Last year 80,000 people died prematurely because they smoked. Today it will kill 200 people (Health and Social Care Information Centre [HSCIC], 2015). Despite progress in driving down smoking rates, it is still the leading cause of preventable death. For every person who dies from smoking, 20 more are living with life-limiting illnesses (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). Recent Action on Smoking and Health (ASH, 2014) research estimates that smokers need the care of friends, relatives or social services on average nine years earlier than a non-smoker.
A childhood immunisation programme like no other seen before.
Pauline MacDonald gives her views on the groundbreaking national programme to vaccinate more children against flu.
If you don’t protect your vaccines, they won’t protect your patients.
Vaccines save lives — but the cost procured by the Government is over £300 million a year. Last calendar year, vaccines wasted through incidents in primary care had a value at list price of £3.7 million. This figure represents vaccines that were disposed as a result of both avoidable and non-avoidable incidents, including failure to store them properly. This does not include any flu vaccine wastage (other than vaccines from the children’s programme), or any other centrally procured vaccine which Public Health England (PHE) supply and do not collect data on (e.g. rabies vaccine) (personal communication with Chris Lucas, vaccine supply team, PHE).
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care services in England.
It registers, monitors and inspects providers of regulated activities, including GP practices. Registered providers are expected to meet the regulations set out in the Healthand Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (http:// bit.ly/1FqzH78) and the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 (http://bit. ly/1GvIKre).
The number of people living with diabetes is going up and up and shows no sign of slowing down. There are now 3.9 million people living with the condition (Health and Social Care Information Centre [HSCIC], 2014) and, if nothing changes, this number is projected to rise to five million by 2025 (figures based on Association of Health Professions in Ophthalmology [AHPO] diabetes prevalence model — http://bit. ly/aphodiabetes). A growing number of people with diabetes are experiencing devastating complications, leading to premature deaths and unsustainable costs to the NHS.
Nurses in primary care have for many years drawn up insulin syringes in advance so that patients with diabetes who are unable to use an administration device, or who have some other impairment that prevents them doing this for themselves are able to take the pre- prepared insulin and self-administer. This has helped patients maintain their independence and has reduced the need for multiple visits from nursing teams that may not be convenient to the patient, as well as being time consuming for the team.
Currently in the UK there are almost seven million carers — that is one in ten people (Carer’s Trust, http://bit.ly/1QNAWZZ) — who perform a vital role in enabling people to lead independent lives in their own homes. To help nurses in primary care support these carers, the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) has launched two new resources (online educational modules to help nurses support carers). These new resources are one of the main results of the QNI’s ‘Carers project’, which ran throughout 2014 with support from the Department of Health (DH).
Five-year plan aims to improve cardiovascular care for all. Sara Askew on the British Heart Foundation's five-year strategy to 2020, and the development of an alliance of healthcare professionals working with people at risk of or living with cardiovascular disease.
Working towards an end to Female genital mutilation (FGM).
FGM is a violent and damaging ritual, which, although illegal in the UK, remains a major challenge for healthcare professionals. This is in part due to the multicultural nature of our contemporary society and greater emphasis and commitment by women and professionals including the police, health and social care and government to eradicate it (Royal College of Midwives [RCM] et al, 2013).
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