National Health Service

[SteveH]

Fees will see more people pull teeth out - dentist

More people might pull out their own teeth because they cannot afford a hike in NHS dental fees, a dentists' leader has said.

Welsh general dental practice committee chairman Russell Gidney fears lower-income patients will face "real choices" about whether to get treated.

Checks-ups, fillings and urgent appointments will cost more in Wales from 1 April.

The Welsh government said there were "pressures on our budgets" and it would spend money raised by higher charges on dentistry.

Charges will remain lower in Wales than England, but the British Dental Association (BDA) believes the hike is the biggest in the NHS's 75-year history.

Children get free appointments, and people under 25 or over 60 get free check-ups.

Some adults on low incomes do not have to pay, but the BDA warned about the impact on families with incomes just above the threshold for free care.

Graphic showing costs of dental care......... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpd3vvp94dlo

[SteveH]

Interesting article from... Health Board Chair Dyfed Edwards on recognising when social factors might impact on a person?s health

'Support for improving our health and well-being is wider than the NHS and often lies in our communities'

One of the significant developments that has interested me, since I became the Health Board?s Chair, has been the breadth and scale of preventative work we conduct within communities across the region.

read more  https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/health/health-board-chair-dyfed-edwards-28994218?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

Wales Air Ambulance to close helicopter bases in Caernarfon and Welshpool
Health board bosses have voted to replace them with a site near Rhuddlan

Health boards have given the green light to close two Wales Air Ambulance bases after 2026. The Welsh NHS ' Joint Commissioning Committee voted that the Welshpool and Caernarfon bases will shut.

The sites will be merged into a new site in North Wales - with a site identified around the Rhuddlan area. But more details will need to be provided about two potential Rapid Response vehicles (RRV) being put in the north west of Wales and potentially western Powys.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/wales-air-ambulance-close-helicopter-29044573

[SteveH]

A PIECE of equipment is being used at a hospital in order to improve the experience for patients with hard-to-find veins.

This is at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor.
Having noticed the need to improve the experience for patients with difficult veins, Junior Doctor Lois Williams secured a ?3,000 grant from Health Education and Improvement Wales and around ?600 from Menter M?n to purchase the equipment - known as a vein finder, through the Trainees Transforming Training initiative.

Dr Williams said: ?We?ve been very lucky to obtain a grant to purchase a vein finder and we hope this will empower nurses, phlebotomists, medical students and junior doctors to take blood and cannulate from patients who are difficult to obtain access.

cont https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/24289784.new-equipment-help-patients-hard-to-find-veins/?ref=rss&IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589