Cutting Down: The Reality of Budget Cuts To Local Tobacco Control

Cutting Down: The Reality of Budget Cuts To Local Tobacco Control This report presents the results of the third annual survey of tobacco control leads in local authorities in England, conducted in June 2016. There are 129 local authorities in the sample, 85% of all the local authorities in England with public health responsibilities. Cancer Research UK and Ash

See also:

• Stop Smoking services under threat due to budget cuts OnMedica

Could plans for NHS shake-up collapse?

Could plans for NHS shake-up collapse? As winter approaches, NHS managers in England will be even busier than usual.

Handling the increased volume of emergency admissions to hospitals and juggling demands for beds will be as tough as ever.

On top of that will be a raft of meetings discussing the potentially most radical shake-up of health services in decades.

The sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) being produced in 44 local areas of England are seen as vital ingredients in the redesign of care to cope with increasing patient demand.

The plans will focus on trying to moderate that demand and treat more patients away from hospitals.

But there has been no denying that some of the plans will see closures of accident and emergency units and hospital wards, concentrating services on fewer sites.

The STP process has got off to a difficult start. BBC News

Elderly failed by 'shameful' care system

Elderly failed by 'shameful' care system Frail old people in England are being left to fend for themselves because government-funded care is being scaled back, a review suggests. BBC News

See also:

• 1.2m older people don’t get the social care they need Age UK
• Shocking reality of dementia homecare hidden behind closed doors Alzheimer's Society
• Fix Dementia Care: Homecare report Alzheimer's Society
• Alzheimer’s Society say that neglect of dementia patients is ‘happening behind closed doors’ The Daily Mail
• Dementia sufferers left to starve or live on biscuits, in harrowing cases The Daily Telegraph

'Grossly irresponsible' rush into contract led to catastrophic failure

'Grossly irresponsible' rush into contract led to catastrophic failure A new report warns that services for patients are likely to suffer following the collapse of an £800 million contract to provide older people's and adult community services.

The report describes the handling of the contract between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough clinical commissioning group (the CCG) and UnitingCare Partnership as a catalogue of failures.

It sets out urgent recommendations to address the lack of commercial skills in the NHS and calls on NHS England and NHS Improvement to improve the oversight and supervision of contracting arrangements to "avoid such catastrophic failures in future". Public Accounts Select Committee

See also:

• Private NHS contract 'farmed out to the lowest bidder', Public Accounts Committee finds The Independent
• 'Catalogue of failures' behind collapse of £800m NHS deal ITV News

STPs subject to 'full consultation' with patients, says Jeremy Hunt

STPs subject to 'full consultation' with patients, says Jeremy Hunt Sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) will be subject to 'full consultation' with patient groups, the health secretary suggested yesterday, appearing to go further than commitments in NHS England guidance. GP Online

‘Ban cells as holding places for people in a mental health crisis’

‘Ban cells as holding places for people in a mental health crisis’ The use of police cells as places of safety for people in mental health crisis, should be banned.

This is a message from the mental health charity Mind. The charity is calling on parliament to ban the use of police cells for this purpose, as new data from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Lead for Mental Health shows some forces are still putting people who are unwell in cells on a daily basis.

The Policing and Crime Bill, currently making its way through the House of Lords, will end the use of cells as “places of safety” for under 18s who are suicidal, self-harming or in psychosis, but Mind is calling for this to be extended to adults too.

Mind’s appeal comes hot on the heels of NHS England’s publication of the latest statistical information on patients’ experience of mental health services in the NHS — an update which includes results from the 2016 Community Mental Health Survey. OnMedica

See also:

• Ban use of police cells for people in mental health crisis, MPs told The Guardian

Breast cancer drug approved for NHS use after price cut

Breast cancer drug approved for NHS use after price cut Perjeta can help shrink breast cancer tumours before patients undergo surgery to remove them.

A drug that can help shrink breast cancer tumours before patients undergo surgery to remove them has been approved for use in the NHS, after the manufacturer agreed a substantial discount on the list price.

Perjeta, the brand name of pertuzumab, could be helpful in the treatment of 1,400 women a year who develop a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, but it was initially turned down by Nice, the National Institute for Healthcare Excellence, because of the high price set by the manufacturer, Roche Continue reading... The Guardian

Psychiatrists attack 'scandal' of child mental health spending

Psychiatrists attack 'scandal' of child mental health spending Royal college analysis says NHS bodies in some areas are spending little more than £2 per child despite surge in illness

NHS bodies are spending as little as £2.01 per child on mental health care for young people, despite the big spike in anxiety, depression and other serious problems among under-18s.

Psychiatrists claim the small sums being spent by GP-led clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England constitute a national scandal at a time when youth self-harm and suicide are rising Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• The scandal of underfunded child and adolescent mental health services laid bare in new research Royal College of Psychiatrists
• Quarter of young people seeking mental health care 'turned away by specialist services' The Independent
• “Scandal” of £2 per child mental health spending in England i News

Antibiotic-resistant infections have almost DOUBLED in US children in just 10 years, research reveals

Antibiotic-resistant infections have almost DOUBLED in US children in just 10 years, research reveals Highly drug-resistant infections are on the rise among children in the US, a new study warns.

Currently, antibiotics can target and kill Pseidomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria that causes blood infections, pneumonia, and many post-surgery infections - all of them deadly.

But over the last decade, scientists have seen rates of drug resistance almost double in samples of this bacteria collected from children in pediatric wards.

Officials warn the findings should be a red flag that antibiotic resistance could be a not-so-distant reality. The Daily Mail

'Cruel' drug rationing system that makes patients beg for drugs must be ripped up, experts warn

'Cruel' drug rationing system that makes patients beg for drugs must be ripped up, experts warn Professor David Taylor, of University College London, called for the rigid system by which drugs are assessed to be abandoned - and a more flexible approach to be adopted. The Daily Mail

NHS cannot afford to run seven day services for convenience, managers warn on eve of summit

NHS cannot afford to run seven day services for convenience, managers warn on eve of summit The NHS cannot afford to run seven day services simply for the convenience of patients, healthcare leaders have said.

The warning from the NHS Confederation comes as Jeremy Hunt faces medics for the first time since a bitter industrial dispute with junior doctors came to an end.

The symposium today by the British Medical Association (BMA), follows a climb-down from the union, after a long conflict over changes to doctors’ contracts which followed Government pledges to improve levels of medical cover at weekends. The Daily Telegraph