Recovery College NHFT, alongside the Autism Champions Network, is offering the new course called ‘Women, Girls and Autism: Understanding the challenges and inspiring hope’ looking at how women and girls with autism are underdiagnosed, and how to recognise autism in females. Northampton Chronicle and Echo
Monday, 15 May 2023
Women and autism topic of new course by Recovery College NHFT
Women and autism topic of new course by Recovery College NHFT A new course looking at how autism can be different for girls, and women, is being offered free of charge and people are encouraged to attend.
New Every Mind Matters campaign encourages public to get physical
New Every Mind Matters campaign encourages public to get physical Ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week (15 – 22 May), Better Health – Every Mind Matters from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is launching a new campaign backed by BAFTA award-winning comedian, Tom Davis, TV and NHS doctor, Dr Ranj Singh, and leading psychologist, Dr Linda Papadopoulos, to encourage the nation to make the first move for their mental health and get active. Department of Health and Social Care
NHS rolls out order-to-home hepatitis C tests via NHS website for tens of thousands at risk
NHS rolls out order-to-home hepatitis C tests via NHS website for tens of thousands at risk Tens of thousands of people at increased risk of hepatitis C will be able to confidentially order self-testing kits to their home from today, as the NHS steps up its bid to eliminate the deadly disease.
The discreet, at-home testing kits will be free to order online from today (13 May) as part of NHS England’s dedicated Hepatitis C Elimination Programme, which has already reduced deaths from the disease by 35% – exceeding the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target of 10% by more than threefold. NHS England
See also:
- Hepatitis C home test kits available to most-at-risk in England BBC News
- Home-testing kits for hepatitis C made available in England The Independent
- Self-testing kits for hepatitis C will be made available from the NHS in England ITV News
- GPs asked to encourage at-risk patients to take new at-home hepatitis C test Pulse
Pat Cullen: Nursing union calls for double-digit pay rise to restart talks
Pat Cullen: Nursing union calls for double-digit pay rise to restart talks The leader of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has called on the health secretary to restart pay negotiations with a proposed rise in double digits.
Nurses in England are due to get a 5% pay rise after the majority of health unions accepted a government pay offer - but RCN members rejected the deal.
Speaking to the Times, union boss Pat Cullen praised her "courageous" members and urged ministers to reopen talks.
A source from the Department of Health told the BBC the pay offer was final. BBC News
See also:
- Nursing union leader demands double-digit pay offer and warns PM her members 'won't blink first' The Daily Mail
- Nursing union leader calls for double-digit pay offer to relaunch talks Evening Standard
- Nurses’ union head calls for double-digit pay rise in England ahead of strike ballot The Guardian
- Nursing union leader Pat Cullen calls for double-digit pay offer to avert strikes The Independent
- Nursing union leader calls for double-digit pay offer to relaunch talks ITV News
Parkinson's disease: New research could reveal early causes
Parkinson's disease: New research could reveal early causes Listening to the "conversations" of brain cells as they develop could help researchers to better understand the early causes of Parkinson's disease.
Parkinson's is the second most common neurodegenerative condition after Alzheimer's disease.
The disease causes parts of the brain to become progressively damaged over many years.
But relatively little is known about its early stages, as much of the damage happens before symptoms appear. BBC News
Closure of Tavistock gender identity clinic delayed
Closure of Tavistock gender identity clinic delayed The closure of the only NHS gender clinic for children in England and Wales has been delayed to March 2024, about a year later than first planned.
The Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), based at London's Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, will be replaced by two regional hubs.
A southern hub will open in autumn, with the northern hub following next April. BBC News
Patient safety at risk in crumbling hospital Boris Johnson promised to replace
Patient safety at risk in crumbling hospital Boris Johnson promised to replace Patients, doctors and nurses are enduring constant ward closures and flooding in “dilapidated and unpleasant” buildings because a new hospital promised by the government has still not been delivered, one of its most senior medics has warned.
Patient safety could soon be at risk unless the replacement for St Helier Hospital, in south London, is finally confirmed by ministers, according to the outgoing chief medical officer of its NHS trust. Some of the buildings pre-date the NHS, while wards have been shut due to sinking foundations. The Guardian
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Medicines courier Sciensus was warned it was failing patients three years ago
Medicines courier Sciensus was warned it was failing patients three years ago The boss of a private healthcare company exposed by the Guardian for putting seriously ill children and adults at risk was warned it was failing patients three years ago.
Darryn Gibson, the chief executive of Sciensus, Britain’s biggest medicines courier, was told in November 2020 that patients with bleeding disorders were being left dangerously exposed to internal bleeding with little or no treatment at home as a result of botched, delayed or missed deliveries.
Plunge in clinical drug trials makes Britain an urgent case for treatment
Plunge in clinical drug trials makes Britain an urgent case for treatment With visions of the UK as a ‘life sciences superpower’ at risk, we report from Great Ormond Street hospital on what’s being done to give children access to new drugs. The Guardian
Patients with blood cancer can be spared chemotherapy with two daily tablets
Patients with blood cancer can be spared chemotherapy with two daily tablets Two daily tablets could soon spare some blood cancer patients from having to go through gruelling bouts of chemotherapy.
The drug, called ruxolitinib, can keep a type of blood cancer called polycythaemia vera in remission for up to three years longer than traditional methods, according to British research. The Daily Mail
See also:
- Incurable blood cancer trial finds new drug better than current second line treatments University of Birmingham
Experts call for early stage prostate cancer to be reclassified as pre-cancer
Experts call for early stage prostate cancer to be reclassified as pre-cancer A radical rethink in the way prostate cancer is diagnosed could be on the cards – with experts calling to reclassify the earliest stage tumours as 'pre-cancer', The Mail on Sunday has learned.
Every year roughly 50,000 men in the UK are told they have the disease, and the move would effectively see this figure cut in half.
Mounting evidence suggests patients with these tiny tumours don't usually need to start treatment. Instead they can simply be monitored with regular blood tests and scans to ensure the tumours don't start to spread.
Friday, 12 May 2023
NHS performance Tracker
NHS performance Tracker The average (median) waiting time for planned care was over 14 weeks in March 2023. This is almost double the average waiting time before the pandemic, which was 7 ½ weeks in February 2020.
The total size of the waiting list for planned care increased slightly to 7.33 million in March 2023. This is the highest since records began.
A&E waiting times improved slightly in April 2023, with 1 in 4 people spending more than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge. But this is still far from reaching the standard of only 5% of people waiting this long.
See also:
- Missed target means patients continue to pay the price for NHS crisis The Health Foundation
- The King's Fund responds to the latest NHS performance stats The King's Fund
- NHS Confederation responds to the latest NHS performance statistics NHS Confederation
- NHS cuts longest waits and speeds-up response times NHS England
- NHS Activity Tracker May 2023 NHS Providers
- Trusts' waiting lists work paying off but no let-up in pressure on NHS NHS Providers
- NHS misses targets in England to tackle care backlogs BBC News
- Large push to meet NHS operations backlog falls short on hitting targets The BMJ
- NHS waiting list spirals to ANOTHER record high as the Government also misses key target The Daily Mail
- Ten NHS trusts responsible for nearly half of UK's patient backlog The Daily Telegraph
- NHS waiting list hits record 7.3 million people in England The Independent
- Children’s surgery waiting lists hits record high as NHS fails to tackle spiralling backlog The Independent
- PM struggling on pledge to cut NHS waiting times as another record broken ITV News
Latest MBRRACE-UK figures for maternal and perinatal mortality in the UK are published
Latest MBRRACE-UK figures for maternal and perinatal mortality in the UK are published The MBRRACE-UK collaboration, led from Oxford Population Health’s National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU), has today published data on women who died during, or up to six weeks after, pregnancy between 2019 and 2021 in the UK. This is the first time that the data have been available ahead of the full Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care report, which is due to be published in October 2023, and responds to a recent call in the Women and Equalities Committee Black Maternal Health report for more rapid publication of data.
The report highlighted the findings from the 2018 – 2020 MBRRACE-UK Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care report that revealed an almost four-fold difference in maternal mortality rates amongst Black women and an almost two-fold difference amongst Asian women when compared with White women. The 2019 – 2021 data show that these disparities still remain and further emphasises the need for a continued focus on action to address inequalities in maternal health.
The report highlighted the findings from the 2018 – 2020 MBRRACE-UK Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care report that revealed an almost four-fold difference in maternal mortality rates amongst Black women and an almost two-fold difference amongst Asian women when compared with White women. The 2019 – 2021 data show that these disparities still remain and further emphasises the need for a continued focus on action to address inequalities in maternal health.
See also:
International retention toolkit
International retention toolkit This toolkit explores actions employers can take to ensure internationally recruited staff build lasting careers in the NHS. The aim is to support the reduction in turnover of international staff by improving their experience at work. It is designed as a one stop shop to provide information, resources and best practice examples on what organisations, systems and regions are already doing to create the conditions for all international staff to thrive. It is based on four pillars: creating strong foundations, making new recruits feel welcome, building belonging, and maximising personal and professional growth. NHS Employers
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Independent report: The life and death of Elizabeth Dixon: a catalyst for change
Independent report: The life and death of Elizabeth Dixon: a catalyst for change Elizabeth Dixon was a child with special health needs. She had been born prematurely at Frimley Park Hospital on 14 December 2000. Following treatment and care at Great Ormond Street Hospital and a children’s hospice, she was nursed at home under a care package. As a result of a failure to clear a tracheostomy tube, she asphyxiated and was pronounced dead at Frimley Park hospital on 4 December 2001.
The investigation chaired by Dr Bill Kirkup looked at the events surrounding the care of Elizabeth and makes a series of recommendations in respect of the failures in the care she received from the NHS. Department of Health and Social Care
Executive lead roles within integrated care boards
Executive lead roles within integrated care boards The commitment was given to Parliament, during consideration of the Health and Care Act 2022, that every integrated care board (ICB) would identify members of its board which would have explicit responsibility for the population groups and functions set out in this guidance: children and young people (aged 0 to 25); children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities; safeguarding (all ages), including looked after children; people with learning disability and autism (all ages); and people with Down syndrome (all ages). These executive leads support the chief executive and the board to ensure that the ICB functions effectively, in relation to the groups mentioned previously. This guidance looks at the responsibilities of the executive lead for each group of people. NHS England
The Christie: World-renowned NHS centre downgraded by watchdog
The Christie: World-renowned NHS centre downgraded by watchdog A world-renowned cancer centre hit by whistleblowing concerns over alleged bullying has been downgraded by the health watchdog.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) told The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester it "requires improvement" in safety and leadership.
A former trust nurse told the BBC leaders had intimidated staff to stop them voicing concerns to inspectors.
The trust said it was working hard to ensure staff felt supported. BBC News
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Hospital boss claims unfair dismissal after chairman 'bullied' her
Hospital boss claims unfair dismissal after chairman 'bullied' her A former NHS chief executive is suing her employer, saying she was "bullied, harassed, intimidated and undermined" by the hospital trust's chairman.
In legal papers, seen by BBC News, Dr Susan Gilby alleges she was effectively unfairly dismissed by the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust, after she made a formal complaint.
She has also accused the chairman of putting finance above patient safety.
In a statement, the trust said it denied all the allegations. BBC News
Autistic teenager was stuck on general hospital ward for months
Autistic teenager was stuck on general hospital ward for months An autistic girl aged 16 spent nearly seven months in a busy general hospital due to a lack of suitable children's mental health services in England.
Her local health and care system said it was "very sorry" for how she was treated "when she was most vulnerable".
Campaigners describe the shortage of appropriate support for people with autism as a human rights crisis. BBC News
Artificial intelligence could ‘transform’ heart attack diagnosis, scientists say
Artificial intelligence could ‘transform’ heart attack diagnosis, scientists say Artificial intelligence (AI) could be “transformational” in improving heart attack diagnosis to reduce pressure on emergency departments, a new study suggests.
Doctors could soon use an algorithm developed using AI to diagnose heart attacks with better speed and accuracy than ever before, the research from the University of Edinburgh indicates.
It could also help tackle dangerous inequalities in diagnosing the condition, scientists suggest. The Independent
See also:
- Machine learning for diagnosis of myocardial infarction using cardiac troponin concentrations (open access) Nature Medicine
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