Breast cancer patients are being denied 'life-changing' reconstructive surgery, research shows

Breast cancer patients are being denied 'life-changing' reconstructive surgery, research shows Breast cancer patients are being denied “life-changing” reconstructive surgery across swathes of the country, amid deepening NHS rationing, research shows.

Freedom of Information disclosures reveal that almost one in four NHS authorities have introduced restrictive policies, which mean women can be denied the operations to restore their bodies.

Experts said the rationing measures mean some women who have just been treated for cancer are being told they can only have the surgery within a limited time frame. The Telegraph

See also:

• Hundreds of breast cancer patients 'denied reconstruction' BBC News

Social care funding crisis leaves the NHS in limbo

Social care funding crisis leaves the NHS in limbo The health service can’t plan its next decade with confidence until the entire care system has a comprehensive deal

Four themes dominated this year’s gathering of the health service clan at the NHS Confederation’s annual conference in Manchester: priorities for the new money, avoiding another winter crisis, re-energising the redesign of clinical services, and finding, keeping and training the staff to do it all. The Guardian

See also:

• Make social care free to save NHS, say ex-Labour and Tory Ministers The Independent
• Theresa May to warn social care must wait until 2020 for extra funds, despite pledging £20bn for NHS The Independent 

NHS gets £20bn 'birthday present'

NHS gets £20bn 'birthday present' The NHS in England is to get an extra £20bn a year by 2023 as a 70th "birthday present", Theresa May says.

It means the £114bn budget will rise by an average of 3.4% annually - but that is still less than the 3.7% average rise the NHS has had since 1948.

The prime minister said this would be funded partly by a "Brexit dividend", but also hinted at tax rises. BBC News

See also:

• Theresa May under fire over NHS 'Brexit dividend' claim The Guardian
• Theresa May's NHS pledge decried as sticking plaster The Guardian
• NHS must be radically reformed and simplified if £20 billion funding boost is to work, warn two ex health ministers The Telegraph
• NHS funding: PM calls for 10-year plan to spend cash BBC News
• Two-thirds of Britons would pay more income tax to fund the NHS ... The Independent
• PM announcement ‘welcome and encouraging’ but general practice must receive a substantial share, says RCGP Royal College of General Practitioners
• The King's Fund responds to Prime Minister's announcement of new funding for the NHS King's Fund

Thirty-five per cent of hospital beds across Northamptonshire occupied by people 'who did not need them'

Thirty-five per cent of hospital beds across Northamptonshire occupied by people 'who did not need them' A review has found that a staggering 35 per cent of hospital beds across Northamptonshire were occupied by people that did not need them.

The figures show that 351 beds out of every 1,000 were occupied at any one time by people who did not require care in an acute setting – working out at the equivalent of 128,115 days more spent in hospital than patients needed to. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

System under strain: why demand pressures are more than a winter phenomenon

System under strain: why demand pressures are more than a winter phenomenon  NHS Confederation -This report shows that increases in demand are not restricted to particular parts of the service and specific times of the year. It describes ways in which increasing demand in one part of the system can affect the performance of other NHS services elsewhere. It outlines how some NHS and social care providers have adapted their services to enable patients and service users to access care more efficiently. King's Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

Cannabis addiction 'rising among women and over 40s'

Cannabis addiction 'rising among women and over 40s' Addiction to cannabis is rising among people above the age of 40, and women in particular, according to a study by the University of York. In the past 10 years, the number of women citing the drug as their sole concern at treatment centres more than doubled, from 471 to 1008.Researchers blame an increase in the potency of the drug and are calling for more and better treatment.Cannabis is still however primarily used by young men.
The study analysed figures from Public Health England on people seeking help at drug treatment centres between 2005-06 and 2015-16.BBC News Health

See also:

• Rising number of older and female cannabis users developing health problems University of York
• The rise of the older stoners! Mail Online

Hospital waiting list in England highest since 2007

Hospital waiting list in England highest since 2007 An estimated 4.2m people are waiting to be seen - the highest since 2007. April's figures also showed growing numbers waiting more than 18 weeks, the treatment target time, including people due to have cataract or back surgery and knee and hip replacements. BBC News - Health
See also:

• Number kept waiting too long for NHS treatment tops 500,000 The Guardian

May poised to boost NHS budget by up to £6bn a year

May poised to boost NHS budget by up to £6bn a year Theresa May is poised to increase the NHS’s budget by up to £6bn a year in a bid to capitalise on its impending 70th birthday and rescue the beleaguered service’s faltering fortunes.
The prime minister will scrap the eight-year-long policy of limiting the NHSto funding rises of only 1% and, in a dramatic shift, hand it increases of between 3% and 4% for the next few years.
The official announcement of a move that could see the NHS’s budget go up by around £20bn by the end of this parliament is expected within days. May is preparing to confirm the news herself, possibly through a television interview on Sunday, or at an event on Monday. The Guardian

Children consume more than a year’s worth of sugar in 6 months

Children consume more than a year’s worth of sugar in 6 months Children in England have already consumed more than a year’s worth of sugar, according to figures from Public Health England (PHE).Children aged 4 to 10 years should have no more than the equivalent of 5 to 6 cubes of sugar each day, but are consuming on average 13 cubes. This means they are on track to consume around 4,800 cubes of sugar by the end of the year, more than double the maximum recommendation.
Sugary soft drinks remain one of the main contributors of free sugars to children’s diets, more than ice cream and puddings combined. Public Health England - Gov.UK
See also:

• Children in England consuming 'twice as much sugar as recommended' BBC News - Health

Risk and reward sharing for NHS integrated care systems

Risk and reward sharing for NHS integrated care systems The Strategy Unit -This report outlines approaches to risk and reward sharing as they might apply to integrated care systems in the NHS. It is designed for those involved in establishing NHS integrated care systems, particularly NHS Directors of Finance, Directors of Strategy and their teams. King's Fund - Health Management and Policy Alert
See also:

• Risk and Reward Sharing for NHS Integrated Care Systems The Strategy Unit

Supporting military veterans in residential care

Supporting military veterans in residential care This guide aims to help care home managers, care home staff and local authority commissioners to understand how to support veterans living in residential care, taking into account their military service and backgrounds, and addressing their specific needs and preferences in a more personalised way. NHS Networks

Devolved powers could help make cities healthier

Devolved powers could help make cities healthier Metro mayors and other city leaders should be empowered to take greater responsibility for improving the health of the nation’s cities, a new report by The King’s Fund argues. The R'ole of Cities in Improving Population Health' draws on case studies and interviews with local leaders in 14 world cities including New York, Madrid and Copenhagen to find new ways of tackling public health challenges in England. It finds that the same characteristics that make cities engines of growth, innovation and creativity often lead to inequalities and concentrations of poverty and ill health. King's Fund
See also:

• The role of cities in improving population health: international insights King's Fund

Work, worklessness and health: local infographic tool

Work, worklessness and health: local infographic tool This tool includes a slide set with regional and local level data relating to work, worklessness and health for each county or unitary authority in England.
Infographic tool
Definitions, references and indicator sources
Public Health England - publications

King's Fund

Measles outbreaks across England

Measles outbreaks across England Public Health England is advising the public to ensure they have had two doses of the MMR vaccine after outbreaks of measles are confirmed across England. Gov.uk

Uptake of GP retainer scheme dwarfed by numbers quitting NHS each month

Uptake of GP retainer scheme dwarfed by numbers quitting NHS each month Fewer GPs are currently supported by the retainer scheme than quit the profession each month, analysis by GPonline has shown - as the BMA hit out at poor uptake and called for better promotion of the scheme. Just 286 GPs are currently being supported by the GP retention scheme, according to official data for March 2018.
But statistics from NHS Digital show that around 5,159 GPs left the profession in 2016/17, equivalent to around 430 a month. Numbers of doctors in NHS GP retention scheme have increased by 80% since September 2015, but the BMA's report The general practice forward view: two years on has criticised the programme's uptake as ‘relatively low’. GP Online

Joined-up approach needed to recruit overseas doctors

Joined-up approach needed to recruit overseas doctors The UK urgently needs a joined-up approach to recruitment of international doctors, according to experts. In an article* in The BMJ, James Buchan and Anita Charlesworth at The Health Foundation say the UK government’s decision to review the visa regime for international doctors is “a rare glimmer of common sense in an issue that has been more usually characterised by national policy incoherence.”

However, they warn that the “underlying problems of the UK approach to international recruitment of health professionals” remains to be “acknowledged and addressed.” OnMedica

Improved mental health support for children in care

Improved mental health support for children in care Up to 10 pilots across the country will trial new high quality mental health assessments, that ensure young people are assessed at the right time, with a focus on their individual needs as they enter care.
Statistics show that 62 per cent of looked after children are in care due to abuse or neglect, which can have a lasting impact on their mental health and emotional wellbeing. Currently half of all children in care meet the criteria for a possible mental health disorder, compared to one in ten children outside the care system. The pilots will identify a child’s mental health and broader wellbeing needs, including whether a referral to a more specialist service is needed. Department for Education on Gov.uk

Government to relax immigration rules on overseas doctors

Government to relax immigration rules on overseas doctors May heeds pleas from cabinet colleague to scrap ‘absolutely barmy’ caps on staff. Thousands more overseas doctors will be able to come and work in the NHS after Theresa May heeded pleas from cabinet colleagues to scrap limits that hospital bosses had criticised as “absolutely barmy”. The relaxation of immigration rules, which is due to be announced imminently, represents a victory for Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid and follows a vociferous campaign by NHS organisations and medical groups. The Guardian

NHS 'picking up the pieces' of mental illness epidemic caused by social media

NHS 'picking up the pieces' of mental illness epidemic caused by social media NHS is “picking up the pieces” of an epidemic of mental illness among children, fuelled by social media, the head of the service has warned. Simon Stevens urged companies like Google and Facebook to take more responsibility for the pressures they place on children.
It follows calls for social media and online gaming firms to have a statutory “duty of care” to protect children from mental ill health, abuse and addictive behaviour. Speaking at the NHS Confederation conference in Manchester, Mr Stevens said Britain’s children were hit by a “double epidemic” of mental illness and obesity. The Telegraph

NHS 'will need to build 80 more hospitals without fundamental reforms'

NHS 'will need to build 80 more hospitals without fundamental reforms' The NHS would need to build 80 hospitals in the next decade just to keep up with demand, unless it makes radical reforms, the head of its watchdog says. Ian Dalton, head of NHS Improvement, said fundamental changes in the way services are delivered were needed to ensure the survival of the NHS. And he said hospitals needed to do far more to ensure patients got the right care at home, warning of a 300 per cent variation in the average length of stay in hospital for some conditions. The Telegraph