Northamptonshire Health Charity opens first Swan Room at Northampton General Hospital for family of those in end of life care

Northamptonshire Health Charity opens first Swan Room at Northampton General Hospital for family of those in end of life care Northamptonshire Health Charity (NHC) has opened its first Swan Room at Northampton General Hospital (NGH) for those in end of life care.

The room, which cost £3000 - £3500 to kit out, is equipped with a range of amenities designed to make people’s stay there more comfortable and less clinical. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Northampton NHS worker won't quit her job despite £1m Lotto win

Northampton NHS worker won't quit her job despite £1m Lotto win “Working through Covid in the NHS has been tough. The amount of work has increased and, unfortunately, I have lost many family and friends.

"However, work has kept me going. I love my job and I won’t be leaving even after this amazing win.” Northants Live

See also:

• Northampton friends make a cuppa after £1m lottery win BBC News
• Northampton friends thought they'd won £1,000 on Lotto but their lucky ticket was worth a MILLION Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Integrated care systems need to be different - but how exactly?

Integrated care systems need to be different - but how exactly? NHS reforms are often accompanied by a dose of healthy (and sometimes unhealthy) scepticism – ‘Haven’t we been here before?’, ‘Are we just shuffling deck chairs?’, and so on. So it’s of no surprise that people have asked whether the latest innovation – integrated care systems (ICSs) – will be any different to their predecessors. The King's Fund

Personalised Prescribing – Using pharmacogenomics to improve patient outcomes

Personalised Prescribing – Using pharmacogenomics to improve patient outcomes A report from the British Pharmacological Society and the Royal College of Physicians calls for testing patients for genetic variations that affect how their body will respond to common medicines which must be integrated fully, fairly and swiftly into the NHS.

See also:

• Matching drugs to DNA is 'new era of medicine' BBC News
• UK should offer £150 genomic testing so NHS patients can get 'personalised prescriptions' The Daily Mail
• Experts push for genetic testing to personalise drug prescriptions The Guardian

Learning from Emergency Medicine compensation claims

Learning from Emergency Medicine compensation claims NHS Resolution has published a set of three reports which explore clinical issues that contribute to compensation claims within Emergency Departments.

Emergency Departments (ED) in England provide a high-quality service to patients under challenging circumstances. It is understanding how claims can provide unique learning to enhance safety and patient experience further which these reports aim to deliver.

See also:

• The NHS's multimillion-pound blunders laid bare in new report Evening Standard

Productivity of the English National Health Service: 2019/20 update

Productivity of the English National Health Service: 2019/20 update This report updates the Centre for Health Economics’ time-series of National Health Service (NHS) productivity growth for the period 2018/19 to 2019/20. NHS productivity growth is measured by comparing the growth in outputs produced by the NHS to the growth in inputs used to produce them. NHS outputs include all the activities undertaken for NHS patients wherever they are treated in England. It also accounts for changes in the quality of care provided to those patients. NHS inputs include the number of doctors, nurses, and support staff providing care, the equipment, and clinical supplies used, and the facilities of hospitals and other premises where care is provided.

Shropshire baby deaths: Report to be 'a blueprint for care'

Shropshire baby deaths: Report to be 'a blueprint for care' The midwife leading a review into maternity failings at Shropshire hospitals says it will set out a blueprint for safe care.

The inquiry, led by Donna Ockenden, the largest of its kind in the NHS's history is due to publish its findings on Wednesday. BBC News

Teenage social media use linked to less life-satisfaction for some

Teenage social media use linked to less life-satisfaction for some The more time girls aged between 11 and 13 spend on social media, the less likely they are to be satisfied with life a year later, a study suggests.

The UK study, in Nature Communications, shows the same pattern for boys aged 14 to 15, and 19-year-old boys and girls.

Scientists speculate the vulnerability to social media at particular ages may be linked to brain, hormonal and social changes during adolescent development. BBC News

See also:

• Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media (open access) Nature Communications

End of free Covid testing could put vulnerable at risk, say UK experts

End of free Covid testing could put vulnerable at risk, say UK experts Come the end of March, the lights will dim on the UK’s Covid epidemic. Despite infection levels rising, cases will plummet, as free lateral flow and PCR tests are stopped for the majority of people in England, with other countries in the UK also set to reduce free testing in the coming weeks and months. The Guardian

See also: 

• Partygate: Met Police to issue first fines, sources say BBC News
• Ros Atkins on… the UK’s rising Covid infections BBC News
• Speech therapy: Covid had 'devastating' effect on children BBC News
• Downing Street will NOT U-turn on its decision to scrap free Covid tests this week The Daily Mail
• Health chief hints 'relevant groups' will continue to have Covid boosters every six months The Daily Mail
• Is Covid peaking? UK cases fell 5% over the weekend The Daily Mail
• Children aged five to 11 can get Covid jabs from next week with centres stocking up on 'fidget toys'  The Daily Mail
• Hospitals warn patients to stay away as Norovirus and Covid outbreaks hit The Independent
• Antiviral drug to be trialled in hospitalised Covid patients The Independent

Government must stop treating women ‘like children’ and allow at home medical abortions, MPs warn

Government must stop treating women ‘like children’ and allow at home medical abortions, MPs warn The government must stop treating women “like children” and permanently allow at home early medical abortions, MPs and health professionals have said.

Abortion rules changed after Covid hit the UK in March 2020, with the government allowing abortion pills to be sent via post to be taken at home after a phone consultation. The Independent

See also:

• Tory MPs call for home early abortion service to be made permanent BBC News

Antibiotics breakthrough could save millions from drug-resistant superbugs

Antibiotics breakthrough could save millions from drug-resistant superbugs Millions of lives could be saved with a “game-changing” antibiotic that could treat otherwise drug-resistant superbugs following a breakthrough by UK scientists.

Researchers said they had developed new versions of a molecule thought to be capable of killing bacteria without damaging mammalian tissue. The Independent

Health and care integration: 'the government has set an impossible task'

Health and care integration: 'the government has set an impossible task' The government’s flagship proposals to integrate health and social care will be challenging to implement but achieve little benefit for local residents, senior figures in local government believe, an LGC survey suggests.

The findings follow February’s publication of the long-awaited white paper on integration, Joining up care for people, places and populations. Local Government Chronicle

Patient access to GP records via NHS App to be delayed amid 'safeguarding' concerns

Patient access to GP records via NHS App to be delayed amid 'safeguarding' concerns The enabling of patient access to GP records via the NHS app is set to be delayed again, with NHS England acknowledging concerns around patient ‘safeguarding’, Pulse has learned.

NHS England told Pulse on background that it was not sure when access would be enabled, but said it would not be on 1 April.

AI software that can predict daily A&E admissions is rolled out in 100 NHS hospitals TODAY

AI software that can predict daily A&E admissions is rolled out in 100 NHS hospitals TODAY A computer software is being rolled out in the NHS from today that can predict A&E admissions weeks in advance based on things like Covid rates and 111 calls.

The AI technology will be used in over 100 hospitals with major A&E departments in England, nearly half of all NHS trusts. The Daily Mail

See also:

• British tech firm Faculty partners with NHS to forecast A&E admissions Healthcare IT News
• AI software predicting daily A&E admissions rolled out in 100 NHS hospitals The Independent

Type 2 diabetics suffer 'middle-age' health woes such as cancer five years earlier

Type 2 diabetics suffer 'middle-age' health woes such as cancer five years earlier Type 2 diabetics suffer 'middle age' health problems five years earlier, a major study suggests. 

A study of more than 3million people in the UK looked at over a hundred diseases of middle age, including coronary heart disease, cancer and cataracts.

Researchers found almost half of these diseases, a total of 57, were more common in people with type 2 diabetes. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Comment On Study Linking Type 2 Diabetes To Earlier Health Problems NHS England