Hospitals should BAN all attention seeking selfies
As a machine bleeped at my side, I wondered if I was imagining the flashing lights I kept seeing all around me on the ward, still woozy from the anaesthetic.
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BBC News
24 minutes ago
- BBC News
NHS bosses vow to minimise doctors' strike impact
The regional medical director of the NHS in north-west England says they want to "make sure that we cancel as few appointments as possible" as the current doctors' strike continues into its fourth five-day walkout by resident doctors - previously known as junior doctors - began on Friday and is due to end on Wednesday morning after the government and doctors' union British Medical Association (BMA) failed to agree on wages last is the 12th strike by doctors since 2023 in the long-running pay dispute. Dr Michael Gregory, regional medical director of the NHS, said previous strikes had a "detrimental effect particularly with outpatient appointments and electric procedures". "Certainly this time around NHS England have made a definitive push on making sure that as many operations and outpatient appointments go ahead as possible," he told BBC North West Tonight."We still have urgent emergency care and we do have urgent cancer and other priority surgeries going ahead."He added that they had "consultant cover in place where we can on most days to cover services" but "clearly there's going to be services stretched".The NHS says it wants to keep operating non-urgent services during this latest walkout as they advised patients to attend appointments unless contacted to surgeries remain open and, for urgent or non-life threatening issues, 111 continues to be the best option and for emergency care A&E or 999. Speaking near a Liverpool hospital picket line, members of the public shared a variety of responses with one woman, who previously trained as a nurse, saying she believed the medics are "amazing but I think they're also on a good wage".Another man said: "I guess the doctors need to be paid. They do work hard, they do work long hours."Another woman added: "I disagree with them being on strike because they had a pay rise last year and most people are on a minimum wage."Resident doctors comprise around half of all doctors and can earn a basic salary of £38,831 during their first foundation year after completing their medical degree. This rises to £44,439 in the second year and salaries can increase to about £70,000 after eight years. 'Pay restoration' During 2023-24, over two years, they received a 22% pay rise. From this August, they will get an extra 5.4% pay the BMA says resident doctors' pay will be 20% lower in real terms than it was in 2008, even with the increase this also argue that resident doctors may have more student debt due to the five or six-year duration of their representative Dr Mohammed Kamora, who was on the Liverpool picket line, described the latest pay increases as having "started a journey towards pay restoration" and that those on strike were "asking for parity for what we had in 2008"."That is the key to retaining our best and brightest," he Secretary Wes Streeting has said resident doctors have received the largest pay rises of any public sector employees over the past three government said it would not offer any further increases and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the walkouts threatened "to turn back the clock on progress we have made in rebuilding the NHS over the last year". Read more stories from Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X.
BBC News
24 minutes ago
- BBC News
Sevenoaks Hospital to benefit from share of £1.7m CIL funds
Projects to improve a hospital and access to the North Downs Way are among nine schemes which have been awarded Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) half of the £1,751,066.34 allocated by Sevenoaks District Council has been earmarked to help build a new headquarters for Sevenoaks Scouts and refurbish Darent House at Sevenoaks Downs National Landscape Unit has secured £329,932 to improve access to the North Downs Way for older and disabled Nigel Williams, the council's cabinet member for development and infrastructure, said the funding would "improve residents' health and wellbeing and our environment". Five parks across Swanley will benefit from a shared £131,634, while £110,000 has been allocated to the cost of a new heating and hot water system at Edenbridge Sports improvements will be made to the Valley Road footpath in Fawkham, with £20,000 allocated to help pay for a new pedestrian crossing at Dartford Road in Williams said that, since introducing CIL in 2014, the council had secured "nearly £19m in developer contributions".
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Top medical body concerned over RFK Jr's reported plans to cut preventive health panel
A top US medical body has expressed 'deep concern' to Robert F Kennedy Jr over news reports that the health secretary plans to overhaul a panel that determines which preventive health measures including cancer screenings should be covered by insurance companies. The letter from the the American Medical Association comes after the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Kennedy plans to overhaul the 40-year old US Preventive Services Task Force because he regards them as too 'woke', according to sources familiar with the matter. During his second term, Donald Trump has frequently raged against organizations and government departments that he considers too liberal – often without any evidence. The US president, and his cabinet members such as Kennedy, have also overseen huge cuts and job losses across the US government. The taskforce is made up of a 16-member panel appointed by health and human services secretaries to serve four-year terms. In addition to cancer screenings, the taskforce issues recommendations for a variety of other screenings including osteoporosis, intimate partner violence, HIV prevention, as well as depression in children. Writing in its letter to Kennedy on Sunday, the AMA defended the panel, saying: 'As you know, USPSTF plays a critical, non-partisan role in guiding physicians' efforts to prevent disease and improve the health of patients by helping to ensure access to evidence-based clinical preventive services.' 'As such, we urge you to retain the previously appointed members of the USPSTF and commit to the long-standing process of regular meetings to ensure their important work can be continued without disruption,' it added. Citing Kennedy's own slogan of 'Making America healthy again,' the AMA went on to say: 'USPSTF members have been selected through an open, public nomination process and are nationally recognized experts in primary care, prevention and evidence-based medicine. They serve on a volunteer basis, dedicating their time to help reduce disease and improve the health of all Americans – a mission well-aligned with the Make America Healthy Again initiative.' According to the Affordable Care Act, public and private insurance companies must cover any services recommended by the Preventive Services Task Force without cost sharing. In a statement to MedPage Today, Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon did not confirm the reports, instead saying: 'No final decision has been made on how the USPSTF can better support HHS' mandate to Make America Healthy Again.' Reports of Kennedy's alleged decision to overhaul the taskforce come after the American Conservative published an essay earlier this month that described the taskforce as advocating for 'leftwing ideological orthodoxy'. It went on to accuse the panel of being 'packed with Biden administration appointees devoted to the ideological capture of medicine', warning that the 'continued occupation of an important advisory body in HHS – one that has the capacity to force private health insurers to cover services and procedures – by leftwing activists would be a grave oversight by the Trump administration'. In response to the essay, 104 health organizations, including the American Medical Association, issued a separate letter to multiple congressional health committees in which they urged the committees to 'protect the integrity' of the taskforce. 'The loss of trustworthiness in the rigorous and nonpartisan work of the Task Force would devastate patients, hospital systems, and payers as misinformation creates barriers to accessing lifesaving and cost effective care,' the organizations said. In June, Kennedy removed all 17 members of a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel of vaccine experts. Writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, he accused the committee of having too many conflicts of interest. Kennedy's decision to overhaul the immunization panel was met with widespread criticism from health experts, with the American Public Health Association executive director Georges Benjamin calling the ouster 'a coup'. 'It's not how democracies work. It's not good for the health of the nation,' Benjamin said.
