Tag Archives: hospital
Medical staff to be made personally liable for their care they provide to their patients
They could also be prosecuted if they break a new statutory duty of ‘candour’ requiring openness with patients, families and healthcare regulator
, Wednesday 06 February 2013
Doctors, nurses and hospital managers should face criminal prosecution if they fail to provide basic standards of safe care to their patients, a landmark report recommends today.
The Francis Report into the lessons to be learnt from the scandal of Stafford Hospital calls for all medical staff to be made personally liable for their care they provide to their patients, and for a “zero tolerance” approach to poor standards.
They could also be prosecuted if they break a new statutory duty of “candour” which would require health professional to be honest with patients, families and healthcare regulators.
The inquiry chaired by Robert Francis QC was set up to assess the wider lessons to be learnt by the NHS from the Staffordshire scandal where up to 1,200 patients died unnecessarily because of widespread failings in both Mid Staffordshire Trust and the wider NHS.
He made a total of 290 sweeping recommendations for healthcare regulators, providers and the Government in his 1,782 page report. Among its main recommendations are:
* A new register for health care support workers – the lowest rung of caring staff in the NHS – which would be able to “strike off” poorly performing staff. There would also be a code of conduct and new minimum training standards for such staff.
Cameron pledges to stamp out unacceptable care in hospitals
Untrained health “assistants” will not be able to work in hospitals under plans to improve standards in the NHS, ministers will announce.
7:30AM GMT 04 Jan 2013
More than 50,000 low-paid and unregulated assistants will have to receive formal care training.
A set of “minimum standards” will be unveiled in the coming weeks. Assistants found to be not caring properly for patients are likely to be banned from working in hospitals.
The findings of an official review into the scandal at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust, where substandard care led to hundreds of patients dying, will land on ministers’ desks soon.
The report is expected to make wide-ranging recommendations which will effectively mean that NHS workers dealing with patients should be regulated.
NHS building online app centre
NHS building online app centre
The NHS Commissioning Board is building a directory of online apps to help people improve their health and wellbeing.
The directory will be a trusted listing of online health and care tools, all of which will be accessible from mobile devices or desktop computers.
The sort of online tool in the directory include things such as care planning to support people living with one or more long-term condition, in which they can create online care plans, record their experiences and invite their carers to see these online.
It will also look at information and advice for older people, particularly if this can help reduce isolation and loneliness. The directory will be revealed at Innovation Expo in March 2013, held in London’s ExCel Centre.
