Thursday, March 15, 2007

Another 15 Minutes...Health News from Fade



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National News


The government's plan to put the medical records of every NHS patient in England on a central electronic database will begin first trials tomorrow at two carefully selected GP practices in the north-west. About 14,500 patients in Bolton will be told their confidential medical details will be uploaded to a national data warehouse known as the Spine, unless they object.


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Spring is traditionally a time of new beginnings and partnerships, and today the Acevo spring conference, Health and social care: the third sector cure?, will bring together experts from all three sectors to discuss how to create new partnerships that can tackle the problems facing the NHS. The conference will argue that the third sector has a vital role to play, and that existing structural and cultural problems must be resolved if the sector's potential as a provider and advocate is to be realised.


We have just received an eight-page missive from our local primary care trust detailing all the procedures and operations which will not now be available on the NHS in our area. These include surgery for varicose veins, haemorrhoids, lipoma, sebaceous cysts, gallstones, carpal tunnel syndrome and trigger finger, plus many others. Neither will they offer physiotherapy ultrasound, spinal fusion for chronic back pain nor infertility investigation and treatment


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Parents who fail to control what their children are eating, because of their busy lives, social pressures or lack of knowledge, are the focus of a new anti-obesity campaign launched by the government today. It follows a report from the Medical Research Council's human nutrition research centre linking bad parenting to obesity in children


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Parents 'don't recognise obesity' - BBC Health News 15th March 2007


People with a rare genetic condition causing them to have no irises are having their sight improved thanks to stem cell therapy being pioneered in a British hospital. Sheraz Daya, a consultant ophthalmic surgeon and director of the corneoplastic unit at Queen Victoria hospital, East Grinstead, Sussex, has treated four patients born with aniridia by transplanting into their eyes cells grown from those of dead donors. The stem cell transplants trigger production of new cells in the patients, leading to the hope that such techniques could help grow even hearts and livers.


My husband smokes everywhere and all day long, and I can't persuade him to stop. He has done it throughout our marriage, but now I fear it will spoil our retirement


If you think a glass of breakfast orange juice is the best way to start the day, think again. Grape juice could be more beneficial. Scientists have carried out the first scientific analysis of fruit juices to measure their antioxidant activity - the anti-ageing compounds that protect against heart disease and other chronic conditions.


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Two people have been arrested on suspicion of poisoning following an inquiry into the care of elderly residents at a home in Somerset, police said. They have been given police bail while a joint investigation with the Commission for Social Care Inspection continues.


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Care-home staff held on suspicion of poisoning - The Times 15th March 2007


Thousands of jobs were cut from the NHS at the end of last year in what nurses called a dramatic reduction in the workforce by stealth. Official figures on public sector employment showed that the health service lost 11,000 jobs in the final quarter of last year. These job losses accounted for half of the cuts across the whole of the public sector in that quarter, according to data from the National Office of Statistics


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Patients will be able to use mobile phones in hospitals within weeks after ministers admitted they can be used safely. Health service trusts banned the phones over concerns that electromagnetic radiation would interfere with medical equipment.


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'No need' for hospital mobile ban - BBC Health News 14th March 2007


Your first reaction is to check the date. Surely, you think, it must be a spoof. Surely they cannot be serious. But no, it’s not April Fool’s Day, and it’s not a spoof. Incredible as it may seem, the Government is proposing — with an entirely straight face — to give babies marks for crying, gurgling or babbling, under a new curriculum for infants aged from birth to five years old, which all nurseries will have to follow.


Children with congenital heart failure may be at risk from discrepancies in doses of a heart drug designed for adults, researchers have warned. The amount and formulation of captopril vary widely across the UK when it is given to children, a study shows - and may mean the amount given is incorrect.


Moving care from hospitals into the community - a key government policy - will not always save money and may put patient safety at risk, a report warns. The National Primary Care and Development Centre report is described in Pulse magazine.


More and more badly behaved children are being diagnosed with conditions like ADHD. Latest figures show global use of ADHD drugs has nearly tripled since 1993.


Scientists are developing an artificial vein for use in patients with circulation problems. The device, which encourages blood to flow in its natural spiralling fashion, has produced highly promising results in clinical trials.


A bid to force doctors offering abortion or contraception advice to under-16s to inform the child's parents has been rejected by MPs. Tory MP Angela Watkinson argued that current sex education encouraged girls to have sex before they were ready.


Compensation for Caesarean delay - BBC Health News 13th March 2007


A 10-year-old boy left disabled after a delay in his caesarean delivery has won the right to receive compensation. Jac Richards suffered oxygen starvation before his birth at Swansea's Singleton Hospital, causing brain damage.


International News



The US agriculture department has given a preliminary green light for the first commercial production of a food crop engineered to contain human genes. The plan calls for large-scale cultivation in Kansas of rice that produces human immune system proteins in its seeds.


Birthrate fear as Japanese prefer sleep to sex - The Guardian 15th March 2007


Exhausted couples who prefer a good night's sleep to fumbling on the futon could be to blame for Japan's rapidly declining birthrate. A survey by the health and welfare ministry found that 39.8% of men and women between 16 and 49 had not had sex for more than a month, up by about five percentage points from 2002. The figure for married couples was 34.6%.


Cheshire and Merseyside News



THIS hearse will be touring streets with a stark message – stop eating saturated fats or the next funeral could be yours. The black, horse-drawn Victorian carriage will be travelling around Bootle and Southport next week.


A NURSE worked while stoned and asked colleagues if they had seen her drugs pipe, an inquiry heard yesterday. Lesley Fletcher, 38, left her post twice to smoke drugs while on duty at the Oxton Grange Nursing Home, Bidston Rd, Birkenhead, the Nursing and Midwifery Council was told.


PROPOSALS for a Warbreck hostel to be turned into a drugs rehabilitation centre were last night rejected after more than 200 residents crammed into Liverpool Town Hall to object. Planning committee members said the sheer amount of protest was on a scale not seen in the city for a long time.


PEOPLE power is hoping it can win the day when it comes to a major decision about the future of the town. Two public meetings have been organised for next week in a bid to mobilise opposition for the proposed health waste incinerator off Winwick Road.


Doctor touched patient’s breasts, hearing told - Warrington Guardian 14th March 2007


A DOCTOR who worked at Warrington Hospital has denied carrying out unnecessary and indecent' examinations on two female patients. Dr Shakir Hasan Laher, is the subject of a General Medical Council hearing - expected to last 12 days - to decide whether he is fit to continue practising as a doctor.


Cumbria and Lancashire News


Drug addict nurse stole medication - Carlisle News & Star 14th March 2007


A DRUG addict nurse who stole medication from a Carlisle care home has had her nursing registration suspended. Clair Hugill received a caution from Cumbria Police for theft in June last year and now faces a full disciplinary hearing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, a hearing heard yesterday.


Greater Manchester News



ONLY one family doctor in Greater Manchester now provides a 24-hour service for his patients. A government report today attacks the spiralling cost and poor performance of new out-of-hours GP arrangements.


AS hundreds of smokers prepare to stub it out on National No Smoking Day, two health workers are dragging a giant cigarette from the Reebok Stadium to the Royal Bolton Hospital. Gary Bickerstaffe and Tracey Holliday, two advisers with the Bolton Stop Smoking Service, will be pulling the huge, plastic cigarette for six miles to promote the message that "smoking is a drag".


SCHOOL dinners in Bolton are to undergo a Jamie Oliver-style healthy overhaul. More than £500,000 is being made available to the local authority to improve the standard of meals by the end of the year.


A CONTROVERSIAL acne drug linked to mental health problems is being prescribed by doctors at the Royal Bolton Hospital. But the hospital has refused to comment on its safety despite a Bolton Coroner's Court hearing on Monday which found that Adam Long, aged 22, from Car Bank Street, Atherton, took his own life in January 2006 after being prescribed the drug Roaccutane.

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