Medical News, November 30th 2015

Welcome to the latest Medical News summary blog. This week’s post will cover the highlights in health news from the 23rd of November to the 30th of November.  

On the 30th of November The British Medical Association announced that the junior doctor’s strike in England has been called off 

The first walk out was due to take place at 8:00 am on the first of December. Two further walk-outs that were planned for later in the year have also been suspended. It is thought that due to the late nature of the suspension, over 4,000 routine operations and treatments had already been cancelled. The strikes have been suspended as an outline agreement has been reached between The British Medical Association and the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. The outline agreement is only temporary and it is possible that the British Medical Association could start industrial action in the future if the next round of talks do not reach a permanent contract that they agree with.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s report has indicated that accident and emergency waiting times across the UK are increasing

In other medical news over the last seven days, figures collected over the last seven weeks indicate that 88% of those who visited A&E were either treated or admitted within four hours of arriving. The NHS has a target of 95% of patients being treated within four hours. These figures indicate that waiting times are increasing. There is concern over how A&E will cope over the winter period. One of the reasons for the problems experienced by A&E departments is that patients who are medically fit to return home aren’t actually sent home, as they do not have adequate support in the community.  

A study including more than 1.3 million births has found that babies born at the weekend have a significantly greater chance of dying than those born on weekdays

The study completed at Imperial College London including over 1.3 million births found that there were around 7.1 deaths per 1,000 babies delivered at weekends. According to the latest medical news, this figure was 7% higher than for babies delivered on weekdays. The research has indicated a significant difference and has raised concerns about the standards of care at the weekends. Previous studies have shown that infection rates for mothers and injuries to babies were also higher at weekends. More research needs to be conducted into why these differences are occurring. This is to ensure that the weekend standard of care will get better.  

Only 55% of parents have raised the issue of mental health with their children

A survey conducted by Opinion Matters for the Time to Change campaign shows that only 55% of parents assessed have raised the issue of mental health with their children. In contrast to this, 45% have said that they did not feel that mental health was an issue they needed to discuss with their children. This research indicates that the stigma associated with mental health is still current. The Time to Change campaign is encouraging young adults to talk about mental health problems through the use of adverts.

Uploaded by Alessandra on December 1st, 2015