The government has published a call for evidence to seek views on a new pay scale for nurses. It will collate feedback from across the health sector on the merits of a separate pay structure for nursing staff in the NHS, considering both the risk and benefits of this approach. The government has heard the concerns of nursing staff and their representatives about the challenges they face in terms of career progression and professional development. The call for evidence will seek to understand whether the Agenda for Change contract – covering more than 1 million NHS workers such as nurses,…

Screening for breast, bowel and cervical cancer will be made quicker and more effective under plans to roll out the use of digital images to detect cancer. The Department of Health and Social Care is taking forward the recommendation of the UK National Screening Committee to increase the use of digital pathology to examine body tissue samples as part of screening programmes. This will help: Clinicians to gain second opinions on whether samples obtained are cancerous. Laboratories to work more efficiently and quickly, including allowing reporting off site. Make it easier to identify cancer. Speed up diagnosis for patients. The announcement…

will be on hand to talk to members of the public and encourage those with suspected symptoms to visit their GP as soon as possible. This comes as survey data also shows that just over a third (34%) of South Asian people surveyed would visit their GP if they had a chest infection that kept coming back, and a similar percentage would do the same if they had a loss of appetite or unexplained weight loss (36%), which are lesser-known signs of lung cancer. Dr. Jyoti Sood said: “Tens of thousands of people are diagnosed with lung cancer every year in England,…