We are still at a "tipping point" over rise in Covid-19 cases, warns Northamptonshire health boss

We are still at a "tipping point" over rise in Covid-19 cases, warns Northamptonshire health boss Official figures will show 785 Northamptonshire residents tested positive with Covid-19 in a single week when the county council and Public Health officials hold their weekly press briefing on Friday.

Data from October 12 to October 18 October shows the latest spike in cases, up from 701 the week before. Northamptonshire Telegraph

See also:

• NHS tells hospitals not to cancel operations this winter unless 'absolutely unavoidable' The Daily Mail
• Government could put Northampton into tier two within 24 hours despite reluctance, warns council leader Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• Police issue six fines in three days after bus users found without masks in Northampton Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• Northampton Labour group raises concerns over shared homes as coronavirus cases rise Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• Public Health chief prompts Northampton school children and parents to meet in parks and not friend's houses during half term Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• Public health chief reminds Northamptonshire parents "if we don’t mix, we don’t spread" Covid-19 Northamptonshire Telegraph
• Eighteen Covid-19 in-patients at KGH as hospital boss says numbers are 'well below' first wave peak Northamptonshire Telegraph
• There's 63 Northants people who knew they had Covid-19 but won't tell test and tracers who they might have passed it on to Northamptonshire Telegraph

Health service use in the last two years of life

Health service use in the last two years of life This series of reports describe the health services that patients use in the last two years of their lives. Reports are available for the Midlands region as a whole and for each of the 11 Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships or Integrated Care Systems in the region. The reports contain important insights into: how the patterns of service use change as patients approach death; differences in experience by ethnicity, deprivation and cause of death; the costs of hospital treatment at the end of life and how this varies by STP; levels of non-beneficial treatments; and the additional hospital capacity that may be required to accommodate the projected increase in deaths over the next decade. The Strategy Unit

RCEM outlines actions needed to tackle ‘dangerous’ crowding as it returns to A&Es

RCEM outlines actions needed to tackle ‘dangerous’ crowding as it returns to A&Es The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has called for action after a survey found that over half of A&Es across the UK are caring for patients in corridors due to a lack of beds.

See also:

• RCEM CARES during the coronavirus pandemic The Royal College of Emergency Medicine
• What to do if your ED is becoming crowded again after the initial COVID period The Royal College of Emergency Medicine
• Three-quarters of A&Es unable to maintain social distancing due to overcrowding The Guardian

Almost half of UK women do not check their breasts regularly for signs of breast cancer

Almost half of UK women do not check their breasts regularly for signs of breast cancer Almost half (47%) of women in the UK do not check their breasts regularly for potential signs of breast cancer.

According to a YouGov survey commissioned by Breast Cancer Now, one in 10 women have ‘never checked their breasts for new or unusual changes’. Meanwhile, a fifth (19%) of women check their breasts ‘once every six months or less’, while 13% do this ‘once a year or less’.

Asked what stops or prevents them from checking their breasts more regularly, almost half (46%) of women said they ‘forget’. This is concerning when most cases of the disease are detected because women have spotted new or unusual changes to their breasts.

See also:

• Almost half of British women do not self-examine for breast cancer The Guardian

Emergency contraception, coronavirus, and confidentiality: a mystery shop of pharmacy access during the pandemic

Emergency contraception, coronavirus, and confidentiality: a mystery shop of pharmacy access during the pandemic This briefing finds that one third of pharmacies are unable to provide emergency contraception in a confidential and Covid-secure way due to current licensing restrictions. It calls for emergency contraception to be reclassified by the Secretary of State for Health as a general sales list medication which would enable women to purchase this safe and effective medication directly from the shelf, without placing their health or confidentiality at risk during the pandemic. British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Independent report: Independent review of NHS hospital food

Independent report: Independent review of NHS hospital food Findings and recommendations of the independent review of NHS hospital food. Department of Health and Social Care

See also:

Press release: New blueprint for better hospital food Department of Health and Social Care

Prue Leith: NHS can serve 'delicious' food on a budget BBC News

NHS staff 'ashamed' they can't serve good food to patients The Daily Telegraph 

Quarterly report on progress to address Covid-19 health inequalities

Quarterly report on progress to address Covid-19 health inequalities This report summarises the work undertaken by the Minister for Equalities and government departments on Covid-19 disparities. The current evidence shows that a range of socioeconomic and geographical factors such as occupational exposure, population density, household composition and pre-existing health conditions contribute to the higher infection and mortality rates for ethnic minority groups, but a part of the excess risk remains unexplained for some groups. Race Disparity Unit

Guidance: COVID-19: guidance for households with possible coronavirus infection

Guidance: COVID-19: guidance for households with possible coronavirus infection Stay at home guidance for households with possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. Public Health England

See also:

• Detailed guide: Full list of local COVID alert levels by area Department of Health and Social Care
• Guidance: Guidance for contacts of people with confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection who do not live with the person Public Health England

Coronavirus: 14-day quarantine for Covid contacts could be reduced

Coronavirus: 14-day quarantine for Covid contacts could be reduced The two-week quarantine period for contacts of those who test positive for Covid-19 could be cut to 10 or seven days, amid criticism of Test and Trace. 

Writing in the Telegraph, Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said a "vacuum of leadership in Test and Trace" was affecting compliance.

Tests could be offered to people after a week of isolation, the paper said. BBC News 

See also:

• Coronavirus doctor's diary: 'We blame Eat Out To Help Out for our tragedy'  BBC News
• Covid nurse: 'I thought I wasn't going to make it'  BBC News
• Covid: The NHS workers 'still recovering' as second wave looms BBC News
• Coronavirus: Inside Europe’s most infected area BBC News
• Boots to offer 12-minute Covid nasal swab test BBC News
• Coronavirus UK: Oxford vaccine works perfectly by safely triggering an immune response The Daily Mail
• Covid risk factors for ethnic minorities 'can't be changed overnight' The Daily Mail
• Coronavirus UK: SAGE warns against letting young 'go back to normal' The Daily Mail
• Coronavirus UK: Seven NHS trusts treat more patients than in April The Daily Mail
• US coronavirus cases hit record high as Donald Trump promises to 'quickly end' the pandemic The Daily Telegraph
• NHS short of over £1bn for Covid second wave and onset of winter The Guardian
• NHS denies elderly people were refused care during early Covid The Guardian
• NHS short of over £1bn for Covid second wave and onset of winter The Guardian
• Neil Ferguson says easing Covid rules for Christmas is 'a political judgment' The Guardian
• Coronavirus: Mounting fears over burnout among NHS staff as second wave intensifies The Independent 
• NHS staff put on standby for Covid-19 vaccine scheme 'in weeks' as jab safety stamp imminent iNews

Mother and baby units: 'It's our job to keep them safe'

Mother and baby units: 'It's our job to keep them safe' "Women may be suicidal or want to die. They may have thoughts about harming their baby. It's our job to keep them safe until they can keep themselves safe," says Debbie Sells.

She manages a mother-and-baby unit in Nottingham which supports a small group of new mothers and pregnant women with serious psychological problems. BBC News

Down's syndrome: 'In all honesty we were offered 15 terminations'

Down's syndrome: 'In all honesty we were offered 15 terminations' Ninety per cent of women whose unborn babies are diagnosed with Down's syndrome choose to have an abortion, which is legal right up until birth. But campaigners say expectant parents are routinely given outdated advice and encouraged to have a termination. We hear from three mothers who want the system to change. BBC News

Mass cancellations of NHS operations inevitable this winter, say doctors

Mass cancellations of NHS operations inevitable this winter, say doctors Exclusive: NHS England criticised for ordering ‘near-normal’ non-Covid care during pandemic

Mass cancellations of routine operations in England are inevitable this autumn and winter despite an NHS edict that hospitals must not again disrupt normal care, doctors’ leaders have said.

Organisations representing frontline doctors, including the British Medical Association (BMA), also criticised NHS England for ordering hospitals to provide “near normal” levels of non-Covid care in the second wave of the pandemic, and demanded that fines for failing to meet targets be scrapped. The Guardian

NHS bosses accuse Boris Johnson of 'structural discrimination' against mental health

NHS bosses accuse Boris Johnson of 'structural discrimination' against mental health PM ‘more interested in shiny new hospitals’ than tackling mounting toll of psychological problems

NHS bosses have accused Boris Johnson of “structural discrimination” against mental health and ignoring the huge psychological damage being wreaked by the pandemic.

A decade of progress on mental illness has come to a halt under a prime minister who seems more interested in building “shiny new hospitals” than tackling the mounting toll of debilitating ill-health, they say. The Guardian