Nurses dubbed ‘healthcare heroes’ scoop top awards

Nurses dubbed ‘healthcare heroes’ scoop top awards Two Nurses have been presented with top nursing awards for their commitment to patients and colleagues at St Andrew’s Healthcare.

Daryl Birch and Jodie Johnson who both manage wards within the mental health charity have been presented with a prestigious Cavell Star each. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Exploring and understanding the VCSE sector in provider collaboratives

Exploring and understanding the VCSE sector in provider collaboratives The NHS Confederation wanted to better understand the way voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations are working with provider collaboratives. The aim of the project, commissioned by NHS England, was to gather insight, elicit learning and share examples of collaboration in action. This was explored at an online learning event hosted by Lord Victor Adebowale, chair of the NHS Confederation, in partnership with NHS England and independent consultant Jessie Cunnett, and forms the basis of this report.

Call for participants to new asymptomatic mpox transmission study

Call for participants to new asymptomatic mpox transmission study The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has today launched a new study to determine whether mpox (monkeypox) can be transmitted asymptomatically, by people without any obvious symptoms.

The £1 million PResymptomatIc MonkEypox (PRIME) study, funded by the Medical Research Council, is asking anyone in England aged 18 years or over who knows they have been in close sexual contact with an mpox case to come forward to participate.

Proposed review of the 2023 scheme to control the cost of branded health service medicines

Proposed review of the 2023 scheme to control the cost of branded health service medicines The DHSC proposes to amend the statutory scheme controlling the cost of branded health service medicines. The consultation sets out proposed amendments in three main areas: increasing the allowed growth rate which will have the effect of changing the payment percentages; revising which sales of branded medicines are exempt from scheme payments; and a new approach to control spending on older branded medicines (the ‘lifecycle adjustment’). This consultation document seeks views on the proposals, particularly from the pharmaceutical industry and NHS patients. The consultation closes at 11am on 10 October 2023. Department of Health and Social Care

Woman 'joyous' after sister donates womb in UK first

Woman 'joyous' after sister donates womb in UK first Surgeons in Oxford have carried out the first womb transplant in the UK.

The recipient was a 34-year-old woman, and the donor her 40-year-old sister, both of whom wish to remain anonymous.

Doctors say both recovered well from surgery and the younger sister plans to have IVF this autumn using embryos that she and her husband have in storage.

A team of around 20 carried out the procedures, lasting around 17 hours, in adjoining operating theatres at the Churchill hospital in February. BBC News

See also:

• First womb transplant performed in the UK Oxford University Hospitals
• Step-by-step, how pioneering medics performed Britain's first ever womb transplant in painstaking SEVENTEEN-hour op involving two sisters The Daily Mail
• How are womb transplants carried out? Is the pioneering op available on the NHS? And how many women may benefit? Everything you need to know after landmark UK-first surgery The Daily Mail
• First womb transplant takes place in UK after sister donates uterus The Independent
• UK’s first womb transplant paves way for dozens more The Independent
• UK's first womb transplant recipient 'looking forward' to having a baby ITV News
• UK's first-ever womb transplant hailed by doctors as 'dawn of new era' in fertility treatment Sky News

Ipswich Hospital: 'Our daughter's childbirth death was preventable'

Ipswich Hospital: 'Our daughter's childbirth death was preventable' The parents of a woman who died after giving birth say they believe she would still be alive if it were not for errors made by a hospital.

Jessica Mai Walden, 28, from Bramford, Suffolk, died on 9 May 2021 after her second daughter was born at Ipswich Hospital.

A report commissioned by her parents found there were a series of human and system failings that led to her death.

The hospital trust apologised and said lessons had been learned. BBC News

Autistic man should not be forced to have dialysis, judge rules

Autistic man should not be forced to have dialysis, judge rules An autistic man with "chronic" kidney disease should not be forced to undergo dialysis, despite the "potentially fatal consequence of not having it", a judge has ruled.

The 26-year-old man, who is being treated in Nottingham, did not "accept" he had the disease, nor see the need for dialysis, the judge said.

Mr Justice Hayden was asked to decide what moves were in his best interests.

But he said: "All I could do was tell him that the decision was his." BBC News

Osteoarthritis may affect nearly one billion people by 2050, study projects

Osteoarthritis may affect nearly one billion people by 2050, study projects The most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis, affects 15% of the global population over the age of 30 – and it is estimated that by 2050 nearly one billion people will have the condition, researchers say.

Obesity is a major contributor to osteoarthritis, and in 2020 was responsible for approximately 20% of the disability of osteoarthritis – which causes joints to become painful and stiff, the study suggests. The Independent

See also:

• Global, regional, and national burden of osteoarthritis, 1990–2020 and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 (open access) The Lancet Rheumatology

Home Office considered using overseas workers in case of disease on Bibby Stockholm

Home Office considered using overseas workers in case of disease on Bibby Stockholm The Home Office considered drafting in foreign workers using a visa waiver scheme in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease on the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate asylum seekers, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

The barge is moored in Portland, Dorset. It was opened to asylum seekers on 7 August as a key part of the government’s “small boats week” to signal that it was implementing its undertakings to move asylum seekers out of hotels. However, in a blow to this policy the barge was evacuated just four days later after legionella bacteria was found in the barge’s water pipes. The Guardian

ChatGPT performs as well as a resident doctor at diagnosing patients and prescribing the right medication in primary care and emergency departments, study finds

ChatGPT performs as well as a resident doctor at diagnosing patients and prescribing the right medication in primary care and emergency departments, study finds ChatGPT is as good as resident doctors at correctly diagnosing patients and making clinical decisions, a study suggests.

Researchers from Mass General Brigham in Boston, Massachusetts, studied the AI chatbot's ability to correctly diagnose patients and manage care in primary care and emergency settings. 

ChatGPT made the correct decisions regarding diagnosis, what medications to prescribe, and other treatments 72 percent of the time. Meanwhile, experts estimate doctors are about 95 percent accurate. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Assessing the Utility of ChatGPT Throughout the Entire Clinical Workflow: Development and Usability Study (open access) Journal of Medical Internet Research
• Q&A: ChatGPT shows potential to support clinical decision-making Healio

Care home nurse who claimed Covid pandemic was a hoax while protesting against lockdowns in her uniform gets struck off

Care home nurse who claimed Covid pandemic was a hoax while protesting against lockdowns in her uniform gets struck off A care home nurse who attended a Covid-conspiracy rally in London in her nursing uniform and claimed the virus was a hoax has been struck off.

Carley Louise Stewart, of Preston, attended the mass protest in August 2020 holding a placard which read 'Nurse on call. Where's the pandemic?'.

The mother-of-two, who was fired from her care home job after the incident, was ruled unfit to remain a nurse by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for both her protest attendance and multiple comments sowing distrust in official guidance. The Daily Mail

See also:

• America's antivaxx crisis laid bare: A QUARTER believe MMR shot causes autism and a THIRD think the Covid vaccines killed thousands, poll finds The Daily Mail