South East Coast service stops providing onsite paramedic at airport to focus on 999 response
An NHS ambulance service is cutting back its presence at Gatwick airport and major sports events so it has more crews available to answer 999 calls, amid unprecedented pressures.
The South East Coast ambulance service (Secamb) has ended a longstanding arrangement under which Gatwick paid it to have an ambulance car and paramedic on site.
Continue reading...Experts call on ministers to tackle chronic staff shortages, with delays worsened by pandemic
Tens of thousands of patients are still waiting to start cancer treatment in England due to disruption during the pandemic, according to NHS figures, as medical charities called on the government to tackle chronic staff shortages in the health service.
Following a dramatic slump in cancer referrals in 2020, the number of people being investigated for the disease bounced back in the past year, data from NHS England and NHS Improvement show, rising from 2.4 million to a record 2.66 million.
Continue reading...The health secretary is planning an overhaul of services offered to young people who question their gender identity, the Times reports
An inquiry into the impact on under-18s of NHS treatment for gender dysphoria is to be launched by the UK government, according to reports.
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, is said to be concerned that vulnerable children are being given gender hormone treatment before alternatives have been explored, according to the Times, and is planning an overhaul of services.
Continue reading...Serious health and safety risks costing NHS £340m a year, public accounts committee report finds
More than one in eight privately rented homes in England pose a serious threat to people’s health and safety, costing the NHS about £340m a year, according to a report from a committee of MPs.
It also uncovered evidence of unlawful discrimination, with an estimated one in four landlords unwilling to let to non-British passport holders.
Continue reading...Practitioners’ struggles include increased workloads, greater demand from patients, and paperwork
A third of GPs in England say they want to quit within five years, according to a regular survey which warns that clinical doctors are especially unhappy with the number of hours they work.
The survey of 2,195 GPs undertaken in 2021 found 33% planned to leave “direct patient care” by 2026. The figure represents a return to levels last seen in 2015, after plans to quit peaked in 2018 when two in five GPs wanted to stop seeing patients within five years.
Continue reading...Few sexually transmitted infection test kits available online meet official standards, BMJ study finds
Patients are being put at risk in the UK because very few sexually transmitted infection (STI) tests offered online meet official standards, experts have warned.
The NHS provides free in-person tests for STIs via its network of sexual health and genitourinary medicine clinics. Patients can also order tests via the internet from both NHS-commissioned and private providers, a practice that has become increasingly popular during the pandemic.
Continue reading...Staff shortages, delays and rising prices are playing havoc with the healthcare, education, farming, hospitality and travel sectors
Although the UK no longer faces the threat of lockdowns or intensive care units being imminently overrun, coronavirus is still disrupting much of society and the economy.
As Britain learns to live with Covid, the virus is still playing havoc with our daily lives, and these difficulties have been compounded by post-Brexit chaos in some in sectors.
Continue reading...Guidance for England and Wales comes amid increasing concern over rate of obesity and cost to NHS
A health watchdog is urging millions of people for the first time to ensure their waist size is less than half their height in order to help stave off serious health problems.
The UK has one of the worst obesity rates in Europe, with two in three adults officially overweight or obese in an escalating crisis that now costs the NHS £6bn a year and wider society £27bn.
Continue reading...Watchdog expresses concern over safety of mothers and babies days after damning Shrewsbury report
Hospital inspectors have uncovered repeated maternity failings and expressed serious concern about the safety of mothers and babies in Sheffield just days after a damning report warned there had been hundreds of avoidable baby deaths in Shrewsbury.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found Sheffield teaching hospitals NHS foundation trust, one of the largest NHS trusts in England, had failed to make the required improvements to services when it visited in October and November, despite receiving previous warnings from the watchdog.
Continue reading...Adults and children wear device that monitors glucose level and adjusts amount of insulin delivered
Hundreds of adults and children with type 1 diabetes in England have been fitted with an artificial pancreas that experts say could become the “holy grail” for managing the disease, in a world-first trial on the NHS.
The groundbreaking device uses an algorithm to determine the amount of insulin that should be administered and reads blood sugar levels to keep them steady. The NHS trial has so far found the technology more effective at managing diabetes than current devices and that it requires far less input from patients.
Continue reading...Dr Nathalie MacDermott says condition has substantial impact on people’s ability to work and costs to government and business
The UK will pay an economic price for failing to consider long Covid when lifting restrictions and recommending vaccinations for children, a doctor has warned.
The decision to drop all Covid rules in England was largely based on whether the NHS could handle the number of sick patients, but far more people are expected to develop long-term medical problems after fighting off the virus.
Continue reading...Nice says wearable tech reduces need for finger-prick testing by up to 50%
Hundreds of thousands of people with type 1 diabetes in England are to be offered a hi-tech skin sensor to monitor their blood sugar levels in seconds.
The device, the size of a £2 coin, sits on a patient’s arm and constantly checks their glucose levels. It comes with an app that tells them whethertheir blood sugar levels are at an appropriate level.
Continue reading...Pharmacogenomic testing could save the NHS money in the long term and reduce the risks of side-effects
Genetic testing to predict how individuals will respond to common medicines should be implemented without delay to reduce the risk of side-effects and ensure that everyone is given the right drug at the right dose, experts have said.
About 6.5% of UK hospital admissions are caused by adverse drug reactions, while most prescription medicines only work on 30% to 50% of people. A significant part of this is due to genetics: almost 99% of people carry at least one genetic variation that affects their response to certain drugs, including commonly prescribed painkillers, heart disease drugs and antidepressants. By the age of 70, about 90% of people are taking at least one of these medications.
Continue reading...Lawyers and unions condemn scandal of international health workers forced to pay out if they quit their jobs early
• Overseas nurses in the UK forced to pay out thousands if they want to quit jobs
When Laura Sanchez was offered a job as a nurse in the NHS, it sounded like the opportunity of a lifetime.
At home in the Philippines, she had seen Facebook ads similar to those on the site today, promising “an attractive relocation package” and inviting her to “Start your UK dream!”
Continue reading...Five-year investigation to conclude mothers forced to suffer traumatic births because of targets for ‘normal’ births
Three hundred babies died or were left brain-damaged due to inadequate care at an NHS trust, according to reports.
The Sunday Times has reported that a five-year investigation will conclude next week that mothers were denied caesarean sections and forced to suffer traumatic births due to an alleged preoccupation with hitting “normal” birth targets.
The inquiry, which analysed the experiences of 1,500 families at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust between 2000 and 2019, found that at least 12 mothers died while giving birth, and some families lost more than one child in separate incidents, the newspaper reported.
Donna Ockenden, an expert midwife who led the inquiry with the input of more than 90 midwives and doctors, said her team had been “shocked and saddened” by the scale of the tragedy.
The Ockenden report is expected to reveal that hundreds of babies were stillborn, died shortly after birth or were left permanently brain-damaged while many had fractured skulls or broken bones, or were left with life-changing disabilities.
Continue reading...Tory MPs want ministers to follow health bill amendment banning goods from regions with ‘risk of genocide’
Ministers are looking “sympathetically” at plans to stop the government buying health goods made in China’s Xinjiang province when the health and social care bill returns to the Commons later this month. The move would be a first sign that the government is willing to toughen its approach to authoritarian regimes in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
In an interview at the weekend, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said the west still needed to apply pressure on the Chinese government not to support the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Vaccine available to care home residents, people aged 75 and over, and immunosuppressed aged 12 and over
Coronavirus booster vaccine jabs for millions of people in England will begin to be offered this week, the NHS announced.
The vaccine will be available to care home residents, people who are 75 and over, and the immunosuppressed aged 12 and over.
Continue reading...Hospitals in southern England worst affected, with Devon recording highest ever numbers of Covid patients
Rising numbers of people entering hospital with Covid are leading to other patients becoming infected, staff absences, delayed operations and long waits in emergency departments, experts have said.
In recent weeks, Covid infection levels have been rising in the UK and hospitalisations are also increasing.
Continue reading...Vulnerable women face huge bills before giving birth, campaigners say
The health of pregnant migrant women and their unborn babies is being put at risk due to fears around NHS charging, with some trusts demanding upfront fees for maternity care or wrongly charging those who are exempt, it has been claimed.
Vulnerable migrant and asylum-seeking women with no recourse to public funds are frequently being issued huge bills ahead of giving birth or aggressively pursued for payments during their pregnancy against current guidance, maternity rights groups have warned.
Continue reading...Burnout from two years of battling Covid pandemic has created flood of departures and public concern, says survey
A record number of more than 400 workers in England have left the NHS every week to restore their work-life balance over the last year, according to a new analysis of the workforce crisis hitting the health service.
The flood of departures comes with staff complaining of burnout and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder following two years of battling the Covid pandemic. There are now concerns that the exodus is impacting the quality of care, with more than a quarter of adults saying they or an immediate family member had received poor care as a result of the workforce problems.
Continue reading...