NHS cash boost ‘unravelled’

The government's promise of a £3.8bn financial boost for the NHS in England next year has "unravelled", the BBC reported the Labour Party said.

The above-inflation cash injection represents a rise of nearly 4% on NHS England's £101bn front-line budget.

But Labour said the money would be swallowed up covering hospital deficits - which are expected to reach £2bn this year - and higher pension costs.

The government said Labour's assumptions were wrong.

NHS tune in running to top festive charts

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS trust choir’s A Bridge Over You is in second position behind Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself, the Guardian has reported.

The coveted Christmas No 1 slot has been taken by a collection of good, bad and downright awful songs over the years – but this year a surprise contender is in the running.

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS trust choir’s A Bridge Over You, a reworking of Coldplay’s Fix You and Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, may yet reach the top spot this festive season.

Care home concerns report published

An independent report that highlights a number of key concerns in relation to the use of medicines in care homes in Great Britain has been published by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

The report identifies a number of issues relating to safe medicines management in care homes including prescribing, dispensing, administrating and monitoring medicines.

It draws principally on the review of existing evidence and literature, some limited data as well as information from a discussion seminar.

Seven-day NHS plans set out

A quarter of England’s population should have access to some seven-day services in acute hospitals in only 15 months, the Guardian has reported.

NHS leaders also laid out their ambition for a fifth of people to have better week-round access to GPs and other primary care by March 2017.

Other “must-dos” include returning to meeting key targets that demand 95% of patients wait for less than four hours in A&E and all ambulance trusts respond to75% of immediately life-threatening calls within eight minutes.