Private meeting will go ahead in Northampton today to discuss crucial funding for respite care

Private meeting will go ahead in Northampton today to discuss crucial funding for respite care A Northamptonshire family are hoping for a last minute reprieve today as bodies are set to get together at County Hall to discuss the future of respite care.

The residential short breaks contract, which ends in July, to run The Squirrels centre was put up for tender in March and parents were told by Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) that it didn't see a way it could safely look after the children within the restructured financial model.

Northamptonshire County Council said it will continue to provide £1.325 million per year but co-funders Nene and Corby Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have reduced its share of funding in 2018/19. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Under pressure: safely managing increased demand in emergency departments

Under pressure: safely managing increased demand in emergency departments This report features practical solutions from staff. It identifies what needs to change to keep services safe when facing surges in demand. It calls for wider action for health and social care services to work together. It concludes that a joint approach will help the whole health and care system to manage capacity as demand grows. Care Quality Commission 

Breast screen error 'could have been spotted earlier'

Breast screen error 'could have been spotted earlier' Tens of thousands more women in England may have missed out on breast screening invitations dating back further than previously thought, according to a leading cancer expert.

Earlier this month, the health secretary said a 2009 computer failure may have shortened up to 270 lives.

But Prof Peter Sasieni said the problems go back to 2005, and could have been spotted earlier.

Public Health England said his analysis was "flawed". BBC News

See also:

• Breast cancer screening scandal could have affected an extra 140,000 women, expert claims The Daily Telegraph

Why NHS costs just keep going up

Why NHS costs just keep going up The Institute for Fiscal Studies and Health Foundation suggests the NHS will need an extra 4% a year for the next 15 years, and that the only realistic to pay for this is tax rises.

The BBC's Health Correspondent Nick Triggle takes a look at why. BBC News

Small NHS funding rise would be 'disastrous'

Small NHS funding rise would be 'disastrous' Health committee chair Sarah Wollaston says a funding increase of 3% will "not be high enough" to protect the NHS in the future.

She was speaking after a warning from two think tanks that spending is going to have to rise very substantially on the NHS and that extra tax could be the only way to pay for it. BBC News

See also:

• 'Tough decisions' must be made to secure NHS future, says College Royal College of General Practitioners

Why were NHS hospital beds busier than they've ever been in winter?

Why were NHS hospital beds busier than they've ever been in winter? 'Government ministers should be ashamed that years of cuts to beds, cuts to social care and austerity have led to the worst bed occupancy rates on record'

Government cuts in the face of rising patient demand contributed to NHS beds being fuller than ever this winter, according to new analysis.

It also found thousands of cancelled operations were not enough to prevent bed crisis.

Between January and March this year bed occupancy across all NHS trusts averaged 92.6 per cent according the analysis by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) found. The Independent

Stop scrimping, Theresa May – or the NHS’s 70th birthday will be its last | Polly Toynbee

Stop scrimping, Theresa May – or the NHS’s 70th birthday will be its last | Polly Toynbee The NHS needs £2000 more per household to survive. But as long as they’re ahead in the polls, the Tories don’t seem to care

This is it. The bailiffs are at the door waving the red-ink bill. Pay up or else. For eight years the government has stuck the NHS bill behind the clock but now the crunch has come. Will July’s NHS 70th birthday be a celebration or a funeral? The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), grand truth-teller of fiscal facts, alongside the Health Foundation, an NHS pulse-taker, declare the service needs – absolutely, unequivocally needs – funds that add another £2000 a year per household in tax over the next 15 years.

In polls, people swear they would pay more for the NHS. But politicians fear tax-raisers get punished on election day Continue reading... The Guardian

How addiction took hold of the UK – and cost the NHS millions

How addiction took hold of the UK – and cost the NHS millions In 1975, there were thought to be 5,000 people using heroin in England. As the numbers grew, so did the health service’s bill

In 1948, the treatment of addiction was not a pressing issue for the fledgling NHS. Even in the 1970s, it was confined mainly to the treatment of a relatively small number of heroin addicts. But in the years that followed, a combination of social change and increased availability of drugs and alcohol meant that treatment became a key strand of the NHS’s work.

The latest report by the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System reveals that in 2016-17 some 279,793 people were in contact with drug and alcohol services in England. Just over half were opiate users. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• ‘On foot, in vans, we find crack houses’: how peer support is changing addiction services The Guardian
• Drug addiction isn't going away so why are treatment centres being slashed? The Guardian

Calls for junk food to have graphic cigarette-style warnings on packaging

Calls for junk food to have graphic cigarette-style warnings on packaging Graphic health warnings on food packets – similar to those used for cigarettes – could prompt people to abandon “hedonistic impulses” and choose healthier foods, a study suggests.

The study, by the University of Melbourne and Cancer Council Victoria, monitored the brain activity of 95 people as they were shown packages of 50 foods such as chips, chocolate bars, biscuits, nuts, fruits and vegetables. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Graphic cigarette-style health warnings also effective on sugary drinks, finds study The Independent