The improvement journey: Why organisation-wide improvement in health care matters, and how to get started

The improvement journey: Why organisation-wide improvement in health care matters, and how to get started This report is a practical guide to developing an organisation-wide approach to improvement. It summarises the benefits of such an approach and outlines the key elements and steps that NHS trust leaders should adopt when pursuing this agenda.

The report draws on the learning and insights that the Health Foundation has generated over the past 15 years from funding and evaluating improvement at team, organisation and system level.

Spare change: the public and NHS funding

Spare change: the public and NHS funding Is the NHS adequately funded, and how should funding be raised? Harry Evans explores the findings of the British Social Attitudes survey on public attitudes towards NHS funding and taxation. The King's Fund

NHS pressures: winter 2018/19 - a hidden crisis

NHS pressures: winter 2018/19 - a hidden crisis This report uses NHS England figures to examine the performance of the NHS during recent winters and over the long term. The report finds that winter 2018/19 saw the NHS once again under pressure, with A&E attendances and emergency admissions up, high bed occupancy, cancer waiting times growing and 4.3 million people now waiting for treatment. Many doctors worked extra hours and morale suffered. British Medical Association

See also:

• Cancer patients waiting to see a specialist in record numbers this winter The Daily Telegraph

Older men at the margins: guidance for practitioners and services providing groups for older men

Older men at the margins: guidance for practitioners and services providing groups for older men Older Men at the Margins was a two-year study to understand how men aged 65 and over from different social backgrounds and circumstances experienced loneliness and social isolation. It also explored the formal and informal ways they sought to stay connected with others and feel less lonely. This guidance sets out the learning from our research and highlights factors to be considered to meet the diverse needs of older men through group programmes and interventions. Age UK

Putting patients at the heart of artificial intelligence

Putting patients at the heart of artificial intelligence According to this report, the spread of misinformation risks undermining public confidence in the use of artificial intelligence in health care. The report warns that the NHS and relevant bodies need to do more to improve public understanding of the use of this innovative technology if its life saving potential is to be realised. British Heart Foundation

Huge surge in stress-related illness in the NHS as staff report growing anxiety over underfunding and understaffing

Huge surge in stress-related illness in the NHS as staff report growing anxiety over underfunding and understaffing Stress and anxiety amongst NHS workers has rocketed, with new figures exposing a surge in the amount of sick time off needed by health staff.

Figures from NHS Digital, seen by ITV News, reveal that last year NHS staff took almost 100,000 more days off due to stress than they did six years ago.

And in acute medicine, which treats the most serious and urgent cases, the number of sick days taken has soared by 35%.

Dementia: The greatest health challenge of our time

Dementia: The greatest health challenge of our time Dementia is the greatest health challenge of our time, the charity Alzheimer's Research UK has warned.

Dementia was first described by the German doctor Alois Alzheimer in 1906 after he performed an autopsy on a woman with profound memory loss.

What he found was a dramatically shrunken brain and abnormalities in and around nerve cells.

At the time dementia was rare and was then barely studied for decades.

But today somebody is diagnosed with it every three seconds, it is the biggest killer in some wealthier countries and is completely untreatable. BBC News

New inquest into girl's 'pollution' death

New inquest into girl's 'pollution' death A fresh inquest will be held into the death of a nine-year-old girl whose fatal asthma attack may have been linked to air pollution near her home.

Ella Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south east London, died in 2013 after having seizures for three years.

The High Court granted a new inquest after Ella's mother said more evidence had come to light. BBC News

Has Leeds cracked the obesity problem?

Has Leeds cracked the obesity problem? Childhood obesity is a major problem. But now news has emerged that one city - Leeds - has been making some progress.

Figures presented to the European Congress on Obesity suggest Leeds has managed to reduce the number of children who are extremely overweight.

The data showed there had been a 6.4% fall in obesity rates over recent years. BBC News

Aids breakthrough as study finds drugs prevent transmission of HIV virus

Aids breakthrough as study finds drugs prevent transmission of HIV virus Scientists may have made a major breakthrough in the fight against Aids after a study found treatment can prevent sexual transmission of the virus.

Research involving more than 1,000 male couples across Europe where one partner was HIV positive and receiving antiretroviral therapy found no cases of transmission over the space of eight years.

The study proves, the researchers said, that using antiretroviral therapy to suppress the Aids virus to undetectable levels also means it cannot be passed on via sex. The Independent 

See also:

• Successful treatment of HIV eliminates sexual transmission The Lancet
• Risk of HIV transmission through condomless sex in serodifferent gay couples with the HIV-positive partner taking suppressive antiretroviral therapy (PARTNER): final results of a multicentre, prospective, observational study The Lancet
• Gay HIV transmission with treatment is 'zero risk', study confirms BBC News
• HIV cannot be sexually transmitted if positive partner is undergoing effective treatment, scientists say The Daily Telegraph
• ‘Conclusive evidence’ that antiretroviral therapy wards off HIV transmission OnMedica

Third of UK asthma sufferers have sacrificed food to afford medication, survey finds

Third of UK asthma sufferers have sacrificed food to afford medication, survey finds Hundreds of thousands of asthma sufferers are being forced to cut back on food to pay for their medication, a charity has warned.

Around 800,000 people, or around a third of those with the condition, have at times needed to make the sacrifice to cover the cost of their prescription, according to a survey by Asthma UK.

Many are facing an "impossible" choice between essentials and life-saving medicine, said Samantha Walker, the charity's director of research and policy. The Independent

Sectioning people made me feel so guilty I couldn't carry on in my job anymore

Sectioning people made me feel so guilty I couldn't carry on in my job anymore A total lack of support for local authority-employed approved mental health professionals led to burnout for me.

Until a few weeks ago, I was part of an emergency service you probably don’t know about. I’m a social worker trained as an approved mental health professional (AMHP), qualified to carry out Mental Health Act 1983 assessments. Alongside two doctors, I assessed anyone deemed to be an immediate risk to themselves or others because of their mental distress, and then devised an emergency plan to keep them safe. If treatment in the community wasn’t enough, I would section someone to a psychiatric hospital. The legislation demands that every local authority provide a 24/7 AMHP service, because of course mental health crises are not confined to weekdays. The Guardian

Thousands more older people dying from injuries caused by falls, new figures reveal

Thousands more older people dying from injuries caused by falls, new figures reveal More than 5,000 older people died due to a fall in 2017, marking a 70 per cent increase on the numbers in 2010.

Age UK said the number of people over the age of 65 dying as a result of a fall is also rising rapidly. In 2010, 3,003 of this group died as a result of falls.

That went up to 4,856 by 2015 and by 2017, it was 5,048, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Avoidable mortality in the UK: 2017 Office for National Statistics

Contaminated blood scandal may have lasted 'years longer' than officials admit

Contaminated blood scandal may have lasted 'years longer' than officials admit The NHS contaminated blood scandal may have continued for years longer than the Government has admitted, it has emerged.

The inquiry into the tragedy yesterday heard evidence from a woman suffering from debilitating Hepatitis C who received blood transfusions in 1992 and 1993.

Health chiefs have always insisted that the window in which blood and blood products could have been contaminated with viruses such as Hepatitis and HIV ended in 1991, which was when routine testing of batches began. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Infected blood may have been given after safe date, inquiry hears The Guardian

Out-of-hours GP services... that don't have ANY GPs

Out-of-hours GP services... that don't have ANY GPs Millions of patients across the UK are being left without a GP at night, an investigation has revealed.

At least six health boards were forced to operate out-of-hours services without a single family doctor on occasion last year.

Sick patients were tended to by paramedics or an experienced nurse instead, health bosses admitted. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Out-of-hours service had no GP on shift 125 times in a year Pulse
• GP crisis left a million patients without doctor on call over weekends and evenings in 2018 The Independent

Costa and Subway cafes in hospitals contain 'unacceptable' levels of salmonella and staphylococcus

Costa and Subway cafes in hospitals contain 'unacceptable' levels of salmonella and staphylococcus Hospital cafes run by Costa Coffee and Subway are contaminated with 'unacceptably' high levels of deadly bacteria, a damning investigation has found.

Researchers from BBC One's Watchdog Live found salmonella and staphylococcus in eight branches run by the food and coffee giants.

The team, trained by a clinical microbiologist in how to correctly test for the bugs, swabbed tables, trays and ice at 10 Costa-owned cafes, 10 Subway cafes and 10 cafes run by the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS).

And while salmonella and staphylococcus were found in numerous Subway and Costa branches, none was found in cafes run by the RVS. The Daily Mail