The biggest vaccine campaign in NHS history kicked off this morning, as 90-year-old grandmother Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 jab following its clinical approval. At 6.31am early riser Margaret, known to friends and family as Maggie, was given the life-saving jab by nurse May Parsons at […]
Hard working NHS staff saw a record number of people, who were referred for urgent cancer checks, in March, new figures have revealed today. Almost quarter of a million people with suspected cancer were seen as NHS services began to bounce back after the peak of the winter COVID-19 wave. More than 230,000 people were […]
The head of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens has marked Windrush Day 2020 by committing the NHS to drive further improvements in race equality across the health service. On the 72nd anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush, carrying migrants from the Caribbean to England, the NHS is marking the contribution of […]
The Director and Policy Lead of the Workforce Race Equality Standard Implementation in NHS England reflect on the true progress being made: Evidence clearly shows that tackling workforce race inequality improves the experience for staff, leads to better patient outcomes and is associated with organisational efficiency. Since 2014, NHS organisations have been working tirelessly to […]
The NHS will begin administering the new Oxford AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine tomorrow (Monday) as the health service rapidly scales up the biggest immunisation programme in its history. The NHS will be the first health service in the world to deliver the life-saving jab, which was approved last week, in the next stage of the phased […]
England’s leading NHS medic is urging those eligible for a spring booster but yet to come forward to take up the offer as soon as possible as a quarter of a million reminders go out before the end of the month. The largest and fastest vaccination programme in NHS history has now invited everyone eligible […]
The NHS COIVD vaccination programme has protected more than 700,000 people from ethnic minority backgrounds since rolling out the grab-a-jab campaign. An analysis of one grab-a-jab weekend in July found that 2 in 5 of the 80,000 walk-in doses administered were to people from ethnic minority groups, significantly more than the proportion in the wider […]
Tomorrow on World Sickle Cell Day, NHS England will launch a brand new campaign to boost public awareness of the genetic disorder which affects thousands across the UK. The campaign, dubbed ‘Can you tell it’s sickle cell?’, is aimed at increasing awareness of the key signs and symptoms of sickle cell disorder – which disproportionately […]
NHS patients with sickle cell disease will be able to benefit from a groundbreaking gene-editing treatment that offers the prospect of a cure for the condition. The one-off gene therapy, known as exagamglogene autotemcel (or ‘exa-cel’), has been approved for use on the NHS in England from today (Friday 31 January) by the National Institute […]
A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) has said the NHS Vaccination Programme met “stretching and unprecedented targets” as it helped save lives and reduce hospital admissions – all while making effective use of public money. Commenting on the findings, GP and deputy lead for the NHS Vaccination Programme, Dr Nikki Kanani, said: “The […]