50 people diagnosed with skin cancer as more than 600 attend surveillance event at Kettering General Hospital

50 people diagnosed with skin cancer as more than 600 attend surveillance event at Kettering General Hospital Skin specialists at KGH are asking local people to be aware of the cancer dangers of sun exposure this summer and to cover-up and be careful.

The advice follows a skin surveillance day held by the hospital from May 3 to 5 at Prospect House in Kettering, attended by 633 members of the public.

Of those some 50 were diagnosed with a skin cancer of some kind, including the most serious, and potentially life-threatening kind of cancer, malignant melanoma. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Social health insurance: be careful what you wish for

Social health insurance: be careful what you wish for The British public is unhappy with the state of NHS services but remains wedded to its funding model: tax funded and largely free at the point of use. That hasn’t stopped calls to reform the way the NHS is paid for and adopt a version of the social health insurance systems common elsewhere in Europe.

Social health insurance looks different in different nations, but there are common features. People pay contributions to non-governmental bodies, separate from the tax system, with a significant proportion of social health insurance revenue coming from employers and employees. 

What would it mean if the NHS was switched to a social insurance system? This blog looks at some of the policy choices that might arise based on the evolution of three European health systems: Germany, France and the Netherlands. The Health Foundation

Strengthening perinatal mental health: A roadmap to the right support at the right time

Strengthening perinatal mental health: A roadmap to the right support at the right time The Royal College of Midwives is warning that vital perinatal mental health support is on the precipice, as it launches a new ‘roadmap’ to ensure women receive the support they need and to improve perinatal mental health care in the UK.

Released today, ‘Strengthening perinatal mental health’ makes for sobering reading. One in five women will experience mental health issues during pregnancy and up to a year after birth, ranging from anxiety and depression to more significant illness. Furthermore, suicide remains one of the leading causes of death in new mothers up to the first year after giving birth. Despite this, it’s all too clear that mental health needs remain secondary to physical health needs of women during pregnancy in our NHS.

Wellbeing and inclusion: how ambulance trusts are seeking improvements for staff

Wellbeing and inclusion: how ambulance trusts are seeking improvements for staff  This long-read explores how ambulance trusts are seeking to support and improve the wellbeing of their workforce. NHS Providers

NHS launches lifesaving campaign to help people spot a heart attack

NHS launches lifesaving campaign to help people spot a heart attack The NHS is launching a lifesaving campaign to encourage people to call 999 when they are having early signs of a heart attack, as admissions for heart attack return to pre-pandemic levels.

The campaign will teach people about the common signs of a heart attack that are often dismissed or ignored by people.

NHS figures show that there were more than 84,000 hospital heart attack admissions in England during 2021/22, up by more than 7,000 compared to the previous year when fewer people came forward for care during the pandemic. NHS England

NHS: Is Wales worse than England for waiting lists?

NHS: Is Wales worse than England for waiting lists? A row has broken out about hospital waiting lists in Wales and England.

The Welsh Health Minister Eluned Morgan accused her English counterpart Steve Barclay of a "naked political hit".

Mr Barclay said he was open to requests to help treat long-waiting Welsh patients over the border.

Ms Morgan said England had issues of its own, but admitted NHS Wales was "challenged in terms of waiting lists".

But what can we tell about the two? BBC News

Number of children in mental health crisis at record high in England

Number of children in mental health crisis at record high in England The number of children in mental health crisis has reached record levels in England, analysis of NHS data by the mental health charity YoungMinds shows.

For the first time, urgent referrals of under-18s to mental health crisis teams reached more than 3,500 in May, three times higher than in May 2019. And in the year to March 2023 there were 21,555 urgent referrals to mental health crisis teams, up 46% on 2022, the charity found.

These are children with the most acute mental health symptoms, who might otherwise need to go to hospital for psychosis, severe self-harm or suicide attempts. The Guardian

See also:

• Urgent referrals of children to emergency mental health services tripled Young Minds
• ‘Mental health emergency’ as urgent referrals for under 18s triple Evening Standard

Patients could get cancer scans without GP referral, says Steve Barclay

Patients could get cancer scans without GP referral, says Steve Barclay Patients with cancer symptoms could bypass their GP in the future and go straight for a scan, the health secretary has suggested, in the latest “radical” attempt by the government to cut huge NHS waiting lists.

The suggestion, which comes as the government is expected to reduce the number of NHS cancer waiting time targets, could form part of proposals to “design out bottlenecks” in the NHS system, Steve Barclay said in an interview. The Guardian

See also:

• People displaying signs of cancer could go straight for a scan without having to see a GP, Health Secretary Steve Barclay says The Daily Mail
• Steve Barclay: patients could skip GP for cancer checks The Daily Telegraph
• Patients could skip their GP for cancer checks, says Barclay The Independent

Health minister says Stonewall should not write gender policies for NHS bodies

Health minister says Stonewall should not write gender policies for NHS bodies Stonewall has defended its work with public bodies after a health minister said that the charity should not be allowed to write gender policies for NHS organisations.

The health minister Will Quince said on Tuesday that NHS trusts should develop their own policies “without the help of organisations like Stonewall”, claiming that there was a danger of “ideology” coming before the concerns of patients and staff. The Guardian

Men can cut the risk of nine cancers with certain exercises, study finds

Men can cut the risk of nine cancers with certain exercises, study finds Male joggers, swimmers and cyclists could be cutting their risk of nine cancers, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that men with good cardiorespiratory fitness are far less likely to go on to develop cancers of the head and neck, stomach, pancreas, liver, bowel, rectum, kidney, lung and oesophagus. The Independent

See also:

• Associations between cardiorespiratory fitness in youth and the incidence of site-specific cancer in men: a cohort study with register linkage (open access) British Journal of Sports Medicine

An insulin nose spray could help improve the memory of Alzheimer's sufferers

An insulin nose spray could help improve the memory of Alzheimer's sufferers Spraying the hormone insulin up the nose could help improve memory in people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. 

A new study suggests patients using an insulin nasal spray were more likely to remember lists of words and the names of objects. 

The theory is that once the hormone has been squirted into the nostrils, it’s absorbed into the bloodstream and is carried to the brain, where it clears the harmful deposits, called amyloid plaque, which are thought to be responsible for the incurable condition. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Outcomes and clinical implications of intranasal insulin on cognition in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis (open access) PLOS One

Chaos as £40million pilot scheme for Wegovy is delayed indefinitely due to unprecedented demand for 'game-changing' weight-loss jab

Chaos as £40million pilot scheme for Wegovy is delayed indefinitely due to unprecedented demand for 'game-changing' weight-loss jab A £40million pilot scheme at the heart of the Government's anti-obesity strategy has been delayed due to a major shortage of weight-loss jabs.

Ministers announced in June that GPs would supply semaglutide to tens of thousands of patients in a bid to improve their health and cut hospital waiting lists.

But soaring global demand for the drug — sold by Danish firm Novo Nordisk under the brand name Wegovy - has delayed both its launch on the NHS and the two-year programme indefinitely. The Daily Mail