Welcome to the Podcast of Another 15 Minutes, Health News from the Fade Library. Full links to the articles detailed can be found at www (dot) fade the blog 2 (dot) blogspot (dot)com
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National News
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NHS will fail to meet MRSA target, says memo - The Guardian 11th January 2007
The government's strategy for halving the number of hospital superbug infections was in disarray yesterday after a leaked internal memo to Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, revealed doubt as to whether the target could ever be met. Liz Woodeson, the director of health protection, warned Ms Hewitt that the three-year target to halve MRSA infections by April 2008 was likely to be missed. "Although the numbers are coming down, we are not on course to meet that target and there is some doubt over whether it is in fact achievable," she wrote in October.
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Pledge to halve MRSA cases 'is not achievable' - The Independent 11th January 2007
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Leaked memo reveals that targets to beat MRSA will not be met - The Times 11th January 2007
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New strains offer bleak future - The Times 11th January 2007
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Whitehall: We may never hit superbug target - The Telegraph 11th January 2007
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MRSA target 'likely to be missed' - BBC Health News 11th January 2007
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Peers vote down ministers on compulsion for mentally ill - The Guardian 11th January 2007
The government was defeated in the House of Lords last night over legislation to strengthen powers of compulsion in the treatment of mentally ill patients in England and Wales. A rebel alliance of peers won by a majority of 106 on the first of a series of amendments to the mental health bill. The cross-party group is concerned that ministers' proposals would take away patients' civil rights. Its show of strength in the voting lobby suggests that further government defeats are inevitable.
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So you fancy chips with everything? Go ahead - The Guardian 11th January 2007
It had to happen. It is diet time, detox month, to pay for all those Christmas potatoes roasted in Nigella's goose fat. A period of healing through eating ... chips. Chips? Chips!? Sadly, not those fried in vegetable oil or even extra virgin olive oil or (best of all) beef dripping. No, those oven-ready bits of what appear to be extruded polystyrene are the latest vegetable to be given the nod from the health police.
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This charming vision of inclusion isn't working - The Guardian 11th January 2007
The inadequacies of special needs provision in mainstream schools leave vulnerable pupils bewildered and ignored
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Watchdog accuses UK's most successful IVF clinic - The Guardian 11th January 2007
The fertility clinic with the highest IVF success rate in the country is the worst at meeting standards - including safety procedures - set by the fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. The Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre, run by Britain's wealthiest doctor, Mohamed Taranissi, ranks the lowest among 77 clinics currently licensed for treatment. Only one other clinic, the Reproductive Genetics Institute in London, scored lower in an HFEA audit, but it no longer has a licence to practise.
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IVF 'league table' reveals catalogue of errors - The Telegraph 11th January 2007
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League table of fertility clinics - BBC Health News 10th January 2007
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Luddites and moralists - The Guardian 11th January 2007
The honeymoon for British stem cell scientists is coming to an end. What began as a model partnership between researchers and the government in how to navigate a controversial area is at risk of disintegrating into a messy divorce, a split fuelled by misconceptions, a Luddite fear of technology and more than a whiff of inappropriate political pressure.
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Scientists support hybrid embryos - BBC Health News 10th January 2007
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Common cold virus may be new weapon to fight cancer - The Guardian 11th January 2007
British scientists are preparing to launch trials of a radical new way to fight cancer, which kills tumours by infecting them with viruses like the common cold. If successful, virus therapy could eventually form a third pillar alongside radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the standard arsenal against cancer, while avoiding some of the debilitating side-effects.
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Trust in British food 'threatened by birth of calf' - The Telegraph 11th January 2007
The Government was accused yesterday of "inexcusable and irresponsible" behaviour after it emerged that the calf of an American cloned cow had been born on a British farm.Animal welfare campaigners said the birth last month of Dundee Paradise at a Shropshire farm without the Government's knowledge would undermine trust in British farming.
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Charging by the mile will drive us to despair - The Telegraph 11th January 2007
For Adrian Voyce and Ruth Bowles, who drive around 27,000 miles a year between them, the road pricing proposals threaten financial disaster. If they were charged the full £1.28 a mile they could face a bill of £34,560.
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More families will pay for home care - The Telegraph 11th January 2007
People should get used to the idea that the state will provide less and less to fund home care for the elderly and the disabled, a Government minister suggested yesterday. Reacting to a report which concluded that local authorities will increasingly deny financial aid to all but the most critical cases, Ivan Lewis said it was time for a "national debate" on the issue.
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Families take strain as elderly refused care - The Independent 11th January 2007
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Many 'excluded from social care' - BBC Health News 11th January 2007
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Man who contracted rare disease from parrot wins £700,000 in damages - The Telegraph 11th January 2007
A former pet shop worker has been awarded £700,000 in damages after being left wheelchair-bound through a virus he caught from a parrot. Glyn Atherton, 35, won a six-year battle for compensation after he contracted the rare condition psittacosis from an African grey called Jack.
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An end to the affluenza epidemic - The Telegraph 11th January 2007
The rise of the "affluenza" virus and the resulting increase in emotional distress since the 1970s is caused by a form of political economy that I call "selfish capitalism".
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Student's malaria was 'probably curable' - The Telegraph 11th January 2007
The death of a university student from malaria could have been prevented if her symptoms had been recognised earlier, an inquest heard yesterday. Matilda Cooper, 19, known as Mattie, was found dead in her bed by a friend at her Cardiff University halls of residence on Jan 26 last year.
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Misdiagnosis led to malaria death - BBC Health News 10th January 2007
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New blood test could predict heart failure - Daily Mail 10th January 2007
A new blood test could help predict the risk of heart failure or a stroke, allowing doctors to take action to help prolong a patient's life. Researchers say the test will be beneficial to all patients with coronary heart disease, which kills more than 110,000 people in England every year.
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Sir Gerry: NHS 'not a business' - BBC Health News 11th January 2007
Businessman Sir Gerry Robinson has said the NHS should not be treated like a normal business and managers should be allowed to do their jobs properly. Sir Gerry, the star of a recent BBC TV series to try to cut waiting lists at one hospital, debated the issue with NHS chief executive David Nicholson.
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Legal fight over care home rights - BBC Health News 11th January 2007
The court of appeal is being asked to decide if people in privately-run care homes should have stronger protection for their human rights. Campaigners say the law needs to be changed to prevent elderly couples being separated in care, or homes closed without the consent of vulnerable residents.
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Disabled children 'need' a voice - BBC Health News 11th January 2007
Disabled children who do not live at home should have the right to an advocate who can speak on their behalf, according to the Children's Society. The organisation says that more than 13,000 children placed away from home are at greater risk of abuse.
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Safety changes 'neglected by GPs' - BBC Health News 11th January 2007
Reforms to improve the quality and safety of NHS care are not hitting home in GP surgeries, says a report from the National Audit Office. It says many have not implemented 'clinical governance' systems found elsewhere in the health service.
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PM backs ministers' NHS protests - BBC Health News 10th January 2007
Tony Blair has defended the right of ministers to take part in local protests against NHS reforms. The comments follow Labour chairwoman Hazel Blears' decision to join a demonstration against the closure of a maternity unit in her constituency.
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International News
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Uncovering global inequalities through innovative statistics - The Guardian 11th January 2007
Key information should be unearthed to explain the world we live in, argues a Swedish professor
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Zimbabwe hospitals hit by doctors' strike - The Guardian 11th January 2007
Patients are being turned away from Zimbabwe's overflowing hospitals as striking junior doctors continue to pursue demands for pay rises of almost 9,000%. Broken arms, fractured skulls and internal injuries are going untreated for days as the strike enters its fourth week today.
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Rabies and snake bite care boost - BBC Health News 10th January 2007
A global US$10million plan to improve treatment of rabies, snake bites and scorpion stings is being drawn up by the World Health Organization (WHO). Experts are meeting in Geneva on Wednesday to consider the issue.
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Uranium 'killing Italian troops' - BBC Health News 10th January 2007
Italian soldiers are still dying following exposure to depleted uranium in the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, their relatives say. Troops who served during the wars in the 1990s believe they have contracted cancer and other serious illnesses from extended exposure to the munitions.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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GPs quit over after-hours safety fear - Liverpoool Echo 10th January 2007
GPs in charge of an out-of-hours service have quit over fears about patient safety. The two medical directors of the service in Southport and Formby, Dr Graeme Allan and Dr Peter Entwistle, resigned citing concerns over the company running the service.
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Join the ECHO fat-busters - Liverpoool Echo 10th January 2007
IT’S January, traditionally the month to re-think eating habits and tone up ready for the summer ahead. But according to dietician Brian Johnson the most important thing we can do to lose weight doesn’t involve faddy eating regimes or starvation diets; it’s simply investing in time.
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TB alert at the Royal - Liverpoool Echo 10th January 2007
THE Royal Liverpool hospital is on alert for a tuberculosis outbreak after a patient was diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease. The hospital today insisted the risks of the highly infectious disease, which kills around 400 people a year in the UK, being passed on were low.
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Childcare centre may sue google over blog - Liverpoool Echo 10th January 2007
A LIVERPOOL childcare centre is threatening to sue internet giant Google over a whistleblowing website. Parents who set up the site are also facing possible legal action from solicitors acting for Speke Sure Start.
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‘MELTDOWN’ fear for ambulance computer - Liverpoool Echo 10th January 2007
WORRIED ambulance staff claim the emergency service is being thrown into chaos by its computer system. Unions revealed control centre staff had to scribble emergency call outs down on pieces of paper after the software went into meltdown.
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
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Plan for gas detectors in 380 county schools - Carlisle News & Star 10th January 2007
HEALTH and safety chiefs at Cumbria County Council are considering a plan to install carbon monoxide detectors in the county’s schools. The issue was highlighted yesterday after a Carlisle primary school was left without proper heating because its boiler chimney flue was found to be partially blocked.
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Vicar refuses wife’s hospital death talks - Lancashire Telegraph 10th January 2007
A VICAR who revealed a diary by his dying wife attacked her NHS treatment has said he does not want to meet bosses to discuss the case. The Lancashire Telegraph published the diaries of Linda Logan on Monday, in which she complained of poor communication from staff which kept her unaware of the extent of her mouth cancer.
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Hospitals chief to stand down - Lancashire Telegraph 10th January 2007
A HEALTH boss who helped drive a controversial hospital shake-up is to step down six months into a four-year tenure. Christine Kirk, chairman of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, will retire at the end of March.
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Cancer patient refused drug on NHS - Lancashire Telegraph 10th January 2007
A TERMINALLY-ill cancer patient pays £3,000 a month for medication after being refused it on the NHS. Keith Ditchfield, 52, said he felt "totally let down" by the refusal to pay for Nexavar for his renal cancer, which he has sent from Germany.
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Greater Manchester News
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£600,000 payout over NHS 'crash' - Manchester Evening News 10th January 2007
THE North West NHS is to get £600,000 compensation after their new hi-tech computer system crashed for two days. Health staff were forced to revert to pen and paper after Connecting for Health - and its back-up - went down last July, affecting about 2,000 patients in Greater Manchester because of theatre management and appointment-booking systems.
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Kelly has the right to go private - The Bolton News 10th January 2007
ALL right - so Bolton MP Ruth Kelly has left herself open to allegations of hypocrisy about sending her son to a private school. The Communities Secretary and former Education Minister was bound to cause a furore with her decision to opt out of her local state school in favour of a £15,000 a year private school. This is to help her son who has special needs, although her other children still attend the state school.
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Winter virus closes third hospital ward - The Bolton News 10th January 2007
A THIRD ward has been closed at the Royal Bolton Hospital following an outbreak of a winter virus. Last week, two wards and a smaller unit were closed because of a similar illness after eight patients and four members of staff on a cardiology ward were struck down with the Norwalk virus, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting.
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Older workers are less stressed than colleagues - The Bolton News 10th January 2007
WORKERS over the age of 56 are less stressed then their younger colleagues, partly because they are looking forward to retirement, Research published today shows that workers' stress levels usually increase as they get older, but then fall when they reach their mid- 50s.
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Casualty department has busiest New Year - The Bolton News 10th January 2007
THE accident and emergency department of the Royal Bolton Hospital had the busiest New Year on record. Ambulance services were also put under pressure as emergency cases shot up during the weekend of New Year festivities.
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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