Wednesday 3 October 2018

Northampton mum’s plea to NHS to fund rare drug to change son’s life

Northampton mum’s plea to NHS to fund rare drug to change son’s life A Northampton mum-of-one is urging the NHS to pay for a rare drug needed to keep her son alive.

Six-year-old Archie Kambanis of Duston has a rare muscle-wasting condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and was diagnosed with SMA when he was just two. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Maths, baths and computer models: ways to make health services more efficient

Maths, baths and computer models: ways to make health services more efficient Chris Sherlaw-Johnson looks at different approaches being used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health services, and explains the value they could bring to the NHS. Nuffield Trust

NHS key statistics: England, October 2018

NHS key statistics: England, October 2018 This briefing paper provides a summary of NHS demand, performance and capacity of services in England. It includes A&E statistics, waiting lists, ambulance data, delayed discharges, staffing levels including doctors and nurses, and more. House of Commons Library

GP at Hand's smartphone doctor ads ruled misleading

GP at Hand's smartphone doctor ads ruled misleading Adverts for a smartphone GP service that promised NHS doctor appointments "in minutes" have been ruled misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The service offers a symptom-checker and free GP consultations via videolink on smartphones.

The ASA received complaints that the ads did not say users would first have to leave their GP, and registration could take up to three weeks.

GP at Hand said it thought the process was "self-evident". BBC News

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MP's 'horror' at getting £4.2bn to digitise NHS with no plan

MP's 'horror' at getting £4.2bn to digitise NHS with no plan A former minister has described his "horror" at being handed £4.2bn to create a "paperless" NHS in England by 2020 without a plan how to do it.

George Freeman's role was digitizing the NHS - but he had not been involved in the 2016 public spending talks.

And he said his civil servants were ordered to set out how they would spend the money only after it was allocated.

This is how things are done in government, said Mr Freeman, and, he suggested, why they go wrong. BBC News

Government's £240m winter pledge for social care is a ‘sticking plaster’, experts say

Government's £240m winter pledge for social care is a ‘sticking plaster’, experts say A £240m emergency funding injection to prop up social care this winter and ease pressure on the NHS has been labelled a “sticking plaster” by patient groups.

Ahead of his speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham on Tuesday, health and social care secretary Matt Hancock said the move would prevent hospital beds being used by people who could be better cared for in their homes.

But council leaders warned they cannot be expected to “turn services on and off” in response to short-term bailouts from the government. The Independent

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Newly discharged mental health patients at much higher risk of death

Newly discharged mental health patients at much higher risk of death Such patients are 90 times more likely to die from drugs overdose than general population, research finds

People with mental health problems are at a hugely increased risk of dying from unnatural causes, including suicide, soon after they have been discharged from hospital, new research reveals.

Such patients are 38 times more likely to die of fatal poisoning and 90 times more likely to perish from a drugs overdose than the general population, according to a new study. The Guardian

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‘I was left to fight alone for NHS whistleblowing protection’

‘I was left to fight alone for NHS whistleblowing protection’ | Benedict Cooper As his tribunal case is finally heard, Chris Day discusses winning protection for other junior doctors – and why he feels betrayed

Blowing the whistle in the NHS is meant to be easy. Medical bodies such as the Department of Health and Social Care, the General Medical Council (GMC) and individual hospital trusts all encourage the practice – on paper. But when Chris Day, a junior intensive care doctor, raised numerous concerns about understaffing and safety at the intensive care unit of Queen Elizabeth hospital in Woolwich, he found out all too quickly the toll it would take on his career.

Day says he made a “protected disclosure” to hospital management and to Health Education England (HEE) – which oversees junior doctors’ training and career development – about the understaffing. But he says that far from being believed, he became the victim of a pernicious effort to discredit him and the issues he’d raised. A number of counter-allegations were made against him, and his HEE training number was deleted, effectively forcing him out of his career. “Looking back it was incredible that so much effort was going into discrediting me and my safety concerns,” he says. The Guardian

NHS must follow the lead of driverless cars and embrace technology – even if it doesn't work perfectly, Health Secretary says 

NHS must follow the lead of driverless cars and embrace technology – even if it doesn't work perfectly, Health Secretary says The NHS must follow the lead of driverless cars and embrace technology - even if it doesn't work perfectly, the Health Secretary has said.

Matt Hancock urged GPs to do more to adopt innovations such as virtual consultations via video, and the use of artificial intelligence.

The minister, who became Health Secretary in July, personally uses an app called “GP at Hand” which uses artificial intelligence to assess symptoms and offers smartphone consultations.

Last month he criticised NHS attempts to block use of such schemes, saying every patient should be able to benefit from such services. The Daily Telegraph

Over a million women screened for cervical cancer wait longer than two-weeks for their results

Over a million women screened for cervical cancer wait longer than two-weeks for their results More than one million women screened for cervical cancer wait longer than the two-week target for their results, new figures show.

Only 53 per cent of women who were tested between August 2017 and 2018 received their results within 14 days, a Freedom of Information request found.

These delays create unnecessary anxiety and 'could put women off' attending their appointments, according to the charity Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust.

The charity has today blamed the delays on changes to the NHS cervical screening programme, which has caused a shortage of staff to deal with the results. The Daily Mail