Tag: RCP

RCP view on the NHS workforce

Short- and medium-term solutions

Source: The King’s Fund

This policy paper outlines how staffing shortages are the biggest barrier to meeting demand for care and delivering health care sustainably in the long term. It describes how a long-term plan for increasing staffing numbers, including expanding medical school places, is needed to put the NHS workforce back on a sustainable footing, restore timely access to care and protect patient safety. But given the urgency of the situation, the RCP has set out a range of short- and medium-term solutions that will make a difference now, from affordable childcare and flexible working to overseas recruitment and a new ‘retire and return’ deal for consultants. 

Evidence updates

Recommendations for continued care and support of people who are clinically extremely vulnerable
Royal College of Physicians (RCP); 2020.
(Statement from the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, National Voices and specialist societies highlighting the challenges faced by both doctors and patients in identifying and reducing the risks associated with COVID-19 for the most clinically vulnerable people.)

Expanding the primary care workforce in 2020/21 .
NHS England & NHS Improvement; 2020.
(Actions for CCGs, PCNs and STPs resulting from People Plan and Third phase of NHS response to covid-19.)

Reintroduction of NHS continuing healthcare.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2020.
(Sets out how clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will restart NHS continuing healthcare (CHC) assessment processes from 1 September 2020.Published 21 August 2020.)

Virtual training for midwives during a pandemic.
Abramson P. British Journal of Midwifery 2020;28(8):502–503.
(When a baby dies, it is a tragedy at any time but during the COVID-19 pandemic, bereaved families and the professionals supporting them have been faced with additional and often distressing challenges. Restrictions have made access to hospitals difficult for partners and other family members, while support services that would normally be provided for bereaved parents have been unavailable or severely limited.)

Ketamine as a mental health treatment: Are acute psychoactive effects associated with outcomes? A systematic review.
Grabski M. Behavioural Brain Research 2020;392:112629.
(The databases Medline, Embase and PsycInfo were searched. The studies reviewed displayed great variability in methodology and quality of reporting. The most commonly assessed effect was dissociation, measured by the CADSS. Our results suggest that the CADSS total is not consistently associated with antidepressant outcomes. Apart from this, the current literature is too limited to draw definite conclusions on an association between acute psychoactive effects and mental health outcomes.)