This week NHS funding, smartphone GP appointments and genetically modified skin have dominated the news.
Simon Stevens demands £350m a week NHS funding promised to Brexit voters
NHS Chief Executive, Simon Stevens addressed the NHS Providers conference earlier this week and called for the funding promised to voters in the Brexit campaign to be delivered to the NHS. Stevens said: “The NHS wasn’t on the ballot paper, but it was on the battle bus. Vote Leave for a better funded health service – £350m a week.” Stevens quoted Vote Leave Campaign Director, Dominic Cummings, who claimed: “You voted Brexit, partly for a better funded health service. But precisely because of Brexit, you now can’t have one.”
Read more on the Independent.
Boy with ‘butterfly disease’ is given new skin by scientists
A seven-year old from Germany with the debilitating genetic condition known as ‘butterfly disease’ has been given hope by scientists who have grafted genetically modified skin to 80 per cent of his body in what is a world first. After three surgeries, Hassan, is now playing football and enjoying the rough and tumble of childhood. Previously his skin blistered and tore at the slightest touch, leaving him unable to live a normal life.
Read more on the Metro.
Wounds suffered in daytime heal quickly than those gained at night
New research by Cambridge scientists has discovered that wounds sustained in daytime heal approximately 60 per cent quicker than night-time injuries. This is due to our internal body clocks optimising repairs to skin cells during the day. Their research showed that burns suffered at night (between 8pm and 8am) were 95 per cent healed after approximately 28 days, whilst day time burns only took 17 days to reach the same level of healing. The scientists from The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology published their study in the Science Translational Medicine journal.
Read more on the i.
Farmers told to curtail use of antibiotics due to human health risk
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that there are serious risks to human health if antibiotics are continued to be used on animals reared for food. WHO has released guidelines which suggest that farmers should stop using antibiotics to promote growth and prevent disease in otherwise healthy animals, which in turn leads to infections resistant to antibiotics.
Read more on The Guardian.
Manchester Arena bomb survivors could get £10,000 for mental trauma
Up to 300 survivors of the attack on Manchester Arena in May this year could receive £10,000 each from a charity fund established to help victims of the bombing. Witnesses will receive the money if they have been “functionally impaired” by the psychological trauma they experienced.
Read more on The Guardian.
Quote of the week – Dennis Campbell questioning the legalities of Accountable Care Systems:
“Now is the time for health bosses to spell out exactly how ACOs are supposed to radically transform the NHS. They must make the case for why the loss of local services is worth it in pursuit of the bigger prize of better care and lower cost through more services outside hospitals, and fewer, regional centres offering specialist care.
“That mission, involving unprecedented integration of health and social care, has widespread backing – notably from the government, which has fully embraced “the Stevens plan” as its health policy. But are ACOs, the chosen vehicles for delivering that, entirely legal? We may soon find out.”
Read the full comment piece in The Guardian (£).