Dad of autistic girl sees off Walsall Council gag order

Dad of autistic girl sees off Walsall Council gag order Bethany, 17, who has autism and extreme anxiety, has been locked in a seclusion room for almost two years.

Her father Jeremy, 50, had been fighting an injunction sought by Walsall Council banning him from discussing her plight.

The council said it wanted to protect Bethany by shielding her identity.

Her family, whose surname cannot be published, told BBC File on 4 she has been kept in seclusion at St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton for 21 months. BBC Birmingham

Child health in England in 2030: comparisons with other wealthy countries

Child health in England in 2030: comparisons with other wealthy countries The health of today’s children and young people (CYP) will be one of the key factors in determining whether England is healthy and prosperous over the next 50 years. In our reports, published October 2018, we used long term historical data on key CYP health outcomes and various projection modelling methods to estimate CYP outcomes in 2030 in England compared with other wealthy European and western countries, and we outline recommendations. Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

See also:

• Child health report should 'set alarm bells ringing' Nuffield Trust
• Children 'should be weighed up to age 18', report says BBC News
• UK baby death rate could climb to twice the levels in other western countries The Daily Mail
• Infant mortality in England and Wales could soar without action, study warns The Guardian
• Infant mortality in England will be 140% higher than EU states by 2030 without radical action, report warns The Independent
• Doctors warn of 60 per cent rise in child mental health problems in the UK by 2030 iNews

Nurse shortage leaves incurable breast cancer patients abandoned without critical care

Nurse shortage leaves incurable breast cancer patients abandoned without critical care. Thousands of incurable breast cancer patients continue to be denied crucial nursing care three years after UK Government cancer strategies promised to deliver access to a designated nurse for all cancer patients, reveals Freedom of Information data from charity Breast Cancer Care.

Shockingly, the figures - released on the international awareness day for the disease – expose that almost three quarters (72%) of NHS Trusts and Health Boards across England, Scotland and Wales do not provide a dedicated nurse for people living with incurable breast cancer.

See also:

• I never want anyone to feel the isolation I did after my secondary diagnosis Breast Cancer Care
• Terminal breast cancer patients 'abandoned' in nurse shortage. BBC News
• Thousands of terminal breast cancer patients 'abandoned' due to NHS nurse shortage The Independent

Dance lessons for the lonely - on the NHS

Dance lessons for the lonely - on the NHS GPs in England are being given permission to prescribe patients "social" activities, such as dance classes, to tackle loneliness.

The strategy, announced by Prime Minister Theresa May, will also see postal delivery workers checking in on isolated people during their rounds.

The government says about 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in over a month.

And many GPs see between one and five people a day suffering with loneliness. BBC News

New checks to crack down on free prescription fraud

New checks to crack down on free prescription fraud Patients claiming free prescriptions in England face checks before medicine is issued in an effort to stamp out fraud.

Prescription fraud currently costs the NHS in England an estimated £256m a year.

A new digitised system to be piloted next year will mean pharmacies can instantly verify who is entitled to free medication.

But pharmacists have opposed similar plans in the past, saying they harm patient trust. BBC News

Health innovation hampered by drive for profit, report warns

Health innovation hampered by drive for profit, report warns Health innovation in the NHS is hampered by a drive for profit, economists warn.

In a new report, led by Professor Mariana Mazzucato, director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), it’s claimed NHS patients are being let down by a global health innovative system which fails to deliver the treatments they need at prices government can afford.

The report, The People's Prescription: Re-imagining health innovation to deliver public value, warns that health innovation is being hampered by a drive for profit and calls for a major overhaul of the system to ensure more drugs and treatments are developed for critical health needs. OnMedica

PHE issues national warning to GPs after rabid bat found in UK

PHE issues national warning to GPs after rabid bat found in UK GPs have been instructed to consider a rabies injection for any UK patient exposed to bats, after the find of dead rabid bat in England.

The note from Public Health England said the European Bat Lyssavirus 1 was detected in a dead serotine bat found in Dorset, and that it was the first time this particular virus has ever been confirmed in the UK.

According to the notice, the bat rabies virus is 'related to the classical rabies virus and can lead to clinical rabies in humans'. Pulse

Patients given 'needless' appointments because NHS funding pays hospitals to create work, trust chief warns

Patients given 'needless' appointments because NHS funding pays hospitals to create work, trust chief warns Doctors in overstretched hospitals feel forced into giving patients needless appointments so that they don’t lose funding, an NHS trust boss has said.

The health service’s financial system means that hospitals are given more money for generating work for themselves – and penalised for helping patients avoid coming in for treatment.

With hospitals facing record demand and a 50 per cent rise in patients having to wait six months or more, Alex Whitfield, chief executive of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said these payment rules were hampering efforts to modernise the health service. The Independent

Brexit: most doctors and nurses now think NHS will get worse

Brexit: most doctors and nurses now think NHS will get worse Opposition to leaving the EU has grown to 75% among medical professionals, new YouGov polls finds

A clear majority of the UK’s doctors and nurses think that the NHS will deteriorate after Brexit, with the result being longer waiting times and staff shortages, according to a new poll of medical professionals.

The survey by YouGov also suggests that opposition to Brexit has grown among doctors and nurses, with 75% saying they would now vote to remain in the EU, up from 66% who said they voted that way in 2016. The Guardian

Folic acid to be added to UK flour in effort to reduce birth defects

Folic acid to be added to UK flour in effort to reduce birth defects Exclusive: ministers finally overcome food industry objections on compulsory fortification

All flour is to be fortified with folic acid after ministers swung behind a plan that medical experts say will reduce the number of babies born in the UK with serious birth defects, the Guardian can reveal.

The policy, which will be introduced within weeks, comes after minister were convinced by their own advisers that it would reduce the risk of babies developing spina bifida and other conditions that involve severe disability or death. The Guardian

NHS to launch national 'crutch amnesty' amid concern equipment is going to waste

NHS to launch national 'crutch amnesty' amid concern equipment is going to waste The NHS is to launch a national “crutch amnesty” to deal with concern that perfectly good medical equipment is going to waste cluttering up homes across the country.

Patients are being urged to return wheelchairs, walking frames and other aids to local hospitals, as part of a war on waste across the NHS. Ministers are concerned that hospitals do little to track down such equipment – and even refuse to use unwanted aids when patients attempt to return them. The Daily Telegraph

Failure to stop medicine rip-offs is 'costing the NHS £200 million a year'

Failure to stop medicine rip-offs is 'costing the NHS £200 million a year' The NHS is wasting around £200million a year on over-inflated drug prices because officials haven't used their powers to crack down on rip-off merchants.

Prices of some medicines have rocketed by up to 12,500 per cent by manufacturers because of a loophole that means the health service will still buy them.

Some 70 generic medicines were found to have had their prices hiked in 2016, and only 19 of those have had big price reductions since.

This is despite the Department of Health and Social Care having had the power to impose a lower price for 18 months, to avoid wasting taxpayer money. The Daily Mail