Media Monitoring: 12 – 18 September

Layla Moran has been elected unopposed as Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee. The result was announced in the Chamber by Mr Speaker.
She will take her position as chair of the committee when the remaining members of the committee have been appointed by the House.

In this blog post, UKHSA explores the methods used by our teams which help them to monitor the spread of mpox and determine the counter measures needed if they see cases of clade I mpox in the UK.

New AI technology can detect early signs of more than 1,000 diseases, long before there are any symptoms, according to new research.
The computer algorithm, called MILTON, analyses patient test results commonly collected by GPs to detect patterns in the data – and predict with high confidence a disease diagnosis many years later.
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, which developed the artificial intelligence tool, said it will accelerate the development of more effective and targeted treatments.
But it is also making the data freely available to other researchers, who could develop diagnostic tests that allow early preventative treatment to stop diseases in their tracks.

The United Kingdom, United States and Australia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a new trilateral collaboration that will strengthen strategic cooperation and address risks to critical supply chains.
The MoU includes the establishment of the Australia-United Kingdom-United States Supply Chain Resilience Cooperation Group to cooperate on data sharing and joint action to build resilience in priority supply chains, enhancing our mutual ability to identify and address risks, threats and disruption to our critical supply chains.
Strengthening critical supply chains is vital for ensuring the stability and resilience needed to meet the UK’s growth mission. This agreement signifies a deepening of the important and historic relationship between the UK, US, and Australia and reinforces our mutual commitment to tackling supply chains challenges.

The UK has reached an important milestone in its support for research and innovation with £2 billion in Horizon Europe guarantee funding.
The Horizon Europe guarantee funding has gone to UK-based researchers, innovators and businesses tackling everything from studying bacteria in waters to artificial intelligence (AI) combating drug trafficking.
The milestone reflects the UK’s commitment to maintaining its role in global research and innovation, as well as ambitions for an improved and ambitious relationship with European partners.

People who have lost a relative to pancreatic cancer can check their risk of getting the disease with a new first-of-its-kind tool.
Because pancreatic cancer is very difficult to diagnose at an early stage, it has a poor survival rate. It has the lowest survival rate of all common cancers, with more than half of people dying within three months of diagnosis.
The Family History Checker will help to identify people with inherited risk of the disease and refer them for regular monitoring – giving them the best chance of being diagnosed early.

Progress has been made to address the issue of antimicrobial resistance. But more needs to be done to turn evidence from research findings into policy and action.
There have been several strategies to minimise the impact of antimicrobial resistance.
These include AMR global and national action plans, research reports on surveillance and epidemiology, community engagement and research and development to discover new antibiotics.

Up to 11,000 patients may have received incorrect test results – including being misdiagnosed as diabetic – due to an equipment error at a trust, HSJ has learned.

New activity targets set for community diagnostic centres this month will not be met on current staffing levels, experts have warned.