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A&E overused but GP access difficult – coincidence?
16/08/2019
The first ever large-scale research into attitudes towards emergency care from the most recent British Social Attitudes Survey shows that many people...
Digital diabetes prevention
13/08/2019
Online support for people at risk of type 2 diabetes can help stop people from going on to develop the condition. In pilot schemes, offering...
Barriers to accessing cannabis-based products for medicinal use on NHS prescription
12/08/2019
NHS England and NHS Improvement have published the findings and recommendations of a review of the barriers to prescribing of cannabis-based products...
Community pharmacy oral health campaign
22/05/2019
NHS England and NHS Improvement have launched a campaign to help parents and carers stop children under five from experiencing tooth decay. Pharmacies will display posters and provide advice on healthy dental habits, such as consuming less sugar, brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, and...
Disabled doctors to get increased support
22/05/2019
Disabled doctors and medical students can expect greater support to pursue their careers, following new guidance from the General Medical Council (GMC). The regulator has advised medical schools and training providers of the steps they should put in place to make sure all students and trainee...
Funding to help rough sleepers with mental illness
22/05/2019
The government is to spend £1.9m to help adults who are sleeping rough and living with mental illness or substance misuse. The money will be used to improve their access to healthcare. More....
NHS experts brought in to care homes to tackle over-medication
22/05/2019
NHS England has recruited experts to help prevent care home residents being given too many medicines as part of a package of measures to improve older people’s health and care in the NHS Long Term Plan. Care home residents are prescribed an average of seven medicines a day, with many taking 10 or...
New multiple sclerosis drug may soon be available on NHS
22/05/2019
Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) will have routine access to a drug that can slow disability under a deal struck between NHS England and the manufacturer Roche, paving the way for its approval by NICE. Ocrelizumab (also known as Ocrevus) is the first treatment that can modify or change the...
Thank you: Over 411 people tell Healthwatch what they think would make the NHS better
09/05/2019
Local people share their views about how they want local health services to improve. We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has shared their feedback with us about the local implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan. We’ve been speaking to people throughout North East Lincolnshire about how...
Annual NHS cancer checks top two million for the first time
25/04/2019
For the first time last year, the NHS in England carried out more than two million checks on people who feared they might have cancer. In 2018, patients underwent 2.2 million cancer checks following urgent referral by their GP, almost 6,000 a day or more than four every minute. Record numbers of...
Advances in cancer treatment
23/04/2019
The pace of innovation in cancer treatment is rapid, with promising developments for patients in terms of survival and quality of life. Research in the fields of immunotherapy and radiotherapy have shown positive results in treating some cancers where established treatments are not effective. This...
An A&E perspective on violence in England and Wales
23/04/2019
A report from Cardiff University finds that despite the recent spate of knife violence and homicide in some UK cities, the number of people injured in serious violence in England and Wales dropped by 1.7% between 2017 and 2018. The study , which examines data by age and sex, is produced from a...
Nominate someone for a general practice award
23/04/2019
Nominations are now open for the General Practice Awards 2019, which honour the contribution of primary care professionals in general practice. The deadline for entries is 31 May 2019. Nominations are now open for the General Practice Awards 2019, which honour the contribution of primary care...
Record breaking numbers in GP specialty training
23/04/2019
Figures released by Health Education England (HEE) show that recruitment to GP specialty training is the highest ever for this time of year with 2598 trainees accepted on to courses compared to 2533 for the same period last year. The GP specialty training fill rate for Round 1 A is up 2% on last...
Health and wellbeing at work
23/04/2019
The latest annual survey from CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) highlights some cause for concern, including an increase in stress-related absence and a lack of support for managers, who are increasingly expected to take responsibility for their team's wellbeing. The CIPD is...
Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities
12/04/2019
A parliamentary report criticises the failure by national and local policy makers to tackle long standing inequalities facing Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. It finds that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people have the worst outcomes of any ethnic group across a huge range of areas, including...
Action plan for social care
12/04/2019
The Department of Health and Social Care has published information on the action plan for the Quality Matters initiative, now in its second year, which aims to improve adult social care. More....
Quit smoking advice for pregnant women in NHS drive to prevent stillbirths
12/04/2019
Pregnant women are to be offered specialist stop smoking referrals as part of NHS action to reduce stillbirths, which has already resulted in at least 160 babies’ lives being saved. A programme piloted in 2015 resulted in 20% fewer babies dying at birth. Now NHS England has confirmed that the...
New programme launched for armed forces personnel seriously wounded in conflict
05/04/2019
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) and NHS England have launched a new package of support for seriously wounded military personnel. The joint agreement between the MOD and NHS England, developed with the Department of Health and Social Care, will ensure that individuals with very complex and enduring...
Measuring the use of NICE guidance in mental health
05/04/2019
One in four adults experiences a mental health condition in any given year, and mental health conditions are the largest single cause of disability in the UK. A report from NICE considers how evidence-based guidance can contribute to improvements in the care of people with mental health conditions.
Patients on NHS type 2 diabetes prevention programme lose almost 60,000kg between them
05/04/2019
Patients who have completed the NHS type 2 diabetes prevention programme have lost almost 60,000kg between them. New figures show that the 17,000 people who attended most of the healthy living sessions lost an average of 3.4kg, over one kilogram more than originally predicted and a total of 59,...
Prescription cost analysis report published
05/04/2019
The cost of prescriptions dispensed in the community and the number of items dispensed during the 2018 calendar year has been published by NHS Digital. The Prescription cost analysis, England 2018, report details the number of items and the Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) of all prescriptions dispensed...
College research raises awareness of dementia that has early visual symptoms
05/04/2019
The College of Optometrists has completed research on the experiences of vision assessment for people living with a form of dementia that impacts vision. The research , published in the BMJ Open focused on posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) which can result in unusual visual phenomena, such as...
Staffing on wards
05/04/2019
The nature of patient needs and ward activity is changing. Inpatients tend to be more acutely unwell than they used to be, many with complex needs often arising from multiple long-term conditions. At the same time, hospitals face the challenges of a shortage and high turnover of registered nurses...
Outcomes for mental health services: what really matters?
02/04/2019
Through a series of over 100 conversations with people actively involved in mental health services in England, including current and former service users, this report highlights how frameworks for measuring outcomes are often too narrowly focused on clinical outcomes. While recovery-based...
Outcomes for mental health services: what really matters?
02/04/2019
Through a series of over 100 conversations with people actively involved in mental health services in England, including current and former service users, this report highlights how frameworks for measuring outcomes are often too narrowly focused on clinical outcomes. While recovery-based...
CQC puts independent doctors and clinics under the microscope
01/04/2019
CQC has published a report on the state of care in independent doctor and clinic services providing primary medical care. It gives an overview of care from inspection findings for doctors (private GMC-registered GPs and clinicians) and clinics that provide primary medical services in the...
New data on gender pay gap in medicine
01/04/2019
An update from the review on the gender pay gap in medicine shows that in the NHS, two in three consultants are men, and that men earn £1.17 for every £1 earned by women. The independent review , led by Professor Dame Jane Dacre, was commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care in April...
