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Public spending on consultants reaches record £3bn - The Guardian 15th December 2006
Spending on consultants across the public sector has reached a record £3bn - an increase of over a third in two years - according to the first authoritative investigation into their costs, released today by the National Audit Office. The huge increase is almost entirely caused by the NHS, where spending on consultants has jumped more than 15-fold from £31m to more than £500m in two years - mirroring almost the entire deficit in the hospital and GP services.
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£1bn of public cash is 'wasted' as bills from consultants soar - The Times 15th December 2006
Additional Story£7bn spent on consultants in three years - The Telegraph 15th December 2006
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Gay couples to get full rights in donor child proposals - The Guardian 15th December 2006
Gay couples should be given the same parental rights to children born from fertility treatment as heterosexual partners, according to government proposals published yesterday. The changes affect everything from the right of donor-conceived children to know if they have biological siblings to a ban on parents choosing the sex of their child except in strict medical circumstances. Most controversially, they propose to take away the legal clause which suggests doctors should consider the "need for a father" when deciding fertility treatment. Clinics will no longer be able to deny treatment outright to lesbians and single mothers.
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Full parental rights for gay couples - The Times 15th December 2006
Additional StoryHomosexuals who start a family to get equal rights - The Telegraph 15th December 2006
Additional StoryIVF babies do not need a father figure, experts say - Daily Mail 14th December 2006
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Many animal tests are badly flawed, say scientists - The Guardian 15th December 2006
The real value of animal experiments is questioned today by a team of senior scientists who found that many are flawed and do not predict how well a prototype medicine will work in humans. The new paper, published by the British Medical Journal, is likely to be seized on by the animal rights lobby as substantiation for their case to stop all experiments. Their case was bolstered by the disaster of the Northwick Park clinical trial, where a drug that had been safe in animals had catastrophic side-effects in the human volunteers.
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Animal studies 'of limited use' - BBC Health News 15th December 2006
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Is it better to be a bit fat or very thin? The news about obesity makes we want to eat, drink and be merry - The Guardian 15th December 2006
So pathetically are we in awe of celebrities that those who claim to have our welfare at heart - mainly the government and the medical establishment - are always urging them to act as responsible "role models", living good and healthy lives and urging us to do the same.
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Letters: The role of primates in research - The Guardian 15th December 2006
I read with interest the reactions of various organisations to the launch of the Weatherall report on the use of non-human primates in research (Using animals is morally bankrupt, December 13). However, my own views were somewhat misrepresented. The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research welcomes the report and regards it as a valuable addition to the debate over when and how these animals are used in research. There are many recommendations that could have a positive impact on the use of primates, both in terms of minimising suffering and reducing the numbers used.
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Primate research - The Times 15th December 2006
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Modernisation in the health service - The Guardian 15th December 2006
The letters about the NHS financial ailments (December 13) put forward a variety of explanations for the current disastrous situation. However, the fundamental problem is that a totally inappropriate market model has been imposed on the NHS (and other public services such as the probation service).
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Letters: Obesity in children is more than just a physical problem - The Guardian 15th December 2006
It's a national disgrace that obesity levels in England have doubled in the past 10 years and more than a quarter of children in secondary schools are clinically obese (Stomach surgery and drugs for children to tackle obesity epidemic, December 13). Coupled with the steepest drop-out rates in sports participation among school leavers in Europe, the need to kick-start a health revolution for young people has never been greater.
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Vegetarianism: the choice of the 'more intelligent' child - The Independent 15th December 2006
It's official - vegetarians really are smarter. But it is not because of what they eat. Bright children are more likely to reject meat and opt to become vegetarians when they grow up, a study has shown. Clever veggies are born not made.
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High IQ link to being vegetarian - BBC Health News 15th December 2006
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NHS IT system offers poor value for money, says British Computer Society - The Telegraph 15th December 2006
The British Computer Society (BCS) has criticised the NHS IT programme for failing to provide value for money and slowing down IT projects already under way in hospitals. In a report out today based on the opinions of IT workers from the NHS and outside, the BCS criticises the cost of the project to digitise patient care records and link up all the NHS IT systems across the country.
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Child index 'will be open to hackers' - The Telegraph 15th December 2006
A proposed database of 12 million children will be open to abuse by hackers, it was claimed yesterday. The Independent Schools Council, which represents almost 1,300 private schools, said the so-called Children's Index would fail to meet international standards for data security and details might be sold on to paedophiles.
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Home births boom as women choose own bed deliveries - Daily Mail 14th December 2006
Home births are making a comeback, according to figures released yesterday. The number rose 14 per cent to 17,000 last year despite warnings that they are riskier than hospital births.
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Wales tops home birth statistics - BBC Health News 14th December 2006
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First British 'brain bypass' using vein graft - Daily Mail 14th December 2006
Grandmother Pauline Meacham, 65, is one of the first Britons to have a "brain bypass" to treat a large tumour.
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UK 'brain bypass' op breakthrough - BBC Health News 14th December 2006
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Morning after pills to handed out in advance for the first time - Daily Mail 14th December 2006
Women and young girls are being offered the chance to stock up on 'morning after' pills at £10 a time by Britain's leading abortion provider.
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Cash-strapped NHS spends £330,000 on improving blue logo - Daily Mail 13th December 2006
Hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money is being spent on 'managing' the NHS logo despite the cash crisis gripping the Health Service.
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Drive to improve patient safety - BBC Health News 15th December 2006
The government has announced a shake-up of systems to improve patient safety as a study finds current safeguards are failing.
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New call to reduce abortion limit - BBC Health News 14th December 2006
Tory MP Nadine Dorries has said she will publish a new version of her bill to reduce the time limit for abortions. The new version would limit the timescale for terminations to 20 weeks from the current 24 weeks.
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Ready meals in glass scare recall - BBC Health News 14th December 2006
Major supermarkets are withdrawing thousands of ready meals following concerns they contain glass fragments.
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Brain model helps fight disorders - BBC Health News 14th December 2006
Scientists at Sheffield University have developed a computer model of the human brain to help doctors learn more about disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
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International News
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Big fall in breast cancer cases after women abandon HRT - The Times 15th December 2006
A sharp and unexpected fall in breast cancer cases may have been caused by millions of women giving up hormone replacement therapy. In 2003, after rising steadily for 20 years, new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the US fell by 7 per cent. About 14,000 fewer women developed the disease than in 2002. The fall was even greater among women aged 50 to 69 suffering from forms of breast cancer that are sensitive to hormones. In this group the drop was a remarkable 12 per cent.
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HRT may hold key to fall in breast cancer rate - The Telegraph 15th December 2006
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How the Dutch protect their prostitutes - BBC Health News 14th December 2006
As the murder of prostitutes in Suffolk grips the UK, BBC News looks at some of the safety mechanisms being used in the Netherlands to protect local sex workers there from violence.
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White House hosts malaria summit - BBC Health News 14th December 2006
Global measures to combat malaria are set to be discussed at a summit held at the White House in Washington.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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Hospitals plead for cash to halt deadly superbugs - Liverpool Daily Post 14th December 2006
HOSPITALS across the region are to bid for a share of £50m national funding to fight superbugs on their wards. Health executives last night announced they want £300,000 to help stop the spread of deadly MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C-Dif), at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospitals.
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Hospitals in cash bid to fight superbugs - Liverpool Echo 14th December 2006
HOSPITALS across the region are to bid for a share of £50m national funding to fight superbugs on their wards. Health executives have announced they want £300,000 to help stop the spread of deadly MRSA and Clostridium difficile at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen hospitals.
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999 crew could not get to footballer - Liverpool Echo 14th December 2006
AMBULANCE staff have met council officers to come up with a series of contingency plans after a second footballer was left waiting in agony for paramedics on a council sports pitch.
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Student's health alert over nurse 'burnout' - Ellesmere Port Pioneer 14th December 2006
A STUDENT nurse from Ellesmere Port says cutbacks at the Countess of Chester Hospital are having a 'devastating' effect on patient care. The woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, says there is a shortage of nurses, which is leading to unsafe working conditions, low morale and burnout.
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Be sure to wash your hands, doctors warn - Runcorn Weekly News 14th December 2006
A HIGHLY infectious bug could strike thousands in Halton if people are not vigilant, health officials have warned. Doctors have urged anyone who comes down with the virus, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea, to stay away from work or school as it can be easily passed on.
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Commons debate over PCT board - Warrington Guardian 14th December 2006
WARRINGTON North MP Helen Jones has called for a House of Commons debate following the announcement of the new board members at Warrington Primary Care Trust (PCT). Speaking on Thursday she criticised the announcement that just two of the seven trust members will be from her constituency and called on leader of the house, Jack Straw, to call a debate.
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Parking near hospital - St Helens Star 14th December 2006
YOU said in the Star (December 7) that 539 fixed penalty fines had been issued to motorists who had parked illegally near to Whiston Hospital. Well I was given a ticket - I was parked in Stoney Lane - half way between either entrance to the hospital, with both my disabled tickets on view, on double yellow lines.
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
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Maternity fighters hand over petition - Carlisle News & Star 14th December 2006
A 10,000-NAME petition urging the government to ensure maternity services in west Cumbria are not axed was handed in to the House of Commons last night. Copeland MP Jamie Reed hopes the strength in numbers will make clear that changing the maternity services and making expectant mothers from the area travel up to 42 miles to give birth in another hospital is not an option.
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Fears for future of hospital - Preston Citizen 14th December 2006
The future of the Royal Preston Hospital could be under threat, according to a health chief. A proposed new health centre on the site of the former Sharoe Green Hospital, will take work and funding away from the hospital and could lead to its closure, according to Dennis Benson, chairman of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Royal Preston and Chorley hospitals.
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Call for TB jabs - Blackpool Citizen 14th December 2006
A health worker has called for TB jabs to be bought back after two cases of the disease were diagnosed in the Fylde earlier this month. Pam Higgs, a community occupational therapist first questioned the decision to drop the BCG vaccine in the Citizen in May.
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Greater Manchester News
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Fairfield: We'll fight to the bitter end - Bury Times 14th December 2006
"WE will fight to the bitter end." That was the message of defiance from Bury's two MPs, council bosses and protesters in the wake of the decision to axe Fairfield Hospital's maternity department. Fairfield's case to save its maternity facilities and special care baby unit was lost by just three votes at a meeting on Friday to decide which hospitals would lose services as part of a massive shake-up of children and maternity services across Greater Manchester.
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Asia photos on display in hospital - The Bolton News 14th December 2006
ARTIST Chris Foster has seen his photographic tour of Asia find an unusual home - at Bury's Fairfield Hospital.
Full links to the articles detailed can be found at www(dot) fade the blog 2 (dot)blogspot (dot)com, This has been a Podcast of Another 15 Minutes ... Health News from the Fade Library.
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