Nursing & Care News | Blog | Secure Healthcare Solutions

Many effects of a lack of sleep, such as feeling grumpy and not working at your best, are well known. But did you know that sleep deprivation can also have profound consequences on your physical health?

One in three of us suffers from poor sleep, with stress, computers and taking work home often blamed.

However, the cost of all those sleepless nights is more than just bad moods and a lack of focus.

Regular poor sleep puts you at risk of serious medical conditions, including obesity, heart disease and diabetes – and it shortens your life expectancy.

It’s now clear that a solid night’s sleep is essential for a long and healthy life.

How much sleep do we need?

Most of us need around eight hours of good-quality sleep a night to function properly – but some need more and some less. What matters is that you find out how much sleep you need and then try to achieve it.

As a general rule, if you wake up tired and spend the day longing for a chance to have a nap, it’s likely that you’re not getting enough sleep.

A variety of factors can cause poor sleep, including health conditions such as sleep apnoea. But in most cases, it’s due to bad sleeping habits.

Find out the common medical causes of fatigue.

What happens if I don’t sleep?

Everyone’s experienced the fatigue, short temper and lack of focus that often follow a poor night’s sleep.

An occasional night without sleep makes you feel tired and irritable the next day, but it won’t harm your health.

After several sleepless nights, the mental effects become more serious. Your brain will fog, making it difficult to concentrate and make decisions. You’ll start to feel down, and may fall asleep during the day. Your risk of injury and accidents at home, work and on the road also increases.

Find out how to tell if you’re too tired to drive.

If it continues, lack of sleep can affect your overall health and make you prone to serious medical conditions, such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Here are seven ways in which a good night’s sleep can boost your health:

1. Sleep boosts immunity

If you seem to catch every cold and flu that’s going around, your bedtime could be to blame. Prolonged lack of sleep can disrupt your immune system, so you’re less able to fend off bugs.

2. Sleep can slim you

Sleeping less may mean you put on weight! Studies have shown that people who sleep less than seven hours a day tend to gain more weight and have a higher risk of becoming obese than those who get seven hours of slumber.

It’s believed to be because sleep-deprived people have reduced levels of leptin (the chemical that makes you feel full) and increased levels of ghrelin (the hunger-stimulating hormone).

3. Sleep boosts mental wellbeing

Given that a single sleepless night can make you irritable and moody the following day, it’s not surprising that chronic sleep debt may lead to long-term mood disorders like depression and anxiety.

When people with anxiety or depression were surveyed to calculate their sleeping habits, it turned out that most of them slept for less than six hours a night.

4. Sleep prevents diabetes

Studies have suggested that people who usually sleep less than five hours a night have an increased risk of having or developing diabetes.

It seems that missing out on deep sleep may lead to type 2 diabetes by changing the way the body processes glucose – the high-energy carbohydrate that cells use for fuel.

5. Sleep increases sex drive

Men and women who don’t get enough quality sleep have lower libidosand less of an interest in sex, research shows.

Men who suffer from sleep apnoea – a disorder in which breathing difficulties lead to interrupted sleep – also tend to have lower testosterone levels, which can lower libido.

6. Sleep wards off heart disease

Long-standing sleep deprivation seems to be associated with increased heart rate, an increase in blood pressure and higher levels of certain chemicals linked with inflammation, which may put extra strain on your heart.

7. Sleep increases fertility

Difficulty conceiving a baby has been claimed as one of the effects of sleep deprivation, in both men and women. Apparently, regular sleep disruptions can cause trouble conceiving by reducing the secretion of reproductive hormones.

We are delighted to welcome you to our new branches situated in Worcester, Stafford, Telford , Shrewsbury ,Stoke and
Coventry – We are a specialist in establishment healthcare staffing solutions. We are actively recruiting and supplying front line staff to our partners from Care Homes and Nursing Homes to NHS, Private Hospitals and Community Services.

Our relationship with private healthcare providers and NHS means that we can offer a wider variety of settings to our candidates. Not only HCA or general Nurses jobs but also specialist roles such as ITU nursing, Theatre, ODP/ODA, RSCN and paediatric on a temporary and permanent basis.

We work with clients in their own homes providing personalised service built around their needs. We Provide tailored and the highest possible standard of Care and Support for Children , Adult and Older People, with Mental Health Problems, with Learning Disabilities, with spinal and acquired brain injury and clients with physical and sensory impairments.

If you are an organisation that needs a temporary or permanent solution in the Healthcare sector, Secure Healthcare Solutions can help. Our Ethos is to ensure good old fashioned values, over and above the basic training spreads across our entire workforce ensuring a pleasant top quality service to our clients and their service users. With a modern twist of Technology to ensure patient care is delivered to the maximum effect while reducing the cost of care and increasing the pay to our staff we are committed in helping the ageing population while protecting the workforce who makes it all possible.

Secure Healthcare Solutions works to ensure all our care staff is properly trained to the highest standard possible which is why we provide all our care workers with FREE TRAINING

Rewarding the best; in a rewarding career – We care about and support all our employees. To attract the best nurses and carers , our pay rates are amongst the highest in the healthcare industry. An honest promise to aim and be one of the best nursing and homecare agencies in all West Midlands.

As we are one of the fastest growing nursing and care agencies in West Midlands – There has never been a better time to work with us. We offer a full “out of hours” on call service. We are always there to support in your hour of need, meaning there is always an adviser on the end of the phone!

Our advisers have great relationships with a huge number of healthcare providers in all the West Midlands region. So whether you’re looking for nurse jobs just round the corner from where you live, a tailored homecare plan to your loved ones or need urgent staffing solution for your organisation – Rest assured you will be always in safe hands. We pride ourselves on ensuring our clients receive the best support possible. Both our carers and nurses provide a maximum level of care that is full with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. We ensure our services are responsive to your needs and our management ensure high quality care is provided based on individuals need.

Call us or write to us now, however you feel comfortable and we will to get back to you within 24 hours. Alternatively, if you have any questions or queries about out service, or are interested in any healthcare service we provide, please give us a call:

Worcester Branch – 01905382939
Stafford Branch – 01785719755
Telford Branch – 01952743053
Shrewsbury Branch – 01743211058
Stoke Branch – 01782756881
Coventry Branch – 02476880480

Secure Healthcare Solutions is the complete one stop solution for all healthcare staffing needs from Care Homes, Nursing Homes, NHS, Private Hospitals and Community Services.

Despite promising results in an earlier trial, people taking the experimental drug intepirdine in the Phase III MINDSET trial did not see any substantial benefits in memory and thinking compared to those who took a placebo. These disappointing results feel like yet another setback, but Dr Clare Walton our Research Communications Manager explains why we should still be optimistic.

A drug to manage the symptoms of dementia

Intepirdine was being tested as an add-on to existing Alzheimer’s medications. It wasn’t expected to slow down the brain damage caused by Alzheimer’s, but based on earlier studies, researchers were hopeful that it would go further than the existing drugs to help people cope with the symptoms of dementia.

Given that we haven’t seen a drug approved for any form of dementia since 2002, new approaches to treat the symptoms and to slow the disease are both urgently needed.

Over 1000 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease took part in the trial. They took either the experimental drug or a placebo every day for 6 months, on top of a stable daily dose of donepezil, the most common treatment for Alzheimer’s.

At the end of the study, there were no significant differences in memory and thinking abilities between those who took the drug and those who took the placebo. There were also no improvements in how well people were able to complete their daily activities such as dressing, cooking and using public transport.

The conclusion – that intepirdine does not work as a new drug for people with Alzheimer’s.

Broadening the focus of drug discovery

It’s true that drug discovery for Alzheimer’s disease has been riddled with negative results, but this latest failure isn’t a reason to lose hope. Up until now, most Alzheimer’s drug research has focused on a very narrow range of targets. Drugs in development have either focused on the build-up of amyloid plaques, or have tried to change the imbalance of chemicals called neurotransmitters in the brain. This is what intepirdine does.

Although we know both of these mechanisms are important in Alzheimer’s, we also know of several other pathways that go wrong and contribute to disease progression. Alzheimer’s Society has recently committed £50m as a founding funder of the UK Dementia Research Institute, which will fund over 400 scientists to investigate the underlying causes of all forms of dementia. By exploring a much wider range of disease mechanisms, their research aims to unlock the doors to many alternative treatment approaches.

Dementia Research Institute graphic — **Plans for the UK Dementia Research Institute**

Researchers within the UK Dementia Research Institute, and indeed across our £30m research portfolio, are looking into a number of exciting leads. These include: the critical role that cells and chemicals of the immune system play in dementia; the way in which connections between brain cells are disrupted early in the disease; what changes in the complex relationship between blood vessels and brain cells as dementia takes hold; and more exploratory work such as the role of sleep and gut bacteria in predisposing people to dementia.

Working across these diverse research areas and casting our net more widely should dramatically increase our chances of finding new drugs that really work.

Dr Doug Brown, our Director of Research and Development, said: ‘The UK Dementia Research Institute is a ground-breaking initiative that could not have arrived at a better time. As the number of people living with dementia in the UK is set to reach 1 million by 2021, the stakes are too high to fail.’

Time is of the essence

Of course for people living with dementia now, time is still the most important issue. With another drug failure comes the disappointment that it will be a few years before we see the next promising drug trial deliver its results. While we wait, we need to look at ways to shortcut the drug development process – which is the focus of our Drug Discovery programme. It tests whether drugs already in use for other health conditions such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis or high blood pressure, can work for people with dementia too, potentially reducing development time in half.

We’re also investing heavily into care research that looks at non-pharmacological ways to help people with dementia manage their symptoms and to be supported to live in their communities as well as possible for as long as possible.

- Support our research programme by donating to the UK Dementia Research Institute
- Read the press release from Axovant about the MINDSET trial

Secure Healthcare Solutions is looking for nurses in Birmingham, Walsall, Telford, Shrewsbury, Dudley and Stoke in NHS and also well known Private Hospitals.

We are offering flexible pay rates/benefits;
· £20 – £37 per hour.
· £100 on completion of 100 hours payable on 200 hours
· FREE mandatory training
· FREE immunisations
· Dedicated consultant available 24/7
· Excellent referral fees – OPTION 1 – £500 on completion of 400 hours OPTION 2 – 0.40p for each nursing hour worked
· Help and support with revalidation
· On site financial advice for tax planning

There has never been a better time to join Secure Healthcare Solutions

in a full or part time nursing job.

Secure Healthcare Solutions is looking for nurses in Birmingham, Walsall, Telford, Shrewsbury, Dudley and Stoke in NHS and also well known Private Hospitals.

There has never been a better time to join Secure Healthcare Solutions

in a full or part time nursing job.

When faced with illness or immobility, it can be a struggle to carry out everyday activities that you may have once performed with ease. Our discreet personal care service is designed to support you with your day-to-day living, as well as providing you with the encouragement and emotional support that you may need to remain living independently. Our personal care service can assist you with personal hygiene needs ( washing, dressing, continence care) administering medication, at a time to suit your convenience. Maintaining your dignity is of paramount importance to us, which is why our Carers will ensure you feel comfortable at all times.

The best person to know what support you need to remain as independent as possible in your own home is you. That is why everything we do is designed around your needs and goals. These can be relatively simple like help with shopping through to high dependency 24 hour care.

Housekeeping
Personal care
Companionship
Support with information and advice
Housing support
High dependency care
Live-in care
Respite care
Medication management
Hospital to Home service
Complex and specialist care

Home care can be arranged on an hourly, daily, weekly basis or a much longer plan to suit your needs. We provides in-home care and support services to people so they can live as independently as possible in their own homes and communities. We support people to live life the way they choose.

Our trained caring friendly staff have your Dignity and respect at the forefront of delivering personalised care in the comfort of your own home. When providing home care for yourself or a family member or friend, we take the time to get to know you and make sure you are continually happy with the care you received and the staff that support you.

With Secure Healthcare as your home care service provider, you will enjoy personalised service built around your needs. Secure Healthcare pride ourselves on treating people with the same care, kindness and dignity that we would expect our loved ones to be treated.

We pride ourselves on ensuring persons needing support are Safe, our care treatment and support helps you to maintain quality of life based on best available evidence, our staff involve and treat you with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. We ensure our services are responsive to your needs and our management ensure high quality care is provided based on an individuals needs.

Living independently at home is something most of us would like to do for as long as possible. When that time comes to make the decision to ask for extra support to continue to live independently as much as possible, our home care services are tailored for exactly that. If you wish to learn more about how we can support you, please contact us and let one of our advisers come to see you and your family for a more detailed plan on how we can support you.

Secure Healthcare Solutions Newport provides bespoke and high quality care at home and support so you can enjoy a personalised home care service built around your needs.

Housekeeping
Personal care
Domiciliary care
Companionship
Support with information and advice
Housing support
High dependency care
Live-in care
Respite care
Medication management
Hospital to Home service
Complex and specialist care

Let us help you get the care you need for the life you want.

If you wish to learn more about how we can support you, please contact us and let one of our advisers come to see you and your family for a more detailed plan on how we can support you.

Secure Healthcare Solutions and Wolves Community Trust, the registered charity of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, have officially launched the partnership to bring walking football to the city during the 2017/18 season.

Walking football is a growing national phenomenon aimed at helping the over 40s and those with limited mobility to remain fit and active, while still pursuing their love for football in a fun and sociable environment.

The basic premise behind the 6-a-side sport, which can be played either indoors or outdoors, is that running is not allowed. Additionally, there’s low impact tackling and the ball must remain below head height.

The partnership between WCT and Secure Healthcare Solutions was officially launched at Wolves’ training ground and attended by first team players, Roderick Miranda, Ruben Vinagre, Leo Bonatini and Ivan Cavaleiro, who all participated in a demonstration match.

Roderick Miranda said “I have no doubt that these walking football sessions will become very popular. It’s a fun activity and it lets older people continue playing the sport they love.”

Robbie Steeles, managing director of Secure Healthcare Solutions, said: “We know first-hand how crucial it is for people’s health and wellbeing that they try to be as active and sociable as possible. Walking football is a great way to achieve both these and it is something that can be done by almost everyone. There are also many people in the city who live very isolated lives due to their limited mobility, so I’d definitely encourage them to get involved with walking football.”

Will Clowes, Wolves Community Trust general manager, said: “The trust supports the local community through delivering projects relevant to sport, health, education, inclusion and community donations. Each year, the projects delivered by WCT reach around 25,000 local residents of all ages, genders, socio-economic and ethnic demographics.

“Over 4,000 participants are engaged in sports programmes alone, with over 85 weekly sessions being delivered to the communities. Football is played by people of all ages and abilities, but as people get older they naturally become less mobile and that’s what’s so great about walking football. It’s the ideal activity for those who want to continue playing, being active and enjoying the beautiful game, but without the intensity and physical demands.”

The walking football sessions take place at Bert Williams Leisure Centre, The Dormston Centre and Wolverhampton College (Wellington Road Campus). For further information on days and times pleasecontact Rachel Smith on rachelsmith@wolves.co.uk or 01902 687038/ 07532 411 166.

Susie Henley leads the free online course “The Many Faces of Dementia”, run by University College London (UCL). Here she explains the course and how you can sign up to learn more about rarer forms of dementia.

Susie Henley

Did you know that some forms of dementia can affect how people see the world around them? Or that they can cause problems with language and communication rather than just memory?

UCL’s popular, free online course, “The Many Faces of Dementia,” can teach you more about the lesser-known aspects of dementia.

The course uses videos from people with dementia, as well as discussions and articles from leading clinicians and researchers in the dementia field, to shed light on aspects of dementia that may come as a surprise.

It’s accessible, with jargon-free information; the online platform FutureLearn also means that you can dip in and out when you have time. You can complete the whole course by spending about two hours a week on it over the four-week run.

It’s a very sociable forum, with many learners commenting on the various steps and supporting each other as they learn about each other’s stories and reasons for being there.

Different aspects of dementia

Each week tackles a different aspect of dementia.

In week one, the course looks at Familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD), rare forms of Alzheimer’s disease that are inherited, and how this affects the whole family. It also explores how research with members of these families has been enormously helpful in understanding the more common, non-inherited forms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Week two covers frontotemporal dementia (FTD), an umbrella term for a lesser-known cluster of young-onset dementias that can affect social skills and behaviour or language. In these forms of dementia, memory is relatively preserved in the early stages, so it’s very different to what most people think of as ‘dementia’. Often people with these forms of dementia have struggled to get a diagnosis and to understand what’s going on.

In the third week, we look at dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and typical features of this. This includes seeing things that aren’t there (hallucinations) or believing things that aren’t true (delusions). These symptoms can occur in other types of dementia, but tend to be a defining feature in dementia with Lewy bodies. We hear from families living with this dementia, and the professionals who try to help manage and minimise the impact of hallucinations.

Finally, week four talks about Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA), the rare variant of Alzheimer’s disease that author Terry Pratchett had. The course uses videos and pictures to show what life is like for someone with Posterior Cortical Atrophy, whose brain can no longer process visual and spatial information correctly.

Useful information for everyone

Whilst the course focuses on rarer dementia types, it’s also relevant to anyone working or living with people with all types of dementia. People with the more common forms of Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia can also experience these sorts of symptoms at some point.

Learners to date have been a mixture of professionals, family members, students and people with dementia. We’ve had lots of very positive feedback about how useful the new information they’ve gleaned from the course is, and how they’ve learned from each other too.

Expert staff from UCL also pop in to answer questions and comments during the week; there is a special ‘Q&A’ feature at the end of each week, where the most popular learner questions are answered online every Sunday night.

So if you are interested in exploring a bit more about these sides of dementia, or you know someone who is, encourage them to sign up and have a look.

Looking for a career with legs? Here’s why healthcare is a great choice. If you’re passionate about helping people, finding a job in the healthcare industry can be one of the most rewarding career choices there is. Don’t believe us? Here are ten reasons that prove healthcare could be a step in the right direction for your career:

You’ll be in demand!

Healthcare is the fastest growing job sector in the workforce. With potentially fewer candidates from the EU and more existing staff retiring, it will be crucial for the NHS and social care sectors to attract more younger people.

The Royal College of Nursing says England is currently short of at least 20,000 nursing staff.
The Royal College of Midwives says the country needs 3,500 more midwives.

Healthcare pays

To attract the best candidates and professionals, healthcare providers and some care agencies offer high pay packages to recruit and retain the best care staff.

Choices, choices, choices

There are lots of different opportunities in healthcare – something for everyone. You can work in med tech, labs, or directly with patients in hospitals,care homes, clinics, nursing homes or private care agencies.

Get a free education

You can get free training or even all your education paid for. Due to the staffing shortages in the industry, you can find employers and government scholarships to cover your educational costs.

You’ll feel needed

Working in healthcare make a difference in people’s lives. Caring for people and helping others lead healthy lives is satisfying and important.

Meet different people

Healthcare workers interact with different people everyday, including patients, doctors, medical staff. In some fields, you’ll interact with researchers, technology experts, or scientists.

Health care is exciting

You never know what’s going to happen, and have to stay one your toes, solve problems and make good decisions. Every day is different.

You can move up

There are lots of opportunities for advancement in healthcare. You can get promoted or move up to related healthcare fields that pay more. A Band 9 Nurse pay package can easily reach the : £78,629 – £99,437 mark.

Variety

You can change specialities. If you’re interested in paediatrics, complex care , mental health , dementia, you can move into those areas when the opportunities arise.

It’s a fast-paced environment

Filled with challenges, and offering the chance to work with people from all walks of life, there’ll never be a dull day in this industry.

By solving each individual problem in whatever way your job allows, you’ll experience a sense of variety and know that you’re working towards a good cause. Teamwork is a big part of the job too, and you’ll get great job satisfaction knowing you’re working towards a meaningful joint goal with your colleagues. If you’re sick of being bored at work or feeling like your job has no real purpose, finding your perfect position in the healthcare industry could be the perfect antidote.

You have many options for a career in healthcare, the fastest growing field today. Get free information from great schools today!

View all available healthcare jobs now.