{"id":441,"date":"2023-06-07T08:27:09","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T07:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/?p=441"},"modified":"2023-06-07T08:27:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T07:27:09","slug":"health-news-june-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/06\/07\/health-news-june-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Health News &#8211; June 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Trusting that you\u2019re keeping well, welcome to your spring into summer enlightening health news newsletter! With the football season hanging up its boots for another season, as that terribly English game of cricket takes central sports stage for the next quarter, the sunshine looks to be here to stay for the whole of June. So, no reason for not enjoying your garden &amp;\/or getting out into nature allowing the biophilic effects to positively affect your health and wellbeing. Enjoy these cherry-picked articles from the past few weeks :-<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#4472c4\" class=\"has-inline-color\">21<sup>ST<\/sup> <em>The Guardian<\/em> \u2013<\/mark> <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#70ad47\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Nurses in England offered \u2018golden hellos\u2019 as trusts try to ease staff crisis<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Nurses in parts of England are being offered \u201cgolden hellos\u201d of up to \u00a34,500 to work in the <em>NHS<\/em> \u2013 and not quit \u2013 amid fierce competition for staff. As the government and the <em>Royal College of Nursing<\/em> remain in deadlock over pay, some <em>NHS <\/em>trusts desperate to fill posts have launched their own schemes to attract and retain recruits. The incentives \u2013 which include bonuses staggered over two years and relocation packages of up to \u00a38,000 \u2013 vary by area and come as the health service grapples with critical shortages and high staff turnover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One trust, <em>Cheshire and Wirral Partnership,<\/em> which provides services to 2 million patients in the north-west, is offering \u00a34,500 bonus to nurses joining its mental health and learning disability teams. The money is paid in three instalments &#8211; \u00a31,500 on accepting a post, \u00a31,500 after 12 months and \u00a31,500 after two years \u2013 on condition that all of it is repaid if they leave within six months, and 50% repaid if they leave within a year. The trust is also offering up to \u00a38,000 to clinical staff joining the trust who live more than 40 miles away and need to relocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Leeds and York Partnership, <\/em>which provides mental health and learning disability services, is offering a \u00a31,000 \u201cgolden hello\u201d to experienced nursing staff joining its older people\u2019s inpatient team. The trust said it offered financial incentives for \u201cdifficult to recruit\u201d roles and worked with local partners to ensure payments did not put it an advantage over neighbouring trusts. At nearby <em>Humber Teaching NHS foundation trust,<\/em> new band-five nurses are offered a \u201cnon-recurrent \u00a33,000 golden hello\u201d regardless of speciality, according to a notice on its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>NHS<\/em> trusts in <em>Cambridge, Essex <\/em>and<em> Hertfordshire<\/em> are also offering incentives. In the capital, <em>West London NHS<\/em> trust is offering a \u00a33,000 bonus paid over a year to mental health nurses taking up jobs with a starting salary of \u00a325,655, according to a current job listing. The payments, which are decided locally at each trust\u2019s discretion, come amid the dispute between the government and the <em>RCN. <\/em>While most health unions accepted the government\u2019s pay offer of a 5% rise and one-off payment for <em>NHS<\/em> workers earlier this month, the <em>RCN<\/em> did not. Its members will now vote on whether to hold another six months of industrial action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Patricia Marquis, <\/em>the <em>RCN\u2019s director for England<\/em>, said the offer of \u201cad-hoc local financial incentives\u201d by <em>NHS<\/em> trusts was a \u201cdesperate\u201d measure that would not solve the workforce crisis. \u201cWhile it may help to attract nurses to those trusts deciding to do this, it is simply moving the problem from one trust to the next and creating a false sense of security that does not address the real problem,\u201d she said. \u201cThe <em>NHS <\/em>needs a national solution to the national nursing workforce crisis \u2013 and that\u2019s fair pay for nursing.\u201d <em>Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers<\/em>, which represents <em>NHS<\/em> services employing 1.2 million staff in England, said trusts were forced to use the incentives by high vacancy rates and \u201cstaff reporting high levels of burnout. Trust leaders need to put patient safety first, often forcing them to consider a range of staffing options including recruitment incentives, expensive agency staffing and international recruitment to plug gaps in rotas\u201d, she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the year to June 2022, 40,365 <em>NHS<\/em> nurses in <em>England <\/em>left active service \u2013 equivalent to one in nine, according to the <em>Nuffield Trust.&nbsp; NHS Digital <\/em>data shows that of those, about 15,000 nurses resigned, with 4,000 citing work-life balance as the reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#4472c4\" class=\"has-inline-color\">22<sup>nd<\/sup> amii &#8211; <\/mark><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#70ad47\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Welcomes new private healthcare booking system<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We welcome the news that patients will soon be able to use the <em>NHS<\/em> app to opt for private hospital treatment. The push to reduce waiting times relies on more patients opting to use private healthcare, so the move is aimed at making life as easy as possible for those considering a private alternative for their routine treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>amii<\/em> hopes that the news will help private healthcare providers play their part in reducing the <em>NHS<\/em> waiting list, utilising the capacity in the sector and supporting a healthier population. Our <em>executive chairman Dave Middleton<\/em> said: \u201cIt is pleasing to see steps being taken to support further collaboration between the <em>NHS<\/em> and the private sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt a time when the <em>NHS<\/em> is under unrelenting pressure, the government has recognised that making the process easier for patients who are open to private healthcare is a key factor in reducing waiting times for routine treatment. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing further details of how it will work in practice for our members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#4472c4\" class=\"has-inline-color\">12<sup>th<\/sup> City AM \u2013 <\/mark><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#70ad47\" class=\"has-inline-color\">The NHS crisis has a long tail, private GPs should become the norm for firms&nbsp;<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>NHS waiting lists are not going to disappear anytime soon, but the health of the workforce is crucial to the economy. Businesses should make private GPs and other healthcare a standard offering, writes Brett Hill.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This summer, the<em> NHS<\/em> will celebrate its 75<sup>th<\/sup> birthday in the throes of a crisis. The public health service can no longer guarantee the health of the country\u2019s workforce \u2013 and businesses, perversely, are both bearing the brunt of this whilst offering the government a route out of the current crisis. The deterioration of the health of the <em>UK <\/em>and its workforce can be found everywhere you look. Official <em>NHS <\/em>waiting lists have surged past seven million \u2013 an increase of around 3 million compared to before the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, one in five (21 per cent) adults are currently waiting for some form of <em>NHS<\/em> care \u2013 whether that is for an appointment, a referral, a test or to start receiving treatment \u2013 according to a recent <em>ONS<\/em> study. That\u2019s 11 million adults unable to access timely healthcare, 7 million of whom are \u201cpersistent waiters.\u201d Outside of the <em>NHS<\/em>, the ripples of this health and wellbeing crisis are now beginning to reach businesses in <em>London<\/em> and across the country. Over 2.5 million people are reported economically inactive due to long-term sickness \u2013 a number that has surged by over 150,000 in just the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the damaging consequences of an unhealthy workforce on productivity were exposed by recent data, which uncovered that over 185 million working days were lost because of sickness or injury in 2022. It marked the highest number on record and a significant increase from the pre-pandemic level of 138 million in 2019. The <em>UK<\/em> needs to tackle this public health crisis urgently before its debilitating effect on global competitiveness, productivity and growth becomes embedded and engenders further economic damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is where businesses can \u2013 and should \u2013 play an integral role. That is because companies are increasingly recognising that they must support the health, and the wealth, of the nation if they are to protect their own bottom line and future growth prospects. Given this, it is little surprise that employer healthcare is now a C-suite issue \u2013 a matter that is absolutely mission critical to achieving growth and success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeremy Hunt spent a significant amount of his focus in the spring budget on occupational health and its impact on the business community. It is encouraging the government acknowledges the place of the <em>NHS <\/em>not just to fulfil the mission critical role of keeping the country healthy, but to enable our workers to do their jobs. But this crisis, clearly, has a long tail. This means in the medium term it is businesses role to fill the gap. They can\u2019t simply delegate responsibility to Downing Street. By taking steps like offering private healthcare options, implementing occupational health strategies and providing digital <em>GP<\/em> services, businesses can improve their employees\u2019 access to healthcare.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It means that employees can receive earlier diagnoses and treatment, preventing long-term absences that can arise from health conditions becoming more complex or severe when left untreated, forcing staff to take time off work. A structure that proactively supports employees before they become unwell will help to safeguard businesses from having to grapple with crippling staffing shortages, costly recurring hiring processes or significant declines in productivity. To compliment the efforts of government and employers, the surge in demand for private healthcare in recent years is driving a burst in innovation from insurers and other service providers to ensure that these employee benefits can be offered at good value for both corporates and workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the short to mid-term future for the <em>NHS<\/em> may be bleak, an increasing focus on wellbeing in the workplace could be driving a permanent re-alignment in how we think about healthcare in this country. It is time for businesses to recognise this change and get ahead of the game before they lose competitive advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#4472c4\" class=\"has-inline-color\">5<sup>th<\/sup> Jan Forbes \u2013 <\/mark><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#70ad47\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Control Your Tech Before It Controls You<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In today\u2019s world, as business leaders, it is more and more challenging to stay focused and in control of your work. As technology advances, the risks are also evolving. For example, how often did you look for a piece of information (like the name of someone) on social media and finally end up scrolling from post to post for hours? You (and your teams) can\u2019t afford this, as this distracts you from reaching your business goals. This article is about giving you the power of being \u201cindistractable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A while back, I met a brilliant young computer programmer who\u2019d had a strict upbringing and had never tried alcohol. In his 20s, he was accepted into a prestigious school in Paris, where he found parties with alcohol were almost unavoidable: They were routes to developing social ties with his classmates, joining working groups on subjects that interested him and making connections for future networking. After participating in a drinking game at one of these events, he came to value the social confidence alcohol gave him. He became a regular and heavy drinker, even drinking alone before social events to give him a boost. His behaviour on nights out became uncontrolled and inappropriate. Eventually, a family tragedy drove him to a closer and more destructive relationship with alcohol. He began constantly drinking, never leaving his house and lost his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coming from a culture where alcohol is forbidden, he had never learned to appreciate the subtleties of wine tasting or the historical and cultural importance of alcohol \u2013 only its ability to get him drunk. More importantly, he had not grown up knowing its dangers or how to consume it responsibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><u>Our Relationship With Technolgy<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In some ways, we\u2019re all like this in our relationship with our smartphones. They are new to us: We don\u2019t come from a culture with centuries of wisdom about using them responsibly (the iPhone was launched as recently as 2007). All we know is that they make it easier and more comfortable for us to socialize with others. But do we realize the risks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statistics show how much time we spend on our devices and how dependent we are on them. According to <em>Nielsen Research,<\/em> in 2018, the time Americans spent using computers and smartphones, watching TV and playing video games added up to over 11 hours per day, a number that has likely gone up since the pandemic. Earlier media, like movies, TV shows or magazines, have consumed our time and attention. But internet-era tech is more insidious because it\u2019s evolving so rapidly and because it\u2019s so tailored to its users. Tech companies harvest consumer data, including engagement metrics that show what attracts and keeps people\u2019s interest and what doesn\u2019t. Leveraging this, they keep people hooked and generate revenue from the ads they receive on their screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><u>The Hidden Costs &#8211;<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While technology helps bring people closer together socially, especially across long distances, it opens up a new world of issues.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><u>Distraction<\/u><\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People spend about five hours per day on their devices. Always-on technology can distract you and erode your ability to focus at work. You might pick up your device to look up something specific but end up losing hours to mindless scrolling or being distracted from your task by notifications and recommendations. This lost productivity can severely impact your career. In fact, smartphone use can interrupt your workflow and prevent you from achieving concentration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Addiction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people find it increasingly difficult to live without their phones or the internet, especially business leaders who need to be available and connected for most of the day. About 88% of Americans feel uneasy about leaving their phone at home when they go out. But according to recent research, internet addiction \u201cis a significant predictor of depression, anxiety, and stress in young people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><u>Technolgy As A Means, Not An End<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I use LinkedIn to share my interests and passions and promote my writing. It\u2019s a valuable tool for many professionals. But I started to find that chasing likes and followers had become an end in itself. My motivation had shifted from \u201csharing a passion with people\u201d to \u201cgetting more followers,\u201d which was, to me, a sign that I was becoming addicted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was able to step back and \u201cdetox\u201d by using apps to schedule a week\u2019s worth of posts in advance so that I only needed to interact with social media once a week. This meant I wasn\u2019t checking likes and follower counts all the time, and without that constant feedback, I stopped making those metrics the main goal of my posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><u>Insights From Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>CBT <\/em>and similar approaches enable us to analyze links between our thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Try to consciously notice the thoughts and emotions that lead you to crave time on social media or other digital distractions. In my case, I noticed the craving often resulted from social anxiety. Just identifying the emotion is helpful: It enables you to distance yourself from it. Then you can challenge the belief linked to the emotion and explore whether it\u2019s a rational response or a cognitive distortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Practicing mindfulness helped me identify these unconscious beliefs and break the automatic link between an emotion (like social anxiety), a belief (like \u201ceveryone hates me\u201d) and the resulting behavior (like fishing for likes on social media).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><u>Developing Cultural Wisdom About Technology<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wine-drinking cultures have had thousands of years to develop laws and societal expectations about how to consume wine safely. Within these constraints, we can enjoy alcohol for its taste and its cultural significance. As business leaders, we need to do the same for technology. We have a responsibility to our young people \u2013 just as we teach them to read and write, we need to teach them how to consume technology safely and wisely and how to harness it for good. This starts by educating ourselves on the opportunities and threats of these new technologies.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#4472c4\" class=\"has-inline-color\">29<sup>th<\/sup> TIME \u2013 <\/mark><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#70ad47\" class=\"has-inline-color\">China Might Have 65 Million COVID Cases a Week by June. How Worried Should the World Be?<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week when a Chinese senior health advisor projected 65 million COVID-19 cases per week in <em>China <\/em>by June, some health experts sounded the alarm. <em>China<\/em> has been facing a new COVID-19 wave fueled by the <em>XBB<\/em> variant since April. Data from <em>Zhong Nanshan <\/em>\u2013 a respiratory disease doctor who was among the first to confirm COVID-19&#8217;s easy transmissibility \u2013 provided a rare insight into how the disease could possibly be spreading in <em>China <\/em>almost six months after <em>Beijing<\/em> abruptly ended its draconian zero-COVID strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since pivoting to \u201cliving with the virus\u201d policy from early December, the <em>Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention <\/em>stopped updating weekly infections. But the sudden relaxation of anti-epidemic protocols also led to an estimated 37 million new infections a day weeks later. By January, experts said they believed almost 80% of<em> China\u2019s <\/em>1.4 billion population had already been infected in this first wave. For the second wave since April, <em>Zhong\u2019s<\/em> modeling revealed that the <em>XBB<\/em> variant is expected to cause 40 million infections weekly by May, going up to 65 million in June. This goes against the grain of <em>Chinese<\/em> health officials\u2019 estimate that the wave had peaked in April. In <em>Beijing<\/em>, the number of new infections recorded between May 15 and 21 grew four times in four weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While <em>Zhong <\/em>said vaccines targeting this specific variant will be rolled out soon, the projection of new COVID-19 infections nonetheless frazzled markets. <em>China&#8217;s<\/em> collective immunity has always been in question: a refusal to use foreign-sourced <em>mRNA<\/em> vaccines meant the public got inoculated against COVID-19 with a jab that proved less effective in preventing infection during early clinical trials, says researchers, and the stringent virus containment protocols restricted the possibility of developing natural immunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Yanzhong Huang, <\/em>senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, tells <em>TIME <\/em>that although only mass testing can detect the true extent of the COVID-19 surge, the population has obtained some immunity from the preceding wave. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t worry if <em>China <\/em>doesn\u2019t worry,\u201d <em>Huang<\/em> says. \u201cPublic health officials try to downplay the severity of this second wave. The <em>Chinese <\/em>people seem to have learned to co-exist with the virus. There\u2019s that social adaptability.\u201d Compared to countries like the <em>U.S. <\/em>and <em>Australia, China<\/em> has just begun transitioning COVID-19 from a pandemic to an endemic disease. <em>Catherine Bennett<\/em>, an epidemiologist at <em>Deakin University<\/em> in <em>Australia<\/em>, says the new wave \u201ctests the effectiveness of their vaccines and their boosters,\u201d adding that <em>Beijing<\/em> must ensure everyone\u2019s vaccines are up to date \u2013 especially the elderly and the vulnerable population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><u>Chinese data a concern<\/u><\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the virus continuing to circulate in <em>China <\/em>coupled with a waning public immunity, the possibility of a new, more dangerous sub-variant emerging still exists, <em>Bennett<\/em> adds, although the likelihood is much smaller now. The latest mutations in the genetic makeup of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have not been significantly different from the last major variant, <em>Omicron<\/em>, and the symptoms of infections are relatively milder. \u201cIt\u2019s somewhat reassuring, thus, now a year and a half into <em>Omicron<\/em>, that we haven\u2019t seen a major shift that\u2019s either undermined our immunity, our testing capability, <a>and<\/a> importantly, antivirals,\u201d <em>Bennett <\/em>adds.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But another factor that affects the prognosis for <em>China <\/em>is its willingness to share information. Independent experts have been skeptical of <em>China\u2019s <\/em>official COVID-19 figures, forcing many to record their own statistics. A delayed release in <em>China\u2019s <\/em>marriage and funeral data for the October-December 2022 period has also raised speculation that the country has yet to determine the true extent of the infection spread of its first wave. <em>Vincent Pang<\/em>, an assistant professor at the <em>Duke-NUS Medical School <\/em>in <em>Singapore, <\/em>says data on the spread and impact of COVID-19 will only be of use if shared with others on a global, well-regulated platform, so that these countries can perform their own risk assessment. \u201cInfectious disease does not respect geographical boundaries,\u201d he tells <em>TIME. <\/em>\u201cNo one is safe until everyone is ready and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#4472c4\" class=\"has-inline-color\">30<sup>th<\/sup> The Guardian \u2013 <\/mark><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#70ad47\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Record rise in people using private healthcare amid NHS frustration<\/mark><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#4472c4\" class=\"has-inline-color\">&nbsp;<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Record numbers of people are paying for private healthcare, spending up to \u00a33,200 on having a cataract removed and \u00a315,075 on a new hip, amid growing frustration at <em>NHS <\/em>waiting lists. Across the UK last year 272,000 people used their own funds to cover the cost of having an operation or diagnostic procedure at a private hospital. That was up from 262,000 the year before and a sharp rise on the 199,000 who did so in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic struck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Private hospitals also set another record during 2022 by treating 820,000 inpatients and day case patients overall \u2013 more than in any previous year, according to figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), a specialist data collection organisation that tracks activity in the sector. Besides the 272,000 who paid themselves, the other 547,000 had their treatment using a private medical insurance policy \u2013 the highest number since 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The data prompted speculation that the <em>NHS\u2019s<\/em> inability to meet waiting time targets could make paying for private healthcare \u201ca new normal\u201d in Britain, despite state-funded care being free. <em>Ian Gargan, PHIN\u2019s chief executive, <\/em>said \u201clong <em>NHS<\/em> waiting lists and uncertainty around how long you\u2019ll be waiting\u201d were driving the surge in private healthcare. \u201cFor some people, paying for their own treatment is more cost-effective that not being able to work while they await a new knee or hip replacement, for instance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The top five most common procedures private hospitals carried out last year were cataract surgery (76,000), chemotherapy (66,000), an upper gastrointestinal diagnostic test (38,000), colonoscopy to test for bowel cancer (31,000) and a new hip (30,000). The figures do not include <em>NHS <\/em>patients who had private hospital care paid for by the health service. <em>Keep Our NHS Public<\/em> said it was \u201cshameful\u201d that more and more people were feeling obliged to use private healthcare as a result of the government neglecting the <em>NHS.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dr. John Puntis<\/em>, the <em>group co-chair, <\/em>said: \u201cIt should come as no surprise that when the government has run the <em>NHS<\/em> down to a state of near-collapse, more people are opting to go private. Private healthcare providers are making hay as those people who can afford health insurance or scrape the necessary funds together for treatment choose the independent sector. It is absolutely shameful that in 2023, in the sixth richest world economy, we can\u2019t diagnose and treat life-threatening illnesses such as cancer in a timely fashion,\u201d added Puntis, a retired consultant paediatrician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#70ad47\" class=\"has-inline-color\">&nbsp; *******************************************<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until the heady days of July good people please enjoy the ongoing June sunshine, making time to relax in it, being so good for us of course! Before reaching for the suncream straight away its good to let the sun\u2019s warmth in for the first 15\/20 minutes in order to help the body develop vitamin D, thereby helping to protect against skin cancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take good care,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Donoghue<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MD, Surrey Circle Health<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specialist Private Medical Insurance Broker<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/nhs-flowers.jpg\" alt=\"nhs-flowers\" class=\"wp-image-440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/nhs-flowers.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/nhs-flowers-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/nhs-flowers-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/nhs-flowers-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width:767px) 480px, (max-width:1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trusting that you\u2019re keeping well, welcome to your spring into summer enlightening health news newsletter! With the football season hanging up its boots for another season,<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,15,16,17,26,28,39],"class_list":["post-441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-gp-appointments","tag-health","tag-health-news","tag-hospital-treatment","tag-nhs","tag-nhs-treatment","tag-the-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.surreycirclehealth.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}