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Anyone who dies should be presumed to have agreed to donate their organs unless they have specifically said otherwise, the government's chief medical officer proposed yesterday. "We have something of a crisis in this country," said Sir Liam Donaldson. "Every day at least one patient dies while on the transplant waiting list. There are something like 7,000 people on the waiting list at any one time. There is a shortage of organs in this country and the situation is getting worse."
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The Big Question: Should organ donation be automatic or a matter of personal choice? - The Independent 18th July 2007
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Legacy of Life - The Times 18th July 2007
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The MMR story that wasn't - The Guardian 18th July 2007Additional Story
Opt out scheme 'only way to tackle organ donor shortage' - Daily Mail 17th July 2007
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Everyone 'should donate organs' - BBC Health News 17th July 2007
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Everyone 'should donate organs' - BBC Health News 17th July 2007
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Whatever you think about Andrew Wakefield, the real villains of the MMR scandal are the media. Just one week before his GMC hearing, yet another factless "MMR causes autism" news story appeared: and even though it ran on the front page of our very own Observer, I am dismantling it on this page. We're all grown-ups around here.
New approach gives more power to local councils and NHS trusts. A bonfire of government targets to ease red tape affecting schools, hospitals and town halls will be ordered tomorrow as part of a sweeping reform of public services, the Guardian can reveal. Most of the 110 Whitehall-imposed priorities that have dominated the public sector for the past nine years will be abandoned .
Later on today, Ed Balls, the secretary of state for the new Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), is due to speak at a National Children's Bureau event, setting out his ideas for consultation on a Children's Plan over the autumn. I want to set out some of the issues that he should be exploring.
Rehymenisation surgery is the lastest example of an ancient obsession with totemic purity. Is virginity still of interest to us today, in the west, in the 21st century? Some would argue that the sexual revolution of the 1960s did away with such a notion. Yet it still fascinates, and female virginity in particular remains a potent - and titillating - idea and ideal. Why otherwise are plastic surgeons offering women "rehymenisation" or "vaginal rejuvenation" procedures? Then there are the celebrities who make virginity a central aspect of their brand. And this week a British schoolgirl lost her high court challenge to be allowed to wear the ring that signalled her membership of the pro-chastity organisation, the Silver Ring Thing, to school.
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Government's advice to parents: make sure your child plays conkers - The Guardian 18th July 2007
It is the stuff of every grown-up's nostalgic reminiscences of childhood: epic conker showdowns, playground snowball fights and long hours playing outside, away from the watchful eyes of mum and dad. Now ministers are calling on risk-averse parents to stop "wrapping their children in cotton wool" and allow them to enjoy the delights of outdoor play and traditional rough-and-tumble fun.
New homes and schools should not be built within 60 metres of high voltage power lines until the link with childhood cancers is better understood by scientists, according to a committee of MPs. They also recommend that home buyers should be provided with information on the level of electromagnetic fields within homes before they buy.
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A bionic hand that is claimed to be the world's most sophisticated prosthetic device for gripping and manipulating objects went on sale yesterday after years of research and development by its British inventors. The robotic hand is controlled by tiny muscle movements in the forearm of a patient. The patient can move all five digits of the hand independently of one another to mimic the varied movements of a real human hand.
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Milestone for unique bionic hand - BBC Health News 17th July 2007
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The Department of Health did “a backroom deal” with a private company that broke Treasury guidance, could not demonstrate value for money and lacked clear benefits, the Public Accounts Committee has concluded. The deal, to create a joint venture between the health information company Dr Foster and the department’s information centre, resulted in a loss of £2.8 million in its first year instead of the small profit predicted.
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Last week a ministerial statement confirmed that almost half this year’s applicants under the junior doctors’ career and appointments system have had their careers in UK medicine abruptly cut short. This stark fact was transmuted by the subsequent press release into “good news”, because 85 per cent of available jobs will be filled by August 1. Even if this obfuscation of job-fill with appointment rates were true – and we believe it is a gross overestimate – it fails to acknowledge that a 15 per cent vacancy rate is ten times that of previous years in most specialties.
Mass vaccination or culling of poultry would not be needed to contain anything but the most serious outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu, and may be too expensive to introduce even then, research has suggested.
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The NHS must provide better child care and flexible working to help women doctors reach the top of the profession, the Chief Medical Officer said. Sir Liam Donaldson said only one third of women are consultants but two thirds of medical students are female.
Smokers who cut down rather than quit in the hope of improving their health might be wasting their time, researchers said yesterday. They reviewed a series of studies and found there was no evidence that smoking fewer cigarettes reduced the risk of developing potentially fatal diseases.
Overweight schoolchildren are being put at risk of bullying by Government schemes designed to help them, a charity warns today. Pupils could be singled out and made fun of by thinner classmates when they are weighed as part of projects to cut childhood obesity, Parentline Plus claims.
Patients in hospital should challenge doctors and nurses to wash their hands before consultations, the Chief Medical Officer said yesterday. Good hand hygiene is the key to reducing hospital acquired infections such as MRSA and NHS staff are often too complacent, Sir Liam Donaldson said in his annual report. Patients on wards should be issued with their own alcohol hand gel and should ask doctors and nurses to use it before examinations and procedures, he said.
Vulnerable children were subjected to 'inappropriate and invasive' tests by the doctor who caused a health scare over the MMR jab, a hearing was told. Dr Andrew Wakefield, 50, broke 'some of the most fundamental rules of medicine' during his research on the vaccine, it has been claimed.
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MMR doctor 'broke medical rules' - BBC Health News 17th July 2007
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The majority of NHS trusts are not giving people with diabetes enough help in managing the condition at home, a watchdog has warned. The Healthcare Commission said most primary care trusts were offering basic diabetes care such as yearly check-ups.
People would respond quicker to losing a bankcard than suffering the symptoms of a stroke, a survey suggests. The Stroke Association poll of 2,000 people suggests 88% would react immediately if they lost a bank card.
Bent double as she gasped and wheezed, Kirsten O'Brien knew she was in the grip of a debilitating asthma attack. 'I was scared and panic-stricken. I'd missed the last bus home and there was no one to help me. I slumped against a wall, my breaths coming faster and faster, which only made things worse.
Despite terrible stomach pains, Nick refused to see his doctor - and it cost him his life. Here, his widow warns other men of the dangers of suffering in silence... When Nick Suckley began suffering stomach pains last August, he put it down to indigestion. He assumed he'd been overeating and bought some heartburn remedies.
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There are more than 75,000 skin cancer cases in the UK each year - about 80 per cent of which are caused by overexposure to the sun. However, extensive campaigns to encourage us to protect our skin from the sun seem to be working, and in 2006 alone we spent a hefty £200million on sun creams. Yet these products themselves are not without health risks.
Every Tuesday Britain's leading nutritionist, Jane Clarke, explains how to eat your way to health. This week Jane shares her advice on dealing with acid reflux and chronic fatigue syndrome... I have recently been diagnosed with acid reflux and have lost two-and-ahalf stones over six months. My GP says I need to eat more 'stodge' to expand my stomach. What should I eat to gain weight without aggravating my condition?
A new technique that uses keyhole surgery to microwave faulty tissue in the heart could benefit 25,000 UK patients a year. Video-assisted Thorascopic Maze has been performed on only 55 patients in Britain, including Sir Terence English, 74, an eminent retired cardiac surgeon who carried out Britain's first successful heart transplant.
Men are facing similar pressures as women to look good and it is contributing to a rise in the numbers having cosmetic surgery, experts say. The Men's Health Forum said advertising and the media were reinforcing the stereotypes that men needed to be athletic-looking and toned.
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A new series on BBC One follows real life patients in A&E and operating theatres with specially shot material and unique computer generated imagery to show the fight for survival from the inside. James has now undergone eight operations on his heart James Harney is only eight years old, but he has already lived through more trauma than most people encounter in their entire lives.
Nearly half of all family doctors have annual earnings in excess of £100,000, figures show. The NHS Information Centre data revealed 46% of GPs earned more than £100,000 in 2004-5 - the first year of their new contract.
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International News
It is essential for protecting cells and absorbing iron from food but it cannot cure a cold, even when taken in mega-doses. Vitamin C is the most widely promoted supplement against colds and flu, but its protective effect is a myth, according to new research.
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Vitamin C useless in combatting colds - The Telegraph 18th July 2007
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Vitamin C 'is powerless' in the battle against colds - Daily Mail 17th July 2007
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Eating very large amounts of fruit and vegetables does not improve the survival chances of women with breast cancer, scientists have found. A study of more than 3,000 women who had been treated for the disease showed that boosting fruit and vegetable consumption way beyond normal guidelines did not help them to live longer. Women who obeyed the super-strict eating rules imposed by scientists over seven years were just as likely to die or suffer a recurrence of breast cancer as those on a healthy “five-a-day” diet. In about 17 per cent of cases in both groups the cancer returned and 10 per cent of the women died.
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Eating fruit and veg does not boost chances of beating breast cancer - The Times 18th July 2007
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Extra fruit will not help fight cancer - The Telegraph 18th July 2007
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Tiny 'nanobombs' that penetrate deep into a tumour and release powerful chemotherapy drugs could help fight cancer. Scientists have developed a way of sneaking toxic anti-tumour medicine inside cancerous growths by hiding it inside particles so small they are invisible to the naked eye.
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Facial paralysis treatment hailed - BBC Health News 17th July 2007
US surgeons have announced they have succeeded in partially re-animating the faces of patients with severe long-term facial paralysis using a new technique. The new procedure, which involves the transfer of tendons within the face, has been performed on 15 patients.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
HEALTH managers today announced a £100m revolution for Liverpool. In plans which will effect every person in the city, extra money will be pumped into building and running a new generation of health centres by 2014. Three new mini hospitals, known as NHS treatment centres and serving 150,000 patients each, will be built.
PARAMEDICS responding to emergency calls will decide if and how patients will be transported to hospital. A new pilot scheme set to be rolled out across Wirral aims to speed up response times and improve health care for patients.
A BRAVE Wirral teenager who underwent a life-saving liver transplant lost his sister to the inherited liver condition as she waited for a donor organ. But now 18-year-old Matthew Dodd is teaming up with the Children's Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF), to urge people to join the organ donor register and help sufferers.
A WINSFORD man who last week spoke out against moving cancer operations to Wythenshawe has praised staff at Leighton Hospital. Gary Steele, chairman of Leighton Hospital Cancer Support Group, criticised a decision to move prostate, bladder and cervical cancer operations to Manchester in last week's Guardian stating men would refuse treatment if they did not receive keyhole surgery which they would have done in Crewe.
POLYCLINCS' are the big idea from the new health minister, weeks after Warrington ditched proposals for the health supermarkets amid massive protests. Sir Ara Darzi said last week he sees the clinics as the future of health care in London and as a way of halving the number of people needing hospital care.
WARRINGTON Shoppers are being warned after potentially toxic toothpaste was seized in the town. Trading standards officers recovered more than 200 counterfeit tubes of Sensodyne during raids in Warrington.
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
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A LEADING stroke charity claims people living in the north west of England are more concerned with wealth than their health. A new survey conducted by the Stroke Association found that losing a bank card would prompt an immediate reaction from 87 per cent of respondents in the region.
TWO hundred tubes of dangerous fake Sensodyne toothpaste have been seized in Blackburn and Darwen following a national alert. The seizures were revealed as a pensioner spoke of his weeks of agony after developing gum problems whilst using the product.
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Mental health care is much the same - Lancashire Telegraph 17th July 2007
MENTAL health services haven't changed much in the past 20 years, people are asking for help, not receiving it and committing suicide. I suffered post-natal depression 21 years ago. All the psychiatrist wanted to know was how was I sleeping, eating and questions about my sex life.
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Greater Manchester News
A MANCHESTER doctor grossly abused his position by dishing out prescription-only drugs "like Smarties at a party", a disciplinary hearing has been told. Respected GP Graeme Wilson gave pills by the handful to two guests at his home in Whalley Range, after hosting a birthday dinner for a friend.
HEART transplant survivor Robert Hodgkiss is opposed to calls to make inclusion on the Organ Donor Register compulsory. The former dentist was given a life-saving heart transplant 11 years ago, but believes people should always be given the choice as to whether they donate their organs after death.
THREE new children centres have opened in Trafford as part of an initiative to provide play, health and family support for children under five across the borough. The Sure Start centres opened up at Greatstone Library, a former nursery on Poplar Road in Stretford and at Broomwood Primary School, Timperley.
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Hospital is home to pioneering cancer unit - Altrincham Messenger 17th July 2007
EUROPE'S first ever, purpose built breast cancer prevention centre has been unveiled. The £14 million Nightingale Centre and Genesis Prevention Centre is sited at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester.
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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