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After a month of intense talks, the British government and unions representing consultant doctors in England have reached an agreement, potentially ending six months of disruptive strike action. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has put forward an offer to reform the pay structure for senior doctors from January 2024, reducing the number of pay points and the time it takes to reach the top. As part of this offer, consultants will also be entitled to enhanced shared parental leave, bringing them in line with other NHS staff. New arrangements will ensure a clearer link between pay progression and evidence of skills, competencies and experience, the DHSC said. The British Medical Association (BMA) and Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) agreed to put the offer to their members for a vote in the coming weeks, with no further strike action to be called during that time.

Global instant logistics leader, Zipline is partnering with UK drone delivery startup, Apian Aero to launch a drone delivery programme of critical medical supplies for the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The new service, expected to begin in the autumn of 2024, will see delivery of medical supplies to hospitals, GPs and care homes, using electric, autonomous drones. Zipline announced the partnership on Sunday, and said drone delivery service will help provide timely access to prescription medicines, wound care products, joint replacement implants, and other frequently ordered medical products, which could allow healthcare providers to reduce the number of cancelled procedures, and thus decrease wait times. Also, the expansion of the programme will help in creating local job opportunities in the region, it added.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), led by Victoria Atkins MP and Maria Caulfield MP, has unveiled proposed updates to the NHS Constitution for England, aiming to fortify the principles of privacy, dignity, and safety for all patients. Martha's rule was prompted by a campaign led by the parents of 13-year-old Martha Mills who tragically succumbed to sepsis after staff at King's College Hospital failed to escalate her care to intensive care, despite her family's pleas regarding her worsening condition in 2021. Under the new guidance is the introduction of Martha's Rule, empowering patients to request intimate care from someone of the same biological sex ensuring that the distinct needs of men and women are recognized and addressed. Patients and their loved ones can exercise the right to "access to a rapid review from outside the care team if the patient is deteriorating." The consultation on the proposed updates is set to run for eight weeks, inviting feedback from patients, healthcare professionals, and stakeholders for a review

Good news for patients whose epilepsy cannot be controlled by standard anti-seizure drugs! Next month, NHS England will introduce a cutting-edge laser beam therapy that can prevent seizures in these individuals. Known as Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT), the advanced treatment targets the part of the brain causing seizures without the need for invasive surgery, the health service said. The new fibre optic laser therapy is being offered at King's College Hospital in London and The Walton Centre in Liverpool. Starting from June, it will be gradually extended to eligible patients across England. Each year, it is expected to benefit up to 50 epilepsy patients in England who are resistant to standard anti-seizure medications. "This groundbreaking new treatment will change the lives of those with severe epilepsy improving quality of life and providing much-needed assurance," said Andrew Stephenson, Minister of State for Health.

Hospitals and healthcare providers across the UK have been notified about the shortage of an anti-inflammatory medicine caused by a manufacturing failure. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on Friday (3 May) issued a National Patient Safety Alert stating that Erelzi 50mg solution for injection in pre-filled pen will be out of stock from early May until mid-July 2024. "The supply issues have been caused by a manufacturing failure resulting in delays in production and the implementation of global allocations," it said. However, it noted that homecare providers (Alcura, Healthnet and Sciensus) have sufficient stock to supply existing patients until mid/late May 2024. Although Erelzi 50mg pre-filled syringes (PFS) are still available, they cannot support a full increase in demand, the DHSC warned.

Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Council, was honoured with the GG2 Woman of the Year Award at the annual GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards, held at the Park Plaza Hotel on Tuesday, 5 March. Hawthorne has been a practitioner and a mentor to young GPs for almost 35 years, and has led pioneering research projects focusing on health inequalities, diabetes and heart disease. She has been recognised twice as GP of the Year for her work with minority ethnic communities. Professor Kiran Patel, Group Chief Medical Officer at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, was named the GG2 Man of the Year Award. Apart from being a sought-after cardiologist and consultant, Patel also possesses a wealth of experience in managerial roles. He has done a lot of work in addressing health inequalities, and notably, in 2020, he prescribed the very first COVID-19 vaccine.

A recent survey conducted by the British Society Attitudes (BSA) and published by the King's Fund and the Nuffield Trust highlighted people's satisfaction with the National Health Services (NHS) to be a new record low since the survey's inception in 1983. The latest findings that are based on the public satisfaction and opinion with the NHS and social care, and funding in the context of prominent national debate about taxation and healthcare spending reveal the satisfaction with the NHS to have dwindled across all services and demographics in 2023. Public contentment has sharply declined, with only 24 per cent expressing satisfaction in 2023, a significant drop from 2020. Factors contributing to this dissatisfaction include prolonged waiting times for GP and hospital appointments, staffing shortages, and perceived inadequate government spending.

The King's condition is "benign" and he will be treated in the hospital next week for a "corrective procedure", Buckingham Palace said a statement released on Wednesday. "In common with thousands of men each year, the King has sought treatment for an enlarged prostate," the Palace said. Because of the upcoming surgery, Charles had to postpone all meetings and events planned for this week. The Palace informed that the King's public engagements will be "postponed for a short period of recuperation." Charles, 75, wanted to share the details of his diagnosis to encourage more men who may be experiencing symptoms to get their conditions checked.

Cancer patients in the UK are being given a new immunotherapy treatment at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust as part of a global phase 1/2 clinical trial, which aims to evaluate its safety and potential for treating 'solid tumour' cancers such as melanoma and lung cancer. The experimental therapy, called mRNA-4359, has been designed to train patients' immune systems to recognise and fight cancer cells, according to researchers at Imperial College London. For the first time in the UK, cancer patients received the treatment at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Imperial Clinical Research Facility at Hammersmith Hospital. In this non-randomised trial, mRNA-4359 is administered to patients either alone or in combination with an existing cancer drug called pembrolizumab, a type of immune checkpoint inhibitor. The researchers are hopeful that this new therapeutic approach, if proven to be safe and effective in clinical trials, could lead to a new treatment option for difficult-to-treat cancers.

In a significant move to enhance the working conditions of over 50,000 postgraduate doctors in the National Health Service, NHS England has unveiled a series of measures aimed at providing greater choice and opportunities to the new entrants in the medical profession. With flexible rotas, reducing payroll errors, and easing the financial burden of course fees, the NHS has taken steps to address the issues faced by junior doctors in order to support their well-being. In recent announcement, 83 per cent of senior doctors and dentists accepted the government's pay offer. Alongside the junior doctors who still fighting for fair pay and recognition, the senior medical professionals demanded that the authorities help them tackle issues pertaining underfunding and overworking in the NHS. Junior doctors in training also often face challenges with frequent moves between trusts, leading to short notice changes in work schedules and duplicated inductions when transitioning to new hospitals. As a measure taken by the health serivces, the committee aims to review the minimum legal requirements for statutory and mandatory training, potentially halving the time burden for such training and allowing doctors to spend more time caring for patients as part of the long-term workforce plan.

In the next 10 years, the incidence of first-time stroke cases in the UK is projected to increase by 60 per cent, costing the government £75bn in healthcare and lost productivity, a charity has suggested. A new manifesto published by the Stroke Association has urged the next UK government to make stroke "the priority", stressing that the next decade is crucial for stroke prevention, treatment and recovery. Currently, stroke is the UK's fourth biggest killer and a leading cause of disability. On a daily basis, 281 individuals experience a stroke. Next year, the cost of stroke in the UK will be £43 billion. The charity predicted that by 2035, there will be 151,000 hospital admissions due to stroke every year, averaging 414 admissions per day, with 42,000 people estimated to die every year. In 2035, the UK is projected to have 2.1 million stroke survivors, imposing a financial burden of £75 billion on the public purse, nearly half the current NHS budget.

In 2023, almost 14,000 people in England are estimated to have died due to excessive waits in emergency departments, averaging more than 260 deaths per week, according to new figures from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM). The RCEM estimate is based on a large study of NHS patients published in the Emergency Medicine Journal in 2021, which found one excess death for every 72 patients who spent eight to 12 hours in an A&E department. Following a Freedom of Information audit of NHS trusts, the college has found that 65 per cent of people waiting 12 hours or more in A&E were patients waiting for a hospital bed. NHS data for England revealed that over 1.5 million patients waited 12 hours or more in major emergency departments last year. Based on the RCEM calculation, this indicates that over a million of those patients were waiting for a bed.

The outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) in the UK, which is associated with contaminated eye gels imported from India, has led to the death of one person, and many others falling ill, according to a government report. Bcc is a group of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are widely found within the environment. Although it rarely causes infection, it can result in severe ones in individuals with compromised immune systems and those living with cystic fibrosis, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said. Between January 2023 and February 2024, there were 52 confirmed and six probable cases across the UK linked to the bacteria outbreak, as revealed in the Health Protection Report published by UKHSA. Forty-one of these cases were hospital inpatients, 38 of which were in critical-care settings. Twenty-five cases were considered to have "clinically significant infections attributable to Bcc", out of which 11 had eye infections, nine had respiratory infections and four had bacteremia (bacteria entering the bloodstream). Two individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) were infected, and while one was treated, the other died, with the report indicating Bcc infection to have "contributed to the death."

In an announcement following Keir Starmer's and Wes Streeting's visit to a hospital in the East Midlands, Labour Party has unveiled a groundbreaking partnership with Virgin Media O2 aimed at ensuring every child with type 1 diabetes can access the latest medical technology to better manage diabetes. With the NHS providing patients with type 1 diabetes the option of an 'artificial pancreas' in the next five years to manage insulin levels and Continuous Glucose Monitors launched nearly 2 years ago to monitor children's glucose levels, the initiative aims to address the financial barrier hindering hundreds of families from benefiting from this breakthrough. Labour's plan to provide every child in need a smartphone, facilitating access to modern glucose monitors, aligns with the centre-leftist party's broader vision to harness technology for healthcare transformation. Announcing the partnership in an interview with ITV News, Keir Starmer, Labour Party Leader, highlighted the lack of equitable access to medical advancement amongst patients as "travesty" and "impact of fourteen years of Conservative chaos has had on the NHS", stating:

In a bid to address the ongoing deficit in staff in the UK's healthcare system, the National Health Service (NHS) has entered into a new workforce agreement with India. According to media reports, the healthcare service plans to hire 2,000 doctors from India on a fast-track basis to alleviate this pressing issue. It is learned that the NHS has set up training centres across many Indian cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Nagpur, Delhi, Gurugram, Indore, Mysore, Chennai, and Calicut to provide postgraduate training for the first batch of doctors. Post their training period (which ranges from six to 12 months), these doctors will be deployed at hospitals across Britain. They will also be exempted from the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) examination that is otherwise mandatory for practising in the country.

A groundbreaking research project has revealed that the public is urging the government to prioritise primary and community care over hospitals. The study also found a strong public willingness to pay higher taxes to enhance NHS services. The Health Foundation and Ipsos UK conducted the research, combining nationwide polling with in-depth public deliberative workshops. These workshops, held in King's Lynn, Leeds, and London, constitute one of the most comprehensive public consultations about the future of the NHS in England. The study published on 16 May underscores the public's desire for a redistribution of NHS resources. If the NHS budget remains unchanged, 60 per cent of those polled believe the government should focus on improving access to community-based services like general practice and dentistry.

Reena Mehta, consultant pharmacist in the Critical Care team at NHS King's College Hospital, has been announced as chair of the Learning Division for the Intensive Care Society. Mehta took up the post with effect from 8th April, and is the first pharmacist to hold the role of Chair of the Learning Division within the Society. "It is a privilege to be part of the Society and support its life-saving work to enhance our understanding of critical illness and deliver better care to patients," "The intensive care community is made up of multiple professions, each playing a vital role within the critical care team, and I am extremely proud to be the first pharmacist appointed to this important role." In her role as chair of the Learning Division, Mehta will oversee the content of the Society's study days and be responsible for exploring new opportunities for the Intensive Care Society to provide training for our multi professional intensive care community.

Amid the rapid rise in semaglutide usage, a study has suggested a potential risk of a rare eye condition associated with the weight loss drug. Semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA), is available under the brand name Ozempic (by Novo Nordisk) in a lower-dose form for managing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and as Wegovy (also by Novo Nordisk) in a higher-dose form for weight management in patients with high body mass indexes. Anecdotal evidence has indicated that semaglutide might be linked to nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). To investigate this potential connection, researchers in the United States analysed data over a six-year period from nearly 17,000 neuro-ophthalmology patients at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, all of whom had no prior history of NAION.

Thousands of cancer patients in England are set to gain fast-tracked access to personalised cancer vaccine trials through a new National Health Service(NHS) initiative, the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad. This groundbreaking service aims to find new life-saving treatments by matching eligible patients with clinical trials across the country. The first patient to receive a personalised vaccine for bowel cancer is Elliot Phebve, a 55-year-old lecturer, treated at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. Phebve, diagnosed through a routine health check, underwent surgery and chemotherapy before joining the trial. Sponsored by German biotech company BioNTech SE, the colorectal cancer vaccine trial is one of several taking place across NHS trusts.

The Green Party has previewed its upcoming manifesto with a bold proposal for the National Health Service (NHS) and social care system, promising an unprecedented level of investment to restore and enhance these critical services. By 2030, the Greens aim to inject over £50 billion annually into health and social care, accompanied by an additional £20 billion capital investment to modernise healthcare infrastructure. Green Party Co-Leader Adrian Ramsay emphasised the urgency of these reforms, stating, "Our NHS is at breaking point following 14 years of underfunding." "Patients are stuck in hospital corridors, people can't see their GP or NHS dentist when they need to, and staff are severely overstretched." The manifesto highlights a comprehensive approach to revitalising the NHS, including: