Health and care sector latest developments

WHO report finds England has the worst rates of underage drinking

A World Health Organization (WHO) report has found that one in three 11-year-olds and half of 13-year-olds in England have had alcohol — the highest rate of childhood drinking out of 44 countries examined by the organisation.

The WHO report said that middle-class parents have “normalised” harmful under-age drinking. Children from wealthy households the most likely to drink, with experts warning that they “mirror” the behaviour of parents who frequently have glasses of wine.

WHO found that teenage girls in the UK were more likely than boys to get drunk, vape and smoke, which the authors suggest reflects a worsening mental health crisis in girls since the pandemic.

Industry experts warned that under-age drinking was a “major public health threat” and the organisation has called on countries to introduce more measures to protect children.

The study, which also examined smoking and vaping usage, also found that vaping was more common among British students than other countries.

A government spokesperson pointed to Tobacco and Vapes Bill as a key measure and said: “The health advice is clear: smoking, vaping and underage drinking can be damaging for young people and their development. That is why there are age restrictions on the sale of these products.”

Breast cancer survivors at risk of developing new cancers

A study by the University of Cambridge has found that breast cancer survivors are at much higher risk of developing an entirely new cancer elsewhere in the body when compared with the general population.

The research also found that survivors of breast cancer living in the most deprived areas have a 35 per cent higher risk of developing second, unrelated cancers, compared with those from the most affluent areas.

The study highlights the importance of women and doctors being vigilant for symptoms of new cancers after surviving breast cancer.

ICBs to get new ‘capability’ ratings

Integrated care boards (ICBs) would be rated on their capability — as “excelling”, “achieving”, “progressing” or making “insufficient progress” — under draft NHS England proposals for a new assessment process.

NHS England has asked ICBs and trusts for views on a new NHS oversight and assessment framework and is planning to consult formally on it next month.

Trusts and ICBs are already given a “segmentation” score of 1-4 under the current national oversight framework, but the new proposals would overhaul how those are calculated and would also give ICBs a separate “capability” rating for the first time.

The capability ratings would be based on NHSE’s assessment against six categories, according to a draft shared with HSJ.  They would be discussed with ICBs between July and September then made public, meaning the first results could be issued this summer or autumn.

Trust names former social care director as chief executive

A community trust has appointed a director with a background in social care and the third sector to be its new chief executive.

Selina Douglas, previously director of partnerships at North East London Foundation Trust, has joined Leeds Community Healthcare Trust.

Her appointment comes after former chief executive Thea Stein left to lead the Nuffield Trust last year. Sam Prince, executive director of operations at the trust, had been serving as interim chief executive since August.

NHS England sets out measures to improve the working lives of doctors 

NHS England is pledging to enhance rota choice and flexibility, while reducing payroll errors and the financial burden of course fees.

Postgraduate doctors in training move between trusts twice a year and work schedules are often made available at short notice. 

As part of the NHS’s Long Term Workforce Plan ambition to support and retain staff, the health service is endeavouring to improve the experience of rotations in postgraduate training.

In a letter from NHS leaders today, the health service announced a review of the minimum legal requirements for statutory and mandatory training, which could see the time burden spent on administrative tasks halved. 

New payroll governance will be put in place at each trust by the end of July and for employers with the most errors reported by staff, intensive support will be provided including a review and resign of payroll processes where needed.

Health and social care secretary Victoria Atkins said: “The measures announced today will help improve working lives for thousands of postgraduate doctors, by boosting training choices and giving them flexibility on rotas, and by helping cut down the time spent on admin so they can spend more time focusing on patients.”

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard added: “We have listened to and continue to listen to staff frustrations, so from cutting red tape in training, to improving flexible working options, to sorting out payroll errors, we really hope that these practical actions will help make a tangible difference to their working lives.”

Average nurse took entire week off sick last year due to stress-related illness 

Analysing NHS sickness data, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has concluded that the average nurse took a week off sick last year due to stress-related illness, amounting to nearly 7 million days lost.

Stress-related illnesses accounted for nearly a quarter (24.3 per cent) of the days lost to sickness, more than double the prevalence of any other kind of illness, with cold or flu being the next largest at 12 per cent.

Chronic workforce shortages are driving the pressure on staff, concluded RCN.

RCN general secretary Professor Pat Cullen called on the government and NHS leaders to “stop normalising poor mental health amongst staff.”

MSF claim cost of developing new drugs may be far lower than industry claims 

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has published the spending on a major clinical trial, implying that the cost of developing medicines may be less than stated by the pharmaceutical industry.  

The non-governmental organisation is urging for greater transparency about the cost of trials after revealing that its own bill for trials of a four-drug combination treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis came to €34 million. 

While companies do not typically publish their spending, current estimates for research and development of new medicines range from €40 million to €3.9 billion.

Some argue that the extortionate cost of trials is used to justify high prices of new medicines.

ABPI hold its annual conference 

Throughout the opening session, panellists stressed the importance of continuing to deliver on O’Shaughnessy’s recommendations in order to deliver the collective ambition to drive innovation.

When discussing medicine access, MHRA chief executive Dr June Raine highlighted that there has been a move from joined-up thinking to joined-up action to help deliver for patients. 

Another key theme from the second session was the role that data can play in transforming innovation and speeding up access. 

On the topic of VPAG, panellists highlighted its relevance to tackling health inequalities and opportunities to collaborate across the devolved administrations.

Within the context of geopolitical instability, ABPI chief executive Richard Torbett stressed supply chain resilience.