NHS: Over 3,000 more midwifery training places offered

NHS: Over 3,000 more midwifery training places offered More than 3,000 places on midwifery training courses are to be created over the next four years in England as part of plans to meet NHS staffing demands.

The government has announced a 25% boost in training places, which it said amounted to the "largest ever" increase in NHS midwives and maternity staff. It follows a similar plan for nurses which was announced last year. The Royal College of Midwives welcomed the move but said training more midwives was only half of the problem. The plan needs investment and time to make it work, the RCM added. BBC News - Health
See also:

• Hunt to unveil plan for women to have the same midwives throughout pregnancy The Guardian

Hospital doctors will find new NHS order on checkups 'impossible'

Hospital doctors will find new NHS order on checkups 'impossible' Hospital bosses have ridiculed a new edict from the NHS which insists every inpatient should be medically assessed each morning and evening by a senior doctor.

They claim the order is “impossible” to fulfil because so many hospitals are struggling to fill medical rotas because of widespread shortages of doctors, which are as high as 25% in some places.

The instruction came earlier this month in a letter to the chief executives and medical directors of hospitals in England from the regulators NHS England and NHS Improvement. It made clear that in a bid to cut the number of patients using beds unnecessarily, hospitals must “ensure every patient has a review at the start and end of the day by a senior clinician to facilitate discharge”. The Guardian

Home ‘MOTs’ to improve housing health

Home ‘MOTs’ to improve housing health The NHS is teaming up with councils to improve health through better housing through home ‘MOTs’, quick homes grants, falls help lines, stair lifts and heating systems among others.

A King’s Fund and National Housing Federation report out now on housing and health says the cost of poor housing to the NHS is £1.4 billion per year. NHS Networks

See also:

• Health and Housing report The King's Fund

New draft regulations to prevent discrimination against applicants who speak up

New draft regulations to prevent discrimination against applicants who speak up Staff who speak up about patient safety issues and seek new jobs in the NHS will be protected under new draft regulations proposed by the government.

The new regulations seek to prohibit an employer from treating an applicant less favourably than another based on their previous history of raising concerns. Under existing legislation, ‘workers’ are protected against detrimental treatment, while the new amendments to the Employment Rights Act 1996 will extend this to include applicants. NHS Employers

Jeremy Hunt backs 10-year funding deals for NHS – video

Jeremy Hunt backs 10-year funding deals for NHS – video The health secretary has conceded he believes taxes may have to rise to pay for a boost in NHS spending. Appearing on ITV’s Peston on Sunday, Hunt said speculation in the Sunday Times about a £4bn-a-year funding boost to coincide with the NHS’s 70th birthday was premature.

However, Hunt, who resisted Theresa May’s plan to move him into another post in January, argued that it was time to scrap what he said had been a 'feast or famine' approach to funding the health service The Guardian

Northampton General Hospital working to improve patient safety with orthopaedic data audit

Northampton General Hospital working to improve patient safety with orthopaedic data audit  Northampton General Hospital has successfully completed the national programme of local data audits to improve patient safety. The registry collects orthopaedic data to provide evidence to support patient safety, standards in quality of care, and overall cost effectiveness in joint replacement surgery. Northampton Chronicle & Echo

News story: Tuberculosis (TB) cases fall by over a third in last 6 years

Tuberculosis (TB) cases fall by over a third in last 6 years New Public Health England (PHE) data released for World TB day show a 9.3% decline in cases of TB in 2017. This represents the lowest rate of TB in 35 years. This contributes to the 38% decline in the number of people with TB in England over the last 6 years.
However, there is still more work to do. TB is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and England has one of the highest rates in Western Europe with just under 5,200 people affected by TB in 2017. Public Health England

IAPT pathway for people with long-term physical conditions and medically unexplained symptoms

IAPT pathway for people with long-term physical conditions and medically unexplained symptoms From April 2018 all CCGs are expected to expand Improving Access to Psychological Therapies by commissioning (IAPT) services integrated into physical healthcare pathways. This document supports this expansion by setting out the treatment pathway that underpins the access and waiting time standards, which all services should seek to measure themselves against. NHS England

NHS boss demands maximum punishment for every violent offence against paramedics

NHS boss demands maximum punishment for every violent offence against paramedics The head of NHS England, Simon Stevens, told a gathering of ambulance service top brass that he wanted to see the authorities take the toughest possible action against members of the public who subject frontline ambulance crews and control room staff to violent acts or abuse while on duty. NHS England

Supporting employees' mid-life career needs

Supporting employees' mid-life career needs As part of the Department for Work and Pensions' Fuller Working Lives strategy (2017), the National Careers Service has teamed up with local enterprise partnerships to trial supporting local employers with their employees’ mid-life career needs. NHS Employers

Housing and health: opportunities for sustainability and transformation partnerships

Housing and health: opportunities for sustainability and transformation partnerships This King's Fund report sets out areas where sustainability and transformation partnerships and emerging integrated care systems can make more of the contribution of the housing sector to improving health. King's Fund
Report
Blog

Theresa May refuses to intervene over man's £54000 NHS cancer bill

Theresa May refuses to intervene over man's £54000 NHS cancer bill Theresa May has refused to intervene in the case of Albert Thompson, the London cancer patient asked to pay £54,000 for treatment despite having lived in the UK for 44 years, as it emerged that there could be tens of thousands of people in a similarly uncertain immigration position.
Thompson, 63, is not receiving the radiotherapy treatment he needs for prostate cancer because he has been unable to provide officials with sufficient documentary evidence showing that he has lived in the UK continuously since arriving from Jamaica as a teenager in 1973. He is unable to pay the £54,000 fee. The Guardian

NHS Trust facing backlash over staff transfers

NHS Trust facing backlash over staff transfers An NHS trust is facing a backlash against plans to transfer more than 2,000 staff to a private company set up to run some of its services. Fears have been raised that the plan by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust would lead to a “two-tier workforce” with some staff employed on worse terms and conditions than others. Yorkshire Post

Almost half of online GP providers unsafe, warns CQC report

Almost half of online GP providers unsafe, warns CQC report Standards of care at 43% of non-NHS online GP services in England are below required safety levels, according to the CQC. Findings published on Friday reveal a sharp improvement since August 2017, when GPonline reported that more than four out of five online services were considered unsafe by the regulator.

But the quality of online GP services remains far below the standard set by NHS GP practices - of which 89% are rated good or outstanding on safety by the CQC, with just 2% inadequate on this measure. GP Online

Dementia guidance goes online

Dementia guidance goes online The Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP(UK)) has made its guidance on the practice of dentistry for patients with dementia available free of charge online. NHS Networks

See also:

• Dementia-Friendly Dentistry : good practice guidelines Faculty of General Dental Practice UK

The Government’s mandate to NHS England for 2018-19

The Government’s mandate to NHS England for 2018-19 Department of Health and Social Care -The government’s mandate to NHS England sets its objectives and budget, and helps to ensure that the NHS is accountable to Parliament and the public. Building on the multi-year approach taken to setting the mandate since 2016, it continues to set objectives and goals to 2020, as well as some specific things that NHS England should be seeking to deliver in the financial year 2018 to 2019. King's Fund

See also:

• NHS mandate for 2018 to 2019 Gov.uk

Adult social care funding: a local or national responsibility?

Adult social care funding: a local or national responsibility? Institute for Fiscal Studies -This report discusses government plans to abolish general grant funding for councils from 2020. It argues that ongoing reforms to local government finance risk a growing funding gap for adult social care and conflict with efforts to provide consistent and high-quality care services across the country. King's Fund

See also:

• Adult social care funding: a local or national responsibility? report  Institute for Fiscal Studies

Emergency admissions at end of life set to sky rocket

Emergency admissions at end of life set to sky rocket Marie Curie says that the NHS is struggling to cope with A&E admissions of people who are in the last year of their lives. The terminal illness charity says the situation will hit crisis point if care provided in the community is not significantly improved. NHS Networks

See also:

• Emergency hospital admissions at the end of life set to sky rocket Marie Curie

NHS England announces agreement on 2018/19 GP contract

NHS England announces agreement on 2018/19 GP contract A new GP contract, agreed by NHS England, the government and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee, will take effect from 1 April 2018. NHS Networks

Research and analysis: Water fluoridation: health monitoring report for England 2018

Research and analysis: Water fluoridation: health monitoring report for England 2018 This 2018 monitoring report compares data on the health of people living in areas of England with enhanced levels of fluoride in their drinking water supply.

Public Health England (PHE) has a legal duty to monitor the effects of water fluoridation schemes on dental health and report on it every 4 years. Gov.uk