KGH maternity care scores highly

KGH maternity care scores highly Staff at KGH say they are “really pleased” after their maternity care scored highly in a patient survey. Families gave the hospital’s maternity care the thumbs up in the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Maternity Survey 2018, published yesterday (January 29). The survey involved 102 women who gave birth at KGH during February 2018 filling in a questionnaire on their experience of their maternity care. Northants Telegraph
 

Research and analysis: Smoking prevalence in young adults aged 18 to 34 years

Research and analysis: Smoking prevalence in young adults aged 18 to 34 years Detailed ad-hoc analysis of smoking prevalence, calculated from the Annual Population Survey. Gov.UK

Leukaemia sufferer, 11, is the first NHS patient to receive a revolutionary cancer treatment

Leukaemia sufferer, 11, is the first NHS patient to receive a revolutionary cancer treatment An 11-year-old boy is the first to receive a pioneering cancer therapy that uses the body's own immune system to fight his leukaemia on the NHS.

Yuvan Thakkar, from Watford, was given Kymriah - a type of immunotherapy called CAR-T cell therapy - at Great Ormond Street Hospital last week. The youngster was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2014, which is curable via chemo in around 90 per cent of children sufferers.

But after Yuvan's cancer failed to respond to two rounds of chemo and a bone marrow transplant, CAR-T is his 'last hope'. Kymriah - also known as tisagenlecleucel - was approved for Yuvan after NHS England struck a deal with Novartis, the pharma giant behind the drug, to offer it at a reduced price. Mail Online



See Also:

• First child given pioneering CAR-T cancer therapy BBC News - Health

Annual learning disabilities statistics released

Annual learning disabilities statistics released NHS Digital has released annual figures on the health and care of people with learning disabilities. NHS Networks

Guidance: Health matters: health and work

Guidance: Health matters: health and work Provides actions that employers in general, local authorities, and the NHS workforce can take with regards to health and work. Gov.UK

E-cigarettes 'much better for quitting smoking'

E-cigarettes 'much better for quitting smoking' E-cigarettes are almost twice as effective as nicotine replacements for helping smokers quit, a study suggests.

A trial found 18% of smokers who used them to quit remained smoke-free after a year, compared with 9.9% of those using nicotine-replacement treatments. The study of 886 smokers is the first to test how effective modern e-cigarettes are for quitting. Researchers hope their findings will lead to vaping devices being routinely offered by stop-smoking services. Public Health England has already called for e-cigarettes to be made available on the NHS within five years, pointing to a body of research that suggests they are at least 95% less harmful than cigarettes.

However, up until now there had been a shortage of evidence on how effective they were as stop-smoking tools. BBC News - Health

See Also:

• Vaping twice as likely as gum to help smokers quit, research finds The Guardian
• E-cigarettes are nearly TWICE as effective as nicotine gum, patches or sprays Mail Online

The GP substitute will see you now

The GP substitute will see you now An army of more than 20,000 physios, pharmacists and paramedics are to be recruited to work alongside under-pressure GPs, NHS bosses say. The new staff will work with GPs, taking responsibility for some of the 300 million bookings made with practices each year.

They will also provide continuing care to patients in the community. NHS England said this should allow GPs to spend more time with the sickest patients. The average appointment lasts about eight minutes, which GPs say is not enough time to deal with the complex issues an ageing population presents with. BBC News - Health

See Also:

• GPs surgeries to hire 20,000 support staff as part of major overhaul The Guardian
• Pharmacists and physios to take over routine GP appointments - but health chiefs say it will mean the sickest get longer with family doctor The Telegraph
• NHS launches revolutionary plan to cut GP waiting times Mail Online

'No-deal' Brexit would mean patients and services suffer

'No-deal' Brexit would mean patients and services suffer The government’s ‘no-deal’ Brexit arrangements for EU citizens add to the uncertainty that trusts face in recruiting and retaining the EU staff that they need to operate, NHS Providers have warned. They said adding new barriers for people who want to work and live in the UK will cause patients and services to suffer. On Medica

See Also:

• Richard Murray: ‘Relax migration rules to solve NHS workforce crisis’ The Guardian

NHS England: NHS body could help struggling 'last partner standing' practices

NHS England: NHS body could help struggling 'last partner standing' practices An NHS body could take on the lease of practices that find themselves in a ‘last partner standing’ situation, NHS England has said. Speaking at the Westminster Health Forum Event in London last week, NHS England director of primary care workforce and infrastructure Ian Biggs presented the emerging themes of the upcoming General Practice Premises Policy Review.

Mr Biggs said talks with the BMA GP Committee and the RCGP are ongoing but solutions – which include the introduction of a body that could shoulder the lease of practices in ‘last partner standing’ situations – are being explored. Pulse