Policy paper: Progress report on the UK 5 year AMR strategy: 2015

Policy paper: Progress report on the UK 5 year AMR strategy: 2015 The second annual progress report describes what was achieved in the second year of implementation, including a number of significant achievements on the international stage.

The UK 5 year antimicrobial resistance (AMR) strategy 2013 to 2018 represents an ambitious programme to slow the development and spread of AMR taking a “One-Health” approach spanning people, animals, agriculture and the wider environment.

This is published on behalf of the high level steering group responsible for driving delivery of the UK AMR strategy. Department of Health

See also:

• Government’s progress in preventing drug resistant infections Department of Health
• Policy paper: Government response the review on antimicrobial resistance Department of Health

Improving access to psychological therapies: workforce census report

Improving access to psychological therapies: workforce census report The 2015 Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Workforce Census Report offers the most comprehensive view to date of the size and shape of the IAPT workforce in England, including insight into the capacity of IAPT services to offer the full range of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended psychological therapies. NHS England

Real lives: listening to the voices of people who use social care

Real lives: listening to the voices of people who use social care In summer 2016, working in collaboration with the British Red Cross and Royal Voluntary Service, The Richmond Group of Charities commissioned The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust to undertake a series of interviews with individuals with experience of using social care services. The aim of this work was to complement and add value to a wider piece of research being undertaken by The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust to examine the future sustainability of the social care system, Social Care for Older People: Home Truths (published 15 September 2016). The personal experiences of people needing care and support and their carers outlined in Real Lives illustrate the key issues and challenges facing local authorities, policymakers and those who depend on services.

Junior doctors take contract fight to high court

Junior doctors take contract fight to high court Junior doctors in England are going to the High Court to try and stop the government imposing a new contract.

The group Justice for Health, which is mounting the legal challenge, says the contract is unsafe and unsustainable and it accuses Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of acting outside his powers.

The Department says the case is without merit.

Ministers insist the new contract is needed to improve levels of medical cover in hospitals at weekends.

The hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London will run for two days. BBC News

See also:

• Junior doctors defy union over strike by helping NHS introduce new contracts The Daily Mail
• Jeremy Hunt has won a battle against junior doctors, but not the war The Guardian

Fire service rescuing more obese people across UK

Fire service rescuing more obese people across UK The number of obese people being rescued by fire services because they are too large to move on their own rises by more than a third over the past three years in the UK. BBC News

See also:

• Sharp increase in the number of obese people needing rescue by firefighters, new figures show The Daily Telegraph

New unit

New unit Politicians seem to have settled on a new unit of measuring public spending - the hospital. So how much does one actually cost? BBC News

Ambulance staff picket GP surgeries in row over unpaid wages

Ambulance staff picket GP surgeries in row over unpaid wages Sussex GPs who hold senior CCG management posts have seen their practices picketed by ambulance staff in a row over unpaid wages, following the collapse of a private provider. GP Online

First official figures reveal how likely you are to be alive 10 years after a cancer diagnosis

First official figures reveal how likely you are to be alive 10 years after a cancer diagnosis Data experts have forecast how many people with cancer can expect to survive a decade. The new figures, from the Office for National Statistics, show the stark differences between cancers. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Cancer Registration Statistics, England: 2014 Office for National Statistics
• Survival rates 10 years after cancer diagnosis predicted for first time The Daily Telegraph

Just 1 in 5 students has vital meningitis jab

Just 1 in 5 students has vital meningitis jab  Figures showed that by the end of August, just 17 per cent of all 18-year-olds leaving school had been vaccinated – despite GPs writing to all eligible 17 and 18-year-olds at the start of the month. The Daily Mail

Doctors to be sent on NHS courses in how to talk to their patients

Doctors to be sent on NHS courses in how to talk to their patients Doctors and nurses will be sent on courses in compassion, amid growing concern that too many are failing to listen to patients.

Thousands of NHS staff will be urged to improve their communication skills, as part of a national drive to help patients improve their health.

The country’s most senior doctor said the future of the health service depended on coaching staff in how to have a more “equal conversation” with patients.

Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS medical director, said the skills were needed to help patients tackle unhealthy lifestyles which have left the health service under unprecedented strain. The Daily Telegraph

National 'Uber-style' private GP service sparks backlash

National 'Uber-style' private GP service sparks backlash Anew ‘Uber-style' system of private GP appointments using NHS doctors is to be rolled out nationally, sparking a backlash from some medics.

The new service will match patients who are prepared to pay between £40 and £70 for an appointment, with family doctors prepared to work privately from their own practice in their spare time.

Critics said it was not fair to encourage patients to jump the queue if they could afford to avoid long waiting lists on the NHS.

But the company behind it said it would “drive down queues in surgeries” and reduce pressure on Accident & Emergency departments. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Uber-style service which allows patients to skip queues and pay to see NHS doctors is 'a slippery slope towards privatisation' The Daily Mail