How can community involvement reduce health inequalities?

How can community involvement reduce health inequalities? Realising that people living just six miles apart in Morecambe Bay have a difference in life expectancy of more than 15 years made our Population Health Team think about how we could begin to work with communities to change this narrative.

We made a start by sharing information about health inequalities with some local headteachers. This led to some great conversations with staff and pupils about how we could create better health and wellbeing for our children and young people. The King's Fund

NMC launches new approach to resolving complaints about nurses and midwives

NMC launches new approach to resolving complaints about nurses and midwives Under the new arrangements, where nurses and midwives can show that, despite something going wrong, they have learnt from what happened and are safe to continue working, we may not seek to restrict their practice. To develop a culture of openness and honesty we will provide tailored advice and support to employers, nurses and midwives to enable professionals to learn from their mistakes. Nursing and Midwifery Council

Ethnic minority consultants 'paid less' than white colleagues

Ethnic minority consultants 'paid less' than white colleagues Senior ethnic minority doctors in the NHS are paid less than their white counterparts, research suggests.

A study in the British Medical Journal found black and minority ethnic (BME) consultants on average earned 4.9% less than white colleagues in basic pay - roughly £4,600 a year.

The gap was much smaller across other types of doctors and grades. BBC News

See also:

• NHS accused of racial discrimination on pay for senior doctors The Guardian
• Senior BAME doctors paid less by the NHS than their white colleagues, analysis finds The Independent

Nearly four million British children are too poor to eat healthily, study finds

Nearly four million British children are too poor to eat healthily, study finds The families of nearly 4 million children would struggle to afford enough fruit, vegetables and other healthy foods to meet the government’s nutritional guidelines, according to a study of food poverty in the UK.

Children living in low-income households face an increased risk of diet-related illnesses such as obesity and diabetes because they are priced out of eating healthy, the Food Foundation think tank found. The Independent

NHS to treat young cancer patients with expensive 'game changer' drug

NHS to treat young cancer patients with expensive 'game changer' drug Chief executive to announce use of CAR-T therapy drug Kymriah, which costs £282,000 per patient

The NHS is to treat children and young people with an expensive new cancer drug which has the potential to transform how the disease is treated.

Simon Stevens, the NHS England chief executive, will announce on Wednesday that a deal has been done with the drug company Novartis, which makes the immunotherapy drug under the name Kymriah. Continue reading... The Guardian

Number of doctors opting for early retirement doubles, amid pension clampdown

Number of doctors opting for early retirement doubles, amid pension clampdown The number of hospital doctors opting for early retirement has doubled in the past decade, NHS figures show.

The trend comes along side a clamp down on pensions, which cap the amount savers can amass without being taxed from £1.8m in 2012 to £1 million.

Medics blamed stress, and said they were increasingly overloaded, with the statistics also showing a rising numbers taking their pension early on grounds of ill-health. The Daily Telegraph

NHS hides true scale of superbug deaths for fear of looking like it's 'failing', Chief Medical Officer warns

NHS hides true scale of superbug deaths for fear of looking like it's 'failing', Chief Medical Officer warns The NHS is hiding the true scale of drug-resistant superbugs because hospitals are not admitting when patients die from them, the Chief Medical Officer has said.

Dame Sally Davies told MPs that relatives are often left in ignorance as to the real cause of their loved-one’s death because acknowledging that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) played a role would look bad for the health service.

AMR, where previously treatable infections become immune to antibiotics, has been identified as the single gravest threat to modern medicine and is thought currently to kill around 5,000 people a year in England. The Daily Telegraph

Leading insulin manufacturer is stockpiling FOUR MONTHS' supply to protect diabetics after Brexit

Leading insulin manufacturer is stockpiling FOUR MONTHS' supply to protect diabetics after Brexit Novo Nordisk, a Danish company which supplies more than half of the UK's insulin, says it will stash a 16 week supply to make sure the millions of diabetics who rely on the drug aren't hit by Brexit. The Daily Mail

Four in ten British women do not do enough exercise to stay healthy

Four in ten British women do not do enough exercise to stay healthy The World Health Organisation said four out of ten British women were putting their health at risk by failing to complete 150 minutes of moderate exercise during an average week. The Daily Mail

The power of health coaching

The power of health coaching On the day of John’s consultation, our new GP trainee sat in with me for the first time. Before clinic, we had been chatting about each other’s interests, and I told him my career had been transformed by using health coaching. I explained how it had enabled me to have new ‘partnership’ relationships with my patients. Hot off the medical ward, I could sense his scepticism. In walked our first patient. The Health Foundation

New HIV diagnoses across the UK fell by 17 per cent in 2017

New HIV diagnoses across the UK fell by 17 per cent in 2017 Annual HIV data published today shows new diagnoses decreased from 5,280 new diagnoses in 2016 to 4,363 in 2017. Public Health England

Artificial intelligence (AI) in health

Artificial intelligence (AI) in health The RCP's position statement on artificial intelligence (AI) in health urges industry to address real-world challenges, doctors to appraise the technology and regulators to develop guidance and evaluation methods. Royal College of Physicians 

See also:

• Guidance needed to evaluate AI used to support patient care OnMedica

International comparison of long term care funding and outcomes

International comparison of long term care funding and outcomes A report from Age UK finds that different countries have responded to the challenges and opportunities of ageing in different ways and with varying degrees of urgency.

Building the future of care to 2028

Building the future of care to 2028 This is a summary document of a technical briefing sent to policy leads and directors in NHS England. It presents a detailed account of a coherent vision for improving health and wellbeing outcomes through interlinked actions across the priority workstreams of the long term plan. Key points covered include specific clinical priorities; investment in a shift towards holistic, personalised and coordinated care; primary care networks; prevention - and secondary prevention; health inequalities; system architecture; and partnership working - including with the VCSE sector. A copy of the full technical briefing is available on request to National Voices. National Voices

Suicide rate among UK men at lowest since 1981

Suicide rate among UK men at lowest since 1981 Suicide rates among men in the UK are at their lowest for more than 30 years, official figures show.

In 2017, there were 4,383 male suicides and the rate was 15.5 per 100,000 men - down from 20 in the late 1980s, data from the Office for National Statistics reveals.

Although the male rate is falling, men still account for three-quarters of suicides in the UK.

The Samaritans said recent efforts to prevent suicides had helped.

The female suicide rate has remained stable for the past 10 years. BBC News

The hospice remembering children in birdsong

The hospice remembering children in birdsong For 19 captivating seconds, Abigail Harvey's family listen intently to the song of a robin. They're sitting in the sunshine of the memorial garden at the hospice where Abigail spent many happy hours.

Ty Hafan's children's hospice, just along the coast from Barry Island in south Wales, holds a special place in their hearts. And now, as part of a remarkable new sound installation, the names of more than 300 children who were cared for there will be celebrated in the form of birdsong. BBC News

Joined-up listening: integrated care and patient insight

Joined-up listening: integrated care and patient insight In this article, we articulate the opportunity that integrated care presents for using insight from people and populations to design services that meet their needs and reflect their priorities. This includes breaking down silos within and between organisations to listen to what patients are saying across their entire pathway of care. The King's Fund

Patterns of benign gynaecology care in English NHS hospital trusts: 2015/16

Patterns of benign gynaecology care in English NHS hospital trusts: 2015/16 This first ever national report into benign gynaecological care, carried out in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, shows some variations between NHS trusts across England. The report identifies a number of national indicators to provide an overview of benign gynaecological care in England. This includes inpatient care, emergency readmission and longer-term surgical outcomes. Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

New Versius robot surgery system coming to NHS

New Versius robot surgery system coming to NHS A British company has unveiled a new robotic surgery system, which is expected to operate on patients for the first time next year.

The Versius robot, designed and built in Cambridge, is a rival to the American da Vinci system, which is used in more than 70 hospitals in the UK.

Versius is smaller, and the company behind it, CMR Surgical, believes it will be more flexible and versatile than existing robots, allowing it to perform a wider range of operations. BBC News

Doctors told to ditch Latin and use 'plain English'

Doctors told to ditch Latin and use 'plain English' Doctors are being told to adopt a new policy of writing letters that are easier for patients to understand.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges says too often correspondence contains complex medical jargon rather than plain and simple English.

Using the phrase "twice daily" to explain the dosing of a medicine is better than the Latin abbreviation "bd", for example.

Patients should ask their local hospital to comply, the academy says. BBC News

See also:

• Please, write to me. Writing outpatient clinic letters to patients. Guidance Academy of Medical Royal Colleges 
• New drive to encourage doctors to write to patients in plain English The Guardian