Health and Wellbeing Policy News 5th - 12th June 2016 - Adrian Barker

This week's health and wellbeing policy news is available here.  A few of the more impactful items of the week are:

• The performance of the NHS in England improved slightly in April, but it remains under considerable pressure (9th)

• The United Nations Committee on the rights of the child says that UK austerity and welfare policies are disproportionately affecting poorer children so increasing inequality, with some policies undermining their human rights.  Although the UK is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN committee's judgement is not binding (9th)

• The NHS workforce crisis of morale, created by staff shortages, disputes with the government and bullying, is potentially more significant than the NHS's financial pressures according to the Nuffield Trust, which says that if the psychological contract with care workers is broken, it could be very hard to repair (10th)

• The current shortage of anaesthetists is likely to get worse on current trends leading to longer term problems (particularly since it is not work for which other doctors can easily substitute) (12th)