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Academy-style hospitals will be set up to improve patchy NHS leadership under a shake-up planned by Sajid Javid to deal with post-pandemic waiting lists. The health secretary is formulating the reorganisation to give well-run hospitals more freedom and force failing trusts to improve. A new class of “reform trust” will be established as Javid signals an appetite for wide-ranging changes to deal with a “huge” variation in performance across the health service.
Boris Johnson is said to want to focus on cutting NHS waiting times as part of an “operation red meat” designed to shift the focus from rows over Downing Street parties. Allies of Javid say, however, that his desire for reform long predates the prime minister’s present problems and that as the Omicron wave recedes, he believes he has a “six-month window” to introduce changes before planning for next winter takes over. His proposals raise the prospect of ministers embarking on another NHS reorganisation, even before the government’s Health and Care Bill — itself designed to reverse previous Tory reforms – becomes law.
The plans are still at an early stage but are due to feature in a white paper that will set out Javid’s plans for dealing with weak leadership and slow adoption of best practices in parts of the NHS. A Whitehall source said: “Sajid’s reform agenda is all about driving up performance across the NHS. To achieve that, we are going to apply some lessons from the academies programme.”
Plans to give hospitals more autonomy will raise questions about how Javid’s ambitions fit with the health bill going through parliament. Richard Murray, head of the King’s Fund think tank, said: “The Health and Care Bill proposes to reduce the freedoms of foundation trusts on spending, expects all NHS trusts to collaborate more closely and gives ministers new powers over local services. Any further changes must be consistent with these proposals or risk looking incoherent.”
Source: The Times, 18 January 2022
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Councillors have expressed fears that the NHS will use the structure of new integrated care systems (ICSs) to seize power from councils and sideline the voices of local communities. Forty-two ICSs are due to come into statutory force in 2022, superseding the powers of clinical commissioning groups – although, in December, the target transition date was postponed from 1 April to 1 July.
This week, at a meeting of the Local Government Association’s city regions board, councillors predicted “choppy waters” ahead as the new system takes shape. A report to the LGA meeting says NHS England’s model constitution for Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) “explicitly excludes councillors and MPs,” and while this model is not stipulated by the Health & Care Bill that will establish ICSs, there are concerns many ICBs will adopt the exclusion clause. The LGA has made strong representations to [NHS England] for this to be removed from the model constitution, but these were not successful,” the report says.
While this is “concerning,” it says councillors are “more likely to be able to play a prominent role in ICPs”. The report also notes that the board discussed “concerns that the NHS will use ICSs to claw power back from councils on public health issues” in November.
David Fothergill, the chair of the LGA’s community wellbeing board, said that “as local authorities, we believe we bring an awful lot to the ICSs, we believe that it is a good move. But we do need to work at a very local level to ensure that it works for local communities. And we do need to make sure that the acutes are not becoming too dominant.”
He acknowledged that the reforms had been “NHS-driven” but added that “what we’ve got is probably the best opportunity we could have had – otherwise, it was going to be dictated to [us].” He added that there was “still a bit of flex” built into the 1 July target date for ICSs.
Source: LGC, 14 January 2022
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A major study into helping new mothers stay smokefree is being launched in Norfolk. Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) are recruiting pregnant women and new mums to test a new support package. Most women quit smoking cigarettes either before or during pregnancy, but until now, and there has been little support to help new mums stay smokefree after the birth of their baby.
BabyBreathe has been designed to include innovative and personalised approaches to preventing smoking relapse. New mums will receive positive support from a health visitor at the end of pregnancy and when their baby is born. They will also get a Babybreathe box designed by and for postpartum women to give encouragement and support for staying smokefree.
Tailored text messages will be sent after the baby is born, offering hints, tips and advice. New mums will also be provided support to use nicotine replacement therapy or electronic cigarettes to prevent relapse. They will also have access to a dedicated website and the BabyBreathe app. Women taking part in the study will be offered a £15 shopping voucher at the end.
Pregnant women who have quit smoking for or during their pregnancy who want to take part can email [email protected].
Source: Eastern Daily Press, 17 January 2022
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Swiss voters will decide on February 13 on a wide ban on tobacco advertising aimed at protecting young people. About a quarter of the population are smokers in Switzerland, including around 100,000 aged 15 to 19. The people’s initiative, launched in 2018, calls for a ban on “any form of advertising [of tobacco products] that reaches children and young people.” Only tobacco advertising directly targeting adults would be allowed. The initiative also seeks to outlaw sponsoring by tobacco firms.
Behind the campaign is an alliance health group, sports organisations, doctors and teachers. It is supported by many public health associations such as the Swiss Cancer League, The Swiss Lung League, and PharmaSuisse.
Parliament developed a counter-proposal that goes part of the way towards meeting the demands of the initiators, seeking to balance concerns for children’s health with economic factors. However, this does not comply with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Switzerland is the only European country not to have ratified this convention.
Source: Swiss Info, 17 January 2022
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People who quit smoking this time last year and kept off cigarettes could halve the cost of their life insurance premiums. Experts at insurer Royal London, Ireland, said smokers who quit this January could be in line for massive savings on their cover next year.
New figures from the protection specialist highlight how much of a difference smoking can make to the cost of life cover and mortgage protection insurance. Smokers can pay twice as much for life insurance when compared with non-smokers. Karen Gallagher of Royal London in Ireland said a smoker turning 45 on their next birthday will pay over €18,000 more in premiums than a non-smoker will pay. This is based on €300,000 worth of level-term life cover over 25 years. The same smoker can expect to pay over €68,000 more than a non-smoker for a specified serious illness policy worth €300,000 over a 25-year term.
Ms Gallagher said that if you wish to be re-categorised as a nonsmoker for life insurance purposes, you must not have used any tobacco products in the last 12 months and have no intention to use any in the future. As well as providing some health-related information, your insurance provider may ask you to complete a cotinine test (smoker test). She said this is a simple test involving screening a saliva or urine sample for tobacco use.
Source: Independent.ie, 17 January 2022
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