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A nurse accused of murdering four patients correctly predicted the time one of them would die and said it was "just his luck" as he would have all the paperwork to do, a court heard yesterday. Colin Norris, 31, told a staff nurse at Leeds General Infirmary that things always went wrong in the night and that Ethel Hall would die at 5.15am on his shift, said Robert Smith, prosecuting.
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Nurse 'murdered four elderly patients with overdose because they were nuisance' - Daily Mail 16th October 2007
Staff leaving the NHS because of the strains of perpetual reform were joined yesterday by the "nurse of the year", a cancer care specialist from Lancashire who revolutionised treatment for patients recovering from prostate surgery. Justine Whitaker won the accolade in February after impressing a panel of nursing specialists with her commitment and inventiveness. But she has now told the Nursing Standard - organisers of the award - that she can no longer face going to work in an atmosphere of "mistrust and fear". Ms Whitaker said: "We have a government saying it has talked to thousands of nurses and doctors, but it is not hearing what we are saying."
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'Nurse of the Year' quits, blaming huge increase in NHS bureaucracy - The Independent 17th October 2007
‘Nurse of year’ quits the NHS because of job pressure - The Times 17th October 2007
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'Nurse of the Year' quits, blaming huge increase in NHS bureaucracy - The Independent 17th October 2007
‘Nurse of year’ quits the NHS because of job pressure - The Times 17th October 2007
The government has quietly abandoned its target to halt childhood obesity by 2010, setting instead the goal of reducing it by 2020 - a decade further on. The move comes in the response today of the public health minister, Dawn Primarolo, to the Foresight report, a two-year trawl through the evidence by scientists which concluded that the problem was huge, could cost the UK £45bn a year and could take 30 years to turn round.
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Quarter of all children could be obese by 2050 but ministers insist on 'moving the goalposts' - The Times 17th October 2007
Ducking and weaving appears to be endemic in government ministers. Ed Balls in his latest battle against obesity gives us another fudge (Schools told to tackle teenage obesity crisis, October 15). Suggesting frisbee and yoga sessions and weighing scales in schools dodges the real issue of high salt, fat and sugar content of convenience foods. Government should grasp the nettle and instruct producers to reduce these additives to acceptable levels immediately. Parents have a responsibility to provide healthy food, but with most parents working full-time the problem will never be resolved without government legislation.
A successful collaboration gives people control over end-of-life decisions and keeps hospital beds free Gladys Bevins died where she wanted to be, and surrounded by family and friends. Yet she is the exception. More than half a million people in England and Wales die every year, very few in the place of their choosing.
Meet the Dragons is an initiative that aims to help innovative ideas in social care get past the implementation barrier by inviting entrepreneurs to bid for funding. Ann James reports
Assistive technology can help people with learning disabilities or mental health needs achieve greater independence. Joanna Lyall finds that the latest innovations range from hands-free videophones to 'disco showers' and smart ovens
Society still needs to come to terms with abuse of older and disabled people. Do we need a shake-up of complaints and investigation? Chris Mahony reports
As Carolyn McKenna stood with her aunt's body in a Merseyside funeral parlour, she could still see the physical evidence of what she insists amounted to elder abuse. "I could still see a bruise on her face and a damaged septum," she recalls sadly. McKenna, a former assistant director of disability charity Scope, was one of many relatives to respond to a recent Society Guardian article by a woman distressed by the poor standards of care endured by her father in a residential home.
The first official government study of the economic impact of the biggest wave of migration to Britain in recent years reaches an overwhelmingly beneficial verdict. "In recent years migrants have made a more positive contribution to the public finances than native workers; have often been highly skilled and accordingly captured higher labour market rewards," concludes the joint Treasury, Home Office and Work and Pensions study.
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Migrants in Britain - the official verdict - The Times 17th October 2007
Motivated immigrants fill skills gap and solve labour shortages - The Times 17th October 2007
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Migrants in Britain - the official verdict - The Times 17th October 2007
Motivated immigrants fill skills gap and solve labour shortages - The Times 17th October 2007
Let's show respect for children's social work A few weeks ago, the cry went up from my nine-year-old daughter at the laptop: "Oh, no, it's the social worker!" It turned out that the appearance of the social worker on her Sims computer game signalled that her computer child was being taken away due to neglect.
Plans to review how we look after elderly people are playing out against a backdrop of poor provision, dense bureaucracy and fear of means testing. How do experts respond to the government's proposed reforms?
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British women's right to choose is under covert attack - The Guardian 17th October 2007
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British women's right to choose is under covert attack - The Guardian 17th October 2007
A study linking abortion to breast cancer is among the 'evidence' being used in a bid to change a policy fought for 40 years ago
Sharon Grant and other signatories (Letters, October 15) criticise plans to strengthen the voice of patients. They imply that the legislation to replace patients' forums with local involvement networks (LINks), currently going through parliament, will weaken local accountability. It will achieve the opposite. The government wants everyone to be able to have their say about local health and social care services and have the ability to influence how they are run. A patients' forum can scrutinise NHS services, but not social-care services run by local councils. Forums could be more representative - they only have a few thousand members across England, when the NHS has tens of millions of patients.
North East Lincolnshire care trust plus Two years ago, North East Lincolnshire seemed an unlikely place to pioneer innovative ways to integrate health and social care. It languished at the foot of the local authority league tables, the only council with a zero-star rating.
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'As a separate entity, it can shape its own future and structure' - The Guardian 17th October 2007
Milton Keynes health and social care services From its grid-pattern layout to its concrete cows, Milton Keynes has always had a distinctive character. So it is perhaps no surprise that the local council is setting up a pioneering partnership that will amalgamate health and social care services into a social enterprise.
The health and social care landscape is rapidly changing. Existing services are being divided and new partnerships forged. A huge natural experiment is under way, says Liam Hughes
You wouldn't look for a more graphic example of the "hollowing out" of government than the move to commission private sector commissioners of health. Yes, that's two lots of commissioning, one on top of another. And, potentially, two lots of private companies providing services in between the accountable public body and the public.
The Government’s plan to extend doctors’ surgery hours to evenings and weekends would not be a good use of NHS resources, nearly three quarters of GPs say. A survey published by the British Medical Association (BMA) found that 53.3 per cent of GP partners would consider extending opening hours if extra funding to run clinics outside office hours were available. But 72.5 per cent of the 11,000 GPs surveyed did not believe that it would be a good use of NHS resources.
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Pfizer, the world’s largest drug group, could be forced to drop or amend its exclusive British medicines distribution deal with UniChem, the wholesale arm of Alliance Boots, under proposals being considered by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
The Darzi review of the NHS is an ambitious vision of a fair, effective, safe service Camilla Cavendish’s opinion piece following the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement (“The madness of feeding this ravenous NHS ”, Oct 11) misses the point about my continuing review of the NHS.
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Workplace stress is a major occupational health problem, with almost a third of UK workers suffering mental health problems in any year Workplace stress is the second-biggest occupational health problem in the UK, after musculoskeletal conditions. Nearly three employees in ten have a mental health problem in any year. How can employers and employees deal with these issues, and even prevent them happening in the first place?
The statistics surrounding disability and employment make for shocking reading, but there is help is available The incidence of disability increases with age – 10 per cent of people aged 16 to 24 are disabled compared with one third of people aged 50 to 65.
The extent of the obesity epidemic was laid bare yesterday as it was disclosed that more than half of adults and a quarter of children will be dangerously overweight by 2050. The problem has reached such proportions that it will take 30 years to reverse, the Government's chief scientific adviser Sir David King warned.
Obesity is 'deadlier than smoking' and can knock 13 years off your life - Daily Mail 17th October 2007
Obesity 'not individuals' fault' - BBC Health News 16th October 2007
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Lower limit for abortions, two thirds of GPs say - The Telegraph 17th October 2007
Obesity 'not individuals' fault' - BBC Health News 16th October 2007
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Lower limit for abortions, two thirds of GPs say - The Telegraph 17th October 2007
Two thirds of GPs want the limit for abortions reduced from 24 weeks, a survey shows. Research by Marie Stopes International, a charity which carries out a third of abortions in Britain, found family doctors wanted the limit for social abortions to be brought down to between 20 and 23 weeks.
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When Lisa Evans held her baby son Elliott in her arms for the first time, she was overwhelmed with love for her newborn child. But beneath the tender spectacle of this everyday scene lay the extraordinary story of the circumstances of his birth.
Immigrants are placing a huge strain on public services, Labour finally admitted last night. Crime is up, schools are struggling to cope with Eastern European children, community tensions are rising, health services are coming under enormous pressure and house prices are being driven up, the Government said.
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Older people charged as much as £30,000 a year for a care home place are often in the dark about exactly what they are paying for, a report finds. The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) found huge variation in advertised fees for places in the same care home in England.
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Over half of GPs (52%) believe the agreement of one just doctor should be enough for an abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, a survey shows. At present a woman must persuade two doctors that carrying on with the pregnancy is a health risk.
Mr Kipling's at it, and so is a growing section of the food industry. Transforming the constitution of food, or "reformatting" as it is known, is increasingly seen as a key plank in the campaign against obesity. If we can't give up the cakes, the cakes will have to change, the thinking goes.
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Low morale pushing one in six GPs into considering new career - Daily Mail 16th October 2007
One in six family doctors is thinking of changing to a career outside general practice, a survey of thousands of UK GPs said today. The British Medical Association (BMA) believes that privatisation fears and the feeling that the core values of general practice are being undermined, worsening patient care, are behind low morale.
Sticking needles randomly into your body is almost as good as real acupuncture when it comes to back pain, according to a new study published last month. Random needles are also just as good at improving the quality of life for Crohn's disease patients, another study found.
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Removing a brain tumour is major surgery and involves a hospital stay for up to a week. Now a London neurosurgeon is pioneering fast-track day surgery that means the patient can be home for tea. Debbie Calder, 52, from London, was the first to undergo this technique. She tells CAROL DAVIS her story while the surgeon explains the procedure.
Some headaches cut like a knife. Others feel like your skull's in a vice. some are triggered by strong smells - but others are caused by headache pills! So before you reach for the aspirin, read our expert guide... There's that age-old fear with headaches - it's probably nothing, you tell yourself, but you walk into the doctor's surgery convinced that it's actually a brain tumour
The day before her stomach surgery Angela Spafford was excited. It was to mark the beginning of a new life with the trim figure she yearned for. She'd always been overweight but with a Body Mass Index of 47, she was now officially 'morbidly obese'. "I'd been overweight since secondary school but despite trying every diet, exercise club and slimming pill going, nothing worked," says the 34-year-old deputy manager from Doncaster. "My weight had soared to 20st, and I was desperate to lose it."
A third of children leaving primary school in some areas of the country are overweight, official figures have revealed. A "snapshot" of the health of the nation's children showed that the young are getting fatter despite Government pledges to act.
A mother contracted MRSA from her own newborn son after doctors failed to inform her the baby had the deadly virus. Jenna Hodgkiss, 20, caught a strain of the deadly bug from her baby son Kian after he was discharged from the hospital.
A jab that can 'cure' some of the most severe cases of asthma has just been launched. Existing asthma treatments - such as inhalers and oral steroids, merely suppress symptoms - the new drug actually treats the causes of the disease and doctors are hailing it as a major breakthrough.
One in six GPs is thinking of quitting general practice, a British Medical Association (BMA) poll finds. Doctors' leaders blamed low morale on fears about NHS privatisation, and the undermining of the core values of general practice.
A scheme giving advice and counselling to binge drinkers arrested for an alcohol-related crime is to be trialled in four parts of England. The Home Office's "alcohol-arrest referral projects" will run in Manchester, Liverpool, Cheshire and Ealing, west London, until March 2008.
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Brain damaged boy to get pay-out - BBC Health News 16th October 2007
A Devon family has won an 11-year legal battle with the NHS after a baby boy was left severely disabled after an operation at Bristol Royal Infirmary. The boy, who is now 13, suffered serious brain damage after the operation in 1994 to correct his 'hole in the heart' condition.
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Almost 60 years after the development of the Pill, scientists have announced they are working on the first alternative oral contraceptive, and they hope it will be free of side-effects. Instead of controlling the woman's monthly cycle, the new drug would work in an entirely different way by targeting a gene that controls female fertility and it would be completely reversible.
Middle-aged women may be able to reduce the amount of fat they put on around the midriff during the menopause by supplementing their diets with soya protein, research has suggested.
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Soya may cut heart disease in women - The Telegraph 17th October 2007
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Acupuncture 'does not aid IVF' - The Telegraph 17th October 2007
Women who have acupuncture while undergoing IVF in an effort to improve their chances of having a baby could be wasting their time and money, scientists say. A growing number are turning to the alternative therapy, which uses needles to stimulate pressure points, to help them conceive.
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Acupuncture 'may cut IVF chances' - BBC Health News 16th October 2007
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Acupuncture 'may cut IVF chances' - BBC Health News 16th October 2007
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A revolutionary contraceptive patch which does not disrupt a woman's hormones is being developed. The new treatment would not have the unpleasant side-effects of the Pill, such as headaches, weight gain and mood swings.
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Aminu Ahmed Tudun-Wada idolises England football striker Michael Owen. Sitting with friends in Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city, he says, "With those legs, he can do anything!"
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Cheshire and Merseyside Health News
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Regions feel effects of immigration - Daily Post 17th October 2007
Many UK regions have reported concerns about the impact of immigration on housing, crime and health, according to a study on migrants from eastern Europe.
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Cumbria and Lancashire Health News
Lever Chambers Health Centre has replaced its phone system, meaning new contact numbers for patients. The town centre health centre, which has an emergency walk-in department as well as appointment only services, is the latest of the Primary Care Trust's buildings to switch to a hi-tech phone system that will link all the health centres in Bolton.
SICK leave has cost Bolton Council nearly £22 million in the last two years. The figure increased from £10.2 million for the year to April 2006 to £11.5 million last year and accounts for nearly four and half per cent of the council's £269 million wage bill.
Teenage girls in Bury will become the first in the country to be vaccinated against cervical cancer. The Department of Health plans to introduce a vaccine against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which causes 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases, in girls aged 12 and 13 next autumn.
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Mental health pledge - Bolton News 16th October 2007
MENTAL health will come under the microscope at an event this month. Professionals and patients will come together 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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Staff leaving the NHS because of the strains of perpetual reform were joined yesterday by the "nurse of the year", a cancer care specialist from Lancashire who revolutionised treatment for patients recovering from prostate surgery. Justine Whitaker won the accolade in February after impressing a panel of nursing specialists with her commitment and inventiveness. But she has now told the Nursing Standard - organisers of the award - that she can no longer face going to work in an atmosphere of "mistrust and fear". Ms Whitaker said: "We have a government saying it has talked to thousands of nurses and doctors, but it is not hearing what we are saying."'
Additional Stories
Nurse of the Year' quits, blaming huge increase in NHS bureaucracy - The Independent 17th October 2007
‘Nurse of year’ quits the NHS because of job pressure - The Times 17th October 2007
A mother contracted MRSA from her own newborn son after doctors failed to inform her the baby had the deadly virus. Jenna Hodgkiss, 20, caught a strain of the deadly bug from her baby son Kian after he was discharged from the hospital.
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Baby unit shut over MRSA outbreak - BBC Health News 16th October 2007
A hospital in Lancashire has closed its neonatal unit after six babies tested positive for a strain of MRSA. The East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has said that none of the affected babies at the Royal Blackburn Hospital are seriously ill.
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Greater Manchester Health News
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Mum gets MRSA from baby - Manchester Evening News 16th October 2007
A MOTHER has caught MRSA from her baby after an hospital outbreak of the superbug. First-time mum Jenna Hodgkiss, 20, has now been admitted to hospital after her condition worsened.
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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