Here are all the ideas competing to win KGH's Dragons' Den

Here are all the ideas competing to win KGH's Dragons' Den This year's Dragons' Den at Kettering General Hospital will see nine bids try and impress the judges with their ideas to improve patient care and win a share of £100,000.

The competition will take place on Thursday, February 6, and the bids will be hoping to impress a panel of six Dragons, including rugby star Ben Cohen. Northamptonshire Telegraph

International Year of the Nurse and Midwife

International Year of the Nurse and Midwife The World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated 2020 as the first global Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Organisations across the world will be celebrating the work of nurses and midwives, highlighting the challenging conditions they often face.

Various activities will be taking place throughout the year and it is a fantastic opportunity to further promote nursing and midwifery as rewarding and exciting careers. NHS Employers

Increasing uptake for vaccinations: maximising the role of councils

Increasing uptake for vaccinations: maximising the role of councils Councils are not directly responsible for commissioning or delivering vaccine programmes but they are in a unique position to understand the health needs of their local population, and support vaccination services to reach them. This may be through helping immunisation teams work with frontline services such as health visitors or children’s centres, or supporting pop-up vaccination clinics in under-vaccinated areas. Local Government Association

Concerns over new 'menopause delay' procedure

Concerns over new 'menopause delay' procedure Experts have raised concern over a new medical procedure that claims to allow women to delay the onset of the menopause by over a decade.

Its long-term safety and success remains untested - but some women have already paid at least £6,000 for the procedure. BBC News

Coronavirus: Death toll climbs to 106 as China tightens measures

Coronavirus: Death toll climbs to 106 as China tightens measures The death toll from the new coronavirus now stands at 106, with the number of infections almost doubling in a day.

The number of total cases confirmed by China rose to 4,515 as of 27 January, up from 2,835 a day earlier.

Japan is sending a plane to Wuhan to evacuate its citizens, as efforts to repatriate foreign nationals from the city at the epicentre of the outbreak gather pace.

The virus has spread across China and to at least 16 countries globally. BBC News

See also: 

• Wuhan coronavirus: Health Secretary's statement to Parliament Department of Health and Social Care
• Wuhan novel coronavirus and avian flu: advice for travel to China Department of Health and Social Care
• Wuhan novel coronavirus: information for the public Department of Health and Social Care
• Wuhan novel coronavirus: initial investigation of possible cases Public Health England
• Coronavirus: Foreign Office advises against travel to virus province BBC News
• China coronavirus spread is accelerating, Xi Jinping warns BBC News
• Deadly coronavirus outbreak DID start at the animal market in Wuhan, tests confirm The Daily Mail
• Coronavirus: China death toll passes 100 as Beijing records its first fatality The Daily Telegraph
• Coronavirus is becoming more contagious and can infect during incubation, Chinese authorities warn The Daily Telegraph
• Coronavirus: Foreign Office preparing to extract British nationals from Wuhan The Daily Telegraph
• 'I felt like ET': UK man describes surreal coronavirus quarantine The Guardian
• Britons in Wuhan will be offered help to leave, Hancock tells MPs The Guardian
• Coronavirus: Britons in Wuhan say they have been ‘abandoned’ as death toll reaches 100 The Independent

NHS staff urged to help service tackle climate change

NHS staff urged to help service tackle climate change NHS staff are being encouraged to drive to work less and bring in reusable cups and bottles to help the health service tackle climate change.

The suggestions are part of an NHS plan to cut carbon emissions to net zero and reduce air pollution.

Hospitals will also be told to switch to less-polluting anaesthetic gases and reduce emissions from buildings.

The plan follows the launch of Climate Assembly UK this week, which is looking at how the UK can best get to net zero. BBC News

Mental health care postcode lottery ‘is risking lives’

Mental health care postcode lottery ‘is risking lives’ Data from NHS talking therapies programme shows patients waiting more than three months for treatment

People with mental health problems are being forced to wait 112 days for treatment through the NHS’s talking therapies programme – despite a supposed six-week maximum wait.

Delays in care facing those with anxiety and depression are so long in some parts of England that they could lead to people taking their own life, a leading expert in mental health has warned. The Guardian

Funding crisis stops referrals to veterans' mental health charity

Funding crisis stops referrals to veterans' mental health charity Combat Stress says decision to turn down new cases was taken ‘with great sadness’

A mental health charity for military veterans is no longer able to take new cases in England or Wales because of a funding crisis.

Combat Stress said its income has fallen from £16m to £10m in this financial year partly because of a cut in its NHS funding support, and said the decision to turn down new cases had been taken “with great sadness”. The Guardian

Whistleblower tipped off second family over West Suffolk hospital death

Whistleblower tipped off second family over West Suffolk hospital death Pressure builds on hospital as it emerges staff member alerted patient’s relatives to suspected mistakes

An under-fire hospital came under fresh pressure on Friday after it emerged that a second family received a whistleblower tipoff about serious failings in the care of a patient who died, the Guardian can reveal.

West Suffolk hospital (WSH), used by Matt Hancock’s constituents, is already facing criticism over its unprecedented demand for doctors to provide fingerprint samples in an attempt to track down an anonymous letter writer who alerted widower Jon Warby to surgical mistakes made before his wife died in August 2018. The Guardian

Prostate cancer now the most commonly diagnosed form thanks to 'Turnbull and Fry' effect

Prostate cancer now the most commonly diagnosed form thanks to 'Turnbull and Fry' effect Prostate cancer has become the most commonly diagnosed form of the disease for the first time, thanks to the “Turnbull and Fry effect”.

Increased awareness of the benefit of getting tested has caused the number of identified cases to surge past those of breast cancer, NHS figures show.

It follows the candid publicity surrounding the illnesses of celebrities such as Bill Turnbull, Stephen Fry and Rod Stewart over the last few years. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Prostate overtakes breast as 'most common cancer' BBC News

NHS watchdog rejects use of party drug ketamine as antidepressant despite hype over treatment

NHS watchdog rejects use of party drug ketamine as antidepressant despite hype over treatment A radical depression treatment derived from party drug ketamine is set to be rejected for use on the NHS.

There has been months of hype over the treatment - the first antidepressant with a new mechanism of action to be licensed in 30 years.

But NICE say there is not enough evidence it works long-term, and the price - which exceeds £10,000 for the average course - is too high for the NHS to fund. The Daily Mail

NHS could free hospital beds using AI which tells doctors when patients are stable to go home

NHS could free hospital beds using AI which tells doctors when patients are stable to go home Researchers tried the system on 790 patients in an NHS hospital in Wales, and say it could 'easily be rolled out' nationwide. AI by a patients' bedside collects data on their vitals. The Daily Mail

See also:

• A&E waiting times worst on record – but using AI to unblock beds could be part of the solution The Conversation