Public health England

NHS to cover expense of flu prophylaxis and treatment this winter

Community pharmacists, GPs and other prescribers in primary healthcare may now give some patients antiviral treatment for influenza at the expense of the NHS…

New toolkit addresses the challenges of health literacy

Health Education England has launched a free toolkit to help health staff tackle the challenges caused by low levels of health literacy…

Better needle provision required for people who inject drugs, PHE says

Needle-sharing remains a problem, with more than one in six people who inject drugs saying they have shared a needle within the past month, according to figures from Public Health England…

Scarlet fever in England reaches highest level in 50 years

England is experiencing an unprecedented rise in scarlet fever with the highest incidence for nearly 50 years, according to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.…

New HIV diagnoses among gay and bisexual men falls in UK for first time

For the first time since the beginning of the HIV epidemic more than 30 years ago a fall in the number of new HIV diagnoses among gay and bisexual men has been recorded, a Public Health England report has said…

A crisis hidden in plain sight? Prescription opioid misuse in the UK

The United States is in the grip of an opioid misuse epidemic, with 142 opioid-related deaths every day. Could prescription painkiller misuse reach crisis levels in the UK too?…

Digital pilot launched to tackle obesity and type 2 diabetes

NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK have teamed up with a number of healthcare technology companies to try to combat obesity and type 2 diabetes…

Health minister announces innovative schemes to tackle HIV

The world’s first national radio service for prisons is developing a project to reduce the stigma around HIV, following funding from the Department of Health.…

Fewer smokers are managing to quit, Public Health England figures show

The number of smokers using commissioned NHS services to set a quit date and to stop smoking for four weeks have both fallen significantly since last year, new figures from Public Health England have revealed.…

Avoid prescribing antibiotics for sinusitis, says new guidance from NICE and PHE

Antibiotics should not be routinely prescribed for sinusitis, says new guidance, developed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and Public Health England.…