Summer house and iRobot cleaner among treatments paid for by NHS in Northamptonshire

Summer house and iRobot cleaner among treatments paid for by NHS in Northamptonshire A satnav and a summer house were among the things the NHS spent money on in order to treat Northamptonshire patients. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

See also:

• What’s wrong with a pedalo ride if it makes you well? The Guardian

Simon Stevens announces major drive to improve health in NHS workplace

Simon Stevens announces major drive to improve health in NHS workplace NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens will today (Wednesday 2 September) kick-start a major drive to improve the health and wellbeing of 1.3m health service staff, in a bid to benefit both staff and taxpayers. NHS England

See also:

• RCGP response to Simon Stevens' speech on occupational health services for GPs Royal College of General Practitioners
• NHS staff offered Zumba to keep well BBC News
• Junk food retailers banned from NHS hospitals The Daily Telegraph
• NHS workers to be offered health checks and yoga classes The Guardian
• GP occupational health scheme to be rolled out across England from 2016 GP Online
• NHS staff to be encouraged to take up Zumba to set 'national example' of healthy lifestyles The Independent

Cutting reliance on paper will make patients safer

Cutting reliance on paper will make patients safer The NHS will urge health and social care leaders to end the unnecessary reliance on paper in the treatment of patients and make services safer, more effective and efficient.

The NHS will announce new measures to help the patients, the public and clinicians make more use of technology to improve the health of the nation. NHS England

Guidance: Nursing agency rules

Guidance: Nursing agency rules The new rules come into effect on 1 September 2015 and apply to agency spend on registered nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff only; rules on other agency staff will follow shortly. Monitor

See also:

• Press release: New rules launched to reduce agency spend in the NHS Monitor

Learning difficulties 'over-medicated'

Learning difficulties 'over-medicated' People with learning difficulties in the UK are being inappropriately over-medicated, patient records suggest.

A study in the BMJ looked at GP data spanning over a decade and found that more than a quarter of 33,000 adults with learning difficulties had been prescribed antipsychotics, often with no obvious clinical justification. BBC News

See also:

• Mental illness, challenging behaviour, and psychotropic drug prescribing in people with intellectual disability: UK population based cohort study The BMJ

BMA challenges Cameron on seven-day working

BMA challenges Cameron on seven-day working Doctors demand details of PM's seven-day NHS. OnMedica

One in seven medical students has considered suicide during their studies, research says

One in seven medical students has considered suicide during their studies, research says One in seven medical students has considered suicide during the course of their studies, and one in three has experienced a mental health problem, the findings of a new survey suggest. The Independent

See also:

• More than 80% of medical students with mental health issues feel under-supported, says survey Student BMJ

Life expectancy in Britain almost 30 years higher than a century ago

Life expectancy in Britain almost 30 years higher than a century ago Men can now expect to live until 79 while women can hope to enjoy their 83rd birthday, official figures show. The Independent

National sperm bank only has nine donors registered – a year after it launched

National sperm bank only has nine donors registered – a year after it launched The boss of the UK’s national sperm bank has urged men to “prove their worth” and donate, after it was revealed that it has only nine registered donors. The Independent

See also:

• UK sperm bank has just nine donors BBC News