Health Survey for England, 2016

Health Survey for England, 2016 The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the nation's health; estimating the proportion of people in England who have specified health conditions, and the prevalence of risk factors and behaviours associated with these conditions. NHS Digital


See also:

• Is England a healthy nation? BBC News
• Half of all adults in England are on prescription drugs The Daily Mail
• Pill nation: half of us take at least one prescription drug daily The Daily Telegraph
• More men than women meet physical activity guidelines OnMedica

NHS in England told to reveal avoidable deaths data

NHS in England told to reveal avoidable deaths data The NHS in England is to become the first healthcare system in the world to publish figures on avoidable patient deaths, the health secretary has said.

By the end of 2017, some 170 out of 223 trusts will publish data on deaths they believe could have been prevented.

It is estimated there are up to 9,000 deaths in hospitals each year caused by failings in NHS care.

The Department for Health said it wanted to ensure the NHS learned lessons from every case.

There is no standard definition of an avoidable death and each hospital trust makes its own judgment. BBC News

See also:

• NHS becomes first healthcare system in the world to publish numbers of avoidable deaths Department of Health

Surgeon Simon Bramhall marked initials on patients' livers

Surgeon Simon Bramhall marked initials on patients' livers A surgeon who marked his initials on the livers of two transplant patients has admitted assault by beating.

Simon Bramhall, 53, committed the offences at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital in February and August 2013.

The liver, spleen and pancreas surgeon was suspended later that year.

He pleaded guilty to two charges at Birmingham Crown Court and will be sentenced at the same court on 12 January.

He denied the more serious charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm - a plea which was accepted by prosecutors. BBC News

More than 75000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS - The Independent

More than 75000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS More than 75,000 people have signed a petition calling for Richard Branson’s private healthcare company to return cash it was given by the NHS.

Anger has been growing at the payment after it was revealed just one local health service group reached a reported £328,000 settlement with Virgin Care.

Mr Branson’s company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an £82m contract to provide children’s health services across Surrey, citing concerns over “serious flaws” in the way the contract was awarded. The Independent

I didn't train as a doctor to prop up a struggling NHS – so I quit

I didn't train as a doctor to prop up a struggling NHS – so I quit Inflexible training and the pressure to work longer hours to cover staff shortages left me little time for my young child and took a toll on my health

Almost a year ago, I sat in the office of a counsellor, the third in five years, in another attempt to “learn how to cope” with the working life of a junior doctor. I was ready to hang up my stethoscope, which had become a noose around my neck.

The storm had been brewing since my early days as a junior doctor. On paper, I was blossoming: I had spent five years at university and six in acute specialties, building a CV shining with national prizes and publications. However, a crumbling NHS forcing doctors to compromise care and the inflexible path for mothers in part-time training led to my departure. After battling both for six years, I faced burnout and was directed to a counsellor to help me, in the words of senior male colleagues, “toughen up and comply with the system”.

There were nights when if the patient wasn’t nearing cardiac arrest, they weren’t sick enough to be seen Continue reading... The Guardian

Millennials demanding shorter hours and gap years will fuel NHS workforce shortage, plans warn

Millennials demanding shorter hours and gap years will fuel NHS workforce shortage, plans warn The NHS needs almost 200,000 more staff to cope with rising pressures as “millennial” workers increasingly demand career breaks and part-time roles, a new 10-year plan warns.

The health service strategy, published on Thursday, suggests the workforce will need to grow by close to a fifth unless productivity of the service improves, or decisive action is taken to prevent ill-health.

It says the NHS needs to adapt, to take account of the rising number of health professionals choosing to work part-time, seeing flexible working and career breaks “as a right”.

Prof Ian Cumming, chief executive of Health Education England, said the attitudes of millennials - those born in the 80s and early 90s - were very different to previous generations, with a much bigger focus on “work/life balance”. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Facing the Facts, Shaping the Future: A draft health and care workforce strategy for England to 2027 Health Education England 
• NHS faces acute and growing staffing shortage, warns agency The Guardian

Doctor shares post that reveals a day as a stretched GP

Doctor shares post that reveals a day as a stretched GP A TV doctor has shared an 'eye-opening' post on social media that reveals a single day working as an over-stretched GP – as she hit out at the 10-minute GP consultation period.

Dr Zoe Williams, who regularly appears on This Morning to dish out health advice, explained some of the complex cases she had to deal with in the allocated time slot.

Recent research by Cambridge University has highlighted the 10-minute consultation in Britain is among the shortest in Europe. The Daily Mail