National Survey of Bereaved People (VOICES): England, 2015

National Survey of Bereaved People (VOICES): England, 2015 Results from the national survey which looked at quality of care in the last 3 months of life. Office for National Statistics

See also:

• Patients STILL being denied food and drink before they die The Daily Mail

General Practice Nursing in the 21st Century: A Time of Opportunity

General Practice Nursing in the 21st Century: A Time of Opportunity A survey from the Queen's Nursing Institute giving a snapshot of the role of the general practice nurse in 2015. It looks at workforce figures, education and professional development, employment practices and more.

Among the findings are:

• Over 33% of practice nurses are due to retire by 2020
• 43% said there were not enough staff in the nursing team
• 53% said their employer always supported professional development activities
• Nearly 23% of practice nurses has two jobs

See also:

• GPs face looming shortage of practice nurses, warns QNI chief GP Online

Smokers and overweight patients: soft targets for NHS savings?

Smokers and overweight patients: soft targets for NHS savings? This report explores how widespread the practice of restricting surgery on the basis of weight or smoking status has become by examining the commissioning policies of CCGs in England. The report compares these against guidance produced by NICE, RCS and surgical specialty associations. It found that over one in three CCGs in England are denying or delaying routine surgery to patients – such as hip and knee replacements – until they stop smoking or lose weight, in contravention of national clinical guidance. Royal College of Surgeons

NHS strike risks patient safety - Hunt

NHS strike risks patient safety - Hunt Planned all-out strikes by junior doctors in England this week could threaten the safety of patients, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt warns. BBC News

See also:

• Letter to the Secretary of State for Health The British Medical Association
• Letter to the British Medical Association The Secretary of State for Health
• VIDEO: Pressure on Hunt to halt doctors' strike BBC News
• Call for junior doctors' contract pilot BBC News
• NHS strike delays 'to exceed 100,000' BBC News
• Junior doctors' total strike is a first in NHS history with operations cancelled The Daily Mail 
• Junior doctors strike: Pregnant women and cancer patients among 125,000 people hit by protest chaos The Daily Telegraph 
• Junior doctors strike: 48-hour full walkout will cause 'unacceptable' risk of patient deaths, warns Jeremy Hunt The Daily Telegraph
• NHS hospitals finalise plans to cope with unprecedented strikes The Guardian
• Junior doctors strike will not put patients at risk, say senior medics The Guardian
• Jeremy Hunt: MPs' plan to avert junior doctors' strike is opportunism The Guardian
• Jeremy Hunt’s impromptu meeting with us about doctors’ contracts was just spin The Guardian
• Contract debacle prompts medical students to consider careers overseas OnMedica

Final piece of diabetes puzzle solved

Final piece of diabetes puzzle solved A complete picture of what the immune system attacks to cause type 1 diabetes is revealed by scientists. BBC News

AstraZeneca to sequence 2 million genomes in hunt for new drugs

AstraZeneca to sequence 2 million genomes in hunt for new drugs The UK company will work with genomics company Human Longevity. OnMedica

The NHS must treat smokers and the obese fairly

The NHS must treat smokers and the obese fairly As doctors, we should not discriminate against groups of patients to save money.

One in three areas in England is denying or delaying surgery to patients who are obese or who smoke. That’s the stark finding of a new report by the Royal College of Surgeons.

Some may think it appropriate to deny treatment to people who overeat or smoke in a cash-strapped NHS, but as surgeons we think it wrong to have a blanket ban on surgery based on such criteria. Targeting patient groups risks unfairly isolating them and undermining the fundamental NHS principle to treat all patients freely at the point of need regardless of their background or lifestyle. Continue reading... The Guardian

More over-90s get new hips to keep on being active

More over-90s get new hips to keep on being active There were 156 hip replacements for patients aged over 100 last year alone, while knee-replacement operations for the over-90s have also risen according to NHS figures. The Daily Mail