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Thursday 15 June 2023
We are taking a short break
Loyal Kettering hospital 'bank' health care assistants denied lump sum payment beg 'treat us fairly and with respect'
Loyal Kettering hospital 'bank' health care assistants denied lump sum payment beg 'treat us fairly and with respect' Campaigners want all NHS bank staff in England to receive non-consolidated payments.
NHS bank health care staff at Kettering General Hospital (KGH), who tended the dying during the Covid pandemic, say they have been snubbed after being left out of a national pay award.
The zero-hour contracted bank staff are paid at the same rate of pay as substantive employees, choosing which shifts they work but without benefits of holiday or sick pay. Northamptonshire Telegraph
The radical reform that’s been staring the NHS in the face
The radical reform that’s been staring the NHS in the face There is no getting away from the fact that the health and care system is under enormous pressure. Public satisfaction is declining, there are long waits for care and staff are exhausted and demoralised. A decade of under-investment, avoidance of crucial policy decisions on social care, lack of a funded workforce plan, under-ambitious public health measures, the Covid-19 pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis have all contributed to this. The King's Fund
The NHS productivity puzzle
The NHS productivity puzzle: Why has hospital activity not increased in line with funding and staffing? The NHS crisis will only be solved with capital investment, increasing management capacity and staff retention – not just more doctors and nurses.
Politicians need to seriously engage with the real problems facing the NHS – or the decline in hospital performance levels will become extremely difficult to reverse.
This report – written jointly by the Institute for Government and Public First, and funded by the Health Foundation – assesses why NHS hospitals are failing to deliver higher activity despite higher spending on the service and higher levels of staffing over the last couple of years.
How bad does the NHS crisis need to get?
How bad does the NHS crisis need to get? Sam Freedman takes a closer look at the NHS crisis.
Back in January, at the peak of the 2022/23 winter crisis, I wrote a post on my Substack1 asking “whether the NHS is in a death spiral”? It was gloomy. I didn’t see much evidence that the government had grasped the severity of the situation or were focusing on the right levers.
I’m not feeling any less gloomy now. If anything this year is going worse than I expected. The Institute for Government
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After the pandemic: is the new public health system in England fit for purpose? The perspective of England’s directors of public health
After the pandemic: is the new public health system in England fit for purpose? The perspective of England’s directors of public health The CHPI was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to conduct research on the new public health structures which have been put in place in England since it was announced Public Health England was to be abolished in 2020. As the current pandemic has shown an effective, well organised accountable public health system is not only key to controlling the spread of a disease – permitting the wider economy and public services to function – but is also vital in addressing growing health inequalities. Centre for Health and the Public Interest
Kidney disease: a UK public health emergency - the health economics of kidney disease to 2033
Kidney disease: a UK public health emergency - the health economics of kidney disease to 2033 This report looks at the growing costs of kidney disease, both in treating patients and in money lost to the economy by people being left unable to work due to time-consuming and gruelling treatment. It finds that kidney disease is costing the UK economy £7 billion a year, costs which could rise to £13.9 billion in just ten years. It contains projections that the NHS could see capacity for dialysis treatment overwhelmed unless the disease becomes a government priority. Kidney Care UK
Government takes action to strengthen local care systems
Government takes action to strengthen local care systems The government has committed to a number of measures to support integrated care systems in response to two key reports.
Responding to the Hewitt Review which reported its findings on 4 April and the recent Health and Social Care Select Committee (HSCC) Inquiry into the workings of the local health and care systems, the government reaffirmed its support for integrated care systems. Department of Health and Social Care
See also:
- Policy paper: Government response to the HSCC report and the Hewitt Review on integrated care systems Department of Health and Social Care
Retired specialists set to help with tackling Covid backlog
Retired specialists set to help with tackling Covid backlog Retired doctors will have an option to “keep caring” and re-join the NHS to carry out outpatient appointments in a new initiative to help reduce waiting lists.
From autumn, newly-retired doctors will be able to sign up to a new digital platform where they will be able to offer their availability to trusts across England to perform outpatient appointments, either virtually or in person.
NHS hospitals will choose the consultant whose skillset and availability best matches the appointments they need covered, which are scheduled and arranged with patients in the normal way. NHS England
Charles Ndhlovu: NHS 'corrected mistakes' after son's suicide - mother
Charles Ndhlovu: NHS 'corrected mistakes' after son's suicide - mother An NHS trust has been accused of adding to the records of a man the day after he took his own life to "correct their mistakes".
Charles Ndhlovu, 33, died under the care of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) in 2017.
His mother, Angelina Pattison, said the way her son's case had been handled had "upset me so much".
The trust did not respond to the claim about the records being added to but said learning from deaths was "vital". BBC News
Super-engineered vaccines created to help end polio
Super-engineered vaccines created to help end polio Scientists have "super-engineered" polio vaccines to prevent them mutating into a dangerous form that can cause outbreaks and paralysis.
The oral vaccines contain weakened live polio viruses and the genetic redesign locks them into that weakened state.
The US and UK teams have now created upgraded vaccines against all three types of polio.
However, better vaccines still need to reach every child in order to stop the disease. BBC News
See also:
- A novel tool to eradicate an ancient scourge: the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 story (free access) The Lancet Infectious Diseases
- Scientists build a new vaccine arsenal to eradicate polio Medical Xpress
Scientists create synthetic human embryos using stem cells in major breakthrough
Scientists create synthetic human embryos using stem cells in major breakthrough Scientists have created synthetic human embryos using stem cells in a major scientific breakthrough.
Experts believe the development could provide insight into causes of miscarriages and unique aspects of human development but also raises ethical and legal questions. Sky News
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CEO of scandal-hit hospitals resigns after The Independent exposes ‘systemic abuse’
CEO of scandal-hit hospitals resigns after The Independent exposes ‘systemic abuse’ The chief executive of a group of scandal-hit children’s mental health hospitals has stood down after a series of investigations by The Independent exposed “systemic abuse”.
Dr Sylvia Tang, CEO of Active Care Group which owns former Huntercombe Group hospitals, has left her role to “pursue a plural career”.
Covid testing was a weakness in early pandemic response, DHSC tells inquiry
Covid testing was a weakness in early pandemic response, DHSC tells inquiry The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has admitted Covid testing was “a significant weakness” in the UK’s early pandemic response and stressed the need for proper funding to prepare the nation for the next emergency.
While the DHSC said it would not claim “it did everything right”, its opening statement to the UK Covid public inquiry highlighted wider government choices on funding in what will be seen as turning the focus on Downing Street and the Treasury. The Guardian
See also:
- Pandemic akin to war, lawyer tells Covid inquiry BBC News
- Go easy on us over our Covid errors, lawyers for Cabinet Office and Department of Health beg Inquiry The Daily Mail
- Cuts to NHS budgets to blame for our response to Covid, new inquiry told Evening Standard
- Covid inquiry could be a landmark moment Local Government Chronicle
AI discovers drugs to combat age-related health issues like Alzheimer's
AI discovers drugs to combat age-related health issues like Alzheimer's Artificial intelligence technology helped researchers identify a trio of chemicals that target faulty cells linked to age-related health issues, including certain cancers and Alzheimer’s disease.
The algorithm comb through a library of more than 4,300 chemical compounds and identified 21 drug candidates that could prompt cell senescence.
This is a phenomenon in which faulty cells stop multiplying but do not die off as they should and continue to release chemicals that can trigger inflammation. The Daily Mail
See also:
- Discovery of senolytics using machine learning (open access) Nature Communications
NHS plans vaping crackdown by restricting the number of flavours and adverts that appeal to children
NHS plans vaping crackdown by restricting the number of flavours and adverts that appeal to children The NHS are attempting to clampdown on vaping by restricting flavours and advertisement that appeal to children after the number of youngsters hospitalised by vaping has quadrupled in two years.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, described the increase in hospital admissions among the young as 'seriously concerning'. The Daily Mail
See also:
- Vaping: Why are people worried about young people vaping? BBC News
- Rise in number of children treated in hospital for vaping ‘worrying’ – NHS chief Evening Standard
- The child vaping crisis: ‘From what my daughter says, 90% of her year do it’ The Guardian
- Forty children admitted to hospital for vaping amid rising ‘epidemic’ The Independent
- Under-tens in hospital 15 times for 'vape-related disorders' over past year ITV News
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