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Nurses and midwives face revalidation, NHS Direct staff at risk of redundancy and the patients who attend A&E 50 times a year

Some patients attend A&E units as many as 50 times a year, an investigation by the BBC reveals.

Figures provided under the Freedom of Information Act by 183 sites show that nearly 12,000 patients made more than 10 visits to the same unit in 2012-13 – and that just over 150 attended more than 50 times.

NHS Direct is planning to close at the end of March, and yesterday around 500 of its staff – including 140 nurses – were given formal notice that they are at risk of redundancy.

The Guardian quotes an NHS Direct spokesperson as saying that ‘the final number of redundancies is likely to be less than this, since we are seeking to mitigate as many redundancies as possible by supporting these staff to find alternative employment within the wider NHS’.

The Telegraph reports that scientists at Cornell University have found that cancer cells can be destroyed in the bloodstream before they reach healthy organs, by injecting and attaching proteins to white blood cells.

And finally, revalidation may be a headache for GPs… but now it’s about to hit nurses and midwives. The Telegraph reports that nurses and midwives will face competency checks every three years which involve feedback from patients after the Nursing and Midwifery Council launched a consultation on the process yesterday.

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