Fundraising drive for £20,000 maternity ward garden at Northampton General Hospital

Fundraising drive for £20,000 maternity ward garden at Northampton General Hospital Thousands of pounds is needed to deliver a much-needed outdoors space next to the maternity ward at Northampton's hospital to allow new parents the chance to get some respite in the fresh air.

Having access to a garden from the maternity ward could really help provide new parents with the opportunity for a positive escape from the noisy and warm Robert Watson maternity ward. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Social care: Homeowners urged to pay £30,000 towards care by downsizing

Social care: Homeowners urged to pay £30,000 towards care by downsizing Wealthier homeowners should be asked to make a voluntary payment of up to £30,000 for their care needs in old age, a new report argues.

The Centre for Policy Studies proposes a system in which everyone receives a state-funded weekly care payment.

Those able to downsize or release equity from their homes would also be encouraged to contribute more to plug the current funding gap.

But critics say it would not be enough to address the £7bn shortfall. BBC News

See also:

• More people asking for social care support but fewer getting it as demand leaves social care system at crisis point The King's Fund
• Over-50s could be forced to pay £300 a year extra to fund social care The Daily Telegraph

Opioid painkillers 'must carry prominent warnings'

Opioid painkillers 'must carry prominent warnings' All opioid medicines in the UK will carry prominent warnings on their labels saying they can cause addiction, the health secretary has announced.

Matt Hancock acted after figures in England and Wales revealed a-more-than 60% increase in prescriptions for opioid painkillers in the last decade.

People needed protection "from the darker side to painkillers," he said.

Health experts welcomed the move, saying opioids can cause "life-altering and sometimes fatal addictions". BBC News

Cosmetic procedures: Firms warned over 'duty of care'

Cosmetic procedures: Firms warned over 'duty of care' England's top doctor says practitioners offering cosmetic procedures should have training to help them protect vulnerable clients from "quick fixes".

Prof Stephen Powis believes providers should be officially registered and trained to spot people with body-image or other mental-health issues.

NHS England says only 100 out of 1,000 practitioners are currently registered. BBC News

Study reveals parents and doctors failing to spot child obesity

Study reveals parents and doctors failing to spot child obesity More than 50% of parents fail to recognise that their children may be seriously overweight – and many health professionals share this misperception, according to research presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Glasgow. OnMedica

See also:

• Child obesity 'mustn't be swept under the carpet', says RCGP Royal College of General Practitioners
• Obesity and depression 'hand-in-hand' in children BBC News

Gosport scandal families fear last chance for justice could disappear

Gosport scandal families fear last chance for justice could disappear Families who lost loved ones at Gosport Memorial Hospital fear their last chance for justice could disappear if police decide not to take forward criminal investigation.

Preparing for a meeting on Tuesday with assistant chief constable Nick Downing of the Eastern Policing Region, families said they have endured a "soul destroying" wait since the scale of the Gosport scandal was laid bare in June last year.

After a 20 year fight and 11 failed investigations, the Gosport Independent Panel revealed that as many as 650 patients were killed with medically unnecessary doses of opiate painkillers. The Independent

Child mental health: UK provision 'worse than in much of eastern Europe'

Child mental health: UK provision 'worse than in much of eastern Europe' Research places UK behind countries such as Estonia and Latvia in numbers of hospital places and psychiatrists

Britain has one of the lowest numbers of hospital beds in Europe for young people struggling with serious mental health problems, EU-funded research has found.

It is lagging far behind the level of provision in many much poorer countries in eastern Europe, such as Latvia, Estonia and Slovakia, according to a study of care for troubled under-18s across the EU. The Guardian

Save £420,000 a year on breakfasts, NHS told

Save £420,000 a year on breakfasts, NHS told New scheme will help hospitals cut back without compromising nutrition

The government is calling on the NHS to reduce the amount of money it spends on food and drink, saying it could save £420,000 a year on breakfast products alone.

The government claims that, if hospital trusts got better deals on breakfast items, they could cut their bills by a third without compromising on the quality of food or drink being served. It says that some hospitals are paying inflated prices to suppliers for breakfast items such as tea, coffee, baked beans and juice. The Guardian

Countries need to 'step up' their efforts against superbugs

Countries need to 'step up' their efforts against superbugs England’s top doctor has urged governments around the world to “step up” efforts to revitalise the antibiotics market.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, England’s chief medical officer, warned of the looming health threat as a new United Nations report on anti-microbial resistance (AMR) was launched.

It warns that unless urgent action is taken AMR will have devastating consequences, including causing 10 million deaths a year by 2050 and damage to the global economy similar to the 2008-09 financial crisis. The Daily Telegraph

Doctors urged to talk to parents about importance of vaccines

Doctors urged to talk to parents about importance of vaccines Doctors and nurses are being urged to highlight the importance of vaccines in their conversations with patients in a bid to overturn the tide of “vaccine hesitancy” sweeping the world.

In an interview with the Telegraph Professor Mike Catchpole, chief scientist at the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), said that health workers were key to ensuring that children were vaccinated. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Measles is on the march again – but scare tactics won’t improve vaccination rates | Andre Spicer The Guardian

Alarm raised over tripling in cancelled NHS appointments

Alarm raised over tripling in cancelled NHS appointments Nine million patients a year are seeing crucial hospital appointments and operations cancelled by administrators - almost triple the number a decade ago, official statistics show.

Patients groups said too many vulnerable people were being treated as though they were “lucky to get an appointment at all” with slots routinely called off at the last minute, sometimes repeatedly.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, last night vowed to “fundamentally overhaul” the system in order to tackle the failings and spare patients distress and harm. The Daily Telegraph

Tainted blood scandal victims 'were not told they had HIV' for up to two years, evidence suggests

Tainted blood scandal victims 'were not told they had HIV' for up to two years, evidence suggests Victims of the contaminated blood scandal were kept in the dark by doctors about contracting the deadly virus HIV, according to new evidence.

One patient has uncovered a letter showing they knew he had the disease for up to two years before telling him. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Infected blood victims call for mass screening for hepatitis C The Guardian

UK is to blame for 55% of Europe's 'gonorrhoea epidemic'

UK is to blame for 55% of Europe's 'gonorrhoea epidemic' Gonorrhoea cases shot up by 13,000 across Europe last year as figures show the UK continues to be the continent's clap capital.

Reports of the STI rose by 17 per cent in 2017 to almost 90,000, in what one expert has called an 'epidemic' – and more than half of them happened in the UK.

There are now 22.2 cases of gonorrhoea per 100,000 people in the EU, the worst rate for at least four years.

And the UK's rate is more than three times as bad, with 74.7 in every 100,000 people diagnosed with the painful sexually transmitted infection. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Gonorrhoea - Annual Epidemiological Report for 2017 European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control