The Health News United Kingdom January 30 2018
- The suspension of non-urgent operations to ease winter NHS pressures in England is to be lifted from February. Hospitals had been advised to defer non-urgent operations until mid-January, which was then extended in a bid to free up hospital staff and beds.
Announcing the end of the suspension, an NHS emergency panel said pressures on the service had eased in January. Hospitals should be able to plan a “return to a full elective care programme” from next month, it said. - The Public Health Agency has said that eleven people in Northern Ireland have now died from flu. Officials also recorded sixty four flu-related admissions to intensive care. The figures come as thousands across the UK have been hospitalised by flu, with four strains of the killer virus identified, including the ‘Aussie’ and ‘Japanese’ strains. Japanese flu is believed to be responsible for nearly half the hospitalisations recorded, while the dreaded H3N2 strain that rocked Australia caused a sixth of them.
- The risk of parents sleeping with a young baby has been revealed for the first time – nearly 3 tots die a week. In the past five years 665 infants lost their lives in cases where “co-sleeping” was a factor. Co-sleeping deaths were at 141 in 2017, 131 in 2016, 121 in 2015, 141 in 2014 and 131 in 2013.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 30th of January 2018. Read by Tabetha Moreto.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-42831004
The suspension of non-urgent operations to ease winter NHS pressures in England is to be lifted from February. Hospitals had been advised to defer non-urgent operations until mid-January, which was then extended in a bid to free up hospital staff and beds.
Announcing the end of the suspension, an NHS emergency panel said pressures on the service had eased in January. Hospitals should be able to plan a “return to a full elective care programme” from next month, it said.
The decision to end the suspension of non-urgent operations – which include hip or knee replacements – was taken at a meeting of the NHS’s Emergency Pressures Panel , which was set up to provide advice on winter pressure and clinical risk.
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BBC sources have indicated that NHS leaders are not signalling that the worst of the winter is over and that they will keep the situation under review. On January two, the NEPP extended the suspension of non-urgent operations and routine outpatient appointments until January thirty one in order to concentrate on emergency care. Each year the service comes under increased pressure in the winter, largely as a result of an increase in certain illnesses over this period, such as flu.
The Public Health Agency has said that eleven people in Northern Ireland have now died from flu. Officials also recorded sixty four flu-related admissions to intensive care. The figures come as thousands across the UK have been hospitalised by flu, with four strains of the killer virus identified, including the ‘Aussie’ and ‘Japanese’ strains.
Japanese flu is believed to be responsible for nearly half the hospitalisations recorded, while the dreaded HthreeNtwo strain that rocked Australia caused a sixth of them. New data shows that the number of flu cases being presented in the first three weeks of two thousand eighteen in Northern Ireland was double the number from last year, but figures are now said to be declining.
A PHA spokeswoman said that while “flu activity decreased last week”, it still “remains at moderate levels”.
Seasonal flu activity in Northern Ireland is monitored throughout the year to inform public health action and to prevent spread of the infection.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/133-babies-accidentally-dying-every-11929780
The risk of parents sleeping with a young baby has been revealed for the first time – nearly three tots die a week. In the past five years six hundred sixty five infants lost their lives in cases where “co-sleeping” was a factor.
Francine Bates, of The Lullaby Trust, warned: “Some parents choose to share a bed with their baby but we recommend they keep in mind the risk factors.” Babies are at risk because parents can roll over, causing suffocation or overheating. Co-sleeping can also lead to an increased risk of in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, where babies inexplicably die in their sleep.
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Miss Bates added: “The chance of sudden death goes up when bed-sharing if a parent smokes, has drunk alcohol or taken drugs or is very tired.
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Co-sleeping deaths were at one hundred forty one in two thousand seventeen, one hundred thirty one in two thousand sixteen, one hundred twenty one in two thousand fifteen, one hundred forty one in two thousand fourteen and one hundred thirty one in two thousand thirteen. The figures – kept by the Department of Education – were revealed for the first time after a freedom of information request.
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