Media Monitoring: 3 – 9 October

A new NHS report has indicated that successful pivots in prevention spend could benefit the UK by up to £22bn per year.
The report comes from the NHS Confederation in collaboration with Carnall Farrar and analyses how better targeting existing prevention spending could result in major returns.
The research has a more conservative estimate of an extra £11bn of impact – this is based on the £5bn of current spending on the public health grant.

Investing just £1 more per person in women’s health services like obstetrics and gynaecology could generate an estimated £319m for the economy in England, according to a major new NHS report.
This constitutes an 11-fold return of investment for every £1 extra invested in women’s health, according to the analysis conducted by the NHS Confederation, Create Health Foundation, and London Economics.

The latest HIV surveillance data for 2023, published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) today, show that the number of heterosexual men and women newly diagnosed in England with HIV has increased by more than 30% since 2022.
Diagnoses among heterosexual men rose by 36% (445 in 2022 to 605 in 2023) and among heterosexual women by 30% (602 in 2022 to 780 in 2023).
The rise in cases was steepest for ethnic minority heterosexuals (excluding white ethnic minorities) with a 45% rise seen in this group compared to the previous year.

In a significant advancement for point-of-care medical diagnostics, a team of researchers from UCLA has introduced a deep learning-enhanced, paper-based vertical flow assay (VFA) capable of detecting cardiac troponin I (cTnI) with high sensitivity.
The innovative assay holds the potential to democratize access to rapid and reliable cardiac diagnostics, particularly in resource-limited settings.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the first mpox in vitro diagnostic (IVD) under its Emergency Use Listing (EUL) procedure, an important step in improving global access to mpox testing.
The approval for emergency use of the Alinity m MPXV assay, manufactured by Abbott Molecular Inc., will be pivotal in expanding diagnostic capacity in countries facing mpox outbreaks, where the need for quick and accurate testing has risen sharply. Early diagnosis of mpox enables timely treatment and care, and control of the virus.

Biosynex and the Company Chemists’ Association have teamed up to produce this report on ways that community pharmacy can improve diabetes screening and prevention.

Women with “worrying” lumps in their breasts will be referred directly to specialist clinics through the NHS app as part of plans to slash paperwork for GPs.
The move was announced by Health Secretary Wes Streeting in an address to family doctors at the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) annual conference in Liverpool on Friday.
The pilot scheme, which will begin next month in Somerset, forms part of Government plans to get patients referred to specialists faster.

Analysis of finance reports by HSJ suggests that integrated care systems have burned through almost all of their annual deficit targets within the first four months of the year.
The findings mount more pressure on the Chancellor as health sector leaders call for more funding. Siva Anandaciva of the King’s Fund warned the “rapid” deterioration in finances could necessitate cuts to staffing lest Rachel Reeves outlines further NHS investment.
A collective deficit of £2 billion was recorded for the four months to August, despite £2.2 billion planned for by the end of the 2024/25 financial year. A quarter of local NHS bodies have neared or surpassed their full-year deficit, including North East London ICS, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICS and Humber and North Yorkshire ICSs.