Tuesday 7 March 2023
Supporting high-quality perinatal mental health care
Supporting high-quality perinatal mental health care This resource, drawn from an evidence review, provides a strengths-based action template to enable and inform high-quality care for families impacted by perinatal mental health (PMH) problems, enabling individuals to come together and plan “what good looks like” for them, as practitioners, services, professions, organisations, pathways, networks, and systems. The resource (produced with the Maternal Mental Health Alliance) highlights: why improving PMH care is crucial; what good care looks like to both practitioners and families with lived experience; and ten principles of best practice. Institute of Health Visiting
Protected learning time
Protected learning time This guidance sets out the RPS's recommendations for protected learning time (PLT). PLT is needed to give professionals time to develop clinical and non-clinical capabilities across the pharmacy workforce, particularly around education and research as well as leadership. A wider workforce plan for the pharmacy profession needs to be developed in each of the three nations and these need to contain several elements which will enable pharmacists, in all sectors, to develop professionally. Royal Pharmaceutical Society
NHS health teams to refer lonely and isolated patients for check in and chat service
NHS health teams to refer lonely and isolated patients for check in and chat service Over a thousand volunteers have signed up to provide friendly phone calls for patients in England who are vulnerable, isolated or lonely, as the NHS Volunteer Responders programme reintroduces its Check in and Chat service.
GPs, pharmacists, and other healthcare workers are being encouraged to request Check in and Chat support for patients who are socially isolated or would benefit from a phone call and a bit of encouragement – with an option to request just a one-off call or a series of calls. NHS England
NHS consultants ready to strike, warns British Medical Association
NHS consultants ready to strike, warns British Medical Association Consultants in England are ready to strike after a consultative ballot by the British Medical Association (BMA) showed support for industrial action.
The union says consultants have seen pay cuts of 35% since 2008 once inflation is taken into account.
The BMA is now warning it will proceed to a formal ballot unless the government acts before 3 April. BBC News
See also:
- Consultants in England ‘ready to strike’, as BMA consultative ballot shows overwhelming support for industrial action BMA
- Pay, pensions and DDRB reform for consultants in England BMA
- NHS Confederation responds to BMA's consultants indicative strike ballot NHS Confederation
- NHS Providers responds to threat of strikes by consultants NHS Providers
- NHS consultants to be balloted over potential strike action Evening Standard
- Consultants back industrial action in preliminary ballot and could be on strike by spring GPonline
- Senior doctors in England prepared to strike over pensions and pay The Guardian
- Hospital consultants to be balloted over possible strike action The Independent
- Senior hospital doctors ‘ready to strike’ in England Pulse
Vitiligo: Controversial skin cream may come to UK
Vitiligo: Controversial skin cream may come to UK A controversial new treatment for a condition called vitiligo that can restore pigment to the skin might soon be offered on the NHS, if UK experts approve it.
Some call ruxolitinib a miracle cream because it can return skin's natural colour and get rid of whitened patches.
But it carries some potentially serious side effects. BBC News
Some call ruxolitinib a miracle cream because it can return skin's natural colour and get rid of whitened patches.
But it carries some potentially serious side effects. BBC News
Mothers denied gas and air in labour say their births were traumatic
Mothers denied gas and air in labour say their births were traumatic When Leigh Milner gave birth to her baby boy last month she was expecting "all the pain relief" but ended up with just paracetamol and describes her labour as absolutely unbearable.
The BBC journalist delivered her son Theo at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, one of several that have recently suspended gas and air due to fears midwives and doctors have been exposed to unsafe levels. BBC News
See also:
NHS England imposes GP contract with focus on access
NHS England imposes GP contract with focus on access NHS England has imposed a contract on GPs to start next month, which includes more stipulations around access, but no extra funding.
The contract letter, which was sent to GPs today, was not agreed with the BMA GP Committee, who have already said they will be exploring all options following an imposition, including potential industrial action.
Under the new contract, GP practices will have to offer patients an ‘assessment of need’ on first contact and will ‘no longer be able to request that patients contact the practice at a later time’. Pulse
The contract letter, which was sent to GPs today, was not agreed with the BMA GP Committee, who have already said they will be exploring all options following an imposition, including potential industrial action.
Under the new contract, GP practices will have to offer patients an ‘assessment of need’ on first contact and will ‘no longer be able to request that patients contact the practice at a later time’. Pulse
See also:
- Changes to the GP Contract in 2023/24 NHS England
- GP Contract Hub NHS England
- Anger over imposed GP contract that does ‘nothing to support general practice’ BMA
- NHS Confederation responds to NHS England's change to the GP contract NHS Confederation
- Patients must now get a GP slot or be referred elsewhere on the FIRST time they call The Daily Mail
- Imposed GP contract for 2023/24 overhauls access, IIF and child vaccination payments GPonline
- New GP contract ‘will see more GPs quit and patients wait longer for care’ The Independent
What have we learned from Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages? – podcast
What have we learned from Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages? – podcast More than 100,000 of the former health secretary’s phone messages have been leaked. What do they tell us about the way the government handled the pandemic?
The revelations have come thick and fast. There was the joke implying the health secretary believed Rishi Sunak’s “eat out to help out” scheme may have driven up Covid cases. There was the most senior civil servant describing the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, as a “nationally distrusted figure”. There was the reference to teaching unions as “absolute arses”. The leaked phone messages from Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp account have certainly had their share of surprises. The Guardian
See also:
- Hancock backed pressuring MP into voting for lockdown, messages reveal BBC News
- Matt Hancock blocked chief medic Chris Whitty's calls to ease isolation rules The Daily Mail
- A (partial) defence of Matt Hancock: leaders must be free to discuss policy in private The Guardian
- Hancock discussed blocking disability hub if MP opposed lockdown, messages reveal The Independent
- Leaked WhatsApps reveal government struggle over Covid ‘sex ban’ advice The Independent
- Hancock ‘discussed withholding learning disability hub if MP opposed lockdown’ ITV News
- Sir Chris Whitty warned public wouldn't stick to lockdown 'sex ban', leaked messages reveal Sky News
- Hancock took mistress to private dinners with US health sec - then tried to remove suggestion he invited her, leaked messages show Sky News
Hundreds of community pharmacies 'could close due to rising costs'
Hundreds of community pharmacies 'could close due to rising costs' The most recent contract signed with NHS England and the government to fund community pharmacies is said to be no longer fit for purpose, given the rise in costs. Sky News
11MILLION Brits were unable to get an NHS dentist appointment last year
11MILLION Brits were unable to get an NHS dentist appointment last year Roughly 11million people in England failed to get an NHS dentist appointment last year, shock data suggests.
Industry leaders warned today the figures — amounting to around one in four adults — show the decaying dental industry 'is running out of road'. The Daily Mail
See also:
- England: Half of dentists have cut NHS commitment with more to come British Dental Association
- Rotten, with no quick fixes: the state of our mouths reflects the plight of NHS dentistry The Guardian
What do experts on the Government's SAGE panel hink the next pandemic will be?
What do experts on the Government's SAGE panel hink the next pandemic will be? What will be the next pandemic, and what, if anything, can be done to stop it?
This is the question MailOnline put to experts who sat on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) panel during the Covid crisis.
Their answers come as concerns around the globe continue to grow on if bird flu could spill over to people and cause a new pandemic. The Daily Mail
Meet the NHS medics who've gone beyond the call of duty
Meet the NHS medics who've gone beyond the call of duty For these six healthcare professionals, it’s not enough to spend their working days trying to help others — they have gone one step further by donating one of their kidneys to a stranger. The Daily Mail
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