Everything you need to know about the Northamptonshire Covid situation

Everything you need to know about the Northamptonshire Covid situation Christmas is on the way and Northamptonshire locals will be hoping for a much more "normal" festive season than the one last year.

Despite Health Secretary Sajid Javid encouraging people to maintain their plans for December, the arrival of the Omicron variant has brought uncertainty. Northants Live

See also: 

• Face masks now compulsory in shops and on public transport in England amid spread of Covid Omicron variant Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• Not wearing face masks in shops and on public transport punishable by £200 fine Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• All the places you now have to wear a face mask in England - and where you don’t Northamptonshire Telegraph
• New Kettering Covid vaccine site to open as town's booster issue raised in Parliament Northamptonshire Telegraph
• Schools could close early for Christmas as new Covid guidance issued for pupils Northamptonshire Telegraph
• Your view: Government face masks rules dividing opinion in across Northamptonshire Northamptonshire Telegraph

Nurse who took morphine from Northampton hospital is struck off

Nurse who took morphine from Northampton hospital is struck off A nurse has been struck off after taking morphine from a ward at Northampton General Hospital.

Matija Konjevic has been sacked after he was found to have taken 50ml of morphine sulphate - commonly known as morphine - from the Rowan Ward at the Northamptonshire hospital. Northants Live 

Patient experience of NHS and social care service

Patient experience of NHS and social care service Using data from national patient surveys this analysis look at trends in patients’ experiences of NHS and social care services. QualityWatch is a Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation programme providing independent scrutiny into how the quality of health and social care is changing over time. 

Establishing a collaborative international recruitment alliance

Establishing a collaborative international recruitment alliance The Devon Alliance for International Recruitment (the Alliance) is a partnership of six NHS trusts supported by NHS England and NHS Improvement funding. It was established as a collaborative model for international recruitment focused on reducing costs and eliminating waste in the system. So far, 146 overseas nurses have come to Devon, and plans are underway to expand this model to wider health and social care roles across the integrated care system (ICS). NHS Employers 

ADASS home care and workforce rapid survey: November 2021

ADASS home care and workforce rapid survey: November 2021 This snap survey of the state of social care services has revealed a rapidly deteriorating picture of hundreds of thousands of older and disabled people left waiting for help despite record increases in care being provided to people in their own homes. Directors of social services across England are expressing unprecedented alarm at the findings as winter approaches. They say the government must act to stabilise the care system. This survey has found: almost 400,000 people are now waiting for an assessment of their needs or service; more than 1.5 million hours of commissioned home care could not be provided between August and October because of a lack of staff, despite record growth in provision; and one in two councils has had to respond to a care home closure or bankruptcy over the past six months. Association of Directors of Adult Social Services 

Independent report: UK vaccine response to the Omicron variant: JCVI advice

Independent report: UK vaccine response to the Omicron variant: JCVI advice Advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant. Department of Health and Social Care

See also: 

• Guidance: Face coverings: when to wear one, exemptions, and how to make one Department of Health and Social Care
• Statement to Parliament: Oral statement to update on the Omicron variant Department of Health and Social Care
• G7 joint statement on the Omicron variant Department of Health and Social Care
• Total NHS COVID vaccines top 96 million, amid concern over new variant NHS England
• JCVI advice on COVID-19 booster vaccines for those aged 18 to 39 and a second dose for ages 12 to 15 UK Health Security Agency

Covid: Face masks rules return in England amid Omicron spread

Covid: Face masks rules return in England amid Omicron spread Face coverings have become mandatory again on public transport and shops in England in an effort to slow the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

People arriving in the UK from abroad will now also have to take a PCR test and self-isolate until they receive a negative result.

It comes after 14 cases of the new variant were detected in the UK. BBC News

See also: 

• Omicron: WHO warns of 'high infection risk' around globe BBC News
• Covid: Sajid Javid on rising cases of Omicron in UK BBC News
• Covid: Omicron variant 'not all doom and gloom' BBC News
• Covid: All UK adults should get Covid booster, say advisers BBC News
• Omicron: How do you detect it? BBC News
• Could Omicron be GOOD news? Variant 'might speed up end of pandemic if it causes mild illness' The Daily Mail
• BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson announce they will be working on Omicron specific COVID-19 vaccine The Daily Mail
• Omicron Covid variant Q&A: How the symptoms differ and what protection vaccines offer The Daily Telegraph
• Is the NHS in a position to handle the Covid Omicron variant? The Guardian
• Covid: UK aims for 500,000 jabs a day in bid to outpace Omicron variant The Guardian
• UK’s minimum gap for Covid booster jabs to be halved to three months The Guardian
• Omicron: NHS chief urges volunteers to help 'vital' booster campaign to combat new Covid threat iNews

Dr Michael Watt: General Medical Council welcomes voluntary erasure appeal

Dr Michael Watt: General Medical Council welcomes voluntary erasure appeal The General Medical Council (GMC) has welcomed an appeal against a Medical Practitioners' Tribunal ruling to allow Dr Michael Watt's voluntary erasure from the medical register.

Dr Michael Watt's work, and its oversight, is the subject of ongoing inquiries.

He made an application to be removed from the register in October. BBC News 

Dying patients go without care as community nurses ‘on their knees’

Dying patients go without care as community nurses ‘on their knees’ Dying patients are going without care in their own homes because of a collapse in community nursing services, new data shared with The Independent reveals.

Across England a third of district nurses say they are now being forced to delay visits to end of life care patients because of surging demand and a lack of staff. This is up from just 2 per cent in 2015.