Total of 183 more GPs will be needed to meet demand in Northamptonshire, watchdog reports

Total of 183 more GPs will be needed to meet demand in Northamptonshire, watchdog reports Northamptonshire needs at least 50 per cent more GPs in the next five years to meet patient demand for appointments, latest figures show. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

See also:

• Patient experiences of GP services in Northamptonshire Healthwatch Northamptonshire

Realising the Value

Realising the Value Despite knowing the potential rewards, many would say that we have continued to disempower patients and disengage communities. Our work with Nesta and NHS England - Realising the Value - hopes to change this. The Health Foundation

Choosing Wisely in the UK: the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ initiative to reduce the harms of too much medicine

Choosing Wisely in the UK: the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ initiative to reduce the harms of too much medicine A new campaign to stop doctors "over-treating" their patients with unnecessary tests and treatments has been launched by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges via an article in the BMJ

See also:

• RCGP response to BMJ article on 'Choosing Wisely' Royal College of General Practitioners
• Doctors urged to stop 'over-treating' BBC News
• Over prescribing drugs fears as it may be causing patients harm The Daily Mail
• NHS tests and drugs 'do more harm than good' The Daily Telegraph
• Doctors to withhold treatments in campaign against 'too much medicine' The Guardian
• 'Over-treating' patients is wasteful, unnecessary and can cause them harm, campaign claims The Independent

UK 'needs to get tougher on alcohol'

UK 'needs to get tougher on alcohol' Tougher measures are needed to tackle the high rates of alcohol consumption in the UK, according to a leading international body. BBC News

See also:

• Tackling Harmful Alcohol Use Country note - United Kingdom Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• Tackling Harmful Alcohol Use: Economics and Public Health Policy Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• OECD outlines action for governments to tackle heavy cost of harmful drinking Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• Assessing the impacts of alcohol policies: a microsimulation approach Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• Warning over middle-class women drinkers: Educated UK women have worst alcohol problem in West as they try to keep up with men and further their careers The Daily Mail
• Half a glass of wine less a week to live longer The Daily Mail
• Better-educated women contributing to rise in UK alcohol consumption – OECD The Guardian

The NHS: What we weren't told during the election

The NHS: What we weren't told during the election Did we get the full story on the NHS during the election? BBC News

Parents are swamping A&E because they feel squeezed out by family doctors

Parents are swamping A&E because they feel squeezed out by family doctors Thousands of children are being taken to casualty needlessly because their GPs are prioritising adults, according to researchers from Imperial College London. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Impact of UK Primary Care Policy Reforms on ShortStay Unplanned Hospital Admissions for Children With Primary Care–Sensitive Conditions Annals of Family Medicine
• GPs reject 2004 contract link to rise in child emergency admissions GP Online

Jeremy Hunt can no longer duck difficult decisions on the NHS

Jeremy Hunt can no longer duck difficult decisions on the NHS Health secretary’s priority must be to stabilise health service finances – but social care will be the big loser under this government

Jeremy Hunt mark 2 faces a tougher job as health secretary than in the last parliament. Politically he did well to distract the public from the folly of Andrew Lansley’s upheavals by relentlessly focusing on the Mid-Staffordshire scandal and ramming home the message that there have been real-terms spending increases, however slender. Now he can no longer postpone high-risk decisions over money and services – as well as having to meet election promises to extend access to primary and mental health care. Continue reading... The Guardian

Food industry 'responsibility deal' has little effect on health, study finds

Food industry 'responsibility deal' has little effect on health, study finds Firms agreed to make their products healthier, for example by reducing amounts of salt, but few have done so, researchers say

The coalition government’s policy of tackling obesity by asking food producers to change their behaviour has achieved little, failed to improve eating habits and excludes most of the measures that would make a real impact, a government-funded study has found.

The “responsibility deal”, which ministers claimed would boost public health, has largely involved initiatives that have a limited effect on the problem of poor diets, according to a team of researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Continue reading... The Guardian

Where are the voices for radiotherapy?

Where are the voices for radiotherapy? As the Royal College of Radiologists calls for more support, Judith Potts wonders why radiotherapy still remains chronically underfunded and underresourced as a cancer treatment. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• An open letter to the Secretary of State for Health Royal College of Radiologists

Vasectomies being given the snip as GPs in Essex told they must ration number of procedures

Vasectomies being given the snip as GPs in Essex told they must ration number of procedures GPs in Essex have been told they must ration the number of men they can refer for vasectomies, with three practices told they can only offer the treatment to one patient this year. The Independent