Star Northampton nurse Jackie Phillips awarded posthumous prize after passing away in April

Star Northampton nurse Jackie Phillips awarded posthumous prize after passing away in April A nurse from Northampton has become a posthumous winner of a prestigious award for her life's work at Cynthia Spencer Hospice.

Jackie Phillips, the former nurse manager of palliative care for Northamptonshire and a senior clinical nurse at Cynthia Spencer Hospice was praised for going above and beyond for her patients throughout her thirty-year career. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Inclusive leadership: how ready are we to learn?

Inclusive leadership: how ready are we to learn? Speaking truth to power, we have some work to do on inclusion. At times it appears that we’re not all on the same page about what is meant by ‘inclusion’ and, importantly, what we should expect to see as evidence of inclusive practice from leaders. There are currently no clear or shared expectations that leaders will possess inclusive leadership qualities, and inclusive leadership capability and practice standards seem at best arbitrary, if demanded at all. The only people who are expected to ‘get’ inclusion, appear to be those most impacted by exclusion. The King's Fund

Research and analysis: Mental health and self-harm in children and young people

Research and analysis: Mental health and self-harm in children and young people Trends in hospital admissions of children and young people for mental health conditions, and as a result of self-harm, by age group and local authority. Public Health England

Guidance: Brexit operational readiness guidance for the health and care system in England

Guidance: Brexit operational readiness guidance for the health and care system in England Actions that providers and commissioners of health and social care services should take to prepare for, and manage, the risks of a no-deal Brexit. Department of Health and Social Care

See also:

• Letter to the health and care sector: preparations for a potential no-deal Brexit Department of Health and Social Care
• Health and social care staff: Brexit preparations update Department of Health and Social Care
• Guidance: EU Third Health Programme funding if there's a no-deal Brexit Department of Health and Social Care
• Healthcare after Brexit: citizens of the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland living in the UK Department of Health and Social Care
• Healthcare after Brexit: citizens of the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland visiting the UK Department of Health and Social Care

Radical policy change urgently needed to address skills shortages, says NHS Employers

Radical policy change urgently needed to address skills shortages, says NHS Employers Responding to the Edge Foundation report on skills shortages in the NHS, Danny Mortimer has said a number of actions are being taken by employers to bridge the gap in skills, but we also urgently need to see radical change to policy. NHS Employers

See also:

• Skills Shortages in the UK Economy Bulletin 5 The Edge Foundation

Workforce race equality standard 2018/19

Workforce race equality standard 2018/19 This report contains data on the experiences of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff at the Care Quality Commission. It explores whether BAME staff have equal access to career opportunities and fair treatment in the workplace. It identifies areas for improvement such as ensuring BAME representation at senior levels and reducing the gap in bullying and harassment. Care Quality Commission

Asthma deaths in England and Wales 'highest in a decade'

Asthma deaths in England and Wales 'highest in a decade' Deaths from asthma in England and Wales are the highest they have been in more than a decade, according to analysis of official data.

More than 1,400 adults and children died from asthma attacks in 2018 - that's 2.5 people out of every 100,000.

The charity Asthma UK said too many lives were being cut short by a lack of basic care, such as inhaler checks.

GPs' leaders said more staff in practices were needed so doctors could spend longer with asthma patients. BBC News

See also:

• More resources needed to properly support patients with asthma, says RCGP Royal College of General Practitioners
• Asthma deaths have increased by a third in a decade as hot summers, air pollution and lack of care blamed The Daily Telegraph

Transgender patients call for GPs to have more training

Transgender patients call for GPs to have more training Rylee, Nate and Prince all live just a few miles apart in Wolverhampton, but all are receiving different levels of support from GPs with their transgender care.

All are on the waiting list for specialist care with NHS Gender Identity Clinics but are calling for more training of GPs in gender issues.

Prince's doctor has been willing to prescribe bridging hormones, but Nate and Rylee both sought help through a private company to obtain their prescriptions.

The Royal College of GPs has called for an urgent overhaul of transgender care in the UK. BBC News

Treat NHS patients in private hospitals to cut waiting lists, campaigners urge as millions wait for operations

Treat NHS patients in private hospitals to cut waiting lists, campaigners urge as millions wait for operations The number of patients waiting for an NHS operation has risen by more than a fifth since 2016, new analysis has revealed, prompting renewed calls from campaigners for more procedures to be carried out in private hospitals.

NHS data has revealed there were 4.4 million people waiting to start treatment at the end of June – a 4.6 per cent rise from the previous June.

According to analysis of council tax data by the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, this means about one in six households in England are likely to contain someone stuck on an NHS waiting list. The Independent

Watchdog declines to back NHS cannabis treatment for epilepsy

Watchdog declines to back NHS cannabis treatment for epilepsy Campaigners dismayed as Nice decides there is not enough evidence to prove it helps

Medical cannabis cannot be approved for use on children with severe epilepsy on the NHS because there is not enough evidence to prove it helps, a watchdog has ruled.

The decision by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) dismayed campaigners and parents who said their children would suffer as a result. The Guardian

See also:

• NICE draft guidance and NHS England review highlight need for more research on cannabis-based medicinal products NICE
• Cannabis-based medicinal products (draft guideline consultation) NICE
• 'Lack of evidence' holding back cannabis medicines BBC News
• Cannabis-based medicines blocked for routine use in NHS, as watchdogs demand evidence they are safe The Daily Telegraph

As a deaf nurse, I know what it's like to face discrimination in the NHS

As a deaf nurse, I know what it's like to face discrimination in the NHS There’s an unconscious bias that because deaf hospital staff can’t hear they must be stupid, says former nurse Helen Cherry

Being deaf has never stopped me from doing anything; it’s other people who make it an issue.

Growing up, I knew I wanted to be independent and travel. Nursing kept presenting itself as a career option. I had a natural empathy for how people feel and knew what it was like to have to try and get clarity about things. I could see that it was an opportunity to make a difference. The Guardian

Record July temperatures prompt A&E chaos with tens of thousands languishing on trolleys

Record July temperatures prompt A&E chaos with tens of thousands languishing on trolleys Hottest ever July temperatures prompted chaos in hospitals, with record numbers attending A&E and languishing on trolleys, new figures reveal.

Waiting times deteriorated as doctors and nurses battled to cope with the influx, often in “ageing” buildings not designed to keep cool.

More than 2,266,900 patients went to A&E in July, the month Britain experienced its hottest temperature on record, 38.7C. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Combined Performance Summary: June – July 2019 Nuffield Trust
• The King's Fund responds to the latest monthly hospital performance data The King's Fund
• Op waits hit 4.4 million high in England BBC News
• Number of A&E patients waiting four hours to be admitted rises by 35% The Guardian
• Record number of A&E patients waiting more than four hours to be seen, NHS figures show The Independent

The Lancet announces the end of all-male scientific panels to promote the representation of women

The Lancet announces the end of all-male scientific panels to promote the representation of women The prestigious medical publisher The Lancet Group has pledged to ban its editors from appearing on all-male scientific panels.

In hope of promoting the representation of women in science, all 18 of the group's publications will adhere to the new guidelines.

Editors of any of the London-based publisher's journals will not be allowed to sit on 'manels' – expert panels made up entirely of men. The Daily Mail