Will Jeremy Hunt be able to join up health and social care? | Anne Perkins

Will Jeremy Hunt be able to join up health and social care? | Anne  The health secretary is not new to his brief, but that won’t make it any easier to bridge the damaging culture gap between health and social care and successfully integrate services

When the Queen delivers her speech from the throne today, the one thing there won’t be is new legislation on health or social care. The word in Richmond House is Carry on Quietly, or as quietly as possible, while trying to navigate through a potentially catastrophic debt crisis among NHS foundation trusts that only adds to the familiar pressures of demography and the need to reform.

But Jeremy Hunt starts with some advantages, not least that for him this is of course not a start, merely a return to business. Not since Norman Fowler back in the 1980s has a health secretarystayed in post through an election. And although he has yet to clock up three full years in the post, Hunt has already served longer than anyone since Alan Milburn set off with reforming zeal in 1999. So at least he knows what he has to do.

Once again the professionals are nervously circling the utopian future of integrated health and social care

Much hangs on the success of the pioneering project to devolve the health budget in Manchester Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• The Queen's speech must not treat social care as the poor cousin of the NHS The Guardian

Reclassify psychedelic drugs so we can properly research them, says leading psychiatrist

Reclassify psychedelic drugs so we can properly research them, says leading psychiatrist Psychedelic drugs including LSD and magic mushrooms are much less harmful than has been claimed, and should be reclassified to make it easier for scientists to research their potential benefits, a leading psychiatrist has said. The Independent

See also:

• Magic mushrooms should be used to treat mental health problems, psychiatrist says The Daily Telegraph
• Psychedelic drugs may have a role in medical treatment The Independent

World first as scientists provide proof that viruses can combat cancer

World first as scientists provide proof that viruses can combat cancer Scientists have the first proof that a “brand new” way of combating cancer, using genetically modified viruses to attack tumour cells, can benefit patients, paving the way for a “wave” of new potential treatments over the next decade. The Independent

See also:

• Cold sore virus 'treats skin cancer' BBC News
• Genetically engineered virus 'cures' patients of skin cancer The Daily Telegraph

Dozens of schools take part in first ever Northamptonshire Healthy Schools Week

Dozens of schools take part in first ever Northamptonshire Healthy Schools Week Nearly 70 schools have taken part in the first ever Northamptonshire Healthy Schools Week. Primary schools across the county have been running a variety of fun health-related activities this week for children to take part in and learn about leading a healthy active lifestyle. Northamptonshire Telegraph

NHS inpatient survey 2014

NHS inpatient survey 2014 This survey asked almost 59,000 inpatients a range of questions about the care and treatment they received. This included: whether they were given enough information, whether they were involved in decisions about their care, whether there were enough nurses to care for them, whether the wards were noisy and clean and what arrangements were in place for when they left hospital. It found that the majority of respondents are positive about their hospital stay, with 84% rating their experience seven or above out of 10. Care Quality Commission

• Report
• Related documents
• Press release

Response to ‘escalation of advice’ from Healthwatch England gender identity services

Response to ‘escalation of advice’ from Healthwatch England gender identity services This collated correspondence between Healthwatch and NHS England details the concerns raised by Healthwatch regarding the delays being faced by some people seeking gender reassignment surgery.

• Correspondence
• Healthwatch news

Quarter of sun-exposed skin samples had DNA mutations

Quarter of sun-exposed skin samples had DNA mutations A sobering BBC News headline greets sun worshippers on the eve of the spring bank holiday: "More than a quarter of a middle-aged person's skin may have already made the first steps towards cancer."

Sunlight is made up of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Low levels of exposure to UV light are actually beneficial to health – sunlight helps our bodies produce vitamin D.

But prolonged exposure can change (mutate) the DNA in the cells. Over time the mutations accumulate, turning the skin cells cancerous, which can lead to either non-melanoma ormelanoma skin cancer.

As part of a study into skin cancer, researchers analysed skin removed from the eyelids of four people aged 55 to 73 known to have a varying history of sun exposure (but not a history of cancer) to see what DNA mutations had built up.

To their surprise they found hundreds of normal cells showing DNA mutations linked to cancer, called "mutant clones", in every 1sq cm (0.1 sq in) of skin, and there were thousands of DNA mutations per cell.

The results were based on skin cells from the eyelids of just four people, so we don't yet know if the same would be found in other skin areas, or in other people, or what proportion of the mutated cells would eventually progress to skin cancer.

NHS trusts' deficit rises to £822m

NHS trusts' deficit rises to £822m NHS trusts in England report a total deficit of £822m for last financial year, compared with £115m the previous year. BBC News

See also:

• News story: Foundation trusts face challenging year as pressures mount Monitor
• NHS spending: how temporary staff keep the health service going The Daily Telegraph
• New NHS spending scandal: £3.3 billion wasted on agency doctors The Daily Telegraph
• NHS needs emergency cash boost or care could suffer, ministers told The Guardian
• NHS deficit in England rises to £822m The Independent

Personalised Care Planning For Adults With Chronic Or Long-Term Health Conditions

Personalised Care Planning For Adults With Chronic Or Long-Term Health Conditions GP Lynda Ware looks at this collaborative approach to managing long term conditions. Evidently Cochrane

NHS plans to allow patients to view records could put confidentiality at risk

NHS plans to allow patients to view records could put confidentiality at risk Under the proposals from NHS England, every person in the country will be able to access their medical record online by 2020. The Daily Mail

No 10 pours cold water over junior health minister's sugar tax proposal

No 10 pours cold water over junior health minister's sugar tax proposal George Freeman’s idea to help meet the costs of tackling obesity is not the right approach, says spokesman for the prime minister

No 10 has moved swiftly to reprimand a junior health minister who proposed a tax on sugary food and drink to raise money to help the government meet the costs of tackling obesity.

The prime minister’s spokesman said George Freeman’s idea was not the right approach and that the Department of Health would be looking at other strategies to curb obesity. Continue reading... The Guardian

MPs call for police inquiry into bogus 'cancer cures' offer by alternative medicine practitioners

MPs call for police inquiry into bogus 'cancer cures' offer by alternative medicine practitioners One alternative ''cure'' involves the use of industrial strength bleach to treat autism and HIV. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• The fake cancer cure conference the 'healers' tried to keep secret The Daily Telegraph

No repercussions for pharmacist dispensing errors, health body proposes

No repercussions for pharmacist dispensing errors, health body proposes Pharmacists who prescribe the wrong medicines by mistake would be immune from prosecution under plans being considered by the Department of Health. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• New pharmacy rules 'to cut errors' BBC News

Tobacco companies file lawsuits against UK Government over plain packaging laws

Tobacco companies file lawsuits against UK Government over plain packaging laws Two of the world’s biggest tobacco companies have filed lawsuits against the UK Government over its plan to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products. The Independent

See also:

• Tobacco firms challenge packaging law BBC News

Helping to unlock resources: the changing role of the pharmacist

Helping to unlock resources: the changing role of the pharmacist By changing the pharmacist’s role from one of ensuring the prescription is clinically correct to one of doing the prescribing, are we making care safer or adding in additional risks? Wasim Baqir looks at the evidence. The Health Foundation

2015 Heatwave Plan for England

2015 Heatwave Plan for England The 2015 Heatwave Plan for England was published on 20 May 2015, and the Met Office will issue Heatwave Alerts from 1 June to 15 September 2015.

The Heatwave plan for England remains a central part of the Department of Health’s support to the NHS, social care and local authorities, providing guidance on how to prepare for and respond to a heatwave which can affect everybody’s health, but particularly the most vulnerable people in society.

The purpose of this heatwave plan is to reduce summer deaths and illness by raising public awareness and triggering actions in the NHS, public health, social care and other community and voluntary organisations to support people who have health, housing or economic circumstances that increase their vulnerability to heat.

The updated plan, which can be found on the gov.uk website, reflects new NHS England structures. No additional changes will be made to this plan until further notice.

Minor ailment scheme doesn't provide free Calpol for all

Minor ailment scheme doesn't provide free Calpol for all"Thousands discover Calpol has been free on NHS 'for years' as mum's Facebook post goes viral," the Daily Mirror reports.

This and other similar headlines were prompted by a post made by a woman on the social networking site Facebook. In the post, the woman claimed that all medicines for children were available for free on the NHS as part of the minor ailment scheme.

"I was in Boots yesterday buying Calpol and happened to complain to the cashier how expensive it is. She told me, to my amazement, that if you register your details with them under the minor ailments scheme that all medicines for children are free – a scheme that has been going for eight years."

The post went viral, being "shared" and "liked" more than 100,000 times in the space of a few days.

But there are a number of inaccuracies both in the woman's post and in the overall reporting of the study.

Is paracetamol use in pregnancy harmful for male babies?

Is paracetamol use in pregnancy harmful for male babies? "Paracetamol use in pregnancy may harm male foetus," The Guardian reports. Researchers found evidence that taking paracetamol for seven days may lower the amount of testosterone testicular tissue can produce – using human foetal testicular tissue grafted into mice.

Low testosterone levels in male pregnancies have been linked to a range of conditions, ranging from the relatively benign, such as undescended testicles, to more serious conditions, such as infertility and testicular cancer.

Reassuringly, just taking a one-day course of paracetamol did not affect the level of testosterone. It seems any effect could be from continuous daily use only, rather than occasional use, which is how most people would probably take paracetamol.

An obvious caveat is that as the series of experiments was performed in mice, it is not known what the effect would be in humans. It is also not known whether the effect of regular daily use would be reversible and over what timescale. And we also don't know whether exposure in pregnancy would actually have any detrimental effects in a male child.

English drink 'more than estimated'

English drink 'more than estimated' The amount of alcohol people in England drink is underestimated by the equivalent of 12 million bottles of wine a week, according to new research. BBC News

See also:

• English alcohol consumption 'hugely' underestimated, research suggests The Daily Telegraph
• Drinkers in England consuming millions more bottles of wine than previously thought, says new research The Independent

'Seven day services' won't be won through overheated disputes

'Seven day services' won't be won through overheated disputes ‘Phoney war’ over extended working risks a damaging national showdown. Health Service Journal

See also:

• 'War of words' likely over seven-day GP opening BBC News