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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Call to write off health debts - The Guardian 2nd January 2007
The government must write off health service trusts' huge deficits to allow fundamental reforms geared to patient choice, an influential thinktank says today. A report by Reform, an independent body, argues that the "long-term strength of the service is weaker than two years ago despite record spending increases". It points to a failure to tackle rising costs and invest in modern services.
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'Waste threatens NHS reform' - The Times 2nd January 2007
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Health Service 'wastes £25 billion every year' - Daily Mail 1st January 2007
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NHS 'facing make or break year' - BBC Health News 2nd January 2007
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Britain goes on a diet and joins a gym - but for this month only - The Guardian 2nd January 2006
We no longer tune into the same TV programmes at Christmas and have never been more different from each other, but many in Britain remain united by one thing: an obsession with physical perfection. No time is this more obvious than the new year, when millions of dumpy Britons resolve to become thinner and trimmer in the months ahead. According to David Lloyd Leisure, starting a healthy diet and fitness regime is now the most popular new year's resolution.
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Long live the resolution - The Guardian 2nd January 2006
For this special new-year resolutions issue, five Guardian readers bravely volunteered to turn over a new leaf in just one week - with a little help from the experts. So what happened? Interviews by Vicky Frost
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Scientists find way to slash cost of drugs - The Guardian 2nd January 2006
Two UK-based academics have devised a way to invent new medicines and get them to market at a fraction of the cost charged by big drug companies, enabling millions in poor countries to be cured of infectious diseases and potentially slashing the NHS drugs bill. Sunil Shaunak, professor of infectious diseases at Imperial College, based at Hammersmith hospital, calls their revolutionary new model "ethical pharmaceuticals".
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Rise in fake drugs trade puts NHS patients at risk - The Independent 2nd January 2006
Britain is facing a growing threat from fake medicines as counterfeiters have begun targeting the UK's pharmaceutical supply chain, according to the Government's drug safety watchdog. The illegal trade carries lower risks and higher profits than smuggling hard drugs and is putting NHS patients at risk, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says.
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Why Britain is a good target for the counterfeiters - The Independent 2nd January 2006
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Leading article: The right medicine - The Independent 2nd January 2006
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Letters: Legalising drugs - The Independent 2nd January 2006
I found myself getting irritated by the article "Murder is murder, whatever the victim's character" (Comment, 26 December). The writer states that "crack-addicted [and I guess he would include heroin] people seldom behave well; they are notorious more for their self-absorption than other, better qualities".
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Inner-city areas set to become the pits for healthy lifestyle - The Times 2nd January 2007
London’s inner-city boroughs are predicted to replace former mining towns as Britain’s sickest areas, according to research. Tower Hamlets and Hackney in East London, and Southwark and Lambeth in South London are developing health problems expected to overtake those of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, and Easington, Co Durham.
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Fitness map reveals best and worst areas for health - Daily Mail 1st January 2007
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Snack habits stay - The Times 2nd January 2007
Britain is finally getting the message about healthy eating, according to a snapshot of what went into the nation’s shopping baskets last year. While there has been a large increase in the sale of feelgood foods, such as yoghurts and smoothies, there is no sign of the nation giving up its snack habits, such as crisps, for good. The two fastest-growing products of the year will not please the health police as tastes for individual Goodfella’s Solo pizzas and Magners cider topped the chart. The annual top products survey is produced by The Grocer magazine.
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Young smokers - The Times 2nd January 2007
We operate a shop in a Surrey village which has a hostel regularly used as a base for visiting schoolchildren. We get many of these children attempting to buy tobacco and diligently request proof of age (report and leading article, Jan 1) and if this is not forthcoming we refuse sale.
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Dental cover - The Times 2nd January 2007
J. L. E. Morland-Duff (letter, Jan 1) blames dentists for not providing an emergency service over the Bank Holiday period. As a practising dentist I used to provide such a service, attending on Bank Holidays, weekends and even at 2am. Then, last April, the Government forced new contracts on to the profession. We were told that out-of-hours emergency provision would have to be provided by primary care trusts (PCTs) and all funding for dentists to provide a service was withdrawn.
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Hospitals told to delay operations to ease debt - The Telegraph 2nd January 2007
Hospitals have been told not to operate on patients until they have been on a waiting list for up to 20 weeks in the latest attempt to deal with the financial crisis in the health service. The instructions to delay treating people for as long as possible are spelled out in leaked documents seen by The Daily Telegraph.
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Simple cancer risk test 'two years away' - The Telegraph 2nd January 2007
A simple blood test that would predict a person's likelihood of developing different types of cancer could be in use within two years, scientists said yesterday. Researchers have found evidence supporting the theory that mutations in stem cells, the body's basic building blocks that can change into other types of cell, are fundamental to the development of cancers.
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My back pain was so bad I could hardly walk ... but the surgeon cured it in 20 minutes - Daily Mail 1st January 2007
Lumbar spinal stenosis - or the narrowing of the spinal cord - is one of the most common causes of back pain from middle age onwards. Conventional treatment involves major surgery to cut open the spinal canal, but now it can be treated in ten minutes using a revolutionary implant, the XStop.
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Check your hearing, workers told - BBC Health News 2nd January 2007
The TUC and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People have called on workers to make checking their hearing a New Year's resolution. It is imperative that anybody with problems be treated as early as possible, the RNID says.
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Cigarette-buying age rise backed - BBC Health News 1st January 2007
Health campaigners have broadly welcomed a government move to raise the legal minimum age for buying tobacco in England and Wales from 16 to 18 years. The law change will be introduced in October following a ban on smoking in public and work places.
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International News
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Scientists on a mission to bring cheap drugs to the world's poorest countries - The Guardian 2nd January 2006
Until recently, hepatitis C, a potentially fatal blood-borne infection that could affect as many as 500,000 people in the UK, was treated with the antiviral drug ribavirin, together with interferon.
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Blood pressure patients benefit from up to two drinks a day - Daily Mail 1st January 2007
Men with high blood pressure can cut their risk of heart attacks by indulging in a daily tipple, say scientists. In the UK, around 16 million people - more than one in four - have high blood pressure, or hypertension.
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Drink lowers blood pressure risks - BBC Health News 2nd January 2007
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Homesickness 'can be prevented' - BBC Health News 2nd January 2007
Homesickness should not be an automatic experience for children staying in unfamiliar surroundings, say psychologists. In the journal Pediatrics they suggest simple steps, including the offer of counselling, could prevent it.
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Scan shows how brains plot future - BBC Health News 2nd January 2007
Brain scans have given US scientists a clue about how we create a mental image of our own future. The Washington University team say that specific areas of the brain are active when thinking about upcoming events.
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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