Resources

Considering we live in one of the richest countries in the world, it is interesting quite how many colourful words and phrases the English language has for being hungry – ‘I’m starving’, ‘I’m absolutely ravenous’, ‘I could murder a … [fill-in blanks with favourite fast-food].’

During the pandemic, urgent referrals for suspected urological cancer in England dropped by 56,000 from April 2020 to December 2021, resulting in approximately 13,500 fewer men in England starting treatment for prostate cancer compared to the same period in 2019
(Prostate Cancer UK, 2021). This is worrying considering prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK (Prostate Cancer UK, 2021).

Recently, I was delighted to join the Florence Nightingale Foundation to talk on this topic. This article summarises this session, but if you are curious, you can see the presentation at: https://youtu.be/u72w_7gtZQM.

New research by the PATH partnership (see partners box), shows worrying levels of poor mental health experienced by parents during their pregnancy or in the first year after
birth and their lack of confidence to seek support. Findings included:

• New and expectant parents with perinatal mental illness (PMI) expressed feelings of low mood and depression (59%), stress (55%) and loneliness (35%)
• The most common barriers to seeking help were feeling ashamed (45%), seeming like a ‘bad parent’ (43%), pressure to be ‘perfect’ (41%) and fears of being a burden (38%).

‘What exactly does a general practice nurse (GPN) do?’ Does that question sound familiar to you? It is one that has been frequently posed to me throughout my career as a GPN and my initial reply would inevitably be ‘Where do I start?’

The role is huge, diverse and continually evolving and can be a very rewarding career choice. However, there are myths and misconceptions that circulate which can serve to deflect nurses away.

The devastating impact that Long Covid can have on people’s lives is plain to see, with long waiting times and lack of support potentially making the experience of having Long Covid
even harder.

There are estimated to be 900,000 people withdementia in the UK and indications are that this will increase to one million people by 2025 and two million by 2051 (Wittenberg et al, 2019). While dementia is associated with old age, there are approximately 42,500 people under the age of 65 years old diagnosed with young onset dementia (Sandilyan and Dening, 2019). Due to the progressive nature and neurodegeneration of dementia, it is now the leading cause of death in England and Wales, accounting for 12.5% of all deaths registered in 2019 (Office for National Statistics [ONS], 2020).

In a position statement issued by the British Society for Heart Failure (BSH, 2021), the author said that keeping heart failure specialist services intact would:
... mitigate the significant risk to those living with heart failure and prevent unnecessary pressure on other healthcare providers. The pandemic has already taught us that we need to maintain service provision for this highly vulnerable cohort.’
A statement which has hit home as cases of Covid-19, fuelled by the latest variant, continue to rise.

This article explores why we should adapt assessment of leg ulceration to be more mindful of the presence of lymphoedema. If clinicians can change the assessment process and begin to treat leg ucleration with a lymphatic component differently to venous oedema, this, in turn, can potentially reduce complications such as toe, foot and knee oedema. The introduction of simple changes in documentation and additional training can lead to improved outcomes for patients as well as potential cost savings for healthcare providers.

There are many different causes of liver disease and current estimates suggest that as many as one in 10 people have problems with their liver at some time in their life (Foundation for Liver Research, 2020). Perhaps most worrying is the fact that incidence of liver disease is increasing, with the number of deaths reported to have increased by 400% since 1970 (British Liver Trust, 2020). Most liver diseases are asymptomatic early on, frequently resulting in late diagnosis, potentially leading to a higher risk of poor outcomes. Many of the well-known liver diseases are preventable and this article, which covers fatty liver disease, hepatitis A, B and C and liver cancer, hopes to raise awareness of risk factors, recognition, causes and treatment of these conditions, and give general practice nurses (GPNs) and non-medical prescribers more confidence when caring for patients with these illnesses.