Seven days in medicine: 16-22 November 2016
BMJ 2016; 355 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6291 (Published 24 November 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;355:i6291
Footprint areas
Map shows plans for England’s NHS services
All sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) for cutting costs in 44 “footprint” areas in England will be published by Christmas and implementation will begin in the New Year, NHS England said. Health activists and local councillors have widely criticised the plans, concerned that hospital services will be cut to deliver the £22bn (€25.9bn; $27.3bn) in savings by 2020-21 demanded by health chiefs. An interactive map with a summary of the planned changes is at http://bmj.co/stpMap.
Abortion
Scotland may offer procedures to Northern Irish women
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, told the country’s parliament that the Scottish government would consider giving women from Northern Ireland access to terminations in Scotland’s health service free of charge. The Supreme Court is considering an application from a Northern Irish teenager challenging the refusal by the NHS in England to fund the procedure for women from Northern Ireland. Sturgeon said, “When a woman opts to have an abortion—I stress that that is never, ever an easy decision for any woman—the procedure should be available in a safe and legal way.”
Flu vaccine
High vaccine uptake by healthcare workers
Some 372 339 (40.4%) front line health workers in England had been vaccinated against influenza by 31 October 2016, NHS England figures showed—higher than at the same stage during previous winters, including 312 203 (32.4%) last winter. NHS Employers hopes that the final end-of-winter tally will …
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