The Health Secretary has committed to adding day-to-day assessments of staff needs into new legislation aimed at ensuring safe numbers of healthcare workers.Holyrood unanimously passed the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Bill at the first stage on Thursday, with cross-party support.The legislation was put forward following concerns about staffing levels…

Urgent action is needed to tackle the worsening performance and financial problems at NHS Tayside, according to Scotland’s public spending watchdog.Auditor general for Scotland Caroline Gardner spoke out after a new report noted the struggling health board achieved just seven out of 20 national standards in March 2018 – down…

Proposed new legislation to enshrine safe levels of health and care staff in law is expected to pass its first hurdle at Holyrood later.The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Bill was put forward following concerns about staffing levels and workforce planning in the NHS and by care providers.If passed, the…

Major new investment is needed to improve some of the most "dilapidated" estates in the NHS and provide more community care for the sickest and most vulnerable mental health patients, a new report said.The independent review of the Mental Health Act 1983 published its findings on Thursday, setting out how…

The Government will draw up new legislation to transform mental health care for patients in crisis and give them more control of their treatment.Following the publication of the independent review of the Mental Health Act 1983, the Government has vowed to reform the legislation with a new Mental Health Bill.The…

MPs have called for a shake-up of the nursing degree apprenticeships initiative after a low take-up.The Commons Education Committee said a more flexible system was needed to boost numbers.MPs expressed concern that just 30 people began training through the scheme in the 2017-2018 academic year.The report said there was "no…

"Hostility" between surgeons at a beleaguered hospital trust led to them needing to take part in mediation to try and resolve their issues, a new report states.Health inspectors have ordered immediate action to improve services at the cardiac surgery unit at St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in south-west…

A coroner has ruled that an 88-year-old woman who died after a five-hour wait in an ambulance and two hours on a hospital trolley did not suffer from neglect and died of natural causes.Josephine Smalley (pictured) endured the wait at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, Hampshire, after her family…

A patient in their last year of life is admitted to hospital as an emergency case every 20 seconds, a charity has said.New analysis from the terminal illness charity Marie Curie suggests that one in every four patients admitted to hospital as an emergency case across England, Wales and Scotland…

The risk of dying in hospital increases when nurses are replaced with nursing assistants, according to a new study.The research authors from the University of Southampton suggest that policies encouraging the increased use of nursing assistants to compensate for shortages of registered nurses (RN) may be putting lives at risk.Professor…

One in five of the 1,540 people who attended A&E in the three months prior to taking their own lives died within two days of leaving hospital, new figures show.More than a quarter (30%) of the 5,826 people who died by suicide between 2011 and 2017 in Scotland went to…

A total of 221 young Scots have been waiting more than a year for specialist help with mental health problems, new figures have shown.NHS statistics also disclosed there were 197 cases where children with such conditions were treated on adult wards in 2017-18.In 255 cases, patients were admitted to specialist…