WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

What point ‘saving their lives’ if you then neglect the aftercare?

NICE has published new guidance setting out ‘red flag events’ which warn when nurses in charge of shifts must act immediately to ensure they have enough staff to meet the needs of patients on that ward.  ‘Red flag events’ include patients not being provided with basic care such as pain relief or help to visit the bathroom.  An appropriate response could be to provide more skilled nurses or increase numbers of staff.

This latest guidance is designed to help ensure safe & efficient nurse staffing levels on hospital wards that provide overnight care for adult patients in England and is in response to concerns about standards of patient care in the aftermath of the Mid Staffs scandal.

As patients’ needs differ from day to day, there is ‘no single staff number that can be safely & adequately applied across the wide range of wards in the NHS’.  The guidance committee concluded that when each registered nurse is caring for more than 8 patients this is a signal to check that patients are not at risk of harm.  At this point senior management and nursing managers should closely monitor red flag events, analyse safe nursing indicator data and take action if required.

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First Steps in Data Governance Tutorial, 6th August, Central London

Find out more and register....

Open data is paramount in pushing for greater transparency and accountability across the public sector. Its value lies in driving improvements, efficiencies and innovation in public service delivery.

However, opening up public sector data to improve business efficiency has a direct impact on data governance. 

Furthermore, the UK public sector is subject to a growing range of data governance challenges, for example, managing the overlap between the Data Protection Act (DPA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).

So what exactly is Data Governance? Where do you start? How do you win the support you need to implement it across your organisation? How does your organisation get off the starting blocks and win the race to effective enterprise-wide Data Governance?    

Attend this two hour tutorial presented by Nigel Turner, VP of Information Management Strategy at Trillium Software at the iconic Waldorf Hilton Hotel in central London, and you will learn:

  • Why Data Governance is a ‘must have’ foundation for effective business management
  • The costs and risks of not having Data Governance in place
  • How to start a Data Governance initiative and gain the support required
  • How to deploy a framework to ensure a successful enterprise roll out
  • How to measure the benefits of Data Governance

The tutorial will be followed by refreshments, giving you the opportunity to network with fellow attendees and ask further questions. Laptops are not required and copies of the tutorial slides will be supplied at the end of the session.

Click here to find out more and register to attend this event.

 
Everyone should know the ‘basics’ after 10+ years of formal education

New tougher primary school tests in maths & English will further the government’s objective of ensuring nobody leaves school without being able to read or write and with a solid grounding in maths, Education Minister Elizabeth Truss said last week.  Sample questions for the tests taken by 7-year-olds and 11-year-olds - in maths, reading, and grammar, punctuation & spelling - reveal the higher standards expected of children in the 3Rs.

The new tests will come in from 2016, reflecting the greater demands of the rigorous new curriculum, which will be taught from September 2014.  All topics in the curriculum - including the most complex - will be tested in these new assessments, whereas at the moment 11-year-old pupils are only fully stretched if they are also entered for the separate level 6 tests. The complicated system of levels is being scrapped, with pupils given a ‘scaled score’ which shows how they compare to the expected standard for their year.

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Should there be a legal minimum for ‘child access’ perhaps?

The next government must become the first in history to reverse family breakdown and confront a growing culture of disposable dads, says a new report.   The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) puts forward a radical package to get to the root causes of Britain’s family breakdown shame – including a plan to get urgent relationship help to the country’s poorest communities.

 The report criticises successive governments for sleepwalking into a family breakdown crisis, saying that 15-year-olds in the UK are now more likely to have a Smart Phone than their dad at home.

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Need to ‘keep our powder dry’

In a report published on the UK’s relationship with Iran, the Foreign Affairs Committee says that President Rouhani of Iran ‘should, for now, be trusted as someone who is genuinely committed to a sustainable deal with the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (the P5+1) on Iran’s nuclear programme’.  His clear electoral mandate and his background as a regime insider give him authority & credibility at the highest levels within Iran.  But he is a pragmatist who hopes to get sanctions lifted, and not necessarily a reformist and he should be judged by his actions and not by his words.

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There can be no such thing as free healthcare; either pay UK Taxes or by credit card

Patients from outside Europe using the NHS will be charged 150% of the cost of treatment under new incentives for the NHS to recover costs from visitors & migrants using the NHS.  This will make sure that by the middle of the next parliament, the NHS will recover up to £500m a year from treating foreign visitors & migrants.  Visitors & migrants can currently get free NHS care immediately or soon after arrival in the UK, leaving the NHS open to abuse.

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There is always a ‘fear’ when taking medication while pregnant

Public Health England (PHE) welcomes last week’s announcement from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advising the Department of Health (DH) that the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccination programme for pregnant women should continue for a further 5 years.  The advice reflects new data on vaccine effectiveness and safety published by PHE and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

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Let us hope that it helps repairs the damage caused by the actions of some policemen over recent years

The College of Policing has written a new Code of Ethics for all police forces across the UK.  Members of the public have said they would not want to be in the position of police when faced with some of the decisions they have to make, a survey by the College of Policing has revealed.

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Easier ‘justice’ for victims!

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has launched a customer portal.  From 14 July, those who register their application through their online application system may be invited to use the new customer portal.  It lets you send them information, including injury photographs, online. You can also download bespoke medical forms for your GP to complete.  The have built step-by-step guidance into the portal to make using it as simple as possible.

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More contributions to the Referendum debate
Scotland Flag More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims;
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Please choose from the links below to view individual sections of interest:
Westminster and Whitehall reshuffles
Alongside a Cabinet reshuffle designed to promote female MPs, Sir Bob Kerslake lost his job as head of the civil service. Was he a victim of Number 10's disdain for Whitehall? Or did he simply fail to shine? Will there ever be an opportunity to appoint a female head? Here's what we have to say on reshuffling in Westminster and Whitehall.

Bob Kerslake: a casualty of David Cameron's indifference to Whitehall?
David Walker: Civil service chief's exit illustrates the instability at the top of Whitehall

There are still too few women at the top
Jane Dudman: The Cabinet will remain largely white and male – and so will the top post in the civil service

A guide to the new housing and planning minister
From the Housing Network: Here's a quick briefing about the new man in charge, Brandon Lewis

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Eight ways managers can turn their council around
Hannah Fearn picks up tips on how public leaders can improve their councils from this year's LGA conference

How to save a pub at risk of closure
Every week 28 pubs close their doors. Here's what councils and communities are doing to save them