Running marathon cuts 'artery age by four years'

Running marathon cuts 'artery age by four years' Training for and completing a marathon improves the health of a new runner's arteries, cutting about four years off their "vascular age", a study suggests.

Researchers from Barts and University College London tested 138 novice runners attempting the London Marathon.

Over six months of training, their arteries regained some youthful elasticity, which should reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. BBC News

See also:

• Training for a First-Time Marathon Reverses Age-Related Aortic Stiffening (abstract) Journal of the American College of Cardiology
• Running your first marathon ‘makes you four years younger’ in heart health The Daily Telegraph

Dozens of hospitals leaving NHS staff at risk of attacks by patients

Dozens of hospitals leaving NHS staff at risk of attacks by patients Dozens of NHS hospitals are breaking the law by failing to protect staff from violent attacks, it has emerged.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said 25 NHS trusts are in breach of rules designed to make sure they manage risks to their staff from violent patients or members of the public.

This follows 38 inspections by the regulator since April 2018. The Independent

See also:

• Two-thirds of trusts failing to protect staff from violence HSJ

'Children cannot give consent to transgender treatment', nurse launching legal test case claims

'Children cannot give consent to transgender treatment', nurse launching legal test case claims Children cannot consent to transgender treatment, a nurse bringing a landmark legal case has said, claiming that many are autistic, homosexual or just confused.

Susan Evans, 62, a former psychiatric nurse at the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust, said that “experimental” and “invasive medical treatment” should be prevented in order to protect children. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Psychiatric nurse launches legal action against NHS clinic The Daily Mail
• Nurse bids to stop puberty blocking drugs on the NHS  Metro

AI can diagnose brain tumors better, faster and earlier than doctors can

AI can diagnose brain tumors better, faster and earlier than doctors can Artificial intelligence can detect brain tumors during surgery better than trained doctors, a new study claims.

Researchers developed a computer algorithm that could diagnose the cancerous masses with almost 95 percent accuracy.

The results analyzed by neuropathologists were slightly less accurate at around 94 percent. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Near real-time intraoperative brain tumor diagnosis using stimulated Raman histology and deep neural networks (abstract) Nature Medicine
• Artificial intelligence can accurately diagnose brain tumours within minutes The Independent

Max Clifford: HMP Littlehey staff 'made medication errors'

Max Clifford: HMP Littlehey staff 'made medication errors' Disgraced publicist Max Clifford was given wrongly-labelled medication at least twice in prison before he died, a report has found.

Clifford, 74, died two years ago while serving an eight-year sentence at Littlehey Prison in Cambridgeshire for historical sex offences.

Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which provides healthcare at HMP Littlehey, said the coroner had accepted its action plan and evidence of implementation.

It said it would "continue to share learning and implement our findings to ensure our care is of a high standard". BBC News

See also:

• Independent investigation into the death of Mr Maxwell Clifford a prisoner at HMP Littlehey on 10 December 2017 Prisons and Probation Ombudsman
• Max Clifford: Disgraced publicist given wrongly labelled medication in prison before death, report finds The Independent

£40 million investment to reduce NHS staff login times

£40 million investment to reduce NHS staff login times The government will provide £40 million to transform slow login times, one of the main technology frustrations facing NHS staff.

NHS staff currently have to log in to multiple computer programmes when tending to a patient, with each programme requiring its own login details. Some staff need to log into as many as 15 different systems.

This can be time consuming, and also requires staff to remember multiple complex passwords or use the same one on multiple systems, which is potentially a cybersecurity risk. Department of Health

See also:

• 'Outdated' IT leaves NHS staff with 15 different computer logins BBC News
• Health chiefs to spend £40million to cut 'ridiculous' NHS tech delays The Daily Mail
• NHS gets £40m to cut login times on its IT systems The Guardian
• Funds to cut slow login times and upgrade IT for NHS staff ITV News
• New drive to reduce NHS computer login times OnMedica

DNA Testing On The NHS To Fast Track Diagnosis For Critically Ill Babies And Children

DNA Testing On The NHS To Fast Track Diagnosis For Critically Ill Babies And Children The NHS in England is providing a new form of DNA test capable of rapidly diagnosing rare diseases for critically ill babies and children, as part of its Long Term Plan to use world leading technologies to improve care for the sickest infants.

80 babies and children have received this new test, with almost half being given a diagnosis for their rare disease.

The technique, known as ‘whole exome sequencing’, doubles the chance of a diagnosis and can reveal what is wrong with patients in days rather than weeks, reducing waits for worried families. NHS England

Fentanyl deaths on rise in UK, drug report warns

Fentanyl deaths on rise in UK, drug report warns Deaths caused by the drug fentanyl are on the rise in the UK, a report warns.

Deaths related to Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid considered to be 50 times more potent than heroin, rose from eight in 2008 to 135 in 2017, the report said.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) said the government should introduce controls to tackle the "emerging threat" the painkiller poses.

The ACMD said a rise in the number of deaths in the UK is being driven by fentanyl being added to heroin. BBC News

See also:

• Misuse of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs

Age of carers is 'looming crisis' for adult care

Age of carers is 'looming crisis' for adult care The increasing age of carers looking after adults with learning disabilities is a "looming crisis" for councils, a study claims.

Two-thirds of adults with learning disabilities or autism live with their families. Medical advances mean they are living longer than ever but many parents - some in their 80s and 90s - are worried about what will happen when they die.

Researchers from the University of Bath say the "issue will reach breaking point if it isn't tackled". BBC News

See also:

• Confronting a looming crisis: People with learning disabilities and/or autism and their carers getting older  University of Bath
• Looming crisis for older family carers of people with learning disabilities University of Bath

Surgery patients with deadly sepsis are not getting antibiotics fast enough, NHS audit finds

Surgery patients with deadly sepsis are not getting antibiotics fast enough, NHS audit finds More than 80 per cent of patients who have signs of a deadly sepsis infection before high-risk surgery are not getting antibiotics fast enough, a major NHS report has warned.

Sepsis kills an estimated 44,000 people in England every year and rapid access to antibiotics within the first hour after diagnosis is vital to halt the infection.

But a review of performance across 179 NHS hospitals has found a majority of patients undergoing emergency bowel surgery are not getting medication early enough. The Independent

Hospital in bullying claims did not monitor at-risk patients

Hospital in bullying claims did not monitor at-risk patients West Suffolk NHS trust failed to heed warning over patients with aneurysms, raising questions about management

A hospital accused of bullying its staff is facing new claims that it failed to act on a leading doctor’s warning about a potential fatal failure to monitor vulnerable patients, the Guardian can reveal.

Anorexia is the deadliest mental illness. Why is the NHS still not taking it seriously?

Anorexia is the deadliest mental illness. Why is the NHS still not taking it seriously? | Tom Quinn The rise in hospital admissions for eating disorders shows that medics don’t have the knowledge or the resources to treat them

The rise in hospital admissions for people with eating disorders reported on Thursday is very concerning. It shows that much more must be done to intervene early and provide intensive support in the community. The Guardian

Hospitalisations for flu 10-fold higher than last year, official figures show

Hospitalisations for flu 10-fold higher than last year, official figures show The number of people hospitalised with flu this winter is almost ten times as high as this time last year, new figures show.

The NHS statistics also show rates of winter vomiting bug are a quarter higher, putting hospitals under mounting pressure.

Health officials urged those eligible for the flu jab to come forward, without delay. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• UK flu levels according to PHE statistics: 2019 to 2020 Public Health England

Children with mental health problems must be severely unwell before they can get help at NHS

Children with mental health problems must be severely unwell before they can get help at NHS Children with mental health problems are being turned away by the NHS because their symptoms are not severe enough, an investigation has found.

Data obtained via freedom of information requests shows a third of mental health trusts in England reject child patients whose condition is not 'severe' or 'significant'.

GPs claimed some children were having to attempt or threaten suicide in order to be referred to a specialist. The Daily Mail

See also:

• More than half of GP referrals to CAMHS services rejected, poll reveals GPonline
• Children refused NHS mental health care for not being unwell enough The Guardian
• Number of children admitted to A&E with mental health problems jumps 330 per cent over past decade The Independent
• Mentally ill children prevented from getting specialist treatment iNews
• GPs paint bleak picture of child mental health services OnMedica
• Children rejected by NHS mental health trusts as criteria for GP referrals tightens Pulse

Striving to deliver

Striving to deliver Trust leaders are warning that they are more concerned than ever before about the level of risk they will need to manage for patients and their staff this winter. This briefing is an assessment of readiness looking into the areas of concern facing the NHS and the extensive planning they and their local partners have put into place to mitigate this. King's Fund

Briefing
Press release

GPs to visit care home patients fortnightly under network requirements

GPs to visit care home patients fortnightly under network requirements GPs will have to carry out visits to care home patients 'at least' every fortnight from this September as part of the delivery of new network service specifications, new proposals have revealed.
According to a draft NHS England document outlining the primary care network service specifications, practices in PCNs will deliver five national services from April 2020 onwards, including enhanced care in residential homes and structured medication reviews.
Plans for services to provide anticipatory care and personalised care must be drawn up by 'no later than June 2020'. Services to support early cancer diagnosis must have a clinical lead in place from April, and during 2020/21 there must be a 'safety netting' approach put in place to monitor patients referred for suspected cancer. Pulse

Nurse who worked at the first privatised NHS hospital says she wants people to 'remember' the 'disaster'

Nurse who worked at the first privatised NHS hospital says she wants people to 'remember' the 'disaster' Private provision of health care services has always been controversial and has been a hot topic during and since the recent general election. Labour claimed that more NHS services could be outsourced to private companies, particularly in connection with a possible post-Brexit UK-US trade deal. Boris Johnson, for his part, insists "the NHS will never be for sale”.
However, the ITV documentary The Dirty War on the NHS aired recently, arguing that the health service is "under threat of being sold off and converted to a free market model inspired by America's disastrous health insurance system".
The film focused on Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire, the first hospital to be handed to a private management firm. i newspaper

The NHS begins 2020 with good reason to hope for a better decade

The NHS begins 2020 with good reason to hope for a better decade The NHS stands at the threshold of a new decade facing both potentially its most difficult winter in decades and the most hopeful medium-term future since the 2008 financial crash.
The global economic meltdown at the end of this century’s first decade was significantly more important than anything that happened between 2010 and 2019. It led, though not directly, to public sector austerity, which undermined many of the gains made by the NHS during the New Labour years and decimated other areas of social provision on which the health service depends.
The aftermath of austerity will go on damaging the NHS for some time, not least because budget cuts for local authorities and other areas of expenditure have only been mitigated, but not ended. We have also yet to count the cost in staff morale and resilience from what may prove to be a cruel winter.
However, for the first time in nearly 10 years NHS leaders can look forward over a three-year period and reasonably expect to do more — albeit only a little — than manage decline and hope that a more logical and effective way of working may become a widespread reality. Health Service Journal

Children in mental distress denied NHS help until close to suicide

Children in mental distress denied NHS help until close to suicide Children suffering mental health problems are being refused treatment until they are close to suicide, amid soaring referrals, an investigation reveals. Medics said services were “washing their hands” of vulnerable children and teenagers, with one in three trusts only accepting cases classed as the most severe.
Experts said children were being forced to wait until their condition deteriorated - in some cases resulting in a suicide attempt - in order to get to see a specialist. It comes amid concern that social media is fuelling a growing mental health crisis among younger generations, encouraging feelings of inadequacy.
Some are facing waits of 18 months for counselling, amid rising numbers of referrals. NHS data shows the total number of referrals to such specialists has risen by almost a fifth in the year. The Telegraph

New DNA tests mean babies and children can be diagnosed with rare diseases in just days

New DNA tests mean babies and children can be diagnosed with rare diseases in just days The NHS is promising a “genomic revolution,” with rare child diseases diagnosed in days, with far more accuracy than has previously possible.
Up to 700 babies and children a year will be offered a new form of DNA test, which can rapidly identify mutations in critically ill patients.
The Health Secretary said the new technology was “game changing” for the NHS, with experts saying the tests could double the chance of an accurate diagnosis and ensure swift treatment.
The technique, known as “whole exome sequencing” can reveal what is wrong with patients in days rather than weeks, reducing waits for worried families. The Telegraph