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One in four NHS trusts in England admit they are failing to comply with hygiene regulations introduced last year to halt the spread of MRSA and other hospital superbugs, health inspectors disclose today. The Healthcare Commission said 99 of the 394 trusts confessed to not meeting all the standards included in a compulsory hygiene code introduced by health ministers last October.
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Quarter of NHS trusts fail hygiene standards - The Telegraph 18th June 2007
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Bottom of the league - The Telegraph 18th June 2007
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Shame of the filthy hospital wards - Daily Mail 18th June 2007
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NHS 'hygiene standards struggle' - BBC Health News 17th June 2007
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Shame of the filthy hospital wards - Daily Mail 18th June 2007
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NHS 'hygiene standards struggle' - BBC Health News 17th June 2007
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NHS director general of IT quits after repeated system delays - The Guardian 18th June 2007
Britain's highest paid civil servant, the man in charge of the NHS's delayed £12.4bn IT upgrade programme, has resigned amid calls from politicians and academics for a wholesale review of the project. Richard Granger, the NHS director general of IT, is to wind down his role and leave the health service by the end of the year. "I am proud of what has been achieved by the team I established in 2002," he said.
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330,000 users to get access to database on England's children - The Guardian 18th June 2007
A giant electronic database containing sensitive information on all 11 million children in England will be open to at least 330,000 users when it launches next year, according to government guidance. A final consultation on the plan reveals that the index, intended to help children's services work together more effectively following the death of Victoria Climbié, will be accessible through any computer linked to the internet, whether at work or at home, providing users have the correct two-part security authentication.
A 24-7 economy is at last being viewed as a way of serving all our citizens' needs in a modern, complex, globalised UK Talk about a "time-short" world and the need to slow down, and most readers of this newspaper will nod enthusiastically. They - we - will go on to fantasise about days in the garden, deadheading roses or idly listening to the radio, or about long, slow lunches with a glass or two, or about having a good lie-in on Sundays. The need for more time, more leisure, is one of the great moans of the current age. Well, the good news, at last, is that time is becoming a hot political issue.
Why do you play? It's a great way to keep fit and fun too. Have you got fitter? Definitely - because you're enjoying the game, it doesn't feel like an effort. Also even if you're exhausted and might be tempted to stop, you can't because you don't want to let the team down. It's amazing how much harder you push yourself when you've got the motivation to win.
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Matt Keating: The path to fulfilment blends the personal and the material - The Guardian 18th June 2007
"Loudly pondering 'What is my motivation?' might scare your colleagues" What is my motivation? It is the cliched question that a washed-up schlock actor, appearing in a dire US detective show as an, erm, washed-up schlock actor, might ask the soon to be bunked-off character playing the theatre director.
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My daughter is 4, an only child, and I’ve been a stay-at-home mum since she was born. I have always done many activities and socialising with her since she was about 1. Now she is at nursery school five afternoons a week, goes dancing once a week and helps me to run a singing group. The thing I am concerned about is that she seems to have a double-sided character. Some days she will go up to strangers to chat, show them her latest dance and be full of amazing life and confidence. But other days she is a different child: she’ll pull away from physical contact, pull a face if anyone talks to her and can’t stand loud noise or physical contact. It is as if she’s a teenager going through hormone changes. I don’t know which character I’m going to be dealing with. At times when she’s like this I just want to cuddle her but worry that this would enforce the behaviour.
Kidney cancer is notoriously difficult to treat, although recently the gloomy prognosis has begun to improve with drugs increasing survival times. Beetroot time is here again. Two generations ago beetroot was a favourite vegetable in rural households. British food writers have rediscovered its delights and are again including it in their recipes. It is recommended as a smart and colourful ingredient capable of sprucing up the most dowdy salad and it is delicious when served with a sauce.
Mars UK tried to curry favour with health chiefs by halting production of its super-size chocolate bars to help to tackle obesity. But, instead of shrinking its bars, the confectionery giant has simply split them in two, selling both parts inside one wrapper.
The Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV is right to highlight the problem of alcohol, drugs and underage sex in our celebrity-driven culture (report, June 15). Teenagers need more information to give them the ability to place sexual activity in a moral context. Issues of self-esteem and assertiveness need to be addressed so that they develop the strength of character to decline sex if they do not feel ready.
The NHS is spending more than £1 million a month on so-called “chill pills” that help to calm hyperactive children, figures show. Doctors in Britain wrote almost 7,500 prescriptions a week for Ritalin, the drug that is used commonly when attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has been diagnosed in children.
Britain will be gripped by a liver disease epidemic within 15 years because of drinking, doctors will say on TV tonight. Experts tested the health of livers of 70 daytime passers-by at mobile clinics in London and Birmingham for a Channel 4 Dispatches investigation. Half had liver damage caused by alcohol consumption.
Labour and Conservative MPs are often portrayed by critics of the party system as like Tweedledum and Tweedledee: essentially alike for all the sound and fury of their battle. But this is a false impression. A striking new survey by Populus about the attitudes of MPs reveals not only deep underlying disagreements between Labour and Conservative MPs on key social values, but also big divisions within the Tory party. David Cameron has failed to persuade a large number of his own backbenchers to accept his liberal views on morality and race.
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A universal vaccine that could protect against every strain of influenza - the virus behind bird flu, winter flu and pandemics - has shown promise in early tests. Tests on mice suggest that the new vaccine, FLU-v, has the potential to protect against all strains of flu, including both the pandemic and annual varieties.
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Jab could beat all types of flu for rest of your life - Daily Mail 18th June 2007
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Jab could beat all types of flu for rest of your life - Daily Mail 18th June 2007
James Le Fanu on scare tactics, blue badge bureaucracy and strange sensations The health brigade, fresh from its victory in the long war against tobacco, is obviously deploying the same tactics in the campaign against alcohol. The first tactic - epitomised by the shaky non-science of passive smoking - is to argue that harm is caused not just to oneself, but to innocent bystanders too.
He might be in a wheelchair but Jonathan Bartley's son has excelled at his local nursery. So why can't he go to the school across the road with his sisters? 'What's wrong with him?" is the question usually asked when someone encounters our family for the first time. The answer is that Samuel came into the world with a two-inch hole in his back - for which the medical term is spina bifida.
Language difficulties run beyond the immigration issue, says Max Pemberton 'You racist, imperialistic cow!" I scream. "I hate you and wish you were dead!" my sister shouts back. "You're a male chauvinistic pig, failing to see the wider politics of a situation," she adds.
Doctors are being forced to question some patients about crimes they have committed and fill out a form for a government database. GPs, medical professionals and others working in drug treatment programmes will be required from this month to ask addicts whether, in the past four weeks, they have been involved in shoplifting, selling drugs, vehicle crime, theft or burglary, fraud, forgery or violence.
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Third of bosses to axe cigarette breaks when smoking ban arrives - Daily Mail 18th June 2007
More than a third of employers are planning to axe cigarette breaks when the smoking ban comes into force in England next month. Lighting up in an enclosed public places will be illegal from July 1, with those caught flouting the law facing a £50 on-the-spot fine or being summoned to court.
There has been a huge increase in the number of women drink-driving, alarming figures reveal today. They showed a 58 per cent increase since 1995 in women found guilty of drink-driving - compared with a slight fall among men. The figures, obtained by the Liberal Democrats, show that the number of women drink-drivers soared from 6,793 in 1995 to 10,765 in 2004.
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How a well-fitting bra could spare legions of women needless surgery - Daily Mail 18th June 2007
Women should be offered free bra-fittings on the NHS to cut the number getting unnecessary breast reductions, doctors said yesterday. The British Medical Association (BMA) said if women got the right size underwear it could save the NHS tens of thousands of pounds each year it currently spends on operations.
British troops wounded in battle in Afghanistan are forced to wait in agony for seven hours before receiving hospital treatment, a senior Army medic has claimed. Wounded troops wait too long for helicopter evacuation because of a lack of aircraft and cumbersome command procedures, according to Lieutenant Colonel Paul Parker, an experienced combat surgeon who recently served with UK forces in Afghanistan.
Girls of 12 are expected to be vaccinated against a sexually-transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer from next year. The routine jab could cut the number of deaths from the disease by three-quarters and reduce the need for smear tests. However, some campaigners say the scheme sends out the 'wrong signal' to children and could encourage young girls to become sexually active.
A retired couple say they may have to sell their home of 20 years to pay for treatment to stop them going blind. Lawrence and Joan O'Brien need to find £300 a month for sight-saving injections not widely available on the Health Service. Both suffer from the same condition - wet age-related macular degeneration.
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Student is first in Britain to have four life-saving transplants - Daily Mail 17th June 2007
A young medical student has become the first person in Britain to have four life-saving transplants. Over the past 12 years, Allison John, 29, has received a liver, kidney, lungs and a heart. Her latest recovery from surgery has been so swift she is already planning trips around the world with her boyfriend.
Plastic surgeons have denounced a website offering 'free' breast implants saying it puts women's health at risk. The website lets women earn money for their operations by posting photos of themselves and chatting to male 'benefactors' online.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has cranked up the pressure on GPs in England to extend their opening hours. She said there was significant dissatisfaction over access and warned GPs they could lose out on money if they did not respond to patient demand.
A twin brother can reduce his female twin's chances of having children, say scientists at Sheffield University. Women were 25% less likely to have children if their twin was male the study, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concluded.
The government will again try to push through powers to detain mentally ill people in England and Wales who have not committed crimes. The plans, to be debated in the Commons over the next two days, have faced opposition from mental health charities and opposition politicians.
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International News
A legal dance drug known as legal XTC, Jax, Pep Twisted or Pep Love could be banned across Europe following a report from the EU's drugs monitor calling for tighter controls because of the substance's side-effects. A joint report from Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) warns that the substance, benzylpiperazine, which is available from websites and "head candy" shops, can cause a series of negative side-effects.
Scientists have developed a revolutionary new treatment for neurological diseases that uses an injection to tweak the way genes work in the brain. The research raises hopes for a new era of effective treatments for some of the most debilitating - and so far incurable - brain conditions, including cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
A gene that contributes to one of the commonest causes of deafness has been identified for the first time, in a step towards improving diagnosis and treatment. People with otosclerosis, the most common reason for hearing loss among white adults, are more likely to carry a particular variant of a gene called TGBF1 than those who are unaffected, scientists in Belgium have discovered.
The belief that a medicine will work triggers the release of natural painkillers in the brain, scientists have discovered – helping to explain the so-called placebo effect. According to research, when patients expect a treatment to be effective the part of the brain that is responsible for pain control is activated, causing the release of endorphins. The result is that the patients feel better, whether or not the treatment had any direct effect.
Whenever the American spray planes flew overhead, the North Vietnamese soldiers at the siege of Khe Sanh paid them no attention, although they knew the jungle plants would afterwards wither and die. Hiding underground near the US base, Private Le Quang Ante was just glad that the planes were not the B52s whose bombs killed most of his friends. He was preoccupied with the battle for survival and victory and the chemical did not kill, so he ignored it. Now racked with illnesses and struggling to care for a daughter born severely disabled, he knows the name of the spray: Agent Orange.
. . . fix the foot. Cosmetic feet surgery is the latest must-have when you’re nipped and tucked everywhere else. So just how far will women go in the search for top-to-toe perfection? Jane Wheatley reports It is 8 o’clock on a serene blue morning in Beverly Hills and Dr Ali Sadrieh, a podiatrist, has just performed a 45-minute operation on a client, cutting a section of bone out of her toe to shorten it. She was awake during surgery, watching a film; next week Sadrieh will do the same thing to the second toe on the other foot. There was nothing medically wrong with the toes, but his patient didn’t like the way they protruded over the lip of her high-heeled Manolo Blahniks.
Parents are putting their babies' health at risk by spoon-feeding them pureed food, according to a Unicef childcare expert. Infants should be fed exclusively with breast milk or formula milk for the first six months of their lives then weaned straight on to solids.
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Does feeding babies pureed food harm their health? - Daily Mail 17th June 2007
Rose-hips may provide an effective treatment for sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis, new research suggests. Severely affected patients already being treated with conventional drugs experienced significant improvement after taking capsules of rose-hip powder for six months, a pilot study showed.
While any possibility of a cure for Alzheimer's is several years away, lifestyle choices may affect your risk of contracting it, says Jerome Burne When some mice were put into a tank of water in a research lab in New York recently, something remarkable happened. Instead of swimming aimlessly round, they were able to find their way back to an underwater platform that they had visited before.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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SPECIALIST mental health provider Mersey Care NHS Trust has been placed at the top of a “most improved” league table published by health watchdogs yesterday.
THE family of a young woman left in a coma after a doctor failed to spot she had appendicitis say they will take legal advice after medical inspectors refused to take any action.
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Smokers face ban in own homes - Daily Post 18th June 2007
PEOPLE in Liverpool face a ban on smoking in their own homes as part of new rules to outlaw exposure to second-hand smoke.
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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