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** 17 August 2023
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** UK
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** 'Tougher Ambition' for cancer diagnoses set by NHSE (#x)
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** Study links lung conditions to young people who vape (#1)
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** Former aide to Health Secretary called for the “full privatisation” of the NHS (#2)
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** One in five vape shops in Scotland selling to children (#3)
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** UK
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** 'Tougher ambition' for cancer diagnoses set by NHSE

A ‘tougher ambition’ to increase the proportion of patients getting a cancer diagnosis within 28 days of referral will be introduced in 2025, NHS England has announced today.

Ministers have approved proposals to slim down 10 existing standards into three key measures, as reported earlier this week, NHSE said. The new standards will come into effect in October.

Trusts are also being asked to “work towards” a 10-day turnaround time for urgent cancer test results and NHSE has promised to publish a more detailed breakdown of performance against different cancer types.

Under the changes, the target for patients to get a first appointment with a specialist within two weeks – which NHSE says is “outdated” – will be replaced with the faster diagnosis standard, which covers patients referred for urgent checks.

The other two targets set ambitions for patients who are diagnosed with cancer to be treated within 62 days of referral, and for treatment to start within 31 days of a decision to treat.

The changes were originally recommended in 2015 by the independent cancer taskforce.

Source: Health Service Journal, 17 August 2023
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** Study links lung conditions to young people who vape

Young people who vape are more at risk of bronchitis and shortness of breath, research has suggested, even if they also smoke cigarettes.

Researchers from the US tracked the respiratory health of young people in the Southern California Children’s Health Study between 2014 and 2018.

The study found the odds of wheezing were 81 per cent more likely among past 30-day e-cigarette users than among “never users”, whilst bronchitic symptoms were twice as likely.

In the first three surveys, 11.7 per cent, 11.8 per cent and 11 per cent of young people had used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, with the figure rising to 15.5 per cent in the final survey.

Jon Foster, policy manager at Asthma + Lung UK, said it is “interesting” the study found a link between vaping and lung conditions in young people, but pointed out the regulation around the amount of nicotine and chemicals used in e-cigarettes is “much tighter” in the UK than the US. “More research would be needed to find out if the situation in the UK is the same,” he added.

Mr Foster added: “Much stronger action is needed from the government, especially to prevent under-18s accessing vapes.’’

“Our advice is that only those who smoke and are looking to give up tobacco should use vapes, as they are known to be an effective way to quit. We do not recommend that anyone else take up vaping.”

Source: The Independent, 17 August 2023
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** Editiorial Note: Response to study from Dr Lion Shahab, Professor of Health Psychology, University College London: ''“It is important to consider some limitations of this study. First, given the outcomes considered, other than asthma diagnosis at baseline no other contributing factors were assessed (for instance body mass index) and new asthma diagnoses were not assessed across the full follow-up period. This means that there may be other important, unmeasured factors that could explain the observed associations.

Second, if e-cigarette use has an impact on respiratory symptoms, it would have been helpful to present a dose-response effect, that is, the more adolescents use e-cigarettes the greater the impact on symptoms. However, this study only considered a relatively crude measure – use in the past 30 days.

Third, co-use of other substances is higher among e-cigarette users, and it is likely that most e-cigarette users also used cigarettes or other combustible products at some point. Although co-use was assessed (and reduced the effect of e-cigarettes observed when included in the analysis) this was also again measured relatively crudely as past 30-day use. However, it is known that respiratory symptoms in cigarette smokers are long-lasting and are related to lifetime exposure. High co-occurrence of e-cigarette use with other product use makes it difficult to disentangle true effects. Notwithstanding these limitations, the paper shows that e-cigarettes use may have respiratory effects and highlights the need for further studies to confirm these results and quantify likely related health impacts.”
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** Former aide to Health Secretary called for the “full privatisation” of the NHS

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has been forced to distance himself from a former aide who called for the “full privatisation” of the NHS.

Leon Emirali, who worked in Barclay’s parliamentary office as a media aide until July 2020, used a TalkTV interview to declare that “politicians with the guts” should devise a plan to “rip the whole thing [the NHS] up and start again”.

Emirali, who is now a PR consultant and has previously stood as a Conservative council candidate, was asked during the interview if “part-privatisation” could help the NHS in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He replied, “full privatisation is the answer”, adding: “we need to get in private investment, but they’ll never do it because it’s so politically contentious.”

A source close to Barclay has said the comments “do not reflect Steve Barclay’s views in any way”.

Emirali confirmed he had never advised Barclay on health policy and “worked with him only on media and communications”.

“Healthcare should always be free at the point of access for those who cannot afford it – as I made clear when I spoke to TalkTV,” he added.

Source: The New Statesman, 16 August 2023

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** One in five vape shops in Scotland selling to children

One in five shops in Scotland that stock vapes were caught selling them to children during spot checks last year.

Trading standards officers carried out test purchases using volunteers aged under 18 at 312 premises and 63 sold vapes to the youngsters. One in eight premises visited sold cigarettes to under-18s.

The Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland said that the results were significantly worse than expected.

David MacKenzie, the society’s chairman, said: “The health of young people is a key priority for trading standards and smoking is the greatest threat to their health and development, especially for younger children. These results are very concerning, and we will be stepping up efforts this year to support sellers with advice, and continue to take enforcement action where sellers break the law.

“Nicotine vapour products can be a useful cessation aid for smokers who want to give up smoking, but they are not intended as a lifestyle product for young people. The bright packaging colours and sugary and fruity flavours are child-appealing, and the easy availability of single-use vapes in particular is not helpful.

“We would like to see the same display rules applied to nicotine vapour products that are applied to tobacco, i.e. they are kept out of sight in store.”

Source: The Times, 16 August 2023
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** See also: ASH Youth Vaping briefing ([link removed])
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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