The Times - UK (2022-06-08)

12 2GM Wednesday June 8 2022 | the times

News

Sajid Javid has labelled the NHS a
“Blockbuster healthcare system in the
age of Netflix” and vowed to introduce
the “biggest shake-up in health and
social care leadership in a generation”.
Speaking before the publication of a
review of the NHS by General Sir
Gordon Messenger, Javid, the health
secretary, said “it was no longer simply
an option to stick to the status quo”.
The review highlights “institutional
inadequacy” in leadership, and recom-
mends that appraisals take into account
behaviour as well as achievements.
Javid said he would accept all the
review’s recommendations. “The find-
ings in this report are stark. It shows ex-
amples of great leadership but also
where we need to urgently improve,” he
said. “We must only accept the highest
standards in health and care — culture
and leadership can be the difference
between life and death.”
Good NHS leaders will be offered
golden handshakes to move to

trusts in roles covering “equality, diver-

sity and inclusion”, up from 78 last year.

Javid also likened the NHS to the

defunct video rental store Blockbuster

operating in a world dominated by Net-

flix and other streaming services.

Javid later told the health select com-

mittee: “I have talked many times about

the importance of modernising the

NHS. The NHS is absolutely fantastic,

we all rely on it, but much of how it’s set

Black and Asian nurses miss out on
promotion because of “endemic” NHS
racism, according to a report.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN)
said its “deeply shocking” research
revealed that white nurses were twice
as likely as their ethnic minority col-
leagues to get promoted.
The report, which was based on a
survey of 10,000 nurses, found that
white nurses across all age groups were

Black and Asian nurses missing out on promotion

most likely to receive a promotion. The

difference was most stark among those

aged between 35 and 44, according to

the report published at the RCN’s

annual congress in Glasgow. It said 66

per cent of white or mixed-race nurses

in this age group had been promoted

since starting their career, compared

with 38 per cent of Asian and 35 per

cent of black respondents.

The survey also found that racism

and abuse was having a devastating

impact on ethnic minority staff. Black

nurses working in hospitals and in the

community were more likely to have

experienced physical abuse than those

of other ethnic backgrounds. Asian and

black nurses were also more likely to be

unpaid for their additional work than

respondents from a mixed-race or

white background.

The college called on the govern-

ment to take urgent action to tackle

structural racism within healthcare. It

said this should include a legal require-

ment to eliminate racial disparities in

recruitment and career progression.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive

of NHS Providers, said: “These impor-

tant findings are the latest in a long

string of evidence highlighting the un-

acceptable presence of structural

racism within our health and care

system.

“With the NHS facing a workforce

crisis, it has never been more important

to ensure that the NHS is a safe and fair

place to work for all its staff, regardless

of their protected characteristics.”

Eleanor Hayward Health Correspondent

In the age of Netflix the NHS is

more like Blockbuster, says Javid

Kat Lay Health Editor struggling trusts, as part of support
packages to make sure “roles in chal-
lenged areas are seen as the best jobs
rather than the most feared jobs”.
A new induction programme will
instil “collective responsibility at every
level” for health and social care staff.
Last September, when briefing Tory
MPs about the national insurance rise
for health and social care, Javid said he
would be “watchful for any waste or
wokery” from the NHS.
Following the publication of the re-
port last night, he said: “In my view,
there are already too many working in
roles focused solely on diversity and
inclusion — and, at a time when our
constituents are facing real pressures
around cost of living, we must spend
every penny on patients’ priorities.
“As this report sets out, it should be
the responsibility of everyone to
encourage fairness and equality of
opportunity, which is why we must
reduce the number of these roles.”
The Daily Mail reported that 155 staff
were employed across 40 acute NHS

up is still very much 1948. We need to be

thinking about... how we get from here

to the needs of the British population

when it comes to health in 2048.”

Messenger’s review said that in parts

of the health system, “acceptance of dis-

crimination, bullying, blame cultures

and responsibility avoidance has

almost become normalised”. He said:

“My conclusion from that is that it is a

symptom of the pressures that exist in

the workplace. But it’s also a symptom

that an understanding of what are

acceptable behaviours ... isn’t perhaps

consistently applied across the board.”

Messenger said a focus on targets

alone created pressures that corroded

the atmosphere at work and harmed

patients or service users. “A number of

times since I started this review. I’ve

seen negative outcomes as a result of

over-fixation on metrics and targets.”

The review, also led by Dame Linda

Pollard, chairwoman of Leeds Teach-

ing Hospital Trust, was commissioned

last October and will be shared with

parliament today.

The NHS workforce

Professionally qualified clinical staff

Support to clinical staff

Managers

Other

645,

376,

35,

163,

Data for full-time

equivalent staff

Source: NHS England

There were 35,000 managers and

senior managers employed by the

NHS in January 2022

Doctors must

alert councils

to monkeypox

Rhys Blakely Science Correspondent

Doctors in England will be required to

notify their local council if they suspect

a patient has monkeypox, under new

regulations aimed at curbing the spread

of the disease.

Laboratories will also have to notify

the UK Health Security Agency

(UKHSA) if they identify the virus in

any sample that is analysed.

The requirements will come into

effect today after legislation was intro-

duced to make monkeypox one of

several dozen “notifiable diseases”.

As of Sunday, 302 cases had been

detected in the UK, with 287 in

England, ten in Scotland, two in North-

ern Ireland and three in Wales.

The UKHSA has said that the risk

posed by monkeypox to the general

population remains low because the

virus does not spread easily.

The agency said last week that

investigations have identified that the

virus has links in the UK and abroad to

gay bars, saunas and the use of dating

apps. “Investigations continue but

currently no single factor or exposure

that links the cases has been identified,”

it added.

The first British monkeypox patient

to speak to the media criticised the UK

Health Security Agency claiming that

the body responsible for tracking and

tracing the contagious virus did not

contact him until he spoke out.

James McFadzean, 35, who was diag-

nosed on May 28, told TalkTV: “Funni-

ly enough, (the UKHSA did not contact

me) until 10 minutes ago after my story

broke... That kind of seems farcical

because every day I’ve been calling my

clinic, trying to get someone to call me

so we can do contract tracing so we can

identify other people at risk.”

Garden of Eden Fifty thousand blooms have been used to produce 60 flower arrangements at the Festival of Flowers in Chichester Cathedral, which opens today

ANDREW MATTHEWS/PA

Anorexia may

badly shrink

parts of brain

Tom Whipple Science Editor

People with anorexia have “sizeable re-

ductions” in parts of the brain, accord-

ing to a study of 2,000 sufferers.

One of the researchers involved said

that the work — the largest of its kind

— should be a “wake-up call” showing

that people with the eating disorder

needed early intervention.

“The brain changes were more

severe than in any other psychiatric

condition we have studied,” said Paul

Thompson, professor of neurology at

the University of Southern California.

However, the study showed that

those recovering from anorexia ap-

peared to experience some reversal,

suggesting changes are not permanent.

The findings, published in the journal

Biological Psychiatry, appeared to show

that the condition, which affects a

quarter of a million Britons, was asso-

ciated with larger structural differences

in the brain than conditions such as

depression, ADHD or OCD, possibly

because of the physiological effects of

starvation.

Dr Esther Walton, from the Univers-

ity of Bath and the lead researcher on

the study, said: “We found that the large

reductions in brain structure were less

noticeable in patients on the path to re-

covery. With the right treatment, the

brain might be able to bounce back.”