Displaying items by tag: NHS

Healthcare leaders have been quick to call on Mr Sunak to relook at nurses' pay amid nationwide strike ballots. Thérèse Coffey was removed as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Steve Barclay was reappointed. Responding to the announcement of Rishi Sunak as prime minister, Royal College of Nursing General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said, ‘Rishi Sunak must now decide if he wants to be the prime minister who cut the NHS and social care to the bone or one that invested in its people, patients and priorities. He is new to Number 10 but nursing staff recall this year’s NHS pay cut was designed by Sunak from his Treasury desk. The NHS Providers chief asked for decisive action to tackle diminishing funding due to soaring inflation, staff shortages and treatment backlogs.

NHS England says up to half of all hospital beds in England could be occupied by patients with respiratory infections. The warning came as NHS bosses set out details of its plans to help the health service cope this winter, like rapid response teams for people who fall at home and ‘data war rooms’ to monitor work pressures. The usual seasonal viruses plus Covid will place huge strains on hospitals. It is important to be prepared as winter comes hot on the heels of an extremely busy summer. With the combined impact of flu, Covid and record NHS staff vacancies, we are facing more than the threat of a 'twindemic' this year. Pray for wise decisions to be made by the NHS in their preparations for winter. Pray for doctors’ surgeries and rapid response teams to be able to keep patients out of hospitals.

In 12 months, there has been an 184% increase of children having to wait over four years on consultant waiting lists and waits are longer for children needing help with mental health issues, speech and language therapy and autism assessments. The situation is ‘alarming’. Many of the children could be ‘experiencing pain and discomfort’. Parents' hearts are breaking as they watch their children miss out on vital parts of childhood while struggling to manage health conditions. Waiting lists for ear, nose and throat conditions are the longest. 10,000 children are waiting for a consultant-led outpatient appointment and 4,000 for surgery. In order to tackle the problem trusts are asked to provide additional theatre space, and paediatric surgeons from the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children will travel to other hospitals to perform children's surgery. Commissioned paediatric day case procedure theatre lists for general surgery are being re-established as a priority.

Kintsugi Hope is a Christian charity making a difference to people’s mental wellbeing. 'Kintsugi' is a Japanese technique for repairing pottery with seams of gold. The word means 'golden joinery'. This repair makes the object more beautiful, unique indeed: Instead of hiding scars it makes a feature of them. Kintsugi Hope wants mental and emotional health to be understood in supportive communities where people grow and flourish,  and is warning churches and Christian organisations about the danger of employee burnout. Faith groups are especially susceptible to burnout: because people are highly motivated working for God, more pressure is put on them. Kintsugi Hope is offering employers training on the problem. Also the World Health Organisation has published its first ever mental health guidance to employers to help them avoid employee burnout, and a new NHS scheme will provide therapists for the workplace.

Covid is on the rise again, so those feeling unwell should avoid vulnerable friends, colleagues and relatives as a precaution, say experts. 1.3 million (one in 50) have Covid, with a ‘marked increase’ in infections among over-70s. There are no new restrictions, but people are being reminded to take extra care. There are fears of a flu and Covid ‘twindemic’ this winter, and those who qualify for free jabs should get them. NHS are sending reminders out to over six million people in at risk groups. Pray for very high levels of vaccine uptake across the UK. Covid hospitalisation rates are at their highest level in months. The NHS is asking people with respiratory infection symptoms to wear a face covering.

The number of patients waiting for routine hospital treatment in England has reached seven million, and 387,257 have been on the list for over a year. One in every 18 has waited more than a year to begin treatment, and 2,646 people (down from 23,778 in January) have been waiting over two years. Ambulance waiting times are also high, and the number of people waiting longer than twelve hours in A&E for a bed after being seen by a doctor also reached a new high of 32,776. Of 255,055 urgent cancer referrals made by GPs in August, only 75.6% saw a specialist within the two-week target time, the second worst performance on record. Patients hospitalised with Covid have more than doubled since September to over 10,000.

On 2 October health leaders advised vaccination and began calling for a return to mask-wearing, as hospitalisations for Covid rose by 37% in a week to 7,024. They said ministers needed to address staffing shortages urgently, even though the Office for National Statistics said it was too early to say if an autumn wave had begun. The Nuffield Trust revealed that record numbers of nurses were quitting the NHS, with one in nine leaving their jobs. The Royal College of Nursing has called for nurses to have access to the highest-quality PPE. Covid is killing over 300 people a week, and a new variant has been detected. A rise in cases is expected as winter approaches. Acting now to prevent further hospitalisations and deaths is crucial as new variants are causing a slight increase in infections. We can only detect Covid variants by PCR testing, and with no free tests plus economic pressures, people have become quite relaxed about coronavirus. See also

The NHS needs more black blood donors to help people with sickle cell disease. The daily demand for donations to treat the blood disorder in England is 250, but only half of all hospital requests are being met with matched blood. Sickle cell mostly affects people of black heritage, and ethnically-matched blood gives the best treatment. The disease causes red blood cells to become sticky, blocking vessels and restricting oxygen supply, triggering excruciating pain. Sadeh needs all her blood replaced every four weeks. She says, ‘Some days I struggle getting out of bed due to pain in my limbs, some days I wake up feeling great, some days I wake up in hospital, connected to machines and told that days have passed. Transfusions have saved my life many times over’. The NHS has launched a Black History Month campaign, highlighting to black communities that they have the power to treat sickle cell with life-changing blood donations.

NHS bosses have told political parties not to impose any new targets on the beleaguered health service in their bid to win the next general election. They said the Conservatives and opposition parties should resist foisting new performance metrics on the NHS when it cannot deliver the hundreds it already operates under. The plea was made by hospitals, ambulance providers, mental health, community care and GP services in England, who said, ‘Given the NHS’s staff shortages, huge backlog of care and financial problems, the answer will not be found in politicians imposing oversimplified and unfunded targets that make convenient soundbites but have little bearing on reality and demoralise frontline workers.’

An undercover reporter worked inside the Edenfield Centre caring for people held under the Mental Health Act who are at serious risk of harming themselves or others. With a hidden camera, he filmed staff swearing at patients, taunting and mocking them in vulnerable situations - when they were undressing - and joking about their self-harm. Patients were being unnecessarily restrained as well as being slapped or pinched by staff on some occasions. Some female staff acted in a sexualised way towards male patients. Ten patients were being held in small seclusion rooms, designed for short-term isolation to prevent immediate harm, for days, weeks or even months, with only brief breaks. Patient observations, a crucial safety measure, were being regularly missed, and records falsified. Seven members of staff were seen sleeping on shift. A consultant psychiatrist said the footage showed a ‘toxic culture’ among staff of ‘corruption, perversion, aggression, hostility, and lack of boundaries’, which were undermining patient recovery.