RECENT NEWS

Staff morale has topped the list of concerns raised by NHS finance directors in The King’s Fund’s latest quarterly monitoring report. Nearly half (47%) of Trust finance directors surveyed for the report identified staff morale as one of their top three concern –twice as many as in the previous quarter. The report suggests this should be a significant cause for concern given the close link between staff engagement and quality of care.

A national Accident and Emergency survey shows some encouraging results with almost eight out of 10 respondents saying their overall experience was good rating it seven or more out of ten and only 3% of patients saying the doctor or nurse did not listen to what they had to say.

Gilead Sciences has announced that the European Commission has granted a marketing authorisation for Harvoni (ledipasvir 90 mg/sofosbuvir 400 mg), the first once-daily single tablet regimen to treat the majority of chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 and 4 infection in adults.

Figures published by Public Health England (PHE) show that more than 340,000 frontline healthcare workers in England had a flu vaccination in September and October this year. The figures reveal that 36.8% of the frontline healthcare workforce have been vaccinated against flu already this winter, compared to 35% of workers who were vaccinated in the same period in 2013 to 2014.

Two new laws come into force, which are designed to help improve patient safety, transparency and leadership in the NHS.

Two NHS managers who masterminded a 5-year procurement fraud worth £229,000 against a health authority in the North West, have been jailed for over five years in total at Manchester Crown Court (27th November 2014).

At the Risk Prevention and Patient Safety workshop in Paris, Professor Bill Keevil – a leading expert in environmental health – delivered a keynote presentation on the risk presented to patients by hospital pathogens, and the role copper can play in tackling these and improving patient safety.

Surgeons at the Royal Liverpool Hospital have carried out the first European kidney transplant using keyhole surgery. The technique, developed by Prof Pranjal Modi at the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre in Ahmedabad, offers patients the chance of a much faster recovery after the operation.

One of 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) established to help improve the identification, adoption and dissemination of innovative healthcare in the NHS, the North West Coast AHSN has announced the latest in its events aimed at supporting its goal, as well as providing an insight into exciting innovation taking place in the region.

Rates of emergency admission in the UK are rising. For some time, doctors and managers have been looking for ways to reduce emergency admissions without compromising the quality of patient care.

Cancer Research UK scientists have discovered that lung cancers can lie dormant for over 20 years before turning into an aggressive form of the disease, according to a study published in Science. The research, jointly funded by Cancer Research UK and the Rosetrees Trust, highlights the need for better ways to detect the disease earlier.

The peer review programme of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) has accredited Homerton Hospital as the first anaesthetics department in the UK to receive Anaesthesia Clinical Services Accreditation (ACSA).

Monitor believes that better care and improved health services for 900,000 people will be the outcome of the first acquisition of an NHS Foundation Trust by another.

According to General Medical Council (GMC) figures, more women are entering traditionally male-dominated medical specialties.

The second National Audit of Schizophrenia has shown that there is still a significant shortfall in the quality of some aspects of care affecting the lives of people living with schizophrenia and also their carers.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has been praised by Oxford University for fast-tracking the authorisation of the clinical trial application for the new Ebola vaccine.

A new comparison website tool allows health and social care organisations to see how their services compare with those of others.

The results of a survey looking into the coordination of care, including discharge processes and re-admission for surgical patients in England and Wales, showed that discharge from hospital is an area of particular concern. Only one-quarter of those surveyed agreed that there is a thorough coordinated discharge process in place to enable effective transfer of care from the hospital environment.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common neurological condition in young adults in the UK, affecting around 100,000 people. According to new guidance from NICE, people with MS should be offered a rapid and accurate diagnosis of their condition and access to specialist advice and proven therapies.

In an open letter to the three main party political leaders, the British Medical Association (BMA) and other bodies have highlighted the fact that the health budget has kept the NHS in an ‘era of unprecedented austerity’.