“Shocking” local variation in early death rates has been revealed today in a drive to prompt local councils and the NHS to tackle public health problems. 

A new website  launched by Public Health England (PHE) allows people to see how their local area performs in terns of early deaths from major killers such as heart disease and cancer. 

Part of the PHE Longer Lives campaign, the website ranks areas using a traffic light system. 

Many people falsely believe dementia is “part of normal aging”, meaning they do not seek support for their illness, claims NHS England’s dementia lead. 

In an exclusive interview with Nursing in Practice, Professor Alistair Burns said a third of the people attending his memory clinic have problems that “could be mistaken for dementia but are treatable”. 

According to Professor Burns, more awareness about dementia throughout the NHS could lessen the strain on nurses. 

The government has committed to fully integrating health and social care by 2018. 

Discussing the new health and social care architecture are speakers from NICE, the CQC and RCGP in what promises to be an innovative event at the ICC in Birmingham. 

Nursing in Practice reporter Lalah-Simone Springer is at the event to bring all of the information relevant for community and practice nurses. 

Social services will be withdrawn because of a 'substantial' financial squeeze to the directors, a survey has shown.

The survey by the Association of Association of Directors of Adult Social Services shows  despite the NHS transferring resources to local authority-funded social care, directors of adult social services are planning to save another £800 million over the next year.

New organisation Public Health England (PHE) will focus on reducing the burden of disease by focusing on conditions such as dementia, depression and drug dependency. 

The body, which has replaced the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse among others, has published its priorities for the coming year. 

A £60 million improvement fund to improve support for end-of-life care at home and update hospice facilities has been announced by the government. 

Distrust in hospitals and a lack of support for the NHS reforms amongst GPs, practice managers and nurses has been revealed in a survey by Campden Health, a leading publishing, events and research company.

People with newly diagnosed hypertension should receive an investigation for target organ damage within a month, according to new quality standards.

The six-statement quality standard from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) aims to introduce a “person-centred” approach to treating the condition.

People with suspected hypertension should be offered ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) to confirm the diagnosis, according to the quality standard.

A “nursing vision” for dementia care was launched by the Department of Health (DH) yesterday (14 March 2013). 

Research consistently reports that older people tend not to seek medical help for sexual concerns or difficulties. Many people assume that sexual changes are ‘normal’ with ageing. This is true, but if changes are causing distress within a relationship, a couple should be able to seek help.

Currently there is a wide-ranging choice of stoma appliances available on prescription to the patient with a stoma. Many healthcare professionals consider this choice to be quite bewildering,¹ leading to much confusion among community nurses, pharmacists and GPs alike. Advances in research and development have allowed product development to occur, focusing on the needs of the stoma patient.