Northamptonshire council meets to vote on huge cuts

Northamptonshire council meets to vote on huge cuts Massive cuts to jobs and services are expected to be approved by councillors in Northamptonshire later.

The county council, which is facing a funding shortfall of £70m, will discuss an action plan on Thursday that would see budgets for services slashed.

Children's services, road maintenance and waste management are among the areas in line for "radical" cuts. BBC Northampton

See also:

• Tory MP breaks ranks on Northamptonshire council crisis The Guardian
• Cuts expected as cash-strapped Northamptonshire council attempts to tackle £70 million budget shortfall ITV News
• What is Northamptonshire County Council's former chief executive up to now? Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• What will be decided at key Northamptonshire County Council meeting on Thursday? Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Will a robot replace me as a GP?

Will a robot replace me as a GP? Rebecca Rosen gives a GP’s perspective on adapting to new technologies, and explains why the professional judgement of the doctor is still vital. Nuffield Trust

Issues surrounding the estimation of the opportunity cost of adopting a new health care technology: areas for further research

Issues surrounding the estimation of the opportunity cost of adopting a new health care technology: areas for further research This research paper sets out a research agenda proposing new approaches in three areas to improve understanding of supply side opportunity costs for the NHS. It explores improving efficiency, production functions and purchaser priorities. Office of Health Economics

The mentally ill 29-year-old helped to die by Dutch doctors

The mentally ill 29-year-old helped to die by Dutch doctors In January a young Dutch woman drank poison supplied by a doctor and lay down to die. Euthanasia is legal in Holland, so hers was a death sanctioned by the state. But Aurelia Brouwers was not terminally ill - she was allowed to end her life on account of her psychiatric illness. BBC News

Waits for non-urgent surgery in England rise sharply

Waits for non-urgent surgery in England rise sharply The number of patients waiting more than a year for non-urgent surgery in England has risen sharply to the highest level in more than six years.

The figure reached 3,517 in June - an increase of more than 400 from May - and the highest since April 2012. BBC News

HIV tests for sale on High Street for first time

HIV tests for sale on High Street for first time HIV self-testing kits are now available to buy on the High Street for the first time, a retailer has announced.

Superdrug said it is now selling the BioSURE test, which provides a result in 15 minutes, in all of its 200 pharmacy stores in the UK for £33.95.

It had previously been available to buy online after becoming the first legally approved self-testing kit in 2015.

An HIV charity welcomed the announcement but added that many people would be unable to afford the test. BBC News

QOF mental health indicators have no impact on suicide rates, says study

QOF mental health indicators have no impact on suicide rates, says study Incentivising GPs to improve care for patients with a mental illness through QOF has had no affect on suicide rates, according to new research.

The study from the University of Manchester and University of York investigated the relationship between severe mental illness (SMI) and depression QOF indicators and the suicide rates in England from 2006 to 2014.

The paper, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, concluded that while 38,511 suicides were recorded in England during that time, there was no association between QOF indicator performance and local suicide rates. Pulse

More than 100,000 demand Richard Branson 'stop dragging NHS through courts'

More than 100,000 demand Richard Branson 'stop dragging NHS through courts' More than 100,000 people have backed a petition calling on Richard Branson’s Virgin Care to stop “dragging the NHS through the courts”.

Campaigners opposed to the privatisation of NHS services launched the campaign after it was revealed that the Virgin Grouphas accrued more than £2bn in health services contracts in the past five years.

In response to previous criticism, the billionaire said that he had not taken a dividend from Virgin Care’s activities. When it does turn a profit for him, he pledged to invest 100 per cent of it into the NHS. The Independent

New UK defibrillator map aims to save thousands more lives each year

New UK defibrillator map aims to save thousands more lives each year Project hopes to end patchy information about the location of lifesaving equipment

Bystanders who see someone going into cardiac arrest could soon become lifesavers thanks to a new project to map Britain’s public defibrillators.

Information about the availability of devices – which deliver a high-energy electric shock to the heart – is patchy and not all are known to ambulance services. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• How to use a defibrillator and save a life BBC News
• The BHF joins forces with Microsoft and the NHS to save thousands more lives from cardiac arrests British Heart Foundation

Record-breaking heatwave pushing hospitals into emergency measures

Record-breaking heatwave pushing hospitals into emergency measures Unprecedented “summer crisis” leaves ambulances queuing outside hospitals

Hospitals are having to adopt winter-style emergency measures, including turning away patients through being busy, as the NHS struggles to cope with illnesses caused by the heatwave in the UK.

Patients are being treated in corridors, and queues of ambulances are building up outside A&E units in what hospital bosses say are unprecedented scenes for the summer which is usually the quietest time of year for the NHS. Continue reading... The Guardian

Nurse set fire to himself after being unfairly dismissed, probe finds

Nurse set fire to himself after being unfairly dismissed, probe finds An NHS nurse who set himself alight after being sacked was “treated unfairly” and wrongly accused of dishonesty, an independent review has found.

Amin Abdullah, 41, died on February 9, 2016, close to Kensington Palace in London, weeks after being dismissed from Charing Cross Hospital.

The review criticises the trust's handling of disciplinary procedures which occurred after the nurse signed a petition backing a colleague who had received a complaint from a patient. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Amin Abdullah: Nurse who set himself on fire 'unfairly dismissed' BBC London
• Amin Abdullah: Man who set himself on fire outside Kensington Palace was nurse sacked from London hospital The Independent
• Nurse who set himself on fire outside Kensington Palace after losing job was 'treated unfairly', report finds The Independent

NHS needs thousands of overseas doctors to plug GP shortage

NHS needs thousands of overseas doctors to plug GP shortage Thousands of foreign medics must be fast-tracked to plug GP vacancies, amid a “haemorrhaging” of existing staff, the leader of Britain’s family doctors has said.

Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard warned that waiting times for GP appointments were already at a “an all-time high” with new data today expected to show a further deterioration in many parts of the country.

The chairman of the Royal College of GPs urged health officials to lift barriers slowing down recruitment from overseas. The Daily Telegraph