Clare Horton writes
Good morning and welcome to the daily live blog from the Guardian Healthcare Professionals Network. Throughout the day, we'll be bringing you news, comment and analysis from around the web.
The Guardian reports that the outgoing NHS chief executive has warned that the English health service faces a number of patient safety scandals unless there is a significant shakeup in the service that has seen unused hospital wards close, hi-tech surgery centralised and GPs banded together into bigger practices. Randeep Ramesh reports that Sir David Nicholson says the NHS faces an ageing population, more people suffering from long-term conditions and a stagnant budget, and it needs to make £30bn savings over the next eight years. Nicholson said cuts alone were not an option, adding:
There is a limit to how much more can be achieved without damaging quality or safety.
There's also news that Serco, has come under attack for its "substandard" GP out-of-hours service in Cornwall, in a report published by the public accounts committee.
Research has revealed that patients are being denied treatment for hernias, cataracts and infertility because the new GP-led groups that control £65bn of NHS funding are imposing new restrictions on access to care.
More than 100,000 young people at risk of measles have finally received protection through the MMR jab, thanks to a vaccine catch-up campaign prompted by a big outbreak of the disease in Swansea in the spring.
And health correspondent Denis Campbell reports that hospitals are under pressure to stop clamping newborn babies' umbilical cords after new research found that their health improves if the cord is left to pulse for several minutes.
The NHS is now facing calls to rethink a policy that has been standard for about 50 years regarding when umbilical cords are cut. Photograph: Stephen Chiang Elsewhere, the Telegraph says a hospital trust is writing to 2,000 women after concerns that a gynaecologist botched operations and investigative procedures.
And the BBC reports on Danish research, which suggests that today's 90-year-olds are surviving into very old age with better mental performance than ever before.
If there's a story, report or event you'd like to highlight – or you would like to share your thoughts on any of the healthcare issues in the news today – you can get in touch by leaving a comment below the line or tweeting us at @GdnHealthcare.
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