meals would speed up recovery times.

He called for the quality of food served by the NHS to be made a “clinical priority” and said long-overdue changes could have benefits in other areas of health care such as malnutrition among the elderly.

It comes less than a month after the Telegraph disclosed that more than one in three hospital trusts have cut spending on patients’ meals in the past year.

Some hospitals are now spending as little as 69p on each meal, according to Department of Health figures, with meals at one trust described as “worse than prison”.

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