Isolation 'pods' for anyone who goes to Northampton General Hospital with coronavirus symptoms

Isolation 'pods' for anyone who goes to Northampton General Hospital with coronavirus symptoms Two 'pods' for anyone who goes to Northampton General Hospital (NGH) with symptoms of coronavirus have been set up opposite the emergency department.

A hospital trust spokesman said NHS 111 pods mean patients can be kept isolated and avoid causing unnecessary pressure in A&E, as per national guidance.

“Over the coming weeks, many people may need to self-isolate at home for a period to reduce this virus' spread," the spokesman added. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

See also:

• Statement to Parliament: Coronavirus: Health Secretary's statement to Parliament Department of Health and Social Care
• Coronavirus: British couple on cruise ship 'test positive' BBC News
• Thirty doctors quarantine themselves over coronavirus fears The Daily Mail
• Coronavirus death toll climbs to more than 2,000 with more than 75,000 cases recorded across world The Daily Mail
• GPs need more clarity to make sure resources are available to tackle coronavirus The Guardian
• UK hospital apologises for signs to coronavirus isolation facility The Guardian

NHS staff morale improves but too many facing abuse

NHS staff morale improves but too many facing abuse NHS staff say they are now happier and more likely to recommend their organisation as a place to work than last year, but too many still experience unacceptable abuse from patients and the public.

569,000 NHS employees across 300 separate organisations responded to this year’s NHS Staff Survey, with the results showing staff morale has improved across the NHS.Staff also reported that the quality of care in the NHS has improved over the last year, with more than seven in 10 saying they would recommend their organisation to their family and friends for treatment, a proportion that has increased every year for the past five years. NHS England

See also:

• Violence against NHS staff: letter to the workforce Department of Health and Social Care
• Signs of improvement in staff survey results but too many staff facing violence, bullying and harassment NHS Employers
• NHS Staff Survey Results: Results for the 2019 NHS Staff Survey NHS Survey Coordination Centre
• NHS staff survey highlights difficulty of achieving '50,000 more nurses' pledge The Health Foundation
• The King's Fund responds to the results of the NHS Staff Survey 2019 The King's Fund
• Matt Hancock says assaults on NHS staff will not be tolerated as data shows 28% have been abused The Daily Mail
• One in four NHS staff bullied, harassed or abused, survey finds The Guardian
• Abusive NHS patients to be banned from receiving non-emergency care The Independent

The health of the nation: a strategy for healthier longer lives

The health of the nation: a strategy for healthier longer lives This report aims to help set the UK on a clear path to achieve the government's goal "for everyone to have five extra years of healthy, independent life by 2035." It proposes policy and cross-sector collaboration to narrow the life expectancy gap between the richest and poorest. All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity

Training in Addiction Psychiatry: Current Status and Future Prospects

Training in Addiction Psychiatry: Current Status and Future Prospects This report looks into addictions psychiatry provision and how we can support and reinvigorate the decreasing number of training posts across the UK. Royal College of Psychiatrists

See also:

• Addiction psychiatry will be ‘wiped out in next 10 years’, warns Royal College OnMedica

Children facing uncertain future, experts warn

Children facing uncertain future, experts warn No country offers a child both the chance of a healthy upbringing and an environment fit for their future, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

Experts say climate change and harmful advertising encouraging fast-food consumption and under-age drinking are putting children at risk.

The UK was ranked among the top 10 countries in the world for the overall health and wellbeing of children.

However, it fell behind in safeguarding the environment for their future. BBC News

See also:

• A future for the world’s children? (open access) A WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission
• Every child in the world is under threat as decades of health improvements begin to stall The Daily Mail

Heart doctors 'held back stent death data'

Heart doctors 'held back stent death data' Doctors working on a clinical trial for treatment of heart disease held back key data, Newsnight has been told.

The Excel trial tested whether stents were as effective as open heart surgery at treating patients with a heart problem called left main disease.

The data suggested more people fitted with stents were dying after three years.

It was eventually published - but only after treatment guidelines that partly relied on the trial had been written. BBC News

Care provider Hft to shut services due to 'underfunding'

Care provider Hft to shut services due to 'underfunding' A care charity that provides services for about 90 adults in Oxfordshire says it will shut them by the end of May.

Hft, which runs several services in Milton, near Didcot, said running them was leaving it with a £5,000 shortfall every week.

Its chief executive said that was the result of "chronic underfunding of adult social care". BBC News

Work visa shake-up: What the new migration system means for the NHS, social care, hospitality and construction

Work visa shake-up: What the new migration system means for the NHS, social care, hospitality and construction Ministers have warned businesses they have less than a year to prepare for the new immigration system to be put in place.

The Home Office is launching a campaign of outreach to ensure that firms are prepared to lose access to a pool of lower-skilled EU migrants.

The department says: "UK businesses will need to adapt and adjust to the end of free movement, and we will not seek to recreate the outcomes from free movement within the points-based system. As such, it is important that employers move away from a reliance on the UK's immigration system as an alternative to investment in staff retention, productivity, and wide investment in technology and automation." iNews

See also:

• New points-based immigration system looks set to make our social care crisis even worse The Health Foundation

Thousands of patients potentially harmed by undelivered NHS mail

Thousands of patients potentially harmed by undelivered NHS mail Safety inquiry launched after private contractor failed to send 28,563 confidential letters in IT bungle

The NHS has launched a patient safety inquiry after a private contractor failed to send more than 28,000 pieces of confidential medical correspondence to GPs, the Guardian can reveal.

NHS bosses are trying to find out if any patients have been harmed after 28,563 letters detailing discussions at outpatient appointments were not sent because of a mistake by Cerner, an IT company. The Guardian

See also:

• Bungling IT firm 'lost 30000 NHS letters to patients' sparking an inquiry The Daily Mail