The Spending Round: what does it mean for health and care?

The Spending Round: what does it mean for health and care? Among all the constitutional excitement happening in Whitehall, the Chancellor has published the Spending Round for 2020/21. But what does the announcement mean for health and care? The King’s Fund has repeatedly talked about three main priorities for health and care for the new Prime Minister – workforce, public health and adult social care, so let’s look at each in turn. (A fourth, capital, is outside of the Spending Round remit this time because these budgets have already been set for 2020/21). The King's Fund

See also:

• Sadly missed opportunity to reverse cuts - Nuffield Trust response to Spending Round Nuffield Trust
• Spending Round 2019: document HM Treasury
• Spending Round 2019: what you need to know HM Treasury
• Spending plan: What it means for health and care BBC News
• Javid unveils short-term social care funding boost in spending review Community Care
• Sajid Javid promises largest spending rise in more than 15 years The Guardian

‘NHS Passports’ to help staff work flexibly and cut admin costs

‘NHS Passports’ to help staff work flexibly and cut admin costs Health service staff in England will be able to move seamlessly between sites in a bid to make it easier to take on new roles, plug gaps in staffing and improve patients’ care.

Following successful pilot projects, all hospitals in England are being urged to sign-up to passporting agreements, which will cut the need for up to two-day inductions and other admin when staff move between organisations.

All clinicians working in hospitals that have these agreements will be able to move across different NHS sites to offer care to patients before returning to their main trust. NHS England

See also:

• All NHS staff could get 'passports' to allow them to work in ANY hospital at short notice The Daily Mail

No deal Brexit: issues, impacts and implications

No deal Brexit: issues, impacts and implications This report shows that once the UK is outside the Article 50 framework it will be far harder, and take far longer, to get a deal with the EU. It includes a discussion on how health care will be affected. This includes how co-ordination of social security will immediately cease. Cross-border health care rests on this which means planned treatment in other member states will be disrupted. In addition to this, the European Health Insurance Card for emergency treatment will no longer function. The UK in a Changing Europe

GPs are ignoring new mothers' mental health, says parenting charity

GPs are ignoring new mothers' mental health, says parenting charity Many are given little or no time to discuss feelings at postnatal checkup, NCT survey finds

Mental health problems among new mothers are going undetected because many get as little as three minutes to discuss their feelings at the six-week postnatal checkup, research claims.

A sixth of mothers were given no time at all to talk about their health at the appointments, while 31% had less than three minutes, according to the survey by the parenting charity NCT. A quarter of the 1,025 women polled, who all gave birth in the last two years, were not asked anything about their emotional or mental wellbeing. The Guardian

See also:

• The half hidden: bringing postnatal mental illness out of hiding (report) NCT
• Hidden Half campaign NCT
• Six-week check for new mothers must be funded, says RCGP Royal College of General Practitioners 
• GPs are 'neglecting' almost HALF of new mothers by failing to discuss their health after childbirth The Daily Mail

The Big Hospital Experiment review – can a volunteer army save the NHS?

The Big Hospital Experiment review – can a volunteer army save the NHS? Although this documentary is warm and heartfelt, the central premise – using an unpaid workforce to paper over cracks in the health service – may leave you queasy

The Big Hospital Experiment (BBC Two) is a lovely and heartfelt documentary about community, volunteering and the power of shared humanity, and within a few moments of it starting, I was furious. The cameras follow 14 young men and women who have signed up to work in the Royal Derby hospital for six weeks. The Guardian

Statins to be made available over the counter by pharmacists, NHS chief executive announces

Statins to be made available over the counter by pharmacists, NHS chief executive announces Statins are to be made available over the counter by pharmacists, in a bid to prevent thousands of heart attacks and strokes, the chief executive of the NHS has announced.

It is estimated nearly 8 million adults in the UK currently take the statins, but millions more are still at risk because they do not take the drug.

The decision could help those millions of patients get easier access to the lifesaving medicine. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Plans to make statins available over-the-counter should be approached with caution, says RCGP Royal College of General Practitioners
• Pharmacies could start selling high-strength statins without prescription The Daily Mail
• GPs alarmed over NHS plans to allow chemists to dispense statins The Guardian

THIRD of cancer patients still have to go to their GP at least TWICE before hospital tests

THIRD of cancer patients still have to go to their GP at least TWICE before hospital tests The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey, completed by 70,000 cancer sufferers, found a small number of patients were still visiting the doctor five or more times before being referred to hospital. The Daily Mail

See also:

• National Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2018 - National and Local data NHS England