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Patients to face long NHS waits for years
Patients face long waits for ambulances and accident and emergency care for years to come as ministers accept there is little hope of hitting key targets by the next election. It comes as the government plans to remove many national NHS targets in a scaling back that would enable local bosses to set their own priorities.
Health secretary, Steve Barclay, said yesterday that he wanted “less diktat from the centre”, with more discretion for local health authorities to decide which areas of care to focus on. Such changes, for example, could lead to one area choosing to reform maternity services while another focused on bringing down smoking rates.
Barclay argues local health authorities are driving much of the innovation in the NHS and he wants to create time for them to do more by reducing the amount of national form-filling.
Ministers say they have not given up on existing standards and are determined to try to meet them as they head towards an election, expected to be held in 2024. The state of the health service is likely to be a key issue. However, plans set out in last week’s autumn statement acknowledge that it could take years to meet existing targets on emergency waiting times.
Source: The Times, 21 November 2022
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Big rise in trusts ‘red rated’ for infant mortality
Nearly a fifth of trusts providing maternity care have been red rated for their infant mortality rates in a national audit.
Twenty-three trusts were flagged for their perinatal mortality in the latest Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audit and Confidential Enquiries (MBRRACE) audit for maternity services. Trusts with mortality rates more than 5% higher than an average of peer group providers are given a red rating.
The report was published last month and looked at data for 2020. Average perinatal mortality rates have been falling across England since 2013, although there is significant variation across England.
Six trusts in the latest audit were red rated for both stillbirths and neonatal mortality. Seventeen further trusts rated red on a combined perinatal mortality indicator; their mortality rates were not high enough on one of the stillbirth or neonatal measures to be red rated, but sufficiently high enough on both indicators to tip their overall extended overall perinatal rating into the red.
MBRRACE is commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, which is led by a consortium of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Nursing, and National Voices.
Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust said factors influencing the trust’s higher mortality rates included “higher than average deprivation in the region where adjustments are not fully reflected in the MBRRACE benchmarking”, whilst Somerset Foundation Trust suggested the MBRRACE audit gave an inaccurate picture because some socioeconomic factors that may be associated with poor outcomes are not taken into account on all births, such as maternal smoking and body mass index (BMI).
Source: Health Service Journal, 21 November 2022
See also: MBRRACE-UK - Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK
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Number of London children being admitted to hospital with asthma rises 64% in a year
The number of children being admitted to hospital with asthma in London has risen by 64% in a year, according to new analysis, as Mayor Sadiq Khan vowed to clean up the capital's "filthy" air.
More than 3,600 children were hospitalised with the lung condition across London in 2021/22, an increase of more than 1,400 on the year before.
Analysis published by City Hall shows that half of all children and young people admitted to hospital with asthma were from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, compared with 28% of white children.
Children living in the capital’s most deprived areas were more likely to go to hospital due to their asthma, according to the charity Asthma + Lung UK. Poor air quality can stunt the growth of children’s lungs and worsen chronic illnesses such as asthma, lung and heart disease.
Sarah Woolnough, CEO of Asthma + Lung UK said: “No child should be hospitalised because the air they breathe has left them fighting for breath. This analysis is yet further evidence of the desperate need for local, and national governments to take decisive action on cleaning up our toxic air.”
Source: Evening Standard, 17 November 2022
See also: Mayor of London - Shocking inequality in children with asthma admitted to hospital in London
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Parliamentary questions
PQ1: Smoking - Department of Health and Social Care
Asked by Andrew Lewer, Conservative, Northampton South
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the data from the Office for National Statistics bulletin on adult smoking habits will be used to inform the Tobacco Control Plan.
Answered by Neil O'Brien, Minister for Primary Care and Public Health
The Government is considering the independent recommendations made in ‘The Khan review: making smoking obsolete' and whether an updated Tobacco Control Plan is the most appropriate way to respond. Should a new Plan be published, it will be informed by the most recent Office for National Statistics information on adult smoking habits in the United Kingdom.
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