Friday 20 November 2015

Northamptonshire hospitals target capital city nurses in a bid to plug recruitment gap

Northamptonshire hospitals target capital city nurses in a bid to plug recruitment gap

A recruitment day in London is being organised by hospitals in Northamptonshire in a bid to recruit more qualified nurses. Evening Telegraph

Six people currently needing organ transplant in Northamptonshire are ‘likely to die on waiting list’, according to NHS

Six people currently needing organ transplant in Northamptonshire are ‘likely to die on waiting list’, according to NHS

New figures from the NHS show there are 64 people in Northamptonshire waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. Evening Telegraph

NHS bosses pressure Hunt to agree to arbitration with junior doctors

NHS bosses pressure Hunt to agree to arbitration with junior doctors

Health secretary is insisting BMA begins talks before he will consider bringing in conciliation service

Jeremy Hunt is under growing pressure to let independent arbitrators try to settle the junior doctors dispute before their series of strikes starts next month.

Senior NHS figures and leading members of the medical establishment want the health secretary to drop his insistence that the British Medical Association reopen talks with him before asking the Arbitration, Conciliation and Advisory Service (Acas) to mediate between the two sides. Guardian

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NHS on course for worst financial crisis in its history

NHS on course for worst financial crisis in its history

Exclusive: The NHS is expected to declare the largest deficit in its history, amid warnings that hospitals could run out of cash to pay staff within a year. Telegraph

News story: Healthcare worker flu vaccination figures published

News story: Healthcare worker flu vaccination figures published


Latest vaccination figures show 32.4% of frontline healthcare workers had influenza vaccinations in September and October 2015.

Figures published today (19 November 2015) by Public Health England (PHE), show that more than 312,000 frontline healthcare workers in England had a flu vaccination in September and October this year.

This compares to 36.8% of workers who were vaccinated in the same period in 2014 to 2015, and 35% of workers in 2013 to 2014.

Flu experts warn that more workers need to take up the vaccine to help protect themselves and vulnerable patients this winter and help save lives, while keeping NHS services running as normal.

Hospital surveillance in 2014 to 2015 reported a total of 1,187 admissions to intensive care and high dependency units due to lab confirmed flu across England, and 8.4% of these resulted in death.

The annual campaign to drive up NHS staff vaccination rates is called flu fighter (@NHSflufighter, #flufighter). Run by NHS Employers and supported by the Department of Health and PHE, flu fighter is once again providing employers with all the resources they need to help their staff run lively local campaigns which promote vaccinations, answer questions and improve access to them. Flu fighter is now in its fifth year and has helped the NHS to increase frontline staff flu vaccinations from 359,080 (34.7%) in 2010 to 2011 to 541,757 (54.9%) by the end of last winter.

This year, for the first time, NHS Employers is also working with the residential care sector to identify how flu vaccination can become routine for care workers, identifying both challenges and examples of good practice. A tailored set of campaign materials has been made available. Public Health England

NHS Employers responds to consultation on agency price caps

NHS Employers responds to consultation on agency price caps

Read our response to the Monitor and NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) consultation on the proposed introduction of price caps for agency staff. NHS Employers

The state of medical education and practice in the UK report: 2015

The state of medical education and practice in the UK report: 2015

This report sets out what is happening in the education and practice of doctors, and considers some of the current challenges facing the profession and the systems in which it works. An online resource containing the GMC’s registration, education and fitness to practise data is published alongside the report.
General Medical Council 

Assaults on NHS staff a “barometer” for health care under strain - RCN

Assaults on NHS staff a “barometer” for health care under strain - RCN

RCN comments on new figures showing that attacks on NHS staff in the acute sector have risen in the past year.

Work needed to end discrimination for NHS staff

Work needed to end discrimination for NHS staff

Study shows wide variation in discrimination across country. OnMedica News

Plans to speed up cancer drugs access

Plans to speed up cancer drugs access

A new Cancer Drugs Fund is to be set up to improve access to cancer drugs, says a consultation document from NHS England. BBC News

Last line in antibiotic resistance under threat

Last line in antibiotic resistance under threat

"The last line of antibiotic defence against some serious infections is under threat," The Guardian reports, after researchers found that E.coli bacteria from food products in China has developed resistance to colistin – a polymixin antibiotic.

This antibiotic is, in a sense, a weapon of last resort in the antibiotics armoury, and is sometimes used to serious treat infections that have become resistant to other strong antibiotics.

The researchers found that colistin resistance was caused by a gene called MCR-1. This gene was found on a piece of bacterial DNA that can be transferred between bacteria.

They took a number of samples from animals in abattoirs, and raw meat from open markets and supermarkets in China to identify how frequently the MCR-1 gene is found in bacteria.

The study found the MCR-1 gene in E. coli collected from 15% of raw meat samples and 21% of animals tested from 2011-14. The gene was also found in E. coli from 1% of hospital inpatients in China.

As this study was conducted in China, we do not know whether the situation is the same in the UK. However, antibiotic resistance is a global concern that could potentially advance more quickly than new antibiotics can be developed.

An editorial accompanying the study recommends that the use of polymixin should be restricted in agriculture, as we could end up with a situation where doctors are forced to say, "Sorry, there is nothing I can do to cure your infection".

'More money needed' to beat TB

'More money needed' to beat TB

More investment is needed to beat tuberculosis (TB), which has become one of the most deadly infectious diseases in the world, a coalition of health agencies warn. BBC News

Liver deaths 'likely to increase' after relaxation of alcohol tax policies

Liver deaths 'likely to increase' after relaxation of alcohol tax policies


Deaths from liver disease in UK quadrupled between 1980 and 2013 as alcohol became cheaper due to policy encouraged by lobbying from drinks industry, report says

Deaths from liver disease are likely to increase as a result of the government’s relaxation of alcohol taxation policies, say liver experts, who voice concern about a shortage of specialists to treat patients across the UK.

Only a third of district general hospitals have a liver specialist on the staff, according to a new report. It warns that obesity and alcohol are fuelling a rise in liver disease, which can cause cirrhosis, cancer and death if not caught early enough to be treatable.
Guardian

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