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40,000 patients 'restrained'

Patient restraint data revealed

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed 39,883 recorded incidents of all kinds of physical restraint in mental health trusts during 2011/12:

  • Surrey and Borders NHS Foundation Trust reported just 38 incidents over the year while Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust reported 3,346.
  • Figures for overall physical restraint incidents, including face-down incidents, were compiled from answers provided by 51 mental trusts.
  • More than half of the responding trusts, or 27, said 3,439 of the incidents were of face-down restraint, a potentially life-threatening form of restraint.
  • Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust recorded 923 incidents of face-down restraint and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust 810,
  • A separate survey of 375 frontline healthcare staff involved, showed almost a quarter, 22%, had not had face-to-face training on physical restraint techniques.
  • More than four in ten, or 42% said that with hindsight, they felt that restraint.

Source: Mind

Young face 'decades of saving' to buy first home

Independent research commissioned by housing charity Shelter shows that people in their 20s have become locked out of home ownership. Credit: PA Wire

Young people trapped by high property prices face having to save for up to 30 years before they can afford a deposit on their first home, a charity warned.

Independent research commissioned by housing charity Shelter shows that people in their 20s have become locked out of home ownership, meaning a generation will be stuck renting for longer.

The study looked at earnings, house prices, rents and spending on essentials in local authorities across the country to show the extent of the challenge faced by households wanting to save a deposit to buy a home in their area.

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40,000 patients 'restrained'

Report: 40,000 mental health patients restrained

Nearly 40,000 incidents of physical restraint on mental health patients were recorded in one year - with more than 3,000 in the "dangerous" face-down position - according to figures.

There were nearly 40,000 recorded incidents of physical restraint, a charity has found. Credit: PA

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed 39,883 recorded incidents in England of all kinds of physical restraint in mental health trusts during 2011/12, resulting in at least 949 injuries to people with mental health problems.

Mental health charity Mind said there was "huge variation" between trusts in the use of all types of physical restraint.

Read more: Dealing with mental health problems and finding help

Osborne to spell out bank plans at annual speech

Chancellor George Osborne delivering his Mansion House speech in 2012. Credit: PA Wire

George Osborne will shed light on his plans for the state-owned banks amid fresh pressure to split up Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

The Chancellor is expected to use his annual Mansion House speech to suggest that a sell-off of the taxpayer's 40% stake in Lloyds could start by 2015.

He is also likely to order more detailed work on how to hive off toxic assets from RBS into a "bad" bank after a long-awaited report from the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards suggested it could be necessary.

Read: Report urges Government to consider RBS split

End-of-life care 'hit or miss'

Dementia patients 'most at risk of dying in hospital'

  • People dying from cancer receive earlier and better diagnosis, better follow-up support and dedicated help to ensure their wishes are carried out.
  • A series of other factors also affected the care received by patients at the end of their lives including their ethnicity and differences in availability of equipment.
  • People with dementia are at far greater risk of being hospitalised before death or dying in hospital instead of at home.
  • Helping more people die in a manner of their choosing would not only ease the pain for the patient and their family but also reduce the number of emergency hospital admissions.
  • A lack of support in the community leaves carers unable to cope, the report said.

Source: www.sueryder.org

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PM faces questions on G8 deals

PM faces MPs' questions on G8 Syria agreements

David Cameron and G8 leaders at the summit in Northern Ireland. Credit: PA Wire

David Cameron will face questions from MPs after G8 leaders thrashed out limited agreements on how to handle the Syria crisis and tackle tax dodging.

The Prime Minister is due to make a statement to the Commons after claiming to have achieved significant progress at the summit of wealthy countries at Lough Erne, Northern Ireland.

Read: G8 nations pave the way for Syria peace talks

In a joint statement, the eight nations said a planned conference on ending the conflict in Syria should be held "as soon as possible".

End-of-life care 'hit or miss'

Charity: Failings in end-of-life care 'a wake up call'

The quality of end-of-life care for the terminally ill "is often hit and miss" and "a wake up call" a charity has said:

These widespread and unacceptable inequalities show how accessing good quality end-of-life care is often hit or miss. But this is a lottery we can't allow to continue.

A person's condition, location or ethnicity should not prevent them from having a say in the care they receive at the end of life.

– Claudia Wood, deputy director of Demos and co-author of the report

Death and the memories it leaves behind, particularly of a loved one's last days, affects us all, which is why the inequalities revealed in this report represent a 'wake up' call that cannot be ignored

– Paul Woodward, Sue Ryder chief executive
End-of-life care 'hit or miss'

Quality of end-of-life care 'is hit and miss'

The quality of end-of-life care for the terminally ill "is hit and miss" and depends on "arbitrary" factors such as disease, age and geographical location, according to a new report.

More support and training should be provided to GPs and other health professionals to help them talk about death and dying with patients and their families, research have said.

The quality of end-of-life care for the the terminally ill is hit and miss, a charity has said. Credit: PA

The report by charity Sue Ryder, said people dying from cancer receive earlier and better diagnosis, better follow-up support and dedicated help to ensure their wishes are carried out.

It said a series of other factors also affected the care received by patients at the end of their lives including their ethnicity and differences in availability of equipment.

'Cover-up' over hospital scandal

NHS watchdog apologises for 'letting people down'

This report reveals just how poor the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) oversight of University Hospitals Morecambe Bay (UHMB) was in 2010. This is not the way things should have happened. It is not the way things will happen in the future. We will use the report to inform the changes we are making to improve the way we work and the way we are run.

We are changing the culture of the organisation. The commissioning and publication of this report symbolises the approach we are taking and will continue to take. We are determined CQC will be an open and transparent organisation.

The report shows how CQC provided false assurances to the public and to Monitor in 2010. We were slow to identify failings at the trust and then slow to take action. We should not have registered UHMB without conditions.

We let people down, and we apologise for that.

There is no evidence of a systematic cover up or of any collusion between CQC and the Public Health Service Ombudsman, but the example of how an internal report was dealt with is evidence of a failure of leadership within CQC and a dysfunctional relationship between the executive and the board. There is evidence of a defensive, reactive and insular culture that resulted in behaviour that should never have happened.

– Care Quality Commission spokesperson
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