Where can I give blood? How to give blood in Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough as NHS appeals for more male blood donors

Where can I give blood? How to give blood in Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough as NHS appeals for more male blood donors The NHS have launched a campaign to increase male blood donors after it was revealed that there is a gender imbalance in new donors.

Statistics for 2019 showed that for every 100 new female donors, there were 70 new male donors, meaning men made up just 41% of new donors last year. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Northants residents with long term health problems urged to get flu jab

Northants residents with long term health problems urged to get flu jab Thousands of Northamptonshire residents living with long-term health conditions are being encouraged to have a free flu jab, because of the life threatening risk caused by the flu virus. AboutMyArea

New campaign urges public to speak up about the NHS

New campaign urges public to speak up about the NHS Healthwatch England has launched the #SpeakUp2020 campaign, encouraging everybody to speak up about what would make health and social care services in their communities better.

Improving Care by Using Patient Feedback

Improving Care by Using Patient Feedback Both staff and patients want feedback from patients about the care to be heard and acted upon and the NHS has clear policies to encourage this. Doing this in practice is, however, complex and challenging. This report features nine new research studies about using patient experience data in the NHS.  These show what organisations are doing now and what could be done better.  Evidence ranges from hospital wards to general practice to mental health settings.  There are also insights into new ways of mining and analyzing big data, using online feedback and approaches to involving patients in making sense of feedback and driving improvements. National Institute for Health Research

See also:

• NHS patient feedback is not being used to improve services, report warns The Independent

Beyond parity of esteem: achieving parity of resource, access and outcome for mental health in England

Beyond parity of esteem: achieving parity of resource, access and outcome for mental health in England Mental health services remain a long way behind most physical health services in terms of their resourcing, patient ability to access care and overall patient outcomes. This report outlines findings about the state of mental health in England and recommendations for improvements. Key findings: under a third of children with mental health problems in England are able to access the care they need; those with a severe mental illness in England on average die 15 to 20 years earlier than the general population; and suicide is the leading cause of death among young people in the UK aged 20-34 years, and for men in the UK aged under 50. British Medical Association

The English local government public health reforms: an independent assessment

The English local government public health reforms: an independent assessment This report, commissioned from The King's Fund, assesses the success of the 2013 reforms to public health in England, which were part of the coalition government’s wider health reform programme. These reforms, which saw the responsibility for many aspects of public health move from the NHS to local government, involved the transition of staff and services and required the formation of new relationships to ensure public health was embedded across local government services. Local Government Association

See also:

• Local government and public health: a critical year ahead The King's Fund

Over 100000 NHS patients benefit from new same-day pharmacy service

Over 100000 NHS patients benefit from new same-day pharmacy service People dealing with minor illnesses or in need of urgent medicine have recently been seen by local pharmacies, taking mounting pressures off doctors.

The Government announced that more than 100,000 patients have had appointments with expert pharmacists in the last 10 weeks, relieving pressures on GPs and A&E departments. National Health Executive

Pensions row 'making bad situation worse in NHS'

Pensions row 'making bad situation worse in NHS' The continuing dispute over pensions that has seen doctors stop working overtime is "making a bad situation worse", hospital bosses are warning.

Some have been refusing to work extra hours because they were being landed with bills after changes to how much could be accrued in pensions tax free.

A short-term fix, proposed in November by NHS bosses in England, will see the NHS pick up the tax bills.

But NHS Providers said that move had not begun to solve the problems. BBC News

NHS to trial twice-yearly injection alternative to statins

NHS to trial twice-yearly injection alternative to statins Mass trial of drug inclisiran comes after health service strikes deal with Novartis

The NHS is to launch a mass trial of an as-yet unapproved twice-yearly cholesterol-lowering injection, which it hopes will save lives and cut medical bills for thousands of people who do not take statins.

About 40,000 people with high “bad” or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol will be invited to join the trial of inclisiran by NHS England via their GPs. The NHS has struck a novel deal with drugmaker Novartis, which will provide the injections free in exchange for the results of the five-year trial, which will be run by the NHS staff. The Guardian

See also:

• New heart disease drug to be made available for NHS patients Department of Health and Social Care
• NHS to pioneer cholesterol-busting jab BBC News
• Heart jab which can halve bad cholesterol in two weeks gets NHS green light The Daily Telegraph

Just one in 100 primary school children are eating healthy packed lunches

Just one in 100 primary school children are eating healthy packed lunches Fewer than two in 100 primary school children are eating a healthy packed lunch, a study suggests.

Analysis shows 1.6 per cent of packed lunches in England meet nutritional standards imposed on school canteens by the government, compared to 1 per cent in 2006.

The alarming figure has stagnated for a decade, despite a food education drive in the late 2000s. The Daily Mail

See also:

• A repeated cross-sectional survey assessing changes in diet and nutrient quality of English primary school children’s packed lunches between 2006 and 2016 (open access) BMJ Open
• Crisps and processed ham: school packed lunches as unhealthy as they were ten years ago The Daily Telegraph