From Action on Smoking and Health <[email protected]>
Subject ASH Daily News for 08 February 2021
Date February 8, 2021 1:22 PM
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** 08 February 2021
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** UK
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** Boris Johnson planning NHS England overhaul, leaked paper shows (#1)
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** Investor pulls out of British American Tobacco London office purchase (#2)
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** International
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** New Zealand: COVID-19 lockdown has mixed effects on smokers (#3)
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** UK
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson is planning a radical overhaul of NHS England, as he reverses privatisation policies introduced by David Cameron, a leaked white paper document suggests. According to the draft white paper, the government is planning to reduce the role of the private sector in NHS England and give the health secretary greater control.
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** NHS commissioners would not be required to put contracts out to tender, which can draw competition from competing health groups. Instead, a new policy would leave the NHS and local authorities to run services and encourage them to work together more effectively. The health secretary would also take more direct control over NHS England, with the plans putting emphasis on reducing bureaucracy and improving integration between the different departments of the NHS. NHS Improvement, the health service’s spending watchdog, would also be scrapped and folded into NHS England. The plans would put an end to controversial changes introduced by Cameron’s administration in 2012, which were seen as a step towards the privatisation of the NHS.
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The new plans say the private and voluntary sectors will continue to have an “important role” but that their influence will be limited. “Where competitive processes can add value they should continue, but that will be a decision that the NHS will be able to make for itself,” the document says. The plans also detail the need for greater focus on integrated healthcare with more emphasis on “healthy behaviour and prevention”. “The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated plainly that this broader approach to health and care is not only desirable, but essential. We have seen first-hand how different groups have been impacted in different ways by COVID-19, and how wider factors play a part in our health outcomes,” the document says.

Shadow Health Secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, whilst welcoming the move away from privatisation also questioned the timing, saying that “NHS staff are feeling ground down. Is this really the time for another structural reorganisation? And fundamentally what is the aim of these reforms?”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said it was “rightly considering where changes need to be made to help us build back better” and that the “full details will be set out in due course”.

Source: The Guardian, 6 February 2021
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See also:
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** Financial Times: Government to take more control in overhaul of NHS England ([link removed])
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** BBC: NHS, government plans to reverse Cameron-era reforms ([link removed])
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Read Article ([link removed])


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Link Reit, a real estate investment company based in Asia, has pulled out of a deal to buy a 172,000 sq ft office in London's West End from British American Tobacco (BAT) after the pair could not reach an agreement on price.

The office, at Globe House, 4 Temple Place which is the company’s London HQ, was on the market for £300m. BAT is still said to be looking to sell the building.

Source: BisNow, 27 January 2021
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Read Article ([link removed].)


** International
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** New Zealand's COVID-19 lockdown had mixed effects on smoking behaviors, according to a survey by the University of Otago. The results of the survey have been published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
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Of the 261 daily smokers surveyed, 45% reported increasing the number of cigarettes they smoked from an average 10 cigarettes a day to 16. The survey also revealed that among daily smokers about 16% smoked fewer cigarettes and 39% reported no change in their smoking habits. The survey further revealed that people who felt distressed or lonely during lockdown were more likely to have smoked more. Those who felt lonely or isolated almost all the time were more than three times more likely to increase their cigarette intake than those who were never lonely.

Similar changes in smoking behaviours were also seen during the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand and research examining this event found increases in smoking were sustained after the earthquake. "For obvious reasons, the pandemic response focussed on preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, as we plan for other disease outbreaks, we have an opportunity to consider wellbeing more broadly," Professor Hoek, one of the study authors, says.

Professor Hoek added that "The Government's Smokefree 2025 goal needs to feature prominently in this planning as people who have quit smoking may relapse during times of stress, and these changes may persist beyond the precipitating crisis. Developing outreach programs to support people who have recently become smokefree, or who were embarking on quit attempts via cessation services prior to a crisis event, could help manage triggers that would otherwise promote relapse."
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Source: Medical Xpress, 5 February 2021
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** Nicotine and Tobacco Research - Changes in tobacco use during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in New Zealand ([link removed])
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Read Article ([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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