Stark alcohol warning by medical chief

Stark alcohol warning by medical chief

England's chief medical officer has urged people to take personal responsibility for their drinking and to consider cancer risks carefully with each glass.

BBC News

• Do as I do, think about cancer before you have a glass of wine, says chief medical officer  Telegraph

UK regulators give go-ahead for 'embryo editing'

UK regulators give go-ahead for 'embryo editing'

"UK scientists have been given the go-ahead by the fertility regulator to genetically modify human embryos," BBC News reports.

The UK body that regulates research into embryos – the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) – has given a licence to Dr Kathy Niakan for her research on stem cells at The Francis Crick Institute in London.

The licence provides permission for genome editing techniques to be used on donated embryos for up to 14 days.

The UK is the first country in the world to make this type of research legal. It remains illegal to implant modified embryos in women.

Health News from NHS Choices

• Britain has jumped the gun on gene editing Telegraph 

Official Statistics: Local tobacco control profiles for England: February 2016 data update

Official Statistics: Local tobacco control profiles for England: February 2016 data update


The Local Tobacco Control Profiles data update for February 2016 has been published by Public Health England (PHE).

The data are presented in an interactive tool that allows users to view them in a user-friendly format. The profiles provide a snapshot of the extent of tobacco use, tobacco related harm, and measures being taken to reduce this harm at a local level. These profiles have been designed to help local government and health services to assess the effect of tobacco use on their local populations.

View the Local Tobacco Control Profiles.

This update contains:
2 new indicators
more recent data for 5 indicators

View previous Local Tobacco Control Profiles updates.

Official Statistics: Health Profiles: February 2016 data update

Official Statistics: Health Profiles: February 2016 data update


The online Health Profiles data has been updated for February 2016.

The online Health Profiles are now being updated quarterly at the same time as the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF). The 4-page PDF Health Profiles reports are still updated annually in the summer, as usual.

The data are presented in an interactive tool that allows users to view them in a user-friendly format. The profiles provide a snapshot overview of health for each local authority in England. These profiles are intended to help local government and health services make plans to improve local people’s health and reduce health inequalities.

This quarterly update contains more recent data for 11 indicators.

Public Health England

View the online Health Profiles.

The NHS and a social care commission

The NHS and a social care commission


This debate pack was prepared for the backbench business debate on a motion put forward for the establishment of an independent, non-partisan commission on the future of the NHS and social care with the aim of establishing a long-term settlement for health and social care.
NHS Networks

How can frontline expertise and new models of care best contribute to safely reducing avoidable acute admissions? A mixed-methods study of...

How can frontline expertise and new models of care best contribute to safely reducing avoidable acute admissions? A mixed-methods study of...



This study aims to investigate the interplay of service factors that influence decision-making about emergency patient admissions and to understand how the medical assessment process is experienced by patients, carers and medical staff.

National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) 
Report
Summary
AbstractT

Could ketamine be prescribed to treat depression? Party drug hailed as the 'next big thing in psychiatry'

Could ketamine be prescribed to treat depression? Party drug hailed as the 'next big thing in psychiatry'

A San Francisco-based psychiatrist, and member of the American Psychiatry Association's ketamine task force, claims the body are set to support use of the drug to treat severe depression early this year.

Daily Mail

CBT plus medication for treatment-resistant depression: the CoBalT RCT long-term follow-up

CBT plus medication for treatment-resistant depression: the CoBalT RCT long-term follow-up

Sarah McDonald considers the findings of the CoBalT RCT long-term follow-up, which finds that CBT plus antidepressants are clinically and cost effective for treatment-resistant depression in primary care. The Mental Elf