Friday 2 September 2016

New complaints about KGH staff smoking near people’s houses

New complaints about KGH staff smoking near people’s houses

Hospital bosses have said they are continuing to work with residents to iron out any problems following a smoking ban across the site.
Evening Telegraph

NICE to tackle falling child vaccination rates

NICE to tackle falling child vaccination rates

Millions of children are at risk of contracting potentially lethal diseases as some vaccination rates in England have been falling for the past two years, says NICE.
NHS Networks

NHS England to improve mental health care for armed forces veterans

NHS England to improve mental health care for armed forces veterans

NHS England is set to further improve mental health care for military veterans after a nationwide campaign to give veterans themselves a say in how services are delivered. Feedback has highlighted the need to improve awareness of where veterans should go for help, raise the profile of NHS veterans’ mental health services and further increase […]
NHS Commissioning

New tool supporting antibiotic prescribing could be highly valuable for our young patients, says RCGP

New tool supporting antibiotic prescribing could be highly valuable for our young patients, says RCGP

She said: “GPs are working hard to reduce antibiotic prescribing with notable success – a reduction of 2.6m prescriptions by GPs last year alone – so a tool that can support GPs and other prescribers to identify when antibiotics are the appropriate course of treatment would be highly valuable.

“When prescribed appropriately antibiotics can be life-saving drugs, but they aren’t always the best course of treatment for minor conditions – including respiratory tract infections, which often don’t require antibiotics - and we need to work together to make the public realise this, in the best interests of their health and the worldwide population.

“Such a tool would also be very useful for GPs when explaining to patients, and their families, that antibiotics are not always the best course of treatment, as we often come under huge pressure to prescribe these drugs.

“But whilst this research is promising, such a test is not going to become widely available overnight and in the meantime we must all continue to work together – not just the healthcare sector – to do what we can to reduce growing global resistance to antibiotics, including making the public realise that antibiotics are not always the answer.

“It is particularly vital that we protect the safety of our young patients by ensuring that they don’t start building up a resistance to antibiotics early on in their life, so that antibiotics remain effective in the future when they might really need them.

“The RCGP has highlighted the challenge that we face through resistance to antibiotics and we have developed the TARGET antibiotics toolkit, with Public Health England, to support GPs in the appropriate prescribing of antibiotics.”
RCGP

Public health post-2013

Public health post-2013

This report is the result of a short inquiry on the impact of the Health and Social Care Act reforms on the public health landscape. It warns of risks of widening health inequalities and a false economy due to cuts in local authority and public health budgets. It calls for a Cabinet Officer minister to be given specific responsibility for embedding health across all areas of government policy at a national level and for greater and bolder action to tackle public health issues such as childhood obesity.

House of Commons Health Select Committee

Understanding quality in district nursing services: learning from patients, carers and staff

Understanding quality in district nursing services: learning from patients, carers and staff

This report investigates what ‘good’ district nursing care looks like from the perspective of people receiving this care, unpaid carers and district nursing staff and puts forward a framework for understanding the components involved. It also looks at the growing demand–capacity gap in district nursing and the worrying impact that this is having on services, the workforce and the quality and safety of patient care. The report makes recommendations to policy-makers, regulators, commissioners and provider organisations as to how to start to address these pressures.

The King's Fund

Report

Framework

The King's Fund publications

Zika: Two billion at risk in Africa and Asia, study says

Zika: Two billion at risk in Africa and Asia, study says

More than two billion people could be at risk from Zika virus outbreaks in parts of Africa and Asia, according to scientists writing in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
BBC News

Mentally-ill homeless discharged back to street

Mentally-ill homeless discharged back to street

The BBC has learned that some rough sleepers with mental health problems are being discharged by the NHS straight back onto the streets.
BBC News

News story: First scientists move in to London’s new world-leading research lab

News story: First scientists move in to London’s new world-leading research lab

Backed by £350 million of government investment, the first scientists are moving in and beginning to work in the new Francis Crick Institute – one of the most developed facilities for medical research in the world.

It will support 1,250 scientists in investigating and understanding biological processes that could lead to pioneering drugs and treatments for illnesses such as cancer, stroke and motor neurone disease.

Named after Sir Francis Crick – the British scientist jointly responsible for the discovery of the double helix in human DNA – it is the biggest biomedical research institute under one roof in Europe and will help ensure the UK continues to lead the world in medical discovery and scientific endeavour.
Department of Health

Radioactive prostate cancer drug given NHS go-ahead

Radioactive prostate cancer drug given NHS go-ahead

Radium-223 dichloride approved for patients whose cancer has spread to the bones, but who are too weak to undergo chemotherapy

A radioactive prostate cancer drug has been recommended for routine NHS use following a decision by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

Radium-223 dichloride, marketed as Xofigo, could be made available for treating prostate cancer patients as early as December.
Guardian

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Senior doctors condemn junior colleagues' plan for five-day strikes

Senior doctors condemn junior colleagues' plan for five-day strikes

Experts say that sustained action over contracts would ‘cause real problems’ for patients, profession and NHS

Senior doctors have voiced strong opposition to the series of five-day strikes planned by their junior colleagues, warning that the action will cause real problems for patients, the service and the profession. 

Patients' groups criticise five-day junior doctors strike

Patients' groups criticise five-day junior doctors strike

Patients Association and National Voices call on two sides to restart talks as Theresa May accuses BMA of ‘playing politics’

Patients’ organisations have joined some NHS employers in condemning the five-day strike planned by junior doctors, calling for both sides to restart negotiations.

The Patients Association’s chief executive, Katherine Murphy, said it was “gravely troubled” at the “catastrophic impact this will have on so many patients and their families” as winter approaches.
Guardian

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Organ donation rates for transplants still too low in UK, says NHS

Organ donation rates for transplants still too low in UK, says NHS

Consent rate one of lowest in Europe, with black, Asian and ethnic minority communities of particular concern

A record number of organs were donated and transplanted in the UK in 2015-16 but the consent rate is still one of the lowest in Europe, with a worrying shortfall of donors from black or Asian communities.

In the 12 months to the end of March, 1,364 people became organ donors when they died and their donations resulted in 3,519 transplants taking place, figures published on Thursday show.
Guardian

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Patients now facing INTERVIEWS before seeing a doctor: Busy surgery will only give appointments after screening by receptionists 

Patients now facing INTERVIEWS before seeing a doctor: Busy surgery will only give appointments after screening by receptionists 

A partner at Kennington Health Centre in Oxfordshire, where it is being trialled, admitted he had 'some trepidation' about it but said staff shortages and demand made it necessary.

Daily Mail