News
Patient safety fears follow staffing guideline decision Workforce planning is needed now to ensure adequate care this winter, warns Emergency Care Association In a letter to directors of nursing, Ms Cummings praised NICE’s ‘excellent work’ on urgent and emergency care staff levels. She stated that new urgent and emergency care ‘vanguard’ sites will build on this work while taking into account numbers of doctors, paramedics and other allied health professionals. This will inform us about the appropriate balance of staff for emergency departments and alternative urgent care services,’ the letter continued. No delay Ms Youd said she ‘wholeheartedly’ supports a multiprofessional approach to workforce planning but the work must be completed quickly if departments are to cope with winter pressures. ‘We cannot afford to wait any longer for guidance on this; there have already been too many delays,’ she warned. The issue of workforce planning sparked furious debate at last month’s RCN congress in Bournemouth, where 360 (99.47%) members voted in favour of a resolution deploring the decision to take the work away from NICE and calling on the council to lobby for its reversal. See feature, pages 14-19
Summer time has sting in the tail A CAMPAIGN to highlight the dangers of bee and wasp stings, and how people who are allergic to them can avoid or treat anaphylaxis, has been launched. According to guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, stings caused more than 70% of UK deaths from anaphylaxis between 1992 and 2001. Symptoms include itchy palms, soles, groin area and scalp, general hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat and difficulty breathing. The Bee Resistant campaign, funded by pharmaceutical company ALK, states all patients should be referred to an NHS allergy clinic for further assessment. ■ Further information is available from www.beeresistant.com
EMERGENCY NURSE
Alamy
By Sophie Blakemore A DECISION to halt development of a guideline for safe nurse staffing in urgent and emergency care settings could have major implications for services this winter, experts have warned. Draft guidance on staffing levels in emergency care were put out to consultation earlier this year by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) with publication of a final guideline expected soon. But last month England’s chief nurse Jane Cummings announced that the work on the nurse-staffing guideline, one of a series NICE was due to develop in response to the Francis and Berwick reports, would be taken over by NHS England as part of a wider national review of the health service. RCN Emergency Care Association chair Janet Youd said the move could mean that emergency departments (EDs) will not have guidance to ensure the right staff skill mix this winter. Ms Youd said: ‘A lot of EDs are struggling already this summer so we urgently need guidance for the winter. What patients need are emergency nurses with the skills to treat people’s symptoms. You can’t just draft nurses in from anywhere; it’s about skill mix.’
Bee and wasp stings can cause anaphylaxis
In brief The emergency department at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, has a ‘culture of bullying, harassment and inappropriate behaviour’, an independent inquiry has found. The report claims that the culture affects staff at all levels and poses a ‘significant risk of harm’ to patients, but praises the ‘deep commitment’ of the hospital’s staff. The three-month inquiry into emergency services in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan was launched after claims of bullying and staff shortages. Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has accepted the findings and is set to respond. More information is available at tinyurl.com/pxa9939 Every six minutes someone experiences a gastrointestinal (GI) bleed but half of hospitals that receive patients for emergency treatment cannot provide the services such patients need, a National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death has found. The report calls for 24/7 access to GI bleed services so that clinicians can start appropriate care and treatment plans as soon as a bleed is identified. More information at www.ncepod.org.uk Information to encourage patients to take medications in the most effective ways has been updated by NHS England. The Medicines Optimisation Dashboard provides data in a range of areas, including mental health, antibiotic prescribing and respiratory disease. It can be accessed at tinyurl.com/o6s7zbx Erratum In the May 2014 issue of Emergency Nurse, one of the Test Your Knowledge answers stated that children presenting with reduced levels of consciousness should have a Glasgow Coma Scale assessment every hour (d). However, it should be every 15 minutes (b). This relates to an article entitled Brain tumours in children in the April 2014 issue. We apologise for any inconvenience. July 2015 | Volume 23 | Number 4
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Dec 11, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Patient safety fears follow staffing guideline decision Workforce planning is needed now to ensure adequate care this winter, warns Emergency Care Association In a letter to directors of nursing, Ms Cummings praised NICE’s ‘excellent work’ on urgent and emergency care staff levels. She stated that new urgent and emergency care ‘vanguard’ sites will build on this work while taking into account numbers of doctors, paramedics and other allied health professionals. This will inform us about the appropriate balance of staff for emergency departments and alternative urgent care services,’ the letter continued. No delay Ms Youd said she ‘wholeheartedly’ supports a multiprofessional approach to workforce planning but the work must be completed quickly if departments are to cope with winter pressures. ‘We cannot afford to wait any longer for guidance on this; there have already been too many delays,’ she warned. The issue of workforce planning sparked furious debate at last month’s RCN congress in Bournemouth, where 360 (99.47%) members voted in favour of a resolution deploring the decision to take the work away from NICE and calling on the council to lobby for its reversal. See feature, pages 14-19
Summer time has sting in the tail A CAMPAIGN to highlight the dangers of bee and wasp stings, and how people who are allergic to them can avoid or treat anaphylaxis, has been launched. According to guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, stings caused more than 70% of UK deaths from anaphylaxis between 1992 and 2001. Symptoms include itchy palms, soles, groin area and scalp, general hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat and difficulty breathing. The Bee Resistant campaign, funded by pharmaceutical company ALK, states all patients should be referred to an NHS allergy clinic for further assessment. ■ Further information is available from www.beeresistant.com
EMERGENCY NURSE
Alamy
By Sophie Blakemore A DECISION to halt development of a guideline for safe nurse staffing in urgent and emergency care settings could have major implications for services this winter, experts have warned. Draft guidance on staffing levels in emergency care were put out to consultation earlier this year by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) with publication of a final guideline expected soon. But last month England’s chief nurse Jane Cummings announced that the work on the nurse-staffing guideline, one of a series NICE was due to develop in response to the Francis and Berwick reports, would be taken over by NHS England as part of a wider national review of the health service. RCN Emergency Care Association chair Janet Youd said the move could mean that emergency departments (EDs) will not have guidance to ensure the right staff skill mix this winter. Ms Youd said: ‘A lot of EDs are struggling already this summer so we urgently need guidance for the winter. What patients need are emergency nurses with the skills to treat people’s symptoms. You can’t just draft nurses in from anywhere; it’s about skill mix.’
Bee and wasp stings can cause anaphylaxis
In brief The emergency department at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, has a ‘culture of bullying, harassment and inappropriate behaviour’, an independent inquiry has found. The report claims that the culture affects staff at all levels and poses a ‘significant risk of harm’ to patients, but praises the ‘deep commitment’ of the hospital’s staff. The three-month inquiry into emergency services in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan was launched after claims of bullying and staff shortages. Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has accepted the findings and is set to respond. More information is available at tinyurl.com/pxa9939 Every six minutes someone experiences a gastrointestinal (GI) bleed but half of hospitals that receive patients for emergency treatment cannot provide the services such patients need, a National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death has found. The report calls for 24/7 access to GI bleed services so that clinicians can start appropriate care and treatment plans as soon as a bleed is identified. More information at www.ncepod.org.uk Information to encourage patients to take medications in the most effective ways has been updated by NHS England. The Medicines Optimisation Dashboard provides data in a range of areas, including mental health, antibiotic prescribing and respiratory disease. It can be accessed at tinyurl.com/o6s7zbx Erratum In the May 2014 issue of Emergency Nurse, one of the Test Your Knowledge answers stated that children presenting with reduced levels of consciousness should have a Glasgow Coma Scale assessment every hour (d). However, it should be every 15 minutes (b). This relates to an article entitled Brain tumours in children in the April 2014 issue. We apologise for any inconvenience. July 2015 | Volume 23 | Number 4
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Dec 11, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
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