NHS Nursing Leadership Boosted

Nursing leadership across the NHS is to be enhanced as part of NHS modernisation plans, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced today. The Chief Nursing Officer role will sit on the NHS Commissioning Board and there will also be a Director of Nursing in the Department of Health, with a greater public health focus. Details of the senior structures for the Department and the Commissioning Board will be published in the spring and, following a recruitment exercise over the summer, it is planned that both individuals will be in post by October. The Chief Nursing Officer, Dame Christine Beasley, has agreed to remain in post on a part-time basis until October 2011 to oversee the transition. She will continue to be supported during this period by the two current Deputy Chief Nursing Officers and Strategic Health Authority nursing directors.

Further Charges Made Over Student Fees Disorder

Further charges have been made in connection to the student fees disorder in central London in November last year. Relating to the unrest on 10 November 2010, seven people were charged. They include: Belinda Edney, 21, from Nottingham; Samuel Peppersharp, 23, from Scarborough; Lewis Bassett, 24, from Nottingham; Paul Sheppard, 24, from Oxford; India Harvey, 21, of Kingston; Joseph Jones, 19, from Bournemouth; and Adam Mcleod, 19, from east London. All will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on bail on 28 March 2011 charged with aggravated trespass. A 16-year-old boy from Hornsey, in north London will appear on bail at West London Youth Court on 8 March accused of aggravated trespass. After the arrests all had been bailed to return pending further inquiries, and were charged as above in recent days.

Doctors Need Clearer Scientific Advice During Health Emergencies



Doctors were not always able to take on board key advice about swine flu because they were overwhelmed with information during the 2009-10 H1N1 flu pandemic, the British Medical Association (BMA) have stated. In response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s report (England) on emergency planning, 

BMA Head of Science and Ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, said:

 “While doctors appreciate that events were moving extremely quickly during the most intense phase of the pandemic, we feel that key advice was lost because of the sheer volume of information that was issued by various bodies. 

We must learn from what happened and move to having one single portal of information during a health emergency. It is important that this information is linked to an academic journal so that doctors can be certain of its evidence-base. It also needs to be regularly updated in real time”.

 The report also highlights the lack of a government flu vaccination campaign in autumn 2010.

 Dr Nathanson added:

 “Flu vaccination awareness campaigns are effective at encouraging uptake of the annual flu jab and the BMA was disappointed that the government chose not to run one last year - we hope it reconsiders this position for 2011. The government should also consider running annual campaigns like the 'catch it, kill it, bin it' one to reduce the spread of infection.

 The BMA agrees that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation should conduct a comprehensive review of the evidence about the at-risk groups which should be included in the NHS flu vaccination programme.”

(BMcN/GK)