‘Children put at risk’ as NHS autism assessments are cut back

‘Children put at risk’ as NHS autism assessments are cut back NHS managers in south-west England have imposed new rules that could deny autism assessments to thousands of children in a move that parents say “puts children at genuine risk”.

At the start of this month, NHS commissioners in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire announced new referral criteria for children’s autism assessments, effective immediately with no notice or consultation. The Guardian

High risk of stroke is linked to mental health

High risk of stroke is linked to mental health Depression and other mental health problems may put sufferers at increased risk of a stroke, two studies have found.

In the first, people who reported the worst depressive symptoms – admitting they’d ‘given up on life improvements’ – were found to have the greatest risk of a stroke.

A second study examined the records of people with genes known to be linked to depression, bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder, and found those with the highest genetic risk were more likely to suffer a stroke.  The Daily Mail

See also:

• Depressive Symptoms and Risk of Acute Stroke: INTERSTROKE Case-Control Study (abstract) Neurology

High street pharmacies are on red alert as chemists run low on stocks of painkillers like Calpol

High street pharmacies are on red alert as chemists run low on stocks of painkillers like Calpol High street pharmacies are struggling to get hold of children's painkillers as a new wave of drugs shortages affects patients.

Warehouses are virtually empty of several types of liquid painkiller, including of best-known brand Calpol, leaving chemists scrambling for supplies.

Other everyday medicines including Lemsip and Gaviscon are also now hard to get hold of, said Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association for Independent Multiple Pharmacies. The Daily Mail

Chart of the week: When being 64 for the most deprived feels like 90 for the better off

Chart of the week: When being 64 for the most deprived feels like 90 for the better off The 2021 Census asked everyone in the UK to report their general health from very bad to very good. As Sophie Julian and Sally Gainsbury show, there were some very revealing findings, with people from the most deprived areas of the country experiencing significantly poorer health than those in better off areas. Nuffield Trust

Educator workforce strategy

Educator workforce strategy This strategy aims to ensure that the NHS has a sustainable supply of educators to support the development of the health care workforce. It sets out seven priorities that will lead to sufficient capacity and quality of educators to allow the growth in healthcare workforce that is needed to deliver care, now and in the future. It describes concerns in the health care education sector and from service providers about the capacity of educators to meet the current and future demands for education and training. Health Education England

Guidance: Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel

Guidance: Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel Sets out the principles and best practice benchmarks health and social care employers and recruitment agencies must follow to ensure effective, ethical international recruitment. Department of Health and Social Care

Four-day junior doctor strike set for April

Four-day junior doctor strike set for April Junior doctors are to stage a four-day walkout in April in their fight to get a 35% pay rise in England.

Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) will take strike action from 11 April to 15 April.

It comes after BMA leaders met Health Secretary Steve Barclay on Wednesday. BBC News

See also:

• BMA announces dates for new 96-hour walkout by junior doctors in England after Government failure to make any credible offer in talks BMA
• ‘This is not true’: BMA responds to Government claim over 35% precondition on junior doctor pay talks BMA
• Junior Doctors dispute: Key information Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association
• NHS Confederation responds to BMA's new strike dates NHS Confederation
• NHS Providers responds to 96-hour junior doctors’ strike announcement NHS Providers
• Time is running out to resolve the NHS workforce crisis The BMJ
• Junior doctors will strike for FOUR consecutive days in April The Daily Mail
• Junior doctors’ union announces 96-hour walkout after pay talks break down The Daily Telegraph
• BMA 'extremely sorry' to patients disrupted by junior doctors Evening Standard
• Junior doctors in England to strike for four days in April The Guardian
• Junior doctors to strike for four days as health secretary ‘won’t negotiate’ on 35% pay demand The Independent
• Junior doctors will strike for 96 hours from 11 April as NHS pay dispute continues iNews
• Warning a quarter of a million hospital appointments could be postponed after junior doctors announce four-day strike Sky News

Long Covid: University of East Anglia study finds women more likely affected

Long Covid: University of East Anglia study finds women more likely affected Women are more likely to suffer from long Covid but being vaccinated almost halves the risk of developing the condition, a University of East Anglia study has found. But what does long Covid mean for those living with the illness? BBC News

See also:

• Risk Factors Associated With Post−COVID-19 Condition: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (open access) JAMA Network
• Covid-like virus is found lurking in UK bats The Daily Mail
• More than a million Covid patients treated in England, says NHS chief Evening Standard
• Three years on: are we any closer to understanding long Covid? (podcast) The Guardian
• Covid struck and Britain locked down. Here’s what we learned from that – and what we must do next time The Guardian
• Covid: Worst area for UK revealed as one in 40 Britons infected The Independent
• Covid: 10 most common symptoms to watch out for as UK cases rise The Independent
• Covid-19 vaccines do not affect women’s periods, study finds The Independent
• A retrospective case-control study on menstrual cycle changes following COVID-19 vaccination and disease (open access) iScience

Police investigating ‘sexual assault’ at scandal-hit children’s hospital as watchdog threatens closure

Police investigating ‘sexual assault’ at scandal-hit children’s hospital as watchdog threatens closure Police are investigating fresh allegations of sexual assault against a child patient by a care worker at a scandal-hit private mental health hospital group.

It is the second time reports have been made about a former Huntercombe Group hospital after two care workers were quizzed over the alleged rape of a child at its Taplow Manor Hospital in Maidenhead last year. The Independent

Ringfence 10% of UK health spending for preventive measures, report urges

Ringfence 10% of UK health spending for preventive measures, report urges Governments should set aside 10% of health spending for preventive and public measures such as cycle lanes and anti-obesity strategies, a thinktank has said, warning that “political short-termism” over health is making the UK increasingly ill and unequal.

The report by the Tony Blair Institute argues that a centralised NHS model “almost entirely focused on treating sickness” rather than on wider objectives is not only harming people’s health but hampering the economy, with more than 2.5 million people out of the labour market because of long-term ailments. The Guardian

See also:

• Fit for the Future: How a Healthy Population Will Unlock a Stronger Britain Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

‘There is a level of complacency’: trial exposes UK’s vulnerability to organ harvesting

‘There is a level of complacency’: trial exposes UK’s vulnerability to organ harvesting The UK is supposed to have one of the best systems in the world for preventing vulnerable people being exploited for their organs. How then did one of its biggest hospitals become embroiled in the macabre trade of kidney harvesting?

The UK’s first trial organ trafficking trial has exposed alarming vulnerabilities to a illegal trade that makes up 10% of transplants worldwide. The case has highlighted how poverty can tempt some people to sell their body parts to those willing to exploit an acute global shortage of organs for donation. The Guardian

See also:

• Organ-trafficking plot politician Ike Ekweremadu and wife guilty BBC News
• Nigerian politician, wife, and a doctor guilty of organ trafficking Channel 4 News

Map lays bare England's child dental crisis and shows areas where tooth decay more likely

Map lays bare England's child dental crisis and shows areas where tooth decay more likely Almost two thirds of children have rotten teeth in parts of the country, official data revealed today.

Statistics laying bare England's dental crisis showed three in 10 children aged five across the country have enamel or tooth decay. The Daily Mail

See also: 

• Oral health survey of 5 year old children 2022 Office for Health Improvement and Disparities
• Oral health Office for Health Improvement and Disparities
• Three-year wait for Essex girl, 8, to have tooth removed BBC News

Good AND bad news for coffee lovers as study shows they walk more but sleep less

Good AND bad news for coffee lovers as study shows they walk more but sleep less Coffee boosts the number of calories people burn during the day but it robs them of vital sleep at night, according to a new study.

Results suggested people who drink coffee regularly walk 1,000 more steps than non-drinkers each day but lose out on around 30 minutes of sleep at night. The Daily Mail

See also:

• Acute Effects of Coffee Consumption on Health among Ambulatory Adults (abstract) New England Journal of Medicine

22 photos from glitzy Excellence Awards ceremony celebrating hard work at Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals

22 photos from glitzy Excellence Awards ceremony celebrating hard work at Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals Awards were held to celebrate the achievements of some of the staff, volunteers, and fundraisers, at Kettering and Northampton general hospitals.

The Excellence Awards 2023 received more than 450 nominations across 15 categories and were organised by the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Virtual wards: the lessons so far and future priorities

Virtual wards: the lessons so far and future priorities The expansion of virtual wards – which help patients to manage their health and care at home – is considered an important component of NHS planning for next winter. Following discussions with members of BT’s clinical advisory board and drawing on wider evidence and the latest policy developments, Rachel Hutchings and Nigel Edwards discuss the priority areas where further development and action could help improve virtual wards’ effectiveness. Nuffield Trust

Care delivery within community mental health teams

Care delivery within community mental health teams The purpose of this investigation was to support improvements in the work of community mental health teams (CMHTs).

Specifically, the investigation looked at the following four areas:

• assessing a patient’s risk of self-harm or suicide
• considering menopause as a risk factor for mental health conditions
• engaging with families
• caring for people with a first episode of psychosis.

The report uses, as an example, a real patient safety incident in which a woman died by suicide while under the care of a CMHT; this is referred to as ‘the reference event’ and was used to examine national issues. Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch

See also:

• NHS mental health services failing to consider impact of the the menopause on women, says watchdog The Daily Telegraph
• Watchdog calls for review of menopause link to poor mental health after woman’s suicide The Independent
• Mental health services failing to consider impact of menopause, putting women at risk of suicide Sky News

Falling employment and worsening health in the UK: connected or distinct trends?

Falling employment and worsening health in the UK: connected or distinct trends? Two concerning economic and social trends in the UK emerging from the covid-19 pandemic are the fall in employment of people aged 50 and over and the increase in sickness levels in the population. The drop in employment has not been caused by rising unemployment (when people are generally searching for work), but rather by rising “economic inactivity” (when they generally are not). Institute for Fiscal Studies

Public health annual report 2023: supporting communities in difficult times

Public health annual report 2023: supporting communities in difficult times This report reflects on the last year and focusses on how councils have responded to the rising cost of living. It also discusses a year of uncertainty about the direction of public health policy and how the approach to tackling health inequalities has blunted optimism. Despite these pressures, this report demonstrates that councils, the NHS and the voluntary and community sector have responded positively to the challenges and that, building on the experience of the pandemic, public health is at the forefront of each local response. Local Government Association

Research: Shooting Up: infections among people who inject drugs in the UK

Research: Shooting Up: infections among people who inject drugs in the UK This report describes the extent of infections and injecting-related harms among people who inject drugs (PWID) in the United Kingdom. UK Health Security Agency

Policy paper: Cyber security strategy for health and social care: 2023 to 2030

Policy paper: Cyber security strategy for health and social care: 2023 to 2030 How the government will work with health and adult social care organisations and the supply chain to achieve cyber resilience across the sector no later than 2030. Department of Health and Social Care