Seven days in medicine: 9 to 15 November 2016
BMJ 2016; 355 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6106 (Published 17 November 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;355:i6106NHS
Public must pay for better NHS, says Stevens
People must pay more if they want a better NHS, the chief executive of NHS England said. Asked about the possibility of rationing NHS services at the King’s Fund’s annual conference in London on 9 November, Simon Stevens said that he would have to be “persuaded of the benefits” of limiting healthcare, adding, “At some point the British people will need to put their hands in their pockets if they want to see continued improvement and growth in what the NHS can do for each and every one of us.” (Full story doi:10.1136/bmj.i6069)
Nursing assistants are linked to higher death risk
Replacing professionally qualified nurses with lower skilled nursing assistants is linked to a raised risk of patient death and other indicators of poor quality care, a large European study showed in BMJ Quality and Safety. In every 25 patients just one professional nurse substitution was associated with 21% higher odds of dying in a hospital with an average nurse staffing level and skill mix, the findings showed, prompting researchers to conclude that “diluting” the hospital nurse skill mix “is not in the public interest.”
General practice
Schools demand antibiotics for conjunctivitis
An estimated 160 000 appointments a year could be freed up at UK general practices if schools stopped …
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