Concerns remain about providers of online GP services

Concerns remain about providers of online GP services The quality of online primary care services, such as those that provide GP consultations and prescriptions through independent websites and apps, has improved over the last 12 months but further action from providers and the wider system is needed to ensure they are as safe as general practice in physical premises. NHS Networks
See also:

• The state of care in independent online primary health services report Care Quality Commission (CQC)

Teenagers urged to take part in meningitis B vaccine trial

Teenagers urged to take part in meningitis B vaccine trial Teenagers in Great Britain are being asked to take part in a study to learn if immunising them against meningitis B could protect them and other people.

The NHS wants 24,000 to take part in the Oxford Vaccine Group's Be On The Team trial, which is helped by National Institute for Health Research funding.

Bacteria at the back of the throat can cause meningitis and the study will see if vaccination can stop this happening. The trial will take place in four waves of recruitment over the next two years. BBC News - Health
See also:

• Pupil overcomes needle fear to take part in meningitis vaccine trial BBC News - Health

NHS public health functions agreement 2018-19: public health functions to be exercised by NHS England

NHS public health functions agreement 2018-19: public health functions to be exercised by NHS  England Department of Health and Social Care -This agreement sets out the arrangements under which the Secretary of State delegates responsibility to NHS England for certain public health services. The services currently commissioned in this way are: national immunisation programmes; national cancer and non-cancer screening programmes; Child Health Information Services; public health services for adults and children in secure and detained settings in England; and sexual assault services. King's fund - Health Management and Policy Alert
See also:

• Public Health Commissioning in the NHS 2018 to 2019 Gov.uk

NHS and councils face up to gender pay gap as reporting deadline looms - The Guardian

NHS and councils face up to gender pay gap as reporting deadline looms - The Guardian Two-thirds of councils and 90% of NHS trusts have a gender pay gap. That’s the stark finding, based on submissions from 196 town halls and 74 English NHS trusts. This year, for the first time, all organisations in Great Britain with more than 250 employees will have to publish gender pay gap data. By the end of this week, all public sector bodies in England should have submitted their gender pay gap data (Scotland and Wales already publish their figures), while the deadline for private and voluntary organisations is 4 April. The Guardian

Nearly 14m in patients in England now use online GP services

Nearly 14m in patients in England now use online GP services  Latest figures from NHS Digital show that nearly 14m patients are now using online services to book appointments, order repeat prescriptions and view their records. This represents 24% of all patients, NHS England said. GP Online
See also:

• Dramatic annual surge in online GP services as patients sign up for convenience NHS England

NHS: PM to look at 'multi-year' funding plan for health service

NHS: PM to look at 'multi-year' funding plan for health service Theresa May has promised a "multi-year" funding plan for the NHS in England to address its long-terms financial needs.

The PM said she wanted to get away from annual "cash top-ups" and would come up with a blueprint later this year to allow the NHS "to plan for the future".

She said she hoped to build a political consensus on improving productivity and efficiency and reducing cost pressures.

Labour said it welcomed any promise of extra funding from a government which had "starved" the NHS of resources. BBC News - Politics
See also:

• Theresa May pledges to accelerate NHS long-term funding plan The Guardian

Young people with mental health problems facing 'unacceptable barriers' - iNews

Young people with mental health problems facing 'unacceptable barriers' - iNews Teenagers and young people are facing “unacceptable barriers” in getting mental health support, a charity has warned. A survey of 2,700 people up to the age of 25 who had struggled with mental health issues found that less than 1 in 10 (9 per cent) felt it was easy to get the support they needed. The YoungMinds poll also found that two-thirds felt it was “difficult” to get help. Only 6 per cent said they believe there is enough support for children and young people with mental health problems. iNews

Carers 'need mandatory LGBT training'

Carers 'need mandatory LGBT training' Carers looking after older people should be given statutory LGBT training to help tackle homophobia in the sector, the charity Stonewall has said.

Discrimination is "alive and kicking," with many older people fearing abuse from care workers, one man told the Victoria Derbyshire programme.

Currently, there is a code of conduct but all training is voluntary. The government said making training mandatory was not possible as care providers were private employers. BBC News

NHS England and NHS Improvement: working closer together

NHS England and NHS Improvement: working closer together NHS England and NHS Improvement are today announcing some key steps that we are taking to bring our organisations closer together. We have one NHS: commissioners and providers in each part of the country are serving the same people, and we need to use the resources that Parliament gives the NHS to greater benefit for benefit for local patients. This requires a much stronger focus on collaboration and joint working nationally as well as in local health systems. NHS England

Integrating mental health and social care: does it work in practice?

Integrating mental health and social care: does it work in practice? This briefing looks at the integration of mental health services and social care, the benefits behind this and the challenges faced on the ground. NHS Networks

New report on apprenticeship levy strategies in NHS Trusts

New report on apprenticeship levy strategies in NHS Trusts A new report published by BPP University has surveyed 175 trusts on their apprenticeship levy strategies. The key findings from the report include:
- 95 per cent of the 175 trusts in England surveyed plan to use their apprenticeship levy fund
- more than half surveyed expect to spend the majority, if not all of their levy funds for 2017-18
- trusts plan to spend most of their levy funds on existing employees, rather than recruiting new employees into apprenticeship roles
- nine out of ten employers said they would use the levy to support workforce planning
- an appetite for nursing degree apprenticeships with 85 per cent of the 175 trusts surveyed looking to offer them. NHS Employers

Community-wide approach needed to tackle growing challenge of loneliness and social isolation

Community-wide approach needed to tackle growing challenge of loneliness and social isolation Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, has responded to a study published in the BMJ about the links between loneliness and social isolation and cardiovascular conditions.

She said: "Loneliness and social isolation can have a devastating impact on our patients' long term health and wellbeing - this is something the College has been highlighting for some time, and is backed up by this research.

"The reality is that loneliness and social isolation, particularly for older people, can be on a par in terms of its impact on health with suffering from a chronic long-term condition, and, as this study shows, increase the likelihood of developing serious conditions, such as heart attacks and strokes. Royal College of General Practitioners

Extended NHS 111 direct booking pilot subject to local pay decisions - Pulse

Extended NHS 111 direct booking pilot subject to local pay decisions - Pulse Local commissioners will decide how much, if at all, GP practices will be paid to take part in extended piloting of NHS 111 direct booking of appointments.

A pilot running in the North East of England since 2016 has offered practices 70p per patient, however NHS England told Pulse this was not national policy.

NHS England also confirmed that it will require CCGs to ensure 30% of all GP appointments are open to direct booking by NHS 111 from April 2019. Pulse

NHS 'is hiding care cash' as families blow life savings - The Times

NHS 'is hiding care cash' as families blow life savings - The Times Thousands of vulnerable elderly people may be missing out on state funding for their care because they and their families have no idea it exists, according to an exclusive survey.

Almost nine in ten people (87%) in a poll of more than 1,000 aged 45-60 — the group most likely to be taking care funding decisions for their parents — did not know about NHS continuing healthcare. This covers the care fees of those with complex medical needs. Crucially, it is available regardless of wealth. The Times

May must consider tax rises to fund NHS and social care, say MPs - The Guardian

May must consider tax rises to fund NHS and social care, say MPs - The Guardian Theresa May is under mounting pressure to consider tax rises to fund Britain’s creaking health and social care system, as a group of high-powered MPs on Monday call for a new commission to recommend money-raising measures.

Among the signatories to a letter to the prime minister are 21 select committee chairs who are urging May to set up a year-long “parliamentary commission”, echoing the approach taken after the banking bailouts.

Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes and chair of the health and social care committee, said: “We call on the government to act with urgency and to take a whole system approach to the funding of the NHS, social care and public health. On behalf of all those who rely on services, we need to break down the political barriers and to agree a way forward.” The Guardian

See also:

• An NHS tax would make the public question whether the health service is really worth what we pay for it The Telegraph
• How should we pay for the NHS? BBC News
• NHS finances in 'perilous state', says damning Public Accounts Committee report The Independent

Southern Health fined £2 million over deaths of two patients - BBC News

Southern Health fined £2 million over deaths of two patients - BBC News An NHS trust that admitted failing two patients who died in its care, one in a bath, has been fined £2m.

Connor Sparrowhawk, 18, drowned in Oxford in 2013. Teresa Colvin, 45, died in Hampshire in 2012.

Southern Health admitted to "systemic failures" and pleaded guilty in 2017 to breaching health and safety laws. BBC News

See also:

• NHS trust fined £2m for Connor Sparrowhawk and Teresa Colvin deaths The Guardian

Exclusive: GPs deliver services worth millions of pounds for free

Exclusive: GPs deliver services worth millions of pounds for free GP practices are continuing to provide services worth many millions of pounds per year for which they receive no funding, a GPonline poll reveals.Seven out of 10 GP partners say their practice delivers at least one non-core service for no extra money, the poll of 255 partners found - suggesting that more than 5,000 practices in England may be carrying out unfunded work. GP Online

Global antibiotic consumption soars feeding spread of UK 'super-bugs'

Global antibiotic consumption soars feeding spread of UK 'super-bugs'
Drug-resistant superbugs are rising in the UK because of lack of regulation of antibiotics in developing countries, experts have warned.

One of the biggest studies of antibiotic use around the world has established that while antibiotic use in Britain has slowed, global consumption jumped by 65 percent, to 34.8 billion daily doses between 2000 and 2015. The Telegraph

See also:

• 'I almost died': the true cost of antibiotic resistance in Britain and around the world The Telegraph
• Antibiotic demand has surged by 65 percent Mail Online
• Global use of antibiotics has risen by almost 40 % in 15 years Mail Online

Patients not told about doctors' big pharma conflicts of interest - new study

Patients not told about doctors' big pharma conflicts of interest - new study
Hospitals are failing to inform patients when doctors responsible for choosing their drugs have received thousands of pounds from pharmaceutical companies, a new study reveals.

A survey in the British Medical Journal shows just six per cent of NHS trusts publish their register of gifts and hospitality online and that the majority make it practically impossible for patients to determine if there is a conflict of interest.  The Telegraph

Thousands of bowel cancer patients at risk as hospitals ignore genetic test

Thousands of bowel cancer patients at risk as hospitals ignore genetic test The lives of thousands of bowel cancer patients are being put at needless risk because hospitals are failing to perform a simple genetic test, an investigation has found.

More than eight out of 10 hospitals are ignoring official guidelines by not carrying out screening for Lynch syndrome when patients are diagnosed with the cancer.

Carried by an estimated 175,000 people, the faulty gene makes a person 80 per cent more likely to develop bowel cancer and means chemotherapy is less likely to work. The Telegraph

See also:

• Four in five hospitals won't carry out 'life saving' bowel cancer test Mail Online
• Lynch Syndrome: Call for NHS to fund 'life-saving' bowel cancer test Sky News
• Hospitals 'failing' on genetic bowel cancer test BBC News