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May 24 – The NHS needs to train more community nurses if it is to hope to cut hospital costs, according to an analysis published yesterday. Inadequacies in community services mean that patient stays in UK hospitals are the longest in Europe, according to the Royal College of Nursing report. However Britain is not alone in struggling to ensure community health services have enough resources, the college says. It’s researchers studied experience in Scandinavia, Australia and Canada.

They said a “whole system” approach was most effective – and this meant provision was not cut in acute services until resources were available in existing and new community services.

College chief executive Dr Peter Carter said: “Care closer to home is not only what patients want, it is what UK health services need to do to avoid costly, lengthy and unnecessary hospital stays.

“However, the number of District Nurses has fallen by an astonishing 42% over the last decade. Only five District Nurses were trained in London last year. This means that District Nurses simply won’t be able to keep on giving the increasingly complex care required to meet the rise in demand. Read the rest

Care Assistants are essential in the majority of health care environments. They are an excellent way to get your foot through the door if you are new to the field. While no academic qualifications are required to be a care assistant and most organisations provide “on-the-job” training. This form of training will usually lead to the employee receiving an NVQ qualification. Although qualifications are not necessary to start a career in care, you will be required to have certain skills to be able to perform your duties.

Most care assistant roles include the following responsibilities:

• Building relationships with patients and their families.
• Understand patient’s social and practical needs.
• Assisting with personal care (assistance with eating, washing and dressing themselves).
• Relaying information on a patient’s situation to family members or their dependants.
• Ensuring that a patient is able to live comfortably e.g Mobility assistance
• Helping patients with tasks such as paying bills, writing letters and managing money.
• You may be required to cook for patients. Read the rest

May 22 – Pledges to cut NHS red-tape were cast into doubt yesterday as a senior official said there was no “dimming” in the culture of collecting data. Dr Mike Durkin, director of patient safety at NHS England, said he believed collection of information was crucial for improving patient safety. Speaking at the Patient Safety Congress in Birmingham, he said 100,000 reports had been collated in the last month. And he called for more reporting from GPs to “increase our understanding”.

He said: “There is a lot to do and a lot of levels to do it at. We have collected reports in and open but confidential nature.”

He added later: “It must matter to everyone in healthcare that we do not walk past when we see a harmful, or potentially harmful, event.

“Information must be acted upon. I would expect organisations to be fully scrutinising their patient safety incidents. Organisations seeing relatively few incidents need to ask themselves if they really are getting the full picture of what is going on.” Read the rest

The thought of going back to college or university as an older student may never have crossed your mind. Distance learning and part-time courses have been available for many years and are a great way to develop your skills –without having to stop working.

Although it is possible to progress in the nursing and healthcare sectors through “on the job” training, you are more likely to further your career by seeking personal development opportunities and educating yourself. Having additional qualifications could open doors for you, making you more desirable to employers.

Before you make any decisions, it is important to have a firm idea of where you see yourself down the line. This will impact the decision you make when deciding on a course.

Things to consider:

What type of job do you desire? Read the rest

May 20 – Today is International Clinical Trials Day – and one hospital is marking it by giving out chocolate.The first clinical trial is thought to have been performed by James Lind on May 20 1747 – 266 years ago. Lind’s trial proved that foods containing vitamin C – oranges and lemons – could prevent scurvy among sea-crews. His trial on the ship Salisbury involved testing different substances, such as cider, nutmeg and sulphuric acid in the diets of the crews.

By the end of the century British crews were being fed lime juice – and the British acquired their American nick-name of limeys. At West Middlesex University Hospital, researchers have already involved more than 100 people in a mock clinical trial – involving chocolate. Volunteers were given either milk or white chocolate and asked to say whether it was “satisfying.”

Dr Essam Ramhamadany, assistant director of research and development, said: “Clinical trials, also called clinical research, help us to improve treatments and healthcare for patients.

“West Middlesex is very active in this field, currently participating in 55 clinical research studies led by 23 consultants, and we are currently recruiting to 38 of these.”

May 16 – Experts have called for a rethink on a key project that is directing hundreds of health visitors to work with vulnerable families. So far some 315 health visitors are working on Family Nurse Partnership project, which seeks to reduce abuse and neglect of children. The number will increase to nearly 600 within two years – but the Nottingham University experts say that to be successful the scheme will need some 1,350 health visitors.

Writing in the Journal of Public Health, the researchers say the government’s own figures suggest there are some 30,000 families “in need”. The researchers say the project is in fact missing as many as 90% of child abuse and neglect cases. They call for the project to be directed at families with a history of domestic violence and those where parents have been abused as children.

Researcher Professor Kevin Browne said: “The claims made about FNP to reduce child maltreatment in England have been over-exaggerated. Careful consideration needs to be given to other prevention programmes that are tailored to the needs and vulnerabilities of the family. Read the rest

The healthcare industry covers a huge variety of sectors and divisions, making the opportunities to expand and grow your career easier to access. Whether the driving forces behind the decisions we make are personal development or salary, it is inevitable that we will – at some point in our professional lives, go through the motions of a career change.

Although job seekers may not admit it to hiring managers, salary plays a huge part in the jobs that they apply for. We compiled a list of some salaries within the health care profession to give you a better understanding of what you could potentially earn. The below can also be used as a benchmark to understand if you are underemployed.

 Senior Healthcare Assistant

A senior healthcare assistant undertakes tasks and duties delegated by the practice nurse team. The role requires working to meet the needs of patients while following procedures and policy.

Average yearly salary: £15,968

Registered Care Home Manager

A home care manager is responsible for the day to day management of a nursing home. A home manager’s tasks include recruitment, supervision and training for all staff.

Average yearly salary: £26,173

Physician / Doctor, General Practice

GP’s provide primary and continuing medical care for patients. GP’s diagnose and recommended treatments and refer patients to hospitals for further assessment or specialist treatment.

Average yearly salary:  £50,253

Physician / Doctor, Plastic Surgeon

Plastic surgeons or plastic re-constructive surgeons perform cosmetic surgeries on the patient to enhance a patient’s aesthetic appearance.

Average yearly salary: £79,991

General Surgeon

A general surgeon is a medical doctor who possesses the training, experience and license to perform operations on many areas of the body.

Average yearly salary:  £60,244

Dentist

Dentists provide preventive and restorative treatments for problems that affect the mouth and teeth.

Average yearly salary:  £55,561 Read the rest

May 13 – Thousands of nurses and patients celebrated the nursing profession yesterday as the world marked the birthday of Florence Nightingale. The birthday is marked as International Nurses’ Day – and nursing leaders have been encouraging patients to tell stories of good nursing. Breast cancer patient Elisabeth Segal, who is being treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, spoke of the work of breast care nurses Suzanne England and Diane Mackie.

She said: “Suzanne and Dianne have supported me, helped me and I could not have coped without either one of them.

“There are not many breast care nurses and even though they have hundreds of patients they are always there for me, ringing me to check up, and answering any questions I have. They make you feel like you are their one and only patient and they are both more than my nurses, they are my good friends.”

Suzanne said: “Often in our busy working lives, finding the time to  realise the value of what we do and why we do it is forgotten. Read the rest

May 9 – The NHS could lose out from measures aimed at bolstering Britain’s struggling social services, it was warned yesterday. The government is to introduce a major new Care and Support Bill this year. The Bill will pave the way for reforms to care funding, aimed at capping the amount individuals have to pay for their care. It will also encourage health commissioners and councils to pool budgets for social care. But GP leader Dr Clare Gerada warned this could allow cash-strapped councils to tap into the funding ring-fenced for the NHS.

Dr Gerada, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “We support greater integration between health and social care, but we have already seen a real terms decrease in funding for general practice in the past two years.

“If we are to make integration work for patients we must rebalance funding towards primary care and focus on new ways of working together.”

She added: “The Care and Support Bill is an important opportunity to promote greater joint working between health and social care, and GPs can play a central role in this.

“However, we feel that some aspects of the Bill – such as ensuring hospital discharges happen in a more integrated way – need to be strengthened in line with the recommendations made earlier this year by the Joint Scrutiny Committee which looked at the legislation.”

Royal College of Nursing chief executive Dr Peter Carter welcomed moves to implement the findings of the inquiry into the Staffordshire hospitals scandal.

Bur he added: “Any proposals around inspections, a meaningful rating system for hospitals and tackling poor care, must address unsafe staffing levels, and the regulation of health care support workers.”

Midwifery

Midwifery is part of the health care profession. Nurses who practice midwifery are typically called midwives. Midwives not only care for a patient during pregnancy and birth, they also provide primary care related to reproductive health.

Brief history of midwifery:

• Midwives are mentioned in the Old Testament. The Pharaoh instructs the midwives whose names were Shiphrah and Puah to kill any boys born to Hebrew women.
• In Ancient Greece midwives were required by law to have children of their own.
• One of the first schools for midwives was opened in the early sixteenth century at the Hotel-Dieu, Paris.
• In 1840 several medical schools and colleges added midwifery to the curriculum.
• In 1881 Midwives Institute (Royal College of Midwives) was founded.
• In 1902 Midwifery became an established profession in Britain.
• In 1975 the number of midwives was reported to be 16,550.

Click here to view midwifery jobs

Health care assistant

A health care assistant provides patient care under the supervision of a qualified nurse and supports a team by undertaking a range of clinical support functions.

Brief history of health care assistants: Read the rest