@HealthwatchNEL 
@HealthwatchNEL
News
EMAS rated ‘Good’ overall and ‘Outstanding’ for caring in latest inspection
17/07/2019
East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) is delighted to announce that we have been rated as ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and ‘...
HPV vaccine could prevent over 100,000 cancers
11/07/2019
Estimates suggest that the HPV vaccine programme could prevent over 64,000 cervical cancers and nearly 50,000 non-cervical cancers by 2058. From...
Alexa will see you now
11/07/2019
The NHS is collaborating with Amazon to provide reliable health information from the NHS website through voice-assisted technology. The technology...
New chief inspector of primary medical services and integrated care
15/01/2019
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has appointed Dr Rosie Benneyworth as the new chief inspector of primary medical services and integrated care. Dr Benneyworth will take over from Professor Steve Field in early March. She is currently director of strategic clinical services transformation for...
New migraine drug not cost-effective says NICE
15/01/2019
A new drug for preventing migraine is not a good use of NHS resources, according to draft guidance from NICE. The guidance looks at erenumab (also called Aimovig and made by Novartis) for preventing chronic and episodic migraine in adults who have four or more episodes of migraine a month.
Welcome focus on primary care but NHS plan also raises difficult questions
15/01/2019
The NHS Long Term Plan includes a promise of £4.5bn of ring-fenced funding for primary care and community services. Among its bolder ambitions are that integrated care systems (ICS) will cover the country within two years and that all GP practices will be members of primary care networks by this...
Hundreds more eligible for cochlear implants on the NHS
09/01/2019
Hundreds more people with severe to profound deafness are expected to be eligible for cochlear implants each year, due to updated NICE guidance. The update comes after a review of the definition of severe to profound deafness which is used to identify if a cochlear implant might be appropriate.
Flash glucose monitoring
09/01/2019
NHS England recently announced that flash glucose monitors will be available on prescription for every patient who qualifies for them, in line with NHS clinical guidelines. This action will end the current variation some patients with type 1 diabetes are facing. Currently, it is estimated that...
Government publishes the long term plan for the NHS
08/01/2019
The much anticipated long term plan is out. Entitled simply the NHS Long Term Plan, the document is a 134 page list of priorities for the next decade. As expected, the document has a lot to say about prevention and self-care and restates long-running ambitions to see more care provided out of...
Have your say on a national patient safety strategy for the NHS
07/01/2019
NHS Improvement is seeking views on proposals for a national patient safety strategy for the NHS. The strategy is being developed alongside the NHS long term plan and will cover all parts of the NHS including physical or mental health care in or out of hospital and primary care. A consultation is...
New campaign to boost cervical screening
07/01/2019
In March 2019 Public Health England will launch a new national campaign to help increase participation in the national cervical screening programme. Cervical screening is estimated to save 5,000 lives a year and yet coverage is at a 20 year low. More....
NHS better equipped for winter with £420 million funding
07/01/2019
Hospitals and social care services across England are using the funding to improve their resilience this winter. Hospitals across England are delivering 81 projects to provide improvements this winter using money from a £420m winter fund. Social care services also received funding and are using it...
Missed GP appointments costing NHS millions
07/01/2019
More than 15m general practice appointments are being wasted each year because patients do not turn up and fail to warn surgeries that they will not be attending. There are around 307 million sessions scheduled with GPs, nurses, therapists and other practice staff every year and 5% – one in twenty...
Government promises to improve maternity care
07/01/2019
Mothers and new babies will be offered better support as part of plans designed to make the NHS one of the best places in the world to give birth, according to the Department of Health and Social Care. The measures will improve safety, quality and continuity of care to halve stillbirths, maternal...
NHS England wants to see new year boost to numbers getting health check
07/01/2019
Making a new year resolution to take up a free NHS health check could stop people developing dementia as well as catching physical conditions, NHS England says. The national health check – a 20-minute, pain-free assessment carried out by a GP or nurse and involving tests on blood pressure, weight...
Smokers urged to switch to e-cigs
07/01/2019
Public Health England (PHE) has released a new film to encourage smokers to switch from tobacco to an e-cigarette or other form of quit aid. The film has been released as part of PHE’s “health harms” campaign, which encourages smokers to attempt to quit this January, by demonstrating the personal...
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill
07/01/2019
A parliamentary briefing gives an overview of the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill, and the debates and amendments made during the bill’s Lords stages, ahead of its second reading in the Commons on 18 December 2018. The intention of the bill is to reform the process for authorising arrangements...
Data on A&E attendance for alcohol poisoning
07/01/2019
NHS England has published number of people diagnosed alcohol poisoning after attending A&E. In the past two years the peak for this diagnosis with just over 700 attendances was 7 July 2018. More....
NHS payments to general practice
07/01/2019
NHS Digital has published its annual report on payments to general practice for 2017/18. The report provides details on payments to providers of general practice services in England in the past financial year. It includes a breakdown of payments made through the global sum, balance of Primary...
Changes to payments to dentists
07/01/2019
The Department of Health and Social Care has published Primary Dental Services Statements of Financial Entitlements (Amendment) Directions 2018. These implement changes to the payments made by NHS England to contractors under a dental service contract with effect from 1 April 2018. More....
Health harms campaign returns for 2018/19
07/01/2019
The Smokefree Health Harms campaign, now in its seventh year, will launch again on 28 December and will run throughout January 2019. The campaign continues to encourage smokers to stop smoking in the new year, by highlighting the harm done every time a cigarette is smoked. Public Health England is...
Healthwatch annual report says NHS needs to listen
07/01/2019
In its annual report Healthwatch England calls on services to listen to what matters most to people when it comes to their care. The report also encourages the public to keep speaking up. It finds that despite pressures on the NHS, some people continue to receive outstanding care, much of which,...
Evening and weekend general practice appointments available across England
07/01/2019
All patients in England can now access general practice appointments in the evening and weekends, NHS England has announced. The extended access means that patients will be able to see a doctor, nurse or other member of the practice team at a time convenient to them – providing an estimated 9...
£1 billion of funding to upgrade NHS services in England
07/01/2019
A total of 75 projects will receive money to upgrade facilities and treat more patients, including mental health and new integrated care services in the community. The health and social care secretary Matt Hancock has announced £963 million of extra funding for health facilities across England. A...
GP appointment data
07/01/2019
General practice appointment data from NHS Digital will for the first time provide NHS England with information about activity and use of GP appointments, and how primary care is impacted by seasonal pressures, such as winter. Data will be updated monthly at CCG level to track activity levels for...
NHS e-referral service passes 100m mark
07/01/2019
The NHS e-referral service has made 100 million bookings since it was launched in 2005 as the NHS choose and book service, according to NHS Digital. Currently the service is booking around 400,000 referrals every week. It allows patients or clinicians to book appointments in hospital or other care...
Independent breast screening review
07/01/2019
The government has published the findings of the independent breast screening review, established to look into the failings in the breast screening programme in England. The review makes 15 recommendations for the Department of Health and Social Care, Public Health England and NHS England.
Forget Blue - Let's Make it a Bright Monday
07/01/2019
People live with loneliness and depression every day of the year, not just on “Blue Monday”. Let’s recognise that with the right care and support we can create a better life for everyone.
