Specialist prenatal care services are practically non-existent in over a quarter of the UK. This is according to a new campaign. It’s true that some progress has been made over the last couple of years but the lack of services for both women and men is unacceptable. This is according to the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. They represent more than 80 groups in total and it is really important that people have access to these kinds of services. It’s also really important that funding is all across the four nations. In England alone, there are many places that do not have access to specialist services and this is a tough pill to swallow for those who work in nursing jobs, in a nursing agency. If you work in a nursing recruitment agency then you will understand how important it is for people to be able to get the help that they need and Northern Ireland did the worst out of everyone. Every region other than Belfast did not have any specialist prenatal services available at all and this is shocking to say the least.

The alliance has also taken note that the Welsh government has given money to the local health board and this is designed to try and improve services. It has highlighted the fact that both Scotland and even Northern Ireland have not prioritised their specialist and community services. More than one out of every ten women described themselves having a mental illness during their pregnancy or even in the first year after they had their baby. Some of them even went on to experience severe problems and this is shocking to say the least. Of course, only time will tell if this happens to change but at the minute it doesn’t look likely.

Ministers who are from Scotland and even Wales have stated that they are going to invest plenty of additional money which they will receive from the UK government. This money is going to be given to try and pay more NHS staff wages. This comes from the announcement of pay proposals and this is an incredible thing to happen. If you work in nursing jobs or even if you have experience working in a nursing recruitment agency

The Scottish government has already stated that they are going to match the deal that is going to be offered in England. Ministers in Wales have stated that they are going to invest the extra funding and that this is going to be invested in the staff pay. Staff groups have all been covered by this agreement and it means that they are going to be paid as much as their counterparts. Health services who are working in Scotland/Wales will now have to wait to see if they can be offered a deal and this is going to be precisely in line with the England regulations. It is possible for this to be slightly different but the UK government and even employers and unions have stated that they have tried to negotiate the pay. Of course, the deal for the NHS staff is worth over 6.5% and this is going to be the case for the next three years.

On Wednesday the treasury have announced that the funding is going to be for the full proposed £4.2bn deal and if this has any chance of being accepted by union members then this is great news.
There is no telling what will happen next, but it is interesting to see how things are going to change and develop over the next couple of weeks.

A pharmacist who lives in Somerset has tried to help hospital nurses give injections safer. They have done this by giving the people the help that they need in their profession. Doctor Matthew Jones has stated that the complicated nature of preparing the injections gives a lot of room for mistakes. In fact, over a third of injections were known for having mistakes. Around 35% of injections that were given in a hospital environment included at least one error and this is not appropriate at all.

Those who work in nursing jobs or even those who work in a recruitment agency will know that this is serious and that there certainly needs to be something done about this. Dr Jones comes from the University of Bath and they are interested to see if changing injections and even the guidance that is going to be given along with them will reduce the amount of errors that happen. Mistakes happen when bad advice is given and even when medicines are changed. If you want to try and improve the safety of the patient or if you want to try and save the NHS time then something needs to be done about this.

Mistakes can be caused by a huge range of things and it is a well-known fact that there is a lot of research that is going to be done to try and change this. This even includes the advice that experts give each other and even the way that the injections are given. Of course, only time will tell if anything can be done about this but at the end of the day it is incredible to see that so much is being done about this.

Those who work in nursing jobs or even those who work in a nursing recruitment agency will understand how important it is to be able to change the courses so that they meet the requirements of the people who are applying. Under the new proposals, the NMC have stated that they have altered the timeline and this helps people to ensure that their courses are still going to be running by the year 2020.

The regulator has also confirmed that the change would certainly give universities the chance to run both midwifery courses and nursing courses, so that the programs can be developed around the same time. This is instead of stopping the process. It has also been said that the universities want to try and introduce updated nursing courses very early and that this is going to be done instead of pausing the process. Universities also want to try and introduce new and updated courses as soon as they can and the new regulations ultimately mean that this can be done in January 2019.

Universities have also stated that they want the courses to get approved by NMC by that exact point and that all students who want to apply will need to do so under the new standards. The NMC is currently overhauling the standards that they have and they are also doing this for all midwifery courses as well. Of course, if you look at the council papers you will be interested to know that this is going to be discussed and this is especially the case with the transitional arrangements. Nurse training is also being discussed as well and this is a great way for you to really find out everything that you need to know.

From Sky News:

A trial begins today of centres where patients can be given multiple tests for different cancers with the aim of providing a quick, and crucially, early diagnosis.

Patients with "vague" symptoms such as weight loss, abdominal pain and fatigue can be referred by their GPs to the assessment centres.

The idea is that patients yet to show specific signs of cancer can be tested early.

Some patients will be able to receive a definitive diagnosis or be given the all-clear on the same day, while others may require further tests but should receive a final result within two weeks.

The scheme is being piloted in 10 areas and is being organised by NHS England, Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Cally Palmer, from NHS England, said: "Early diagnosis is crucial to saving lives and providing peace of mind for patients, which is why we are driving forward plans to revolutionise our approach to cancer in this country.

"These new one-stop shops represent a real step change in the way people with unclear symptoms are identified, diagnosed and treated."

The 10 trial centres are:

:: North Middlesex University Hospital, London

:: University College London Hospital

:: Southend University Hospital

:: Queen's Hospital, London

:: Royal Free Hospital, London

:: St James's University Hospital, Leeds

:: Airedale General Hospital

:: University Hospital South Manchester

:: Royal Oldham Hospital

:: Churchill Hospital, Oxford

Cancer Research UK's director of early diagnosis, Sara Hiom, said: "We're confident that these 10 pilot centres will give us a much better understanding of what's needed to speed up the diagnosis and treatment of people with less obvious symptoms, improve their experience of care and, ultimately, survival."

If you work in GP jobs then you’ll understand how hard it has been this winter. Hospitals, care facilities and practices have struggled to cope due to the worst flu outbreak in over 7 years. There has also been a freeze on certain types of care in England as well, which further adds to the pressure that is already present. 77% of those who work as a GP or a GP partner have stated that their practice has struggled to cope and that morale is at an all-time low. Doctors are now under the fear that pressure would force them into making mistakes that they would not normally worry about, and that this could go on to cause serious harm to their patients.

Two thirds of those who work as a GP partner have stated that they have tried to offer consultations over the telephone to try and ease some of the pressure, yet half have stated that they have had to cancel meetings and even some of their technical duties to try and keep their own practice afloat during this very busy time.

Other GPs have taken steps such as trying to reduce the partner’s take-home pay to fund additional staff who can work as locum doctors, and others are being forced to work much longer hours. Over 500 GPs responded to the poll that was held and more than 70% believed that their practice was under significant strain. 25% of them believed that their patients had been harmed as the result of the ever-growing pressure on the NHS.

Evidence also shows that GPs are not able to cope with the pressure that they have, yet this amount of pressure is near-unavoidable in the practice. Doctors are now facing burnout and depression as a result.

Flu levels are incredibly high across all of the four UK nations. Consultations have risen above the threshold and the rise in cases in Scotland has risen over the last week according to the official, released data. Consultations for flu cases are still high and nearly 30 out of every 100,000 appointments are flu related. England remains to be in the medium category on the MEM scale, and this suggests that flu is going to continue to pose as a threat to both doctors and patients.

In Wales on the other hand, consultation rates fell to 42.8 for every 100,000. A week before this, they were at 44.3 and this put Wales in the medium category as well. Flu consultations in Scotland and even Northern Ireland are now both in the low category, even though Scotland has seen a sudden rise in cases. Thresholds are different in both England and Scotland because there are different methods of data collection used. Even though Scotland has far more consultation rates, they are lower on the MEM scale as a result.

The highest rate of flu consultations is actually among those who are aged between 45 and 64 and the outbreak this year has been the worst it has been in the last 7 years. Doctors are struggling with their workload and those who work in GP jobs will understand this. Three quarters of those who do work in the healthcare industry have stated that they have struggled to keep up with the demand.

This has added to the workload of an already struggling NHS, and hospitals are under even more pressure as well. Numerous providers have admitted that they feel as though this has had a knock-on impact in the way that they provide primary care.

Pregnant women who suffer from hypertension can now treat and monitor their condition from home, a new study has found. They don’t have to go to a hospital and this has been highlighted over the last couple of years. Home monitoring in pregnancy has proved to be very popular and it is also very safe as well.

The study that was done involved over 108 women and they were all from London. They were taught and shown how to measure their own blood pressure by using a machine. The control study was done on 58 women and they were also monitored in a clinic. All of these women suffered from hypertension and those who work in nursing jobs will know how serious this can be. Some of them had gestational hypertension and others had a very high chance of developing preeclampsia. They also had normal biochemical and even haematological markers as well.

There were absolutely no differences in the foetal, neonatal or even maternal outcomes with the women who kept an eye on their hypertension levels from home. The study showed remarkable results and people now believe that it is important to utilise technology in order to get a better result for both the patient and the doctor. The research data proves that there is absolutely no risk of the baby or the mother coming into any type of harm when the levels are monitored from home and a lot of people believe that this could provide some serious cost-saving for the NHS as well.

It’s really important to note here that more studies need
to be done in order to establish the fact that rare pregnancy complications can occur and that this can have a serious impact on healthcare settings. That being said, this new scheme is going to be joining the NHS Innovation Accelerator program.

Care assistants or those who work nursing jobs in Northern Ireland are now going to be known as nursing assistants. There are officials who have said that the new standards are going to be changed and developed in an attempt to provide people with a more efficient nursing experience. The title will be replacing the title of a healthcare assistant and this is going to be applied to all of those who work in nursing teams. The nursing department have stated this and they have also stated that the roles in Band 3 are now going to be listed as being senior nursing assistants and the main reason for this is because they have a much wider skillset.

Someone who works for the department has stated that they are going to provide more support to staff who work in Northern Ireland and they have also said that social care trusts are now going to be looked at in a nursing context. Those who are undertaking the more delegated aspects of nursing are going to be supervised by a registered nurse.

The title is also said to try and commission the group so that plenty of resources can be used to try and gain endorsement from the department. It is also said that the new titles are going to be both promoted and embedded to try and help the health of the country and to also boost the social care trust. The name change is said to be a part of the suite of resources that are going to help and support the nursing team and that the induction for the developmental pathway is going to continually provide help and guidance to those who need it the most. Only time will tell if anything comes of this.

The NHS have announced that they are going to review three different treatments that are currently used because a number of patients have voiced their concerns. The DHSC have stated that the review is going to be focused on vaginal mesh, but other treatments include sodium valproate and Primodos which is a hormonal pregnancy test. It’s important to note that Primodos was used up until the year 1978, and those who work in nursing jobs may remember it.

Jeremy Hunt who is the Health and Social Care Secretary, has stated that the review is going to be done to try and respond to patient concerns. The concerns are mostly stemming from the side effects of the treatments, and a lot of them believe that they are not getting their voices heard.

Babies who have had exposure to valproate medicines while in the womb have a 10% chance of developing some form of physical abnormality and that they also have a 40% chance of developing cognitive problems as well.

Parents believe that they were not warned sufficiently enough about this, and there have even been reports of mesh implants cutting into the vagina as well. Some women have been left in constant pain and others were left unable to work. Campaigners also claim that the drug Primodos has caused defects in their own children, such as limb defects, cleft palates and blindness.

Various findings were published in the year 2016 but there is no progress on whether or not the drugs are unsafe to use or whether they need to be reconsidered. A review is being done to try and make sure that no parent or patient is put in a situation that could either harm themselves or their children.