Tuesday 5 March 2019

Winter pressures: how is the NHS coping?

Winter pressures: how is the NHS coping? Commentary and analysis from the health and social care front line in England. The Health Foundation

Guidance: Social prescribing: applying All Our Health

Guidance: Social prescribing: applying All Our Health This resource helps health professionals prevent ill health and promote wellbeing as part of their everyday practice, including guidance on:
  • why adopt social prescribing in your professional practice
  • understanding local needs
  • measuring impact
We also recommend important actions that managers and staff holding strategic roles can take. Public Health England

Government response to nursing degree apprenticeships inquiry

Government response to nursing degree apprenticeships inquiry The government has published its response to the education select committee’s inquiry into nursing degree apprenticeships.

Despite ongoing lobbying to establish greater flexibility in the use of the apprenticeship levy, the response makes clear that the government will not be implementing the flexibilities requested by NHS Employers.

Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, called the government’s response “hugely disappointing”.

Keeping kids safe: improving safeguarding responses to gang violence and criminal exploitation

Keeping kids safe: improving safeguarding responses to gang violence and criminal exploitation This report estimates there are 27,000 children in England who identify as a gang member, only a fraction of whom are known to children’s services. The report recommends that government needs to make child criminal exploitation a national priority, and lay out clear expectations about the role of all organisations working with children – including the police, schools, children’s services and NHS bodies. There also needs to be more support from the NHS, including better mental health support for children at risk of gang membership and exclusion. Children's Commissioner for England

Proceed with caution: what makes personal budgets work?

Proceed with caution: what makes personal budgets work? This report provides a critical examination of how personal budgets have been used to deliver public services in the UK. It suggests where personal budgets show potential to deliver more effective, personalised public services, whilst also highlighting and suggesting solutions to the key challenges raised by their implementation so far. Reform

Is it time for 'smear test' to be rebranded?

Is it time for 'smear test' to be rebranded? The government has launched its first cervical screening advertising campaign in England, as the number of women having checks has hit a 20-year low.

The campaign - being run by Public Health England - has avoided the term "smear test" amid concern it may be putting people off.

Officials said the term was outdated and hope the term cervical screening will "normalise" the procedure. BBC News

Digital health apps could save NHS billions, says report

Digital health apps could save NHS billions, says report Digital health could save public health services in England £7.5 billion (nearly $10 billion) across England, according to a report from Now Healthcare Group.

The study found the use of telehealth and digital consultations removed the need for a National Health Service general practitioner appointment in more than half (56 percent) of cases, and a hospital appointment in 3 percent of cases if digital health through app-based tech was rolled out across the population. Healthcare IT News

HIV patient in London becomes second person in history to be completely cured of virus

HIV patient in London becomes second person in history to be completely cured of virus A man has been cured of HIV following an “improbable” stem cell transplant, becoming only the second patient in history to completely recover from the virus.

The unnamed man, known as the “London patient”, was diagnosed with HIV in 2003 and started taking drugs to control the virus, which causes Aids, in 2012.

He developed Hodgkin’s lymphoma the same year and agreed to a stem cell transplant in 2016, aimed at treating the cancer.

Doctors found a donor for the transplant who had a rare gene mutation that confers natural resistance to HIV, in what researchers called an “improbable event”. The Independent

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New funding models for health urgently needed, experts warn

New funding models for health urgently needed, experts warn Finance ministers must use their “political firepower” to help tackle some of the most pressing health challenges such as obesity and tuberculosis.

According to a report from the G20 Health and Development Partnership - a global coalition of charities, businesses and academics - the world is failing to invest in the fight against ill health, with countries at risk of being left behind. The Daily Telegraph

Transgender NHS rules that allow men to share women's wards if they identify as female to be reviewed

Transgender NHS rules that allow men to share women's wards if they identify as female to be reviewed Health officials are reviewing NHS policies which allow transgender patients to be cared for on women's wards even if they have not undergone medical transition, Matt Hancock has said.

The Health Secretary said officials are examining current rules which allow patients who have legally changed their gender to be cared for on women's wards.

Transgender patients are currently treated "as they present" - regardless of whether they have undergone a medical procedure to transition, Mr Hancock confirmed. The Daily Telegraph

Controversial review panel set-up to investigate NHS baby deaths is disbanded

Controversial review panel set-up to investigate NHS baby deaths is disbanded Health officials have ditched a panel of experts reviewing scores of deaths at a scandal-hit maternity unit amid conflict of interest fears.

The Government-ordered inquiry is reviewing around 220 suspicious incidents at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust dating back two decades – including 200 deaths.

However, last week families expressed fury at the supervising panel, accusing some of the experts of being implicated in the scandal.

And now NHS Improvement has disbanded the controversial panel, saying it will ensure that families are given the answers they need. The Daily Mail

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