NHS cyber-attack: Use services wisely, patients urged

NHS cyber-attack: Use services wisely, patients urged Patients have been urged to use the NHS "wisely" as it discovers the full impact of Friday's global cyber-attack.

NHS England said there was a "complex emerging picture", amid concerns over thousands of computers being switched back on after the weekend.

Seven trusts out of 47 that were hit are still facing serious issues, but patients have been told to turn up for appointments, unless advised otherwise.

Some GPs are asking people to consider whether they really need appointments.

The virus that hit the NHS in England and Scotland, known as Wanna Decryptor or WannaCry, has infected 200,000 machines in 150 countries since Friday. BBC News

See also:

• NHS England statement on reported NHS cyber attack NHS England
• All email accounts suspended at NGH after cyber hackers target hospitals across the UK Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• KGH shuts down external IT systems to "maintain patient safety" amid ransomware alert Northamptonshire Telegraph
• NHS cyber-attack: Bosses fear further infections from ransomware BBC News
• Cyber-attack: Security minister says XP issue a 'red herring'  BBC News
• NHS 'robust' after cyber-attack BBC News
• Who was hit by the NHS cyber-attack? BBC News
• NHS 'was repeatedly warned' of attack BBC News
• Next cyber-attack could be imminent, warn experts BBC News
• Fallon on cyber security: 'We warned NHS' about old system BBC News
• Ransomware and the WannaCry virus that crippled the NHS The Daily Mail
• NHS hack is part of huge global cyber attack The Daily Mail
• Cyber attack: Stay away from GP surgeries unless urgent, amid fears of Monday meltdown The Daily Telegraph
• Revealed: The 22-year-old IT expert who saved the world from ransomware virus but lives for surfing The Daily Telegraph
• Amber Rudd: 97% of NHS trusts operating 'as normal' The Daily Telegraph
• Every Government department is vulnerable to hackers, former civil service chief admits The Daily Telegraph
• GP practices shut down by NHS cyber attack GPonline
• The ransomware attack is all about insufficient funding of the NHS The Guardian
• Cyber-attack that hit NHS sparks bitter political battle over health spending The Guardian
• Jeremy Hunt 'ignored warning signs' before cyber-attack hit NHS The Guardian
• Cyber-attack could escalate as working week begins, experts warn The Guardian
• What is 'WanaCrypt0r 2.0' ransomware and why is it attacking the NHS? The Guardian
• NHS cyber attack: New dangerous version of WannaCry ransomware set to be released by hackers The Independent

Government inspectors rate Northamptonshire GP practice as 'good' after clean sweep of comment cards

Government inspectors rate Northamptonshire GP practice as 'good' after clean sweep of comment cards A watchdog has rate a Northamptonshire surgery as "good" after all of the comment cards it handed out to patients came back with positive feedback. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Enabling professionalism in nursing and midwifery practice

Enabling professionalism in nursing and midwifery practice This guide is aimed at all nurses and midwives and sets out what professionalism can look like in everyday practice. It demonstrates how applying the values of the code of conduct should be at the centre of all nursing and midwifery practice. For employers, it identifies key principles which will help them to provide practice environments that support and encourage professionalism among nurses and midwives. Nursing and Midwifery Council

General election 2017: Labour pledges £37bn for the NHS

General election 2017: Labour pledges £37bn for the NHS Labour says it will spend an extra £37bn on the NHS in England over the next five years if it wins power.

The investment, including £10bn on upgrading IT systems and repairing buildings, would be funded by tax increases and capital borrowing.

Jeremy Corbyn blamed the NHS cyber attack on "Tory cuts", promising a service "fit for the modern day".

But the Tories said Labour's "nonsensical" economic plans would mean less money for the NHS. BBC News

Nurses to stage 'summer of protest activity' over pay cap

Nurses to stage 'summer of protest activity' over pay cap Nurses will stage a "summer of protest activity" across the UK over pay, the Royal College of Nursing has said.

Its members will also be balloted on industrial action unless the next government scraps a 1% pay-rise cap.

It comes as the union says figures suggest the NHS in England is drastically short of the nurses it needs, with 40,000 posts unfilled.

The Conservatives said half the workforce receive annual progression-in-the-job pay rises.

The RCN said a consultative ballot of its members in April showed a majority (78%) were prepared to go on strike, while 91% said they would support industrial action short of a strike. About 52,000 of the 270,000 RCN members eligible to vote took part. BBC News

See also:

• Nurses threaten 'summer of protests' as four in five want strikes The Daily Telegraph
• Nurses vote in support of strike ballot over low pay The Guardian

Recruitment crisis hits NHS with one in nine posts currently vacant

Recruitment crisis hits NHS with one in nine posts currently vacant Damning figures from Royal College of Nursing point to ‘lethal cocktail of factors’ putting off new nurses

About 40,000 nursing posts are now vacant in the NHS in England as the service heads for the worst recruitment crisis in its history, according to official new data.

Responses to Freedom of Information requests submitted to trusts by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) show that one in nine posts are now unfilled – double the level in 2013. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Safe staffing legislation to avoid patient-safety crisis Royal College of Nursing
• NHS 'dangerously short of nurses' BBC News
• Patients deserve best care. Only new laws can ensure this The Guardian
• Mental health nurses in short supply as NHS struggles to fill vacancies The Guardian
• Nurses will see their pay ‘cut by 12% over a decade’ The Guardian

Almost all GPs have NOT had recent Lyme disease training

Almost all GPs have NOT had recent Lyme disease training Only 3 per cent of GPs in the UK have taken the recommended module on Lyme disease which teaches them how to spot early symptoms. A charity says there may be 45,000 UK cases a year. The Daily Mail

Dementia care is leaving families destitute, warns charity

Dementia care is leaving families destitute, warns charity It would take more than a century for a patient to save enough to pay the typical cost of dementia care, a report warns.

They would need to save £800 a year for 125 years to reach the £100,000 experts say it now costs to live comfortably with dementia for five years.

The Alzheimer’s Society, which carried out the study, warns the cost of social care is leaving families destitute and is calling on the next government to create a ‘long-term, sustainable system’ to fund it. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Impossible cost: Dementia care bill would take 125 years to save for The Alzheimer’s Society

Nursing home fees reach £1,000 per week on average, report finds

Nursing home fees reach £1,000 per week on average, report finds Average nursing home fees have reached £1,000 a week for self-funders, new figures show.

A report by analyst LaingBuisson found that fees for nursing care had broken the £1,000 barrier and had reached £1,200 in some places.

Weekly fees for self-payers in residential care homes without nursing care have reached £700 on average, compared to £486 for state-funded residents. The Daily Telegraph

Waiting lists set to soar amid six-fold rise in GP vacancies

Waiting lists set to soar amid six-fold rise in GP vacancies Waiting times to see a GP are set to soar amid a six-fold rise in vacancies for family doctors, new figures suggest.

The statistics show record shortages of family doctors, which have already fuelled rising waiting lists and surgery closures across the country.

The findings from Pulse magazine shows 12.2 per cent of positions are currently vacant - an increase from 2.1 per cent in 2011.

And almost one in five of GPs polled said they had given up trying to recruit a doctor in the last year because it had proved impossible.

Latest figures show the number of patients waiting at least a week for an appointment has risen from 13.8 per cent to 19.3 per cent in three years. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• ‘Staggering’ GP vacancy problem must be addressed as a matter of urgency, says RCGP Royal College of General Practitioners
• One in eight GP posts left empty after many move abroad The Daily Mail
• GP recruitment crisis intensifies as vacancies soar to 12.2% The Guardian