NEWS WORLD IN BRIEF Pay rise Nurses in Singapore are set to pocket a pay rise of up to 20 per cent over the next two years, the country’s health minister Gan Kim Yong has announced. In December 2014 and December 2015, staff will also receive an annual bonus worth two weeks’ salary. The move follows a major government review of the profession set up to improve the development and recognition of nurses. The ministry of health is also setting up a national council of nursing education to oversee training as a result of the review. Health centre blackout Nurses employed at the new health centre in the Maltese town of Mosta were forced to work by candlelight during a blackout last week. A power cut plunged the Mosta Health Centre, which operates without an electricity generator, into darkness. Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses president Paul Pace criticised the decision not to provide a generator, adding that a lack of planning by the Labour and Nationalist parties was to blame. Patients had to be referred to the A&E department of Mater Dei Hospital, putting pressure on staff, said the union. Needlestick jail term The RCN has written to the Ugandan health minister in support of a HIV positive nurse who was jailed over a needlestick accident. Rosemary Namubiru has launched an appeal against her three-year prison sentence for criminal negligence. She used an intravenous needle, after accidentally pricking her finger with it, on a baby. The infant was not infected. The RCN joined other groups to condemn the court’s decision, amid fears it may discourage other nurses from getting tested or disclosing their HIV status.
NHS seeks ideas on how to improve discharge information Community nurses are being urged to tell NHS England about the challenges affecting patient discharge from secondary to primary care. NHS England has issued a patient safety alert, warning of the dangers that can result from communication breakdowns between professionals during handovers from acute to community care. A report published last week showed that one third of the 10,000 patient safety incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System in England relating to handover were caused by poor communication. The report reviewed 39 deaths and severe harms related to discharge from hospital and mental health trusts between October 2012 and September 2013, and found that communication breakdown was a factor in 12 cases. NHS England is leading a programme to improve handovers. As part of its incidents review a team found that one patient’s pressure ulcers and skin damage had only been identified by chance following an inspection in community care. In many of the 300 moderate, low and no-harm incidents, patients discharged from hospital needed district
nurse care but had not been referred. The report also found that some referrals that had been sent were not always received because of problems with the referrals system.
‘THE WORK NHS ENGLAND IS DOING WILL BE EMINENTLY SENSIBLE AND USEFUL’ RCN public health adviser Helen Donovan said: ‘Because of all the different NHS organisations and there having been so many changes in the past few years, the relationships between discharge care co-ordinators and community staff have probably been limited. ‘The work NHS England is doing will be eminently sensible and useful,’ she added. ‘They are developing a resource and a toolkit that will help.’ Information on handovers can be sent to NHS England via online questionnaires. A best practice template will be supplied in an online resource, and a series of webinars will be produced. For more information and to contribute to the review, visit tinyurl.com/ppdbubn
Hospital threatened with care inquiry The family of a woman with severe learning disabilities has called for a full independent inquiry as well as threatening legal action over allegations of poor care at an NHS hospital, which left her traumatised. It has been alleged that Susan Hearsey, who is in her sixties, was not washed regularly and was found in a soiled bed on one occasion, after she was admitted to Walsall Manor Hospital last year following a fall. She said a nurse put two fingers up her nose, causing bleeding, because she would not take her medication.
Ms Hearsey has been transferred to a care home but remains traumatised by the hospital stay, according to Leigh Day, the legal firm representing her, which said an independent investigation should identify those responsible. Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust has ‘sincerely apologised for the distress that Susan and her family have experienced following Susan’s stay’. A trust spokesperson said: ‘We have taken the concerns raised extremely seriously and have undertaken a full and detailed investigation into the issues highlighted.’
NURSING STANDARD september 3 :: vol 29without no 1 ::permission. 2014 13 Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Jun 27, 2016. For personal use only. No other uses Copyright © 2016 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
NHS seeks ideas on how to improve discharge information Community nurses are being urged to tell NHS England about the challenges affecting patient discharge from secondary to primary care. NHS England has issued a patient safety alert, warning of the dangers that can result from communication breakdowns between professionals during handovers from acute to community care. A report published last week showed that one third of the 10,000 patient safety incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System in England relating to handover were caused by poor communication. The report reviewed 39 deaths and severe harms related to discharge from hospital and mental health trusts between October 2012 and September 2013, and found that communication breakdown was a factor in 12 cases. NHS England is leading a programme to improve handovers. As part of its incidents review a team found that one patient’s pressure ulcers and skin damage had only been identified by chance following an inspection in community care. In many of the 300 moderate, low and no-harm incidents, patients discharged from hospital needed district
nurse care but had not been referred. The report also found that some referrals that had been sent were not always received because of problems with the referrals system.
‘THE WORK NHS ENGLAND IS DOING WILL BE EMINENTLY SENSIBLE AND USEFUL’ RCN public health adviser Helen Donovan said: ‘Because of all the different NHS organisations and there having been so many changes in the past few years, the relationships between discharge care co-ordinators and community staff have probably been limited. ‘The work NHS England is doing will be eminently sensible and useful,’ she added. ‘They are developing a resource and a toolkit that will help.’ Information on handovers can be sent to NHS England via online questionnaires. A best practice template will be supplied in an online resource, and a series of webinars will be produced. For more information and to contribute to the review, visit tinyurl.com/ppdbubn
Hospital threatened with care inquiry The family of a woman with severe learning disabilities has called for a full independent inquiry as well as threatening legal action over allegations of poor care at an NHS hospital, which left her traumatised. It has been alleged that Susan Hearsey, who is in her sixties, was not washed regularly and was found in a soiled bed on one occasion, after she was admitted to Walsall Manor Hospital last year following a fall. She said a nurse put two fingers up her nose, causing bleeding, because she would not take her medication.
Ms Hearsey has been transferred to a care home but remains traumatised by the hospital stay, according to Leigh Day, the legal firm representing her, which said an independent investigation should identify those responsible. Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust has ‘sincerely apologised for the distress that Susan and her family have experienced following Susan’s stay’. A trust spokesperson said: ‘We have taken the concerns raised extremely seriously and have undertaken a full and detailed investigation into the issues highlighted.’
NURSING STANDARD september 3 :: vol 29without no 1 ::permission. 2014 13 Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Jun 27, 2016. For personal use only. No other uses Copyright © 2016 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
