Northamptonshire NHS staff urged to get flu vaccine or risk infecting patients

Northamptonshire NHS staff urged to get flu vaccine or risk infecting patients Nearly a quarter of doctors, nurses and other front-line staff at Northamptonshire Healthcare Trust are not vaccinated against flu, figures reveal.

NHS England has urged healthcare workers to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their patients, pushing for “near universal” coverage.

By the end of December 2018, 726 front-line NHS workers at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Trust had not had the jab, according to Public Health England. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

New phase of national NHS recruitment campaign launched

New phase of national NHS recruitment campaign launched The third phase of the national We Are the NHS campaign has been launched, to encourage applications for existing job vacancies for both clinical and non-clinical roles.

This phase of the campaign will highlight the range of interesting roles available across the NHS and specifically highlight IT and administrative roles and how they work closely with clinical colleagues. NHS Employers

Nursing associates join health and care workforce

Nursing associates join health and care workforce The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register for qualified nursing associates is now open.

Nursing associates are the latest registered profession to join the health and care workforce in England and around 1,800 further trainees are expected to qualify over the course of the next few months. NHS Employers

Workforce race equality standard: 2018 data analysis report for NHS trusts

Workforce race equality standard: 2018 data analysis report for NHS trusts NHS England - The fourth WRES report is the first to compare data against previous years. It enables organisations to compare their performance against others in their region or those providing similar services and also to provide a national picture of WRES in practice. It is accompanied by a report which outlines the experience of five NHS trusts in applying quality improvement methodology to the workforce race equality agenda. King's Fund

National radiotherapy plan 'impossible to realise' without more funding

National radiotherapy plan 'impossible to realise' without more funding Consolidation of radiotherapy services “will be impossible” without more money, a royal college has warned.

The Royal College of Radiologists said the benefits NHS England hopes to achieve by reorganising services into 11 regional networks from April will require “strategic funding”.

The reorganisation is intended to link-up cancer centres and led to “substantially improved outcomes, including higher cure rates”. NHS England published the service specification this month. HSJ

NHS England to encourage patients to visit their pharmacist through 'Pharmacy Advice' campaign

NHS England to encourage patients to visit their pharmacist through 'Pharmacy Advice' campaign NHS England is set to launch a campaign to build the public’s trust and confidence in community pharmacists and the pharmacy team.

The ‘Pharmacy Advice’ campaign forms part of NHS England’s overarching ‘Help Us Help You’ initiative, which is being launched on 4 February 2019 to position pharmacy as the first place to go for minor illnesses, such as coughs, colds, stomach aches, and other aches and pains. Pharmaceutical Journal

Over 150 NHS staff accused of snooping on patients' records

Over 150 NHS staff accused of snooping on patients' records More than 150 NHS staff have been investigated in the past 16 months for reading patient records without an obvious reason.

In August 2017 Britain’s privacy watchdog threatened “serious consequences” for those found prying into confidential health data without a valid cause, and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) promised prosecutions. The Times

Summary care record to be replaced, says NHS digital chief

Summary care record to be replaced, says NHS digital chief The national summary care record system will be replaced by more detailed national “longitudinal” patient records for direct care, planning and research, Matthew Swindells has said.

Speaking to HSJ, the NHS England deputy chief executive said the summary care record would be phased out by 2024, replaced by a network of regional patient records covering the country. HSJ

NHS offers IVF to gay men for the first time

NHS offers IVF to gay men for the first time
Two gay men have been offered IVF treatment on the NHS as they hope to conceive their own baby in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Britain.Sperm from one of the married Scottish men will be inserted into a surrogate mother. The Scottish Government changed the rules two years ago so that any couple is eligible for free fertility treatment. Couples in Scotland are also eligible for IVF on the NHS if multiple IUI (artificial insemination) procedures have not worked. Express

See also:

• Gay male couple to be offered IVF treatment by the NHS for first time in Britain Mail Online

Screen time 'may harm toddlers'

Screen time 'may harm toddlers' Letting a toddler spend lots of time using screens may delay their development of skills such as language and sociability, according to a large Canadian study.

The research, which tracked nearly 2,500 two-year-olds, is the latest piece of evidence in the debate about how much screen time is safe for kids.

In Canada and the US, experts say children should not use screens before they are at least 18 months old.

But UK guidelines set no such limit. BBC News

Breastfeeding guilt experienced by half of mothers - BBC survey

Breastfeeding guilt experienced by half of mothers Half of mothers who responded to a new survey said they felt they let their baby down when they struggled to breastfeed.

More than a third of the 1,162 respondents to the UK-wide poll, commissioned by BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and BBC Radio Sheffield, revealed they felt ashamed for giving their child formula. BBC News

See also:

• Women who struggle to breastfeed 'feel like failures' as new BBC poll reveals half of new mothers have trouble nursing children Mail Online

Brexit could result in thousands of extra CVD deaths

Brexit could result in thousands of extra CVD deaths Brexit could result in thousands of extra cardiovascular deaths in England, doctors warned this morning. In their analysis*, published in BMJ Open, they said because the UK is so heavily dependent on fruit and vegetable imports whose prices would rise dramatically after the nation’s exit from the European Union, especially with a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, consumption will fall – leading to a substantial rise in heart disease and stroke mortality. On Medica 

See also:

• Brexit could lead to thousands more deaths from heart attacks because of costly fruit and vegetables Mail Online
• Imperial College London criticised for saying Brexit could cause thousands of heart attack deaths The Telegraph

No-deal Brexit plans prioritise medicines over food, MPs told

No-deal Brexit plans prioritise medicines over food, MPs told Supplies of medicine should be deemed more important than shipments of food if there is a no-deal Brexit, the health secretary has told MPs.

Matt Hancock made clear his view when answering questions at the health and social care select committee. “The thing is that medicines will be prioritised in the event of a no-deal Brexit,” the health and social care secretary said when asked by the former Labour health minister Ben Bradshaw which would be given precedence. The Guardian

See also:

• Medicines 'will be prioritised over food' under a no-deal Brexit The Telegraph

Aussie docs urged to work for the NHS - in land of Harry Potter, Shakespeare and Manchester United

Aussie docs urged to work for the NHS - in land of Harry Potter, Shakespeare and Manchester United Health chiefs will attempt to recruit doctors from Down Under with a new campaign urging them to come to the land of Shakespeare, Harry Potter and Manchester United.

Australian GPs are being targeted by the new drive, in a desperate bid to plug shortages of family doctors across England.

In September 2015, then-Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, pledged there would be 5,000 extra GPs in England by 2020. But since then the number of full-time doctors in the workforce has fallen.

The new social media campaign will attempt to persuade doctors abroad to come to the NHS and work for “a national treasure”. The Telegraph

MPs to debate lowering the age for cervival smear tests following petition by dying mother

MPs to debate lowering the age for cervival smear tests following petition by dying mother
MPs will debate lowering the age for women to undergo smear tests following a petition by a cancer sufferer who died last month.

Mother of four Natasha Sale launched a petition calling for the threshold to be lowered from 25 to 18, after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

In the petition, she said she believed that that the age for smear tests should be lowered to 18 "to enable all women to detect cell changes and prevent cancer". The Telegraph