Strep A schools may be given preventive antibiotics

Strep A schools may be given preventive antibiotics Pupils at schools affected by streptococcus A could be given preventative antibiotics, the schools minister has confirmed following the deaths of some from severe infections.

Nick Gibb said the use of antibiotics "is an option" and the issue had been raised in the House of Lords on Monday. BBC News

See also:

• Strep A: Why it can be dangerous and what to know BBC News
• Strep A: Mum warns of symptoms after child's illness BBC News
• Six children die with Strep A bacterial infection BBC News
• Parents urged to be aware of Strep A symptoms after death of six children BBC News
• Child aged 12 dies of invasive strep A in London BBC News
• Strep A: Penarth family traumatised by daughter's death BBC News
• 8 children have now died from Strep A: Pupil in Hampshire becomes latest victim of growing outbreak The Daily Mail
• Life-threatening Strep A infections four times more common than before Covid The Daily Telegraph
• Higher levels of strep A in UK could be due to Covid, says health chief The Guardian
• Strep A cases in your area as hundreds of infections reported across UK The Independent

Doctors raise safety fears at Birmingham hospitals

Doctors raise safety fears at Birmingham hospitals Whistleblowers at one of England's worst performing hospital trusts have said a climate of fear among staff is putting patients at risk.

Former and current clinicians at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Trust allege they were punished by management for raising safety concerns, a BBC Newsnight investigation found. BBC News

NHS: The Worst Winter? A story of stretched services told by frontline staff

NHS: The Worst Winter? A story of stretched services told by frontline staff Every week, we tell the stories of the NHS - its challenges, its triumphs, and, at times, its failings.

The stories matter because what affects the NHS affects us all: it's where our children are born, our relatives are healed, and our loved ones are supported in their toughest times.

But in recent times it has become hard to avoid the truth that our national health service is under serious strain - and at its worst extremes, often during winter, it is at breaking point.

In a news special - entitled NHS: The Worst Winter? - ITV News Anglia examines the health of the NHS, told through the stories of the staff working tirelessly on the front line.

See also:

• Thousands of beds taken up every day as NHS contends with ‘perfect storm’ of winter pressures NHS England
• NHS: Ambulance delays as paramedic holds for GP BBC News
• Fears NHS will have its worst winter ever ‘fast becoming a reality’ as health service is hit by A&E chaos, delayed ambulances, bed shortages and chronic staffing crisis The Daily Mail
• Navigating the NHS: How patients are affected by delays The Guardian
• Government plans NHS pension overhaul to ease pressures over winter The Guardian
• Emergency care issues in England contributed to 200 deaths last week, says medical chief The Guardian
• I am a paramedic trying to answer your 999 calls. Let me tell about life in the NHS twilight zone | Jake Jones The Guardian
• NHS 111 crisis adds pressure to health system as Strep A calls spike The Independent

NHS set to grind to a halt on 20 December in coordinated strike

NHS set to grind to a halt on 20 December in coordinated strike The NHS will grind to a halt on 20 December under plans being discussed for a coordinated Christmas strike in England and Wales by nurses, ambulance drivers and hospital staff.

The unprecedented day of industrial action would leave NHS bosses struggling to keep even the most basic services running to standards that patients would expect, with many reduced to “Christmas Day” levels of staffing. The Guardian

See also:

• Strikes will cause even MORE chaos in A&E The Daily Mail
• NHS could shutdown on December 20: Unions plot to co-ordinate devastating pre-Christmas strikes The Daily Mail
• A&E at risk from nurses' strikes as it fails to make list of protected areas The Daily Telegraph
• Pharmacies drafted in to break NHS strike The Daily Telegraph
• Striking UK workers playing into Putin’s hands, says Zahawi The Guardian
• Tory chairman’s ‘NHS strikes help Putin’ claim dismissed as ‘ludicrous’ The Guardian
• Timetable of trouble: the wave of strikes set to hit the Tories this winter The Guardian
• Ministers accused of ‘spoiling for a fight’ with nurses over pay The Guardian
• Where will NHS nurses strike and how will it affect me? The News Statesman
• Tory claims nurses should cancel strikes to ‘send clear message to Putin’ Nursing Notes

FIVE MILLION patients are being denied a GP appointment every month, analysis reveals

FIVE MILLION patients are being denied a GP appointment every month, analysis reveals Five million people a month are unable to book a GP appointment when they want one with the number doubling in a year, a damning study suggests.

Millions more are left waiting over a month to be seen, potentially forcing them to overcrowded A&Es or leaving them at risk of serious diseases being diagnosed too late.

The situation has got drastically worse, with the number unable to see a GP rocketing from 2.7million in October 2021 to 5.2million this October, according to analysis of NHS figures by the Labour Party. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Demonising GPs will only make capacity problems worse BMA
• Difficulties in accessing GP services are not the fault of hardworking GP teams, College tells Labour Party Royal College of General Practitioners
• Online booking for GP appointments could ease the daily scramble for slots, report says The Daily Mail
• Millions missing out on GP appointments, warns Labour Evening Standard
• Delays in seeing a GP mean millions will get diagnosis too late, says Labour The Guardian
• Five million missed out on GP appointments in one month, says Labour The Independent
• Labour claims millions finding it 'impossible' to book GP appointments ITV News

Faulty knee replacements were given to 10,000 patients

Faulty knee replacements were given to 10,000 patients More than 10,000 NHS patients have been given faulty knee replacements, it was revealed last night.

The National Joint Registry said 350 people needed a second operation within ten years due to ‘aseptic loosening’.

The Nexgen implant, made by US firm Zimmer Biomet, was withdrawn from the market in October.  The Daily Mail

A short break

Our blog will be back on Tuesday the 6th of December.

Northamptonshire nurses confirm when they will strike before Christmas

Northamptonshire nurses confirm when they will strike before Christmas Northamptonshire nurses have confirmed when they will strike before Christmas. As many as 100,000 NHS nurses will walkout in the first of a series of NHS industrial actions in the coming weeks. Northants Live

More under-fives with flu in region's hospitals – here’s how you can get your child vaccinated in Northamptonshire

More under-fives with flu in region's hospitals – here’s how you can get your child vaccinated in Northamptonshire Health experts are urging parents in Northamptonshire to get their under-fives vaccinated against flu as hospitals see numbers of sick children rise in the region.

They fear fewer vaccinations last year means more than half the very young have no protection against infection. The vaccine is given to children as a spray squirted up each nostril. It's quick and painless. The vaccine will still work even if your child gets a runny nose, sneezes or blows their nose. Northamptonshire Telegraph

See also:

• Pregnant women in Northamptonshire urged to have free vaccinations ahead of ‘twindemic’ Northants Live

Concern over low rate of 2 to 3 year olds getting the flu vaccine

Concern over low rate of 2 to 3 year olds getting the flu vaccine Following the latest UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data showing the low uptake of the flu vaccine among 2 and 3 year olds and the high rates of under 5s being hospitalised with flu, UKHSA is warning parents of the importance of ensuring their young children are vaccinated.

During week 46 (between 14 and 20 November), it is estimated that over 200 children under 5 were hospitalised suffering from serious complications caused by flu. These figures are estimated based on confirmed influenza cases in NHS acute hospitals. UK Health Security Agency

See also:

• Parents urged to get children flu vaccine as infections rise BBC News
• Get children vaccinated against flu, parents told: Health chiefs warn of 70% jump in admissions The Daily Mail

Nursing and midwifery register grows and becomes more ethnically diverse

Nursing and midwifery register grows and becomes more ethnically diverse The number of nurses, midwives and nursing associates on the NMC register has grown by nearly two percent to a record 771,445. This growth is being driven in large part by the number of internationally educated joiners, which continues to rise at a much faster rate than UK joiners.

A total of 11,496 international professionals joined the NMC register for the first time between April and September. That’s 4.9 percent more than in the same period last year (10,961) and nearly four times more than in the six months to September 2018 (3,208). Nursing and Midwifery Council

Independent report: Technical report on the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK

Independent report: Technical report on the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK This is a technical report for our successors on some of the scientific, public health and clinical aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the 4 nations of the UK. Department of Health and Social Care

NHS HIV testing rollout identifies hundreds of new cases

NHS HIV testing rollout identifies hundreds of new cases More than 800 people living with HIV and Hepatitis not receiving treatment have been found by the NHS in just six months following the rollout of routine testing in A&E.

In April 2022, the NHS made £20 million available over three years to implement routine HIV opt out testing within 33 hospital Emergency Departments, in areas with the highest rates of diagnosed HIV. NHS England

Forty-hour ambulance waits as NHS delays worsen

Forty-hour ambulance waits as NHS delays worsen When 85-year-old Koulla fell at home, her family immediately rang for an ambulance. She was in agonising pain - she had broken her hip.

It was around 8pm. It took another 14 hours for an ambulance to get to her, leaving her pregnant granddaughter to care for her through the night.

When they arrived the crews were able to give her pain relief and quickly transported her to the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

But there the wait continued - there were around 30 ambulances queuing to handover patients to A&E staff.

It was another 26 hours before she was taken inside to A&E. BBC News

See also:

• 10,000 more NHS ambulance workers will strike: GMB joins string of medical unions The Daily Mail
• Nearly one in three ambulance patients waiting at least 30 minutes for A&E handover Evening Standard
• Ambulance waiting times in England three times longer in some rural areas The Guardian
• What ambulance strike means for calls, response times and staffing The Independent

NHS 'winter war rooms' go live across England

NHS 'winter war rooms' go live across England More than 40 NHS “traffic control centres” have gone live across England with the aim of getting patients into beds more quickly and managing demand.

The “winter war rooms” will use data to respond to pressures on the health system, with staff able to divert ambulances away from full hospitals to ones with more capacity. The Independent

Officials slow to act on Covid contact-tracing warnings, leaked evidence says

Officials slow to act on Covid contact-tracing warnings, leaked evidence says Public health leaders were slow to act on repeated warnings over Christmas 2020 that contact tracing and isolation should be triggered immediately after a positive lateral flow test result, leaked evidence to the Covid inquiry shows.

A scathing “lessons learned” document written by Dr Achim Wolf, a senior test and trace official, and submitted to the inquiry, gives his account of a trail of missed opportunities to improve the NHS test-and-trace regime in the first winter and spring of the pandemic – before vaccines were available. The Guardian

See also:

• Former vaccines chief sounds warning about UK pandemic readiness The Guardian
• The NHS test-and-trace failings that contributed to UK’s 2020 Covid Christmas The Guardian

Amputees and stroke survivors are being 'imprisoned at home' due to lack of physiotherapy

Amputees and stroke survivors are being 'imprisoned at home' due to lack of physiotherapy Patients are being left with increasing levels of disability and depression because of a lack of NHS rehabilitation services, physiotherapists have warned.

Amputees are among those left waiting months for care, with some people treated in cupboards and corridors due to a shortage of proper rooms, it is claimed.

Meanwhile, stroke survivors are left 'imprisoned at home with a bed and a commode' while they wait to be seen, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy added. The Daily Mail

Rushden specialist 51-bed short-term care centre facing closure as West Northants Council look to drop facility

Rushden specialist 51-bed short-term care centre facing closure as West Northants Council look to drop facility A 51-bed Rushden care home that provides short stay re-ablement and respite could close after a funding row between the county’s unitary councils.

After the break-up of Northamptonshire County Council (NCC), two care home facilities in the north of the county were taken on by West Northamptonshire Council (WNC). Northamptonshire Telegraph

Northampton General Hospital boss issues apology and explanation over state of accident and emergency department

Northampton General Hospital boss issues apology and explanation over state of accident and emergency department Northampton General Hospital has apologised to patients after its accident and emergency department has been heavily criticised recently.

Heidi Smoult, NGH Chief Executive, has addressed the growing concerns surrounding the A&E department, particularly long wait times. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Digitally enabled collaborative work needs organisational capacity to succeed

Digitally enabled collaborative work needs organisational capacity to succeed We all know how the pressure of work builds and builds and builds and no matter how fast we go we never quite seem, or barely seem, to be going fast enough and getting enough done. What we think we know, however, is that there is so much to do and so little time to do it that we really must go as fast as we possibly can. The King's Fund