News and views from The Royal College of Emergency Medicine. Please use the "On this page" menu below for contents.
It’s never dull in Emergency Medicine! I thought about introducing some football analogies at the beginning of this newsletter but found myself only thinking of extra time.
Just when I thought we were gearing up for a predictably tough winter, we have been thrown the curve ball of an early and unexpected Group A Streptococcus outbreak. This has created additional pressure in our paediatric areas and especially on the staff who are looking after these patients and their worried parents. We collaborated rapidly with the RCPCH and RCGP to produce a statement to try and reduce some of the anxiety driven demand and standardise care: Group A Strep and scarlet fever during a time of winter pressures – a joint statement from RCPCH, RCEM and RCGP. We are keeping an eye on this, and seeing if we need to offer advice about risk stratification, swabbing, rapid testing and alternative antibiotic regimes where there are logistical supply problems. Our statement is complimentary to the one prepared by the UKSHA: UKHSA update on scarlet fever and invasive Group A strep RCEM Learning was ahead of the game with a very good module published in August, Acute Sore Throat – Jonathan Whittaker must have the gift of second sight!
Meanwhile, we were able to publish a joint statement with the RCP, RCGP, SAM and RCPsych entitled ‘Rebuilding Medical Pathways’. This is designed to make sure that there is a sensible clinical voice in all of the various recovery plans that are being proposed. This emphasises the value of direct conversations between clinicians to make a patient’s journey as efficient as possible. I am quite sure this weekend, I will see a patient referred to my department with a suspected DVT who arrives after all the diagnostic services are unavailable and all I will do is send them away to return in the morning. We must be able to offer more efficient care than this.
On the 8th, NHSE published the performance figures for November. This reported the worst ever performance against the four-hour access standard and led to a number of media appearances by Executive and Council members. We are an outlier with our media activity compared to other medical Royal Colleges, but believe it is an important lever to improve understanding and decision making. We consistently state that crowding is largely caused by exit block and it is associated with increased mortality.
I was invited to meet William Quince, the Minster for State at the Department of Health and Social Care. He was very interested in our perspectives and views. We re-iterated the need to improve the admitted patient pathway, increase clinical input into NHS 111, evaluate new initiatives properly and have a meaningful time-based standard. At the time of writing, there is still discussion around how to measure performance, but we are consistent that any standard is better than none.
Industrial action from our colleagues in the ambulance service and the nurses is likely to be disruptive. The College cannot comment on terms and conditions, as that is a matter for the unions, though we recognise that staff feel undervalued and burned out. We recommend that the walk in entrances of our departments are prepared for an increase in unexpectedly sick arrivals. As always with any incident, we would be wary of the rebound increase in demand directly afterwards.
I was delighted to chair my first Trustee Board meeting. After a turbulent year, it feels as if we are becoming more stable as an organisation. Romana Moss has done excellent work in improving our exams processes, but this work is not complete. I am always amazed by how many exams we offer each year, over 10,000. The Trustee board has the best interests of the College at heart, and we have a lot of expertise and talent on the Board which will help guide us. Our Trustees are:
President: Dr Adrian Boyle
Dean: Professor Simon Carley
Treasurer: Scott Hepburn
Vice-President (Membership): Salwa Malik
Chair of Lay Group: Jayne Hidderly
Council Trustees: Maya Naravi & Anne Weaver
Member Trustees: Steve Jones, Javid Abdel
Lay Trustees: Ian Ailes, Mary Hockaday, Palvi Shah
If you haven’t done so already, I’d encourage you to give us your feedback via our membership survey, and as we are nearly at Christmas, if you can spare just £20 for our Winter Appeal, our colleagues in Pakistan would be hugely grateful for your donation.
I hope that you are able to get some downtime during this busy period, and I wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Dr Adrian Boyle
President, Royal College of Emergency Medicine
@RCEMpresident
It is that time of year again to seek your feedback and although it has been a difficult year for different RCEM members we are still keen to hear from you, receive your feedback and see where we need to improve. This is your College and giving us your feedback will ensure that your opinions are represented in what we do.
Your time is valuable and although completing our survey may not seem a priority your opinions are key in helping us to support you and the specialty more effectively. The College values and respects your time so we have ensured that the survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete.
The answers you provide will help the College to evaluate how well we are meeting you needs and will also allow us to enhance communication, increase engagement, and develop our services to improve the support we give which will enable you to get even more out of your membership of the College.
The answers to the questions in this survey will help to inform upcoming College work, activities and planning. Your participation is crucial in helping us to meet your needs and expectations and we truly appreciate you taking the time to help us to support you better.
A summary of the feedback from last year’s survey can be found here along with information on actions we have taken to make improvements based on the results of the survey.
Complete the 2022 member feedback survey here.
As we approach Christmas, we all begin to turn our thoughts towards what and who we are grateful for, along with what we can gift and give back to others. Each year RCEM runs a specific Winter fundraising appeal to raise funds for EM related projects that benefit others.
This year our appeal is supporting our partners, Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU), in their relief work following the devastating impact of flooding in Pakistan earlier this year.
Since June 2022, flooding across Pakistan has affected 33 million people, one seventh of the country’s population. At its peak, floodwater covered a third of the country in water, damaging or destroying 1.14 million homes with the widespread damage to infrastructure causing a dire humanitarian situation.
RMU is continuing to plan and deliver medical relief activities in the flood-affected areas across Pakistan with around 170 RMU staff including doctors, medical students, nurses, paramedics, and support staff all being involved in the relief work.
Funds raised from this appeal could support RMU to continue to deliver aid in the areas where there is most need and could focus on providing the following:
Whatever you can spare, we would be grateful for. Just £20 could provide support for key food rations for misplaced people impacted by the floods. For more information about the appeal and to make a donation please visit rcem.ac.uk/winter-appeal/
We’re looking for Chairs and Vice Chairs to support committees across the UK, along with new committee members!
Are you interested in representing fellow members and advocating for patients in your region? Are you looking for opportunities to develop both personally and professionally? If so, then please check out our volunteering page for opportunities to get involved.
Current vacancies include:
For further information contact us at daisy.harmer@rcem.ac.uk. Finally, please share this call out with your networks.
Congratulations to Dr Sarah Honess and Dr Susan Dorrian, who have taken up the roles of South East Regional Chair and West Midlands Regional Chair. You can read a statement from Dr Honess here, and a statement from Dr Dorrian here.
The RCEM PhD Fellowship application window is now open. Applications are invited from trainees in Emergency Medicine (EM) from CT1 and above, who wish to develop academically.
Applications must be received by Friday 13 January 2023. For further information, including an application form and application guidance, please visit our Research webpages.
The Research Committee’s semi-annual grant call is now accepting applications for funding. Members can apply for up to £10,000 to support their EM research project.
Applications must be received by Friday 31 March 2023. For further information, including an application form and application guidance, please visit our Research webpages.
Applications are invited for the 2023 Royal College of Emergency Medicine Undergraduate Prizes.
Applicants are required to be an undergraduate student at a recognised teaching institution within the UK but are not required to be a member of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.
Applications must be received by Friday 24 February 2023. For further information, including an application form and application guidance, please visit our Research webpages.
Last month the RCEM/JLA EM Priority Setting Partnership Refresh held an in-person workshop at Octavia House.
A mixture of patients and clinicians discussed the questions that had been submitted to the refresh, and proposed a new top 10 list of research priorities:
The International Federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM) is calling for a reset of emergency care around the world in a position statement. IFEM believes that such a reset is essential in order to regain control of the situation affecting hospital Emergency Departments and ensure that no more lives are lost while patients are waiting to be treated. All healthcare systems and governments must take urgent action to remedy the current situation, they say.
ED “over-crowding” occurs when there is an imbalance in patient demand, capacity of the ED to work efficiently and / or bed capacity within the hospital for those patients who need hospital admission. Research has shown that over-crowding of hospital Emergency Departments (ED’s) harms patients and can lead to loss of life. “Over-crowding” describes a situation of too many patients for the space available. We need more staff at all grades. Daily news headlines around the world attest to the harm to patients and the stress to staff in this growing and deadly problem. Read the full statement here.
Are you interested in this very important role which involves ensuring that Emergency Departments are led by consultants who have all the necessary competences? The CESR team are in constant need, the more assessors in the team means the more we can spread the workload. If you are interested in joining the team, please see the requirements and how to apply via Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR) | RCEM. Please email cesr@rcem.ac.uk for any other queries.
We are now offering free, 24/7 confidential helpline support for all our members via a Health Assured Employee Assistance Programme. Your call will be handled by an experienced therapist or advisor who will offer support in a friendly, non-judgemental manner. You can contact them by phone at any time for help with: –
Simply call the free 24-hour confidential helpline on 0800 028 0199 and use the code MHA 229 700 to access support.
Further information can be found HERE.
All frontline health care and social care workers should be offered vaccination by their employer. This is an employer’s responsibility to help protect their staff and patients or clients and ensure the overall safe running of services. Employers should commission or implement a service which makes access to the vaccine easy for all frontline staff, encourages staff to get vaccinated, and monitors the delivery of their programme. The complementary NHS influenza vaccination offer for primary care staff has not been extended for the 2022 to 2023 influenza season. Influenza vaccinations for primary care staff, like other frontline healthcare staff, revert to being an employer’s occupational health responsibility.
As for last season, the definition of a frontline healthcare worker for the influenza programme will be aligned with that of the COVID-19 vaccination programme to include both clinical and nonclinical staff who have contact with patients. One of the quality indicators in the 2022 to 2023 Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) is a goal of vaccinating between 70 to 90% of staff.
Please do speak to your employer about getting your flu jab.
Role profile: Guidelines for Provision of Emergency Medicine Services Steering Group Member
Accountable to: RCEM Executive Committee
Key working relationships:
Role purpose: RCEM is looking for a GPEMS Steering Group member. You will be involved in steering group meetings, writing guidelines, editing and working with other members.
Committee remit: GPEMS will be the definitive reference source for planning and delivery of UK Type-1 Emergency Medicine Services. The document will assist healthcare managers with service design and delivery, and give senior EM clinicians clarity about their roles and responsibilities.
There is currently a vacancy on the steering group – applications are invited from all College members and fellows.
The steering group members will meet approximately once a month from March 2023 until the publication of the final output (currently scheduled for summer 2024). They will be expected to lend their relevant expertise to help deliver a complex but extremely valuable piece of work.
To apply: If you are interested in applying to join the steering group, please email a cover letter explaining your interest and experience and your CV to Sam.Mcintyre@rcem.ac.uk by 17:00 Sunday 1st February
For further information regarding the application process please contact Sam McIntyre (email: Sam.Mcintyre@rcem.ac.uk)
What can you expect from us?
What can we expect from you?
Emergency Medicine is one of the most diverse professional clinical communities. Unfortunately, we are currently unable to fully evidence the diverse intersectionality of who we are, as the demographic data we have of our members is patchy.
Thing Spring we’re running #CountMeIn to truly capture and celebrate the diverse intersectionality of who we are.
Having a sense of our members’ representation will help us to better understand how best to represent you.
Help us to help you by filling in your College profile today.
Join us in starting a dialogue about the importance of representation in emergency medicine by sharing the campaign and your views on social media.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is launching RespectED, an anti-bullying campaign that aims to raise awareness and tackle the rise in toxic behaviours such as bullying, harassment and incivility between staff in Emergency Departments (EDs). These negative behaviours have a huge impact in EDs; they can create a toxic working environment, affect morale and the delivery of safe patient care.
The RespectED campaign is being launched to acknowledge that bullying, harassment and incivility occur in Emergency Departments. It encourages staff to address their own behaviours, to speak up and challenge these behaviours if they witness or are targeted by them and to positively change Emergency Departments and their cultures.
As pressures once again mount on the NHS it is vital that negative and toxic behaviours are challenged, and staff are supported by their colleagues and peers.
Jayne Hidderley, Chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Lay Group, said: “We know when incivility and bullying take place in our Emergency Departments, it not only has a detrimental effect on all staff but is a serious risk to patient safety. Our RespectED campaign, in collaboration with Civility Saves Lives, is a call to action to raise awareness amongst our staff and start the conversation. We want all staff in our Emergency Departments to be equipped to speak up, challenge these behaviours and change the culture together.”
You can find out more about the campaign, along with other useful resources, here.
Are you expecting a baby, currently on maternity or shared parental leave, have recently returned to work or have children who are in primary school? If yes, then apply now for the award-winning Leaders Plus Fellowship Programme.
The Leaders Plus Fellowship is a nine-month Programme enabling parents with babies and young children to accelerate their careers whilst still enjoying their families. You’ll get access to inspirational role models, a Senior Leader Mentor, a cross-sector network of peers, as well as support to progress your career whilst looking after young children.
The RCEM are delighted to part-fund 6 places on the Leaders Plus Fellowship for individuals working in emergency medicine. Find out more at http://www.leadersplus.org.uk/rcem
We would like to share with you the opportunity to access the European Society of Emergency Medicine’s (EUSEM) learning platform as part of the College’s membership with EUSEM.
The platform contains a range of resources including webinars, videos and document libraries, the majority of resources are available via open access, find out more via: https://academy.eusem.org>
Are you following our officers on Twitter? Keep up to date by using these handles:
You can also follow our current VPs for the devolved nations:
Date: 19 January 2023
Come to the annual trainees research engagement day to find out more about emergency medicine research and how you can get involved.
View the programme online and book now
Date: 20 January 2023
Come to the annual research engagement day – find out about the future for emergency care research, how to develop your own research career, pitch your own research ideas in the Blue Sky session and hear about studies you can get involved in.
View the programme online and book now
Date: 14 March 2023
This virtual study day is focussed on adolescent emergency medicine. From defining key themes in acute adolescent medicine and treatment options for acute mental and sexual health conditions, to reviewing current approaches to address the safeguarding needs of young people, and so much more, this study day is sure to be useful to anyone dealing with adolescents.
Rebuilding the NHS: better medical pathways for acute care 2022
In 2020 as we learned from the pandemic, we said that urgent and emergency care in the NHS needed transforming immediately and made 10 recommendations for UK governments, the NHS, and local systems. These recommendations remain pertinent and appropriate, but the situation for patients and services has become even more critical.
We’ve partnered with the RCPsych, RCGP, RCP and the Society of Acute Medicine to update these priorities and to make urgent recommendations to system leaders. Read the full statement here.
Our Boards and Committees play a crucial role in advocating and representing colleagues and patients in Emergency Medicine. There are many exciting ways to get involved, with vacancies ranging from our Northern Ireland National Board to our South Central Regional Board.
You don’t need prior experience to participate in a Board or Committee. We want our Boards and Committees to become a channel for members to get involved with the College. This is an opportunity to take part in critical decision-making and for you to develop personally and professionally.
To check out the roles and application information, please go to rcem.ac.uk/volunteering-opportunities/.
Sustainable Working Practices Committee vacancy x1 – Wales rep
RCEM Position Statement – Artificial Intelligence (December 2022)
The RCEM / NPIS Guideline on Antidote Availability for EDs has been updated (1 Dec 2022)
Advice for clinicians involved in ED IT procurement
2022/23 QIP registration and data entry is now open to all Type 1 UK Emergency Departments!
The topics running in 2022/23 are
Please see the topic information packs and submit the Registration Form to register your ED.
As we approach 2023, please take the time to update the details the College holds for you to make sure we have your most accurate up to date data so you are receiving the correct information and correspondence.
Update your details here: https://login.rcem.ac.uk/iCore/Contacts/Sign_In.aspx
RCEM provides reductions on subscriptions to those who are: –
Reduced subscriptions are also provided in recognition of the following:
Fellows and Members who pay UK taxes are also able to claim tax relief on membership subscriptions at the highest marginal rate of tax – details can be found on the UK Government website.
For members with a UK bank account Direct debit is the easiest way to pay for your membership and we offer monthly as well as annual payment options. Sign up today to pay for your 2023 subs by Direct Debit – https://login.rcem.ac.uk/iCore/Contacts/Sign_In.aspx
Further information on the criteria for membership discounts is available on our website and if you have any queries about your membership subscription, please contact us via membership@rcem.ac.uk, by phone on 0207 404 1999 or via LiveChat on our website. As a reminder, for members with a UK bank account Direct debit is the easiest way to pay for your membership and we offer monthly as well as annual payment options, sign up via: www.rcem.ac.uk/subscriptions2022.
It is that time of year again to seek your feedback and although it has been a difficult year for different RCEM members we are still keen to hear from you, receive your feedback and see where we need to improve.
This is your College and giving us your feedback is the best way to ensure that your opinions are represented in what we do.
Have your say at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RCEM22survey
We know from your feedback that many members value their College diaries and look forward to receiving them. Once again for 2023 we’re providing free RCEM-branded diaries to all members who request them so if you would like to receive a 2023 RCEM diary then simply email membership@rcem.ac.uk to let us know and we’ll get this in the post to you.
RCEM merchandise is available via our online shop. Thermal travel mugs, hoodies, notebooks, water bottles and other items (including new pin badges and ties) can be bought via www.rcemshop.co.uk/ so get your merch and show your EM pride!
Dell UK is proud to partner with The Royal College of Emergency Medicine to provide a range of discounts on selected IT and other benefits to members, including:
Here’s how to start enjoying the benefits today:
Blue Orchid hotels are offering RCEM members a range of discounted offers including 15% off London accommodation, 15% off International stays as well as 20% of afternoon tea experiences. See the full range of offers on the link below.
Access offers and how to claim
Remember all professional learners including students, trainees and ACPs are able to access TOTUM PRO membership.
With over two hundred UK discounts and thousands worldwide from both famous brands and local independents, a TOTUM PRO membership opens up a whole world of fantastic savings on everything from dining out and keeping fit to fashion retail and travel abroad.
A one-year membership is £14.99 members save on average £550!
For more information and to access membership, please follow this link
We are now offering free, 24/7 confidential helpline support for all our members via a Health Assured Individual Assistance Programme. Your call will be handled by an experienced therapist or advisor who will offer support in a friendly, non-judgemental manner. You can contact them by phone at any time for help with: –
Simply call the free 24-hour confidential helpline on 0800 028 0199 and use the code MHA 229 700 to access support.
Further information can be found HERE
All members have the benefit of being able to enjoy RCEM Lifestyle Rewards at any time via www.rcem-rewards.co.uk/. Members receive new exclusive discounts and added value offers every month on a wide range of luxury products, services & experiences.
This month’s special selection of Lifestyle Rewards offers can be found here.
A senior group of UK examiners and staff including our CEO, Gordon Miles, travelled to Kochi, India last month to support the local delivery of the MRCEM OSCE examination. We are extremely grateful to the local host team, led by Dr Venugopal, as well as the local and UK examiners and staff, who helped deliver 180 candidate spaces to such high quality.
Exam dates and application windows for 2023 have now been confirmed.
We are extremely grateful for all the feedback and input we’ve received from candidates, trainee representatives, examiners and committees in developing these exam dates. This feedback has helped us to ensure that the exams calendar for next year improves our way of working and will enhance the customer service we offer to all our stakeholders.
Below are the key changes to note.
Increased capacity for OSCE Exams
Demand for MRCEM & FRCEM OSCE exams has continued to grow in recent years as the number of candidates progressing through our written exams has increased. We are pleased to confirm that we have increased capacity for both MRCEM & FRCEM OSCEs in 2023.
An additional 200 spaces will be available to MRCEM & FRCEM OSCE candidates in 2023, a 12.5% increase compared to 2022.
We’re also increasing capacity for MRCEM OSCE exams in the UK, to 1080 spaces (three diets of 10 days, with 36 candidates each day), with FRCEM OSCE capacity increasing to 640 spaces (two diets of 10 days, with 32 candidates each day).
Whilst we are increasing the total number of days of MRCEM OSCE exams, these will be run over three diets rather than four. It is important to note that this reduced number of diets will not affect the total number of examining opportunities for candidates each year. The existing application and results release timelines means that candidates could apply to and sit a maximum of two OSCE diets each year; this will remain the same when running three diets instead of four.
A key factor in this proposed change is to help alleviate pressures and difficulties around examiner recruitment, which has been a particular issue with MRCEM OSCE exams in recent years. Since February 2022 we have recruited 94 UK Examiners and 26 overseas Examiners. You can find more information about how to become an examiner or other ways to get involved with exams here.
From 2023, application windows for all exams will be two weeks long.
Once an application has been submitted, candidates will receive an acknowledgement email including details of when applications will be reviewed by, which is typically three weeks after the application window closing date.
For OSCE exams, candidates will receive details of when allocations will be confirmed by, and candidates applying to written exams will be given dates of the respective Pearson VUE booking window, which will open once applications have been approved.
This change will give greater transparency to candidates throughout the registration process and ensure a more efficient approval and booking process.
See the 2023 exam dates on the Exam Calendar & Fees page.
This is a new role for supervisors who have attended and completed the RCEM ACP Educational Supervisor training day (2022 curriculum). Only approved ACP educational supervisors can complete a FEGS.
If you are unable to link events to the curriculum (select Key Capabilities within your forms), please contact eportfolio@rccem.ac.uk with your training programme (Run-Through/Core/Higher) and deanery. Once we have received this information, we will amend your portfolio accordingly.
This is Hello and not Goodbye!
We’re Live!
Fry → risr/
Kaizen → risr/advance
Our ePortfolio platform is called ‘Kaizen’ and is hosted by a company formerly known as ‘Fry’. Fry have recently rebranded to reflect their service and product offering and is now known as as ‘risr’.
What does this mean for us as Kaizen users?
Kaizen will be renamed risr/advance. There are light touch visual changes, including logos, fonts (which have been accessibility tested and verified) and colours.
These changes went live on Tuesday 15 November 2022.
You will still be able to access ‘Kaizen’(RISR/advance) via the current URL www.kaizenep.com until late October 2023, after this risr/ will make changes to the domain to reflect the rebrand.
This rebrand has no effect on the functionality of the EPortfolio or the formatting of events and users are not required to perform any actions to activate these changes – Just sit back and enjoy the transition.
ePortfolio – KAIZEN 101
NEW USERS:
You will receive an email (from noreply@kaizenep.com – invitation to Kaizen) with your username and a link for you to set a password.
Please ensure you check your spam folder, as it may end up there.
Once you have added a password, please login to kaizenep.com and select Royal college of Emergency Medicine as the Organization. – Please see guidance below
How to login
ALL USERS:
We recommend reading the FAQs section on how to use the ePortfolio (how to add posts, how to add supervisors, how to create assessments and common queries such as My supervisor is not able to view me).
Please ensure the end date at the top of the Add a supervisor event is set up. Supervisors and College tutors will be able to view your ePortfolio only within the date range you set up for them.
Until Next time!
#EportfolioTeam
Monday – Friday 09.00-17.00
General eportfolio queries, please contact: eportfolio@rcem.ac.uk
Enrolment queries, please contact: enrolment@rcem.ac.uk
Call: +020 7404 1999
Here’s a selection of some of December’s most popular publications:
Consultant in Emergency Medicine
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
We’ve got an exciting opportunity for a motivated consultant in emergency medicine with a passion for excellent patient care, to join a…
Read more…
Senior Clinical Fellow in Emergency Medicine and Pre-Hospital EM
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
£35,408 to £55,674 a year per annum
We are excited to offer a 1 or 2 year, full time Fellowship in Emergency & Community Prehospital Emergency Medicine.
Read more…
Senior Clinical Fellow in Emergency Department
St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Prescot
£33,790 to £53,132 a year per annum
Emergency Department is looking for experienced & enthusiastic emergency medicine doctors to join our committed ED team as Senior
Read more…
A full list of vacancies is available here.
The International Federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM) is calling for a reset of emergency care around the world in a position statement. IFEM believes that such a reset is essential in order to regain control of the situation affecting hospital Emergency Departments and ensure that no more lives are lost while patients are waiting to be treated. All healthcare systems and governments must take urgent action to remedy the current situation, they say.
ED “over-crowding” occurs when there is an imbalance in patient demand, capacity of the ED to work efficiently and / or bed capacity within the hospital for those patients who need hospital admission. Research has shown that over-crowding of hospital Emergency Departments (ED’s) harms patients and can lead to loss of life. “Over-crowding” describes a situation of too many patients for the space available. Daily news headlines around the world attest to the harm to patients and the stress to staff in this growing and deadly problem. Read the full statement here.
More than 800 people living with HIV and Hepatitis not receiving treatment have been found by the NHS in just six months following the rollout of routine testing in A&E.
In April 2022, the NHS made £20 million available over three years to implement routine HIV opt out testing within 33 hospital Emergency Departments, in areas with the highest rates of diagnosed HIV.
Latest NHS data shows the programme is already having success, with 834 newly identified cases of people living with the HIV, Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C found between April and September following its launch – while 153 people, who were previously diagnosed, but were not receiving NHS care, were also identified.
Under the programme, people visiting an Emergency Department are offered a discreet test which screens for the HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C viruses when full bloods are taken. If the test comes back positive for the HIV, Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C viruses, the person is offered specialist support and a treatment plan is put in place for them.
Data shows that more than two fifths (42%) of HIV diagnoses in the UK are made late, at a point when the immune system has already been significantly damaged. Research suggests that people who get a late HIV diagnosis are eight times more likely to die from the illness, so early identification is key in preventing ill-health, premature death and onward transmission.
The move follows the NHS striking a series of deals for the latest HIV drugs, including a long-acting injection and the first oral drug to combat the disease, as part of its efforts to become the first country in the world to stop new cases of HIV before 2030, by offering a full armoury of HIV-busting drugs.
Read the full press release here and the full report here.
The Government has announced a series of proposals relating to the pension scheme. These include new retirement flexibilities, aligning the timing of CPI inflation rates used for revaluing pension benefits and the annual allowance tax calculation and scheme access for primary care networks (PCNs). These are all welcome but do not, of course, address the central issue of the tax arrangements regarding the scheme. Whether these changes will be sufficient remains to be seen. The consultation, which is a short Yes/No response closes on 30 January.
DHSC – Hewitt review: terms of reference
The Hewitt review will consider how the oversight and governance of integrated care systems (ICSs) can best enable them to succeed, balancing greater autonomy and robust accountability with a particular focus on real-time data shared digitally with the Department of Health and Social Care, and on the availability and use of data across the health and care system for transparency and improvement. This sets out the terms of reference for the independent review of integrated care systems led by Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt.nt for those who wish to do so. This consultation closes on 30 January 2023.
Strategies to reduce waiting times for elective care
The King’s Fund undertook research to understand the strategies that have been used to reduce waiting times in the past 20 years.
Nuffield Trust – Overlooked, but not overcome: smaller hospitals and the staff response to the Covid-19 pandemic
This briefing looks at the operational responses and management approaches taken by staff from 10 smaller hospitals during the first and second waves of the pandemic. The briefing also makes a set of recommendations for future crisis planning and response.
The public consultation on how the MHRA communicates medicines and medical devices safety information to healthcare professionals is now open.
This is a unique opportunity for healthcare professionals and representative organisations to have your say on the way you would like to receive safety information from the MHRA.
The MHRA’s ability to engage with healthcare professionals is crucial in helping get safe and effective medicines to patients, and to make sure that patients are adequately informed, and any safety concerns can be acted on quickly.
You can give your views here. Only with your feedback will the MHRA be able to effectively support your use of safe medicines and medical devices.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss how your organisation can promote the consultation to your members, please email engagement@mhra.gov.uk.
The Health and Social Care Committee is launching a new inquiry to examine different perspectives in the debate on assisted dying/assisted suicide. The inquiry will explore the arguments across the debate with a focus on the healthcare aspects of assisted dying/assisted suicide. It intends to consider the role of medical professionals, access to palliative care, what protections would be needed to safeguard against coercion and the criteria for eligibility to access assisted dying/assisted suicide services. MPs will also look at what can be learnt from international experiences. Information about submitting evidence is on the website. Evidence should be submitted by 20 January 2023.
The Government has announced 19 new diagnostic hubs to deliver more checks, tests and scans and speed up diagnoses for local patients.
