Seven days in medicine: 20-26 Nov 2019
BMJ 2019; 367 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l6680 (Published 28 November 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;367:l6680
Social care
Deaths while waiting for support are “shameful”
In the 30 months from the last to the upcoming election an estimated 74 000 people will have died while waiting for social care in England, Age UK reported, equivalent to 81 people a day or three an hour. It estimates that 1.7 million unmet requests for care and support will have been made by older people from 8 June 2017 to 12 December 2019. Caroline Abrahams, Age UK director, called the statistics “shameful” and emphasised that social care was not a “nice to have” option but a “fundamental service.” (Full story doi:10.1136/bmj.l6653)
Cervical screening
Number tested rises slightly
Of the women in England aged 25 to 64 who were eligible for cervical cancer screening in 2018-19, 71.9% had an adequate test.1 This is up 0.5 percentage points on the previous year from 71.4%, showed figures from NHS Digital. Altogether, 4.41 million women were invited for screening (down 1% on 2017-18), and 3.43 million were tested (up 7.7% on 2017-18).
Swine flu vaccine
Case of Irish student with narcolepsy is settled
A legal claim against GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the Irish state by Aoife Bennett, who developed severe narcolepsy after being vaccinated against swine flu with Pandemrix at 16, was settled in the Irish High Court for an undisclosed sum without admission of liability by either …
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