Tag Archives: hospital
Jeremy Hunt plans sale of confidential patient medical records to private firms
Confidential medical records may be offered to private companies for as little as £1, according to plans drawn up by officials.
The new General Practice Extraction Service will consolidate NHS patient records sent to a central database by GPs around the country.
The project has been described by campaigners as an “unprecedented threat” to medical confidentiality, and doctors do not have to inform patients that their records are being passed on.
The records will include details of medical conditions and patient identifiable information including a patient’s NHS number, postcode and date of birth, reports the Daily Mail.
Private firms such as Bupa are able to purchase the records for research by applying to the Health Service.
Therapeutic singing sessions start at Norfolk hospital
Singing is something we can all enjoy
Heather Edwards singing on Elsing Ward.
Monday, August 12, 2013
3:47 PM
Therapeutic singing sessions have begun at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to help older patients with dementia.
The sessions are being delivered on Elsing Ward by a hospital volunteer, who is a qualified music teacher and has been specially trained in dementia awareness.
Heather Edwards is part of a local support group called “Come Singing” which provides singing groups for people of all ages living with dementia.
The music teacher, who has donated a keyboard to the ward, said: “Singing is a wonderful way for people to share emotions and memories. It’s good to encourage patients to sing along and choose songs if they are able, but even a tap of the toes or a nod of the head is a wonderful reward.”
Junior doctors urged to ‘know their limits’ on Black Wednesday
Junior doctors have been urged to “know their limits” to prevent an expected rise in death rates as more than 6,000 medical graduates start their first hospital jobs.
Today has become known as “Black Wednesday” because mortality rates rise by an average of around six per cent when new trainees start work and other junior doctors swap specialties.
Studies have shown that patients admitted as an emergency on the first Wednesday in August – during the changeover – are six per cent more likely to die than on the previous Wednesday.
For those suffering heart attacks and strokes the figure is yet higher, with an 8 per cent increase in deaths.
