News about the NHS

This forum is automatically fed with news from various news sources. The articles linked to and quoted here are not necessarily our views, they're just what is being discussed in the news, and therefore we can discuss this then too.
760,000 women in the UK waiting for a gynaecological appointment? That’s just the tip of the iceberg | Zoe Williams A broken NHS makes life worse for everyone. What happened to the dream of promoting ‘good health in all citizens’? The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has landed on an arresting image to illustrate the waiting-list crisis in its field. If all 760,000 women waiting for NHS gynaecological appointments were to stand in a line, the queue would go from London to Exeter. It’s great for visualisation, but it also rams home what a criminal waste of human energy this represents – the awful pressing interminability. I couldn’t face the queue for Kew Gardens now, let alone if I were in constant pain. Given this...
Unlicensed medicines may lead to more baby deaths in England, coroner warns Contaminated feed inquest conclusions highlight concerns over lack of requirement for providers to report problems More babies in England could die from issues caused by unlicensed medicines if providers are not required to report problems, a coroner has warned. The conclusions were reached at the end of an inquest held after three infants died due to receiving contaminated feed. Continue reading... By Tom Ambrose and agency Unlicensed medicines may lead to more baby deaths in England, coroner warns to Continue reading... NHS Forums - For NHS Staff | Patient Forums
As a doctor, I’m trained to preserve life, not end it | Letters Chula Goonasekera highlights several critical issues that need to be taken into account with assisted dying legislation. Plus letters from Jonathan Haydn-Williams and Eric Foxley As a doctor, I find it challenging to reconcile the idea of authorising or consenting to life-ending medication even when legally justified (Cabinet minister Liz Kendall says she will vote for assisted dying, 14 November). My entire training has been centred on preserving life. During the ongoing deliberations, decision-makers must consider several critical points carefully. First, advancements in medicine have enabled patients with severe illnesses to live longer, often through supportive and...
A price worth paying for a dignified death | Letters Anne Heaton, Elsbeth Christie and Emma Tait react to the health secretary’s warning that legalising assisted dying would divert funds from the NHS I thought the vote on assisted dying was to be according to MPs’ consciences and that the government wasn’t taking a side. How is it, then, that Wes Streeting is making his views prominent and using his position as health secretary to suggest the NHS will be adversely affected by a vote in favour (Legalisation of assisted dying may force NHS cuts, Wes Streeting warns, 13 November)? I don’t believe that is true, and in any case it is irrelevant. People should have a choice at the end of their lives, even if there is a cost to the NHS. To...
Doctors warn of ‘massive’ winter crisis in UK’s overstretched A&E departments Royal College of Emergency Medicine warns of ‘unacceptable risk’ posed by lack of funding to NHS Emergency doctors have sounded the alarm over an approaching winter crisis that they say is already putting patients in overstretched A&E departments at risk. Nearly all medics (94%) fear patients are coming to harm because of the conditions in A&E departments around the UK, according to a snapshot survey of 83 medics from emergency departments from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM). Most (87%) are not confident their departments will cope well over the winter months, while 41% feel less prepared for this winter compared with last year. More than...
Study to look at why some people with aggressive cancer are ‘super-survivors’ NHS centres join search for patients who have lived much longer than expected, in hope of developing new therapies Doctors have launched a major study to understand why a small percentage of cancer patients beat the odds and survive long after being diagnosed with some of the most aggressive forms of the disease. Eight NHS cancer centres are joining dozens of hospitals around the world to find patients who had extraordinary responses to cancer treatment and lived much longer than expected. Continue reading... By Ian Sample Science editor Study to look at why some people with aggressive cancer are ‘super-survivors’ to Continue reading... NHS Forums -...
Declining standards of care for stroke patients must be reversed, says charity Figures from audit of England, Wales and Northern Ireland show some basic care now worse than decade ago Ministers are being urged to improve declining care for stroke patients to lower the risk of death and disability as new figures show rising cases, especially among people in their 50s. Thousands of stroke patients are missing out on appropriate treatment and rehabilitation, the standards of which have worsened over the past decade, the Stroke Association has said as it publishes the latest figures from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP), the nation’s biggest stroke data audit covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Continue...
Hospital league tables risk sapping NHS morale | Letters Pury Sharifi says tick boxes cannot measure continuity and compassion, while Alison Vaspe says naming and shaming is not the answer. Plus a letter from Sue Stephenson Re Rachel Clarke’s article on Labour’s plans to introduce hospital league tables (Wes Streeting, you must have a better plan for ailing hospitals than public humiliation, 13 November), I left the NHS during Labour’s introduction of the “value for money” policy in the health service pushed forward by Tony Blair. I worked in a very deprived area in London as a psychotherapist when Labour became besotted with performance targets. The test of how successful we were “to get people back to work”, which was given...
A vital health check is bypassing the people most in need | Letter Take the ‘midlife MOT’ to the people, especially those in deprived and ethnic-minority communities, who are more likely to develop heart disease, writes Dr Jahangir Alom The lack of engagement with the NHS health check should be deeply concerning for the secretary of state, as it is with me, an emergency medicine doctor who treats the consequences of undiagnosed heart disease (Less than half of eligible people received NHS ‘midlife MOT’ since 2019, says watchdog, 13 November). When you look into it further, the inequalities are alarming. If you come from a deprived part of England, such as east London, where I work, then you are four times more likely to die from a...
Streeting’s reforms could save the NHS from the private sector. He must not fail Fears over the health secretary’s plan are understandable. But patients and doctors alike are now fleeing the service for other providers There is going to be lots of angst in Labour ranks about the government’s proposed health reforms. At first glance they appear to be a reheated collection of Blairite targets and financial strictures that smack of privatisation by the back door. When the former health secretary and arch-Blairite Alan Milburn was installed by his successor Wes Streeting to oversee the shake-up, it was easy to see how fears of a rightward shift might be being confirmed. Continue reading... By Phillip Inman Streeting’s reforms could...
Streeting warns Britons against having cheap cosmetic surgery abroad Wes Streeting speaks out after deaths in Turkey among women travelling for procedures such as butt lifts Britons should resist the temptation to have cosmetic surgery abroad at “rock-bottom” prices in case they are harmed by substandard care, the health secretary has said. Wes Streeting spoke out after a spate of deaths among women who had travelled to Turkey for aesthetic treatment such as a Brazilian butt lift (BBL). Continue reading... By Denis Campbell Health policy editor Streeting warns Britons against having cheap cosmetic surgery abroad to Continue reading... NHS Forums - For NHS Staff | Patient Forums
UK’s unhealthy food habits cost £268bn a year, report finds Exclusive: Food, Farming and Countryside Commission added up cost to NHS and economy of diet-linked disease The UK’s growing addiction to unhealthy food costs £268bn a year, far outstripping the budget for the whole NHS, the first research into the subject has found. The increased consumption of foods high in fat, salt and sugar or which have been highly processed is having a “devastating” impact on human health and Britain’s finances. Continue reading... By Denis Campbell Health policy editor UK’s unhealthy food habits cost £268bn a year, report finds to Continue reading... NHS Forums - For NHS Staff | Patient Forums
Letby inquiry: hospital bosses rebuked for not reporting spike in baby deaths to watchdog CQC official says managers showed a ‘lack of transparency’ during inspection nine months after Lucy Letby’s first murder Hospital managers showed a “lack of transparency” by failing to tell a healthcare watchdog about a spike in baby deaths during an inspection that took place nine months after Lucy Letby’s first murder, an inquiry has been told. A senior manager at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said executives at the Countess of Chester hospital had a “professional obligation” to alert inspectors to concerns about the rise in neonatal mortality during its review in February 2016. Continue reading... By Josh Halliday North of England...
Will Trump now save the Chagos Islands? | Brief letters Climate crisis | Uses for National Dried Milk tins | NHS league tables | Emoji-led communication This week, Nigel Farage told MPs that a senior Donald Trump adviser said that Diego Garcia in the Chagos archipelago is “the most important island on the planet as far as America was concerned”. Does Trump know that its mean height above sea level is just 4ft? If so, will he stop gambling with its future now and take real action to combat climate change? Julie Gale Oxford • Ian Simmons was not alone in storing his Lego in National Dried Milk tins (Letters, 13 November). They were, like 35mm film canisters, in the vanguard of cylindrical storage solutions. John Thompson York...
Cabinet minister Liz Kendall says she will vote for assisted dying Work and pensions secretary confirms stance, as Wes Streeting faces criticism for saying law could bring NHS cuts Liz Kendall has become the first cabinet minister to confirm she will vote for the assisted dying bill since it was published, as the row intensified over the proposed law change. Some supporters of assisted dying have expressed anger after Wes Streeting, the health secretary and an opponent of the plan, warned it could be a potential drain on NHS resources. Continue reading... By Peter Walker, Jessica Elgot and Pippa Crerar Cabinet minister Liz Kendall says she will vote for assisted dying to Continue reading... NHS Forums - For NHS Staff | Patient...
Robert Twycross obituary Doctor who transformed pain relief and emphasised the need for a holistic approach for patients in palliative care Robert Twycross, who has died aged 83, was a pioneering doctor in the field of palliative care. He helped build the specialty both in the UK and internationally, not only as a practitioner, but also as a teacher and author. His contribution to improving the care of the dying and those at the bedside is immense. Robert first met Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement, while still a medical student in Oxford. Inspired by her work, he joined her at St Christopher’s hospice, in Sydenham, south-east London, as a research fellow in 1971. There, he began trials into the drugs...
The right to die is about freedom – don’t let those who see it as a line on a spreadsheet torpedo it | Polly Toynbee MPs soon have a once-in-a-generation chance to vote for the assisted dying bill. Wes Streeting must not derail it That is a low blow, health secretary. On a matter of life, death and personal freedom, the debate should be elevated above this. Wes Streeting cheapens discussion on the right to die by suggesting there is no money to pay for a doctor to hand a dying patient the lethal dose they request. Disingenuously, he suggests that finding the funding would mean cuts to other services. It would have “resource implications” that would “come at the expense of other choices”. He made this unevidenced assertion before...
Many NHS staff would use conscience clause if assisted dying is legalised, say doctors Christian and Muslim groups say medics who refuse to help patients die not protected in England and Wales bill A significant proportion of NHS medical staff are likely to exercise a conscience clause if assisted dying is legalised by parliament. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill stipulates that no doctor would be under any obligation to participate in assisted dying. Continue reading... By Harriet Sherwood Many NHS staff would use conscience clause if assisted dying is legalised, say doctors to Continue reading... NHS Forums - For NHS Staff | Patient Forums
Hospital waiting times in England fall to lowest level in five months - UK politics live The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has fallen to 7.57m Prof Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, has put out a statement welcoming the waiting list reduction (see 9.53am), but saying the health service will be busier than ever before this winter. He says: The NHS is going into winter under more pressure and busier than ever before, with another record month for A&E and ambulance services before we even start to see a further spike of pressure caused by colder weather and the spread of winter viruses. While we saw 10% more A&E patients within four hours than last year despite the record demand, it...
Pharmacies vote to cut services unless UK government acts over ‘crisis’ Pharmacy owners to reduce hours and make fewer home deliveries of medicines unless there is better funding Pharmacies have said they will halt a number of services within weeks, including the end of free medicine deliveries and extended opening hours, unless the government drastically boosts funding for the sector to stem an “escalating crisis”. In a high-turnout ballot run by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which represents independent community pharmacies, 99% of pharmacy owners said they were willing to limit their services in the interests of patient safety if improved funding was not forthcoming. Serve notice on opening hours above the minimum...
The Guardian view on NHS reform: evidence not dogma should be the guide | Editorial The health secretary is right to link investment to accountability, but he must be wary of creating perverse incentives For any government contemplating NHS reform, the 2012 Health and Social Care Act is a textbook case of what not to do. Despite promises of “no more pointless reorganisations”, the Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley did just that, abolishing management tiers and imposing new care commissioning and competition systems on reluctant doctors. The whole thing was a political nightmare that wasted resources, demoralised staff and undermined public confidence. In an independent report published earlier this year, Lord Darzi described the...
A remarkable feat of 19th-century joinery | Brief letters George Browne’s fitted kitchen | Regional restaurants | National Dried Milk | Human infestation | Lysistrata revisited Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky’s fitted kitchen was not the first (‘That damned kitchen!’ How the inventor of the fitted kitchen came to see it as a curse, 12 November). George Browne, of Troutbeck in the Lake District, built his stunning fitted kitchen in the early 1800s. It would be hard to adapt the design to modern kitchens, but it’s a remarkable feat of joinery that’s worth seeing at Browne’s farmhouse, Townend, which is now in the care of the National Trust. Lynn Fotheringham Over Kellet, Lancashire • Like Colin Struthers, I live in the Rossendale Valley...
Legalisation of assisted dying may force NHS cuts, Wes Streeting warns Minister has asked officials at Department of Health to analyse implications for other services Civil servants are looking at the extra costs that assisted dying would impose on the NHS amid a warning from Wes Streeting that some services may be cut to fund expanded end-of-life care. The health secretary has asked officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to analyse potential implications for NHS services if the right to die is legalised in England and Wales. Continue reading... By Denis Campbell Health policy editor Legalisation of assisted dying may force NHS cuts, Wes Streeting warns to Continue reading... NHS Forums - For NHS Staff |...
Wes Streeting, you must have a better plan for ailing hospitals than public humiliation | Rachel Clarke The plan to introduce league tables is a simplistic, retrograde gimmick that will demoralise NHS staff – and sideline their incredible work Rachel Clarke is a palliative care doctor Seriously, Wes Streeting? After 14 wretched years of Tory austerity, stealth privatisation, draconian outsourcing, the Brexit staff drain and the horror and trauma of Covid from which – as you know – staff haven’t remotely recovered, the big NHS plan is to be … naming and shaming? Complete with inflammatory language that’s designed to scapegoat staff, such as the bad managers you’ve branded the NHS’s “guilty secret”? Do you genuinely think this is...
Streeting defends plan for hospital league tables after backlash – UK politics live Health secretary says bad managers are NHS’s ‘guilty secret’ in broadcast round ahead of first major speech on health service reform The Labour MP Diane Abbott has suggested that Wes Streeting’s attacks on NHS managers are a pretext for further privatisation. She posted these on social media this morning. Wes Streeting’s cascade of abuse of NHS managers and medics is a pretext for further and faster privatisation. Just yesterday NHS chiefs told Streeting they have not been given sufficient resources to meet his waiting list targets. They are right - they have not. Demanding unreachable targets when funds are inadequate will just deepen the crisis...

Latest Topics

News About the NHS

Three local NHS CEOs join NHS England as directors

Three local NHS CEOs join NHS England as directors
3066580_confed22day264_332442.jpg

Two integrated care board chief executives and a trust CEO have been appointed as part-time national directors at NHS England.

Continue reading this article about Three local NHS CEOs join NHS England as directors

by Health Service Journal

NHS Forums - For daily discussion by NHS Staff.

NHS privatisation and PFI - what Lord Darzi’s review missed

I have groundbreaking NHS tech inside me – but then it failed

Subscribe to updates from NHS Forums

Back
Top