Has the continuing success of the NHS contributed to the ongoing hard line on funding?

Has the continuing success of the NHS contributed to the ongoing hard line on funding? The NHS presents an economic dilemma. On the one hand we boast one of the best performing and most highly efficient health care systems in the world, yet on the other we see services and the staff that deliver them stretched to their absolute limits.

When it comes to productivity, the NHS is currently outperforming the wider UK economy, so investing in the health service makes financial sense. Historically, growing economies have increased their spend on health as a share of GDP yet, in the UK, current plans will see health spending fall as a proportion of GDP, which could risk us slipping below the standards and outcomes of the developed world. The Health Foundation

Bottom up, top down, middle out: transforming health and care in Greater Manchester

Bottom up, top down, middle out: transforming health and care in Greater Manchester In April 2016, control of Greater Manchester’s £6 billion combined health and social care budget was handed over to local leaders as part of the first devolution deal of its kind. Since then, local NHS and local government leaders, clinicians and wider partners have been working together to develop services suited to the needs of the 2.8 million people who live in Greater Manchester. The King's Fund

Why I injected myself with an untested gene therapy

Why I injected myself with an untested gene therapy The moment Tristan Roberts became the first human to inject an untested, experimental gene therapy into his stomach fat, he was sitting on a leather couch in his friend-slash-yoga instructor's living room, not on a doctor's examining table.

The glass coffee table in front of him was strewn with syringes. A Chihuahua mix wearing an inflatable recovery collar snored beside him.

The event was livestreamed on Facebook, and hundreds tuned in (later, Roberts' mother watched, though she was "not thrilled" with his decision). On Roberts' right was Aaron Traywick, head of Ascendance Biomedical, the nascent company behind the treatment. A network of unnamed researchers around the US assembled the vials in front of them. BBC News

Jeremy Hunt accused of 'astonishing failure' after GP numbers fall by 1,190

Jeremy Hunt accused of 'astonishing failure' after GP numbers fall by 1,190 NHS figures show drop of 1,193 family doctors in past year, despite pledge to increase numbers by 5,000 by 2020

The number of GPs in England has fallen sharply in the past year, despite a government pledge to increase the supply of family doctors by 5,000.

The total number of full-time equivalent GPs working in England dropped by 1,193 in the year to September, figures from NHS Digital show. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Workforce figures gravely concerning says College Royal College of General Practitioners
• NHS has lost 1,300 full-time GPs since 2015, official data reveal GPonline
• Jeremy Hunt's GP recruitment pledge in tatters as 1,000 full-time NHS doctors quit last year The Independent

This isn’t the start of an NHS crisis – it’s far worse | Jan Filochowski

This isn’t the start of an NHS crisis – it’s far worse | Jan Filochowski The shortfalls are chronic, widespread and growing. I’ve turned failing health trusts around – I can see the service needs a modern-day Marshall plan• Jan Filochowski is a former NHS chief executive

Saying the NHS was already in crisis, as I – and a few other Jeremiahs – did two years ago, meant going out on a limb. Today, hardly anyone says anything else, not least because virtually all our dire predictions have become realities. Even public officials responsible for running and inspecting the NHS, who couldn’t be seen for dust then (the heads of NHS England, NHS Improvement and the Care Quality Commission), are going public on the gravity of the situation and begging the chancellor to do something in this week’s budget.

Indeed, how could anyone say things are OK when, in response to an increase in the past seven years of at most 15% in A&E attendances and admissions, waits in A&E have gone up by 350% and waits for admission by 550%? Increasing waiting times are the canary in the mine. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Finance trumps patients at every level – UK healthcare needs an inquiry The Guardian
• Public services face real-terms spending cuts of up to 40% in decade to 2020 The Guardian

Ray James: ‘I want those still in care to tell their truths to people like me’

Ray James: ‘I want those still in care to tell their truths to people like me’ Six years after the Winterbourne View abuse scandal, Ray James’ new job is to ensure people with learning disabilities can move on from long-stay units

Ray James wants to feel uncomfortable. It’s the best way, he thinks, to make health and care leaders take action to break the logjam that keeps almost 2,500 people with learning disabilities and autism in specialist hospitals in England six years after the Winterbourne View scandal. The Panorama exposé of systematic abuse of patients so shocked the nation that ministers promised to close such places down.

James, 52, has been appointed the first national learning disability director at NHS England, with a brief to do whatever necessary to make progress on that pledge. Continue reading... The Guardian

NHS doctors fell 'dirty' working with private industry, health chief says

NHS doctors fell 'dirty' working with private industry, health chief says Live-saving NHS innovations are being held up because doctors think it is “dirty” to work with the private sector, the Government’s most senior health advisor has said.

Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer, told Parliament that staff were reluctant to associate with profit-making bodies even if it denied them the chance to improve their skills.

She said that if the NHS was to improve its research capacity there needed to be a “revolving door” between the health service, academia and industry bodies such as pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers.

Her call came as the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor acknowledged that the training of NHS doctors capable of researching new cures and procedures had taken a “backward step”. The Daily Telegraph

Suicidal children abandoned by NHS, Commissioner tells Parliament

Suicidal children abandoned by NHS, Commissioner tells Parliament Suicidal children are being abandoned, the Children’s Commissioner has warned as she called for ‘seismic change’ to mental health services for the young.

Anne Longfield said understaffed and fragmented services meant minors are being turned away even if they say they no longer wanted to live.

Her warning to MPs followed a report which showed children’s psychiatric services are receiving an average of just 6 per cent of the mental health budget, despite children making up around 20 per cent of the population.

Meanwhile the Care Quality Commission, responsible for regulating services, said there was no clear structure of accountability at a local level.

Currently only one in four children with a psychiatric condition is being treated. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Labour MP Reveals Suicidal 10-Year-Old Was Denied Mental Health Help Four Times Huffington Post UK

At least 675 patients fall over daily on NHS wards

At least 675 patients fall over daily on NHS wards Some 675 patients have falls on NHS wards every day, a major national audit has found.

Many are preventable and caused by patients not having walking frames or being unsteady from medication.

Hospitals are also failing to give patients call bells to ensure they can summon staff without trying to get on their feet.

The audit, by the Royal College of Physicians, established that there were 246,425 falls on NHS wards in 2015/16 – and many hospitals and trusts were failing to take basic measures to prevent them. The Daily Mail

See also:

• National Audit of Inpatient Falls Audit report 2017 Royal College of Physicians