IN BRIEF A guide explaining how the NHS handles, stores and shares confidential health data has been launched for people in England living with HIV. The short booklet explains patients’ rights in relation to their records and gives advice on how to raise concerns. It was developed after a survey by the National AIDS Trust revealed more than half of HIV patients have never received any written information about their right to confidentiality. Go to: tinyurl.com/HIVconfidentiality More than 75,000 families have signed up to a Public Health England campaign to encourage children to be more active during the summer holidays. The 10 Minute Shake Up campaign, launched last week, aims to help children complete the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day to keep them healthy. Just one in five children aged five to ten currently meets this target. Eye tests could be used to detect early stage Alzheimer’s, research suggests. Trials of two different techniques show that a key Alzheimer’s biomarker can be identified in the retina and lens of the eye, the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference heard in Copenhagen last week. Doug Brown, director of research and development at the Alzheimer’s Society, said that finding new ways to detect the disease at an early stage could be a ‘game changer’. Migrants are to be charged one-and-a-half times the cost of their NHS treatment in a bid to curb ‘health tourism’. Under plans that could bring in £500 million a year to the NHS, migrants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) will soon be charged an additional 50 per cent for any health care they receive in the UK. A new £353 million hospital is to be built in the West Midlands after being given the green light by chancellor George Osborne. The 670-bed Midland Metropolitan Hospital, part of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, will be built with public and private sector funding, starting in 2016. It is expected to open in 2019. Cooling newborn babies who experience a lack of oxygen during birth can significantly reduce their chances of developing cerebral palsy and other disabilities, a study has revealed. Research by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Oxford University and Imperial College London found that 51.7 per cent of infants treated with hypothermia survived with an IQ of 85 or above, which is considered to be within the normal range, compared with 39.4 per cent of those treated with standard care. The number of cases handled by out-of-hours GP services in England has fallen from an estimated 8.6 million in 2007/08 to 5.8 million in 2013/14, according to figures from the National Audit Office. It said the fall is partly explained by the introduction of the NHS 111 telephone service, which replaced NHS Direct from 2013.

ANTENATAL AND POSTNATAL UPDATE Healthcare workers should give additional support to women with a history of mental health problems who are considering having a baby, according to new guidance. The draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said staff should discuss the use of contraception with patients with a history of mental health issues. Patients should be told how pregnancy and childbirth might affect a mental health problem, including the risk of relapse. The guidance also covers how to care for women during and after pregnancy. Depression and anxiety are the most common mental health problems during pregnancy and in the first year after childbirth, with up to 20 per cent of women experiencing symptoms at some point. Royal College of Midwives quality and audit development adviser Jane Munro welcomed the guidance, and said women with mental health problems are not receiving the ‘right levels of care’. The draft guidance is open to consultation until August 27. Go to tinyurl.com/m5jqqpf

Nurse-led online service helps prostate worries Charity Prostate Cancer UK has launched a nurse-led online support service to encourage men to confront their health worries. The live chat service allows men living with or worried about prostate cancer to log on to an instant messaging system on the Prostate Cancer UK website and talk to one of the charity’s specialist nurses. It was launched following a survey of 1,700 men by the charity, which revealed that half would go online for information before booking an appointment with their GP if they were concerned about a health issue. In a three-month trial, nurses gave advice to more than 160 people. Prostate Cancer UK clinical lead and nurse Karen Sumpter said: ‘Our live chat service will help us reach more men by giving them an easier way to talk with us about difficult issues. ‘More than 40,000 men are diagnosed with the disease every year in the UK. Yet men are notoriously bad at talking about their health, particularly to health professionals.’ Go to tinyurl.com/mynxhqh

12 july 23 :: vol 28 noRCNi.com 47 :: 2014by ${individualUser.displayName} on Jul 20, 2016. For personal use only. No NURSING STANDARD Downloaded from other uses without permission. Copyright © 2016 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.