FEATURE: Is waiting longer for an ambulance a good thing? Reporter Carly Roberts goes out on a shift in Northampton

FEATURE: Is waiting longer for an ambulance a good thing? Reporter Carly Roberts goes out on a shift in Northampton My shift started at 6.30am. By 6.57am I was reaching for a vomit bowl and a urine bottle while riding backseat over the speed bumps on our first blue light run.

I was with the East Midlands Ambulance Service trying to ascertain whether new Government response time targets were, as promised, getting paramedics to life-threatening emergencies quicker. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Political consensus needed to ensure the future of health and social care

Political consensus needed to ensure the future of health and social care Survey data shows that the NHS is the institution that makes us most proud to be British and that public satisfaction with the NHS remains at historically high levels. Surveys also reveal increasing pessimism about the future, with the public identifying insufficient funding and the shortage of health care professionals as the main causes of the pressures facing the NHS. During the recent general election campaign, the future of the NHS – alongside Brexit – was identified as the most important issue facing the country. The King's Fund

Report from the UK Shape of Training Steering Group (UKSTSG)

Report from the UK Shape of Training Steering Group (UKSTSG) This report outlines the work of the UKSTSG who are tasked with providing policy advice on NHS workforce planning. It discusses how recommendations in the independent Shape of Training review could be implemented. One of the key recommendations discussed is the need for more generalists and the UKSTSG argues that developing the workforce in this way would support the needs of patients with co-morbidities, provide continuity of care and develop a greater number of doctors working at the interface of primary and secondary care.

Bowel cancer deaths drop by a third in 20 years

Bowel cancer deaths drop by a third in 20 years The rate of people dying from bowel cancer in the UK has plummeted by more than 30 per cent in the last 20 years,* according to new figures.

"GPs and patients are becoming more aware of bowel cancer symptoms and acting more quickly than in the past." - Dr Matt Seymour

Bowel cancer was responsible for 38 deaths per 100,000 people in 1995, falling to 26 deaths per 100,000 people by 2015. The drop in rates, taking into account changing population figures, equates to a decrease in bowel cancer deaths from 17,600 in 1995 to 15,800 in 2015.**

Experts believe better treatment lies behind the dramatic drop in deaths. Improved public awareness among both patients and doctors, the bowel screening programme, may also be playing a part. Cancer Research UK

See also:

• Bowel cancer deaths in UK drop by 30% in 20 years The Daily Mail

How bad is the NHS postcode lottery?s

How bad is the NHS postcode lottery? There has been much talk about whether more of a "postcode lottery" has opened up for NHS patients.

Recent revelations about IVF provision, highlighting major variations around England and more extensive care in Scotland and Wales, added to the debate.

Financial pressures have led some local health commissioners to restrict what services they offer patients.

Now a new analysis of publicly available data reveals diverging trends in England for a range of procedures, including colonoscopy and hip operations. The research has been carried out by the Medical Technology Group, an organisation with members including research charities and product suppliers. BBC News

Why Mental Health Service Cuts Are Contributing To The Mental Health Crisis

Why Mental Health Service Cuts Are Contributing To The Mental Health Crisis As a senior mental health nurse, I have recently made the difficult decision to leave my 17-year career due to stress and burnout caused by the constant cuts faced daily in NHS mental health services, and I’m not alone. Every day professionals are choosing to leave the NHS, or worse, are having to take long term sick leave due to their own mental health issues which have been caused by an extensive work overload, extreme stress and inevitable burn-out. Huffington Post UK

'Art helped me tell my story': brain injury survivors share self-portraits

'Art helped me tell my story': brain injury survivors share self-portraits Making Faces, an exhibition of work by artists exploring identity after a traumatic brain injury, is running at the Southbank Centre in London until 23 August 2017 Continue reading... The Guardian

Viagra prescriptions on NHS triple in 10 years as stigma fades

Viagra prescriptions on NHS triple in 10 years as stigma fades Doctors warn of dangers of buying erectile dysfunction drugs online after £17m of unlicensed and counterfeit Viagra seized in year

The number of prescriptions for Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs has nearly tripled in the last decade as they become cheaper and carry less stigma.

Figures from NHS Digital show there were 2,958,199 prescriptions for sildenafil in 2016, compared with 1,042,431 in 2006. Prescription numbers rose by 43% between 2014 and 2015, and by 16% between 2015 and 2016. Continue reading... The Guardian

Japanese fungus spreading through British hospitals

Japanese fungus spreading through British hospitals A dangerous Japanese fungus is spreading through British hospital wards, health officials warned.

More than 200 patients have been affected or found to carry the fungus, which is resistant to regular drugs.

Hospitals and nursing homes have been ordered to deep clean affected areas and isolate patients after it spread to at least 55 hospitals.

The fungus, Candida auris, has been resistant to all three main classes of anti-fungal drug treatment. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Candid auris Public Health England
• Japanese fungus spreading in UK hospitals BBC News
• Safety alert after drug-resistant 'Japanese fungus' is found in 55 UK hospitals The Daily Telegraph

GPs must consult panel to sending patients to hospital

GPs must consult panel to sending patients to hospital The controversial scheme in the north east of England covers all non-urgent referrals – including requests for hip and knee surgery, cataract removal as well as x-rays and scans. The Daily Mail