There’s been a plethora of health stories published this week and, thankfully, some is good news. In this round-up we have…
NHS promises flu vaccine shortage will be resolved soon
Although the government has advised older people to get the flu jab by December, GPs and patients have been left frustrated by a shortage of vaccines, meaning may have not yet be vaccinated. The BBC has reported that “NHS England said there would be enough vaccines for everyone to be protected ahead of winter.”
“100% of vaccines will have been delivered by the manufacturer to those surgeries and pharmacists who placed an order on time,” said a spokesperson for NHS England. “So the public can be assured that there is sufficient supply of the vaccine in stock for everyone to get protected ahead of winter.”
Catch up with the story on the BBC.
When do people burn the most calories?
A recent study by a team in the US has found evidence that humans burn calories at different rates at different times of the day. This is in contrast to the long-held belief that we all use up calories at the same speed through the day and night.
“While sitting around in the late afternoon and early evening may not feel that much different from sitting around in the morning, a person burns 10 percent more calories later in the day.”
Read more about this study on Medical News Today.
Warning of NHS staff shortages
A thinktank has warned that staff shortages in the NHS could be “short of 350,000 key personnel by 2030, health experts have warned”. That’s according to an article published in the Guardian this week. Health experts believe the problem could be so serious that the NHS’s funding boost of £20.5 billion might not ever all be spent.
“The NHS in England is already short of over 100,000 staff, including 10,000 doctors and 40,000 nurses, official figures show. However, on current trends, analysts project that the gap between staff needed and the number available could reach almost 250,000 by 2020,” says the newspaper. The NHS, which is the largest single employer in the UK, currently has around 1.2 million employees.
The Guardian quotes Professor Anita Charlesworth, director of economics at the Health Foundation, saying, “The NHS is overstretched and services are being compromised by serious staff shortages. As things stand, this problem will only get worse over the next decade, putting access and quality of care at risk.”
Visit the Guardian online to find out more
Wearable glucose monitor to be available to all
Some good news emerged this week – NHS England announced that from 1 April, 2019, thousands more people will gain access to wearable glucose monitors. The news was welcomed by diabetes charities and many of the 300,000 people in England who have type 1 diabetes.
“NHS England is taking important action so that regardless of where you live, if you’re a patient with type 1 diabetes you can reap the benefits of this life-improving technology,” Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, told the BBC.
“The Freestyle Libre flash glucose monitoring system, used by Prime Minister Theresa May, who has the autoimmune condition, was made available on the NHS last November,” says the article.
Read the full story on the BBC.
News from talkhealth
We’re delighted to have launched a new support programme for anyone who has irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) this week. Written by leading medical experts from County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust, myIBS provides 12 weeks of dedicated information, sent to you by email in bite-size chunks.
You can sign up for myIBS or read more about the programme in our blog, ‘New support programme for anyone with IBS’ .
Wherever you are in the world, enjoy the weekend!
talkhealth
This is the talkhealth blog spot, where we post on a wide range of health conditions, topics, issues and concerns. We post when we see something that we believe is of interest to our visitors. Our posts do not reflect any particular view or standpoint of talkhealth, but are merely to raise attention and awareness.
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