Health secretary launches campaign to help parents spot sepsis

Jeremy Hunt has launched a nationwide campaign to help parents spot the signs of sepsis.

The health secretary is hoping to raise awareness of the “devastating” condition, which causes about 37,000 deaths each year in England.

Hunt said: “We need to get far better at spotting it across the NHS. By raising awareness and improving clinical practice we will save lives in the fight against this horrible illness.”

The campaign, delivered by Public Health England and the UK Sepsis Trust, is part of measures by the NHS to tackle the condition, which arises as a complication of an infection.

It is aimed at parents and carers of newborns to four-year-old children.
Millions of leaflets urging parents to take their child to A&E or call 999 if their child is displaying symptoms will be delivered to GP surgeries and hospitals across the country.

Parents should take immediate action if their child looks mottled, bluish or pale, appears lethargic or difficult to wake, is abnormally cold to touch, is breathing rapidly, has a rash that does not fade when pressed or has a fit or convulsion.

Melissa Mead, who lost her baby son William to sepsis two years ago, will appear in a new film, which forms part of the campaign. She said: “Sepsis is a cruel, ruthless condition which doesn’t discriminate and can affect anyone. I hope this campaign reaches as many people as possible, so all parents out there know about sepsis and how serious it can be. The more parents know, the quicker they can act if they suspect their child may be suffering from sepsis – it could be life-saving.”

William Mead, who died two years ago. Photograph: Family Handout/PA

Mead, who is an ambassador for the UK Sepsis Trust, added: “I will never hear my sweet child say, ‘Mummy, I love you.’ I will never know the man that William would have grown to be. So please, it is too late for me to ‘think sepsis’, but it’s not too late for you.”

Hunt praised Mead and other “families who have tragically lost children to sepsis” for their help with the campaign.

Sir Bruce Keogh, the national medical director for NHS England said: “This campaign is an important addition to our ongoing work – we will never treat sepsis in time unless everyone ‘thinks sepsis’.”

Dr Ron Daniels, the chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, said: “With sepsis claiming over 37,000 lives annually in England, this awareness campaign is a crucial step forward. Clinicians and members of the public can save thousands of lives every year if they just ask: could it be sepsis?

“The UK Sepsis Trust welcomes this initiative, but system-wide improvements to sepsis care must follow. We’re delighted to have developed campaign materials that will empower parents to identify sepsis symptoms in their children and seek medical attention immediately.”

Sam Morrish, three, from Devon, died on 23 December 2010 from severe sepsis because of a catalogue of errors, including how his mother’s call was handled by NHS Direct, now replaced by the 111 service.

Call handlers failed to categorise the call as urgent, despite indications that his vomit contained blood. Even when hospital staff realised he was critically ill, they waited three hours before administering the antibiotics that could have saved his life.

His mother, Sue Morrish, said: “The sepsis campaign is hugely important to us and I know it will also be incredibly significant to other campaigning parents who have lost children to sepsis. We had never heard of the condition before Sam died. Had we known about it and what the signs were, then he could have survived.

“On the day that he died, he was going to be a shepherd in a nativity play. I know that the run-up to Christmas is incredibly busy for families but I appeal to all parents, if you see something about sepsis awareness on social media please share it. Sam never got the chance to be a shepherd – we don’t want other families to experience the same tragedy.”

Prof Paul Cosford, a medical director at PHE, said: “It is important that these messages are widely received, which is why I am writing with Sir Bruce Keogh to all NHS medical directors to highlight this campaign and the importance of making all staff aware of the signs of sepsis.”

Health secretary launches campaign to help parents spot sepsis

Health secretary says NHS issues aren"t just about money but also standards

Jeremy Hunt sought to play down a row about the amount of new funding available for the NHS, saying the health service’s challenges are not “just about money”.

The health secretary was challenged by the BBC’s Andrew Marr over the gulf between the government’s claim that the NHS has been awarded an additional £10bn of funding, and estimates by independent organisations that have put the “true” figure at about £4.5bn.

Last month, MPs on the health select committee threw their weight behind the lower figure, with Tory parliamentarian Dr Sarah Wollaston warning the government’s £10bn figure “is not only incorrect but risks giving a false impression that the NHS is awash with cash”.

Last week, Nigel Edwards, the Nuffield Trust’s chief executive, warned: “The NHS is going into its toughest winter yet with the odds stacked against it. Demand for healthcare is on the rise, funding for both health and social care is being squeezed and A&E departments are missing their targets.”

Hunt dismissed a suggestion from Marr that the NHS’s performance was suffering because of a lack of funding: “We do tend to get in the run-up to the autumn statement a coalition of people who will say that the answer to all the NHS’s problems is more money from government.”

He said: “The big question is, does the NHS have enough money, and the answer to that is that we do need more resources – we are looking after a million more people aged over 75 than five years ago, that’s why we are putting in £4bn more.”

But he added: “It isn’t just about money – it’s also about standards.”

Ensuring that lessons were learned from medical accidents could help save the NHS on legal bills, Hunt said. “There’s lots of things we can do in terms of helping to ensure we are better at learning from mistakes, so that we don’t have this huge legislation bill of £1.5bn because of some of the mistakes we have made – that all helps on the money front.”

He added: “There are, of course, financial pressures, but I think it’s a mistake to say this is only about money. It’s also about getting the culture right.”

Winter is “extremely tough” for the health service, Hunt said: “I can say I think we are better prepared this year than we’ve ever been.”

But he added: “There’s always the unpredictable, the cold spells, the flu outbreaks and so on … I think it would be wrong for any health secretary in the run-up to winter to say everything’s tickety-boo.”

Health secretary says NHS issues aren"t just about money but also standards

Police urge home secretary to ban FGM practitioner from entering UK

Scotland Yard is urging the home secretary, Amber Rudd, to intervene in the case of woman from Sierra Leone who carries out female genital mutilation and is said to be seeking entry into the UK.

The Metropolitan police applied to the court for a female genital mutilation protection order and also for an order to prevent the woman from entering the UK.

But Mr Justice Holman, sitting in London, said the question of whether the woman could enter the country was a matter for the secretary of state, not the court.

The woman, who was not named in court, is understood to be Kharday Zorokong, who was part of a Sierra Leonean delegation that included the minister for gender, Dr Sylvia Blyden, to the 73rd session of the UN committee on the rights of the child in Geneva last week. Zorokong performs FGM, but is opposed to operations on children under 18. Campaigners feared that she would come to the UK as part of Blyden’s delegation after the meeting in Geneva.

Zimran Samuel, appearing for the police, said officers had been asked by acampaigner in her 40s, who was also an FGM survivor, to take action to ban the cutter.

Samuel did not name the cutter but said she had a “high-profile status” as the head of a council of cutters in her community. Because of her status, people in the UK would want to use her services, even although it is illegal here, he said.

Later, Samuel said that he was concerned that there was a “loophole” in the law set up to protect women and girls against FGM. While FGM orders, introduced in the serious crime bill, allowed the protection of named individuals, it did not allow protection in this case. He told the judge that a request to the home secretary to be stop Zorokong from entering the UK was “in motion”.

The judge said he found FGM “abhorrent and a terrible scourge on women”, but “the right thing is to try to get the secretary of state not to let this woman in”.

After the judge declined to make any orders, the Metropolitan police said in a statement: “The MPS is now considering what other options are available to prevent the entry into the UK of a person who may wish to carry out FGM.”

DS Wendy Morgan, from the MPS sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command, said: “FGM is illegal and constitutes child abuse. A lot of work has been done to raise awareness over the last few years of this horrific practice, highlighting the short- and long-term health risks and the absence of any religious teaching that supports it. However, we are not complacent and more still needs to be done.

“The Met spends time highlighting the support available to those who may be at risk. When victims come to us with concerns over the risks they face, no matter what stage they are at in their life, the Met takes take these concerns very seriously.

“Police have a responsibility to act to protect vulnerable people and prevent people, especially the vulnerable, from becoming victims of crime. The Met will always to seek to follow the law to carry out this responsibility.”

Before the Ebola outbreak forced a temporarily ban on the practice, it was estimated that 88% of Sierra Leonean girls were cut, the seventh highest rate of the 28 countries in which FGM is practised.

While FGM is not illegal in Sierra Leone, ministers have proposed outlawing the practice among under-18s. But many anti-FGM campaigners in the country say this will have little impact, as it is traditionally the parents who make the decision of a daughter, irrespective of age.

Nimko Ali, an anti-FGM campaigner and founder of Daughters of Eve, said she welcomed the judge’s comment and was hopeful that Rudd would take action. She said that cutters in Sierra Leone had a powerful role and political clout in the country.

Ali said: “I’m hopeful that this will be successful. The symbolic nature of the judge saying: ‘I haven’t got the power but you should explore other areas’ is very welcome. The sense of impunity with which this woman (Zorokong) can sit on the UN and say that FGM is an act of consent. If she were to visit the UK it would be a propaganda mission.”

Anti-FGM campaigners from Sierra Leone have condemned Zorokong’s appearance before the UN. At the meeting, Blyden spoke about protecting under-18s from FGM but insisted that an adult women should be allowed to “do what she wants to her body”, ignoring the pressure upon women to undergo mutilation.

Yasmin Jusu-Sheriff, part of the Not In My Name coalition with Equality Now, said it was inappropriate that Zorokong was present at the UN last week.

The first ever recorded figures for FGM, reported in July, showed that between April 2015 and March 2016 there were 5,702 new cases in England. Most of the women and girls were born in Africa and underwent the procedure there, but at least 18 were subjected to FGM in the UK.

Police urge home secretary to ban FGM practitioner from entering UK

What Do US Veterans Think Of The Resignation Of Eric Shinseki As Secretary Of Veterans Affairs?

Answer by Jon Davis, Sergeant of Marines, two tours in Iraq, on Quora,

I in no way actually believed about it a lot before all this, simply because creating entertaining of the VA inefficiencies has often been element of becoming a veteran for so extended. It was just some thing we dealt with since, properly, we are utilised to dealing with crap that acquired handed to us on a day-to-day basis. I suppose a good deal of us had been just content that there was something taking place, even if it was quite atrocious. This is an illustration of how most military handled the concern. This satire appeared in the Onion and truly struck home. Joke and move on.

VA To Increase Veterans’ Well being Care With New $ 500 Million Waiting Space

I guess in hindsight, all the jokes are not that humorous and were often a really extreme indication of a key issue. There are some of us who are in severe need to have of assist and becoming that we have been at war on some level for virtually prolonged ample that if the war was a man or woman it could enlist itself, some thing should have been accomplished a lengthy time ago.

I’m saying that for each the VA and the government who oversees it. Representative John Boehner put out a statement that the forced dismissal of Eric Shinseki “does not absolve” President Obama. I tend to agree seeing that the administration is in the end responsible for years of failures in oversight and ignoring the continuous flood of complaints and troubles, plainly noticeable in the Veteran community.

I acquired out in 2008 and had my VA demands taken care of by 2009 exactly where health was concerned. During that time, I was informed waiting was an concern, but from what I comprehend about the technique now, the nation has shown a serious lack of empathy for the men and females which it asked so a lot of currently. I’m pleased that some thing is becoming accomplished now, but altogether, it actually just tends to make me comprehend how final priority the demands of veterans truly are.

This query originally appeared on Quora: What do US military veterans feel of the resignation of Eric Shinseki as Secretary of Veterans Affairs?. Far more queries:

What Do US Veterans Think Of The Resignation Of Eric Shinseki As Secretary Of Veterans Affairs?

Gender-selective abortion is unlawful, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to announce

The advice follows an investigation by The Telegraph which uncovered doctors who were prepared to terminate pregnancies for ladies who mentioned they did not want to have a little one woman.

A single of the medical doctors did so despite likening the practice to “female infanticide” while the other advised a woman her job was not to “ask questions”.

In September, the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) ruled that it would not be in the “public interest” to prosecute the medical doctors and mentioned the law did not prohibit gender-certain abortions.

Sir Keir Starmer, the then Director of Public Prosecutions, mentioned that the law does not “prohibit gender-distinct abortions”, foremost to considerations that his choice successfully legalised the practice.

Underneath the 1967 Abortion Act, a pregnancy can be terminated legally if two physicians agree that the physical or mental wellness of the child or the girl is in jeopardy.

The act helps make clear that they have to indicator to certify that they formed the opinion “in great faith”.

The CPS explained that pre-signing was not always evidence that the doctors had not signed “in great faith” simply because they may nevertheless have discussed the person situation later on on.

MPs have also raised concern that the law does not explicitly state that abortions on the basis of gender are illegal.

The Department of Wellness believes that the new advice will make the law clearer for each medical professionals and prosecutors.

David Burrowes, a Conservative MP, explained: “It is a very helpful clarification from the government. As a matter of principle and practise gender selection is thoroughly outlawed by this government as properly as pre-signing.

“Any proof have to lead to the full force of the law getting applied. For as well prolonged experts and others have been in a position to use the cover of ambiguity have been capable to allow gender variety to get area. They will now really feel the total We have at final received a extremely clear statement from the government.”

A cross-celebration group of MPs has written to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police demanding a criminal investigation into evidence that dozens of medical doctors pre-signed abortion forms with no being aware of anything at all about the ladies concerned.

Eleven MPs are supporting the contact for a Scotland Yard inquiry following the General Healthcare Council, the doctors’ regulator, ruled out action against 67 physicians discovered to have been involved.

The GMC explained the practice was “wrong” and that it has ordered the medical doctors to “obey the law” but nevertheless determined against bringing fitness to practise hearings saying that what they had done was “common practice”.

The breaches first came to light during inspections by the Care High quality Commission, the well being watchdog, triggered by the Telegraph’s investigation.

Mr Burrowes and 10 other MPs have written to Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, asking for the 67 medical doctors to be investigated.

Gender-selective abortion is unlawful, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to announce

Well being Secretary hails courage of dementia campaigners

“What you have done is truly inspirational; braver than what any of us have done.”

The awards, supported by The Telegraph, recognise the efforts of individuals, businesses and communities to improve the lives of those with dementia, and to reduce social isolation.

Winning schemes created links between schools and care homes, with children and elderly people sharing activities such as singing and gardening, trained bus drivers in how to help those with the condition and brought together sports clubs with fans with dementia, in order to share their sporting memories.

Mr Hunt said the community efforts, and a national campaign to recruit 1 million “dementia friends” was now influencing global policies on the condition, and was one of the key topics under discussion at the World Health Assembly in Geneva earlier this week.

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, joined Mr Hunt in thanking the Daily Telegraph for supporting the awards, which were sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group. Mr Hughes said: “Day by day, The Daily Telegraph has been bringing dementia out of the shadows, letting people know that it is okay to talk about dementia, and that has been really important.”

Angela Rippon, TV broadcaster and national dementia care ambassador, saluted an “amazing social movement” which was changing attitudes towards the condition.

The winners were: Sporting Memories (national initiative); Introduction to Dementia for Bus Drivers, First bus operator (business); Joy Watson (national champion); Dementia Friendly Crawley (local initiative); The Archie Project (regional initiative);

Stoke Damerel Community College (school/college); Dementia Friendly Gurudwaras (voluntary initiative).

https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/

Well being Secretary hails courage of dementia campaigners

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt pledges quicker diagnosis for dementia

Jeremy Hunt stated that it was his ‘mission to make this country the greatest location in the world to get a diagnosis’. Photograph: Richard Gardner/REX

The well being secretary Jeremy Hunt has pledged considerably more rapidly diagnosis times for people with suspected dementia and says he wants Britain to be a leader in both diagnosis and the search for a cure.

Those who see their medical doctor with concerns about their memory and imagined processes will by March be diagnosed inside of six weeks rather than six months, as is at present the case in some spots, explained Hunt. Only half of these with dementia now have a diagnosis at all – a figure he wants to rise to 66%.

At the moment, the wait for a diagnosis is no a lot more than 6 weeks in about 75% of the nation, but there are locations in which it can be numerous months. Some medical professionals truly feel a diagnosis is not extremely valuable, simply because there are few treatment options for the condition and the drugs that exist do not support everybody.

But, mentioned Hunt at an worldwide summit in Paris, the lengthy uncertainty brought on individuals and their families pressure and anxiousness. Knowing the reality inside of six weeks would allow men and women to get entry to medicines which can at times delay the progression of the illness. It would also enable households to prepare for the long term.

“How we reply to dementia is the litmus test of no matter whether we can face up to the challenge of an ageing population, and do so in a way which makes it possible for compassion and dignity.

“Dementia can be a horrific and heartbreaking condition, but it is my mission as well being secretary to make this nation the best spot in the world to get a dementia diagnosis, as properly as a global leader in the fight to uncover a cure,” said Hunt in an interview with the Everyday Telegraph.

1 in three people will develop dementia in later lifestyle. In December, the government convened a G8 dementia summit in London, which concluded with a pledge to discover a cure or remedy by 2025 – which numerous would believe an ambitious purpose. The United kingdom promised to double its investigation funding to £132m by that yr.

In Paris, the well being secretary also mentioned that Marks &amp Spencer, Argos, Homebase and Lloyds Banking Group will train a lot more than 120,000 employees to assist and help consumers with dementia.

David Cameron will on Friday announce a Globe Dementia Council headed by a World Dementia Envoy. Dr Dennis Gillings, an expert in clinical study trials, is to stimulate investigation.

Labour explained the prime minister was right to target on dementia, but named for him to do far more for those afflicted with the illness proper now.

“£2.7bn has been cut from council care budgets underneath this government, hitting the top quality of daily life of hundred of thousands of individuals with dementia and their households. This isn’t very good for them, and is a false economic climate as an escalating amount of elderly people with dementia are ending up in hospitals or care houses when they don’t want to,” said Liz Kendall MP, Labour’s shadow minister for Care and Older People.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt pledges quicker diagnosis for dementia

Mid Staffs: overall health secretary to say whether or not NHS believe in will be dissolved

A decision is due on Wednesday on regardless of whether the Mid Staffordshire NHS basis trust ought to be dissolved.

Jeremy Hunt, the well being secretary, has the final say on ideas to dissolve the trust and move crucial services to neighbouring hospitals. In January the health watchdog Check accredited strategies drawn up by administrators to downgrade some providers at Stafford hospital in spite of opposition from neighborhood campaigners.

Mid Staffordshire was the focus of one of the most significant scandals in the historical past of the NHS when hundreds far more folks died than would usually be anticipated. The Francis inquiry of 2013 highlighted the “appalling and needless suffering of hundreds of people”, with some individuals left lying in their personal faeces for days or acquiring the wrong medication.

That followed a 2009 investigation by the Healthcare Commission, which located that amongst 400 and 1,200 more people died at Stafford hospital than would have been expected.

In December trust special administrators stated the general trust was unsustainable and that without alterations Mid Staffordshire would face annual debts of much more than £40m by 2017 even though maternity solutions at Stafford Hospital should be downgraded rather than closed as initially planned.

A new midwife-led maternity unit will be created at the hospital underneath the adjustments but advisor-led services for a lot more difficult births will be dealt with at North Staffordshire University hospital.

Overall control of Stafford hospital is anticipated to go to North Staffordshire University hospital, although Cannock hospital will be run by Royal Wolverhampton trust.

Paediatric assessment will still take area at Stafford hospital by specialist staff, in conjunction with accident and emergency, and vital sufferers will be permitted to keep overnight in Stafford as lengthy as the acceptable workers are on duty.

Mid Staffs: overall health secretary to say whether or not NHS believe in will be dissolved