www.mddus.com


RISE IN EMERGENCY READMISSIONS


FOR “PREVENTABLE” CONDITIONS EMERGENCY hospital readmissions for “potentially preventable” conditions have risen by 41 per cent in the last seven years, according to analysis from the Nuffield Trust. The study found that over the period from


2010/11 to 2016/17 there was an overall 19 per cent rise in patients being readmitted to hospital in an emergency within 30 days of discharge – but with a much higher rate in conditions classified as “potentially preventable”. These readmissions include conditions not diagnosed when patients were first admitted to hospital, such as pneumonia, pressure sores and venous thromboembolism (VTE).


Patients readmitted to hospital in an


emergency with pneumonia increased by 72.5 per cent – greater than an overall increase in pneumonia cases. The number of patients readmitted with venous thromboembolism grew by 36 per cent, and emergency readmissions for pressure sores almost trebled, superseding the overall increase in the number of pressure sore diagnoses in hospital. The authors of the study suggest that changes in hospital coding practices and a rapidly expanding older and frailer population may be partly to blame for the increase but they believe that the findings highlight


VISA CAP CHANGE TO TACKLE NHS RECRUITMENT GAP


IMMIGRATION rules are to be relaxed in a bid to attract more healthcare professionals to the UK, the Home Office has announced. The government plans to exclude doctors and nurses from the cap on skilled non-EU workers following appeals from health leaders. This means there will be no restriction on the numbers of doctors and nurses who can be employed through the tier 2 visa route, which currently has an annual limit of 20,700. The number of applications has exceeded the number of available


visas every month since December 2017, with the NHS accounting for 40 per cent of all tier 2 places. Despite ongoing reports of recruitment shortages within the health service, more than 1,500 doctors were refused a visa between December 2017 and March 2018. Excluding doctors and nurses will free up hundreds of tier 2 spaces a month for other professionals applying to work in the UK.


opportunities for local health providers and policy makers to target quality improvement efforts. Briefing author Jessica Morris, Research


Analyst at the Nuffield Trust, said: “Emergency readmissions to hospital, for conditions that were not diagnosed during their first visit, are potentially a warning sign that a patient’s quality of care may have been compromised. “The findings provide local health providers with a good opportunity to sit up and focus their attention and quality improvement initiatives on the three conditions where we’ve seen the most significant rise in readmissions.”


GMC REDUCES ANNUAL RETENTION


FEES NEWLY qualified doctors will save up to £1,000 on their annual retention fee (ARF), the General Medical Council has announced. Those applying for provisional registration from April 1, 2018, or


who have recently held provisional registration will save £40 on the provisional fee or £50 on the full registration fee. Doctors who join the register within five years of gaining their primary medical qualification and do not hold, or have not previously held, provisional registration will save £50 on their full registration fee and £275 on their ARF for the forthcoming year, until they have been qualified for more than five years Doctors with a gross annual worldwide income less than £32,000 can apply for an income discount. All other registered doctors with an annual retention fee date


of April 1 or later will pay £390 instead of £425 this year. Find out more at tinyurl.com/yd68j79l


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16