The overall success rate of fertility treatment has risen by 0.9%, according to the latest figures from the government's fertility regulator. The figures, from 2005, show that 32,626 women received fertility treatment, up 6% on the previous year. This resulted in 11,262 children being born. Although the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's website allows prospective patients to compare the live birth rates achieved at different clinics, the authority's interim chief executive, Alan Doran, said that crude comparisons of overall success rates were not helpful.
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Top place in IVF birth league for fertility doctor who faces a ban - The Times 7th December 2007
A pioneering technique using lasers could help to detect cancer early, researchers said yesterday. Scientists at the University of St Andrews have developed technology which uses light to reveal abnormalities in cells, giving early warning of the disease.
Tens of thousands of people going through a severe mental health crisis are being deprived of the NHS treatment and support that was promised by the government, parliament's spending watchdog disclosed today. The National Audit Office said many people with psychosis, severe depression or anxiety could avoid the stress and stigma of being admitted to a psychiatric ward if they were provided with appropriate care at home. The government promised in 2002 to set up 335 crisis resolution home treatment (CRHT) teams across England to assess everyone in the early stages of an acute psychiatric illness.
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A Catholic hospital is in turmoil after two directors resigned, refusing to accept tighter ethical codes on abortions, contraception and sex-change operations. Dr Martin Scurr and Lord Fitzalan-Howard voted against implementing new guidelines at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in north London, according to the Catholic newspaper the Tablet, and resigned in protest when the board accepted the code issued earlier this year by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, head of the Catholic church in England and Wales and patron of the 150-year-old medical institution.
Teaching children that sex is separate from marriage has led to untold misery, says Norman Wells Polly Toynbee claims the small reduction we have seen in teenage conception rates "may be partly due to easier emergency contraception from local pharmacies" (Sex education works, so why is it not compulsory?, December 4). However, international studies have consistently shown that increased access to the morning-after pill has reduced neither abortion nor unintended pregnancy rates.
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Your sub-heading gives the impression the BMA is concerned about the levels of care available in GP surgeries (Abortions at GP surgeries under consideration: BMA voices concern over levels of care, December 5). Our concern is related only to GP surgeries not being equipped to deal with abortion provision. GPs work hard to provide top-quality care and this is reflected in the range of evidence-based clinical interventions they provide for patients with illnesses such as asthma, diabetes and other long-term conditions. GPs have never provided abortion services and without seeing the details of what the government is proposing, the BMA is concerned about whether GPs can provide the right level of care for this specific service. Several issues would need to be considered, including counselling, privacy, aftercare and access to emergency services in the event of complications.
Research shows that women suffer huge stress over the festive season. Here, some non-domestic goddesses tell Leonie Cooper how to avoid meltdown - start drinking early and make others do the work It may be the season to be jolly, but it seems that women have a far more difficult time at Christmas than men. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 46% of women find the season highly stressful, compared with 37% of men. Women also find it much more tiring - 41% of women say they are exhausted by the end of the festivities, while 31% of men are similarly spent.
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Regular exercise can cut the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by a third while a lack of physical activity can lead to depression and dementia, according to scientists. A study by the University of Bristol, based on 17 trials, found that physical activity was associated with a 30-40 per cent reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Separate evidence presented to the British Nutrition Foundation conference linked a lack of exercise to depression and dementia.
The unregulated sale of alternative medicines was putting the public at risk, a fatal accident inquiry was told. Elaine Ferrie said an over-the-counter medical supplement was to blame for the death of her brother. She told Perth Sheriff Court that Norman Ferrie, 64, was a “strong, healthy man who never needed to go to the doctor”.
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A target to cut the number of MRSA infections in hospitals appears to have been shelved in advance of a failure to achieve it. The three-year target to halve rates of MRSA by next April is widely regarded to be unachievable, given the slow progress made in fighting the superbug. The deadline has been postponed for three years to 2010-11, the period covered by the latest Comprehensive Spending Review agreement with the Treasury. The Government has also set a new target to reduce rates of Clostridium Difficile by 30 per cent by 2011.
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Science cannot tell us whether aborting a baby is right or wrong Anti-abortionists are often accused of foisting their religious views on to others. As an old atheistic pro-choice man, however, I don't think they foist their moral objections to abortion on us nearly enough these days.
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Beverly Allitt, who is serving 13 life sentences for attacking and murdering children in the hospital where she was a nurse, must serve a minimum of 30 years in custody, a High Court judge ruled yesterday. She will be 60 by the time she is eligible for release. Although Allitt was sentenced after her trial, the minimum term that she must serve was not set until yesterday.
The Government's chief scientific adviser gave warning yesterday that people who use homeopathic medicines could be putting their lives at risk. Sir David King said homeopathy was of no medical use whatsoever and that those who trusted it to cure serious health problems could be causing themselves more harm than good. Sir David King said homeopathy was of no medical use whatsoever Sir David said homeopathy was of no medical use whatsoever He also told MPs that the Department of Health was wrong to support the use of the alternative medicine and said there was no evidence that it worked.
Having a healthy body leads to a healthier mind, reducing the risk of clinical depression and dementia in later life, new research has showed. Scientists at Bristol University have found that physical exercise can reduce the risk of cognitive impairment, dementia or Alzheimer's in older people by between 30 and 40 per cent. Studies were carried out on 17 subjects aged 70 or above, who were observed for between five and 21 years, and all showed a reduced risk of these mental health problems.
Most of us may never see the innovative gardens created by landscape designer Charles Jencks in the name of his late wife. In 1996, a year after Maggie Keswick Jencks died from breast cancer, the first of the cancer patient support centres bearing her name opened for business in Edinburgh.
It is possible to die from a broken heart, according to a study which showed that the risk of death increases by up to a fifth in the months after the loss of a loved one. The review of recent research on bereavement found that the psychological distress it causes spouses can greatly increase their chances of dying soon afterwards. The report, published in the latest edition of The Lancet medical journal, cites a study that found men are 21 per cent more likely to die after the loss of their wife, while widows have a 17 per cent increased risk.
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The Quality and Outcome Framework (QOF), in which all general practices participate, means that this country has, at practice level, the most well-developed disease registers, including heart disease and diabetes, in the world (report, December 5).
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The BBC's Today programme and the Daily Mail have been attacked by the Government's chief scientific adviser. Sir David King criticised the two news outlets for their coverage of genetically-modified food and the MMR vaccine.
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A student died just three weeks after breaking her ankle while trying on new shoes she had bought for her graduation ceremony. Emma Morecombe was rushed to hospital on July 8 after falling down the stairs the day before she was due to collect her Applied Biology degree from Newcastle University.
Winter infections like flu can double the risk of heart attacks and strokes, a extensive study has found. Sufferers are twice as likely to be affected in the week after catching a range of common respiratory infections. Significantly, the researchers said the risk did not depend on age or gender.
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GPs and other health professionals should be more proactive in offering at-risk groups HIV tests, experts say. The University College London study of 263 HIV-positive African patients in the UK found half were diagnosed late despite above average use of services.
Some black and minority ethnic groups are three times more likely to be admitted to hospital for mental health problems, figures show. The Healthcare Commission said agencies must work together to prevent and better manage mental illness in black and minority ethnic groups.
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Controversial paediatrician Dr David Southall has defended himself, saying the first priority of anyone in child protection had to be the child. Dr Southall was found guilty of serious professional misconduct and struck off the medical register this week.
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Scientists have cured sickle cell anaemia in mice using stem cells produced without using embryos. The procedure involved reprogramming skin cells from the mice back to an extremely flexible embryo-like state, then replacing the defective gene that caused the disease. When the cells were injected back into mice they reversed the symptoms of the disease.
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The Bush administration came under attack yesterday for diverting funds from sex education to abstinence programmes after the first rise in American teenage pregnancy rates in nearly 15 years. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed the rate of births to teenagers rose by 3% last year. About 435,000 babies were born to mothers aged between 15 and 19.
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Eating raw broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower three times a month can cut the risk of bladder cancer by about 40 per cent, scientists report. Previous studies have suggested that vegetables with sulphur-laden compounds, called isothiocyanates, reduce the risk of various cancers. However, it has been unclear what effect cooking has on this reaction.
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A mixed fruit punch could provide a devastating blow against prostate cancer. The blueberry, grape, raspberry and elderberry cordial rapidly slashes the size of prostate tumours, research shows. In tests, Blueberry Punch cut the size of tumours by a quarter in two weeks. Trials are now planned to see whether a daily glass or two of the drink could treat the disease and even prevent it developing in the first place.
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Chemicals found in lipstick and nail varnish could trigger breast cancer, scientists warned yesterday. A study has shown that butyl benzyl phthalate, or BBP, can interfere with the healthy development of breast tissue. Environmental campaigners yesterday called for it to be banned in the cosmetic industry, where it is used to make products glossy.
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Articles relating to mass media Health Stories about the Cheshire and Merseyside patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
HALTON’S high rates of deaths from cancer will be addressed by a new £370m Government programme to transform cancer care. And the move has been welcomed by a local cancer charity whose plans to boost support services for cancer sufferers were dashed when its recent bid for Lottery funding failed.
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BOREHOLES could be installed at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven to provide their own water supply. Work is ongoing to progress proposals for water boreholes on both sites, and an application for a license to abstract water is being made to the Environment Agency. Plans would include a treatment plant.
A fun, interactive website for teenagers has been launched by the British Heart Foundation. The website www.yheart.net, encourages young people to find out how their heart works and how to keep it healthy in an exciting and interesting way. It is jam packed with health-related competitions, quirky games and challenges that win prizes.
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Articles relating to mass media Health Stories about the Greater Manchester patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
A CONTROVERSIAL exhibition which features preserved corpses with their insides exposed is coming to Manchester. Dr Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds is a travelling showcase of preserved cadavers and body parts that are prepared using plastination - a special technique that reveals the network of muscles, tendons and vessels in the body.
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IN the UK, someone has a stroke every five minutes, and last year 300 people in Bury had a stroke. Strokes are the leading cause of disability in the UK, and the third most common cause of death, but you can do things to help prevent them.
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A BURY nurse has received an accolade after her enthusiasm and exemplary attitude caught the judges' eye. Dawn Parker, who works at the Irwell Unit in Fairfield Hospital, received her Pennine Care Nursing Excellence Award at the Pennine Care NHS Trust annual presentation night in Oldham.
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AWARD-winning journalist Kathleen Loughlin has reported from some of the world's most dangerous war zones, interviewed sports stars, politicians and celebrities. Now she is working on the wards of the Royal Bolton Hospital, providing comfort to patients and their loved ones, as a part-time Methodist chaplain. After winning an Emmy - the American equivalent of a BAFTA award - the minister now combines her media work with her religious role.
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This week a poster claiming cosmetic surgery 'just got easy' was banned. The truth is, even a quick nip and tuck can kill. In the early evening of Friday July 20, Pauline Bainbridge had liposuction on her thighs. The procedure took less than an hour and she was delighted that it had gone so smoothly. By Saturday, she was out of the clinic and drinking tea on the sofa with her husband, Alan. The couple ate supper and watched a DVD until Pauline nodded off.
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This week a poster claiming cosmetic surgery 'just got easy' was banned. The truth is, even a quick nip and tuck can kill. In the early evening of Friday July 20, Pauline Bainbridge had liposuction on her thighs. The procedure took less than an hour and she was delighted that it had gone so smoothly. By Saturday, she was out of the clinic and drinking tea on the sofa with her husband, Alan. The couple ate supper and watched a DVD until Pauline nodded off.
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Thousands of NHS staff are expected to take part in protests today in support of a nurse who was sacked after speaking out against privatisation of services. Health union Unison said it expected workers to join a day of action wearing gags to symbolise the plight of psychiatric nurse Karen Reissmann. An indefinite strike is already underway by 160 of her colleagues. Reissman was dismissed last month after being found guilty of gross misconduct by Manchester mental health and social care trust for giving an interview to a local magazine. In it she expressed concern at moves to privatise NHS services.
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Catching flu doubles the short-term risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke, according to new research. The chance of a potentially fatal event is twice as high in the week after a respiratory infection, a study in the European Heart Journal found. The increased risk recedes after the first seven days and virtually vanishes after a month, but the finding may help explain why heart attacks and strokes are more common in winter.
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Flu doubles risk of heart attack and stroke - The Telegraph 6th December 2007
A 38-year-old reader from Brighton sleeps well on her own but not when her boyfriend stays overnight. He snores and has night cramps that, he claims, prevent him from keeping still. He tends to throw his arms about in his sleep, catching her in the face.
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High-risk patients who suffer minor strokes are to be given quicker access to brain scans and potentially life-saving treatment, ministers have said. The Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, said patients who have had a minor stroke, and are at extra risk because of factors such as high blood pressure, will have an MRI scan within 24 hours.
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Patients are dying needlessly because UK lung cancer treatment is lagging way behind Europe and the US, it was claimed today. A study of nearly 19,000 patients showed a five per cent increase in the number of patients receiving treatment in 2006 compared with the previous year. But levels are still way behind those offered in many other countries.
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So-called "man flu" is just a myth and women are the weaker sex when it comes to catching sniffs and sneezes, according to new research. A survey of 2,000 people, commissioned by the cold remedy maker Beechams, found that two thirds of men who suffered from cold and flu symptoms in the past 12 months fought it and carried on as normal while only half of the women did.
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More than one in ten patients booked in for hospital treatment still have to stay on mixed-sex wards. Last year, thousands more had to share bathroom or shower facilities with members of the opposite sex, says a "report card" for the NHS. Ten years after Labour pledged to phase out mixed- sex wards, just under a third of emergency patients had to share a sleeping area on admission.
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Since the introduction of IVF in 1978, the number of multiple births has almost doubled. Does this mean that twins and other multiples have lost their "specialness"? Twins have been revered and feared throughout history. Every culture has its twin myths. Voodoo practitioners in Haiti believe twins have magical ability and share a single soul. Some Native American tribes considered them unlucky.
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A Newport doctor who had a child with a patient and an affair with another has been struck off. Dr Oladapo Idowu was found guilty at a medical tribunal of dishonest and inappropriate behaviour and of abusing his professional position. The decision was made by the General Medical Council (GMC) Fitness to Practise Panel in Manchester.
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Scottish ministers have decided against immediately scrapping prescription charges for the chronically ill. Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon instead announced a series of cuts in the charges, ahead of their planned abolition in 2011.
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HIV is rife in Lesotho, but in this mountain kingdom many sufferers are stranded. The charity Riders for Health will change that Perched on a remote peak in the Lesotho highlands, the clinic at Ha Nohana is already crowded when 35-year-old Mokhete arrives in the back of a pickup truck.
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If you want to avoid cancer, live like a monk. That is the inescapable conclusion from research into one of the world’s most renowned monastic communities. The austere regime of the 1,500 monks on Mount Athos, in northern Greece, begins with an hour’s pre-dawn prayers and is designed to protect their souls. Their low-stress existence and simple diet (no meat, occasional fish, home-grown vegetables and fruit) may, however, also protect them from more worldly troubles.
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Eating tomato ketchup every day can significantly reduce cholesterol levels, research shows. Tests carried out by Finnish scientists found Britain's favourite sauce attacks so-called ''bad" cholesterol, known as low-density lipoprotein. Tomato ketchup 'can cut cholesterol' Adding ketchup to meals was found to reduce levels of LDL cholesterol Volunteers who added a few dollops of ketchup to their breakfast, lunch and tea, or drank a few glasses of tomato juice, saw their LDL levels drop significantly in the space of three weeks.
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Ketchup with everything: Why tomato sauce helps fight heart disease - Daily Mail 5th December 2007
Injections of genetically-engineered cells could prevent the most common cause of sudden death following a heart attack. In tests on mice, treatment more than halved the risk of ventricular tachycardia. Adapting the treatment could prove a lifesaver for many of the 230,000 Britons who have a heart attack each year.
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Scientists may have discovered why we tend to slow down mentally as we age. Harvard University used medical imaging techniques to compare the brains of 93 healthy people aged 18 to 93.
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Articles relating to mass media Health Stories about the Cheshire and Merseyside patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
SEFTON’S Health and Social Care Directorate is continuing to improve, according to figures just released. Ratings issued by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) show Sefton’s social care provision for adults in the borough provides a delivery of care to a good standard and shows a good capacity for improvement.
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PENSIONERS in Mid Cheshire are being urged to attend a special “‘one stop shop” set up by Cheshire Fire Service to keep them safe this winter. Residents be offered a free flu jab and can receive potentially life-saving fire safety advice during a drop-in session at Northwich Memorial Hall next week.
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A HEALTH drive at Millfields Primary School in Nantwich is helping pupils to keep fit. Since the beginning of September, children are completing a 10-mile walk as part of the school’s keep fit regime, adding a few paces to their total now and again. Known as ‘The Golden Mile’, youngsters have to walk so far each day and, when they reach 10 miles, they get a certificate.
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ALCOHOLISM seldom affects the drinker alone. That’s the clear message from Al-Anon in Sandbach. In a bid to raise awareness the group, which meets at St Winifred’s Church Hall in Middlewich Road, held its first public meeting last week.
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IN response to letters in the Star about the proposed development of Briars Hey, the residents who oppose this development, and there are quite a lot of them, are not against people with mental health problems. These people have genuine concerns and fears.
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Schoolchildren are being given the opportunity to appraise hospital services in Preston thanks to a new initiative that has been launched at Royal Preston Hospital, part of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Schoolchildren from Longsands Primary School in Fulwood will visit the Disablement Services Centre (DSC) at the Royal Preston Hospital today to review the centre's facilities and services. Priory Sports and Technology College in Penwortham will then undertake the same appraisal on Friday, December 7.
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HOSPITAL bosses have vowed that nurses will turn Muslim patients' beds to face Mecca if asked. Yorkshire health chiefs hit the headlines this week after it emerged that staff there had been moving beds for prayers five times a day to make Muslims' stay in hospital "more comfortable". A spokesman for East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, which runs both Burnley General Hospital and the Royal Blackburn Hospital, said that although no requests had yet been received, staff would move beds if requested to do so.
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IT'S eight years since the government launched the National Service Framework (NSF) for mental health. It was one of a number of 10-year initiatives aimed at improving health and social carer services throughout the country. Mental health, with cancer and heart disease, had been identified as some of the most deficient and needy areas and the launch of the NSF was accompanied by a great deal of publicity, the establishment of local implementation teams (LITs) and, quite a bit of new money to develop and create quite clearly identified new services and areas that needed considerable improvement.
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ROSSENDALE'S health hub could still get the go ahead even if a bid for £10 million cash to fund the project is knocked back. East Lancashire Primary Care Trust's bid for the health network, which would see services spread throughout the valley, is currently under consideration by the North West Strategic Health Authority.
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Articles relating to mass media Health Stories about the Greater Manchester patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
THOUSANDS of health workers from across Britain have held silent protests against the sacking of a Manchester nurse. Members if Unison took to the streets wearing gags a month after psychiatric nurse Karen Reissmann, who criticised NHS cuts, was fired for speaking to the media
FEEDBACK from Bury patients is heaping praise on the role of new active case managers, who support people with long-term health conditions avoid unnecessary trips to hospital. The aim of the Bury Primary Care Trust (PCT) team is to respond to the complete needs of patients with one or more long term health conditions which,in the past, led to them requiring emergency hospital care.
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The NHS has improved dramatically over the last few years, but still cannot guarantee that basic minimum standards are being met for patients throughout England and Wales, the government's health watchdog said yesterday. More than a quarter of NHS hospitals failed to provide adequate emergency services for children and 48% could not provide children with a satisfactory service in outpatient clinics, the Healthcare Commission said in its annual report on the state of the nation's healthcare.
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The number of twin births from IVF should be reduced from 25% to 10%, according to the government's fertility regulator. It is calling for a three-year national strategy to change the way fertility clinics operate, so that fewer women have two or three embryos implanted simultaneously. As part of the strategy, NHS funding for fertility treatment would need to be increased, said Walter Merricks, the interim chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. He said he had written to the health minister asking her to influence healthcare trusts to increase availability of treatment on the NHS, because women who only had access to one funded cycle were more likely to beg for a double embryo transfer.
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Additional Stories
IVF strategy to reduce number of hazardous multiple births - The Times 5th November 2007
Restricting embryo implants will save lives - The Telegraph 5th November 2007
Fresh drive to cut IVF twin toll - BBC Health News 4th December 2007
Twenty babies born to British surrogate mothers have been taken abroad unlawfully by the foreign couples who commissioned them because of an oversight by British courts, it emerged yesterday. In around 20 cases, magistrates' courts have made parental orders making the commissioning couple the legal parents of the baby, when they had no power to do so. The courts apparently were unaware that the parents lived abroad, or they overlooked a provision of surrogacy law which says that a parental order can be made only if the commissioning parents have their permanent home in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man.
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The Cassel NHS hospital is an official centre of excellence, highly respected for its specialist therapeutic work with extremely vulnerable families. So why is it at risk of closure? Mary O'Hara investigates
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A £500 million medical laboratory that will house 1,500 experts in fields such as those of cancer, stem cells and flu is to be built in the heart of London. Hurdles to the world-class hub were cleared after the Government agreed yesterday to sell three acres next to St Pancras Station to four of the country’s leading research organisations for an estimated £85 million, despite reportedly receiving higher rival bids.
The measure of poverty used by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s researchers is not only that which the Government itself uses, but it is also internationally accepted as the standard for measuring changes in national poverty incomes over time (“Poverty Stricken”, leading article, Dec 3). Research shows that 60 per cent of median household incomes is not a good indicator of the low levels of living you refer to as poverty, because it generally underestimates what it costs to avoid the deprivations of food, clothing, shelter and access to common amenities needed to lead healthy lives and take part in society according to its values, which is what everyone who knows it means by poverty. That is why the Government itself has chosen a higher measure to try to capture the actual household income levels at which children experience the poverty you describe, 70 per cent of median household incomes together with deprivations of socially-defined necessities, as its preferred measure of child poverty.
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The letter regarding sex education from leading children’s organisations, sexual health experts and eight members of the Commons Health Select Committee (Dec 4) suggests that the country’s sexual health crisis is predominantly because of a failure of adequate education on sex and relationship in schools.
When Terry McDonnell became the chief executive of St Ann’s Hospice after years in the NHS, he got a shock: “Until then, I thought that fundraising involved a few dances and some tins. I had no idea it was such hard work. “Just to stand still, St Ann’s needs £9 million a year, of which we have to find £6 million. We live or die by our budgets. Last year we had a shortfall of £100,000, enough for three specialist nurses.” Terry, who was a psychiatric social worker before running mental health services in Manchester, has been the head of the hospice since 2002: “Although my brother died in St Ann’s in 1985 (from cancer, aged 47), I knew little about palliative care and the hospice movement. We cover 16 constituencies, and every MP supports what we do. But the Government sees hospices as providing a small role in end-of-life care: 60 per cent of people die in hospitals, and 5 to 15 per cent in hospices.
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At last, influential psychiatrists are questioning the inclusion of sadness in the medical definition of depression (report, Dec 3). Why then, after reading Anjana Ahuja’s report, am I left feeling depressed? It is because the experts are still assuming that “a good evolutionary reason lies behind the preservation of sadness as a psychological trait”. Dr Evans speculates as to the function of sadness. Perhaps, he suggests, it is a way of making us stop and reflect, so as to avoid mistakes in the future. Perhaps it is to elicit support from others. Perhaps it is to inhibit challenges to those higher up the pecking order. Well, countless non-experts could tell him that sadness is the flip side of happiness. Bereavement, broken relationships and missed opportunities are hardly to be contemplated dispassionately unless life is emptied of satisfactions — and Dr Evans can, no doubt, think up good evolutionary reasons for happiness.
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Nurses have been told to move Muslim patients' beds five times a day so that they face Mecca when they pray. The measure by Dewsbury and District Hospital in West Yorkshire is one of several designed to meet the needs of Islamic patients. Critics claim, however, that nurses' time would be better spent providing medical treatment and ensuring wards were free of infection.
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Additional Stories
Hospital staff told to make sure Muslim patients' beds face Mecca five times a day - Daily Mail 4th December 2007
Hospital staff turn beds to Mecca - BBC Health News 4th December 2007
Vitamin B12 jabs have become almost de rigueur for the rich and famous, with everyone from Geri Halliwell and Robbie Williams to actress Charlize Theron and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson reportedly swearing by the energising effects of the treatment. It's claimed that mega-doses of vitamin B12 - sometimes up to 600 times the daily 1.5mcg recommended by health authorities - provide a sustained energy rush lasting up to two weeks.
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Britain is facing a cancer time bomb, with the number of victims forecast to rise by a third by 2020. A Government report estimates that by then, 299,000 cases of cancer per year will be diagnosed - up from 224,000 in 2001. Half of all these cancers will be caused by entirely preventable causes such as smoking, overeating and too much sunbathing.
Some oils prevent dementia and have been linked to lowering the risk of cancer, but others are high in fat. So which should you be using? Good Health investigates...
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Government advisors have called for tighter controls on genetic tests sold directly to the public. The Human Genetics Commission said all of them should be independently reviewed before reaching market.
NHS 'stop smoking' clinics have been hailed a success after figures showed particular progress in deprived areas. The study found 8.8% of smokers in poorer areas had quit at the four-week mark, compared to 7.8% elsewhere.
How does it feel to be working while most people are sleeping? Following a series on night work, we look at the side effects of working unusual hours. At only 27, Abigail Medniuk is resigned to decades of working odd hours. "I knew my career would be open to a lifetime of night shifts and antisocial hours," says Ms Medniuk, a senior house officer in anaesthetics at Kent and Sussex Hospital.
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When it comes to helping a child fight off a cough, the centuries-old remedy of honey is still the best, researchers said yesterday. The natural sweetener is a traditional soother and remains better than costly over-the-counter medicines, they said. In a study, a dose before bedtime easily outperformed a cough suppressant widely used in commercial treatments.
A pill which has the same effect as a strenuous workout could keep age-related diseases at bay, scientists believe. By boosting the metabolism in the same way that a bout of exercise does, the risk of obesity would be cut and defences against a whole host of conditions associated with age would rise.
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Britons living in what is described as the remotest community in the world are seeking help after the outbreak of an acute virus. Many of the 271 British citizens living on the volcanic island of Tristan da Cunha, in the south Atlantic, have developed severe breathing problems.
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Articles relating to mass media Health Stories about the Cheshire and Merseyside patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
NORTH West employers say that dealing with poor performance, bullying and harassment are their biggest headaches in the workplace. Answering a survey from leading law firm Mace & Jones, performance problems top the list of headaches for bosses in the region.
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Articles relating to mass media Health Stories about the Cumbria and Lancashire patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
A GRIEVING daughter is planning to sue health bosses after claiming her father was 'over prescribed' anti-psychotic drugs. Cheryl Byrne spoke out after her story was last night told on BBC1's Panorama programme. Eric Hollingworth, who died on Saturday aged 81, was prescribed the drugs during the final three years of his life after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
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Articles relating to mass media Health Stories about the Greater Manchester patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
THIS tailback of ambulances outside Greater Manchester's biggest A&E shows the region's emergency medical care literally at a stand-still. On Monday 999 crews waited up to an hour and a half to transfer patients into the care of staff at the Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI), in the city centre yesterday - increasing the time it took paramedics to reach emergencies.
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HOSPITALS across the country should follow Bolton's lead and open a children's accident and emergency unit, says a government minister. Beverley Hughes, the Minister for Children, Young People and Families, visited Bolton yesterday to officially open the new children's casualty centre at the Royal Bolton Hospital.
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Bolton's thousands of unpaid carers will have an opportunity to discover what support they are entitled to on Thursday. Carers Rights Day is being held at Victoria Hall in Knowsley Street, Bolton, between 10.30am and 2pm.
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When Terry McDonnell became the chief executive of St Ann’s Hospice after years in the NHS, he got a shock: “Until then, I thought that fundraising involved a few dances and some tins. I had no idea it was such hard work. “Just to stand still, St Ann’s needs £9 million a year, of which we have to find £6 million. We live or die by our budgets. Last year we had a shortfall of £100,000, enough for three specialist nurses.” Terry, who was a psychiatric social worker before running mental health services in Manchester, has been the head of the hospice since 2002: “Although my brother died in St Ann’s in 1985 (from cancer, aged 47), I knew little about palliative care and the hospice movement. We cover 16 constituencies, and every MP supports what we do. But the Government sees hospices as providing a small role in end-of-life care: 60 per cent of people die in hospitals, and 5 to 15 per cent in hospices.
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If you don't know how to use RSS ask your local health Librarian to show you MyUpdate on the MyLibrary section of the National Library for Health.
A new cancer strategy was unveiled by the government yesterday that focuses on prevention, radiotherapy and surgery rather than expensive new drugs. Seven years after the first cancer plan, which was designed to bring the NHS into line with better-funded cancer services in Europe, cancer tsar Prof Mike Richards said there had been good progress but "we know there is much more to be done". The five-year strategy, he said, "will enable us to develop world-class services in this country, saving more lives and ensuring patients get the care they deserve".
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Additional Stories
£370m cancer care review is unveiled - The Independent 4th December 2007
Obesity is a growing risk factor in the deaths of women during pregnancy or childbirth, according to a report published today. A total of 295 women died while pregnant or giving birth in the UK between 2003 and 2005. More than half of those were either overweight or obese and more than 15% were extremely obese, according to an investigation carried out under the auspices of the medical Royal Colleges together with the National Patient Safety Agency.
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Additional Stories
Obesity blamed as more mothers die in childbirth - The Times 4th December 2007
The National Health - The Times 4th December 2007
Report: poor care in half of maternity deaths - The Telegraph 4th December 2007
Rates of death during childbirth soar as mothers get fatter - Daily Mail 4th December 2007
Maternal deaths linked to obesity - BBC Health News 4th December 2007
Sex education is failing in many schools, it was claimed today, with nearly half of British young people not being taught about teenage pregnancy. A Youth Parliament survey also found that a similar proportion of teenagers said they would not know where to find their local sexual health clinic. In the survey of more than 20,000 young people in England, more than half rated the teaching in school as poor, very poor or average. Only a quarter said it was good.
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