Every patient who needs kidney dialysis will benefit from free transport to and from vital hospital appointments, the NHS in England announced today. New rules will also come into place to make it simpler for other patients to get free transport, including those with long term conditions and mobility problems. After a full public consultation […]

Official figures later today are expected to confirm that the NHS has now offered the COVID-19 vaccine to residents at every eligible care home with older residents across England. In a major milestone for the NHS vaccination programme, nurses, GPs and other NHS staff have offered the life-saving jab to people living at more than […]

England’s most senior nurse has appointed the lead on health and wellbeing for Chelsea Pensioners as her advisor on improving support for care home nurses. Professor Deborah Sturdy OBE will provide the chief nursing officer for England, Ruth May, with expert advice from those nurses working to deliver the high-quality clinical care for people living […]

Expert rapid response teams will be on hand within two hours to help support older people to remain well at home and avoid hospital admissions, under new plans outlined by the NHS today. Local health service and council teams will begin the roll out of Urgent Community Response teams from April, as part of the […]

NHS England and Age UK have joined forces in a campaign to encourage older people to access treatment for mental health conditions, as new analysis shows a majority of older people do not seek help. New data reveals that more than six in 10 people in the UK aged 65 or over have experienced depression […]

NHS England and Health Education England have today launched ActNow, an e-learning tool developed for health service and care staff to help them reduce hospital delays for patients. Nearly 350,000 patients currently spend over three weeks in acute hospitals each year. Many of those are older people who are often frail, and while a short […]

Action to help tens of thousands more people avoid lengthy spells in hospital is being rolled out nationwide as part of the NHS Long Term Plan. NHS doctors, nurses and other staff are being encouraged to ask themselves ‘Why not home? Why not today?’ when planning care for patients recovering from an operation or illness, […]

An army of experts have been recruited by NHS England to help prevent care home residents being given too many medicines as part of a package of measures to improve older people’s health and care in the NHS Long Term Plan. Care home residents are prescribed an average of seven medicines a day, with many […]

The sister of MP Jo Cox is backing an anti-loneliness campaign to help 30,000 people avoid health and wellbeing problems that can come from feeling and living alone. The campaign, backed by the Foundation set up following the murder of the former MP for Batley and Spen in 2016, is one of a range of […]

Digital checks that can prevent dementia and falls in older people, and save lives through diagnosis of sepsis, are among a range of tools being made available in hospitals across the country, as part of the NHS Long Term Plan. One in eight hospital patients is affected by delirium, which can make people unsteady on […]