New Section
UK Health News
New Story
Proposals to slash the numbers of junior doctors from overseas coming to train in the UK were put forward by the government yesterday in an attempt to preserve jobs for the rising numbers of British medical graduates. The health minister, Ben Bradshaw, said that if overseas applicants were preventing those educated here from getting specialist training places, "then it is only right that we should consider what needs to be done".
Additional Story
Doctor training policy diagnosed a failure - The Times 9th October 2007
Additional Story
Online system for junior doctors scrapped - The Telegraph 9th October 2007
Thousands more midwives and obstetricians are needed to make sure childbirth is safer for women and their babies, according to a report published yesterday. Recommendations from four royal colleges say an expansion in numbers of key staff is "of paramount importance" if mothers and infants are to receive safe care. They follow warnings from leading medics that there is a direct link between staffing levels and risk for women and babies.
Additional Story
Study: Hospitals 'need 5,000 more midwives' - The Telegraph 9th October 2007
Additional Story
Additional Story
Babies dying 'due to NHS staffing crisis' - Daily Mail 8th October 2007
Additional Story
Maternity shortages 'risk lives' - BBC Health News 8th October 2007
Additional Story
Maternity shortages 'risk lives' - BBC Health News 8th October 2007
New Story
New hope in search for Huntington's cure - The Guardian 9th October 2007
Scientists have made a breakthrough in the search for a cure for Huntington's disease. Hope for a future treatment has been raised by the discovery of a chemical that slows damage to the brain caused by the genetic disease. The researchers do not yet know how the chemical works, because it was originally discovered during a trial and error trawl through tens of thousands of compounds, but they hope that by working out what it does it will open up a whole new avenue of potential treatments. So far the researchers have shown that the chemical improves symptoms in mice that have a form of the disease.
Up to 100,000 children need electronic aids to communicate. There just aren't enough to go round. Anna Bawden reports
The NHS is the biggest employer in the UK and Europe. It employs more than 1.3 million staff and offers more than 300 different roles. Flexible working hours, a final salary pension scheme and average salary increases of 10% in the last three years all make the sector an appealing career destination whether you are a school leaver or somebody older looking for a career change. The NHS will also pick up the bill for university tuition fees if you are training to become a health professional that requires professional registration, such as a nurse, physiotherapist or radiographer, and there is also additional financial support for maintenance costs and childcare.
I have been "living with dialysis" for the past 14 years, and was very pleased to read about a new approach to kidney transplantation (UK's first paired kidney swap saves two lives, October 4). Your leader in praise of organ donors was equally heartening. Too few people know what dialysis entails. Your comments will help raise awareness that it is a time-consuming, lonely and, for many, miserable treatment, not a cure. As you recommend, more people may then register to donate their kidneys after death. You are right to highlight the extreme generosity of those who offer to be live donors.
It's not just the looking. You often have to do holding, which makes me nervous. What if I drop it? There seems to be a baby boom at the moment. People are having babies all over the place, which is fabulous if one adores babies in general, but not so fabulous if you're not that keen on them, unless they're yours or closely related, then you can gaze adoringly at the little miracles for ever. I find that 10 minutes admiring the dinky little fingers and heavenly widgy face and saying, "What a lovely baby," is about enough for me.
Gordon Brown's tax credit system is driving the poorest and most vulnerable people away from applying because civil servants are imposing unduly harsh tests to claw back overpayments, the parliamentary ombudsman says in a report today. Adding pressure to the prime minister's favoured policy for tackling poverty, another report today by Citizens Advice says the £16bn system is suffering a crisis of confidence. Its survey revealed that more than half of claimants would be less likely to claim the means-tested benefits in future as a result of their experiences.
We are often told that light activities such as walking and housework are enough to keep us fit. Sadly, it's just not true. Sam Murphy investigates
The term schizophrenia was coined more than 100 years ago as a provisional category covering a wide range of psychiatric disorders. Isn't it time we retired this vague and stigmatised label, asks Kate Hilpern
Almost every human disease has a genetic component and the research that earned this year's Nobel Prize in medicine developed into a practical method of finding out which defective gene gives someone a particular disorder. It also lies at the heart of the international effort to use embryonic stem cells for regenerative medicine.
Additional Story
Nobel prize for scientists whose ‘knock-out’ mice led to gene breakthrough - The Times 9th October 2007
Additional Story
Britons share in Nobel Prize for medicine - The Telegraph 9th October 2007
Additional Story
British scientist awarded Nobel Prize for creating GM mice - Daily Mail 8th October 2007
New Story
Up to 10,000 major strokes a year could be prevented if the early warning signs in susceptible individuals were assessed and treated rapidly, doctors say today. Two research groups in France and Britain have found that early treatment of people who suffer a minor stroke, also known as a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), can cut the risk of a major stroke by 80 per cent.
New Story
NEVER let it be said that the hard work and commitment of public sector workers is not acknowledged. The nation is grateful, even if its gratitude does not always translate into a fat pay packet. That said, it should be noted that there are occasional failings, and the past week has seen a few. Some of England’s strategic health authorities (SHAs), for example, have been subjected to an accusatory blast over their repeated failure to meet the needs of people with learning disabilities or mental health problems.
Who does what is also important in mental health services, but, as Mental Health Practice (Oct) says, it doesn’t mean that new categories of worker will replace existing ones. “Peer support workers are an addition, not a replacement [of another role],” says Dick Fitzpatrick, projects manager for NHS Lothian’s mental health strategic programme.
New Story
THE Healthcare Commission initiative to address lapses in the care of older people in hospitals is to be welcomed. The facts are that the numbers are high and the experiences for older patients themselves and for their families are deeply unsettling.
The mother of a disabled boy goes to the European Court of Justice today in a case that could bring new rights to Britain’s six million carers. Sharon Coleman, whose son Oliver suffers from deafness and a rare breathing disability, says she was forced to resign from work as a legal secretary after being harassed by her employers and refused flexible working hours to care for her son.
WEDDED bliss has gone bad and one of the parties is pressing for divorce. Yes, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is seeking to dissolve its union with the Department of Health. NICE is a special health authority, but Andrew Dillon, its chief executive, reckons that it could perform better as a “nondepartmental public body”.
The three-way race to succeed Jean-Pierre Garnier as chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline ended yesterday as the world’s second-largest drugs company chose Andrew Witty to lead the business into a new era.
STORIES regarding new philanthropists are becoming regular features in the media. But who are these philanthropists and what’s “new” about them? First, let us dispel some myths. In the UK, charity and philanthropy did not disappear after the First World War, despite increased taxation and public authorities commandeering the responsibility for a number of personal welfare, educational and health services they had previously provided. Although a case can be made in part with regards to healthcare because of the creation of the National Health Service, the reality is that, in many fields, charities continued in their welfare and educational role. Similarly philanthropists in the UK continued to create trusts throughout the 20th century.
Ministers performed a U-turn yesterday over the future of fertility treatment and research using hybrid human-animal embryos. After a revolt by doctors, scientists and patients, first reported in The Times, the Department of Health announced that it was scrapping its controversial money-saving plan to merge the watchdogs for fertility treatment and human tissue.
Taking anti-depressants with painkillers such as ibuprofen has been found to increase the risk of bleeding from the stomach. A survey confirms that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Prozac double the risk of bleeding from the stomach – but when they are taken with antiinflammatory painkillers the risk is far higher. Over a year, one in every 106 patients taking SSRIs and such painkillers will need hospital admission for this. The survey, published in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, was led by Yoon Loke, of the University of East Anglia, working with colleagues in the US.
New Story
Some relationships can be bad for your health, say researchers. A new study has found that people who lack emotional support and understanding from their partner, have a 34 per cent increased risk of heart disease than those in the most supportive relationships.
The growing obesity epidemic is fuelling a cancer timebomb, cancer research experts warn today. Being overweight increases the risk of developing a number of cancers, including breast, womb and prostate.
Clock is ticking for those wrongly denied state help for care funding, writes Alison Steed Older people and their families who believe they have been wrongly denied state help for care funding need to hurry if they want to make a claim, as the Department of Health is closing its review in just eight weeks.
Thousands of post-menopausal women will be left without the right drug to fight potentially crippling osteoporosis under plans to restrict options for sufferers, campaigners have said. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has proposed ruling out funding for all but one of the generic first-line treatments.
The average woman's waistline has expanded by almost two inches in a decade. Growing reliance on fast food and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle is blamed for female waist measurements increasing from 31.8in to 33.5in.
New Story
Police are investigating a suspected case of euthanasia after a woman drove to a police station with a body on the back eat of her car. The 46-year-old woman from London drove to Tavistock Police Station in Devon with the body in the rear of her car.
Have you ever had backache? Four out of five of us will experience back pain at some stage according to the charity BackCare, and the NHS spends more than £1billion treating the condition. Here we have a number of gentle daily exercises that will increase the flexibility of your back
A safety group has called for the legal alcohol limit for drivers to be lowered, 40 years after breathtesting was introduced. The breath test, introduced on October 9 1967, has saved many lives, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) said. But they said the legal limit should be lowered from 80mg per 100ml of blood to 50mg.
Government officials ignored clear warnings of a crisis that left thousands of doctors in chaos and put patients at risk, it emerged today. A damning inquiry revealed that bosses in the Department of Health did little or nothing despite being warned of flaws in medical employment a year in advance.
One in seven of those taken to hospital for binge drinking last year was under 14, according to new figures. A total of 2,239 - the equivalent of more than six a day - were treated for "mental and behavioural disorder due to acute alcohol intoxication."
New Story
The Church of England has declared organ donation to be a Christian duty, in keeping with giving oneself and one's possessions freely. Body parts should not be mistaken for the person themselves, and the best way to treat them reverently is to use them to heal others, the Church said.
Ministers have rejected calls to force parents who have children via egg or sperm donation to register the fact on the birth certificate. An earlier report by a joint committee of MPs and peers had said by not doing it the state was complicit in a lie.
Faye Roe's face and that of her husband Matthew have been seen by millions across Britain. Despite the fact that Faye seldom goes out, her face can be seen staring out from billboards and tube carriages in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester, London and Belfast as well as in a number of magazines.
Disability rights campaigners have criticised the decision by the mother of a severely disabled teenager to ask doctors to give her daughter a hysterectomy. Alison Thorpe says she wants to save daughter Katie, who has cerebral palsy, from the "pain and indignity" menstruation would cause the 15-year-old.
New Story
NHS braced for Spending Review - BBC Health News 8th October 2007
The NHS has enjoyed record funding increases in recent years, but they are now coming to an end. How will the health service cope? The similarities between the city and NHS are few and far between.
New Section
International Health News
Like the male nipple and coccyx, the appendix is often viewed as extraneous evolutionary baggage that never quite got lost on the long-haul journey to modern humanity. Last year, British surgeons whipped out 44,562 of them, mostly during emergency operations when, as a result of infection, they rapidly became life-threatening. And people carry on perfectly well without them.
Renewed American efforts to persuade the Afghan government to use crop dusters against poppy production have failed, despite Washington dispatching a top scientist to advocate the safety of spraying herbicides.
Reports over the weekend claimed Swedish researchers have found a direct link between mobile phone use and deadly brain tumours. The study, to be published in the Occupational Environmental Medicine journal, suggests prolonged mobile use could increase the chance of some tumours by as much as 30%. The numbers - and headlines - sound damning and, the reports suggested, children are particularly at risk because they have thinner skulls and their nervous systems are still in development.
An Indonesian woman has died from bird flu after buying chickens at a local market, lifting the national death toll from the disease to 87, a Health Ministry official said. Blood tests confirmed the woman, 44, had the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease, said Joko Suyono.
New Story
Foreign ways - The Times 9th October 2007
DOCTORS moaning about pay, patients screaming to get out... but the NHS hasn’t got it half as bad as Poland’s health service where 5,000 of the country’s doctors have resigned because of poor pay, reports Polish Radio External Service (Oct 1). Some wards have been left with too few doctors and were forced to close. In one hospital, 40 seriously ill patients were evacuated to ensure that they got adequate care. The Polish doctors’ union claims its members often earn less that unqualified workers. A representative said the state should consider costs before promising free healthcare.
New Section
Cheshire and Merseyside Health News
New Story
LIVERPOOL is sending its own “laughter ambassador” to America. Stephanie Davies, 28, has been invited to speak at the Health Care and Humour conference in Chicago this week on using laughter and humour to improve wellbeing. The annual event is organised by Dr Patch Adams – played by Hollywood star Robin Williams in the film of the same name about his beliefs in the healing power of humour.
A WIRRAL MP has written to the Government's health minister asking for additional funding to help Claire House children's hospice in its work. Ben Chapman has campaigned extensively in Parliament to ensure the Government provides for children with severe disabilities and complex life-limiting or terminal conditions.
New Story
Council care staff prepared to strike over redundancies - Liverpool Daily Post 7th October 2007
HUNDREDS of city council home help staff have been called to a mass meeting on Monday in a dispute union leaders say could lead to industrial action. They are in the frontline of a new redundancy scheme for all Liverpool council workers, which angry union leaders say will leave long-serving staff thousands of pounds out of pocket.
New Section
Cumbria and Lancashire Health News
HOSPITAL bosses will launch a public consultation today on plans to secure new foundation status. If they are successful it will mean increased NHS funding and will allow them to make more decisions rather than being tied to national targets.
New Story
Care home inquiry - Carlisle News & Star 8th October 2007
CUMBRIA County Council has confirmed that an investigation is underway into allegations surrounding the quality of care at the Yanwath Care home near Penrith.
New Section
Greater Manchester Health News
New Story
THE hospital bed crisis in Greater Manchester has been slammed as `scandalous' and `unacceptable' by the Shadow Health Minister Stephen O'Brien. The Tory minister said the situation was avoidable and patients should not be forced to wait on trolleys.
THE nights are drawing in and frosty mornings are coming. Don't be caught unawares. Start preparing now and make sure you stay well this winter. While we may not reach the UK's coldest temperature of -27.2C, recorded at Braemer in Scotland in 1947, that doesn't mean you should be complacent this year. Cold weather and serious illness are directly linked.
PATIENTS in Bolton have some of the shortest waits for treatment in the region. New figures show that nine out of 10 outpatients have their first appointment or assessment within five weeks of being seen by their GP - the best in the region.
New Story
Vandals damage paramedics' cars... while they are saving lives - The Bolton News 8th October 2007
PARAMEDICS have hit out at yobs who vandalised their cars while they were performing their lifesaving duty. Allan Archer, aged 25, and Andrew Braithwaite, aged 37, who are both based in Bolton, were told by firefighters that one of the vehicles had been torched and the other had its window smashed while they were in an ambulance caring for a patient.
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.
1 comment:
www.sangambayard-c-m.com
Post a Comment