In the news w/e 2 August

Your media headlines roundup, week ending 2 August…

Plans for supermarket and retirement home revealed to councillors
Saffron Walden Reporter – 26 July 2019
A Lidl superstore, retirement apartments and an 80-bed care home could be moving in to a former packaging site in Saffron Walden. Read the full story.

Stansted Airport passengers left stranded after international flights are cancelled in heatwave
Essex Live – 26 July 2019
Passengers at London Stansted Airport have been stranded at the Essex airport after a number of international flights were cancelled. Read the full story.

Allergy death mum’s plea to schools to save lives
BBC Health – 26 July 2019
The death of a boy after a severe allergic reaction at school is being investigated by the Health and Safety Executive, the BBC has learned. Read the full story.

Cannabis oil: Girl’s medicine confiscated at Stansted Airport
BBC Health – 27 July 2019
The mother of a girl with epilepsy said her child is at risk of “becoming comatose” after her medical cannabis oils were seized at a UK airport. Read the full story.

Exclusive: Capital billions promised by ministers fail to reach ‘front line’
HSJ – 30 July 2019
Only a fraction of the £2.5bn of capital funding announced and allocated by the government for the NHS since 2017 has actually been released to the service. Email for the full story.

Ear ‘tickling’ therapy could ‘help thwart ageing’
BBC News – 30 July 2019
Tickling the ear with a small electric current could rebalance the nervous system in over-55s and help them age more healthily, research suggests. Read the full story.

Pensions crisis leading to outsourcing to Australia, warns union
HSJ – 29 July 2019
The NHS pensions crisis is forcing trusts to outsource elective work at a “significantly higher cost” and rely on expensive locums to cover vacancies, a doctors’ union has warned. Email for the full story.

Emma Willis: “I have footage of my babies coming out, and I watch it frequently”
Virgin – 29 July 2019
The TV presenter tells Georgia Humphreys about the second series of Emma Willis: Delivering Babies. Read the full story.

Saffron Walden MP earns promotion to ministerial post
Saffron Walden Reporter – 29 July 2019
Saffron Walden MP Kemi Badenoch has landed a ministerial role in the Department for Education, it was confirmed on Sunday. Read the full story.

Drug-resistant superbug spreading in Europe’s hospitals
BBC News – 29 July 2019
Superbugs resistant to emergency antibiotics are spreading in hospitals, a Europe-wide study shows. Read the full story.

‘Pack children’s medicines in your hand luggage’
BBC News – 27 July 2019
Medications for children should be placed in hand luggage on a flight in case they become ill during the journey, a new study suggests. Read the full story.

Home births at risk as midwife service collapses
BBC News – 31 July 2019
Women across the north-west of England and in Essex have been affected after One to One announced it was withdrawing the services it provided for the NHS. The company said the contracts it had did not pay enough to make the service financially viable. Read the full story.

Community services get largest chunk of LTP funding
HSJ – 30 July 2019
According to the plan, the area gaining the biggest increases in investment will be adult community services, which is set to receive £975m in additional recurrent funding by 2023-24. Budgets for children’s and young people’s services will be uplifted by £904m over the same period. Email for the full story.

Two private hospitals placed in special measures
HSJ – 30 July 2019
Kneesworth House in Hertfordshire and Priory Hospital Blandford in Dorset both rated “inadequate”. Kneesworth House – which was downgraded from an overall “good” rating – provides inpatient care for people with acute mental health problems, locked and open rehabilitation services, and forensic services. Email for the full story.

Everything we know as One to One Midwives withdraws Essex services
Harwich and Manningtree Standard – 30 July 2019
A hospital trust will step into the breach to help mums-to-be who were left without a midwife when a company went into administration. One to One Midwives will cease operating tomorrow with 280 mums across Colchester and Clacton affected. Read the full story.

England failing to tackle alcohol ‘epidemic’, say researchers
BBC News – 30 July 2019
People with drink problems in England are less than half as likely to receive the right help as those in Scotland and Wales. More than £100m has been cut since services in England were reorganised in 2012, the study found. Read the full story.

When was your GP surgery last inspected?
Your Harlow – 29 July 2019
LAST week we attended the annual general meeting (age) of the West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Read the full story.

Harlow’s Princess Alexandra Hospital ‘requires improvement’
BBC Health – 31 July 2019
A hospital has been criticised for a lack of “sufficient and suitably qualified staff” by inspectors. Read the full story.

County council in bid to tackle loneliness in Essex communities
Saffron Walden Reporter – 31 July 2019
The council says it wants to work with residents to find ways to better connect people to create “a sense of belonging”. Read the full story.

Kidney condition detected in minutes by app
BBC Health – 1 August 2019
A mobile phone app has speeded up the detection of a potentially fatal kidney condition in hospital patients. Read the full story.

Exclusive: Trust bosses back threatened four-hour target
HSJ – 31 July 2019
More than seven in 10 hospital trust board members want to retain the four-hour accident and emergency target, despite NHS England proposals suggesting it could be ditched next year, an exclusive HSJ survey has found. Email for the full story.

Twenty big NHS building projects that need Boris’ cash
HSJ – 1 August 2019
With the new prime minister poised to announce NHS building projects, HSJ has identified 20 of the most significant hospital infrastructure schemes that require big injections of capital funding, often to address pressing problems with care quality. Email for the full story.

Uttlesford councillors vote to declare climate emergency
Saffron Walden Reporter – 1 August 2019
Uttlesford District Council has declared a climate emergency and committed to achieve net-zero carbon status by 2030. Read the full story.

Listeria outbreak: Toll rises to six as Sussex patient dies
BBC Health – 1 August 2019
The latest death is one of nine previously confirmed cases linked to Good Food Chain products. There are no new linked cases, Public Heath England said. Read the full story.

Birth rate in England and Wales hits record low
BBC Health – 1 August 2019
The birth rate in England and Wales – measured as a proportion of the total population – hit a new low in 2018, according to the Office for National Statistics. Read the full story.

AI may help to spot heart problems
BBC Health – 2 August 2019
A new way of identifying a common condition that causes the heart to beat irregularly may have been discovered by artificial intelligence. Read the full story.