Feeling the crunch: NHS finances to 2020

Feeling the crunch: NHS finances to 2020 As recognised by the NHS’s Five Year Forward View, by 2020 the NHS will need to find savings of around £22 billion in order to balance its books. But there has been no clear articulation of how that gap is expected to be closed.

The options for doing so include NHS providers becoming more efficient; NHS commissioners reducing the pace at which NHS activity is increasing each year, either through reducing demand or limiting access to care; more funding for the NHS; or some combination of these. This analysis examines different scenarios to determine exactly what it would take to close the gap. Nuffield Trust

Guidance: NHS Health Checks: increasing uptake

Guidance: NHS Health Checks: increasing uptake This document includes techniques and innovative ways of increasing NHS Health Check uptake. Public Health England

Progress towards building the right support for people with a learning disability or autism

Progress towards building the right support for people with a learning disability or autism Local plans to transform care for people with a learning disability and/or autism have been published today, backed by millions of pounds of dedicated funding announced by health and care leaders.

The announcement marks a major stage in delivering the reforms set out inBuilding the right support: A national implementation plan to develop community services and close inpatient facilities, published in October 2015 by NHS England, the Local Government Association (LGA), and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS).

Avoiding unconscious bias: a guide for surgeons

Avoiding unconscious bias: a guide for surgeons This guide aims to encourage surgeons to be aware of this, and sometimes adjust their behaviour so that their trainees and fellow staff do not misinterpret their actions. It outlines the impact on of unconscious bias on equality and diversity in relation to recruitment and workplace harassment in particular. Royal College of Surgeons 

Update on the health and care landscape

Update on the health and care landscape This briefing aims to inform pharmacy contractors and Local Pharmaceutical Committees of developments in the wider health and care landscape beyond community pharmacy. Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee

GP gatekeeper role disabled at worst possible time for NHS, warn researchers

GP gatekeeper role disabled at worst possible time for NHS, warn researchers Erosion of funding for GPs and key related services over the past decade has undermined the profession's gatekeeper function at a time when it is needed more than ever because of the UK's ageing population, according to primary care academics. GP Online

Zika virus cases confirmed in Scotland

Zika virus cases confirmed in Scotland A number of people in Scotland have been diagnosed as having the Zika virus, it has been confirmed.

The Scottish Government stressed that the disease, which has sparked a major health alert in South America, “does not pose a public health risk” in Scotland, but said that an undisclosed number of cases had been found.

More than 50 people across the UK have been treated for the infection, which is associated with a birth defect called microcephaly, which results in children being born with abnormally small heads and brain damage. The Independent

See also:

• Zika vaccines show early promise BBC News

Give young people and gay men free condoms to reduce STIs, watchdog says

Give young people and gay men free condoms to reduce STIs, watchdog says Draft guidance from Nice says councils should consider schemes to provide free advice and condoms to halt rise in HIV and gonorrhoea.

Local authorities should run schemes to supply young people with free condoms and sex advice in an attempt to curtail the number of sexually transmitted infections, a health watchdog body has said.

They should also consider giving free condoms to gay men, among whom the increase in infections such as HIV and gonorrhoea is of serious concern. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Sexually transmitted infections: condom distribution schemes (consultation) NICE
• NICE says youth clubs, clinics and GPs should offer condoms The Daily Mail

What Jasper Allen's 'worst case of chickenpox' reveals about GPs' surgeries

What Jasper Allen's 'worst case of chickenpox' reveals about GPs' surgeries Jasper Allen, two years old, came down with what some doctors said was the worst case of chickenpox they had ever seen; his tiny body was smothered in sores, and the pictures were too grisly to bear. The Daily Mail

Elderly patients refused cataract surgery because the NHS refuses to pay

Elderly patients refused cataract surgery because the NHS refuses to pay Former care worker Daphne Buxton was told by her optician to buy darker sunglasses, rather than have surgery as three quarters of hospitals now deny life-changing cataract operations. The Daily Mail

'Indestructible' head lice now resistant to over-the-counter remedies, researchers warn

'Indestructible' head lice now resistant to over-the-counter remedies, researchers warn Head lice have become immune to the most common treatments, new research has revealed, meaning parents are fighting a losing battle with nits in their children's hair.

Mutated "super lice" that cannot be killed by the most popular over-the-counter remedies threaten to create a headache for families across Britain this summer.

The itch-inducing pests already lead to missed school days and frustrated parents, who could have even more reason to be wary of the "indestructible" lice this year.

A US study has revealed that 98 per cent of head lice have developed a resistance to pyrethrins and permethrins - the active ingredients in most remedies available in pharmacies. The Daily Telegraph