Social care

Pharmacists have vital role in reducing pressures on health system, says leading pharmacist

Pharmacists have an important role to play in combating pressures on health and social care services caused by an increasingly older population, according to leading academic Nina Barnett.…

Budget delivers £2bn for social care in England over next three years

Philip Hammond, the UK government’s chief finance minister, has promised £2bn for adult social care in England over the next three years to help councils provide high quality care while easing pressure on the NHS.…

Transformation of NHS at risk unless government funds shift to community health services, warns King’s Fund

Government plans to transform the NHS in England, outlined in its ‘Five year forward view’, are in jeopardy unless it recognises the social care crisis and funds the necessary shift in services out of hospital into the community, the King’s Fund think tank has warned.…

Government’s health and social care integration plans at risk, warns National Audit Office

England’s plans to integrate health and social care systems have been less successful than expected and have not brought in the benefits expected for patients, the NHS or local authorities, warns a report from the National Audit Office.…

No new money for health in autumn statement

There was no new money for the NHS or social care announced in the autumn statement on 23 November 2016, despite warnings from the NHS and local government that services are at breaking point and evidence that a crisis in social services is heightening pressure on an already overburdened NHS.…

Pharmacists should prepare medicine records for patients using home care services

Community pharmacists should create a paper medicines administration record for adults who use home care services, according to proposals from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), England’s health technology body.…

Pill organisers could put older patients at risk of adverse events

The use of pill organisers by older people could increase the risk of drug-related adverse events, say researchers.…

Pharmacy at home: service for frail older patients demonstrates medicines risk reduction and admission avoidance

The Exeter Cluster Pharmacy team is part of an integrated community health and social care service, providing domiciliary medicines optimisation to around 145,000 people.…

A history of HIV survival in the UK

Treatment for HIV has radically improved since the beginning of the epidemic in 1981. HIV-infected people in the UK are now surviving for decades, rather than months or years.…

Donepezil may delay nursing home admission in moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease

Discontinuing donepezil in Alzheimer’s patients as their disease worsens could double the risk of admission into a nursing home within a year, suggests a study published in The Lancet Neurology.…