Women and autism topic of new course by Recovery College NHFT

Women and autism topic of new course by Recovery College NHFT A new course looking at how autism can be different for girls, and women, is being offered free of charge and people are encouraged to attend.

Recovery College NHFT, alongside the Autism Champions Network, is offering the new course called ‘Women, Girls and Autism: Understanding the challenges and inspiring hope’ looking at how women and girls with autism are underdiagnosed, and how to recognise autism in females. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

New Every Mind Matters campaign encourages public to get physical

New Every Mind Matters campaign encourages public to get physical Ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week (15 – 22 May), Better Health – Every Mind Matters from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is launching a new campaign backed by BAFTA award-winning comedian, Tom Davis, TV and NHS doctor, Dr Ranj Singh, and leading psychologist, Dr Linda Papadopoulos, to encourage the nation to make the first move for their mental health and get active. Department of Health and Social Care

NHS rolls out order-to-home hepatitis C tests via NHS website for tens of thousands at risk

NHS rolls out order-to-home hepatitis C tests via NHS website for tens of thousands at risk Tens of thousands of people at increased risk of hepatitis C will be able to confidentially order self-testing kits to their home from today, as the NHS steps up its bid to eliminate the deadly disease.

The discreet, at-home testing kits will be free to order online from today (13 May) as part of NHS England’s dedicated Hepatitis C Elimination Programme, which has already reduced deaths from the disease by 35% – exceeding the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target of 10% by more than threefold. NHS England

See also:

• Hepatitis C home test kits available to most-at-risk in England BBC News
• Home-testing kits for hepatitis C made available in England The Independent
• Self-testing kits for hepatitis C will be made available from the NHS in England ITV News
• GPs asked to encourage at-risk patients to take new at-home hepatitis C test Pulse

Pat Cullen: Nursing union calls for double-digit pay rise to restart talks

Pat Cullen: Nursing union calls for double-digit pay rise to restart talks The leader of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has called on the health secretary to restart pay negotiations with a proposed rise in double digits.

Nurses in England are due to get a 5% pay rise after the majority of health unions accepted a government pay offer - but RCN members rejected the deal.

Speaking to the Times, union boss Pat Cullen praised her "courageous" members and urged ministers to reopen talks.

A source from the Department of Health told the BBC the pay offer was final. BBC News

See also:

• Nursing union leader demands double-digit pay offer and warns PM her members 'won't blink first' The Daily Mail
• Nursing union leader calls for double-digit pay offer to relaunch talks Evening Standard
• Nurses’ union head calls for double-digit pay rise in England ahead of strike ballot The Guardian
• Nursing union leader Pat Cullen calls for double-digit pay offer to avert strikes The Independent
• Nursing union leader calls for double-digit pay offer to relaunch talks ITV News

Parkinson's disease: New research could reveal early causes

Parkinson's disease: New research could reveal early causes Listening to the "conversations" of brain cells as they develop could help researchers to better understand the early causes of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's is the second most common neurodegenerative condition after Alzheimer's disease.

The disease causes parts of the brain to become progressively damaged over many years.

But relatively little is known about its early stages, as much of the damage happens before symptoms appear. BBC News

Closure of Tavistock gender identity clinic delayed

Closure of Tavistock gender identity clinic delayed The closure of the only NHS gender clinic for children in England and Wales has been delayed to March 2024, about a year later than first planned.

The Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), based at London's Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, will be replaced by two regional hubs.

A southern hub will open in autumn, with the northern hub following next April. BBC News

Patient safety at risk in crumbling hospital Boris Johnson promised to replace

Patient safety at risk in crumbling hospital Boris Johnson promised to replace Patients, doctors and nurses are enduring constant ward closures and flooding in “dilapidated and unpleasant” buildings because a new hospital promised by the government has still not been delivered, one of its most senior medics has warned.

Patient safety could soon be at risk unless the replacement for St Helier Hospital, in south London, is finally confirmed by ministers, according to the outgoing chief medical officer of its NHS trust. Some of the buildings pre-date the NHS, while wards have been shut due to sinking foundations. The Guardian

See also:

• Where are the Tories’ promised 40-new-hospitals? We cannot afford to wait any more The Guardian

Medicines courier Sciensus was warned it was failing patients three years ago

Medicines courier Sciensus was warned it was failing patients three years ago The boss of a private healthcare company exposed by the Guardian for putting seriously ill children and adults at risk was warned it was failing patients three years ago.

Darryn Gibson, the chief executive of Sciensus, Britain’s biggest medicines courier, was told in November 2020 that patients with bleeding disorders were being left dangerously exposed to internal bleeding with little or no treatment at home as a result of botched, delayed or missed deliveries.

Plunge in clinical drug trials makes Britain an urgent case for treatment

Plunge in clinical drug trials makes Britain an urgent case for treatment With visions of the UK as a ‘life sciences superpower’ at risk, we report from Great Ormond Street hospital on what’s being done to give children access to new drugs. The Guardian

Patients with blood cancer can be spared chemotherapy with two daily tablets

Patients with blood cancer can be spared chemotherapy with two daily tablets Two daily tablets could soon spare some blood cancer patients from having to go through gruelling bouts of chemotherapy.

The drug, called ruxolitinib, can keep a type of blood cancer called polycythaemia vera in remission for up to three years longer than traditional methods, according to British research. The Daily Mail

See also: 

• Incurable blood cancer trial finds new drug better than current second line treatments University of Birmingham

Experts call for early stage prostate cancer to be reclassified as pre-cancer

Experts call for early stage prostate cancer to be reclassified as pre-cancer A radical rethink in the way prostate cancer is diagnosed could be on the cards – with experts calling to reclassify the earliest stage tumours as 'pre-cancer', The Mail on Sunday has learned.

Every year roughly 50,000 men in the UK are told they have the disease, and the move would effectively see this figure cut in half.

Mounting evidence suggests patients with these tiny tumours don't usually need to start treatment. Instead they can simply be monitored with regular blood tests and scans to ensure the tumours don't start to spread.