This Sunday, 5 May, we want to celebrate the work of midwives and empower solidarity across the nation. This year, we are shining a light on the role midwives play in addressing climate change. Midwife-led units, home-birthing and community care contribute to earth-friendly birthing and infant care. Internationally, midwives deliver safe and environmentally sustainable health services, help communities adapt to climate change and are often first responders in climate emergencies.

Locally we are proud to be ‘growing our own’ midwives. Chris Caldwell, our Chief Nursing Officer, recently celebrated a group of pupils of the Saracens Secondary school, who have been undertaking the new T Level in Health focused on midwifery. The T level represents an exciting partnership across North Central London and a key element of our future workforce strategy for health and care, engaging local young people in health and care careers from an early age.

Chris, in her academic role at Middlesex University, has been supporting this work which will feed into the Clinical Academic Nexus for Nursing and Midwifery between North Central London ICS and the university.

“The T Level in Health offers students a practical first step into the NHS,” says Chris. “Which is a great place to start and build a career. I am delighted to see the development of entry routes into the NHS, which has been achieved through extensive collaboration between Middlesex University, Barnet Education and Learning Service and Saracens High School.”

“This partnership supports the huge amount of work already taking place within North Central London towards the long-term development of a local health workforce.”

For International Day of the Midwife, one of the best ways to celebrate it is by learning about midwifery and the role it plays in home-birthing. If you know a midwife or one who helped you give birth to your child, send them a thank you card or call them and tell them you appreciate them.

Whittington Health NHS Trust audiology team have reduced long waiters by a whopping 80%. This is a massive improvement from last year where the acute and community Audiology diagnostic performance was 35.5%, significantly below the Trust target of 99%. 628 patients breached the 6-week target for a hearing test in Haringey, Camden and Islington, with 336 more in Barnet and Enfield.

The result is from a collective group effort, which included better letters to reduce DNA rates; calling people prior to face to face appointments to optimise this time for testing and discharging patients; partnership working across boroughs to provide equitable access for all communities; flexibility by specialists to see a wider range of patients to ease pressures; and overtime clinics.

The ongoing dedication and commitment from staff at Whittington, has seen their November performance increased to 80.5%, with just 154 patients waiting more than 6 weeks for a hearing test, down by 83% (747 patients) since April 2023.

The team has also campaigned to increase public awareness of the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing population, and has introduced new referral pathways, including from the memory clinic in Haringey to their adult service and multi-disciplinary working.

The team’s commitment to innovation and raising Audiology’s profile continues, with plans in place to recruit and train into new posts; and for digital transformation to improve efficiency, patient safety and quality of incoming referrals.

As a result of this epic commitment through 2023, the Audiology team was awarded the Extra Mile team award for December.

Nine out of ten people survive bowel cancer if diagnosed at the earliest stage.

April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, when the NHS works alongside Bowel Cancer UK to raise awareness of the fourth most common cancer in the UK. Every 15 minutes someone is diagnosed with the disease, that’s nearly 43,000 people each year.

Bowel cancer is also the UK’s second biggest cancer killer, however, it shouldn’t be because it’s treatable and curable especially if diagnosed early. Nearly everyone survives bowel cancer if diagnosed at the earliest stage, but this drops significantly as the disease develops, so this awareness month, the #OneThing you need to know is the earlier the disease is spotted, the more treatable it’s likely to be. More than 9 in 10 people survive bowel cancer when it is diagnosed at the earliest stage.

Another positive to bear in mind is that  most people with symptoms don’t have bowel cancer. But if you are experiencing one or more symptoms from the list below, or if things just don’t feel right, book in to see your GP:

• bleeding from your bottom or blood in your poo
• a persistent and unexplained change in bowel habit
• unexplained weight loss
• extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
• a pain or lump in your tummy

Learn more about the possible symptoms of the disease, how it is treated and how you can help spread awareness this April here.

GP practices in London will be alerted to episodes of high air pollution to help them protect patients against the dangers of poor-quality air, under a scheme launched this month. Emails about air quality alerts will be sent to GPs and emergency departments across London around 24 hours before an episode of high air pollution is forecast. GPs are being targeted so they can use the information to have conversations with patients on how air pollution affects them and advise what steps they can take to reduce their risk of harm.

They will be encouraged to remind patients to follow their asthma plan or to take their preventer inhaler. The initiative has been developed by the London Air Quality and Health Programme Office, organisations from across London’s health and care system and the Mayor of London. Alerts are triggered by forecasts from Imperial College London. It is anticipated there will be four to five a year. Air pollution is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK, GPs were warned in a letter sent about the new alert system from NHS England London.

According to NHS England London, the capital has the highest mortality burden attributable to air pollution of any English region and London’s most vulnerable citizens are disproportionately impacted. Dr Jo Sauvage, North Central London ICB Chief Medical Officer and Islington GP said: ‘The impact of air quality on the health of our residents has become very, very important, particularly after Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah’s death in 2013. ‘Receiving alerts can also remind me to talk to patients about the importance of air quality,’ she added. ‘Air quality is just like all the other factors that are linked with inequalities and so it is an important factor that we must advocate for change around.’

GP practices have been signposted to environmental charity Global Action Plan’s Clean Air Hub to watch training videos and download information and resources to share with patients and display in practice.

You can listen to a podcast where Dr Jo Sauvage discusses the impact  air pollution on health.