FEATURE ARTICLES

Adult social care is reported to be facing a £1.9 billion funding gap in 2017. A number of organisations have highlighted an urgent need for increased funding in order to relieve the pressure on health services.

The Accelerated Access Review final report, commissioned by the Government, has outlined a number of key recommendations to improve the adoption of innovation in the NHS.

As the NHS faces unprecedented pressures, concerns have been raised that hospital-acquired infections will rise and patient safety will be compromised.

Kate Woodhead RGN DMS provides an insight into the latest evidence and guidance on patient warming to improve outcomes following surgery.

Scalp cooling is changing the face of cancer, by helping thousands of people keep their hair while undergoing treatment for chemotherapy.

Ed Littlewood, from Renishaw’s medical and dental products division, discusses medical applications of 3D printing and the potential of the technology to improve procedures and aid patient recovery.

A legal ruling has highlighted the importance of ensuring patients are given sufficient information to make informed decisions about their treatment options.

An investigation by the Care Quality Commission has found widespread failure to properly investigate and learn from patient deaths, resulting in lost opportunities to improve care.

UEG Week provided an insight into the latest research in gastroenterology, including somesurprising findings concerning the impact of wheat protein on inflammation beyond the gut, as well as its contribution to the development of bowel-related inflammatory conditions.

Keeping pace with technological advancements requires considerable capital expenditure. It is becoming essential for hospitals to seek new and sustainable ways of investing in new technology. Chris Wilkinson reports.

‘What is good for the heart is also good for the brain’, according to experts on dementia, yet more than a quarter of the British public are unable to correctly identify any potentially modifiable risk factor for developing dementia.

The Clinical Services Journal speaks to Single Use Surgical – a company that was established as a response to UK hospitals’ concerns over cleaning practices – to find out why they champion single-use alternatives to reusable instruments.

The WHO is calling for increased efforts and investment to end one of the world’s oldest and deadliest diseases. But have we become complacent about the threat posed by TB and should we be more prepared to tackle the risk of outbreaks in UK hospitals?

Although there have been serious warnings that the last line of antibiotics is failing, there are also encouraging signs that antibiotic stewardship is improving and positive changes are being made in prescribing practices.

Patient information is now worth more than credit card data on the dark web and hackers are increasingly using medical devices to infiltrate hospital networks.

Kate Woodhead RGN DMS provides an insight into the World Health Organization’s latest guidance on preventing surgical site infection.

A medical engineering company, which maintains and repairs over 130,000 medical devices around the country, is calling on NHS Trusts to take a different approach to endoscope maintenance, in order to reduce the need for repairs and, ultimately, costs

Nicola Hall, managing director at Ingenica Solutions, calls for Government investment in placing a GS1 specialist in every Trust –instead of allocating funding for just a small number of sites.

Martin England argues that electronic reporting is vital to ensuring effective medicines management and reducing prescribing errors.

Suzanne Callander reports on two recent additions to the Medtech Innovation Briefing documents produced by NICE, both of which focus on alternative solutions as part of cancer treatment.