Friday 19 June 2015

Number of pregnant women smoking in Northammptonshire is ‘significantly worse’ than national average

Number of pregnant women smoking in Northammptonshire is ‘significantly worse’ than national average

The number of women who smoke while pregnant in Northamptonshire is ‘significantly worse’ than the national average, latest figures reveal. Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Health watchdog that investigates Northamptonshire local authorities has funding slashed by county council

Health watchdog that investigates Northamptonshire local authorities has funding slashed by county council

The independent watchdog for Northamptonshire patients has had its council funding cut by almost a fifth. Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Jeremy Hunt pledges new deal to ease GP workloads

Jeremy Hunt pledges new deal to ease GP workloads


Health secretary unveils measures, including recruitment of physician associates – but NHS doctors’ leaders say a clear and costed plan is needed

The health secretary Jeremy Hunt will unveil his “new deal” for GPs promising a package of measures designed to ease their workload and make the profession more attractive to young doctors starting their medical careers.

He will pledge on Friday to ensure the recruitment of 1,000 “physician associates” into GP practices by 2020. They have less medical training than doctors, but help them to diagnose and manage patients and also relieve their administrative burden. Guardian

Related: We need more GPs – and new ways of working as they can’t do it all | Zara Aziz

Related: ‘GP recruitment is what keeps me awake at night’ | Denis Campbell

Continue reading...

2012 Trust research activity league table

2012 Trust research activity league table

Patient safety failures in asthma care: the scale of unsafe prescribing in the UK

Patient safety failures in asthma care: the scale of unsafe prescribing in the UK


Asthma UK has subsequently analysed data from over 500 UK GP practices which shows these prescribing errors were just the tip of the iceberg.

The analysis reveals there is evidence that over 22,000 people with asthma in the UK, including 2,000 children, have been prescribed medicines (long-acting reliever inhalers) in a way that is so unsafe they have a ‘black box warning’ in the USA due to the risk they pose to the lives of people with asthma. NHS Networks

More than one in 10 babies born to mothers who smoke

More than one in 10 babies born to mothers who smoke

18 June, 2015: New figures published today by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) show that 11.4 per cent (2) of pregnant women were recorded as smokers at the time of giving birth (3) in 2014-15, representing 70,880 out of 622,640 maternities (4). IC QOF

NHS launches world’s first national review of deaths of people with learning disabilities

NHS launches world’s first national review of deaths of people with learning disabilities

Indpendent project to help NHS reduce premature mortality for people with learning disabilities.

NHS England, the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and the University of Bristol have today (18 June) announced the world’s first national programme to review – and ultimately reduce – premature deaths of people with learning disabilities.

The three-year project will be the first comprehensive, national review set up to get to the bottom of why people with learning disabilities typically die much earlier than average, and to inform a strategy to reduce this inequality.

Four step app 'endorsement' process

Four step app 'endorsement' process

Healthcare apps will go through a four-stage recommendation process as part of NHS England's plans to create an endorsement model for these tools. EHI News

Prevention programme can ease burden of diabetes on NHS

Prevention programme can ease burden of diabetes on NHS

Dr Matt Kearney, national clinical adviser to NHS England and Public Health England, says in ablog to mark Diabetes Week 2015, the programme will not only help GPs with their burgeoning workload in treating children and adults with the condition, but it will also provide high quality local services to them to refer high-risk patients into. NHS Networks

Survey for health and wellbeing board reps on public health commissioning

Survey for health and wellbeing board reps on public health commissioning


Local Healthwatch and voluntary, community sector and social enterprise (VCSE) members of Health and Wellbeing Boards are invited to take part in an online survey as part of a research project funded through the Department of Health Policy Research Programme. The project is entitled ‘Commissioning public health services: the impact of the health reforms on access, health inequalities and innovation in service provision’ and is designed to assess the impact of transferring public health responsibilities to local government from April 2013. Researchers are seeking the views of all local Healthwatch and VCSE members of Health and Wellbeing Boards in order to understand changes in how preventative services are being commissioned and provided following these reforms and how VCSE organisations are being involved. The survey closes on 3 July 2015. Regional Voices
Survey
Regional Voices - news

Call to expand new stroke treatment

Call to expand new stroke treatment

Doctors urge the government to make an effective new stroke treatment more widely available across Scotland. BBC News

MRSA found in sausages from British farms, Cambridge University researchers find

MRSA found in sausages from British farms, Cambridge University researchers find

Sausages and other pork products sold in UK supermarkets are contaminated with a strain of the superbug MRSA. The affected meat comes from pigs reared on British farms, experts say. Daily Mail

Record 'fake drugs' haul by UK agency

Record 'fake drugs' haul by UK agency

Dangerous counterfeit and unlicensed medicines worth nearly £16m have been seized in a record haul by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. BBC News