NGH to bring back doctors’ white coats after patients did not realise they had seen a consultant

NGH to bring back doctors’ white coats after patients did not realise they had seen a consultant Some doctors at Northampton General Hospital will be asked to don their white coats again after worries that they cause infections were dismissed. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

£35M cut from children and young people's mental health services

£35M cut from children and young people's mental health services Research undertaken by YoungMinds into the responses of 165 Clinical Commissioning Groups, 97 local authorities and 37 Mental Health Trusts from Freedom of Information requests has revealed that there has been an actual cut of £35 million across the board for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

See also:

• Cuts to UK mental health services are destroying young lives and families The Guardian
• Revealed: Tens of millions slashed from mental health budgets ITV News
• In numbers: How mental health is suffering from budget cuts ITV News
• Key statistics: What you need to know about mental health ITV News

Crunch time: annual report on hospital waiting times

Crunch time: annual report on hospital waiting times This report is the fifth in a series of annual reviews of hospital waiting times for elective surgical procedures in England. It finds that NHS patients are waiting longer than ever for surgical procedures such as hip replacements and cataracts. The report looks at seven key surgical procedures and finds that the mean average waiting time for all is 13 weeks. Patients Association

• Report
• Press release

See also:

• Hospital waits for planned surgery getting longer and longer OnMedica

RCN responds to NHS £1.8bn redundancy bill

RCN responds to NHS £1.8bn redundancy bill Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the RCN yesterday responded to figures which show the NHS has spent £1.8bn on redundancy payments. Royal College of Nursing

See also:

• NHS spends £1.8bn on staff redundancy pay-offs following Government restructuring The Independent

Recruiting foreign nurses 'expensive'

Recruiting foreign nurses 'expensive' It is "distracting, frustrating and expensive" to have to recruit large numbers of nurses from overseas, the head of a leading NHS hospital says. BBC News

A&E unit closed over virus outbreak

A&E unit closed over virus outbreak Manchester Royal Infirmary temporarily shuts its A&E unit after a suspected outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. BBC News

See also:

• Manchester Royal Infirmary closed after an outbreak of deadly breathing illness MERS The Daily Mail
• Manchester Royal Infirmary closes A&E due to suspected Mers cases The Guardian

The GMC responds to The Guardian’s article about language testing for European doctors

The GMC responds to The Guardian’s article about language testing for European doctors A response to The Guardian’s article about European doctors being prevented from obtaining a licence due to language checks. General Medical Council

Cost of national living wage could trigger 'catastrophic failure' in homecare

Cost of national living wage could trigger 'catastrophic failure' in homecare UK HomeCare Association, representing firms supporting 880,000 older and disabled people, says increases in staff costs could see businesses go bust

Firms supporting 880,000 older and disabled people have warned that the costs of introducing a “national living wage” could trigger “catastrophic failure” in the homecare market.

Without increased funding to meet the increased staff costs of the national living wage (NLW), businesses caring for people in their own homes could go bust, the UK HomeCare Association(UKHCA) warns in a letter to the chancellor George Osborne. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Living Wage 'could cripple home care' BBC News
• Life as a care worker: my time is worth less than £5 an hour The Guardian
• Why do so few care homes pay staff the living wage? The Guardian

'Anti-abortion protesters are holding the NHS hostage. The government must act now'

'Anti-abortion protesters are holding the NHS hostage. The government must act now' Open letter: A letter signed by MPs has called on health secretary Jeremy Hunt to take action after protesters forced a British abortion clinic to shut. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Protect abortion clinics from harassment, Jeremy Hunt urged The Guardian