Wednesday 6 March 2019

Almost 9 out of 10 child hospital tooth extractions due to decay

Almost 9 out of 10 child hospital tooth extractions due to decay Almost 9 out of 10 hospital tooth extractions among children aged 0 to 5 are due to preventable tooth decay, according to data published by Public Health England.

Although the oral health of children is improving, significant inequalities remain and tooth extraction is still the most common hospital procedure in 6 to 10 year olds. Public Health England

Maximising the potential: essential measures to support SAS doctors

Maximising the potential: essential measures to support SAS doctors This report outlines measures to support Specialty and Associate Specialist (SAS) doctors sets out how Health Education England, NHS Improvement, NHS Employers and other partners will work together to support and develop SAS doctors. The guidance describes measures including effective induction and appraisal to support and develop their careers and using their skills in ways that realise their full potential. Health Education England

How fast is the ambulance service where you live?

How fast is the ambulance service where you live? Critically injured patients in rural areas are at risk due to the time it takes the ambulance service to reach them, a BBC investigation has found.

Some rural communities wait more than 20 minutes on average for 999 crews or trained members of the community to reach life-threatening cases such as cardiac arrests and stab victims.

A response should come in six to eight minutes, depending on where you live.

Experts said delays could make the difference between life and death. BBC News

Brexit 'likely to cause cancer test delays'

Brexit 'likely to cause cancer test delays' Hospitals are likely to experience delays to cancer testing and treatment regardless of the result of next week's Brexit vote, BBC Newsnight has learned.

The Royal College of Radiologists has told doctors to prepare for possible delays for some drugs used to detect cancer if there is a no-deal Brexit.

It says clinicians should reduce their workload in the days after 29 March, when the UK is due to leave the EU.

The government said it had "robust" plans for however the UK leaves the EU. BBC News

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Retraining experienced NHS medics: ‘They don’t care if you are 60 or 16'

Retraining experienced NHS medics: ‘They don’t care if you are 60 or 16' Paramedics, nurses and healthcare assistants are adapting existing skills for new roles with the help of apprenticeships

Age has been no barrier to Jed Bates’ ambition to become one of the first nursing associates– a brand-new bridging role between healthcare assistant and registered nurse.

The 61-year-old has just qualified after completing the two-year apprenticeship and now plans to continue down the same route to degree-level and become a qualified nurse. “I never thought I’d ever go to university. I left school at 16 and have been working all my life. I was quite happy with the way my life was going and there was no way that I could afford the £9,000 tuition fees. But with the apprenticeship, all that gets paid for.” The Guardian

The NHS apprenticeships offering a new route to health and social care

The NHS apprenticeships offering a new route to health and social care As health and social care faces ongoing recruitment woes, new degree-level apprenticeships put clinical careers back in reach for more applicants

The first degree-level apprenticeships in physiotherapy and occupational therapy are due to be launched in April, offering an alternative earn-while-you-learn route to professional qualification. And this autumn the first apprentices are expected to start the new degree-level qualification in social work.

These new professional apprenticeships are creating alternative career paths in health and social care and are also addressing the continuing workforce recruitment and retention problems. They fit alongside a growing and diverse portfolio of other new lower-level apprenticeships. The NHS alone has 350 different job roles – 120 of which have an apprenticeship route, 30 are degree-level.

In the past, people may have seen apprenticeships for those with low skills and no qualifications

If you are put through training to progress and are getting paid, you are more likely to stay. The Guardian

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Libraries and parks face closure in bid to pay for social care services facing multi-billion pound funding gap, LGA warn

Libraries and parks face closure in bid to pay for social care services facing multi-billion pound funding gap, LGA warn Libraries and parks will close in a bid to fund social care services facing a multi-billion-pound funding gap, local authorities warn.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has insisted that this year councils will have to further divert funding from local amenities - including bus services, parks, filling potholes, libraries and leisure centres - to try and protect vital adult social care services. The Daily Telegraph

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From ignorance to a potential cure: the history of HIV breakthroughs

From ignorance to a potential cure: the history of HIV breakthroughs The news that a man in London has potentially been “cured” of HIV through a stem cell transplant shows how far the world has come since Aids first burst into global consciousness in the 1980s.

HIV is thought to have originated in the 1920s in Leopoldville, the capital of the Belgian colony of Congo when the virus crossed from monkeys into humans and was spread through prostitution.

How many people were infected in the early 20th century is unknown and first reports of what we now know as Aids came in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when groups of gay men began to report a rare lung infection and an unusually aggressive cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma. The Daily Telegraph