News
Local public health services given £200 million boost
Local communities up and down the country will receive funding for family and school nurses, sexual health clinics and other public health services in their areas, through a boost of nearly £200 million in funding. As part of government plans to improve health outcomes across the country and build healthier communities, local public health services will be given more money to deliver prevention programmes, tailored to their residents. This investment is a key part of the government’s Plan for Change, shifting the focus from hospital to community and from sickness to prevention. The funding for public health will power essential services such as smoking cessation programmes, addiction recovery, family and school nurses, sexual health clinics, local health protection services and public health support for local NHS services. Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Andrew
Gwynne, said: “Lord Darzi’s investigation into the NHS found that children are sicker today than a decade ago, and adults are falling into ill-health earlier in life. Prevention is better than cure. If we can reach people earlier and help them stay healthy, this extra investment will pay for itself several times over in reduced demand on the NHS and by keeping people in work. Whether it’s supporting people to quit smoking, giving children a healthy start to life, or providing addiction recovery services, this
investment as part of the government’s Plan for Change will make a real difference in communities across the country.” Responding to the announcement, Adam Briggs,
Senior Policy Fellow at the Health Foundation, said: “This public health grant announcement is a welcome first step in putting prevention back at the heart of the government’s agenda and one we have long called for. Investment in prevention provides significant value for money and the public health grant supports vital services that improve health and tackle health inequalities within local communities. “The funding means an increase of 3% in real
terms from 2024/25. However, we are still waiting for separate grant funding for drug and alcohol treatment to be confirmed, so we can’t yet see the full picture. Moreover, this allocation is still 26% smaller in real terms per person than in 2015/16. Further restoring the public health grant to 2015/16 levels in the future would help counter declines in healthy life expectancy and reduce inequalities. Over the past decade, there will have been cuts of 32% to sexual health services, 25% to drug and alcohol services and 25% for services that support 0–5-year-olds, including health visitors. Councils are also in desperate need of multi-year funding settlements instead of single-year allocations, and this announcement will leave little time for effective planning before the new financial year.”
Groundbreaking Ebola vaccination trial
In a global first, Uganda’s Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners have launched a first-ever clinical efficacy trial for a vaccine from Ebola from the Sudan species of the virus, and at an unprecedented speed for a randomised vaccine trial, in an emergency. This is the first trial to assess the clinical efficacy
of a vaccine against Ebola Sudan virus disease. IAVI, the provider of the vaccine, conducted trials for safety and immunogenicity. It is also the first clinical trial of the vaccine during an outbreak. “This is a critical achievement towards better pandemic preparedness, and saving lives when outbreaks occur,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s Director-General. “This is possible because of the dedication of Uganda’s health workers, the involvement of communities, the Ministry of Health of Uganda, Makerere University and UVRI, and research efforts led by WHO involving hundreds of scientists through our research and development Filoviruses network.
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We thank our partners for their dedication and cooperation, from IAVI for donating the vaccine, to CEPI, EU HERA and Canada’s IDRC for funding, and Africa CDC for further support. This massive achievement would simply not be possible without them.”
Although several promising candidate medical
countermeasures are progressing through clinical development, as of now, there is no licensed vaccine available to effectively combat a potential future outbreak of Ebola disease from the Sudan species of the virus. Licensed vaccines exist only for the disease caused by Ebola virus, formerly known as Zaïre ebolavirus. Likewise for treatments, approved treatments are only available for Ebola virus. The vaccine for the trial was recommended
by the independent WHO candidate vaccine prioritisation working group. If the candidate vaccine is effective, it can contribute to controlling the outbreak and generate data for vaccine licensure.
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Icon Group takes steps to strengthen UK cancer care
Icon Group, a leading provider of integrated cancer care services across Australia, New Zealand and Asia, has recently entered the UK and is aiming to take another significant step towards improving cancer care with the establishment of its European Board Committee. The committee aims to support Icon’s ambition to bring significant expertise in cutting-edge radiotherapy and chemotherapy compounding to collaborations with the NHS and independent UK healthcare providers. This builds on Icon’s successful entry
into the UK via the acquisition of Pharmaxo Group, a leading UK pharmaceutical specialist manufacturer and clinical homecare provider, and Nuffield Health’s Cancer Centre London (CCL). The committee brings together proven and respected healthcare leaders including: Lord Patrick Carter, Founder of Westminster Health Care, and Dr. Keith Ridge, CBE, the Former Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, for 16 years. Icon Group CEO, Mark Middleton OAM, said the formation of the European Committee is a significant milestone in the Group’s mission. “It’s a pivotal step in our mission to deliver the best care possible to more patients, closer to home,” Mark said. “Icon Group is a key cancer care provider in Australia with 50% of our cancer centres located in regional and outer- metropolitan areas and strong government partnerships. “These centres have introduced innovative,
world-class technologies locally, eliminating the need for long distance travel and radical surgeries where more non-invasive treatments can deliver better patient outcomes. We’ve seen real success in these cross-sector models and look forward to leveraging our expertise alongside this committee and local healthcare leadership to deliver greater access and positive outcomes for communities across the UK.” “Post-COVID, we are seeing more late cancer diagnoses, and our current systems are grappling with the complexity and demand,” Lord Carter said. “This committee brings together healthcare leaders to focus on innovations and collaborations that will improve the accessibility of cancer care and patient outcomes.” Dr. Keith Ridge CBE aded: “ I look forward to working closely with the committee and the NHS as we collectively advocate for improvements in cancer care for patients.”
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