Mental Health Awareness Week 2023: Northamptonshire Mind hosts array of events countywide Mental Health Awareness Week starts next week (May 15th-May 21st), and Northamptonshire Mind is excited to announce a comprehensive schedule of events taking place across the county. These events are designed to be inclusive and open to both newcomers and existing members of our services, without the need for a referral. Northampton Chronicle and Echo
How have hospital admissions for Covid-19 and flu changed in recent years? The most recent winter was particularly tough for the NHS, as it dealt with continued high numbers of Covid-19 cases at the same time as much higher numbers of flu admissions. In this chart of the week, Sophie Julian takes a look at how hospital admissions for Covid-19 and flu have changed in recent years, and reveals how this past winter saw the number of hospital admissions for flu overtake those for Covid-19 for the first time during the pandemic. Nuffield Trust
RCN announces new strike ballot dates in England The Royal College of Nursing is today announcing dates of a new England-wide strike action ballot which will ask members employed by the NHS in England if they’re prepared to take further strike action in response to the UK government’s pay offer for 2022/23 and 2023/24.
The ballot – which will include all members in England on Agenda for Change contracts – will open on Tuesday 23 May and close on Friday 23 June.
How chronic stress weathers our health How healthy we are in part depends on the many different exposures we've had over our life – including to physical, psychological and social factors.
Chronic exposure to psychosocial stress – for example, poverty or other disadvantage – leads to prolonged strain on the body. This weathering can make us physically ill before our time and prematurely age us.
So what is psychosocial stress, how does it harm our health and what can be done about it? Podcast from The Health Foundation.
Lip fillers: Call for tighter regulation after botched treatments Lip fillers have grown increasingly popular but the industry is "like the wild west", experts warn, with many patients left in pain and embarrassed by their appearance.
As Harriet Green left a salon after getting an injection to add volume to her lips, she was reassured the excess swelling would go down.
But three months later her lips were still so bloated she could not close her mouth properly. BBC News
Public more supportive of nurses’ strikes after health secretary’s legal action, poll shows The public is more supportive of nurses’ strikes following the Health Secretary’s legal action against them, a new poll suggests.
The poll, asking whether the high court battle launched by Tory MP Steven Barclay against the Royal College of Nursing over “unlawful” industrial action, found 49 per cent of respondents said it had increased their support for the walkouts. The Independent
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Patient scarred for life after botched operation left him with severe burns patient who was left scarred for life when a botched operation left him with horrific burns has received a payout after suing the NHS.
Paul Hickman, 44, underwent routine surgery to improve circulation in his legs when medics wrongly used a heated mattress.
He ended up with significant burns on his buttocks after an alcohol-based solution came into contact with the back of both thighs and his backside. The Independent
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How will a new pay settlement for NHS staff affect real-terms earnings? A new pay offer aiming to end NHS strikes in England has been accepted by a majority of the unions involved in talks, resulting in likely pay increases for NHS staff other than doctors. What does this settlement mean for NHS staff pay packets compared to salaries in 2010, and where does this leave discussions between government and the NHS workforce? Nuffield Trust
Waiting for NHS hospital care: the role of the independent sector in delivering orthopaedic and ophthalmic care The waiting list for planned hospital care – which stood at 7.21 million in January 2023 – has grown by 58% since just before the start of the pandemic. To help expand capacity and address this backlog the NHS has been looking to independent sector providers (ISPs) to treat more NHS patients. The Health Foundation
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‘Huge advance’ helps cancer drug reach human brain for first time A new breakthrough ultrasound technique can help transport chemotherapy drugs to the human brain, new research has revealed.
A major hurdle in treating the deadly brain cancer known as glioblastoma has been that even the most potent chemotherapy drugs cannot permeate the blood-brain barrier to reach the aggressive tumour.
But the new advance might lead to improved treatment of such malignant tumours. The Independent
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Tiny spot under woman’s eye revealed as world’s smallest skin cancer A team of dermatologists has identified the world’s smallest skin cancer under a woman’s eye.
Measuring just 0.65 millimetres, the tiny spot on Christy Staats’ cheek was described by the team at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) as “almost invisible to the human eye.”
Identified using state-of-the-art technology, the team was able to confirm that the spot was melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. The Independent
Chance to speak to hospital consultant online about skin issues Skin deep – how to manage common skin complaints and avoid skin cancer - is a free online event held in the county to help identify problems and answer common skin complaint questions.
It is part of the series of free county Your Health Matters events run by Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (KGH) Governors to help demystify health conditions and provide practical tips, the next event looks at how to manage common skin problems and avoid skin cancer. Northampton Chronicle and Echo
Injection of 'long-termism' vital to deliver an NHS fit for the future As financial pressures continue to mount, the NHS will do everything it can to deliver a stretching efficiency ask, but the government must play its part too.
The NHS is facing immense financial and operational challenges. But its ability to meet those challenges is threatened by short-term fixes. We need a vital injection of long-termism to deliver an NHS fit for the future. NHS Providers
Revealed: Scandal of mentally ill children dumped on the wrong hospital wards Thousands of children in mental health crisis are being treated on inappropriate general wards – with some forced to stay for more than a year and staff not properly trained to care for them, shocking new data reveals.
New figures uncovered by The Independent show at least 2,838 children needing mental health care were admitted to non-psychiatric hospitals last year as the NHS battled with a lack of specialist staff and a surge in patients.
Burnt out or something more? Examining the real root cause of NHS workforce challenges Happy doctors result in happier, healthier patients, as evidenced by the growing body of literature linking higher satisfaction levels among healthcare staff to improved patient satisfaction and care outcomes.
Recognising this, the NHS has several initiatives intended to track and improve staff occupational wellbeing. One initiative is the NHS Staff Survey, launched in 2003 and administered annually across England. In March 2023, the NHS published results from the 2022 Survey against a backdrop of high attrition and widespread workforce shortages. Considering these challenges and the planned Government announcement of a new NHS Workforce Plan, we sought to examine the reasons staff are increasingly dissatisfied. LCP
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