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 […]

NHS England has today announced plans to recruit and deploy hundreds of pharmacists into care homes to help reduce overmedication and cut unnecessary hospital stays. Around 180,000 people living in nursing or residential homes will have their prescriptions and medicines reviewed by the new pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Elderly care home residents often have one […]

The charity is joining forces with NHS England to encourage older people to seek help and is calling on GPs to spot the warning signs. Nearly half of adults (7.7million) aged 55+ say they have experienced depression and around the same number (7.3 million) have suffered with anxiety, according to new YouGov research for the […]

The NHS is trialling new wearable sensors, based on technology used by NASA and the CGI film industry, to help identify older patients at risk of falls as part of a new drive to tackle frailty. The technology will help make one small step a lot easier for the over-65s (although giant leaps may still […]

This is an annual data collection, now in its fifth year.  The purpose of the audit is to improve intermediate care services for older people by providing benchmarked information on service models, spend, activity, workforce and, importantly, outcomes.  It has been highly successful in previous years and CCGs and providers of intermediate care services are […]

Older patients and people with long term conditions and mental health problems will be among the first to benefit from a major new drive to modernise how the NHS delivers care. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos today (Friday 22), NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens will launch the first wave of NHS […]

Look after yourself and others and avoid if possible the post-Christmas hospital rush, says Keogh England’s top doctor, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, has today (Monday) called on people to look out for frail and elderly relatives, friends and neighbours over Christmas and New Year. The NHS England Medical Director has spoken of the need to […]