Thursday 1 December 2022

A short break

Our blog will be back on Tuesday the 6th of December.

Northamptonshire nurses confirm when they will strike before Christmas

Northamptonshire nurses confirm when they will strike before Christmas Northamptonshire nurses have confirmed when they will strike before Christmas. As many as 100,000 NHS nurses will walkout in the first of a series of NHS industrial actions in the coming weeks. Northants Live

More under-fives with flu in region's hospitals – here’s how you can get your child vaccinated in Northamptonshire

More under-fives with flu in region's hospitals – here’s how you can get your child vaccinated in Northamptonshire Health experts are urging parents in Northamptonshire to get their under-fives vaccinated against flu as hospitals see numbers of sick children rise in the region.

They fear fewer vaccinations last year means more than half the very young have no protection against infection. The vaccine is given to children as a spray squirted up each nostril. It's quick and painless. The vaccine will still work even if your child gets a runny nose, sneezes or blows their nose. Northamptonshire Telegraph

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Concern over low rate of 2 to 3 year olds getting the flu vaccine

Concern over low rate of 2 to 3 year olds getting the flu vaccine Following the latest UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data showing the low uptake of the flu vaccine among 2 and 3 year olds and the high rates of under 5s being hospitalised with flu, UKHSA is warning parents of the importance of ensuring their young children are vaccinated.

During week 46 (between 14 and 20 November), it is estimated that over 200 children under 5 were hospitalised suffering from serious complications caused by flu. These figures are estimated based on confirmed influenza cases in NHS acute hospitals. UK Health Security Agency

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Nursing and midwifery register grows and becomes more ethnically diverse

Nursing and midwifery register grows and becomes more ethnically diverse The number of nurses, midwives and nursing associates on the NMC register has grown by nearly two percent to a record 771,445. This growth is being driven in large part by the number of internationally educated joiners, which continues to rise at a much faster rate than UK joiners.

A total of 11,496 international professionals joined the NMC register for the first time between April and September. That’s 4.9 percent more than in the same period last year (10,961) and nearly four times more than in the six months to September 2018 (3,208). Nursing and Midwifery Council

Independent report: Technical report on the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK

Independent report: Technical report on the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK This is a technical report for our successors on some of the scientific, public health and clinical aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the 4 nations of the UK. Department of Health and Social Care

NHS HIV testing rollout identifies hundreds of new cases

NHS HIV testing rollout identifies hundreds of new cases More than 800 people living with HIV and Hepatitis not receiving treatment have been found by the NHS in just six months following the rollout of routine testing in A&E.

In April 2022, the NHS made £20 million available over three years to implement routine HIV opt out testing within 33 hospital Emergency Departments, in areas with the highest rates of diagnosed HIV. NHS England

Forty-hour ambulance waits as NHS delays worsen

Forty-hour ambulance waits as NHS delays worsen When 85-year-old Koulla fell at home, her family immediately rang for an ambulance. She was in agonising pain - she had broken her hip.

It was around 8pm. It took another 14 hours for an ambulance to get to her, leaving her pregnant granddaughter to care for her through the night.

When they arrived the crews were able to give her pain relief and quickly transported her to the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

But there the wait continued - there were around 30 ambulances queuing to handover patients to A&E staff.

It was another 26 hours before she was taken inside to A&E. BBC News

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NHS 'winter war rooms' go live across England

NHS 'winter war rooms' go live across England More than 40 NHS “traffic control centres” have gone live across England with the aim of getting patients into beds more quickly and managing demand.

The “winter war rooms” will use data to respond to pressures on the health system, with staff able to divert ambulances away from full hospitals to ones with more capacity. The Independent

Officials slow to act on Covid contact-tracing warnings, leaked evidence says

Officials slow to act on Covid contact-tracing warnings, leaked evidence says Public health leaders were slow to act on repeated warnings over Christmas 2020 that contact tracing and isolation should be triggered immediately after a positive lateral flow test result, leaked evidence to the Covid inquiry shows.

A scathing “lessons learned” document written by Dr Achim Wolf, a senior test and trace official, and submitted to the inquiry, gives his account of a trail of missed opportunities to improve the NHS test-and-trace regime in the first winter and spring of the pandemic – before vaccines were available. The Guardian

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Amputees and stroke survivors are being 'imprisoned at home' due to lack of physiotherapy

Amputees and stroke survivors are being 'imprisoned at home' due to lack of physiotherapy Patients are being left with increasing levels of disability and depression because of a lack of NHS rehabilitation services, physiotherapists have warned.

Amputees are among those left waiting months for care, with some people treated in cupboards and corridors due to a shortage of proper rooms, it is claimed.

Meanwhile, stroke survivors are left 'imprisoned at home with a bed and a commode' while they wait to be seen, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy added. The Daily Mail