NHS chief says that GP surgeries should send MMR jab reminders to parents

NHS chief says that GP surgeries should send MMR jab reminders to parents GP surgeries should text or phone the parents of children who have missed their MMR jab, the Government's health protection chief urges today.

Duncan Selbie calls on family doctors to go through the 'painstaking task' of searching their records to hunt for unvaccinated patients.

Families which have slipped through the net should be called or sent text reminders inviting them to the surgery, he says. The Daily Mail

Doctors warn visitors to keep away from Northants hospitals after rise in people with norovirus bug

Doctors warn visitors to keep away from Northants hospitals after rise in people with norovirus bug Medics are warning patients to stay away from visiting friends and family in hospital if they have been infected by the norovirus bug.

With health services across Northamptonshire seeing a higher than usual number of patients with norovirus, doctors are telling loved ones to stay away from hospital for two days after diarrhoea and sickness symptoms have stopped to avoid it spreading. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Growing pressures on access and staffing risk creating ‘perfect storm’ for people using mental health and learning disability services

Growing pressures on access and staffing risk creating ‘perfect storm’ for people using mental health and learning disability services The Care Quality Commission’s annual assessment of the state of health and social care in England shows that quality ratings have been maintained overall – but people’s experience of care is determined by whether they can access good care when they need it.

This year’s State of Care considers the pressures faced by health and social care as a whole – but focuses particularly on inpatient mental health and learning disability services, the area where CQC is seeing an impact on quality.

While the overall quality picture for the mental health sector, which includes community mental health services, remains stable, this masks a real deterioration in some specialist inpatient services which has continued after 31 July 2019, the cut-off point for the data included in the report. Care Quality Commission

See also:

• The state of health care and adult social care in England 2019/19 Care Quality Commission
• Care Quality Commission presents mixed picture of the state of care in England The Health Foundation
• The King's Fund responds to the Care Quality Commission's State of care report The King's Fund
• More than half of A&Es 'not good enough' BBC News
• Half of NHS A&E departments 'are inadequate or require improvement' The Daily Mail
• More than half of A&Es now failing as breakdowns in non-emergency care sees flood of desperate patients The Daily Telegraph
• More than half of A&Es provide substandard care, says watchdog The Guardian
• A&Es may struggle to cope this winter as most are ‘inadequate’ or ‘require improvement’, inspectors say The Independent

Politicians should avoid the temptation of another NHS top-down re-organisation

Politicians should avoid the temptation of another NHS top-down re-organisation Most commentators think a general election is not far off. Whether the current incumbent returns or there is someone new in the hot seat that is the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, there will be no shortage of complex and urgent issues to occupy their attention, whether it’s overcoming deep and pervasive workforce shortages or grasping the nettle of social care funding and reform. The King's Fund

Queen's Speech has no concrete proposals for social care and worrying lack of reassurances for future workforce

Queen's Speech has no concrete proposals for social care and worrying lack of reassurances for future workforce Professor John Appleby, Chief Economist at the Nuffield Trust responds to the social care announcement in the Queen's Speech 2019.

See also:

• Queen's Speech 2019 The Cabinet Office
• The King's Fund responds to today's Queen's Speech The King's Fund
• Queen's Speech: New laws on crime, health and the environment BBC News
• What we learned from the Queen's Speech BBC News

Rough sleepers in homeless hotspots to benefit from NHS mental health outreach

Rough sleepers in homeless hotspots to benefit from NHS mental health outreach Towns with high rates of homelessness are set for investment in specialist mental health care, as part of NHS services for rough sleepers across the country.

The NHS-funded services in seven parts of the country will bring in new psychiatrists, psychologists and other experts to offer homeless people advice and treatment to tackle underlying mental ill health. NHS England

Role of the arts in improving health and well-being

Role of the arts in improving health and well-being Arts interventions, such as singing in a choir to improve chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, are considered non-invasive, low-risk treatment options and are increasingly being used by Member States to supplement more traditional biomedical treatments. The Health Evidence Network (HEN) synthesis report on arts and health, which will be launched on 11 November 2019, maps the global academic literature on this subject in both English and Russian. It references over 900 publications, including 200 reviews covering  over 3000 further studies. As such, the report represents the most comprehensive evidence review of arts and health to date. World Health Organization

Head injuries: Cheap drug 'could save thousands of lives a year'

Head injuries: Cheap drug 'could save thousands of lives a year' A cheap and widely available drug could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year worldwide if it was routinely given to people brought into hospital with head injuries, UK doctors say.

Tranexamic acid helps stop bleeding in and around the brain when blood vessels have been torn.

A large international study in The Lancet now suggests it improves patient survival rates if given early enough. BBC News

See also:

• Effects of tranexamic acid on death, disability, vascular occlusive events and other morbidities in patients with acute traumatic brain injury (CRASH-3): a randomised, placebo-controlled trial (open access) The Lancet
• Tranexamic acid could save lives of people with head injuries The Daily Mail

Women get half as many heart attack treatments as men

Women get half as many heart attack treatments as men Women appear to be half as likely to receive treatment for heart attacks as men, suggests research published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

This gender imbalance is all the more surprising given that a new blood test is diagnosing more women with a heart attack. OnMedica

Six-year-old girl at centre of life-support treatment case dies

Six-year-old girl at centre of life-support treatment case dies Doctors had advised child’s transfer to palliative care but her parents opposed recommendation

A six-year-old girl who was at the centre of a high court life-support treatment dispute has died, lawyers have said.

Doctors treating the child had said she should stop receiving life-support treatment and move to a palliative care regime, but her parents, who are also doctors, disagreed. The Guardian

Britain's first blind and deaf medic says seeing and hearing doesn't make you a better doctor

Britain's first blind and deaf medic says seeing and hearing doesn't make you a better doctor Well-meaning folk used to tell Alexandra Adams she couldn’t ski. Blind people can’t, they said. People who are blind and deaf certainly can’t.

It turns out, though, that determination (or ‘sheer stubbornness’, as she puts it) can triumph over disability. The Daily Mail

Developing allied health professional leaders: an interactive guide for clinicians and trust boards

Developing allied health professional leaders: an interactive guide for clinicians and trust boards This is a guide to professional development opportunities and possibilities to support allied health professionals (AHPs) lead at all levels. It describes the common features of the AHP leadership journey, by combining insights and evidence from trust executives and chief AHPs. Its primary audience is aspiring AHP leaders and those with responsibility for developing the AHP workforce. NHS Improvement

NHS bids to cut up to 100 million plastic straws, cups and cutlery from hospitals

NHS bids to cut up to 100 million plastic straws, cups and cutlery from hospitals The NHS will slash the use of plastic in hospital canteens as part of its drive to reduce waste and make hospitals healthier for patients and staff.

Major high street names and suppliers including Marks & Spencer and WH Smith are backing the call by NHS chief executive Simon Stevens to dramatically cut the amount of single-use plastics in hospitals, as part of a package of measures in the NHS Long Term Plan to reduce the environmental impact of the health service.

Retailers operating in hospitals have committed to cut the use of avoidable plastics starting with straws and stirrers from April with cutlery, plates and cups phased out over the following 12 months. NHS England

See also:

• The NHS will slash the use of plastic in hospital canteens The Daily Mail

RCP publishes census of consultant physicians and higher specialty trainees 2018

RCP publishes census of consultant physicians and higher specialty trainees 2018 The 2018 census of consultant physicians and higher specialty trainees, produced by the Medical Workforce Unit (MWU) at RCP on behalf of Royal College of Physicians London, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG), has been published.

8,656 doctors contributed to this year’s census, with the aim of providing the three colleges, their partners and others with robust data on the state of the consultant and higher specialty trainee (HST) physician workforce in the UK.

See also:

• New report reveals alarming shortage of country doctors The Guardian

Mother's sepsis warning after hospital failure

Mother's sepsis warning after hospital failure A hospital trust in Nottingham is being asked to explain what changes it’s made after an inquest found failings in the treatment of a five-year-old girl who died.

Ava Macfarlane died from sepsis in December 2017.

The hospital says they have made a "number of changes" since her death. BBC News

Slow walkers more likely to get sick when old, study finds

Slow walkers more likely to get sick when old, study finds Walking slowly could be a sign you’re more likely to get sick in later life, according to new research.

A simple test to measure the speed someone walks could predict their chance of getting diseases like Alzheimer’s decades before symptoms develop, scientists say.

Researchers found 45-year-olds who naturally walked slowly had brains and bodies that showed signs of “accelerated ageing” on a 19-measure scale. Their lungs, teeth and immune system were all in worse shape than people of the same age who walked faster. The Independent

See also:

• Association of Neurocognitive and Physical Function With Gait Speed in Midlife (open access) JAMA Open Network
• Slow walking at 45 'a sign of faster ageing' BBC News
• People who walk slowly at 45 have higher risks of dementia, study finds The Daily Mail

Dominic Cummings accused of conflict of interest over NHS fund

Dominic Cummings accused of conflict of interest over NHS fund Boris Johnson’s aide was consultant for AI startup that could win share of £250m fund

Boris Johnson’s most senior aide, Dominic Cummings, is facing conflict of interest accusations over a consultancy role he undertook for a government-endorsed healthcare startup that is in position to receive a share of a new £250m flagship public fund.

Cummings advised Babylon Health, a controversial artificial intelligence (AI) firm working within the NHS, on its communications strategy and its senior recruitment, an investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can reveal. The Guardian

My tears as a junior doctor were a ‘flaw’ that, in psychiatry, became my greatest strength

My tears as a junior doctor were a ‘flaw’ that, in psychiatry, became my greatest strength I burnt out as a GP but in mental health I could take time with patients and, at last, make a difference

“If you’re going to reject me, then reject me,” I said. I was deep in the bowels of Leicester University, being interviewed for a place at medical school. I was 35, a fact the learned professor interviewing me returned to again and again. How would I cope with the workload? Would the four hours’ driving each day prove too much? How would I support myself through my studies? Concerns that travelled through my own mind. Unlike the questions I asked myself, though, the queries in that interview room were all prefixed with “at your age”. I didn’t see my age as a problem, and eventually I told him so. The Guardian

School gates 'breeding ground' for vaccine myths, says NHS chief

School gates 'breeding ground' for vaccine myths, says NHS chief Head of health service in England calls for crackdown on misinformation about jabs

School gates can be a “breeding ground for harmful myths” about vaccines, the chief executive of NHS England has said, as he called for a zero-tolerance approach to misinformation about their alleged dangers.

Simon Stevens said it was often the parents who did their best to find out more about the impact and effect of vaccines on their children who were liable to be deceived by “fake news”. The Guardian

See also:

• School gates are breeding ground for anti-vax myths, says NHS chief The Independent

Hospitals paying locum doctors record sums of £4,000 per shift

Hospitals paying locum doctors record sums of £4,000 per shift Hospitals are paying locum doctors record sums of almost £4,000 each per shift in a bid to plug a growing staffing crisis across the health service.

A Daily Telegraph investigation reveals a sharp rise in “eye-watering” payments made via agencies, despite repeated pledges to clamp down on spending on temporary medics.

In most cases, the sums covered not just the hours worked, but time doctors spent on call – including when they were sleeping. The Daily Telegraph