Historic day for Northampton General Hospital as staff among first people in the world to get coronavirus vaccine

Historic day for Northampton General Hospital as staff among first people in the world to get coronavirus vaccine Northampton General Hospital (NGH) became one of the first hospitals in the world to start giving out the coronavirus vaccine today (Tuesday, December 8).

The first hospital employee to receive the long-awaited vaccine was consultant maxillofacial surgeon Philip Ameerally. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

See also:

• Whole year group sent home from Northampton school after positive Covid case Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• Covid restrictions could ease from spring - with hopes that summer 2021 will be 'normal' Northamptonshire Telegraph

What impact did cuts to social care spending have on hospitals?

What impact did cuts to social care spending have on hospitals? In a new IFS working paper, published today and funded by the Health Foundation, we examine what impact cuts to social care spending had on use of NHS hospitals. Exploiting the fact that the size of funding cuts varied considerably across areas, we examine the impact on the use and associated costs of three types of NHS hospital services: Accident & Emergency (A&E), inpatient care, and outpatient care. Institute for Fiscal Studies

See also:

• Social care cuts led to increase in over-65s going to A+E, says IFS study The Independent

11 new integrated care systems

11 new integrated care systems NHS organisations will need to intensify partnership working with local authorities and the voluntary sector to tackle health inequalities resulting from COVID-19, the head of the NHS has said.

Sir Simon Stevens confirmed 11 more parts of the country will be formally designated “integrated care systems” (ICS) from 1 April 2021 serving a combined population of 14.5 million people. NHS England

Guidance: Supporting public health: children, young people and families

Guidance: Supporting public health: children, young people and families Documents to support local authorities and providers in commissioning and delivering maternal and child public health services from preconception up to 24 years. Public Health England

Covid vaccine: What you need to know about vaccine safety

Covid vaccine: What you need to know about vaccine safety In any conversation about vaccine safety, there is one statistic worth holding on to: one in 1,000.

One in 1,000 people in the UK have already died after being infected with coronavirus during the pandemic. This is the known threat from the disease that any risks have to be balanced against.

In medicine there is an important difference between "safe" and "harmless" and between "risk" and something being "risky".

So, what do we mean when we talk about Covid vaccines being "safe" to use? BBC News

See also:

• Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK (open access) The Lancet
• Oxford Covid vaccine 'safe and effective' study shows BBC News
• Safety data on Pfizer jab released by US BBC News
• Covid-19 vaccine: GPs to starting immunising next week BBC News
• Rich countries hoarding Covid vaccines, says People's Vaccine Alliance BBC News
• Covid: The day the UK received 'a shot in the arm' BBC News
• Johnson & Johnson may know whether its one-dose coronavirus vaccine works by January The Daily Mail
• 'It has given people hope': patients and NHS staff on day one of Covid vaccination The Guardian
• Masks could be needed for another year, warns government chief scientific adviser The Independent
• A tribute to the NHS workers who have died with coronavirus The Independent

Brexit: The NHS could face supply shortages during winter peak even with a deal

Brexit: The NHS could face supply shortages during winter peak even with a deal Whitehall is gripped by the drama of Brexit as the end game of negotiations approaches and the question of deal or no deal is finally resolved one way or the other.

But for the NHS, whatever happens – deal or no deal – problems getting enough drugs and medical equipment into the UK and to the hospitals and patients who need them is a growing concern. The Independent

More years of obesity associated with higher risk of disease, study finds

More years of obesity associated with higher risk of disease, study finds More years of obesity are associated with a higher risk of disease, a new study suggests.

Greater obesity duration is linked with worse values for all cardiometabolic disease factors, researchers found. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Duration of obesity exposure between ages 10 and 40 years and its relationship with cardiometabolic disease risk factors: A cohort study (open access) PLOS Medicine