Author Archives: Maureen

NHS patient groups warn more doctor assistants may be ‘healthcare on cheap’

August 22, 2014   Carers, Featured Article, hospital

Physician associates will have two years of intensive training, as opposed to seven years completed by fully fledged doctors

 

  • theguardian.com,
  • The NHS physician associates will provide support for the diagnosis and management of patients. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

    The government is launching a recruitment drive to hire more doctors‘ assistants to try to help take pressure off a straining NHS under plans announced on Thursday.

    The physician associates will have two years of intensive training instead of the seven completed by doctors, and will provide support in the diagnosis and management of patients in hospitals.

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Care choice plan ‘could fail’ as councils stick to EU rules

August 18, 2014   Carers, Featured Article, Scotland, Social care

CHARITIES have warned policies designed to let older people choose their own care will fail if councils insist on following European rules on tendering

FORECAST: Annie Gunner Logan says she saw the problem coming.

Personalisation policies, which have near-universal support from the Government, councils and care providers, are meant to give elderly and disabled people and their carers a choice of the services they receive, and help keep them in their own homes.

But care providers have long warned there is a basic incompatibility between this choice and procurement rules councils follow when commissioning services.

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Will the Care Act blur the distinction between health and social care?

August 14, 2014   Carers, Featured Article, Social care

Call for greater clarity ahead of new legislation

Thursday 14 August 2014 08.30 BST
David Brindle, guardian Professional
Chief executive of the NHS, Simon Stevens, who has suggested he would like to see care homes close. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

There’s still a good deal of muttering about a comment a few weeks ago by new NHS chief executive Simon Stevens that he was looking forward to the demise of care homes. “It would be a disappointment,” he told charity Age UK’s annual Later Life conference, “if in 30, 40, 50 years’ time, nursing homes still existed.”

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