Northampton MP asks Commons for £6.5million to revamp NGH's children's A&E department

Northampton MP asks Commons for £6.5million to revamp NGH's children's A&E department 

The MP for Northampton South has used a speech in the House of Commons to ask for £6.5m of funding to regenerate NGH's children's A&E. Andrew Lewer stood at Parliament this week at a debate over the Government's upcoming NHS funding bill to say Northampton's paediatric emergency unit was "in desperate need of updating."

The debate was to discuss how the Government should spend some £33.9billion promised for the NHS. Nnorthampton Chronicle and Echo

Northampton doctor who claimed 'graphic sexual emails' to junior nurse were 'marriage proposals' is struck off

Northampton doctor who claimed 'graphic sexual emails' to junior nurse were 'marriage proposals' is struck off A Northampton doctor who sent graphic sexual messages to a junior nurse's private email address has been struck off from ever practising again.
Dr Simon Richard, an anaesthetist at Northampton General Hospital, has had his name removed from the medical register for sending the string of "disturbing" emails he sent to a junior staff member. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

NHS hospitals bring in sleep pods to help tired staff take a break

NHS hospitals bring in sleep pods to help tired staff take a break Help is arriving for overworked NHS staff as a growing number of hospitals bring in sleep pods for doctors and nurses to grab power naps during their shifts.

Pods have been installed or are being trialled by a dozen hospitals in England. Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust was the first to try them, in June 2018. “Too many staff end up exhausted because they have long, busy, sometimes stressful shifts, often with little chance to grab a break because pressure on the NHS is so intense,” said Prof Steve Field, the trust’s chair. The Guardian

HIV vaccine hopes dashed by trial results

HIV vaccine hopes dashed by trial results Hopes have been dashed an experimental vaccine could protect people against HIV, the virus that causes Aids.

The National Institutes of Health has stopped its HVTN 702 trial, of more than 5,000 people in South Africa, as it found the jab did not prevent HIV.

Experts expressed "deep disappointment" but added the search for a preventive HIV vaccine must continue. BBC News

Building resilience: how local partnerships are supporting children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing

Building resilience: how local partnerships are supporting children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing Local Government Association -
Too many children and young people nationally do not receive the support they need to improve their mental health and wellbeing. The purpose of this research, commissioned from Isos Partnership, is to explore some of the factors which are contributing to this nationally challenging context, and to develop an evidence base for how local government and its partners can work most effectively together to deliver a coherent and joined-up offer of support for children and young people’s mental health. King's Fund

Nurses are undervalued because most are women says RCN

Nurses are undervalued because most are women says RCN A new study commissioned by the RCN shows that nursing is undervalued in status and pay, and that until both are enhanced, the UK will continue to experience severe nursing shortages.

The study, conducted by researchers at Oxford Brookes University, argues that the “old-fashioned view that caring for others is a feminine characteristic still persists in British society”. The study’s authors claim this has contributed to the suppression of nurses’ wages and working conditions for generations.

Nine out of 10 nurses in the UK are women. Their weekly pay is on average £15.42 per hour which is less than a third of that of doctors and dentists. RCN

Multimorbidity measure could lead to fairer GP funding system

Multimorbidity measure could lead to fairer GP funding system More than half of GP consultations with patients aged over 18 or over are with patients who have multimorbidity, research has shown.

But academics behind the new scoring system - the Cambridge Multimorbidity Score - warn that NHS 'services and policies have failed to respond to the pressures that multimorbidity places on primary and secondary care'. GP Online

Calls for better use of occupational therapists to reduce burden of sick leave

Calls for better use of occupational therapists to reduce burden of sick leave NHS workers take on average 14 days sick leave every year, well above the national average. Stress and depression are cited as the main reasons why and a lack of staff can cause major issues for frontline services.
A new report from the Royal College of Occupational Therapists says the problem could be addressed by employing occupational therapists directly within NHS occupational health services where they can provide specific vocational interventions and workplace modifications to get staff back to work. NHS Networks

NHS England: NHS 111 should deliver 'higher volume' of CPCS referrals

NHS England: NHS 111 should deliver 'higher volume' of CPCS referrals

More NHS 111 patient requests could be converted into Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) referrals, an NHS England director has said.
“In some parts of the country, almost every urgent medicine supply query that comes to NHS 111 is converted into a pharmacy referral,” Ed Waller, NHS England director of primary care strategy, said at the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp) conference at the end of last month (January 23).
However, that is “slightly less true” in other parts of England, Mr Waller added. Chemist + Druggist

RPS urges new approach for training pharmacists, following reports of pharmacist-to-doctor conversion courses

RPS urges new approach for training pharmacists, following reports of pharmacist-to-doctor conversion courses The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has said that it would like to see “a new approach to training early careers pharmacists at foundation level, so that they can take up new roles across the NHS”, following press reports that pharmacists could be given the chance to retrain as doctors.

Sandra Giddley, president of the RPS, said the Society would “welcome early discussions with the government, NHS and education leaders to learn more about what changes are being considered”. The Pharmaceutical Journal

A QUARTER of people in the UK live in areas with toxic air pollution

A QUARTER of people in the UK live in areas with toxic air pollution One in four people in the UK are now subject to dangerous air pollution, experts warned last night.

A report by the British Heart Foundation estimates 15million people - a quarter of the British population - live in areas where average levels of toxic particles in the air exceed guidelines set out by the World Health Organisation. Mail Online

More than 2 million women screened for breast cancer last year

More than 2 million women screened for breast cancer last year 2.23m women aged 45 and over were screened for breast cancer in 2018-19, a 4.5% increase on 2017-18 (2.14m), and a 26.0% increase since 2008-09 (1.77m).

The greatest increases are in the over-70 age range, where 218,000 women were screened for breast cancer in 2018-19, a 51.2% increase on 2017-18 (144,000) due, at least in part, to invites sent to women who had not previously received a final invitation. NHS Digital

Global rates of cancer are set to soar by 60% in the next two decades

Global rates of cancer are set to soar by 60% in the next two decades Driven by persistently high rates of HPV, hepatitis and smoking - especially in low-income countries - the world could see 60 percent more cancer cases in the next 20 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in a new report.

Over 80 percent of these are expected to be diagnosed in low-income countries, according to the report released on Monday. Mail Online

Rebuilding our NHS: why it's time to invest

Rebuilding our NHS: why it's time to invest NHS Providers -

The long term plan for the NHS set out a vision for an NHS built around preventative and technologically-enabled models of care. This report argues that there needs to be an appropriate capital settlement to support the ambitious vision of the plan. King's Fund

Patient assessments of non-clinical aspects of hospital care

Patient assessments of non-clinical aspects of hospital care
Patient assessments of NHS food, cleanliness and other non-clinical aspects of hospital care published today.
Results of the annual patient-led assessments of non-clinical elements of care, such as catering services, cleanliness and waiting facilities are published today.
Published by NHS Digital, Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) 2019 – England1 involves local people (known as Patient Assessors) going into hospitals as part of teams to assess how the environment supports the provision of clinical care. NHS Digital

Baroness Parminter: The NHS is failing patients with eating disorders

Baroness Parminter: The NHS is failing patients with eating disorders Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses, affecting an estimated 1.25 million people in the UK. They are not a ‘diet gone wrong’ or a ‘lifestyle choice’. They can cripple lives and ultimately take them – anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. These devastating illnesses – which effect men, women and people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds – deserve better recognition and treatment.

If not caught early, like cancer, eating disorders are much harder to treat. While there is a national waiting time target for children and young people accessing services there is still no target for adults. A recent report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists found that people with eating disorders can wait up to 41 months for treatment, with adults waiting on average 30% longer than under 18s. Politics Home

PM urged to give NHS 100 new hospitals plus an extra £7bn a year

PM urged to give NHS 100 new hospitals plus an extra £7bn a year NHS leaders have urged Boris Johnson’s government to build 100 new hospitals and give the service an extra £7bn a year for new facilities and equipment.

They want the prime minister to commit to far more than the 40 new hospitals over the next decade that the Conservatives pledged during the general election. The Guardian