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** 31 January 2024
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** UK
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** Revealed: the investment funds diverted to shore up NHSE accounts (#1)
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** School to use sniffer dog to prevent pupils vaping (#2)
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** Record number of people seeking help for gambling problems (#3)
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** UK
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** Revealed: the investment funds diverted to shore up NHSE accounts
The November financial reset cleared most NHS priorities off the decks and placed the focus firmly on balancing the books.
As part of this exercise, ringfences around some dedicated funding pots were dismantled, while “sensible” underspends were permitted on “service development funding” and other programme budgets.
Now Following the Money has obtained a full list of the vulnerable areas, through a freedom of information request.
In primary care, funding for IT improvements, pharmacy integration and the “new to partnership” initiative, which supports staff to become partners, are on the list. Funding for asylum health is also no longer protected.
In mental health, funding for children and young people and schools’ teams is up for grabs – although adult crisis funding is protected because “investment should directly reduce pressures on acute urgent and emergency care”.
Other areas where flexibility is allowed include “community/keyworkers” funding for learning disabilities and autism, as well as investment in long covid.
The document does not list the full amount allocated nationally under each scheme, and the full scale of funding diverted elsewhere will probably only become clear later.
Hopefully any reductions in funding are minimal and short-lived, with the hope that full budgets can be restored in April.
The cash distribution across trusts is not far off medieval England with a few wealthy lords and a host of impoverished peasants.
Source: HSJ, 30 January 2024
Editorial note: The article links to a document ([link removed]) setting out the programmes ICBs can target as part of cost cutting efforts. This includes every programme addressing ‘prevention and long term conditions’, for example the transformation programme which includes the NHS Long Term Plan tobacco dependence treatment services.
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** School to use sniffer dog to prevent pupils vaping
A secondary school says it plans to use a sniffer dog to deter pupils from taking vapes in.
City of Norwich School says a "passive deterrence dog" will be taken around the school one day in February.
A spokesperson said it was part of a range of measures to combat the "negative impact of vapes and other prohibited substances".
On Monday, the prime minister announced a ban on disposable vapes to help tackle the growing number of young people taking up the habit.
The spokesperson for City of Norwich School, which is run by the Ormiston Academies Trust, said: "While we do not currently have an issue with this [vaping] at the school, we are aware this is a rising challenge within society, and therefore want to take proactive steps to help counter and deter this.
"The organisation that is supporting this [sniffer dog] has significant experience delivering this service in schools."
The school said other educational measures being taken to deter children from vaping included holding specialist assemblies and signposting pupils in need of additional support.
Source: BBC News, 30 January 2024
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** Record number of people seeking help for gambling problems
A record number of people sought help for gambling problems through the national helpline last year, according to new figures.
Some 52,370 people called the National Gambling Helpline in 2023 looking for information, support and counselling – a 24 per cent rise on 2022, when there were around 42,000 calls.
The news suggests a push by the NHS to tackle gambling harms may be paying off. The health service launched seven new specialist additional treatment clinics last year.
In October last year the government announced it would consider introducing a new levy on gambling companies of up to 1 per cent in a move it said would raise £100 million each year to fund research, prevention and the treatment of gambling addiction.
Commenting on the figures, NHS England’s mental health director, Claire Murdoch, said: “Gambling addiction is a cruel mental health condition that can ruin people’s lives.
“The NHS is playing its part in treating it, with 12 gambling harms clinics currently open as part of our £2.3 billion investment into mental health services.
Source: The Independent, 31 January 2024
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