Hitting the sweet spot?

Hitting the sweet spot? It has taken a while for everybody to digest the NHS long-term plan, a meaty document of over 130 pages and by some counts around 500 commitments. As if that weren't enough, it has also been followed by a plethora of further detail. The King's Fund

Hospitals still running with nurse staffing levels that put patient lives at risk

Hospitals still running with nurse staffing levels that put patient lives at risk Hospital wards across the NHS in England are still under staffed and putting patient lives at risk despite new policies coming into force as a result of the 2013 Mid-Staffordshire Inquiry, warns a new report published by the University of Southampton.

See also:

• Implementation, impact and costs of policies for safe staffing in acute NHS trusts University of Southampton.
• One in four NHS wards routinely operate at unsafe staffing levels that threaten patient safety The Daily Mail
• One in four NHS wards has dangerously low numbers of nurses, researchers find The Independent

Advances in cancer treatment

Advances in cancer treatment The pace of innovation in cancer treatment is rapid, with promising developments for patients in terms of survival and quality of life. Research in the fields of immunotherapy and radiotherapy has shown positive results in treating some cancers where established treatments are not effective. This POSTnote gives an overview of recent advances, the potential benefits and risks, and considers the opportunities and challenges of using new technologies in the NHS. Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology

Violence in England and Wales in 2018: an accident and emergency perspective

Violence in England and Wales in 2018: an accident and emergency perspective This report finds that despite the recent spate of knife violence and homicide in some UK cities, the number of people injured in serious violence in England and Wales dropped by 1.7 per cent between 2017 and 2018. The study, which examines data by age and sex, is produced from a scientific sample of 126 emergency departments, minor injury units and walk-in centres in England and Wales. All are certified members of the National Violence Surveillance Network (NVSN), which has published an annual report for the past 18 years. Crime and Security Research Institute

Productivity of the English National Health Service: 2016/17 update

Productivity of the English National Health Service: 2016/17 update This report updates the Centre for Health Economics’ time-series of National Health Service (NHS) productivity growth for the period 2015/16 to 2016/17 and sets out trends in output, input and productivity since 2004/05. Centre for Health Economics

Statins 'don't work well for one in two people'

Statins 'don't work well for one in two people' Cholesterol-lowering "statin" drugs taken by millions of Britons may not work well enough in about half of those prescribed them, research suggests.

UK investigators looked at 165,000 patients on statins and found that for one in two, the drugs had too little effect on bad cholesterol - one of the big risk factors for heart disease.

They are not sure why statins appear to help some more than others.

Patients should not stop taking the drugs without seeing their doctor. BBC News

See also:

• Sub-optimal cholesterol response to initiation of statins and future risk of cardiovascular disease (abstract) Heart
• Half of patients taking statins won't reach 'healthy' cholesterol levels The Daily Mail
• Statins failing adequately to reduce cholesterol in 'half' of patients The Daily Telegraph

Clampdown planned for British online pharmacies

Clampdown planned for British online pharmacies New rules to keep people safe when buying medications from online pharmacies have been described as a "big step forward" by Britain's pharmacy regulator.

It comes after patients and relatives raised concerns, as well as an investigation by BBC Panorama.

The General Pharmaceutical Council has issued guidance for providers.

It will help regulate access to addictive medication, such as strong painkillers. BBC News

See also:

• New safeguards for people seeking medicines online General Pharmaceutical Council

Number of measles cases rocket amid warnings of poor vaccination rates

Number of measles cases rocket amid warnings of poor vaccination rates The number of cases of measles rose by more than 300 per cent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2018, according to new figures from the World Health Organization.

Some 112,163 cases of measles globally were reported between January and March this year compared to just 28,124 during the same period last year. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Measles cases triple globally in 2019, says UN BBC News
• Measles cases in first three months of 2019 up 300% globally, WHO says The Independent

The forgotten sex: why is men's health ignored by policy makers?

The forgotten sex: why is men's health ignored by policy makers? British men have died at a younger age than British women since at least the time of Queen Victoria’s accession and they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

This is not some strange peculiarity of these islands: the pattern is repeated throughout every region of the world. There is not a single country where men outlive women. In both the UK and globally, there is currently a four-year difference in life expectancy between the sexes. The Daily Telegraph

NHS trusts are now handing out cash top-ups to convince doctors not to retire

NHS trusts are now handing out cash top-ups to convince doctors not to retire The NHS is handing out cash top-ups to doctors' salaries in a desperate bid to stop them from retiring early.

Doctors are trying to avoid big tax bills from stricter pension rules that put a cap on their saving allowances.

It's led to thousands leaving the profession early, amid a worsening staff shortage in the NHS workforce.

Around ten NHS trusts have now offered to contribute cash to doctors' pensions so they can opt out of the pension scheme, the Financial Times reports. The Daily Mail