Northampton nurse to visit Downing Street to meet Rishi Sunak as part of celebrations for 75 years of the NHS

Northampton nurse to visit Downing Street to meet Rishi Sunak as part of celebrations for 75 years of the NHS A nurse from Northampton General Hospital (NGH) is meeting the Prime Minister as part of the national NHS 75 celebrations.

Deputy Lead Nurse for Palliative Care, Kerry Messam, has been invited to a Downing Street reception with Rishi Sunak taking place today. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

NHS Birthday 2023

NHS Birthday 2023 On 5 July 2023, the NHS will mark 75 years of service. We will be celebrating this milestone by showcasing the best of the NHS. 

Treating over a million people a day in England, the NHS touches all of our lives. When it was founded in 1948, the NHS was the first universal health system to be available to all, free at the point of delivery. Today, nine in 10 people agree that healthcare should be free of charge, more than four in five agree that care should be available to everyone, and that the NHS makes them most proud to be British. NHS England

See also:

• To everyone who's made such a difference to many millions of lives over the last 75 years — thank you. (Tweet) Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive NHS England
• Celebrating 75 years of our NHS and the people improving care Healthwatch
• Celebrating the NHS at 75 NHS Employers
• British sporting stars unite to celebrate NHS’s 75th birthday NHS England
• Prince William and Kate meet NHS' first ever baby BBC News
• NHS chief thanks staff for ‘constant compassion’ as health service turns 75 Evening Standard
• Timeline: The NHS’s milestones in healthcare as service turns 75 Evening Standard
• ‘I would not want to be in anyone else’s hands’: six people on how the NHS saved their lives The Guardian
• NHS 75: Nurses share their ‘birthday wishes’ for the health service Nursing in Practice
• NHS at 75: Who was founder Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan? Sky News

‘Addiction to short-termism’ put NHS future at risk, warn think tanks

‘Addiction to short-termism’ put NHS future at risk, warn think tanks As the NHS turns 75, three major health and care research institutes have issued a stark warning that continued political short-termism will leave the NHS ‘unlikely to reach it’s centenary’.

The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund have written to the leaders of the three largest political parties in England stating: ‘75 years after its creation, the National Health Service is in critical condition. Pressures on services are extreme and public satisfaction is at its lowest since it first began to be tracked 40 years ago. Despite this, public support for the NHS as an institution is rock solid.’

See also:

• The NHS at 75: a letter to party leaders The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund
• The NHS at 75: what does the future hold? NHS Providers
• NHS 75: Happy birthday - but can it survive to 100? BBC News
• Inside the NHS at 75: ‘Used and abused, overworked and underpaid’ – video The Guardian
• NHS founder 'would turn in his grave' as service faces crisis at 75 The Guardian
• Most doctors think ministers want to destroy NHS, BMA boss says The Guardian
• NHS at 75: First NHS baby says service is 'creaking at the seams' Sky News
• NHS at 75: 90% of people don't think the service will improve with almost half saying it will get worse Sky News

Fit for the Future: A Modern and Sustainable NHS Providing Accessible and Personalised Care for All

Fit for the Future: A Modern and Sustainable NHS Providing Accessible and Personalised Care for All We have the technological and scientific means to transform health and care to safeguard the founding principles of Beveridge and Bevan. Without fully embracing the tech revolution, there is no future for the NHS.

As this report sets out, we keep the principle of health care based on need not on the ability to pay – the originating principle of the NHS – but change radically the way the system works to incorporate not only what modern technology makes possible, but also the best from health-care systems around the world. Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

See also:

• NHS patients should be allowed to pay to speed up healthcare access, says Tony Blair The Daily Telegraph
• Tony Blair urges expanded role for private sector as NHS turns 75 The Guardian
• Tony Blair says NHS is finished unless private sector used more The Independent

Report findings on staff health and wellbeing in the NHS

Report findings on staff health and wellbeing in the NHS A new report looking at organisational measures to support staff wellbeing in the NHS identifies a range of factors underpinning the most successful interventions.

The Organisational Wellbeing Interventions: Case Studies from the NHS report is published by the Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM) and produced by a team of researchers from universities across the UK.

It comes as working conditions and psychological wellbeing of NHS staff is an increasing cause for concern, and more questions are being raised about how they can best be supported in these challenging times. NHS Employers

UK Health Security Agency set up with no formal governance and weak financial controls

UK Health Security Agency set up with no formal governance and weak financial controls The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) was set up with financial controls so poor that it cannot be established whether its transactions were applied to the purposes laid out for it by Parliament.

In a report published today on the Department of Health and Social Care’s 2021-22 Annual Report and Accounts, the Public Accounts Committee notes that the UKHSA’s weak financial controls meant that, highly unusually, it could not be established whether its accounts were true and fair. For example, UKHSA’s consumption of £3.3 billion worth of inventory transferred from NHS Test and Trace could not be verified by proper financial records. The UKHSA did not even perform bank reconciliations, one of the most basic financial controls for an organisation.

See also:

• UKHSA was set-up with 'no formal governance' The Daily Mail
• MPs criticise ‘staggering’ failures at UK Health Security Agency The Guardian
• British lawmakers say new health agency had weak financial controls Reuters

All secondary school pupils eligible for free flu vaccine

All secondary school pupils eligible for free flu vaccine All secondary school pupils in England will be offered a free flu vaccine from September for the 2023/24 season, the government has confirmed.

An initial list of groups eligible for this year’s vaccine was first announced in May, with a note that a decision on secondary school pupils would follow at a later date.

Now, the government has confirmed it is expanding the programme to over three million pupils in secondary school years 7 to 11, who will be offered the vaccine as a nasal spray through their school’s vaccination programme from 1 September. Department of Health and Social Care

Policy paper: Safe care at home review

Policy paper: Safe care at home review Joint review led by the Home Office and DHSC into the protections and support for adults abused, or at risk of abuse, in their own home by people providing their care.

The review drew on the experience of people who receive care in their own homes, organisations representing carers, and statutory agencies including frontline professionals. Department of Health and Social Care

Cancer patients welcome NHS drug policy change

Cancer patients welcome NHS drug policy change Cancer patients said they felt relieved they could continue taking life-saving drugs after a policy change.

Doctors were not allowed to automatically prescribe two bowel cancer drugs on the NHS in England if patients had taken a break from them.

Steven Marsland, 38, from Brantham, Suffolk, said the decision meant he now had "one less thing to worry about".

The policy affected the drugs cetuximab and panitumumab. BBC News

NHS England sets out seven short-term digital priorities

NHS England sets out seven short-term digital priorities NHS England has informed NHS trusts and ICBs of its list of seven short-term digital priorities, all focused on secondary care and elective recovery, with an eye firmly on the next General Election.

The so-called 6+1 priorities, issued in June with minimal advance notice or consultation, cover strictly short-term objectives that NHS England rather improbably says can be deployed a light speed, some in a matter of months, before the next General Election, expected in autumn 2024. Digital Health

Extension of NHS 'virtual ward' scheme for children in England 'equivalent to 10,000 extra beds by winter'

Extension of NHS 'virtual ward' scheme for children in England 'equivalent to 10,000 extra beds by winter' A scheme which enables children to receive hospital level care at home for certain conditions will be extended to every region in England, the NHS has announced.

The virtual ward initiative - the largest of its kind in the world - was piloted in Blackpool, Dudley and Dorset, where it was used by 6,400 children.

People with respiratory illnesses such as asthma and heart conditions can be cared for at home under the scheme. Sky News

Endometriosis may be linked to reduction in live births before diagnosis – study

Endometriosis may be linked to reduction in live births before diagnosis – study Endometriosis may be linked to a reduction in live births before diagnosis of the condition, research suggests.

According to the study, the disease is associated with a reduction in fertility in the years before a definitive surgical diagnosis.

Researchers suggest the possible effect of endometriosis on the desired number of children highlights the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The Independent

See also:

• First live birth before surgical verification of endometriosis—a nationwide register study of 18 324 women (open access) Human Reproduction