Cameron announces £140m funding boost for the NHS to help cut red tape for nursing and midwives

David Cameron announced today the government would invest £140 million in funding to ease the burden of red tape on nurses and midwives, enabling them to spend more time with patients.

The prime minister declared he wanted to build on the 'real successes in the NHS' - but admitted they still needed to work on hospital food.

As Conservative activists begin gathering in Birmingham for the party's annual conference, the Prime Minister also pledged additional cash to ensure cancer patients have access to advanced radiotherapy treatment.

Full Article on Daily Mail

Cancer, heart and stroke specialists face NHS axe

The fight against Britain's biggest killer diseases could be hit by NHS plans to cut the number of dedicated teams of experts widely lauded for their work to improve care, doctors and health charities have warned.

Hundreds of specialists in cancer, heart disease and strokes face being made redundant as a result of the new NHS commissioning board's decision to shrink the number of clinical "networks" which are intended to drive up standards of treatment in hospital and help patients affected by those three conditions.

The board, the powerful new body that will take over running the NHS in England from next April, has decided to replace the 28 cancer networks and 28 combined heart and stroke networks with 12 of each. But the successor bodies will have far fewer staff and smaller budgets than the existing groupings of experts, which the NHS's medical director, Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, has praised as "an NHS success story".

Full Article on Guardian Society

Do new ways with dementia diagnosis give a glimpse of Wiltshire's future NHS?

The big-bang day for the coalition government’s restructuring of the NHS is either March 30 or April 1 next year – depending on which side of the divide you are on.  But some of the changes are being brought on stream gradually giving us a glimpse of what the new NHS might look like.

In Wiltshire there is a single Clinical Commissioning Group, but it is dividing itself up into three ‘localities’ or local areas so as to keep closer to patients – there’s even talk of sub-localities.  One of the first practical fruits of the new organisation has come from the GP commissioners Sarum locality which covers the south of the county.

Full Article on Marlborough News Online

Twitter and Facebook to be used for benefit applications

The government will announce plans later this month to allow people to use social networking sites to access public services.

Under the Cabinet Office scheme people wanting to apply for services ranging from benefits and tax credits to passports will be able to access them using their logins for websites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Once they have logged on via computer or mobile phone, the social networking site will send an email confirming their identity to the relevant government agency, the Cabinet Office said.

Full Article on Guardian Media

New campaign aims to improve Wiltshire people's mental health

A campaign is being launched on World Mental Health Day, next Wednesday, which aims to help people improve their mental wellbeing.

A group of local organisations have worked in partnership to develop the campaign.

The aim is to raise awareness of the manageable and practical things people can do to lead a healthier, happier life.

The campaign is structured around ten simple ways to improve wellbeing by making small, achievable lifestyle changes.

Full Article on Gazette & Herald

EVENT: Art & Age

You are invited to a special free event as part of a new Creative and Performing Arts project for over 50s in
Salisbury called Art & Age.

Bemerton Heath Neighbourhood Centre

Thurs 8 November 2012

9.45 - 11.45am

A chance to try out free singing, dancing, poetry and collage workshops and have your say in helping us plan the bigger project by contributing your suggestions and ideas. We need your input to make this project work for you!

Please bring along one of your favourite things as a talking point, or to use as creative inspiration.

Light refreshments will be provided.

No need to book, just come along on the day.

"Exempt Supported Housing", Universal Credit & Intensive Housing Management: News from the DWP

Support Solutions is pleased to publish our new Briefing which looks at the very recent information coming from the DWP which says, as we predicted in June of this year, that the housing costs of supported housing will be met through existing arrangements and not from Universal Credit. This is really important and very positive news. You can read our Briefing in full here.

This Briefing deals with the future funding of supported housing and Intensive Housing Management given the imminent implementation of Universal Credit.

Key Points:

·        Funding for the housing component of supported housing (including Intensive Housing management) is to be funded outside of Universal Credit in broadly the same way as it is now.

·        Exempt Accommodation is to be retained.

·        This may require the draft Universal Credit Regulations to be amended to relax the “benefit cap” for supported housing services which would otherwise breach it due to cost.

·        Sheltered housing is not specifically mentioned but there is nothing in what the DWP says to suggest it will be treated differently where there is a need for “general counselling & support” to be provided.

·        The DWP is to develop and pilot a locally based funding model in the longer term, perhaps when they have “bedded in” Universal Credit from 2017.