Latest news with #ARM
South Wales Argus
3 days ago
- Health
- South Wales Argus
Assisted dying: BMA says patients should meet end-of-life care doctor first
A motion passed by delegates at the British Medical Association's annual representative meeting (ARM) in Liverpool on Monday proposed a number of changes to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. The proposed legislation for assisted dying cleared the Commons with a majority of 23 votes on Friday and will move to the House of Lords for further debate. As it stands, the Bill would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, a senior legal figure and a psychiatrist. British Medical Association (BMA) members have now called for patients to also have an in-person review with an independent palliative care doctor at the very start of the process. Speaking at the union's meeting, Dr Samuel Parker said: 'To ensure patient care needs have been met, and to help detect coercion, any patient requesting assisted dying should be encouraged to attend face-to-face reviews by an independent specialist palliative care doctor before the assisted dying pathway begins. 'This can also ensure the patient has received the best quality outcomes prior to commencement of assisted dying.' Dr Sarah Foot added: 'Choice is only a choice if it is an informed choice… this is about making sure that patients know their options, that have had access to palliative care. 'What is uncomfortable is patients choosing to die when they haven't had access to palliative care and don't know what's available to them. 'Our united voice will help influence this Bill in the House of Lords later this year, be proud and proactive and stand up for some of our most vulnerable patients. 'Those who are dying are physically and emotionally dependent on us in society to help safeguard them. They need to be safe and supported.' MPs voted in favour of the third reading of the assisted dying Bill by a majority of 23 (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA) Dr Parker warned palliative care in the UK is under-resourced, 'with few specialists, a postcode lottery and a shortage of funding'. He said patients deserve rapid access to high-quality care, adding that 'safety and patient welfare are essential'. Dr Foot said: 'Hospices and palliative care does not have enough funding. We cannot live in a society were we fully fund assisted dying, but we don't fully fund hospice and palliative care.' Last week, the Health Secretary – who was one of the most senior opponents of the legislation – warned legalising assisted dying would take 'time and money' away from other parts of the NHS. Writing on his Facebook page, Wes Streeting said he could not ignore the concerns 'about the risks that come with this Bill' raised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Physicians, the Association for Palliative Medicine and charities representing under-privileged groups. The motion at the BMA ARM also affirmed the right of doctors to decline involvement in the service. An opt-out for all healthcare professionals is already built into the Bill. Health Secretary Wes Streeting voted against the Bill in Parliament (Lucy North/PA) Speaking of the potential impact of assisted dying on the mental wellbeing of healthcare professionals, Dr Parker called on the BMA to ensure there are 'no subtle pressures' on doctors to participate, and 'no risk of professional sanction or discrimination'. Dr Andrew Green, chairman of the BMA's medical ethics committee, said: 'While the BMA is neutral on the issue of assisted dying – that is whether the law should change or not – we have been engaging with legislation to ensure doctors are represented on a number of key issues. 'This motion reaffirms, and strengthens, a number of the BMA's existing positions, including the right for doctors to decline to participate for any reason should the law change, and the need for any assisted dying service to be funded through new money and not at the expense of other parts of health and social care. 'We have been clear that any future assisted dying provision should be offered via a separate service that doctors must opt in to, and not part of any doctor's existing regular work. This service must come with additional funding, alongside further investment in palliative care, which we know has for too long been under-resourced, leading to huge variations in availability across the country. 'In discussions around Kim Leadbeater's Bill in England and Wales, which has now passed its final stages in the Commons, we have strongly opposed moves to ban doctors from raising the subject of assisted dying with patients, but have been clear that this must be part of a discussion around all options available. 'This motion expands on this, ensuring that patients who may be considering assisted dying are able to access information about all possible treatment and routes available to them.' Meanwhile, research has suggested almost half (47%) of UK adults surveyed are worried they or their loved ones will have a painful or undignified death. The survey, carried out by Focaldata for King's College London (KCL), found 44% feel worried about the quality of palliative and end-of-life care in the UK, although 46% said they feel confident services will be available when they or loved ones need them. Meanwhile, the polling found 61% of the 2,106 adults asked in March were supportive of the assisted dying Bill. KCL is launching The Impact Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care in autumn, a privately-run centre aiming to improve palliative care in the UK, and establish a framework for better care which it said could be applied around the world. The centre, funded by the Kirby Laing Foundation, will be the first of its kind in the UK and will work to 'create long term, systemic change in the delivery of care for dying people'. Centre lead Professor Katherine Sleeman, said: 'Although a wealth of evidence has now been generated on ways to improve experiences and outcomes for people approaching the end of life, too often this evidence is not used to improve care, meaning dying people suffer and those close to them are left to pick up the pieces. 'By closing the gap between evidence and practice, the Impact Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care will make a profound and lasting difference for people with life-limiting illnesses and their loved ones, now and in the future.'
Powys County Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Powys County Times
Assisted dying: BMA says patients should meet end-of-life care doctor first
Terminally ill people who want help to die should have face-to-face reviews with a specialist end-of-life doctor in an effort to detect coercion, medics have said. A motion passed by delegates at the British Medical Association's annual representative meeting (ARM) in Liverpool on Monday proposed a number of changes to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. The proposed legislation for assisted dying cleared the Commons with a majority of 23 votes on Friday and will move to the House of Lords for further debate. As it stands, the Bill would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, a senior legal figure and a psychiatrist. British Medical Association (BMA) members have now called for patients to also have an in-person review with an independent palliative care doctor at the very start of the process. Speaking at the union's meeting, Dr Samuel Parker said: 'To ensure patient care needs have been met, and to help detect coercion, any patient requesting assisted dying should be encouraged to attend face-to-face reviews by an independent specialist palliative care doctor before the assisted dying pathway begins. 'This can also ensure the patient has received the best quality outcomes prior to commencement of assisted dying.' Dr Sarah Foot added: 'Choice is only a choice if it is an informed choice… this is about making sure that patients know their options, that have had access to palliative care. 'What is uncomfortable is patients choosing to die when they haven't had access to palliative care and don't know what's available to them. 'Our united voice will help influence this Bill in the House of Lords later this year, be proud and proactive and stand up for some of our most vulnerable patients. 'Those who are dying are physically and emotionally dependent on us in society to help safeguard them. They need to be safe and supported.' Dr Parker warned palliative care in the UK is under-resourced, 'with few specialists, a postcode lottery and a shortage of funding'. He said patients deserve rapid access to high-quality care, adding that 'safety and patient welfare are essential'. Dr Foot said: 'Hospices and palliative care does not have enough funding. We cannot live in a society were we fully fund assisted dying, but we don't fully fund hospice and palliative care.' Last week, the Health Secretary – who was one of the most senior opponents of the legislation – warned legalising assisted dying would take 'time and money' away from other parts of the NHS. Writing on his Facebook page, Wes Streeting said he could not ignore the concerns 'about the risks that come with this Bill' raised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Physicians, the Association for Palliative Medicine and charities representing under-privileged groups. The motion at the BMA ARM also affirmed the right of doctors to decline involvement in the service. An opt-out for all healthcare professionals is already built into the Bill. Speaking of the potential impact of assisted dying on the mental wellbeing of healthcare professionals, Dr Parker called on the BMA to ensure there are 'no subtle pressures' on doctors to participate, and 'no risk of professional sanction or discrimination'. Dr Andrew Green, chairman of the BMA's medical ethics committee, said: 'While the BMA is neutral on the issue of assisted dying – that is whether the law should change or not – we have been engaging with legislation to ensure doctors are represented on a number of key issues. 'This motion reaffirms, and strengthens, a number of the BMA's existing positions, including the right for doctors to decline to participate for any reason should the law change, and the need for any assisted dying service to be funded through new money and not at the expense of other parts of health and social care. 'We have been clear that any future assisted dying provision should be offered via a separate service that doctors must opt in to, and not part of any doctor's existing regular work. This service must come with additional funding, alongside further investment in palliative care, which we know has for too long been under-resourced, leading to huge variations in availability across the country. 'In discussions around Kim Leadbeater's Bill in England and Wales, which has now passed its final stages in the Commons, we have strongly opposed moves to ban doctors from raising the subject of assisted dying with patients, but have been clear that this must be part of a discussion around all options available. 'This motion expands on this, ensuring that patients who may be considering assisted dying are able to access information about all possible treatment and routes available to them.' Meanwhile, research has suggested almost half (47%) of UK adults surveyed are worried they or their loved ones will have a painful or undignified death. The survey, carried out by Focaldata for King's College London (KCL), found 44% feel worried about the quality of palliative and end-of-life care in the UK, although 46% said they feel confident services will be available when they or loved ones need them. Meanwhile, the polling found 61% of the 2,106 adults asked in March were supportive of the assisted dying Bill. KCL is launching The Impact Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care in autumn, a privately-run centre aiming to improve palliative care in the UK, and establish a framework for better care which it said could be applied around the world. The centre, funded by the Kirby Laing Foundation, will be the first of its kind in the UK and will work to 'create long term, systemic change in the delivery of care for dying people'. Centre lead Professor Katherine Sleeman, said: 'Although a wealth of evidence has now been generated on ways to improve experiences and outcomes for people approaching the end of life, too often this evidence is not used to improve care, meaning dying people suffer and those close to them are left to pick up the pieces. 'By closing the gap between evidence and practice, the Impact Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care will make a profound and lasting difference for people with life-limiting illnesses and their loved ones, now and in the future.'
GSM Arena
3 days ago
- GSM Arena
DCS: Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is being tested with CPU clocks over 5GHz
It seems that Qualcomm and ARM have diverging ideas on what the future looks like for smartphone chipsets. A few days ago, the popular Weibo leakster Digital Chat Station reported that ARM's new prime CPU core will have higher IPC to make it fast at lower clock speeds, which should be more efficient. Now DCS is saying that Qualcomm is aiming for record high clock speeds for the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. The upcoming flagship chip is being tested at frequencies around 5GHz, according to the leakster. An earlier version of the post claimed 5.3GHz for the overclocked version ('for Galaxy', 'Leading Version', whatever it is called). However, DCS updated the post to clarify that such peak frequencies are only being tested to validate the design. The final frequency will be decided based on performance and power efficiency. Still, it is expected to be higher than the original Snapdragon 8 Elite – its prime cores run at 4.32GHz in the regular version and 4.47GHz in the overclocked version. 4.47GHz is the highest clock speed in a mobile device currently – previously, it was 4.40GHz for the 2024 iPad Pros with M4 chips. Let's look at what we know about the competition – all unofficial and based on leaks from early test devices, so it may not be entirely accurate. The Dimensity 9500 ran Geekbench and showed that its prime core ('Travis') was clocked at 3.23GHz. That's lower than the Dimensity 9400 and 9400+, which have their Cortex-X925 cores at 3.62GHz and 3.73GHz, respectively. Dimensity 9500 scorecard from Geekbench (OpenCL) The Exynos 2500 was announced earlier this week, it has its Cortex-X925 at 3.3GHz. Of course, we should be looking at the Exynos 2600 instead, which will be featured on Galaxy S26 models, but there are no details on that yet. It's not all about clock speed, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 will have second-generation Oryon cores, which will reportedly have 25% higher performance. The Adreno 840 GPU will have more cache (16MB, up from 12MB) and is supposed to deliver 30% more performance. Early benchmark results showed a single-core CPU score of over 4,000 and a multi-core score of over 11,000. For comparison, the current Snapdragon 8 Elite does around 3,100 single-core and 9,800 multi-core. Of course, we shouldn't put too much stock in leaks of early benchmarks. The good news is we don't have long to wait – Qualcomm pulled the Snapdragon Summit forward to September 23-25. Last year, the Elite was announced in late October. Source (in Chinese)
Glasgow Times
4 days ago
- Health
- Glasgow Times
Overlooking sexual harassment against health staff ‘risks patient safety'
Medics claim that overlooking these incidents allows other toxic behaviours 'to perpetuate'. It comes as members of the British Medical Association (BMA) called for NHS trusts to include active bystander training – which aims to equip people with the skills to challenge unacceptable conduct – in mandatory training programmes. Delegates at the union's annual representative meeting (ARM) in Liverpool also voted for the BMA to lobby for a national anonymous reporting system for victims of sexual harassment. Dr Helen Neary, co-chairwoman of the BMA consultants committee, said: 'People are bystanders at all levels, and a working culture that turns a blind eye to this behaviour is also a risk to patient safety, enabling other poor behaviours to perpetuate.' The motion urged NHS organisations to probe allegations of sexual misconduct using trained investigators external to the trust. Dr Neary added: 'No one should feel unsafe at work. Yet the appalling truth is that doctors, disproportionately women, are still subject to sexual harassment, abuse and assault in the workplace – often by their fellow doctors. This has to stop. 'Not only is it obviously completely unacceptable and has a devastating impact on victims, but also affects the quality of care and workforce capacity as poor behaviours will do nothing to retain staff in the NHS.' In March, the latest NHS staff survey found one in 12 (8.82%) of workers were the target of unwanted sexual behaviour such as offensive comments, touching and assaults. The proportion was similar to that reported in 2023 (8.79%) when the question was first asked as part of the survey. Last October, NHS England launched a new national sexual misconduct policy framework to ensure trusts had robust policies in place for staff to report incidents. Speaking to delegates at the BMA ARM in Liverpool, Professor Bhairavi Sapra said that while the framework is a 'very welcome first step', it is not mandatory. 'It is up to individual employers to adopt it, and even then, perpetrators can simply move on from one employer to another without accountability for those in positions of power to prevent this behaviour,' she added. 'Worse still, there is no national reporting mechanism. That means if someone wants to report an incident months later in a different workplace, they face an uphill battle, often alone. 'Survivors have told us why they don't come forward. They fear being told they're overreacting. 'They fear retaliation or reputational damage. They fear nothing will change, and sadly, they are not wrong. 'Investigations, when they do happen, are rarely trauma informed, often the process itself can feel like another form of harm.' Dr Neary said: 'As the trade union and professional association for all doctors in the UK – from those beginning their careers as medical students to retirement and beyond – the BMA welcomes the legal obligation placed on the NHS to protect employees from sexual harassment. 'This vote makes some excellent suggestions on how this work can go further, including anonymous reporting, that will encourage those concerned about coming forward to do so, and better equipping doctors on how they can support colleagues when they witness sexual harassment at work.' Prof Sapra also claimed the 'power imbalance' in the medical profession is 'stark', adding: 'Junior staff rely on senior medical staff for training, for references and for their very careers. 'That dependency makes them especially vulnerable and often silent.' An NHS England spokesperson said: 'It is totally unacceptable that NHS staff experience sexual misconduct or harassment at work – this behaviour has no place in the health service, and all organisations must take robust and compassionate action to prevent it. 'The NHS Sexual Safety Charter has been adopted by every Integrated Care Board and NHS Trust in England, which encourages consideration of external, independent investigators in complex or sensitive cases – and all NHS organisations should ensure that those leading these processes are properly trained to handle them with the seriousness and sensitivity they require.'
Rhyl Journal
4 days ago
- Health
- Rhyl Journal
Overlooking sexual harassment against health staff ‘risks patient safety'
Medics claim that overlooking these incidents allows other toxic behaviours 'to perpetuate'. It comes as members of the British Medical Association (BMA) called for NHS trusts to include active bystander training – which aims to equip people with the skills to challenge unacceptable conduct – in mandatory training programmes. Delegates at the union's annual representative meeting (ARM) in Liverpool also voted for the BMA to lobby for a national anonymous reporting system for victims of sexual harassment. Dr Helen Neary, co-chairwoman of the BMA consultants committee, said: 'People are bystanders at all levels, and a working culture that turns a blind eye to this behaviour is also a risk to patient safety, enabling other poor behaviours to perpetuate.' The motion urged NHS organisations to probe allegations of sexual misconduct using trained investigators external to the trust. Dr Neary added: 'No one should feel unsafe at work. Yet the appalling truth is that doctors, disproportionately women, are still subject to sexual harassment, abuse and assault in the workplace – often by their fellow doctors. This has to stop. 'Not only is it obviously completely unacceptable and has a devastating impact on victims, but also affects the quality of care and workforce capacity as poor behaviours will do nothing to retain staff in the NHS.' In March, the latest NHS staff survey found one in 12 (8.82%) of workers were the target of unwanted sexual behaviour such as offensive comments, touching and assaults. The proportion was similar to that reported in 2023 (8.79%) when the question was first asked as part of the survey. Last October, NHS England launched a new national sexual misconduct policy framework to ensure trusts had robust policies in place for staff to report incidents. Speaking to delegates at the BMA ARM in Liverpool, Professor Bhairavi Sapra said that while the framework is a 'very welcome first step', it is not mandatory. 'It is up to individual employers to adopt it, and even then, perpetrators can simply move on from one employer to another without accountability for those in positions of power to prevent this behaviour,' she added. 'Worse still, there is no national reporting mechanism. That means if someone wants to report an incident months later in a different workplace, they face an uphill battle, often alone. 'Survivors have told us why they don't come forward. They fear being told they're overreacting. 'They fear retaliation or reputational damage. They fear nothing will change, and sadly, they are not wrong. 'Investigations, when they do happen, are rarely trauma informed, often the process itself can feel like another form of harm.' Dr Neary said: 'As the trade union and professional association for all doctors in the UK – from those beginning their careers as medical students to retirement and beyond – the BMA welcomes the legal obligation placed on the NHS to protect employees from sexual harassment. 'This vote makes some excellent suggestions on how this work can go further, including anonymous reporting, that will encourage those concerned about coming forward to do so, and better equipping doctors on how they can support colleagues when they witness sexual harassment at work.' Prof Sapra also claimed the 'power imbalance' in the medical profession is 'stark', adding: 'Junior staff rely on senior medical staff for training, for references and for their very careers. 'That dependency makes them especially vulnerable and often silent.' An NHS England spokesperson said: 'It is totally unacceptable that NHS staff experience sexual misconduct or harassment at work – this behaviour has no place in the health service, and all organisations must take robust and compassionate action to prevent it. 'The NHS Sexual Safety Charter has been adopted by every Integrated Care Board and NHS Trust in England, which encourages consideration of external, independent investigators in complex or sensitive cases – and all NHS organisations should ensure that those leading these processes are properly trained to handle them with the seriousness and sensitivity they require.'
