'Unrelenting pressure' on NHS staff spells trouble for cancer care

'Unrelenting pressure' on NHS staff spells trouble for cancer care Bigger workloads, increasingly complex patient needs, and vacancies in key roles are creating ‘unrelenting pressure’ on cancer care workforce, new report warns.

Current workforce pressures are affecting the level of care being delivered to cancer patients, according to a new report From the Frontline by Macmillan Cancer Support.

A survey undertaken by nfpSynergy for Macmillan of over 250 GPs and nurses working in primary care across the UK, found that over half (52%) are not confident the NHS workforce is able to provide adequate care to cancer patients, given the current pressures it faces

As winter looms, NHS debate warms up

As winter looms, NHS debate warms up Cooler weather and the first sniff of autumn in the air have been accompanied by the familiar opening salvo of warnings about a difficult winter ahead for the NHS.

The body representing hospitals and other trusts in England, NHS Providers, has said that without an emergency cash bailout the service will face unprecedented pressure.

At the same time the issue of longer waits for routine surgery has jumped up the political agenda.

The government was defeated in the Lords over the failure to meet the 18-week waiting time target in England. BBC News

Girl's donated organs help a record eight people

Girl's donated organs help a record eight people A 13-year-old girl who died from a brain aneurysm has helped a record eight different people, including five children, through organ donation.

Jemima Layzell, from Somerset, who died in 2012, donated her heart, pancreas, lungs, kidneys, small bowel and liver.

Jemima's parents said she was clever, compassionate and creative - and would have been "very proud of her legacy".

NHS Blood and Transplant said no other donor had helped as many people. BBC News

The Brexit leak shows a government on collision course with the NHS

The Brexit leak shows a government on collision course with the NHS The scheme to cut immigration is at odds with the need to fill 176,000 health and care vacancies. For the sector to survive, its workers must be given special status

The leaked 82-page government Brexit-immigration report should ring alarm bells for the NHS as it tackles the greatest workforce crisis in the health service’s history. The Home Office proposes measures to reduce the number of lower-skilled EU migrants by offering them residency for a maximum of only two years, whereas those in “high-skilled occupations” would be granted permits to work three to five years.

The report says: “Put plainly, this means that, to be considered valuable to the country, immigration should benefit not just the migrants themselves but also make existing residents better off.” Continue reading... The Guardian

Ministers drop 'misguided' plans to privatise NHS Professionals

Ministers drop 'misguided' plans to privatise NHS Professionals The government has abandoned plans to privatise an NHS employment agency it owns that supplies doctors and nurses to hospitals to ease their understaffing.

Labour welcomed what it called “a major U-turn on a misguided policy from a government with no solution to the workforce crisis in the NHS”. Continue reading.. The Guardian

Thinking of suing the NHS? Here’s why you should think again

Thinking of suing the NHS? Here’s why you should think again With medical negligence cases sharply up, citizens need to ask if they really want services drained to compensate a few claimants who can prove their case

Not a week goes by without another sign of extreme stress in the NHS. Winter is coming, as the warning goes, with 40,000 nurse vacancies unfilled, debts mounting and for the first time ever the NHS next year takes a real cut in per-capita income. Continue reading... The Guardian

GP who created fake patient 'M Mouse' escapes suspension

GP who created fake patient 'M Mouse' escapes suspension A GP who listed "M Mouse" among hundreds of bogus patients has escaped suspension after a tribunal decided it was his way of coping with his workload.

Dr Andrew Thomson fiddled appointments over a five-year period but avoided sanction after a medical tribunal highlighted his "propensity for overwork".

He was warned that the "exceptional course" adopted in the misconduct hearing by the medical practitioners' tribunal in Manchester did not reduce the seriousness of his conduct at the Academy Health Centre, in Forfar, Tayside. The Daily Telegraph

Suicide rate for young women highest for 20 years as experts warn of mental health crisis

Suicide rate for young women highest for 20 years as experts warn of mental health crisis Suicide among women in their early twenties is at its highest level in two decades, ONS figures show, as experts warn of a mental health crisis among young women who struggle with the pressures of modern life and social media.

While the overall figures for Great Britain show rates are at a seven-year low, women aged between 20 and 24 are increasingly likely to die by suicide. The Daily Telegraph