Personal well-being in the UK: 2015 to 2016

Personal well-being in the UK: 2015 to 2016 Since 2011, the Office for National Statistics has asked personal well-being questions to adults in the UK, to better understand how they feel about their lives. This report presents headline results from the fifth year of data collection, covering the financial year ending March 2016, together with how things have changed over the 5 years. It finds that:

• there has been no improvement in ratings of happiness, anxiety and feeling that things in life are worthwhile over the 1 year period between the years ending March 2015 and 2016
• reported personal well-being has improved across each of the measures over the 5 year period between the years ending March 2012 and 2016
• those living in London reported lower average ratings of life satisfaction, anxiety and feeling things in life are worthwhile compared with UK overall
• people in Northern Ireland continue to give higher average ratings of personal well-being for all measures except anxiety, when compared with the other UK countries
• although women reported higher life satisfaction and worthwhile levels when compared with men, they also reported higher levels of anxiety

See also:

• We're wealthier and healthier than ever but also more STRESSED: Report on nation's well-being shows people are living longer but unhappier lives The Daily Mail

Health care assistants being used as ‘nurses on the cheap’

Health care assistants being used as ‘nurses on the cheap’ Healthcare assistants (HCAs) working in the NHS are doing the jobs of nurses without the equivalent pay or education, says a new report.

Two in five (39%) say they have not received the training necessary to provide the care expected of them such as looking after dementia patients, according to the report­­ Care on the cheap.

Less than half (45%) of HCAs feel the tasks they are asked to do­ – including giving patients medication, doing heart checks and inserting medical tubes – are appropriate to their level of competence.

The findings are based on a survey of nearly 2,300 HCAs across the UK working in primary and secondary care including GP practices, emergency departments and in the community. UNISON

See also:

• Care on the Cheap: A survey of clinical support workers UNISON
• NHS patients 'at risk as thousands of unqualified hospital staff are standing in for nurses' The Daily Mail
• Patients are being put at risk because the NHS relies on healthcare assistants to do the job of nurses 'on the cheap' The Daily Telegraph

NHS England and NHS Improvement set out next steps to implement the NHS Five Year Forward View in 2017/18 and 2018/19

NHS England and NHS Improvement set out next steps to implement the NHS Five Year Forward View in 2017/18 and 2018/19 National NHS leaders have set out steps to strengthen collaboration across the NHS and ensure that local health and care areas are successful in delivering their blueprints for the future.

Published by NHS England and NHS Improvement, Delivering the Forward View: NHS Operational Planning Guidance for 2017/18 and 2018/19 provides NHS trusts and commissioners with tools they need to plan for the years ahead.

For the first time, the guidance covers two financial years, to provide greater stability, underpinned by a two-year tariff for NHS patients and a two-year NHS Standard Contract.

A false economy: cuts to continuing professional development funding for nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions

A false economy: cuts to continuing professional development funding for nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions This report highlights the risk posed to the NHS by the funding cuts and calls for the Department of Health to lead a discussion to address the disconnect between the funding decisions and national strategic priorities. It also warns about the potential consequences of the cuts for the Government’s push to expand student numbers as part of plans to reduce staff shortages. Council of Deans Health

Agonising wait

Agonising wait A family whose daughter spent four years in a vegetative state say it should be easier to withdraw nutrition from such patients. BBC News

Childhood vaccinations 'down again'

Childhood vaccinations 'down again' The percentage of under-twos in England receiving most routine vaccinations is down slightly for the third year in a row, NHS figures show. BBC News

IVF rates in England 'at 20-year low'

IVF rates in England 'at 20-year low' Campaigners say the provision of free IVF on the NHS in England has fallen to its lowest level since guidelines were introduced in 2004.

Figures from the charity Fertility Fairness show a steady decline in the number of providers offering the recommended three cycles of treatment.

Fourteen local health groups are currently considering whether to reduce or remove IVF provision.

The NHS says it does not have "unlimited resources". BBC News

See also:

• Sustained disinvestment in NHS fertility services in England; the southeast hardest hit Fertility Fairness
• The IVF postcode lottery: Fertility treatment on NHS hit 12 year low as cash-strapped hospitals ration number of cycles The Daily Mail
• NHS plans swingeing IVF restrictions The Daily Telegraph

UK fifth in world for health-related sustainable development goals

UK fifth in world for health-related sustainable development goals Although the UK is ranked fifth overall in the world in making progress towards the United Nations’ health-related sustainable development goals (SDG), it is doing relatively poorly on some of the indicators – notably those relating to HIV, smoking, alcohol, suicide, overweight and air pollution.

The UN General Assembly established the SDGs in September 2015, to replace the millennium development goal (MDG) framework that expired last year; the SDGs specify 17 universal goals, 169 targets, and 230 indicators leading up to 2030. The authors of the latest assessment of progress, published today in The Lancet, have compared 33 health-related SDG indicators across 188 countries. OnMedica

We can afford the NHS. The question is whether we are willing to pay for it

We can afford the NHS. The question is whether we are willing to pay for it Rationing funds between competing claims within the health service is nothing new. It doesn’t mean the nation can’t afford good healthcare through taxation

What can the NHS afford? Every week one pressure group after another protests at rationed treatments, as the NHS suffers its greatest funding shortfall since it was founded. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• The gap between funds and delivery is a chasm in the NHS: something has to give The Guardian

The REAL scale of cancelled operations: 40,000 scrapped procedures but were not included in the official figures

The REAL scale of cancelled operations: 40,000 scrapped procedures but were not included in the official figures Data was obtained from 156 NHS trusts in England. They provided figures for operations cancelled one to three days before a patient was due to be admitted. The Daily Mail

See also:

• NHS Providers responds to BBC research on cancelled operations NHS Providers
• Thousands more NHS operations cancelled than figures show, report claims The Guardian

NHS out-of-hours services being run without a single doctor with some turning to refugee medics to plug GP shortage

NHS out-of-hours services being run without a single doctor with some turning to refugee medics to plug GP shortage NHS out-of-hours services are being run without a single doctor in some parts of the country, as other practices turn to refugee medics to plug desperate shortages of GPs.

Experts said patients were being put at risk by a scarcity of family doctors, which could result in up to 600 practices closing their doors by 2020.

The growing crisis means parts of Yorkshire covering up to 300,000 patients have been left without any doctor to send out at night, an investigation found. The Daily Telegraph

Self-harm among armed forces jumps by a third in past five years, figures reveal

Self-harm among armed forces jumps by a third in past five years, figures reveal The number of armed forces personnel deliberately self-harming has jumped by more than a third over a five-year period.

Figures released by the Ministry of Defence revealed a 36 per cent increase in servicemen and women who self-harmed at least once between 2010/11 and 2014/15.

There were 383 recordings of deliberate self-harming (DSH) - including self-injury and self-poisoning - for Navy, Army and RAF personnel in 2014/15, up from 339 in 2010/11.

The data excludes servicemen and women who had thoughts of DSH or suicide.

Women, Army personnel and those aged under 24 were most at risk, the figures suggested. The Daily Telegraph