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NHS trusts across England syphoned off almost £100m from government funds intended to combat obesity, alcohol abuse and sexually transmitted infections as a panic measure to escape financial crisis, public health chiefs revealed yesterday. The money was earmarked for primary care trusts to help them promote healthier lifestyles, improve sexual health services and appoint more school nurses. But a survey by the Association of Directors of Public Health has established that most of last year's allocation was raided to compensate for overspending on trust budgets for hospitals and GPs.
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NHS cash to tackle obesity ‘went on cutting deficits’ - The Times 19th October 2007
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Call for babies' watchdog after TV reality show sparks alarm - The Guardian 19th October 2007
An ethics watchdog should be set up to monitor reality TV programmes involving babies, according to healthcare visitors and children's charities, whose attention has focused on the controversial Channel 4 show Bringing Up Baby, in which new parents tried out hardline parenting in their child's early weeks. The Channel 4 show proved the last straw for some medical practitioners, children's campaigners and parenting groups who were already deeply concerned at the use of infants on television.
British life is still riven by class - and the gulf is growing wider. But politicians seem bent on denying it. It was a piece of breathtaking cheek and bare-faced larceny when David Cameron pledged to "Make British poverty history" this week, stealing Gordon Brown's slogan and Labour's policy stronghold. Cameron snatched the starting day of a month of action on child poverty, run by the End Child Poverty campaign, an umbrella group of 90 children's charities originally assembled by Gordon Brown himself, as a counterweight against other spending demands. This year it plainly didn't work: poor children got 48p a week, while the well-off middle-aged got a £1.4bn inheritance windfall. Symbolically, that suggested the fight against growing inequality was politically lost.
Sometimes, when he's feeding, T clutches his head with his open hand, like he has left his briefcase in a taxi; it's one of a gallery of dinky poses of which I should dearly love a photographic record, but if anyone can come up with a way to get a picture of a breastfeeding baby without getting a great big breast in the way, then I will find a way to give that person a Nobel prize.
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Watchdog condemns 'shocking' levels of salt in fast-food meals - The Independent 19th October 2007
Many meals in fast-food restaurants contain "shockingly" high levels of salt, with Pizza Hut the worst offender, according to a report by campaigners. Cash (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) said some Pizza Hut pizzas contained more than twice the daily recommended amount of salt for an adult. In other cases, family meals could give a child more than four times the daily recommended salt amount.
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Popping out for pizza? Fast food outlets serve up a mountain of salt - The Times 19th October 2007
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Fast food 'almost as salty as the sea' - The Telegraph 19th October 2007
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Fast food salt levels 'shocking' - BBC Health News 18th October 2007
The first new drug treatment for asthma for more than a decade has dramatically reduced the symptoms in sufferers and could help hundreds of thousands of patients in Britain with the disease, researchers say. Trials of the drug in 28 asthma patients showed it reduced breathlessness by up to three-and-a-half times compared with placebo, when they were exposed to cat hairs or house dust that would otherwise have triggered an attack.
James Watson, the Nobel laureate who shocked the world with his views on race and intelligence, has defended his position in an exclusive article for The Independent today in which he seeks to justify his theory that there is a genetic basis behind differences in IQ. Dr Watson, who helped to unravel the structure of DNA more than 50 years ago, apologises for any offence that he caused when he suggested in an interview at the weekend that black Africans were less intelligent than Westerners.
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Even old dinosaurs deserve to be heard - The Times 19th October 2007
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Race row scientist apologises for saying Africans are 'genetically inferior' - Daily Mail 18th October 2007
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Museum drops race row scientist - BBC Health News 18th October 2007
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Race row scientist apologises for saying Africans are 'genetically inferior' - Daily Mail 18th October 2007
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Museum drops race row scientist - BBC Health News 18th October 2007
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Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, has told the four worst-performing NHS trusts that they face “radical action”, including a possible takeover, unless they improve. In the wake of findings from the Healthcare Commission’s annual healthcheck on trusts, he said that he had asked David Nicholson, the chief executive of the NHS, to meet the four trusts to “assess what action they are taking to remedy the situation”.
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Worst-performing NHS Trusts 'face takeover' - Daily Mail 18th October 2007
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The parents of a baby boy who died in his cot have been told by a pathologist that their smoking habits may have been a major factor. At an inquest at Tameside Coroner’s Court, Melanie Newbould, a pathologist, said that she could not be sure why Jake Dunning, seven weeks old, had died but that passive smoking may have played a part.
Anybody who was shocked to see respectable Surrey top of the “hazardous drinking” table has never lived in the suburbs. Runnymede, the Surrey borough where I grew up (in the Black Prince, New Haw) at last won national recognition when it topped the table with 26.4 per cent of adults deemed hazardous drinkers. Next-door Woking, where I was educated at grammar school and grotty pubs, is just behind with 25 per cent. By contrast Walthamstow in northeast London, where I live now, is third from bottom, at 15.3 per cent. Some of us try to keep our end up, but I
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Letters to the Telegraph - The Telegraph 19th October 2007
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The average first-time mother gets only 90 minutes of adult contact a day, according to a new survey. No wonder we go bonkers, says Lesley Thomas You see them hanging around in Starbucks at odd times of the day, lingering over half-drunk lattes. Hollow-eyed, they rock back and forth, often with something that looks like an angry, bald Chihuahua in their arms.
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The first year of motherhood 'is the loneliest in a woman's life', survey shows - Daily Mail 18th October 2007
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Heroin and cocaine addicts on state-funded treatment schemes are being given drugs as a reward for staying 'clean', a report has revealed. The astonishing practice was condemned by ministers and health chiefs yesterday.
An alarming 14 per cent rise in drug-related crime last night placed Gordon Brown under intense pressure to scrap Labour's 'softly softly' policy. The main reason for the increase was a surge in possession of cannabis.
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Modern life is blamed for obesity, but whatever happend to willpower? - Daily Mail 18th October 2007
Through a long afternoon at Wimbledon a few months ago, my eyes kept straying from the tennis to two women in the seats in front of us. Game after game, set after set, they munched: hamburgers, sandwiches, biscuits and chocolate, in unbroken succession.
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The changing shape of the British - BBC Health News 17th October 2007
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A schoolgirl has described how she went bald in three days after developing an extreme form of alopecia. Jordana Seville, 15, spotted the first bare patch among her thick blonde locks last Wednesday.
Those not blessed with height are often accused of having a chip on their shoulder. Now a study has found that they might, in fact, have an unhealthy attitude to life.
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Short people rate worse on health - BBC Health News 18th October 2007
Once patients waited for doctors to diagnose their ills. These days they simply do it themselves. Sales of home testing kits which diagnose life-threatening conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes have soared by 55 per cent in the past five years.
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GPs are still prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily for coughs and colds against national guidelines, UK research has suggested. Analysis of GP records showed they also were prescribed too commonly for sore throats and ear infections.
A large majority of the population support the idea of presumed consent for organ donation, survey findings have suggested. Two-thirds of more than 2,000 people surveyed by the British Medical Association said the UK should move to an opt-out system.
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International Health News
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Fertility-boosting injections given to thousands of British women each year may be a waste of time and money and put mothers and babies at risk, experts said yesterday. The warning follows the most comprehensive investigation yet into the costs and effectiveness of different fertility treatments offered by clinics.
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Malaysia plans to develop a halal meningitis vaccine jointly with Cuba within the next two years. Most meningitis vaccines are produced from pig products, which are forbidden among Muslims. The project will cost 3.6 million ringgit (£520,000) and is aimed at the thousands of Muslims who are infected with the disease during the annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
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Scientists believe they have discovered a gene which plays a critical role in the development of sperm. A Howard Hughes Medical Institute team found a defect in the Jhdma2a gene could cause some cases of infertility.
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Cheshire and Merseyside Health News
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C-DIFFICILE cases have more than doubled at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Health Protection Agency figures showing cases of the deadly superbug and MRSA across England show a 116% rise in ‘C-diff’ between the end of 2006 and the begining of 2007.
ALL change has been prescribed at a village surgery. Staff at the Laurel Bank Surgery, Malpas are saying goodbye today to Ann Wynn who is retiring after 20 years with the practice.
A CARE worker found two used heroin syringes outside his mother’s home. David Wright, 45, of Blacon Point Road, a care worker at Blacon Homeless Families Unit, Gorse Hill, found the needles outside his mother’s house on South View Road.
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LIVERPOOL Women’s hospital was today named as one of the NHS’s best performers. The Women’s got the highest possible ratings in a report on every hospital and health trust in England.
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Ricky Tomlinson: My heart op for love of my family - Liverpool Echo 18th October 2007
ACTOR Ricky Tomlinson will have open heart surgery tomorrow – for the love of his family. As exclusively revealed in the ECHO last month, the TV star is having a quadruple bypass at Broadgreen cardiothoracic centre.
Controversial plans for a new doctors' surgery on green belt land have been rejected for a second time. The application - for a one-stop health centre with car parking on land near to the Warrens Nursery in Thingwall Road East - was overwhelmingly rejected by Wirral planning committee last Tuesday.
A PRIVATE dentist who was denied an NHS contract now charges less than the NHS for treatment. Andrew Brown set up the Grappenhall Dental Practice last summer but was told he would have to run a private clinic because of a lack of funds at the primary care trust.
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Urgent concerns - Midweek Visiter 17th October 2007
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Urgent concerns - Midweek Visiter 17th October 2007
SOUTHPORT’S MP is calling for out-of-hours GP care to be stripped from private organisations and returned to the direct control of local health trusts. John Pugh issued his appeal as Primary Care Trusts on Merseyside prepare to chose the contractor to take on the service which has been provided by Liverpool-based company Urgent Care 24 (UC24) for the past three years.
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Cumbria and Lancashire Health News
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HOSPITAL trusts in Cumbria have received mixed ratings in the latest report by an independent health watchdog. The Healthcare Commission looked at the quality of service and financial performance of every NHS organisation throughout England. It then gave them a rating of excellent, good, fair or weak.
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A HOSPITAL Trust under fire after an MRSA outbreak in its baby unit is failing to meet targets for tackling the superbug, a Government report has revealed. Some 67 patients caught MRSA in East Lancashire's hospitals in 2006/7, almost twice as many as the target of 37, according to the report.
FIRE chiefs in Lancashire are considering starting to charge if it has to help move fat people. They say they are considering the fee to be charged on hospitals, nursing homes, the police or other agencies if they are called in to move grossly overweight people.
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Diabetes sufferers warned over blindness - Lancashire Telegraph 18th October 2007
NEARLY 7,000 people in East Lancashire who are suffering from diabetes could be missing out a vital eye screening test. People with diabetes can develop retinopathy, a deterioration of the back of the eyes which can eventually lead to blindness.
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Greater Manchester Health News
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TWO thirds of health trusts in Greater Manchester are failing to meet national minimum standards. Seventeen out of the 24 hospitals, primary care, mental health and ambulance services scored `fair' or `weak'.
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Health Trusts improve - Altrincham Messenger 18th October 2007
WORKERS who develop the asbestos-related condition pleural plaques can no longer claim compensation from their employers for the illness. The House of Lords has ruled that victims who develop scarred lung tissue after working with asbestos have no right to recover damages in court.
MENTAL health will come under the microscope at an event this month. Professionals and patients will meet to examine the progress made in mental health provision and identify areas for improvement at a "Take It To The Top" event on October 26.
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A DENTAL practice has been nominated for a host of industry awards. Kiss Dental, founded by Leigh dentist Dr Kailesh Solanki, has been shortlisted for Best Patient Care, Best Employer, Most Improved Practice and Best Marketing gongs at next month's Private Dentistry Awards.
ONE in seven primary school children have admitted to having at least one alcoholic drink in the last week. A spot survey of 1,098 children revealed that two-in-five boys and one-in-10 girls in years five and six had consumed alcohol.
BREAKTHROUGH Breast Cancer has launched the world's largest and most advanced clinical trial to investigate whether acupuncture may help women with breast cancer cope with fatigue. The ACU.FATIGUE study is the first to be funded as part of the charity's programme of research looking at complementary therapies used by breast cancer patients
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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