Full schedule of three-month roadworks starting soon in busy Northampton roads

Full schedule of three-month roadworks starting soon in busy Northampton roads The carriageway widening and junction improvement works in Cliftonville Road, from Nurseries to Bedford Road, will start on August 23 until November 26, where there will be a temporary prohibition of traffic. Northampton Chronicle and Echo 

NHS trusts face unfunded spending pressures of £5bn in coming year

NHS trusts face unfunded spending pressures of £5bn in coming year Nuffield Trust analysis provided to the Observer, drawn from forthcoming research, shows that NHS trusts in England are on course to spend almost £5bn more next financial year than was anticipated when Theresa May set its funding levels in 2018. The calculation is based on projecting costs and efficiency using figures published by the health service. 

Could NHS waiting lists really reach 13 million?

Could NHS waiting lists really reach 13 million? Since the start of the pandemic, the number of people waiting for NHS treatment in England has grown by a fifth. 5.3 million people were waiting for treatment in May 2021, up from 4.4 million in February 2020. There has been a particularly sharp increase in the number of people waiting for longer than a year, causing widespread concern over the scale of the NHS ‘backlog’. Institute for Fiscal Studies

See also: 

• NHS waiting lists could rise to 14 million in England next year - analysis BBC News
• NHS England waiting list could soar to FOURTEEN MILLION by autumn 2022 The Daily Mail
• Private hospital groups set to profit from massive NHS backlog in wave of new deals iNews
• England's NHS waiting list could top 14 million by next autumn, report warns Sky News

Pandemic backlog of heart care could take 'up to five years' to recover

Pandemic backlog of heart care could take 'up to five years' to recover Waiting lists for life saving heart diagnosis and treatment could more than double within two years in England due to the pandemic, our new report has warned.

We estimate that the number of people anxiously waiting for heart care and diagnosis could peak at around 550,385 in January 2024 if the NHS in England doesn’t get enough investment and is under increased pressure from Covid-19 or a bad winter. British Heart Foundation

See also: 

• Heart surgery waits in England may rise by 40%, warns charity BBC News
• NHS England delays could lead to thousands of deaths, says heart charity The Guardian

Further Covid lockdowns in UK are now unlikely, says Neil Ferguson

Further Covid lockdowns in UK are now unlikely, says Neil Ferguson Prof Neil Ferguson, the epidemiologist whose initial modelling helped shape Britain’s coronavirus response, has said future lockdowns are unlikely to be needed to control the spread of the disease in the UK.

However, the government scientific adviser warned that Covid case numbers could rise again and his prediction could change if the virus “changes substantially”. The Guardian

See also:

• Covid: Man, 23, 'thought body could brush off virus' BBC News
• Is the coronavirus pandemic over at last? BBC Scotland
• Colombian variant may partially evade Covid vaccines just like Beta, health chiefs warn The Daily Mail
• Poorest Britons are almost three times more likely not to have had their Covid jab than the richest The Daily Mail
• Ethnic minorities now make up a higher proportion of Covid deaths than ever before The Daily Mail
• Fully-vaccinated people who catch Delta Covid strain may be JUST as infectious as the unjabbed The Daily Mail
• Covid patients reunited with the medics who saved them The Guardian
• JCVI ‘largely opposed’ to Covid vaccination for children under 16 The Guardian

The next battle for the NHS: Sajid Javid v Rishi Sunak

The next battle for the NHS: Sajid Javid v Rishi Sunak With soaring waiting lists and an exhausted workforce, billions are needed to avoid a crisis. Will the health secretary persuade a hard-nosed chancellor to fund the health service?

It has taken a combination of sheer grit, creativity and the adoption of some unprecedented emergency measures unthinkable at the start of last year. After 18 months of dealing with the pandemic’s ravages, there are now hopes that the NHS, perhaps Britain’s most revered and beloved of institutions, has managed to withstand the worst of the Covid onslaught. Yet although cases remain at far lower levels than some feared they would this summer, frontline staff fear the service faces a troubling diagnosis. The Guardian 

Fears over patient safety amid plans to ‘water down’ training for nurses

Fears over patient safety amid plans to ‘water down’ training for nurses Plans to simplify specialist nurse training across the UK pose “huge risks” to patient safety, health leaders have warned.

Nursing leaders are united in opposition against proposals by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to ostensibly simplify the qualification process.

They warn the watchdog is moving away from its core function – to protect the public – with a “reductionist” approach to the training of nurses working with the most at-risk groups. The Independent 

Wrong bodies released by NHS mortuaries dozens of times

Wrong bodies released by NHS mortuaries dozens of times There have been more than 530 serious incidents where NHS trusts have released the wrong body to families or lost, damaged or kept the organs or bodies of babies without family permission, new figures reveal.

Data on serious incidents within NHS mortuaries shows there were 55 cases where mortuary staff handed over the wrong body since 2017. The Independent 

Transit vans will be turned into electric ambulances to slash NHS' carbon footprint and fuel bills

Transit vans will be turned into electric ambulances to slash NHS' carbon footprint and fuel bills NHS bosses are working with Ford to convert their transit van into a double-crewed electric emergency vehicle as the NHS launches its bid to be the first service in the world to be net zero by 2040. The Daily Mail