Diane Cuff, head of family carers and community wellbeing, Shropshire Rural Community Council, Shrewsbury
Preventing pressure ulcers is essential for both the patient and the NHS, as failing to do so results in considerable pain and discomfort to the individual, delayed discharge, higher treatment costs and the threat of legal action. In this article however, I will consider the costs to the family, in particular the carers, and the key role they play in preventing pressure ulcers within the home. To help illustrate these issues, I have focused on the experiences of one family carer and the questions this case raises for community care and carer support.
Alex Munro is a registered nurse with a background in unscheduled care as a nurse practitioner. He is the co-founder and clinical director of Hallam Medical, the primary care recruitment specialist.
Is it me, or is simply being a nurse becoming more difficult than ever before? What with the pressures of the workplace, constant media coverage and ever-present politics, nurses could be forgiven for forgetting why they chose the profession in the first place.
Jayne Hollinshead, regional project lead, Midlands, Institute of Health Visiting.
The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) was established as a national charity over two years ago, with the aim of supporting excellence in health visiting by strengthening professional leadership and providing high-quality training and education. The hope is that this will lead to improved health for children, families and communities.
Advances in health care mean a longer life expectancy for many patients, however quality of life has not improved proportionately. Sana Zakaria looks at the pressures to provide health care for a rapidly ageing population living with multiple comorbidities.
By 2018, it is predicted that about three million people will be living with multiple long-term conditions, which will cost the NHS and social care an extra £5 billion (Department of Health [DH], 2012a). Cardiovascular disease is a long-term condition affecting around seven million people in the UK, and is often accompanied by a plethora of other conditions in the ageing population. Cardiovascular disease was responsible for nearly 30% of all deaths in the UK in 2013, and is one of the largest causes of disability in the country (DH, 2013).
With the government looking to cut costs across the healthcare landscape, identifying comparable but cheaper treatment options can help you make savings. Here, Tracey Morgan, clinical nurse specialist tissue viability, takes a look at the facts...
The challenges facing the NHS now and in the future are well publicised, as is the need for significant change if it is to avoid widespread overspend, or decline in the quality of care delivered (NHS England, 2014). The population is ageing and this, coupled with medical and technological advances, means that more people are living for longer with multiple comorbidities such as diabetes, putting increasing strain on NHS budgets (NHS England, 2014).
Plenty of scare stories surrounded the NMC’s release of its new revalidation requirements, with anything from excessive practice hours and patient feedback making many nurses uneasy about their future registration. Here, Alex Munro takes a look at the facts...
As a nurse or midwife, you will no doubt be aware of the impending changes to the way that you will have to renew your professional registration with the NMC. So what are the changes and what will they mean for you?
Ever complained about a lack of proper resources, the difficulty of getting the right dressing, or the traffic on your morning commute? Sue Hill takes us on a visit to rural Uganda, where access to any healthcare at all is a luxury that many can’t afford...
With the Conservative party defying the polls and exceeding the nation’s expectations by winning a clear majority, what could the next five years mean for the NHS and community nurses?
A new UK-wide community pilot project for people with chronic kidney disease is due to start in summer 2015. ASSIST-CKD — a programme to spread eGFR graph surveillance for the early identification, support and treatment of people with progressive chronic kidney disease — is supported by the Health Foundation and led by Kidney Research UK, the national charity dedicated to research that will lead to better treatments and cures for kidney disease.
At the end of 2014, Colostomy Association trustee, Wendy Hetherington, launched a new national helpline for parents of children with bowel and bladder dysfunction. The Junior Ostomy Support Helpline (JOSH) is staffed entirely by parents of children with bowel and bladder conditions and provides a much-needed lifeline to families.
