Listen to this edition of Another 15 Minutes...Health News from FadeRecent government initiatives to combat superbugs in hospitals were today condemned by a leading medical journal for not being based on scientific fact. The Lancet said there was little or no evidence to support either hospital "deep cleans" or medical staff wearing short sleeves.
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Blitz on MRSA 'is doomed to failure' - Daily Mail 27th September 2007
Hospital overhaul 'under attack' - BBC Health News 28th September 2007
Superbug plans 'ignore' evidence - BBC Health News 27th September 2007
Children aged 13 who consult a doctor for advice about contraception, abortion or sexually transmitted diseases are entitled to be treated without the knowledge of their parents, the General Medical Council (GMC) will say today.
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Children to overrule parents on GP treatment - The Telegraph 28th September 2007
Doctors' code of silence will hide under-age sex from parents - Daily Mail 27th September 2007
Customers of high-street beauty clinics are being used as guinea pigs for unproven cosmetic techniques peddled by cowboy practitioners, doctors have claimed.
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Beauty-conscious women put health at risk with ‘cowboy’ cosmetic fixes - The Times 28th September 2007
Anger over 'cowboy' cosmetic risk - BBC Health News 27th September 2007
Reading the reports of this week’s Labour Party conference at Bournemouth, and listening to the Today programme bouts of WWF wrestling between Sarah “The Slayer” Montague and assorted ministers, I find myself wishing that I could live in MinisterWorld, a realm in which every state school pupil has a personal tutor, every policeman a hand-held computer, and in which the most intractable problems submit meekly to a “crackdown”. Filthy hospital?
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A boy who suffers from a severe nut allergy has been excluded from school because he is considered to be a health and safety hazard.
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Our series continues on how to deal with common problems in family health Asthma is becoming more common, but fortunately its treatment has improved. The death rate from acute asthma 45 years ago was very high, mainly because of the innate medical conservatism of doctors who were reluctant to use adequate medication.
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Tens of thousands of patients with MS could benefit from the revolutionary treatment if the tests taking place at the Frenchay hospital, near Bristol, are successful. The procedure involves patients being injected with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow, in the hope that they will travel to damaged parts of the brain and repair them.
A business consultant died after being bitten by his children's pet rat. Matthew Wareing was described at his inquest as a fit and healthy 36 year old until he suffered the bite on his right hand from the rat, called Roger. The bite infected his blood with a still-unidentified bacterium.
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Could anorexia be passed genetically from mother to daughter? That's the disturbing new theory being investigated by a professor of psychiatry at King's College, London. Janet Treasure, head of the Eating Disorders Unit at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, says there are certain brain patterns - passed on in a woman's DNA - which can increase the risk of her falling prey to an eating disorder. So a woman could be described as carrying an "anorexia gene".
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Drivers who smoke at the wheel could face prosecution under changes to the Highway Code. Lighting-up at the wheel has been added to the list of "distractions" which police and lawyers can cite in court when seeking a conviction for a traffic offence.
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Drivers who smoke at the wheel could face prosecution under changes to the Highway Code. Lighting-up at the wheel has been added to the list of "distractions" which police and lawyers can cite in court when seeking a conviction for a traffic offence.
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Women in their thirties are exhausted by the demands of a career, motherhood and running a home, researchers say. A study has found that these women believe this is their "hardest decade", with many admitting to feeling stressed, missing sleep and skipping meals.
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More than a million people in England put their health at risk every year by not taking up the offer of a flu jab, the chief medical officer has warned. Some 58% of the at-risk under 65s, which include those with asthma and diabetes, did not receive the vaccine last year, figures show.
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Videos showing people stammering are being classified as comedy on YouTube. It's typical of people's attitude towards the disability, say those with the condition.
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Scientists in Dundee and St Andrews have been awarded more than £1m to develop new drugs to combat a painful skin condition. The £1.3m grant from the Medical Research Council will fund three new research posts to tackle eczema.
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The deadly bird flu virus can infect unborn babies, fuelling fears the bug is even more dangerous than first thought. Unlike normal flu, the feared H5N1 strain can be passed from mother to foetus, research shows.
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ALDER Hey could revise plans for a new hospital amid fears over the cost. A new plan is being considered that involves combining new buildings with refurbishment of existing facilities. Alder Hey fought a long battle to be allowed permission to build a new hospital on land at Springfield Park in West Derby.
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IT will be good news for anyone who is hoping for a holy smoke. Liverpool’s Catholic archdiocese wants to build more than a dozen smoking shelters for people who want to light up.
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A LEADING Liverpool charity last night claimed a delay in the decision to provide a lung cancer drug on the NHS is costing lives. NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) has failed to decide the result of an appeal held in June, which contested their recommendation that the drug Tarceva should not be prescribed on the national health.
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IT WAS all hands on deck when 24-year-old Anna Hudson went into labour in the back seat of her parents’ car in the middle of a Merseyside housing estate. People rushed out of their homes to do whatever they could, and a passing police car was flagged down to help deliver the baby girl.
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MERSEYSIDE medics were last night praised for their efforts in treating civilian casualties after a suicide bomber struck in Afghanistan, killing 26 people. The volunteers from the 208 Field Hospital, a Territorial Army Unit based in Liverpool, treated 57 victims who were injured by the suicide bomber in an indiscriminate attack in southern Gereshk.
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THIEVES have stolen money from a hospital charity box in one of two separate burglaries at Clatterbridge. The first incident took place on between Friday night and Saturday morning when offenders smashed windows to gain entry to offices and made off with money taken from the hospital's charity box.
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A MAJOR shake-up of health services proposed for north Cumbria will finally go out to public consultation today. The plans include revamping the area’s cottage hospitals and community services, creating a new acute hospital in west Cumbria and modernising emergency care.
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THE government must place greater emphasis on issues facing older people as life expectancy continues to rise, a Cumbrian MP has said. Copeland MP Jamie Reed is set to lobby ministers when parliament reconvenes next month for the creation of a minister for older people.
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YOUNGSTERS at a Bolton school were given a healthy eating lesson with a difference when they made their own packed lunches in class. Pupils at St Peter and St Paul's Primary School, in Pilkington Street, were taught how to prepare healthy food using cookery equipment donated by Sainsbury's supermarket.
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ONE in five under-16s are smoking - and half of them buy their own cigarettes from local shops. The figure is revealed in a major survey by trading standards officers, just as the legal age for buying tobacco rises to 18 on Monday.
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ASSAULT rates on doctors and nurses at the Royal Bolton Hospital have fallen by almost a third in just two years. Measures have been introduced to protect staff from being attacked while caring for patients, and now the hospital will be given Government cash to reduce the number of assaults even further.
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A DENTIST who told a female patient she could not receive treatment from him unless she wore "appropriate Islamic dress" has been found guilty of serious professional misconduct. Dr Omer Butt, registered in Prestwich, received an admonition following a three-day disciplinary hearing of the General Dental Council in London in which he was found guilty of discriminating against the woman, named only as Ms A.
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Listen to this edition of Another 15 Minutes...Health News from FadeHealth inspectors are to mount spot checks on NHS hospitals after finding hundreds of older people being treated without dignity or adequate privacy on wards across England. In a report today on conditions in 23 hospitals, the Healthcare Commission said only five complied with all the government's core standards for dignity in care. Others were found to provide degrading treatment, including making incontinent patients wear nappies and placing older women in mixed-sex bays shielded by skimpy curtains on insecure rails.
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Elderly patients still suffer on mixed-sex wards - The Telegraph 27th September 2007
The NHS hospitals that deny old folk even the basic decencies - Daily Mail 26th September 2007
Spot checks threat to NHS trusts - BBC Health News 27th September 2007
What a lot of nonsense is being circulated about NHS cleaning - not least about deep cleaning, the latest magic bullet (Brown sets out plans...clean hospitals high on agenda, September 25). Yet many real issues do need addressing. Why cleaners are compelled to wear their soiled (ill-fitting and garish) uniforms home, thus transporting all those lovely bugs on to public transport, into shops etc - and finally into their own homes.
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NHS cleaners 'can do little more' - BBC Health News 26th September 2007
Susannah Kendrick, eight and a half months pregnant, was giving a dinner party. She had just served the lamb curry when she felt a giant contraction, rushed to the bathroom, and was delivered of a baby girl, Trinity, eight minutes later. Yes, minutes, not hours; eight, not 80.
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Why are we asking this now? Britain is in the grip of an epidemic of allergic disease, according to the influential House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. The numbers affected have trebled in the last 20 years and a third of the population – 18 million people – will develop an allergy ranging from the trivial to the life-threatening, it said in a report yesterday. The UK incidence is among the highest in the world but Britain is lagging behind the rest of Europe in tackling the problem.
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Children's allergies: perhaps we worry too much... - The Telegraph 27th September 2007
The allergy epidemic: a myth or a crisis? - The Telegraph 27th September 2007
The breast cancer drug Herceptin could cut the number of mastectomies and extend lives among the 44,000 breast cancer patients diagnosed in Britain each year. Researchers told the European Cancer Conference in Barcelona yesterday that use of the drug in women with inflammatory breast cancer, a rare and aggressive form of the disease, led to the disappearance of the tumour in more than half of patients when combined with chemotherapy.
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New therapy hope for breast cancer - The Telegraph 27th September 2007
A mother and her young daughter are in search of new hearts after doctors found that they both have the same rare condition. Katie Williams, 2, has acute dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition that causes the heart to enlarge and become weaker. It was diagnosed soon after she was born. Her heart now has only one tenth of the strength of a healthy toddler’s.
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Toddler and mother facing death from rare hereditary heart condition - Daily Mail 26th September 2007
Detecting whether a teenager is abusing drugs is difficult. According to the charity Drugscope (drugscope. org.uk), young people are prone to mood swings and behavioural changes anyway, and those using drugs go to big lengths to conceal it. There are a few warning signs: unusual mood swings and secretiveness; loss of interest in friends, social and sporting activities; a drop in school performance; disrupted sleep patterns; and missing money or belongings.
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There are disturbing facts arising from your report (“Scotland stands behind America as the world’s second fattest nation”, Sept 26). Not with regard to the heavy figures, but that the most recent data is from 2003; and that the costs to NHS Scotland cannot be produced from later than six years ago.
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Our series continues on how to deal with common problems in family health Does a headache result from tiredness or a hangover, or does it stem from a brain haemorrhage or cerebral tumour? Is it a migraine or tension headache, caused by pressure on the spinal nerves in the neck? Or could it be sinusitis, temporal arteritis or from a less frequent cause such as extreme cold or sex? The reasons for a headache are legion and mostly benign.
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How to treat a nosebleed - The Times 27th September 2007
Eyes: infections and injuries - The Times 27th September 2007
How to cure a hangover - The Times 27th September 2007
Medicine cabinet - The Times 27th September 2007
A contraceptive that stops periods and prevents pre-menstrual tension could be available next year. The new Pill is designed to be taken every day and could end pain and discomfort for millions of women.
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Potentially deadly superbugs that can be picked up in gyms and student halls of residence are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, scientists say. MRSA and C. Difficile, the stomach bug, have so far been largely confined to hospital wards. However, the Health Protection Agency has identified about 100 cases of community-acquired MRSA (C-MRSA), including one death.
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Flesh-eating strain of MRSA spreads to schools and gyms - Daily Mail 26th September 2007
Potentially deadly superbugs that can be picked up in gyms and student halls of residence are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, scientists say. MRSA and C. Difficile, the stomach bug, have so far been largely confined to hospital wards. However, the Health Protection Agency has identified about 100 cases of community-acquired MRSA (C-MRSA), including one death.
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Flesh-eating strain of MRSA spreads to schools and gyms - Daily Mail 26th September 2007
An NHS maternity unit has been forced to close after cockroaches were seen in the wards. Mothers have been put in temporary beds while the unit is fumigated and deep-cleaned. Health bosses had to call in pestcontrol experts at Rochdale Royal Infirmary.
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An NHS dentist sent his resignation to Gordon Brown to protest at the Government's 'conveyorbelt' care, claiming his impossible workload has forced him to quit. Michael Nellist told the Prime Minister he could no longer 'drill and fill' to meet meaningless targets that did not help patients.
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Two out of three Britons know very little about Alzheimer's disease and dementia, a YouGov poll has found. The survey of 2,000 adults found 62 per cent assume that memory loss is a natural part of ageing and therefore would not encourage a relative to seek medical advice. More than a quarter would not seek advise because they did not wish to worry their family.
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Untrained salon staff are carrying out teeth whitening on clients, according to consumer magazine Which? The General Dental Council (GDC) said it was illegal for non-dentists to carry out the procedure.
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Dental training in north-west England is being enhanced, with new facilities in the universities of Liverpool and Central Lancashire (UCLan). Liverpool is opening a £1.1m operative skills suite which has 46 "phantom heads" on which students can work.
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Alcohol support workers have been allowed to interview suspects in police cells in a bid to combat binge drinking and alcohol-related crime. In a scheme said to be one of the first of its kind, more than 1,000 suspects in Plymouth have taken part.
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Women who jog or play racket sports and ball games early in pregnancy risk losing their baby, according to a study of more than 90,000 pregnant women in Denmark. The researchers found that women who exercised more and engaged in the most vigorous activities were at most risk. More gentle exercise such as swimming did not raise the chances of a miscarriage.
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Exercise linked to early miscarriages - The Telegraph 27th September 2007
Heavy exercise miscarriage link - BBC Health News 26th September 2007
Cuba's economic crisis in the 1990s inadvertently boosted people's health by obliging them to eat less and exercise more, according to research. As a result deaths from heart disease and diabetes plunged, giving a silver lining to what was otherwise a miserable era.
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Women who have more than three drinks a day of wine, beer or spirits increase their risk of breast cancer by 30 per cent. It is not the type of alcohol that counts but the amount, US researchers will tell the European Cancer Conference in Barcelona today. The increased risk associated with a daily consumption of three or more drinks is similar to that from smoking a pack of cigarettes or taking HRT, they said.
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Reaching for the paracetamol alongside your morning coffee may be bad for your health, researchers say. A study indicated that a combination of large quantities of the pain-killer and caffeine appeared to increase the risk of liver damage. Scientists found that caffeine tripled the amount of a toxic by-product created when paracetamol was broken down.
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Mixing coffee and paracetamol 'could cause liver damage' - Daily Mail 26th September 2007
A Siberian woman who gave birth to her 12th child was stunned to find that little Nadia weighed in at 17lb (7.75 kg). The child, who was delivered by caesarean section earlier this month, joined eight sisters and three brothers. "We were all simply in shock," said Nadia's mother, Tatyana Barabanova, 43, from Russia's Altai region.
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Russian woman gives birth to 17lb child - Daily Mail 26th September 2007
Legalised "physician-assisted death" has not been used to kill people who may be "a burden to society", US research suggests. Some argue that allowing doctors to help people die could lead to the most vulnerable members of society being coerced into ending their lives.
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Scientists have developed a new way to treat liver failure by dampening the immune response using stem cells taken from the bone marrow. So far the technique has only been tested in animals, but if it works in humans it could help save lives.
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Men with deep voices tend to have more children than those who speak at a higher pitch, scientists say. Their finding is based on a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania known as the Hadza, who can be studied without bias because they use no birth control.
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LIVERPOOL health officials have four priorities for the next year. They want to tackle MRSA, recruit more dentists and improve end-of-life care. Liverpool Primary Care Trust chief executive Derek Campbell said huge strides had been made thanks to a massive injection of money.
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I SAT down in the doctor’s room in a psychiatric hospital in Chester. An old-fashioned Grundy TK 20 tape machine was sitting on his desk. He started to interview me about sex acts between gay men, taping my answers.
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A fresh appeal was today made for the mother of an abandoned baby to come forward as the newborn was fostered. Tiny Zack was left wrapped in a binbag in a garden nearly a week ago, when he was only an hour old.
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Baby Zack goes to foster parents - Liverpool Echo 26th September 2007
A WOMAN left in a coma after claiming a doctor failed to diagnose her appendicitis is preparing to make a public protest. Christy Millar, of Great Sutton, will demonstrate outside the HQ of Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT) about its refusal to hold an inquiry into her case.
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DOCTORS at one Knutsford surgery are expected to move even if officials scrap plans to build a one-stop medical centre. Dr Tim Mallon said Annandale Surgery's current building was becoming too small for the demands of a modern GP's practice.
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Surgeries tell trust what they want - Knutsford Guardian 26th September 2007
A FORMER drug addict who turned his life around and now acts as a counsellor for people trying to kick the habit has been nominated for a top Government award. Gary Byrne has been shortlisted for the Home Office's tackling drugs changing lives awards, which honour unsung heroes who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to help other people off drugs. Wirral's drug and alcohol action team supports the awards.
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VULNERABLE people will be "shunted out" of their care homes in a major social services reshuffle to sweep the borough. Under bombshell proposals, three Wirral homes will close as the cash-strapped department gets set to cut permanent care services, to make way for in-house' facilities.
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Dental training in north-west England is being enhanced, with new facilities in the universities of Liverpool and Central Lancashire (UCLan). Liverpool is opening a £1.1m operative skills suite which has 46 "phantom heads" on which students can work.
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ONE out of three heart patients in the region will not be given vital rehabilitation, figures have revealed. Medics say patients who are put on cardiac rehabilitation programmes – which encourage people to stop smoking and to adopt a good diet and exercise – have more chance of staying alive and out of hospital.
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THE government must place greater emphasis on issues facing older people as life expectancy continues to rise, a Cumbrian MP has said. Copeland MP Jamie Reed is set to lobby ministers when parliament reconvenes next month for the creation of a minister for older people.
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NHS workers in Cumbria are to be issued with panic alarms to help reduce instances of violence from their patients. The devices will automatically trigger help by alerting trained staff in a national call centre to the fact that an assault is going on – together with its location, Health Secretary Alan Johnson told Labour’s conference last night.
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Dental training in north-west England is being enhanced, with new facilities in the universities of Liverpool and Central Lancashire (UCLan). Liverpool is opening a £1.1m operative skills suite which has 46 "phantom heads" on which students can work.
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A MUSLIM dentist was today found guilty of discriminating against a female patient after he told her she could not receive treatment from him unless she wore "appropriate Islamic dress".
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Amother and her young daughter are in search of new hearts after doctors found that they both have the same rare condition. Katie Williams, 2, has acute dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition that causes the heart to enlarge and become weaker. It was diagnosed soon after she was born. Her heart now has only one tenth of the strength of a healthy toddler’s.
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Toddler and mother facing death from rare hereditary heart condition - Daily Mail 26th September 2007
Our battle for life - Manchester Evening News 26th September 2007
An NHS maternity unit has been forced to close after cockroaches were seen in the wards. Mothers have been put in temporary beds while the unit is fumigated and deep-cleaned. Health bosses had to call in pestcontrol experts at Rochdale Royal Infirmary.
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FORMER Manchester United star Norman Whiteside has spoken of the pioneering heart treatment which cured his heart condition using radio waves. After being diagnosed with an irregular heart beat the ex-midfielder was referred to a specialist heart clinic at Wythenshawe Hospital .
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Listen to this edition of Another 15 Minutes...Health News from FadeBritain is lagging far behind the rest of Europe in its efforts to tackle allergies, which are fast reaching epidemic proportions, according to a report from an influential House of Lords committee.
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A new collaboration aims to ensure the government effectively engages with patients, carers and service users. Its chair tells Saba Salman why she is convinced that early involvement to shape policy is the best way forward
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Lynsey Hanley argues eloquently for the need for politicians who know what it is like to be very poor (We need a Mr Ten Per Cent, September 25). People who experience poverty are the ones who know the problems caused by poverty best and how it should be sorted out. When given the rare chance, poor people participate in decision-making with great energy, commitment and thoughtfulness.
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The British government was yesterday accused of breaking its G8 pledge to help defeat Aids when it revealed it would only marginally increase its contribution to the Global Fund for Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis.
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Flu vaccination, which costs the government around £150m a year, may not after all save the lives of the older people who are the target of intensive annual campaigns, according to scientists. A major review published online today concludes that flaws in the studies of the flu vaccine have led them to "greatly exaggerate vaccine benefits". The authors of the report, in the medical journal the Lancet Infectious Diseases, add that there is not enough other evidence to work out to what extent flu jabs cut the death toll, if indeed they reduce it at all.
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Flu jabs 'don't prevent deaths in the elderly' - Daily Mail 24th September 2007
'Proof still needed' for flu jab - BBC Health News 25th September 2007
The Labour conference was less hostile to the health secretary than in previous years. Personal safety alarms for the 30,000 NHS staff most at risk of assault and tougher powers to shut infected wards were the two big policy nuggets in Alan Johnson's speech to the Labour conference in Bournemouth today.
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Johnson to outline health future - BBC Health News 25th September 2007
Johnson to unveil new plans for tackling superbugs - The Guardian 25th September 2007
Thousands of manufacturing jobs for disabled people could be saved today after an unexpected last-minute deal between the unions and ministers. The work and pensions secretary, Peter Hain, is expected to promise a review of the closure of the 42 Remploy factories when he addresses the Labour conference.
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Hain heads off row with unions over factories for the disabled - The Times 26th September 2007
Unions threaten to defeat Brown on low pay and Remploy closure - The Guardian 22nd September 2007
Disabled Remploy staff march in protest over factory closures - The Times 24th September 2007
Rapid migration is not a cost-free option, but the public must accept that without it parts of our economy would collapse.
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Migrants ‘should pay for services’ - The Sunday Times 23rd September 2007
Migrants 'should pay for our services' - The Telegraph 24th September 2007
Immigrants 'must pay extra for health care and education' - Daily Mail 24th September 2007
Häagen-Dazs by the tub, jelly beans and Jaffa Cakes - Monty Panesar's diet horrifies Dr John Briffa
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Alzheimer's is now on the insurers' list of critical illnesses. Independent life insurance and protection specialist LifeSearch is advising people to protect themselves against the expense of long-term care for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
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Prime Minister pledges to rid health service of fatal superbugs like MRSA Nicholas Watt, political editor Sunday September 23, 2007 The Observer Every hospital in Britain is to undergo a ward-by-ward 'deep clean' within the next year to rid them of fatal superbugs such as MRSA, Gordon Brown announced last night.
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Gordon Brown in pledge on NHS funding - The Times 24th September 2007
Brown pledges hospital bug battle - BBC Health News 23rd September 2007
PM driven by own NHS experience - BBC Health News 24th September 2007
Gordon Brown's good intentions will hurt - The Telegraph 26th September 2007
A GP's verdict on Alan Johnson's health plans - The Telegraph 26th September 2007
Letters to the Daily Telegraph - The Telegraph 26th September 2007
The NHS is facing £4.5bn in compensation claims over alleged blunders by midwives and doctors that have left babies suffering severe brain damage, The Observer can reveal.
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The tragic human cost of NHS baby blunders - The Observer 23rd September 2007
It was impossible not to love Marco Pierre White on Hell's Kitchen. Such was the man's slow-burn charisma he made Gordon Ramsay look like he'd spent his entire TV career in screechy Fanny Craddock meltdown. Napkins knotted pirate-style to catch the sweat; cobra eyes glinting when a pudding failed to arrive; lolling about on top of counters like an off-duty rock star - Marco was Colonel Kurtz in chef's whites. You kept looking around the pestles and the boiling pans, wondering: where are the helicopters?
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Thousands of children with autism in the UK could benefit from taking drugs such as Prozac, a US psychiatrist said yesterday. Professor Eric Hollander, from the Mount Sinai medical centre in New York, said a third of children diagnosed in the United States were on antidepressants and British children were being under-treated. Although the drugs are not licensed for autism, he said there was evidence they could reduce its symptoms, enabling some children to travel on public transport or go to mainstream schools.
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'Give more autistic children Prozac' says expert - Daily Mail 21st September 2007
Alan Johnson is right to issue a new clothing guidelines for NHS staff (Doctors' long-sleeved coats banished to counter MRSA, September 17). At West Middlesex university hospital in Isleworth, west London, we have provided doctors with short-sleeved tunic uniforms, made of quick-drying, antimicrobial fabric to help fight infection. The initiative will begin with our junior doctors, who will all wear the uniform from next month, and demonstrates the level of our commitment to fighting infection.
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If you weigh more then when you started your course, you're not alone - it's just a case of 'fat fresher syndrome'. Joanne Christie discovers how to stay healthy while you're studying
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Penal reformers last night claimed that increased overcrowding lay behind the rising number of deaths in prison, after the first official count revealed the annual figure was nearly 600. The first annual report from the Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody shows that one third of those who die in psychiatric detention, prisons and police stations do so for reasons other than natural causes, including suicide.
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His powers over people's minds are well known but the hypnotist Paul McKenna may be less capable of permanently changing the bodies of his clients, according to a report by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). An ad for a Paul McKenna event is criticised today for implying participants were guaranteed permanent weight loss. A photo of the hypnotist featured in the ad along with the claim his programme was: "The most effective weight loss system available. Lose weight and keep it off."
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New safety rules are to be drawn up for Wi-Fi in schools for the first time in Britain, after a local authority officially voiced concern last week about possible effects on children's health.
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The secret of the perfect breast augmentation surgery will be presented at a conference taking place at London's Royal College of Surgeons this week. Plastic surgeon Patrick Mallucci has come up with a formula for perfection based on research into topless models who have not gone under the knife. He has come up with a list of attributes and a specific ratio to use as a template.
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More than half of British women do not know that the risk of breast cancer increases with age. The charity Breast Cancer Care discovered in a survey that 58 per cent of women did not realise that their age has a major influence on the likelihood of contracting the disease.
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The UK Tea Council broke advertising rules by exaggerating the drink’s health benefits, the industry watchdog ruled. Its poster recommended drinking four cups of tea daily to “contribute to a diet rich in antioxidants”. The advertisement said: “Five portions of fruit and veg plus four cups of tea. It all adds up to a healthy diet.”
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There are two ways of dealing with the agony of a bad back. The first is to invite a largish bone-cruncher, otherwise known as an osteopath, to arrange your limbs into a pattern of exquisite vulnerability, and wait until he drops the full weight of his body on to your spine. There will then be a palpable crack as two of your lumbar vertebrae are driven into realignment; a few days later you are back on your feet; the only drawback is that if he gets it wrong, you may never walk again.
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General back pain: According to the charity Back-Care, half of all children suffer back problems at some time, and for two to three children in every class that pain is chronic or recurrent. For many, changing life-style can help – avoid heavy bags, slouching at desks and computers or in front of the TV, and increase physical activity. If the back pain is chronic and severe, consult a paediatric physiotherapist via your GP.
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THREE cheers for knitting. Knit one, purl one. Or should that be nipple one, purl one, asks Nursing Standard (Sept 19). It seems that knitted breasts, used to teach mums how to breastfeed, are proving popular with midwives – Unicef provides a pattern and the devices are cheap to produce, ideal for the cash-strapped NHS. What odds on sexual health clinics using knitted props to show youngsters what’s what? Kid knitters have also produced so many woollen suits to protect penguins saved from oil slicks that there is now a surplus, Third Sector (Sept 19) reports. A lack of oil slicks means that spare woollies are piling up.
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NEXT week is the long-awaited introduction of the Department of Health’s new national framework for NHS continuing care. The system is designed to bring to an end years of dispute and confusion as to who qualifies for free continuing care from the NHS and who has to pay for care from social services departments.
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DR ELIZABETH ANDERSON on Leicester’s model of interprofessional education, which led to her award of a National Teaching Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy this year
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GPs could soon be offering surgeries in supermarkets, high-street shops, pharmacies and gyms. Ministers have backed calls by employers to shake up primary care because the present system leads to millions of lost working days because people take time off to see their doctor.
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THE “politically sensitive” debate over hospital reconfiguration could become even more sensitive with the publication of a new report, Health Service Journal (Sept 20) suggests. A study by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, commissioned by the Department of Health, backs proposals to reconfigure specialist services such as paediatrics and obstetrics. It says that centralising services that deliver complex treatment results in better outcomes.
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Despite drugs no longer being available on the NHS to treat dementia patients at the early stages of the disease, Neil Hunt encourages early diagnosis, writes Jennifer Taylor
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WHAT happens when you ask people’s opinion and you don’t like the answer? It’s a quandary the Government may increasingly face, with its seeming obsession over asking the public for their views on just about everything. GP (Sept 21) reports that patients prefer small practices, a finding that flies in the face of the Government’s plans for polyclinics and supersurgeries. The Improving Practice Questionnaire, which questioned patients at 2,500 practices, shows that satisfaction levels are higher in small practices, particularly in relation to telephone and 48-hour access, the ability to see their first choice of practitioner and waiting times.
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A Muslim dentist insisted that a young woman wear an Islamic headscarf before he would agree to treat her for toothache, the General Dental Council was told yesterday. The patient, a community nurse, alleges that she reluctantly told Omer Butt, 31, who runs a dental practice in Bury, Greater Manchester, that she was a nonpractising Muslim.
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Muslim dentist 'humiliated patient by forcing her to wear Islamic headscarf' - Daily Mail 24th September 2007
Temperature chart Body temperature of below 30C: Severe risk of hypothermia. High risk of fatality in babies and children.
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If in doubt call the doctor. That’s the key to family health The advances in medical practice over the past 50 years have been awe-inspiring but the latest statistics indicate that British households are not deriving the same benefits from them as those in the rest of Western Europe
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The diagnosis is mixed. In parts, the NHS is brilliant, with some of the most talented doctors in the world performing some of the most innovative, life-saving treatments. In other parts, it is woeful. Patients die of hospital-acquired infections and operating theatres stand empty on Fridays while patients wait.
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I was interested to see the picture of Zoë Ball cycling at Hove along the path in front of the beach huts (Sept 21 ). This is a no-cycling path. It would be good if “people on higher incomes who tend to be better educated” were also able to read and observe the signs.
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A year-long pilot study to ascertain the effect of healthy school meals on children’s behaviour and performance is starting today. Pupils at eight primary schools are being given free, nutritious breakfasts, lunches or snacks for the rest of the academic year while researchers analyse the children’s weight, achievement, motivation, ability to concentrate and level of illness.
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