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The NHS is wasting at least £640m a year by overpaying the major pharmaceutical companies for drugs, the Office of Fair Trading said yesterday. The finding came in a report which urged an overhaul in the way that drug companies charge the NHS for treatments. In some cases the OFT found branded drugs such as statins being prescribed that were 10 times more expensive than generic alternatives that delivered essentially the same benefits to patients.
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Energetic OFT head turns his guns on Big Pharma - The Independent 21st February 2007
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Service ‘wastes’ £500m a year on branded drugs - The Times 21st February 2007
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Energetic OFT head turns his guns on Big Pharma - The Independent 21st February 2007
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Service ‘wastes’ £500m a year on branded drugs - The Times 21st February 2007
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A winter squeeze on NHS services across England will be enough to pull the health service out of financial deficit by the end of March, forecasts from the Department of Health indicated yesterday. They showed 132 NHS trusts are heading to overspend by £1,318m in 2006-07 - slightly more than the overspend that played havoc with NHS finances last year. But this time the deficits of the overspenders will be cancelled out by underspending in other parts of the NHS.
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Health budget 'fiddled to save Hewitt's skin' - The Telegraph 21st February 2007
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Many NHS trusts face growing debt - BBC Health News 20th February 2007
Doctors are expected to lose the right to vet themselves under a shake-up of their professional regulation which will be announced by Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, today. The medical regulator, the General Medical Council, is set to be stripped of its powers to discipline doctors and prevent them from practising under reforms aimed at preventing a repeat of the Harold Shipman scandal, and at restoring public confidence following a spate of cases involving unscrupulous doctors.
Controversial plans allowing women to donate eggs for research in return for money are expected to be approved by the government's fertility regulator today. Under the scheme women who donate eggs will receive up to £250 compensation for lost earnings, with further uncapped payments available to cover travel costs and childcare. The fresh eggs will be used to bolster limited supplies provided by fertility clinics to scientists who use them to create cloned embryos. Stem cells harvested from the embryos are expected to provide unprecedented insights into medical conditions such as Parkinson's and motor neurone disease.
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Human egg donation decision due - BBC Health News 21st February 2007
AstraZeneca, Britain's second largest drug maker, is to cut 700 supply and manufacturing jobs at its Macclesfield plant and has refused to rule out more job cuts in the next few years. The company announced at the beginning of the month that it would shed 3,000 manufacturing jobs around the world but did not say where the cuts would be. Yesterday it confirmed 700 would be at the Macclesfield plant in Cheshire, over the next three years. The plant employs 2,500 people of whom 1,800 are in supply and manufacturing positions.
The private sector has brought speed, experience and innovation to public services. And, more importantly, says one chief executive, quality
As more women's charities face closure, a new campaign is calling for the government to help support groups that, for many abuse victims, are the only place they can turn to
Charities have been instrumental in pushing the idea of patient power in NHS reform. But concerns have been raised about how this is working on the ground
The voluntary sector's rapid rise in profile has left many charity leaders ill-equipped to deal with the increasing demands placed upon them
A local newspaper headline caught my eye this week. It was along the lines of: "Town hall chiefs blame NHS for council tax shock." No doubt that kind of story is cropping up across the country as local authorities cite cost-shunting by debt-laden primary care trusts for the scale of council tax rises being announced for April.
Funding, integrity, reputation - the uncomfortable truths revealed in a report about the growing number of charities that provide public services. Alison Benjamin reports
Seamless health and adult care services without reams of red tape proves that integration - even on a large scale - can work
A centre dedicated to giving carers support and a much needed break demonstrates how social enterprises can play a part in social care
My friend Brendan is a doctor, and a Catholic. I have another friend, also a Catholic, called Seamus, who is an adoption social worker in a Catholic agency. They have both been wrestling with their consciences in the past few weeks. The NHS grants Brendan an exemption from performing abortions on the basis of his beliefs. And all three of us think that is absolutely right. On the other hand, the government has denied Catholic agencies an exemption from providing adoption services to gay couples. And we all think that's right too. So when is conscience really conscience, and when is it just cover for bigotry?
The government's plans to open up legal aid to competition will have devastating consequences for vulnerable people and the profession
Social policy professor John Hills has been wrestling with how we can better use existing social housing to help the most vulnerable make the most of their lives. Alison Benjamin takes him to task on his findings
If you want to understand the muddle facing NHS dentistry across England, try paying a visit to a practice near the Clem Attlee housing estate in Fulham, west London. But don't necessarily expect to get treatment after the end of this month. NHS Dentist, an expanding practice on North End Road, is about to "overperform" on its contract - so there will be no more public money available to treat further patients until the new financial year.
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A woman accused of selling medicines made from endangered species has been acquitted on all ten charges. Cai Li Zhao, 42, was cleared by a jury at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court on the direction of Judge Simon Smith. Mrs Zhao was charged with selling products containing bear bile, deer musk, antelope horn and orchid from her shop in Baker Street, Central London. Judge Smith indicated that a significant problem with the case was the prosecution’s decision not to rely on the evidence of a botanist, zoologist or an expert in taxonomy
Smoking is to be banned on boats and ships in British waters, the Government said. Douglas Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said that he plans to extend the ban on smoking in public places to the nation’s waterways. Smoking in enclosed workplaces, public places and vehicles on land will be banned from July 1.
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Phillip Northmore died unaware that, by greeting his six-year-old daughter with a hug every evening on his return from work, he was passing on a death sentence. Forty years later, his dying daughter is set to receive around £100,000 after contracting cancer from the asbestos she inhaled from his overalls.
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MoD admits 'cancer hug' liability - BBC Health News 20th February 2007
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MoD admits 'cancer hug' liability - BBC Health News 20th February 2007
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Doctors said yesterday that Tony Blair's pledge to cut hospital waiting times by opening operating theatres in the evenings and weekends was "madness". They claimed that huge debts in the NHS meant some trusts were already delaying operations until the start of the next financial year.
One of the policies introduced by Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, is suffering criticism close to home. In her previous role as Trade and Industry Minister, Mrs Hewitt relaxed the opening restrictions on new pharmacies if they agreed to operate for 100 hours a week. But when a chain of chemists applied to build a 100-hour branch in Camden, north London, among the many objectors was Mrs Hewitt's husband, Circuit Judge William Birtles.
A pocket-sized device which claims to destroy the MRSA superbug and kill more than 99 per cent of the bird flu virus could be available on the high street within a couple of months. The mobile phone-shaped gadget uses UV light technology to zap the bugs within a matter of seconds.
A mild-mannered man who turns into a foulmouthed and violent fiend at night, a woman whose dreams are so terrifying she wakes up exhausted, another who falls asleep whenever she laughs. These are just some of the bizarre cases seen at the Sleep Centre at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire, the biggest sleep disorder unit in the UK.
Fast becoming indestructible, they are responsible for millions of infestations each year - no wonder experts fear we have entered the era of the super head louse. Whereas once they could be quickly destroyed with chemical lotions, now the lice are fighting back and have become resistant to even the most powerful formulas.
Bob Holness was at the peak of his success as host of the TV game show Blockbusters in 1991 when he first experienced 'a funny turn'. Arriving at a family wedding, he found himself unable to speak. "It was an odd sensation," says Bob. "My mouth was opening but nothing was coming out. My family said my co-ordination had gone and I seemed confused."
About 6.5 million people suffer from tired, dry or itchy eyes on a daily or weekly basis. TANIA ALEXANDER looks at some of the best eye products.
Britain is facing an impotence epidemic. More than half of men over 50 have problems achieving or maintaining arousal. Pfizer, the company behind impotence drug Viagra, claims 900,000 British men have been prescribed the drug, which aids blood flow to the penis, since its launch in 1998.
For five years, Peter Nowak put up with the fatigue and flu-like feelings that occasionally plagued him. The advertising executive put his symptoms down to overdoing things. He'd developed a rather stoical approach to his health - after all, it was nothing compared with the injuries he'd sustained in a car accident in 1979.
Goji berries, the latest healthy eating fad, may have to be removed from sale. The berries, full of vitamins, antioxidants and minerals, have won popularity as a "miracle" food with fans such as Madonna, Kate Moss and Liz Hurley.
Half of all women, including some as young as 17, would consider plastic surgery, according to a survey of almost 25,000 people. Almost a third (31 per cent) of women who are size 12 also think they are overweight or fat, according to the poll.
Every Tuesday, Britain's leading nutritionist explains how to eat your way to health. This week she tackles the problem of snoring and the embarrassing and uncomfortable complaint of wind I suffer from a blocked nose at night and my heavy breathing keeps my husband awake. I have tried a 'stop snoring' spray from the chemist, which hasn't worked. Do you have any dietary tips that might help?
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Foods that are 'low fat', 'full of natural goodness' and 'light' sound like products we should be piling into our trolleys at the supermarket — but are they really healthy? According to many experts and consumer watchdogs, it is often difficult to tell from reading food labels, which can be misleading and confusing. Even food industry insiders are at war about how to label foods. Last week the National Heart Forum criticised the latest food-labelling scheme, which tells shoppers how much sugar, fat and salt products contain as a percentage of their total 'guideline daily amount'.
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Women's lives are being put at risk because drug companies don't include them in drugs trials. This means potential side-effects are not exposed until the drugs hit the shelves, and by then it's too late, says Dr ANITA HOLDCROFT, a consultant anaesthetist at Imperial College London and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. She recently voiced her concerns in the Journal Of The Royal Society Of Medicine.
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When Lee Spievack cried out in pain after slicing off his fingertip he had no idea he was about to find himself at the centre of a medical mystery that appeared to have more in common with Harry Potter than the British Medical Journal. Rather than follow his doctor's advice and have a skin graft to cover what was left of his finger, the 68-year-old shopkeeper sprinkled the wound with a powdered extract of pig bladder.
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Allergic to electricity - Daily Mail 20th February 2007
As the chief executive of a high-tech food company with a turnover of £500m and 5,000 staff, you would expect Brian Stein to have all the latest electronic gizmos. But he doesn't even watch television or listen to a stereo system, much less use a mobile phone or computer.
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Tamoxifen reduces the risk of breast cancer returning long after women stop taking the drug, research suggests. Tamoxifen, which blocks the effect of the hormone oestrogen, is used both to treat breast cancer and to prevent it among women at high risk.
A doctor who prescribed large amounts of dangerous addictive drugs over the internet has been suspended from the medical register. A General Medical Council hearing was told Dr Julian Eden adopted a "cavalier attitude".
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The Attorney General is to review cases in which the controversial paediatrician Professor David Southall gave evidence for the prosecution. He has been accused of acting inappropriately and is facing a General Medical Council hearing in November.
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Amillia Taylor shouldn't be alive. She was born at less than 22 weeks - in the US, where babies aren't considered 'viable' until 23 weeks. But her desperate mother lied to doctors about how far gone she was, and Amillia is now the most premature baby to have ever survived. Aida Edemariam reports on her extraordinary story and asks: should we be saving such tiny babies?
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World's smallest surviving baby is going home - The Telegraph 21st February 2007
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Three patients at a hospital in Florence were given transplants using organs from a donor who was HIV positive because of a mistake made on a laboratory form, Italian health officials said yesterday. "Human error" had led to the liver and both kidneys of a 41-year-old woman being cleared for transplantation, despite the fact that tests showed her to have been HIV positive, said Alessandro Nanni Costa, director of the national transplant centre. He said the chances of the patients being infected were "extremely high".
Maria, a plastic surgeon at a major hospital in Havana, never fails to enter theatre without her secret weapon: her own pair of scissors. She says they are much sharper than those provided by the hospital, which she thinks are from China.
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Being a blood donor boosts your health - Daily Mail 20th February 2006
Giving blood may boost the health of younger donors. According to a U.S. study, blood donations keep the body's circulatory system healthy by reducing stores of iron. Researchers looked at 1,277 men and women aged 43 to 87 who had peripheral arterial disease, over a period of six years. Peripheral arterial disease is a common condition, affecting one in 20 people over 55 in the UK, in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to the limbs.
Natural contraception 'effective' - BBC Health News 21st February 2007
A natural family planning method is as effective as the contraceptive pill, German research suggests. The symptothermal method (STM) assesses fertility levels during the monthly cycle by measuring body temperature, and observing cervical secretions.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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KOP idol Tommy Smith visited Fazakerley hospital yesterday to see new equipment which will help sufferers of arthritis. The Anfield Iron tried out an ultrasound scanner which detects the condition early.
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AstraZeneca's global cull claims 700 jobs in Cheshire - The Guardian 21st February 2007
AstraZeneca, Britain's second largest drug maker, is to cut 700 supply and manufacturing jobs at its Macclesfield plant and has refused to rule out more job cuts in the next few years. The company announced at the beginning of the month that it would shed 3,000 manufacturing jobs around the world but did not say where the cuts would be. Yesterday it confirmed 700 would be at the Macclesfield plant in Cheshire, over the next three years. The plant employs 2,500 people of whom 1,800 are in supply and manufacturing positions.
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Sickness bug Shuts Hospital Wards - Carlisle News & Star 20th February 2007
WARDS have been closed and operations cancelled following a sickness outbreak at the Cumberland Infirmary. The quick-spreading diar rhoea and vomiting bug first took hold at the Carlisle hos pital almost a week ago.
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LIKE many mothers, Ann Furber is always happy to help out when son Tony calls. But her latest favour went further than most . . . she delivered her own grandchild.
PATIENTS waiting for operations at the Royal Bolton Hospital could be treated privately under plans to slash waiting times and meet Government targets. Bosses have been given £100,000 by the Primary Care Trust, which will enable them to treat up to 50 patients privately.
Consumers are confused about details of the impending smoking ban in England and Wales. Nearly six out of 10 people do not know when the restrictions come into force, according to trade magazine The Publican.
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New law to protect emergencyservices - The Bolton News 20th February 2007
FIREFIGHTERS and paramedics have welcomed tough new laws designed to protect them from attacks by the public. From today, the Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act will make it an offence to attack, obstruct, or hinder the emergency services. Anyone convicted under the act faces a £5,000 fine.
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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