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GPs are wasting more than £300m a year by prescribing drugs to NHS patients in England which are never used and choosing branded medicines over cheaper generic alternatives, parliament's spending watchdog says today in a report to MPs. The National Audit Office found some doctors overprescribe, allowing patients with long-term conditions to build up stockpiles of medicines. In other cases, patients failed to collect drugs dispensed by pharmacies or refused to take them after they got home.
GPs waste £85m a year by prescribing expensive drugs - The Independent 18th May 2007
NHS is wasting £100m a year on unused drugs - The Times 18th May 2007
Scientists allowed to experiment on hybrid embryos - The Telegraph 18th May 2007
GPs 'wasting millions' on drugs - BBC Health News 18th May 2007
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GPs waste £85m a year by prescribing expensive drugs - The Independent 18th May 2007
NHS is wasting £100m a year on unused drugs - The Times 18th May 2007
Scientists allowed to experiment on hybrid embryos - The Telegraph 18th May 2007
GPs 'wasting millions' on drugs - BBC Health News 18th May 2007
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Plans to outlaw the creation of "human-animal" embryos are set to be scrapped by ministers amid fears that an outright ban would hamper work on incurable diseases and damage British science. The move represents a major climbdown from the government's earlier position seeking a blanket ban on any research involving the hybrid embryos.
Climbdown by ministers as hybrid embryo ban is lifted - The Independent 18th May 2007
Human-animal embryos move nearer to reality - Daily Mail 17th May 2007
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Climbdown by ministers as hybrid embryo ban is lifted - The Independent 18th May 2007
Human-animal embryos move nearer to reality - Daily Mail 17th May 2007
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More young women who are diagnosed with breast cancer could be spared painful doses of chemotherapy after scientists proved that a readily available drug offers an equally effective treatment. The review of the cancer treatment regimes of thousands of women, published in the Lancet today, finds that luteinising hormone should be offered to all 5,500 premenopausal women diagnosed each year with hormone-receptive breast cancer.
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Are plans to add folic acid to bread a sensible precaution, or a cavalier experiment with the nation's health?
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Only 30% of government technology-based projects and programmes are successful, the official in charge of IT at one of its biggest departments has warned. Joe Harley, chief information officer at the Department for Work and Pensions, said current spending was not sustainable and the government needed to improve the quality of schemes while cutting costs.
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A woman with severe arthritis and osteoporosis spent the night on a hospital car park bench after casualty staff told her to leave because there were not enough beds available. Evelyn Beale, 61, from Lydney, Gloucestershire, was taken to the accident and emergency ward at Gloucestershire Royal hospital by ambulance on April 28 after a fall. Complaining of agonising pain in her back and neck she was given some painkillers by her doctor who then told her there was little he could do because her pain was part of ongoing medical problems.
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A team of dedicated midwives is showing how antenatal care could better work, reports Caroline Bennett
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Presumably a non-elected special adviser suggested that constant repetition of the word choice would satisfy patients that health reform was moving the NHS in the right direction. The reality is that patients do not particularly want choice (Report, May 14).
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Food officials have approved the latest functional food process - routine addition of folic acid to bread or flour to prevent birth defects. The board of the Food Standards Agency voted unanimously yesterday to back fortification and rejected criticism that it would lead to mass medication of the population.
Food watchdog backs folic acid in bread - The Times 18th May 2007
Folic acid in bread 'will benefit babies' - The Telegraph 18th May 2007
Watchdog backs plan to add folic acid to flour - Daily Mail 17th May 2007
Backing for folic acid in bread - BBC Health News 17th May 2007
Folic acid in bread 'will benefit babies' - The Telegraph 18th May 2007
Watchdog backs plan to add folic acid to flour - Daily Mail 17th May 2007
Backing for folic acid in bread - BBC Health News 17th May 2007
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A threatened hospital A&E department at the centre of a row over the Government’s health service reforms should stay open because there is no good reason to close it, local MPs have said. The Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford treats 80,000 patients a year. Surrey Primary Care Trust claimed in March that A&E departments should serve a catchment population of 450,000 to justify full resources, citing advice from Whitehall’s emergency care tsar. Ministers denied that such guidance existed. The Health Department said: “Decisions about A&E services are taken locally.”
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A hormone treatment designed for men with prostate cancer can also help to tackle breast cancer in younger women, according to research. Drugs such as Zoladex chemically castrate men by halting their production of testosterone, which fuels the cancer’s growth. Scientists now believe that the drugs, luteinising-hormone-releasing-hormone (LHRH) agonists, may combat breast cancer in a similar way.
Chemo-free cancer cure 'will save thousands' - Daily Mail 17th May 2007
Hormone blocker 'fights cancer' - BBC Health News 17th May 2007
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Failure to assess depression correctly can lead to life-saving antidepressants being misused
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Hospitals fall short in battle against blood clots that kill 25,000 a year - The Times 18th May 2007
Simple procedures that could save the lives of thousands of hospital patients every year are still not routine in Britain. More than 12,500 patients a year die in hospitals from venous thromboembolism (VTE), blood clots that form in the veins of the legs or pelvis and travel to the heart or lungs.
Blood clots kill 25,000 a year - The Telegraph 18th May 2007
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Increased spending is not the answer for the NHS - The Times 18th May 2007Blood clots kill 25,000 a year - The Telegraph 18th May 2007
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Alice Miles (“Save us from health service meddlers ”, May 16), together, it seems, with the majority of the Government and notably the Secretary of State for Health, seems mystified that, in the face of a threefold increase in NHS spending, outcomes have not improved “as dramatically as the injection of funds would suggest”, so she takes a pop at the current scapegoats, GPs and consultants, by suggesting that they have purloined the difference.
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Letters to The Daily Telegraph - The Telegraph 18th May 2007New Story
The past week has seen public concerns voiced by cancer specialists about the cost of new therapies (News, May 15), plus yet another National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) judgment against the use of one of them.
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Hair's why I'm proud to be a baldie! - Daily Mail 17th May 2007New Story
Forgive me if I don't get too excited by the news that scientists have come up with a supposed 'cure' for baldness. Apparently, they believe that they have coaxed dead hair follicles back to life - which in turn makes fresh new hair grow back.
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A major relaxation of IVF rules was announced by ministers today. The changes will make it easier for single people and lesbians to receive fertility treatment on the NHS.
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Patient safety is being put at risk due to delays in implementing the new NHS IT system, according to a study of senior managers. Parts of the controversial £12.4bn National Programme for IT (NPfIT) are currently years behind schedule.
IT delays 'put patients at risk' - BBC Health News 17th May 2007
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IT delays 'put patients at risk' - BBC Health News 17th May 2007
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Women should have the legal right to breastfeed in public and be allowed breaks at work to suckle their infants, campaigners have said. Celebrities such as Jemima Khan called for changes in the law to persuade more women to take up breastfeeding, which has been shown to improve the health of mother and baby.
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The 25-year-old is facing radical bone marrow treatment In a hospital isolation chamber, a 25-year-old journalist with leukaemia has started a video diary to chart his journey.
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Every year Camilla James takes part in a run fun to raise money for the charity Cancer Research UK. She is motivated to take part by the memory of her sister Bec, who died at the age of just 33 from aggressive breast cancer.
Taking lots of multivitamins may increase the risk of deadly prostate cancer, say US researchers. Their study showed taking multivitamins more than seven times a week was associated with an increased risk of advanced and fatal prostate cancer.
A weekly vaccine against a common trigger for allergy attacks has worked well in early tests, say its makers. Patients with runny noses and sneezing caused by exposure to the house dust mite were reported to be up to 100 times more resistant after jabs.
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A draft bill setting out reform of the UK's laws on assisted reproduction is being published later. Scientists are waiting to hear if the government has softened its plans to ban the use of human-animal hybrid embryos in research.
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Children palliative care 'patchy' - BBC Health News 17th May 2007
Families of terminally ill children have to fight for support and often fall through the gap between social services and the NHS, an inquiry says. The Children's Palliative Care review said there was a lack of information and patchy provision in England.
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International News
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They are expensive, sometimes pocket-sized and often advertised as "immune boosters" or "gulps of goodness". So-called "functional foods", containing added ingredients claimed to be good for health, are increasing in popularity. Consumers have been persuaded that additives can be good for them as well as bad. Margarines that reduce cholesterol, yogurts to improve digestion and sports drinks that boost energy are among the top sellers.
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'Functional foods' prompt warning - BBC Health News 17th May 2007
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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LIVERPOOL comedian Laurence Clark and some of his pals are urging young disabled people to use public transport. Laurence and fellow comics Steve Best, Steve Day, Paul Betny, Chris McCausland, Simon Minty and Tanyalee Davis, have been performing “stand up” comedy gigs on buses in Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham and Exeter.
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VOTERS in an online Knutsford Guardian poll this week told health officials to leave their GPs' surgeries alone. Today (Thursday) more than 80% of respondents had voted against plans to move the practices under one roof.
MORE women will be able to give birth in the comfort of their own home after Leighton Hospital said it is taking on 11 maternity support workers.
NORTH Cheshire Hospitals Trust has been named as one of the 40 best performing hospital trusts by a firm of consultants.
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GPs have the prescription for the future - Warrington Guardian 17th May 2007
DOCTORS could supply an alternative to the controversial super surgeries' plan, the Warrington Guardian can exclusively reveal.
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
MORE than 50 chronic alcoholics are claiming up to £1million in benefits in two East Lancashire towns, new figures reveal. The people in Blackburn and Burnley will be be paid £1.1million of taxpayers' money, or around £20,000 per person, if they are eligible for every benefit.
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HEALTH workers have come up with a novel way to beat stress and depression - reading and writing. People in the Burnley and Padiham areas are being encouraged to take up reading and creative writing by East Lancashire Primary Care Trust.
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STROKE treatment in East Lancashire is improving, according to the latest figures released by the Healthcare Commission. Recently all hospital trusts were assessed against 12 key indicators for treating stroke sufferers, ranging from screening techniques to rehabilitation services and discharge arrangements.
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A DOCTORS' union said building hospitals with private investors' cash was "fleecing the NHS". Dr Jonathan Fielden, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, made the comments as he slammed the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
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Shock rise in sexual diseases - Lancashire Telegraph 17th May 2007
GPs are being given extra training to help them treat patients with sexual health problems. The move is part of plans for more GP surgeries to deal with cases instead of hospital clinics, as health services struggle to cope with a huge rise in infections across East Lancashire.
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Greater Manchester News
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A DISABLED woman was left `traumatised' when she was stranded on a tram station after dark because the lifts had been shut down. Wheelchair user Corrina Hyland, from Sale, was trapped for nearly half an hour at Dane Road station after 11pm.
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A SEVENTH child and a member of staff have tested positive for E.coli following an outbreak at a nursery. Health officials closed down Ambrose Nook Nursery in Oldham on Friday after six children were taken ill with the bug.
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THE death of a cancer sufferer is being investigated by police amid concerns she may have been given an overdose of morphine. Officers were called in to the Springhill Hospice in Rochdale after the 60-year-old woman died.
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BOLTON has been ranked seventh out of the 10 Primary Care Trusts in Greater Manchester for the adoption of a computer system designed to make it easier for patients to book hospital appointments. The choose and book system, which was launched in the borough at the end of last year, means patients who are referred to a specialist by their GP can pick from a range of five hospitals and choose when they have their appointment.
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UK cancer victims get a bad deal - The Bolton News 17th May 2007
IN a recent letter, I wrote as to the plight of cancer sufferer Mr Terence Booth. Well, a new study just published highlights why Mr Booth is having difficulty getting his life-saving drugs. The study says, "That, while Britain spends more on cancer research, it is also one of the worst countries for giving patients the latest life-saving drugs".
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THE care given to patients on Fairfield Hospital's stroke unit is among the best in the country, according to a national audit. The 18-bed unit has been transformed since a cash injection of £280,000 two years ago by Bury Primary Care Trust, which led to the development of a multi-disciplinary team of staff.
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NEW mums in Bolton can get extra help learning to breast-feed thanks to a support group launched by local parents. The Breast Buddies group has been founded at the Royal Bolton Hospital and is run by local mums who have all breast-fed their babies and have attended a ten-week course to become peer supporters.
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Call to back breast feeding - Bolton News 17th May 2007
SHOPPERS in Bolton are being urged to back a campaign to encourage breast feeding.
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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