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In light of the government's health and social care reforms, will services of the future offer older people a better deal? Older people are the biggest users of the NHS, accounting for 75% of activity. They occupy 60% of hospital beds, according to figures from the charity Age UK, and it is estimated that their health and social care needs alone account for most of the £70bn spent each year on patients with long-term conditions. With the number of people aged over 85 expected to double in the next 25 years, it is crucial that the NHS of the future has the capacity to cope with the increased...

Patients and service users want integrated services, easy access and less paperwork, say Jules Acton and Don Redding Integration integration integration. When National Voices asked charities what patients and other service users wanted from the health and social care reforms, 'integration' or joined-up care was the top of the wishlist. Why? Because people are tired of falling through gaps in their care and fed up with dropping out of the system because 'the system' hasn't thought things through from the perspective of the user; people are tired of organisational barriers and...

A public health approach to protect children from harm as early as possible is key to ensuring their wellbeing in later life One half of all mental illnesses begin before the age of 14. If we are serious about preventing and treating mental illness, we must seriously re-evaluate how we raise our children, care for them, teach them to take up supportive and loving relationships, and protect them. With this in mind, the 3rd World Congress of Cultural Psychiatry , being held this weekend at Queen Mary University of London, is focusing on young people. More than 350 academics, clinicians, practitioners...

Chief executive of Whittington Health, Dr Yi Mien Koh, explains to Jessica Fuhl that the biggest challenge to integration and efficiency is getting staff on board Whittington Health has ambitions plans for the future. It hopes to achieve foundation trust status by 2014 and its first step to ensure it made sufficient efficiency savings in order to do so was to fully integrate local community services with the hospital last year. In January it had reached 98% of its cost improvement programme (CIP) target for the financial year as a result. The integrated health organisation is a merger of the formerly...

The authors of the Dignity in Care report had the chance to address the real problems faced by care professionals, but once again these were ignored, says blogger Ermintrude Another day another dignity report . Do I sound a little jaded? Possibly. Possibly more than I intend to. It's a good thing of course. It's good that the care and treatment of others in hospitals and care homes, particularly older people, is highlighted but this is not the first of these reports to emerge and it won't be the last. It's good that language and assumptions are challenged but we've been here...

In the Lords, an amendment is being put forward that seeks to retain a vital level of protection for vulnerable people Peers are set to further scrutinise the health and social care bill as the House of Lords debates a proposed amendment on Monday evening that, while not among the most high-profile elements of the legislation, could have a drastic impact on the recovery of mental health patients. The proposed amendment, being put forward by Lord Patel of Bradford, concerns clause 39 of the bill. This clause addresses section 117 of the Mental Health Act, which guarantees aftercare provision for...

As Cynthia Bower resigns from the Care Quality Commission, speculation turns to who will be next to take the position So who wants the job from hell? There is unlikely to be a long queue of applicants to replace Cynthia Bower as chief executive of the much (some say rightly) maligned Care Quality Commission (CQC). Still, there will be those who relish a challenge. The only mildly surprising thing about Bower's resignation is its timing. Pretty well everyone knew it was coming, but many expected hers to be the most prominent head to roll when the Francis inquiry into care failings at hospitals...

Government says independent review will focus on the balance between protecting patients' health and social care information and sharing to improve patient care Dame Fiona Caldicott will lead the government's review into confidentiality and the sharing of health and social care information, the Department of Health has announced. The review will look at the balance between protecting patients' confidential information against the need for sharing to improve patient care. The review comes on the back of the NHS Future Forum's recommendation in January for a review. Caldicott is known...