RECENT NEWS

The latest stroke audit results for April-July 2016 reveal that 42 (18%) of all inpatient stroke services in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland achieved an ‘A’ score indicating a world class stroke service, with a further 59 teams (26%) achieving a ‘B’ score.

A report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman says that people who complain to the NHS are often denied the answers they need, leaving them no choice but to bring their complaints to the Ombudsman’s service.

New whistleblowing guidance has been drawn up following a five-week consultation with staff working in primary care.

Cancer Research UK has announced the largest investment to date into its network of Centres across the UK. £190 million has been committed to 13 Cancer Research UK Centres over the next five years.

The traditional surgical workforce is changing and the roles undertaken by non-medical practitioners have subsequently adapted to become an integral part of the modern surgical team.

A network to run clinical trials could make finding new antibiotics cheaper and more efficient, according to a report from the Wellcome Trust.

On 22 November, eighty decontamination technicians and reprocessing staff joined together for a British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) study day, at the Madejski Stadium in Reading.

Pathology services in the UK are struggling to cope with the increasing number of patient samples that need to be tested, according to a Cancer Research UK report.

A study shows the NHS and other EU healthcare systems are facing a dramatic crisis unless something is done to bridge the radiology capacity gap in the short, medium and long term.

The first-ever consensus document highlighting the important role of dressings in pressure ulcer prevention has been launched in the UK.

The British Association of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) has invested in updating its Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) website and it is now live (www.bapen.org.uk/e-learning-portal)

A new quality standard published by NICE says that GPs should urgently refer people with suspected malignant melanoma for an appointment and sets out the key areas where skin cancer services need to improve.

A new report, published by the Royal College of Physicians on behalf of the IBD audit programme,into the use of biological therapies to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), has found that new biosimilar medicines, which work in the same way as the more expensive existing treatments, are safe and effective for patients and, if adopted, can halve the cost of treatment.

Government ministers and NHS leaders should set out a definitive plan for expanding the use of digital technology in the health service, according to a new briefing published by The King’s Fund.

A new report from independent research organisation Mind Metre has summarised the evidence for return-on-investment from pathology services in the NHS and questioned any urgent pressure to consolidate pathology laboratories –within and between NHS Trusts.

Kidney Research UK has highlighted the need for more Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) organ donors – new figures released for 2015/16 indicate that BAME patients waiting for kidney transplantation has risen to 33% of all patients, yet only 5.8% of the organ donation register is made up of people from minority ethnic communities

Despite the current short-term funding crisis in the NHS, and constant speculation about the need for alternative sources of funding for healthcare (such as an insurance-based system or 'top-up' fees for patients), the amount the National Health Service is projected to cost the UK in the long term continues to be affordable through general taxation, say experts at the Nuffield Trust health think-tank.

An important update to national guidance on the management of asthma has been launched with a major focus on supporting health professionals to make accurate diagnoses and provide effective treatments to control asthma and prevent life-threatening asthma attacks.

The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) has published new Standards in patient monitoring (Recommendations for standards of monitoring during anaesthesia and recovering 2016), and calls for all hospitals to work towards using capnography for all anaesthetist-led sedation to improve patient safety.

A Cancer Research UK study has found that cervical screening prevents 70% of cervical cancer deaths and if all eligible women regularly attended screening this would rise to 83%.