Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Another 15 Minutes...Health News from Fade



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Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, set up an independent inquiry yesterday into plans to axe NHS maternity units in north-west England that provoked a mutiny by her cabinet colleague Hazel Blears. Ms Blears, the Labour party chair and a candidate to become deputy leader, is campaigning against a decision by regional health chiefs to close a maternity unit in her Salford constituency. At least 13 members of the government who support the principle of reorganising NHS services oppose loss of facilities in their own back yards.


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Coroner rules baby, 36 hours, was youngest victim of MRSA Lee Glendinning Tuesday March 13, 2007 The Guardian A baby is believed to be the youngest ever victim of the MRSA bug, after contracting the virus and dying at 36 hours old, a coroner concluded yesterday. Luke Day, of Woodbridge in Suffolk, died in February 2005, but might have been saved had hospital staff recognised signs of his illness, an internal inquiry found. Doctors at the Ipswich hospital had not properly co-ordinated his care, the inquest heard. He should have been tested for infections when his temperature and blood sugar were found to be low, and he was "lethargic and slightly floppy".


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Baby died after staff failed to spot superbug symptoms - The Times 13th March 2007


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Hospital could have saved the baby killed by MRSA - Daily Mail 12th March 2007


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Baby died from an MRSA infection - BBC Health News 12th March 2007


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You can buy tests, a diagnosis and prescription drugs on the internet, but can treatment at the hands of a medic you never meet be safe?


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Cannabis cultivation in Britain, whether in inner city lofts or on patches of remote farmland, is booming, according to new research published today. Plants are being grown and harvested at record levels for the UK cannabis market, and more than 60% of hash sold on the streets is believed to be home grown.


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Great advances in science and medicine are seldom achieved without bold experimentation. So it is that in pursuit of lifesaving treatment for critically sick children, British scientists will shortly lead a party of kids up through the Himalayas, towards Everest.


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A revolutionary artificial vein, invented by three NHS doctors, could offer hope to millions of people suffering with clogged arteries. Results from human trials into the new plastic vein — which is being developed for use in bypass operations — have shown a 100 per cent success rate in the first six months.


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The Prince of Wales’s most senior adviser was acting in his official capacity when he tried to have a scientist disciplined for criticising a report commissioned by Clarence House into alternative medicine. Sir Michael Peat said that he was writing as the Prince’s Principal Private Secretary when he complained to the University of Exeter about remarks made to The Times by Edzard Ernst, which prompted a year-long investigation and left the professor fearing for his job.


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A formal Commons inquiry will be launched next month into the treatment of injured troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, it emerged last night. News of the MPs' investigation came amid mounting anger over revelations that wounded soldiers have endured appalling conditions in hospital after being flown home for treatment.


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Thousands of doctors are expected to march in London and Glasgow on Saturday as the protest grows over an NHS selection system that has gone dramatically wrong. Calls for complete suspension of the new online applications and interview system for the "pre-consultant grades" showed no sign of abating yesterday, despite a pledge by the health minister Lord Hunt that he had "listened to their concerns".


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I'm 35 years old, male and in good health. I have a reasonably good job and I also run a part-time business that I enjoy, which makes a bit of money. I am pretty close to my family, I own my own house with a small mortgage, have decent savings, two pretty fabulous cars and some great friends.


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Sleepless nights leave new mums feeling lonely and too exhausted to see family or friends, according to a poll out today. A survey found that more than half of mums have gone for 24 hours without sleep due to their baby keeping them awake. This led three quarters to complain it put a a strain on their relationship with their partner and a half saying it had caused arguments.


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Baby milk manufacturers have been ordered to drop nutrition claims which suggest they are a valid alternative to breastfeeding. Claims such as 'Closer than ever to breast milk' and 'helps growth and the immune system' have been banned.


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Large areas of Britain have become so dependent on taxpayer-funded jobs that nearly one worker in four is on the state payroll. The high level of public sector employment revealed in official figures Monday has been compared with that in the former Soviet bloc.


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Workers who sit in front of a computer for hours at a time are more at risk from deadly blood clots than frequent flyers, doctors have warned. A third of hospital patients with deep-vein thrombosis had sat at their desk for long periods.


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Childrem of 12 were asked intimate questions about their sex life as part of a council survey. A leaflet of questions was sent to children as part of a consultation exercise by the authority.


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Immigration is fuelling the biggest population growth since the post-war baby boom, according to a leading academic. Oxford professor David Coleman says migration is leading to "quite radical ethnic changes".


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shortage of donor bodies is putting medical teaching at risk, the Royal College of Surgeons has warned. About 1,000 bodies are needed every year to teach anatomy to medical students, it is estimated.


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Campaigners want ministers to back a groundbreaking study into childhood obesity which is on the brink of collapse through lack of funding. The EarlyBird programme in Plymouth has won international acclaim for its work in tracking the development of hundreds of children.


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Weight loss surgery could lead to a condition which can result in memory loss, according to US research. The syndrome - Wernicke encephalopathy - affects the nervous system and brain, and can lead to confusion and the inability to co-ordinate movement.


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Rob may be at risk of developing a series of diseases after taking part in a disastrous drug trial a year ago, but he says he feels quite upbeat. "I could worry about it," says the 32-year-old.


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Smokers take on average half an hour from their working day to enjoy a cigarette, a survey suggests. The study of 1,000 adults found that the average smoker took around three 10 minute breaks while at work to satisfy the habit.


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A robotic baby that breathes, burps and can be X-rayed is being used for the first time by medical students in Kent. The computer-controlled mannequin, "Sim Baby", is being operated by trainee nurses at the Chatham campus of Canterbury Christ Church University.


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Overcrowding in hospital wards is raising the risk of superbug infections such as MRSA, it is claimed. Liberal Democrat figures show 52% of trusts in England have bed occupancy rates higher than the recommended maximum safety level of 85%.


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A Met Office project has been helping people in Devon who suffer from serious breathing difficulties. Weather forecasts used by doctors at the Chilcote Surgery in Torquay have resulted in an 82% cut in hospital admissions for chest patients.


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A supplement containing fatty acids may help children do better at school. Tests of VegEPA, in four overweight youngsters, showed improvement in reading, concentration, and memory.

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International News

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Separate bedrooms are all the rage among American couples - so it can only be a matter of time before the fashion reaches Britain. But would that be a bad thing, asks Zoe Williams


A scandal over hospital treatment of wounded US soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan yesterday claimed the biggest scalp yet when the army surgeon-general, Lieutenant-General Kevin Kiley, was forced into early retirement. He is the third victim of a row that has been rumbling since a detailed exposure in the Washington Post last month of the shoddy conditions wounded soldiers were living in at the military's supposed showcase hospital, the Walter Reed, in Washington.


The undulating hills of New South Wales provide a landscape rich in beauty but bereft of doctors. And the dreamy rural idyll of running or working in a country practice is becoming increasingly unattractive, as young Australian doctors opt for the city over the sticks.


Voters in Switzerland have rejected plans for a single means-tested health insurance system, aimed at reducing the high cost of premiums. Final results showed 71% of voters in Sunday's referendum opposed the reform.


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A US jury has awarded damages of $20m (£10.3m) against drugs giant Merck in a case arising from its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx. The judgement means the jury may now move on to assess punitive damages against Merck.


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Euthanasia trial for French pair - BBC Health News 12th March 2007


A doctor and a nurse have gone on trial in southern France accused of poisoning a terminally ill cancer patient. Doctor Laurence Tramois, 34, admitted prescribing a fatal dose of potassium chloride which killed Paulette Druais, 65. She was dying of pancreatic cancer.

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Cheshire and Merseyside News

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A LIVERPOOL hospital could axe wards as part of a cost-cutting exercise, staff fear. Fazakerley hospital workers claim up to 90 beds could be lost in the Tower Block while around 60 staff could be moved to other departments, some of them without proper training for their new jobs.


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Rachel’s healthy goal . . . - Liverpool Echo 12th March 2007


EVERTON and England ladies goalkeeper Rachel Brown showed off her skills at a sporting event for Liverpool children. Rachel paid a visit to pupils at Lawrence community primary in Wavertree as part of the city’s healthy schools campaign.

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Cumbria and Lancashire News

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Hospitals chief: I’m not quitting - Lancashire Telegraph 12th March 2007


EAST Lancashire's top hospital boss has denied staff rumours that she is to quit. Jo Cubbon said she was working hard in her role as chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

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Greater Manchester News

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MEMBERS of an independent panel considering the future of maternity and children's services in Greater Manchester were today visiting some of the hospitals affected by the shake-up. Health bosses want to cut overnight care for mums and babies from 13 hospitals to eight, but Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has stepped in after complaints and asked the Independent Reconfiguration Panel to investigate.


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WYTHENSHAWE Hospital has scored top marks for its' children's services, in a national survey. A review of children's hospital services by the Healthcare Commission found that the quality of care provided to youngsters at the hospital is excellent' - the highest possible rating.


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Hewitt hands over NHS decision - The Guardian 13th March 2007


Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, set up an independent inquiry yesterday into plans to axe NHS maternity units in north-west England that provoked a mutiny by her cabinet colleague Hazel Blears. Ms Blears, the Labour party chair and a candidate to become deputy leader, is campaigning against a decision by regional health chiefs to close a maternity unit in her Salford constituency. At least 13 members of the government who support the principle of reorganising NHS services oppose loss of facilities in their own back yards.

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