Appeal launched to enhance vital facilities for bereaved parents at Northampton General Hospital

Appeal launched to enhance vital facilities for bereaved parents at Northampton General Hospital An appeal has been launched to help enhance the vital facilities and support for bereaved parents at Northampton General Hospital.

Northamptonshire Health Charity, which funds equipment and projects for local NHS hospitals and community services beyond what can be funded, is proud to be supporting the hospital by launching its Daisy Suite Appeal for those who experience the devastating loss of a baby. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Supporting children and young people with mental health needs in acute paediatric settings

Supporting children and young people with mental health needs in acute paediatric settings Over the past decade, there has been increasing need for mental health services to support children and young people. The pandemic resulted in a greater number of children and young people presenting with mental health disorders, often with complex needs requiring care or medical stabilisation, within a paediatric or acute setting. This framework commits to ensuring children and young people, and those who look after them, are supported. NHS England

Secure data environment for NHS health and social care data - policy guidelines

Secure data environment for NHS health and social care data - policy guidelines In Data saves lives: reshaping health and social care with data, we committed to implementing secure data environments as the default way to access NHS health and social care data for research and analysis. The strategy also sets out our intentions for the use of secure data environments to access NHS health and social care data through 12 clear guidelines. 

This publication provides additional background and detail for how we have developed those guidelines and their intended outcome. Department of Health and Social Care

Nurses across UK back strikes in pay dispute

Nurses across UK back strikes in pay dispute Nurses across the UK have voted to strike over pay with action expected to start by the end of the year.

The walkout will involve Royal College of Nursing members in more than half of hospitals and community teams, but emergency care will still be staffed.

Nurses in every service in Scotland and Northern Ireland voted for action. In Wales all but one health board did.

But in England the turnout was too low in nearly half of NHS trusts for strike action to take place. BBC News

See also:

• NHS pay ballot results: members vote to strike at majority of NHS employers across the UK Royal College of Nursing
• Striking a balance: patient safety during industrial action Royal College of Nursing
• NHS Confederation responds to RCN announcement on strike action NHS Confederation
• RCN announcement on strike action NHS Employers
• Nurses' strike: What is the dispute about? BBC News
• 'NHS haemorrhaging staff' – nurse explains why she voted for strike action Channel 4 News
• Nurse strike Q&A: All the questions answered as Royal College of Nursing confirms 'historic' action The Daily Mail
• Nurses WILL strike! Thousands of operations and treatments facing the axe this winter The Daily Mail
• Fury as Rolex-wearing minister says nurses 'usually' only use foodbanks when they've been dumped The Daily Mail
• Health Secretary Steve Barclay accused of being 'invisible man' The Daily Mail
• Nurses’ pay demands ‘simply not reasonable’ as they plan first national walkout The Daily Telegraph
• Real-terms fall in UK nurses’ pay is part of wider trend The Guardian
• ‘Pay in the NHS has become laughable’: UK nurses’ views on the vote to strike The Guardian
• Nurses’ strike: what’s at stake and how will it affect patients? The Guardian
• Nurses’ strikes: Full list of hospital trusts affected – see your area The Independent
• Nurses ‘worried about feeding families and paying rent’ as strike action gets go-ahead The Independent
• Nurses at 176 different NHS organisations vote to take strike action Nursing Notes

Antibody jab approved for common winter virus RSV

Antibody jab approved for common winter virus RSV A new treatment to protect babies against a common and potentially dangerous winter virus has been approved by the UK regulator.

The single antibody shot helps stop infants getting chest infections, such as pneumonia, for about six months.

A large study has now begun to find out whether nirsevimab should be offered to all babies in the UK.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the main reason children under five end up in hospital. BBC News

Sharp rise in cancer care delays 'risking lives'

Sharp rise in cancer care delays 'risking lives' There has been a sharp rise in long waits for cancer therapy in the past four years, BBC analysis shows.

The number waiting more than the 62-day target time for therapy in the past year has topped 67,000 across England, Northern Ireland and Scotland - twice as many as the same period in 2017-18.

Waits are also getting worse in Wales, but data does not go that far back.

The national cancer director for the NHS in England said staff were striving to catch up on the backlog of care.

But experts warned the problems could be putting patients at risk. BBC News

England's healthiest and unhealthiest boroughs REVEALED

England's healthiest and unhealthiest boroughs REVEALED England's health plummeted to a five-year low in the year the pandemic first struck, official figures suggest.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which measures health across the country's 308 authorities every year using 50-plus metrics, found it dropped to levels not seen since 2015 — when records began.

The results, which the ONS compared to a health version of GDP, showed that well-being, mental health and life satisfaction deteriorated in the early days of Covid. The Daily Mail

How some NHS hospitals are still nowhere near pre-Covid levels of activity

How some NHS hospitals are still nowhere near pre-Covid levels of activity Most NHS hospitals are still treating fewer patients than before Covid, MailOnline can reveal amid calls to make the backlog one of the Government's top priorities this winter.

Close to 270,000 routine operations like hip and knee replacements were carried out between June-August this year per month. For comparison, the figure was around 9 per cent higher during the same period in 2019.  The Daily Mail