RECENT NEWS

The NHS is ‘neither a leader nor a laggard’ when compared to health care systems of similar countries, though on some critical measures of resources and performance the UK is falling well-below average, according to a major new report from The King’s Fund.

A national targeted lung cancer screening programme designed to catch cancer sooner or prevent it altogether has been announced by the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Each year the programme - which will cost £270 million annually once fully implemented - is expected to detect cancer in as many as 9,000 people, deliver almost one million scans and provide treatment earlier.

Since 2010, Skills for Health has conducted regular large-scale national surveys to provide a comprehensive picture of new and emerging workforce challenges across health and social care. The 2023 edition of the State of the Workforce Survey has now launched to identify critical skills and development shortages at an individual, organisational, and systemic level to support the UK government, NHS, and social care leaders as they plan for the workforce of the future.

The EBME Expo medical equipment exhibition and conference will take place at The Coventry Building Society Arena, 28–29 June 2023. The event will showcase the latest innovations in medical technology, as well as imparting best practice with regard to its management, acquisition, use, and maintenance.

NHS staff will be given the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology to diagnose and treat patients more quickly as a result of a new £21 million fund, announced by the Health and Social Care Secretary.

New analysis published by the Health Foundation shows that 800,000 (12%) fewer patients in England were admitted to hospital in 2022 than in 2019, while at the same time the average length of time patients spent in hospital increased.

Urgent action is needed to break a ‘vicious cycle’ of unmanageable workloads, dissatisfaction and burnout that is causing UK doctors to take steps to quit, the General Medical Council (GMC) has warned in a new report.

Nearly 100,000 more people with cardiovascular disease than expected have died since the start of the pandemic in England, according to analysis published by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). On average, there have been over 500 additional deaths a week involving cardiovascular disease, since the pandemic began.

The mosquito species Aedes albopictus, a known vector of chikungunya and dengue viruses, is establishing itself further northwards and westwards in Europe, according to the latest data from ECDC. Also, Aedes aegypti, known to transmit dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, zika and West Nile viruses, has been established in Cyprus since 2022 and may continue to spread to other European countries.

A new online advice service to help the NHS and wider care system adopt and make use of new digital and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has been launched.

New interim analysis from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) indicates that excess deaths in England associated with flu infection were higher (14,500) than the average figure (13,500) for the five years before the pandemic.

The Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow have released the findings of the 2022 annual consultant physician workforce census with senior doctors reporting widespread gaps in the medical workforce and an impact on patients.

WHO has published its first global research agenda for the world’s scientists to address the most urgent human health priorities to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). It outlines 40 research topics on drug-resistant bacteria, fungi and Mycobacterium tuberculosis that must be answered by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

In an effort to identify lung cancer at an earlier stage, more than 19,000 people in North East Lincolnshire are being invited for a free NHS Targeted Lung Health Check (TLHC).

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has created an app called FeverPhone, which transforms smartphones into thermometers without adding new hardware. Instead, it uses the phone's touchscreen and repurposes the existing battery temperature sensors to gather data that a machine learning model uses to estimate people’s core body temperatures.

Consuming omega-3 fatty acids, particularly alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a nutrient found in foods including flaxseeds, walnuts, and chia, canola, and soybean oils, may help slow the progression of disease in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Liver disease, the UK’s third leading cause of premature death, poses a significantly greater threat to human health than previously recognised. Ground-breaking new research using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) AI-enabled assessment tools has revealed that patients with liver disease are at considerably higher risk of heart failure and other serious heart-related problems.

Medway NHS Foundation Trust has signed a long-term contract with TeleTracking UK to deliver the Trust’s new Care Co-ordination Centre, a centralised, holistic approach for bed management and patient flow.

Nearly one-third of patients with an implanted device to prevent sudden death have anxiety in the first year while depression affects one in five.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (GHFT) has gone live with electronic prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA), as the next step in the Trust’s five-year digital transformation journey. The Altera Digital Health solution was introduced as part of the Trust’s Sunrise electronic patient record (EPR).