National and International News
Asthma sufferers 'live in fear'
Half of all those with asthma live in daily fear that the next attack will be their last, according to a report from Asthma UK published today.
The Guardian 04/05/04
BBC Health News 03/05/04
Become your own doctor
Why wait for a GP's appointment when a simple relaxation technique can help to ease many stress-related ailments, from asthma to anxiety? Karen Hainsworth discovers autogenics
The Independent 03/05/04
Birth choices fall foul of staff shortages
As NHS guidelines urge a cut in the number of elective caesarean sections, a busy hospital ward has no room for those 'too posh to push'
The Guardian 02/05/04
Birth rights
Please, no more correspondence from women who've had caesareans for medical reasons (Letters, May 3). Their legitimate reasons for a surgical birth with NHS funding do not qualify them to speak on behalf of others who do not have medical reasons for the operation.
The Guardian 04/05/04
Breast milk helps reduce obesity
Breast milk contains a protein that could reduce the risk of obesity, according to US research.
BBC Health News 02/05/04
Byers calls for middle classes to pay for child care services
Grandparents and other home-based carers should be paid to look after youngsters, the former cabinet minister Stephen Byers suggested yesterday.
The Independent 30/04/04
'Chaplain's help saw me through'
When Jackie Hill was forced to spend long periods of time as an in-patient at Bradford Royal Infirmary the last thing she thought she needed was spiritual counselling from a man of the cloth.
BBC Health News 02/05/04
Clues to protecting infant lungs
Scientists believe they may have found a way to protect very premature babies against serious lung damage.
BBC Health News 03/05/04
Concern over rise in mumps cases
Scotland's health minister has voiced concerns over a large rise in confirmed cases of mumps.
BBC Health News 02/05/04
Depressed? Go and clean the kitchen
Five years ago, Dr Clive Sherlock came face to face with a runaway patient. She had escaped from a psychiatric hospital minutes before she was about to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act. "She was in a sad state," he explains. "Her husband and son had died within a year and she had a history of depression and anxiety. No one was doing anything for her." Under his care, she recovered enough to live a normal life. He is quite sure that, had she been sectioned that day, she would still be a mental health invalid.
The Guardian 04/05/04
Don't just lie down and take it
In their youth, Dan Roberts and his friends sunbathed until they bled. Now one of them is dead from skin cancer. How can we limit the damage from our early exposure?
The Independent 03/05/04
The eating cure
Of all the unsolved mysteries of the human body, it is the brain that most rigidly resists our efforts at understanding it; and that lack of understanding is costing us increasingly dear. Mental illness is reaching epidemic levels. The World Health Organisation claims that mental health problems "are fast becoming the number-one health issue of the 21st century". Clinical depression is the biggest international health threat after heart disease. At the same time, there is a growing dissatisfaction with the drug treatments available.
The Guardian 04/05/04
Failed asylum seekers to pay for GPs
The government is to risk a clash with the medical profession by announcing a crackdown on failed asylum seekers and other non-EU nationals receiving free NHS treatment from GPs.
The Guardian 03/05/04
Gene trait boosts cancer therapy
Doctors have found a genetic trait which means they can identify which lung cancer patients will benefit from a new chemotherapy treatment.
BBC Health News 01/05/04
Girls 'get infertility implants'
Doctors are giving girls as young as 14 implants which make them infertile for three years without getting their parents' consent, says a report.
BBC Health News 02/05/04
Guide for deaf mothers-to-be
Maternity units should be more aware of the needs of deaf mothers-to-be, campaigners say.
BBC Health News 30/04/04
Half a million asthma sufferers live in fear and 90 per cent of deaths are preventable, says charity
The Independent 04/05/04
Helping hand in emergency
Call 999 FOR emergency medical help and you are increasingly likely to be treated by a new breed of health professional — an emergency care practitioner (ECP) in a people carrier.
The Times 04/05/04
India outlaws smoking in public
A law has come into force in India which bans smoking in public places.
BBC Health News 02/05/04
Junk the food ads
Most of the ads on the Cartoon Network are predictable. Children with access to satellite or cable are pushed Pepsi, Walkers, Coco-Pops and all their imitators and competitors, and offered every available means to dose themselves with sugar, salt and fat. To the Government and the advertising industry, the propaganda has nothing to do with the explosion in childhood obesity which, according to the Chief Medical Officer, may lead to the next generation suffering from the first fall in average life expectancy in 100 years. Obesity and the fatal diseases that drag along behind it are the result of lack of exercise, they say, not of the advertising that seeps its way into every corner of children's lives via television, text messaging, the internet and schools.
The Observer 02/05/04
The man who doesn't exist
Jim Lee has no birth certificate, passport, or bank account. He has never voted or registered with a doctor. To officialdom, he is invisible. Now, after 68 years, he has decided to be somebody - but, as Simon Hattenstone discovers, it's not that easy...
The Guardian 30/04/04
New medical research
Hurricane Floyd may have been responsible for a huge rise in child abuse, report researchers from the University of Carolina. They say they found a fivefold increase in physical abuse among children in the six months after the disaster. The researchers suggest, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (April 27), that weakened social supports, parental stress and depression may be to blame, and say that this may be a common phenomenon after natural disasters.
The Times 04/05/04
New teeth 'could soon be grown'
Technology to grow replacement teeth could mean the end of dentures.
BBC Health News 03/05/04
Nice way to give birth
Germaine Greer (Cut it out, G2, April 29) makes some sensible suggestions for aspects of clinical practice in which Nice could help patients and NHS professionals, but she's wrong about our guidance on caesarean sections. Nice was established to provide guidance on best practice in healthcare. We have already provided it on fertility treatments, we have recommended new diagnostic tests for cervical screening and we are developing guidance on hysterectomy and on other aspects of maternity care.
The Guardian 03/05/04
OAP patient scheme 'a success'
A project to cut the number of elderly people admitted to England's hospitals has seen major benefits for patients, the government has said.
BBC Health News 03/05/04
Officials 'overstated risks of caesarean delivery'
Two of the country's most senior obstetricians have criticised the Government's health rationing body for misleading women over the risks involved in a caesarean delivery.
The Observer 02/05/04
Our lives as conjoined twins
Conjoined twins are rare - with less than a dozen adult pairs living in the world today.
BBC Health News 02/05/04
Premature ageing secret unlocked
Two English scientists have unlocked the secret to a rare premature ageing disease called Progeria.
BBC Health News 01/05/04
Pressure of paperwork stops social workers from working
The true scale of the workload facing social workers emerged just as they were being castigated in the wake of the Victoria Climbie case last year: many are so bogged down in paperwork that they spend just one hour a day talking to vulnerable children or their parents.
The Independent 30/04/04
Push for anti-nerve agent drug
Molecules that destroy deadly nerve agents could provide the basis of a new type of civilian drug to protect people against a terrorist attack.
BBC Health News 03/05/04
A Question of Health
Why does my husband have no sperm? And can I get my father a digital hearing aid?
The Independent 03/05/04
Researchers call for change in data protection laws
Data protection laws must be changed to prevent needless deaths from cancer, researchers wrote in the British Medical Journal today.
The Guardian 01/05/04
Victims call for tougher action as plastic surgeon defies ban
There is nothing on the brass-plated door of his Harley Street address to suggest a problem. Cosmetic surgeon Dr Fayez Abu Mahfouz promises 'guaranteed results in writing', and has a website welcoming customers who are fed up with their wrinkles, acne, birthmarks or cellulite. There is certainly no shortage of visitors to his smart treatment rooms, men and women desperate to have more perfect complexions.
The Observer 02/05/04
Vitamins 'increase cholesterol'
Vitamins could actually increase levels of "bad cholesterol", researchers have suggested.
BBC Health News 04/05/04
Vulnerable patients 'missed' by NHS
Thousands of vulnerable older people are being "missed" by the NHS and social services until they end up in hospital, trials of a US-led programme have suggested.
The Guardian 03/05/04
Wellcome: 'Online science journals 30 pc cheaper'
Free online publication of scientific research - so-called open access - could cut scientific publishing costs by 30 per cent and still provide a viable business model, according to research released by the Wellcome Trust.
The Observer 02/05/04
What am I bid for this nurse?
The UK should consider giving cash to developing countries to compensate for taking their nurses.
The Times 04/05/04
A young life destroyed by abuse and neglect, a system unable to deliver on promises
Toni-Ann Byfield's life was short, chaotic and marred by abuse and neglect. In death, she will be known chiefly because she holds the tragic record of being the youngest ever victim of a Yardie assassination killing.
The Independent 30/04/04
Zulu leader breaks SA Aids taboo
The leader of South Africa's Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom Party, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, has revealed that his son Prince died of Aids.
BBC Health News 03/05/04
Cheshire and Mersey News
2.5m aid for ambulances
Merseyside's ambulance service will have an extra 133 emergency staff as part of a £2.5m modernisation programme, it was announced yesterday.
Daily Post 29/04/04
Area tops the league in poverty scale
Knowsley and Liverpool are the two most deprived areas of England, government figures have revealed.
Liverpool Echo 29/04/04
EU changes will lead to destitution
More than 250 asylum seekers in Liverpool will lose their homes when their former countries join the European Union this week.
Liverpool Echo 29/04/04
Mum voices fear of furnace plan
A mother who campaigned for an inquiry into a Liverpool incinerator which she blamed for a cluster of cancers has voiced fears about a new furnace plan.
Liverpool Echo 30/04/04
Nurse 'tried to hasten death'
The Crewe nurse accused of attempting to kill four patients at Leighton Hospital was driven by a ruthless motivation to free up hospital beds, a court was told.
Crewe Guardian 29/04/04
Daily Post 30/04/04
Daily Post 30/04/04
Daily Post 29/04/04
Sefton homes closure threat
Two of Sefton's six remaining council-run care homes could be closed within the next six months.
Daily Post 29/04/04
Staff failed to notice lethal infection
A family say doctors failed their loved one before she died and are considering legal action against the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Chester Chronicle 30/04/04
Why waste of medicine is a prescription for trouble
Unused medicines cost more than £1m a year in Wirral, enough to pay for more than 20 heart bypass operations.
Daily Post 29/04/04
Widow to set up cancer centre
A widow who lost her husband to lung cancer is hoping to set up a new cancer centre in his name to help keep his memory alive.
Warrington Guardian 29/04/04
Cumbria and Lancashire News
100 new specialist medics
Patients will benefit from around 100 new specialist registrars starting work in East Lancs.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 29/04/04
Give us back our stoma nurses
Please can we have our stoma nurses back? Like many people in Bury I have had a colostomy operation and, like many others, I find it difficult at times. However, we now have no one we can ring if we have a problem because the stoma nurse service has been stopped for some reason.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 03/05/04
'Magic' wand waved live on the internet
An East Lancashire surgeon who pioneered a new technique to remove tonsils is to share his expertise on a live webcast transmission.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 30/04/04
Man died following surgery
Retired maintenance worker Billy Yates died of multi organ failure following surgery.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 29/04/04
New health centre in Tyldesley - official opened
Tyldesley's state-of-the-art new clinic was officially opened last Friday.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 29/04/04
North West deserves louder voice
What region of the United Kingdom has a larger population than 11 member states of the European Union, and larger than that of Scotland and Wales combined?
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 29/04/04
Senior nurses attend Lady of Lamp service
Senior Lancashire nurses are to attend a special service to commemorate the life of nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 30/04/04
Showcase for health
The NHS in East Lancashire is to host a national conference to celebrate good practice in local health services.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 29/04/04
TV woe as new hospital goes up
A new hospital development could be blocking television signals to homes in Blackburn, according to developers.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 29/04/04
Greater Manchester News
Cash for hospice
Children's hospice Derian House has received a share of £100,000 donated as part of the settlement of a three-year legal battle with Alder Hey Children's Hospital by parents of children whose organs were wrongly retained.
Bolton Evening News 01/05/04
Day care centre is our lifeline
My friends and I attend the day care centre in Farnworth, and would like to express our feelings about the possible closure of this service.
Bolton Evening News 03/05/04
Health site for young women
The NHS Direct website has launched an advertising campaign aimed at highlighting important health issues for young women.
Bolton Evening News 30/04/04
Healthy bid to keep kids in class
Health officials are being drafted in to help Manchester schools keep children in the classroom.
Manchester Evening News 03/05/04
Walks get residents on road to fitness
A drive to encourage people in Westhoughton to walk more is being launched with a series of strolls through the town's parks.
Bolton Evening News 01/05/04
