The Top Medical/Health News Stories of the Month
Here’s our round-up of the medical and healthcare news stories of the month – and what a month it’s been! We’ve scoured the news for the stories we think are important to be aware of.
Use these stories to help boost your knowledge of the healthcare sector and the biggest health topics affecting us.
NHS AI expansion to help tackle missed appointments and improve waiting times
The NHS is set to roll out artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce the number of missed appointments and free up staff time to help bring down the waiting list for elective care.
The expansion to ten more NHS Hospital Trusts follows a successful pilot in one Trust, which has seen the number of patients who did not attend (DNAs) slashed by almost a third in six months.
This is created by Deep Medical and co-designed by a frontline worker and NHS clinical fellow. We are proud at Generation Medics to be an official partner of the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme and our founder Dr Rafique has provided advice and mentoring to the Deep Medical Co-founder.
Respected thought leader in UK healthcare, the Health Foundation, reports that despite progress, still a mountain to climb on NHS waiting lists, read full article here.
NHS funding faces biggest real-terms cuts since 1970s, warns IFS
Health spending in England to suffer 1.2% cut, worth £2bn, despite extra costs, thinktank’s analysis finds
Health spending in England is due to suffer a 1.2% cut – worth £2bn – in the new financial year starting next month, despite the NHS facing extra costs from continuing pay strikes and the expansion of its workforce, according to an analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfS).
The health budget, almost all of which the NHS gets, is to go from £168.2bn in 2023-24 to £166.2bn in 2024-25, after adjustment for inflation, in 2022-23 prices.
Without a government rethink the reduction in funding will force the NHS to cut staffing numbers, staff pay, the services it provides to patients or all three, the thinktank warned.
Healthcare workers will get promised payments
More than 27,000 healthcare workers in England are set to receive one-off payments of at least £1,600 in their April pay packets.
The pay award to NHS staff was made last May. But staff working in frontline NHS settings who are employed by other organisations did not get the one-off payment, even though they are on similar contracts to their NHS counterparts under a system agreed with unions, known as Agenda For Change. These include not-for-profit community groups known as social enterprises, founded to take on outsourced healthcare services.
But one employers’ group said the process was unfair, and some would still not get the money.
Princess of Wales: "I am having cancer treatment"
Buckingham Palace has not revealed the type of cancer – it is not prostate cancer, but was discovered during his recent treatment for an enlarged prostate.
The King began “regular treatments” on Monday and will postpone public duties during it, the Palace said.
The Monarch, 75, “remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible,” it added.
No further details are being shared on the stage of cancer or a prognosis.
Cancer Research UK put out a statement that said ‘The King’s diagnosis brings home that cancer affects everyone’, more of their statement can be found here.
Want to find out more about Cancer?
Cancer Research UK has a wealth of information about different types of cancers, their prevalence and management.
Israel - Palestine Conflict
- Palestine: UK pressing for ‘full explanation’ of alleged abuses after Gaza hospital raid says A UK Foreign Office minister in response to a Labour question in the Commons about reports of Israeli mistreatment of medical staff in Gaza. Israeli attacks on struggling hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been condemned as a breach of international humanitarian law, read more here.
- Israeli military forces enter and ‘takeover’ Al Shifa hospital which was one of the few healthcare facilities even partially operational in northern Gaza, and – like others – had also been housing some of the nearly 2 million civilians – over 80% of Gaza’s population – displaced by the war. Read more here
- A week after the military operation at Al-Shifa hospital began, the Israeli military besieges two more hospitals, Al Amal and Nasser hospitals in Southern Gaza, demanding evacuations of medical staff, patients and displaced people. Read more here
- The U.N. Security Council voted on Tuesday to demand an immediate ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
The International Court of Justice orders Israel to halt Gaza famine.
Judges at the court unanimously ordered Israel, accused by South Africa of genocide in Gaza, to take all necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies to the enclave’s Palestinian population and halt spreading famine. Read more here- ICJ judges said: “The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine (…) but that famine is setting in”.The new measures were requested by South Africa as part of its case that accuses Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza. Read more here
- Hundreds of trucks loaded with food and medical aid sat idle on the roads heading into Gaza recently as a senior humanitarian official accused the Israeli government of
blocking lifesaving supplies from reaching the devastated enclave. Read more here Palestinian granted asylum in UK after warning of ‘apartheid’ state in Israel. Home Office U-turn could have wide ramifications for other Palestinian citizens of Israel seeking asylum, lawyers say.
- The World Health Organization said Al-Amal Hospital had ceased to function due to fighting, leaving just 10 of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip partially operational. The WHO report on the situation in Palestine and the strategic objectievs for 2024 can be found here.
- The UK International Development Committee heard evidence about the healthcare situation in Gaza from charities and agencies trying to work in the area (including UNRWA, Medical Aid for Palestinians, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Human Rights Watch). They reported that hospitals were under siege, doctors were unable to treat patients, medical equipment stores were running low and potentially devastating diseases were beginning to take hold. The situation now is increasingly described as catastrophic, with fears of widespread famine.
Mental illness costs England £300bn a year, study shows
Researchers for the Centre for Mental Health thinktank analysed the economic, health and care impact of mental ill health, as well as human costs from reduced quality of life and wellbeing.
The report, commissioned by the NHS Confederation’s mental health network, calculated that in 2022, mental illness cost £130bn in human costs, £110bn in economic costs and £60bn in health and care costs.
The £300bn cost in 2022 equates to nearly double the NHS’s entire £153bn budget in England in the same year and is a “comparable impact, economically, to having a pandemic every year”, the report concludes.
That’s a wrap on this month’s news round-up, before you leave, pick one that you found the most interesting out of our selection.
Stay tuned for next month’s roundup. Who knows what will happen in the next thirty days?
Before you leave, take 5 mins and reflect on what you’ve learnt from this
- What surprised you? What was expected?
- How has this improved your knowledge of healthcare developments?
Make a quick note of these reflections (bullet-points are fine) in your reflective diary. You might find it useful when answering medical interview questions!