Ambulance service expecting call every 35 seconds tonight as Christmas paries peak in Northamptonshire

Ambulance service expecting call every 35 seconds tonight as Christmas parties peak in Northamptonshire East Midlands Ambulance Service is urging people to think carefully about their alcohol consumption as the service expects its busiest night this year. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Nursing associate role offers new route into nursing

Nursing associate role offers new route into nursing Health Minister Ben Gummer announced a plan to create a new nursing support role.

Provisionally called nursing associates, they will work alongside healthcare support workers and fully qualified nurses focusing on patient care.

Guidance: NHS mandate 2016 to 2017

Guidance: NHS mandate 2016 to 2017 The mandate helps set direction for the NHS and helps ensure the NHS is accountable to Parliament and the public. The mandate must be published each year, to ensure that NHS England’s objectives remain up to date. This mandate was produced following public consultation.

By setting a multi-year mandate with a multi-year budget the government is enabling the NHS to plan more effectively to deliver our long-term aim to achieve the transformation set out in the NHS’s Five Year Forward View and create a fully 7-day NHS.

This mandate reaffirms the government’s commitment to an NHS that remains available to all, based on clinical need and not ability to pay, and that is able to meet patients’ needs and expectations now and in the future. Department of Health

New guidance on disability discrimination

New guidance on disability discrimination New guidance on disability discrimination has been published by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). NHS Employers

Health Survey for England, 2014

Health Survey for England, 2014 The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the nation’s health, to estimate the proportion of people in England who have specified health conditions, and to estimate the prevalence of risk factors associated with these conditions. Health and Social Care Information Centre

NHS death investigations to be reviewed

NHS death investigations to be reviewed A review into the way deaths are investigated throughout the NHS has been announced by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. BBC News

See also:

• News story: NHS Improvement response to the report into Southern Health Monitor
• NHS England publishes report into Southern Health NHS England
• 'Southern Health wouldn't tell me how my son died' BBC News
• ‘A failure of leadership’: official report’s verdict on NHS trust’s scrutiny of deaths Community Care
• Jeremy Hunt criticises NHS trust over response to unexpected deaths The Guardian

GP funding to rise 25% over five years, says NHS England

GP funding to rise 25% over five years, says NHS England GP funding will rise 25% by 2020/21 according to NHS England, but demands for the profession to receive a significantly increased share of overall NHS funding look to have been snubbed. GP Online

Prisoners' use of legal highs 'puts severe strain on ambulance services'

Prisoners' use of legal highs 'puts severe strain on ambulance services' Major study finds increasing use of synthetic cannabis substitutes in prisons is depleting community resources

Local ambulance services in some parts of the country are being put under severe strain because of the rising number of prisoners needing emergency medical help after using legal highs, a watchdog has revealed.

A major study by the chief inspector of prisons says the use of “new psychoactive substances”, such as the synthetic cannabis substitutes spice and black mamba, now represent the most serious threat to the safety and security of prisons across England and Wales. Continue reading... The Guardian

For trans people, NHS delays are all too often a matter of life and death | Jane Fae

For trans people, NHS delays are all too often a matter of life and death | Jane Fae It’s good the media has finally picked up on the scarcity of NHS gender identity clinics. But for some, the wait to transition has proved too long

One cheer for the press; one cheer for the media reporting this weekend on the parlous state of trans healthcare in the UK today.

One cheer – no more. For the story is already old, dangerously old. And in its telling the press has fallen, line and sinker, for the official misdirection that seems now de rigueur for any story that touches on trans issues. Continue reading... The Guardian

British nurse stunned by £5,000 NHS bill

British nurse stunned by £5,000 NHS bill Ex-pat who returned for sister's funeral charged by hospital where she worked for 50 years. The Daily Telegraph

Family doctors attack NHS chief inspector for criticising the profession

Family doctors attack NHS chief inspector for criticising the profession Chief inspector of GPs under pressure to resign after being told that he has 'lost the confidence of the profession'. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• CQC Chief Inspector Steve Field has ‘lost confidence of GPs’ and is ‘no longer viewed as fair and impartial’ Royal College of General Practitioners
• GPs demand that NHS chief inspector Steve Field resign after criticising failing surgeries The Daily Mail
• CQC chief inspector Steve Field has 'lost confidence' of GPs and must apologise, says RCGP GP Online
• BMA demands resignation of CQC chief inspector Steve Field GP Online