Thousands of NHS hospital consultants intend to quit years before retirement, survey finds

Thousands of NHS hospital consultants intend to quit years before retirement, survey finds Thousands of senior hospital doctors are planning to leave the NHS years early, according to a survey.

Six out of 10 consultants intend to retire before or at the age of 60 to cut back their working hours, the research found.

The British Medical Association, which questioned more than 4,000 consultants for the survey, said so many experienced doctors leaving would be “potentially disastrous”.

More than two-thirds (69.7 per cent) of those surveyed were hoping to achieve a better work-life balance. The Independent

See also:

• Pension rules force consultants to retire early British Medical Association
• BMA findings on hospital consultants leaving NHS early are ‘highly concerning,’ NHS Employers

Waiting times for NHS cancer treatment are at worst ever level

Waiting times for NHS cancer treatment are at worst ever level Record 20,000 patients a month are suffering delays in seeing a consultant or starting therapies

Record numbers of patients are not getting vital cancer care on time because NHS England performance against waiting time targets has fallen to its lowest ever level, according to official figures.

Hospitals are increasingly having to force patients to wait for care because they cannot keep up with the growing numbers being referred by GPs who fear they have the disease. The Guardian

See also:

• Number of NHS patients waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment rises to half a million -Channel 4 News

Health department signs two contracts to store drugs under ‘no-deal’ Brexit

Health department signs two contracts to store drugs under ‘no-deal’ Brexit Officials hope third contract for warehousing will be signed shortly, with total cost of £10m

The government has signed two contracts to secure warehouse space for the storage of drugs as part of ‘no-deal’ Brexit planning but officials are still working to secure a third with just 11 weeks to go before the UK leaves the EU.

Details of the Department of Health’s work on one of the most sensitive areas of Brexit planning emerged as the government comes under intensive pressure to say which firms it is working with following controversy over a £13.8m contract given to a ‘start-up’ freight company to operate ferries in the case of no deal, and questions about the way it was allocated. The Guardian

Social care is ageist – and the new NHS plan doesn’t even try to fix it

Social care is ageist – and the new NHS plan doesn’t even try to fix it | Frances Ryan The 10-year plan must address the damaging generational divide, foster fair funding and devise a way to share the burden

“We are taking a big step to secure the future of the NHS for our children and their children,” Theresa May told an audience in Liverpool on Monday as she launched the NHS 10-year plan. May’s emphasis on generations of NHS users may be cliched political rhetoric – the children, as they say, are our future – but by pitching public services as a deal between the generations, she quite unintentionally landed on something important.

This country’s health and care system is currently riddled with a damaging generational divide, one that manifests itself in anything from a deficit in joined up services to outright bad feeling. The Guardian

NHS trans row as men get access to women's wards if they identify as female

NHS trans row as men get access to women's wards if they identify as female Hospitals routinely allow male patients to share female wards if they self-identify as women, an investigation by The Telegraph has found.

Despite official guidance intended to eliminate mixed sex wards, none of the NHS trusts in England require a patient to have begun transition for them to be treated as their preferred sex, according to responses to more than 100 Freedom of Information requests. The Daily Telegraph

NHS crisis: 12,000 patients were left waiting in the back of ambulances outside A&E last week

NHS crisis: 12,000 patients were left waiting in the back of ambulances outside A&E last week Thousands of NHS patients were kept waiting in the backs of ambulances for half an hour or more last week, official figures have revealed.

Hospitals across England are buckling under the strain of winter, as data shows the the first week of January was the worst so far this season.

The number of patients waiting at least 30 minutes to be handed over into A&E from ambulances was 26 per cent higher than in the previous week.

Nearly 3,000 patients were forced to wait an hour or more to be taken into busy casualty units, with more than 9,000 waiting between 30 to 60 minutes. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Man died 'in agony' after stroke amid ambulance delays BBC News
• Wife was told it would take an HOUR for an ambulance to arrive when her husband had a stroke The Daily Mail

Shocking new pictures from HES site in Newcastle lay bare scale of NHS body parts scandal

Shocking new pictures from HES site in Newcastle lay bare scale of NHS body parts scandal Shocking new images showing mountains of clinical waste stockpiled in a disposal site reveal the true scale of the NHS body parts scandal.

Tonnes of fluorescent orange and yellow bags stuffed with infectious waste were pictured spilling out of overflowing bins at Healthcare Environmental Services' (HES) base in Benton, North Tyneside. The Daily Mail

Abandoned Northampton office block to become flats for nurses, police and teachers

Abandoned Northampton office block to become flats for nurses, police and teachers An office block that has stood empty for years in Northampton town centre is to become flats in a partnership between the borough council and Legal & General.

Belgrave House, in Greyfriars, is owned by the company behind the Grosvenor Centre, Legal and General, which has struggled to generate interest from tenants or buyers.

Now, in order to create affordable town centre housing for key workers - such as people working in the emergency services, health or education - Northampton Borough Council intends to convert the building into 120 flats. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Insight report: High intensity users of A&E departments

Insight report: High intensity users of A&E departments Dr Foster has carried out a detailed analysis of accident and emergency (A&E) attendances nationally with the aim of uncovering common characteristics of high intensity users (HIUs) - people who attended 10 or more times in a 12-month period - and patterns in HIU attendances to provide valuable insight and a better understanding of the reasons they attend with such high frequency.

See also:

• Ten NHS patients visited A&Es more than 200 TIMES in the last year The Daily Mail
• Patient who went to A&E 400 times in one year among 'frequent flyer' list The Daily Telegraph

Two cases of resistant gonorrhoea diagnosed in the UK

Two cases of resistant gonorrhoea diagnosed in the UK Public Health England is reminding people of the importance of practising safer sex and seeking help if they are worried they may have an STI.

Public Health England (PHE) is investigating 2 cases of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in heterosexual females with similar resistance patterns to the antibiotics (ceftriaxone and azithromycin) that are used as the first line treatment for gonorrhoea. While this type of resistance is unusual, there have been cases in other countries. Both cases were successfully treated and we are following up sexual contacts to minimise the risk of any onward transmission.

One of these cases appears to have been acquired in Europe and the other has links to Europe but was acquired in the UK.

See also:

• Super-gonorrhoea spread causes 'deep concern' BBC News
• Safe sex warning after two women infected with super-gonorrhoea The Independent

Local auditor reporting in England 2018

Local auditor reporting in England 2018 The number of NHS and local government bodies with significant weaknesses in their arrangements for delivering value for money for taxpayers is unacceptably high and increasing, according to today’s report by the National Audit Office (NAO).

In 2017-18, 495 local authorities, local police and local fire bodies were responsible for around £54 billion of net revenue spending and 442 local NHS bodies received funding of approximately £100 billion. Each year, local auditors give an opinion on whether these bodies produce financial statements that comply with reporting requirements and if they have arrangements to properly manage their business and finances. Auditors can draw attention to weaknesses by ‘qualifying’ their opinion and issuing a ‘non-standard’ report. Local bodies should take any issues raised seriously and address them appropriately.

See also:

• Four in ten NHS organisations do not have a grip on their spending The Daily Telegraph

Cheap common drugs may help mental illness

Cheap common drugs may help mental illness Cheap and widely used drugs for diabetes and heart health have potential for treating severe mental illness, a study hints.

It showed the number of times patients needed hospital treatment fell by up to a fifth when they took the drugs.

The researchers at University College London say their findings have "enormous potential".

But they, and independent experts, say the results now need to be tested in clinical trials. BBC News

See also:

• Association of Hydroxylmethyl Glutaryl Coenzyme A Reductase Inhibitors, L-Type Calcium Channel Antagonists, and Biguanides With Rates of Psychiatric Hospitalization and Self-Harm in Individuals With Serious Mental Illness JAMA Psychiatry

The NHS 10-year plan has cleared a path for total privatisation of our health service

The NHS 10-year plan has cleared a path for total privatisation of our health service The latest strategy for Britain’s National Health Service has made some bold projections and headline-grabbing commitments. The endgame though is a corporate NHS.

The 1990s internal market introduced competition into the NHS. The NHS Plan 2000 ramped up outsourcing and public-private partnerships, and gave us the disastrous legacy of private finance initiatives, or PFI.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 doubled private sector outsourcing to 8 per cent of the budget. It also enabled foundation trust hospitals to make up to half their income from private patients. There is a thread running through: a narrative of marketisation and privatisation. The Independent

The Priory faces multi-million pound fine following death of 14-year-old girl with a history of suicide attempts

The Priory faces multi-million pound fine following death of 14-year-old girl with a history of suicide attempts A private mental health care group is facing a fine of millions of pounds for breaching health and safety laws after a 14-year-old girl with a history of suicide attempts died in its care.

A criminal investigation was launched by the Health and Safety Executive into The Priory after the death of Amy El-Keria, who was treated at its Ticehurst House psychiatric hospital in 2012, Brighton Magistrates' Court heard.

The London-based company indicated a guilty plea after being charged under health and safety laws with being an employer failing to discharge its duty to ensure people were not exposed to risk, in what is thought to be the first prosecution of its kind. The Daily Telegraph

Writing complaints against NHS doctors 'could lead them to suicide', leading expert warns

Writing complaints against NHS doctors 'could lead them to suicide', leading expert warns Complaints about NHS doctors could lead them to depression and even trigger suicide, an expert has warned.

Dr Clare Gerada, the medical director of the NHS Practitioner Health Programme (PHP), said the number of complaints against NHS staff is rising.

But they can cause a spiral of events which can harm the doctor's mental health, their colleagues and future patients, she warned. The Daily Mail

'Traditional masculinity' is harmful, top psychologists say in new guidelines

'Traditional masculinity' is harmful, top psychologists say in new guidelines 'Traditional masculinity' is harmful, damaging the men who ascribe to it and everyone around them, according America's top psychologists.

The warning was issued in a 36-page document by the American Psychological Association, its first set of guidelines on male mental health in 127 years.

Experts said the traditional ideology of what makes a man 'a man' constrains men.

It also can drive them to feel or act aggressively towards other groups who are not masculine, fueling misogyny, sexism, sexual assault, bullying and homophobia. The Daily Mail

See also:

• APA Guidelines for the Psychological Practicewith Boys and Men American Psychological Association

Overspend reduced at county council but concerns persist over remaining £11m savings

Overspend reduced at county council but concerns persist over remaining £11m savings Northamptonshire County Council’s overspend has reduced by £19million in the past five months, but questions remain over the deliverability of some of its remaining £11million savings.

The latest finance monitoring report, which will be discussed by cabinet next Tuesday (January 15), shows that the forecast year-end position is currently an overspend of £11m. It’s down from the £30m overspend forecast in July, when the council issued a second section 114 notice banning new expenditure. And it’s a further improvement on the £15.6million position reported last month. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

International comparison of women’s health

International comparison of women’s health A briefing from the Commonwealth Fund compares the health status and availability of health care for women in the United States with the situation for women in 10 other high-income countries, including the UK.

GP premises: the patient perspective

GP premises: the patient perspective Poor confidentiality at reception desks, issues with access for disabled people and dated waiting rooms are some of the biggest problems highlighted by patients in a new report published by the Patients Association of people’s views of their local GP surgery’s buildings.

The report has found that patients are concerned about various internal and external aspects of their local GP practice premises. The report outlines patients’ views based on an online survey and four focus groups aiming to establish the importance of the physical environment in shaping people’s experiences of primary care.

Confidentiality emerged as a key issue raised by patients, particularly the risk of being overheard at the reception desk or when telephoning practices. Of the 720 respondents to the survey and focus groups, 58% (404 of 692 respondents to this question) said that there was not enough space at the practice to allow reasonable privacy. The Patients Association

See also:

• Patients forced to whisper to GPs because walls are too thin The Daily Telegraph

Can a strong economic case be made for investing in the NHS?

Can a strong economic case be made for investing in the NHS? In September 2018, Professor Peter Smith delivered the 25th OHE Annual Lecture: Can a Strong Economic Case Be Made for Investing in the NHS? The lecture is now available as a publication, which can be downloaded for free.

Debate about funding has highlighted the difficulty of persuading sceptics that the NHS is a good use of public finance. There is a widely held view – particularly in finance ministries and some sections of the media – that health systems such as the NHS are ‘black holes’, constantly demanding increased funding without concomitant returns to society. Office of Health Economics