New Kettering private hospital facility welcomes its first patients

New Kettering private hospital facility welcomes its first patients A state-of-the-art private hospital facility on the edge of Kettering has welcomed its first patients.

Glendon Wood Hospital, just off the A43 near the ‘hamburger’ roundabout, opened earlier this month with new diagnostic services and two operating theatres. Northamptonshire Telegraph

Harm caused by delays in transferring patients to the right place of care

Harm caused by delays in transferring patients to the right place of care This national investigation seeks to examine the systems that are in place to manage the flow of patients through and out of hospitals and considers the interactions between health and social care systems. It finds that issues relating to patient flow affect ambulance crews’ ability to hand over patient care to emergency department (ED) staff. It also finds that EDs are routinely at, or exceeding, their maximum capacity and this has an impact on their ability to provide safe care. This report brings together the findings from the investigation’s three interim reports and provides an update since they were published. Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch

NHS flu and covid vaccine programmes brought forward due to risk of new covid variant

NHS flu and covid vaccine programmes brought forward due to risk of new covid variant Millions of eligible people will now be offered a covid vaccine from 11 September, in line with the latest expert guidance on the new covid variant.

This change follows an announcement by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on the risks presented by the new BA.2.86 variant and pre-emptive measures the NHS has been asked to take.

The adult covid and flu vaccination programmes had been due to start in October to maximise protection over the winter months, but now those most at risk including adult care home residents will be vaccinated from 11 September. NHS England

See also:

• Flu and COVID autumn vaccine programmes brought forward Department of Health and Social Care
• Independent report: COVID-19 autumn 2023 vaccination programme: JCVI update Department of Health and Social Care
• Research and analysis: SARS-CoV-2: genome sequence prevalence and growth rate UK Health Security Agency

Coventry NHS boss to keep job despite complaints being upheld

Coventry NHS boss to keep job despite complaints being upheld The chair of an NHS body in charge of health and care in Coventry and Warwickshire is to keep her job, despite criticism from an independent inquiry.

Danielle Oum was found not to have always acted with honesty and integrity in a previous NHS role.

But after a review of the issues, she was allowed to remain as chair of the local Integrated Care Board (ICB).

NHS England said it continued to offer Ms Oum "its full support". BBC News

Boys who smoke and vape ‘risk passing on damaged genes to their children’

Boys who smoke and vape ‘risk passing on damaged genes to their children’ Boys in their early teens who smoke risk passing on damaged genes to their children, increasing the chances of them developing health problems like asthma, obesity and lung conditions, according to a new study.

Scientists at Southampton and Bergen universities warn that vaping could also cause similar health conditions. The Independent

See also:

• Fathers’ preconception smoking and offspring DNA methylation (open access) Clinical Epigenetics

Lucy Letby inquiry will have power to force witnesses to give evidence

Lucy Letby inquiry will have power to force witnesses to give evidence The inquiry into how Lucy Letby was able to murder seven babies will now be able to force witnesses to give evidence.

Ministers agreed to give the inquiry full statutory powers after families said the current investigation would not go far enough in uncovering the truth. The Guardian

See also:

• Legal powers given to Lucy Letby inquiry Department of Health and Social Care
• Lucy Letby: Inquiry given powers to compel witnesses to give evidence BBC News
• Why wasn’t Lucy Letby stopped sooner? – podcast The Guardian
• Lucy Letby inquiry given powers to compel NHS bosses to give evidence ITV News
• Lucy Letby: Inquiry to be made statutory after calls from bereaved families Sky News

‘National tragedy’: figures show large rise in people dying while on NHS waiting list

‘National tragedy’: figures show large rise in people dying while on NHS waiting list More than 120,000 people in England died last year while on the NHS waiting list for hospital treatment, figures obtained by Labour appear to show.

That would be a record high number of such deaths, and is double the 60,000 patients who died in 2017/18.

For example, the Royal Free hospital in London said it had had 3,615 such deaths, while there were 2,888 at the Morecambe Bay trust in Cumbria and 2,039 at Leeds teaching hospitals trust. The Guardian

See also:

• Patient deaths while on NHS waiting lists 'terrible indictment of this Government's mismanagement' BMA
• Over 120,000 patients died last year on NHS waiting lists as backlog soared: Official data The Daily Mail
• Hospital waiting list deaths double in five years The Daily Telegraph
• More than 121,000 people died waiting for NHS treatment in 2022, Labour says The Independent

Record number of men checked for prostate cancer - as charities credit 'Bill Turnbull' effect

Record number of men checked for prostate cancer - as charities credit 'Bill Turnbull' effect Prostate cancer referrals have reached a record high in the last year thanks to the ‘Bill Turnbull’ effect, a charity has revealed.

New data shows the number of referrals – when a person is sent for extra tests or to a hospital doctor – has risen 17 per cent in the last 12 months.

More than a quarter of a million men were referred for suspected urological cancer in England between March 2022 and February 2023. The Daily Mail

NGH shortlisted for national award for way it supports cancer patients

NGH shortlisted for national award for way it supports cancer patients Northampton General Hospital is in the running for a national award for the innovative ways it supports cancer patients.

The Trust’s Macmillan Information & Support Team is vying with eight other UK Trusts in the Cancer Experience of Care Award category of the Patient Experience Network National Awards (PENNA). Northampton Chronical and Echo

CAMHS staff benefit from AI mental health support to improve wellbeing

CAMHS staff benefit from AI mental health support to improve wellbeing Staff in CAMHS services at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) and St Andrew’s Healthcare (STAH) have been using Wysa’s AI mental health app to support their wellbeing and mental health.  

The project, in collaboration with NHSEI Midlands, NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit, saw Wysa provided to 350 staff members at the hospitals. Digital Health

Building community health and care capacity: Reflections from other countries

Building community health and care capacity: Reflections from other countries Changing our services so that more care is provided in community settings and people can leave hospital when they are fit for discharge has been an explicit policy aim for decades. Other, similar countries have been on the same mission and have had more success. Why might this be? This new analysis looks internationally at how our performance compares and how other countries have succeeded in building up community health and care services to understand what England might learn. Nuffield Trust

Implications of the NHS workforce plan

Implications of the NHS workforce plan In June, NHS England published its much-awaited long-term workforce plan, which was welcomed across the political spectrum. The plan aims to increase the number of staff employed by the English NHS from around 1.5 million in 2021–22 to between 2.3 and 2.4 million in 2036–37. This would be equivalent to average growth in the size of the NHS workforce of between 3.1% and 3.4% per year. For context, we estimate that NHS staffing numbers grew by around 1.1% per year between 2009–10 and 2019–20. 

Here, we do not seek to evaluate the merits of the plan, its modelling assumptions or its achievability. Instead, we start from the assumption that the plan will be implemented in full and the report considers the potential implications for the size of the NHS workforce and NHS budget in England. Institute for Fiscal Studies

See also:

• NHS workforce plan implies 1 in 11 of all workers will be employed in health by 2036 The Daily Mail
• NHS’s £50bn recruitment plan to prompt higher taxes or spending cuts, IFS warns The Daily Telegraph
• One in 11 workers in England could be NHS staff by 2036-37, study shows The Guardian

NHS world first rollout of cancer jab that cuts treatment time by up to 75%

NHS world first rollout of cancer jab that cuts treatment time by up to 75% Drug treatment times for some NHS cancer patients will be slashed by up to three quarters, thanks to an anti-cancer injection that takes as little as seven minutes to administer.

Following the green light from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the NHS in England will be the first health system in the world to roll out the seven-minute injection to hundreds of patients each year. NHS England

£5 million fund to tackle fatal drug deaths across the UK

£5 million fund to tackle fatal drug deaths across the UK People at risk of drug deaths could be saved by overdose detecting artificial intelligence or antidote dispensing drones after the government awarded a share of £5 million to projects aimed at tackling fatal overdoses.

As part of the Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge which aims to reduce drug related deaths across the UK, Office for Life Sciences is investing in 12 promising projects to develop technologies aimed at improving detection, response, or intervention in potential drug related deaths. Department of Health and Social Care

Ministers join forces to encourage veterans to self declare to GPs

Ministers join forces to encourage veterans to self declare to GPs Veterans’ Minister Johnny Mercer and Health Secretary Steve Barclay are urging veterans and service leavers to access specialist healthcare pathways run by NHS England and service charities. Department of Health and Social Care

Close to 1m NHS appointments lost to strikes

Close to 1m NHS appointments lost to strikes The number of appointments and treatments postponed by strike action in the NHS in England is nearing one million.

The 48-hour walkout by consultants in England last week saw more than 45,000 appointments being cancelled.

It brings the total number of postponed hospital appointments since industrial action began in the NHS in December to 885,000.

Once mental health and community bookings are included, it tops 944,000. BBC News

See also:

• Consultant strike caused tens of thousands of patients to have their appointments cancelled ITV News

Lucy Letby: NHS England 'persuaded' trust boss to take new job

Lucy Letby: NHS England 'persuaded' trust boss to take new job The man who was chief executive of the NHS trust where Lucy Letby murdered seven babies said he was asked to take a top job in London after the serial killer had been arrested.

Tony Chambers went on to get three senior NHS jobs following the nurse's arrest for murdering babies.

And in a now-deleted blog, he wrote about being "persuaded" to take the job in London by a senior NHS England boss.

NHS England said its London region had been unaware of the murder probe. BBC News

Homelessness charities report huge spike in mental health need as NHS waiting lists spiral

Homelessness charities report huge spike in mental health need as NHS waiting lists spiral Homelessness services are reporting a surge in the number of people they support in need of mental health treatment post-Covid, as thousands of people are trapped waiting months for care on the NHS.

NHS waiting times for elective mental health treatment have surged since the Covid-19 pandemic, with latest data from June 2023 showing that people still on waiting lists had been waiting an average of 12 weeks.

This is compared to an average of 9.1 weeks in June 2022 and 6.1 weeks in June 2021. iNews

See also:

• Key findings of the 2022 Annual Review of Single Homelessness: More demand. Less supply. More complex needs Homeless Link

Migrants to get Home Office reference number on NHS England records

Migrants to get Home Office reference number on NHS England records NHS records of migrants are to have a Home Office reference number attached to them, prompting concerns about potential tracking, privacy rights and the expansion of the “hostile environment”.

A previous scheme using NHS data to track down patients believed to be breaching immigration rules was abandoned after a legal challenge from health and civil liberties organisations warning of a breach of patient confidentiality, discrimination against non-British patients and a risk of deterring people from seeking medical help. The Guardian

Postnatal depression sufferers who take medication have boosted mental health, relationships and better behaved children, study shows

Postnatal depression sufferers who take medication have boosted mental health, relationships and better behaved children, study shows Giving mothers with postnatal depression antidepressants could improve the behaviour of their children at the age of five, a study suggests.

Up to 15 per cent of women experience postnatal depression, with symptoms including a persistent feeling of sadness and low mood, lack of enjoyment and interest in the wider world and withdrawing from contact with other people.

It can have negative effects on both the mothers and their children, but only three per cent of women with the condition in the UK get antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). The Daily Mail

See also:

• Long-Term Maternal and Child Outcomes Following Postnatal SSRI Treatment (open access) JAMA Network Open
• Postnatal depression drug ‘shows benefits five years on’ The Independent