Another 15 Minutes...Health News from Fade
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A new government alcohol strategy, unveiled today, will target for the first time not only under-age and binge-drinking youths but the middle-aged who regularly drink over the limit at home and end up with health problems. The strategy, launched jointly by the Home Office and the Department of Health, will aim for a cultural shift to make excessive drinking as unacceptable as drink-driving has become.
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Excess drinking crackdown set to be unveiled - The Independent 5th May 2007
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Crackdown on middle class wine drinkers - The Times 5th May 2007
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Wine lovers targeted to cut binge drinking - The Telegraph 5th May 2007
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Alcohol strategy targets bingers - BBC Health News 5th May 2007
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Alcohol strategy targets bingers - BBC Health News 5th May 2007
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ISoft takes legal action after takeover blocked - The Guardian 5th May 2007
ISoft has begun legal action against its largest customer after it refused to give its consent to a takeover bid from the Australian software firm IBA Health. In the latest twist in its attempt to secure its financial future, the Manchester-based software company claimed that Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) had been working on its own offer for months.
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CSC 'to counterbid for iSoft' says NHS supplier - The Times 4th May 2007
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HIV transfusion victims unaware of virus for decades, inquiry told - The Guardian 5th May 2007
People infected with HIV after receiving contaminated blood transfusions are still unaware of their status and are at risk of infecting others with the disease, the public inquiry into Britain's haemophilia scandal was told yesterday. The government has done little to follow up such victims - many of whom contracted the disease after just one blood transfusion in the mid-1980s and have lived with the condition for more than 20 years.
Food additives have once again been linked to hyperactivity in children, and a new study says they could damage cell DNA. So which of the E-numbers are causing the most concern, a
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Concern for teenagers' wellbeing as fewer say they have a best friend - The Guardian 5th May 2007
Close friendships among teenagers appear to be declining, according to research showing today's 16-year-olds are less likely than their counterparts 20 years ago to have a best friend they can trust. The early findings of a study comparing the experiences and views of teenagers in 1986 and 2006 reveal that the number who say they have no best friend they can confide in has risen from around one in eight to almost one in five.
A millionaire insurance executive was sectioned under the Mental Health Act yesterday after his two-year-old daughter was found with severe head injuries at the family's apartment in central London. Alberto Izaga, 36, was arrested on Sunday morning after neighbours heard screams coming from the luxury £1m Thames-side apartment and called police.
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Insurance chief sectioned after daughter, 2, is injured - The Times 5th May 2007
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Girl, 2, beaten after disturbing morning lie-in - The Telegraph 5th May 2007
Artistic integrity has trumped healthy living. Northern Ireland's ban on smoking in the workplace is to be relaxed, enabling actors to puff away on stage. The decision to introduce a special exemption order comes after the distinguished Irish playwright Brian Friel was forced to rewrite a critical scene for a revival of his classic Dancing at Lughnasa at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast.
When the news broke that a radioactive substance had been used to murder ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, a team of scientists rushed to find out how far the contamination had spread. It led them on a trail involving hundreds of people and dozens of locations.
Working out can be not only tough and time-consuming, it is often downright bamboozling. Listen to all the advice about which sort of exercise to choose and you might be excused for wanting to hang up your trainers in despair. Wouldn't it help simplify gym matters if we looked at how the five biggest fitness myths stack up against scientific fact?
It is astonishing that someone who has worked in the IVF sector as long as Robert Winston should so thoroughly misunderstand the system for IVF regulation in the UK which has been in place for the last 16 years (Winston: IVF clinics corrupt and greedy, May 31). He should know very well that decisions around supplementary treatments given alongside IVF - whatever their scientific basis - are a matter for the professional judgment of the treating clinician and a decision for which the doctor is accountable to the GMC.
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From patches and pills to courses of hypnotherapy, increasing numbers of smokers have been shopping in hope of a nicotine-free future in the run-up to the smoking ban. Sales of anti-smoking products have boomed in recent weeks as smokers have sought help to kick the habit before 1 July, when smoking will be banned inside pubs, restaurants and workplaces in England and Wales.
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THERE are advantages to being special, and foundation trusts are making the most of their station. Nursing Times (May 29) reports that these trusts are using their independent status to opt out of reporting clinical incidents, saying the guidance on reporting incidents to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) does not apply to them.
“Why should junior doctors be guaranteed employment with the NHS when there are thousands of nurses and physiotherapy graduates who cannot find work?” Alison Pickard, a nurse practitioner in Derbyshire, in Independent Nurse (May 28)
Clinical trials that compare two similar drugs are significantly more likely to favour the one made by the company that pays for the work, according to a study that sheds new light on bias in medical research. An analysis of almost 200 published comparison trials indicated that when the findings show one drug to be superior, the study is about 20 times more likely to have been funded by its manufacturer.
Mothers who smoke cannabis while pregnant may interrupt brain development in their unborn babies, says a team of researchers led by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Recreational cannabis contains cannabinoids that are similar to those occurring naturally in human brains. The research, in Science (May), says that the natural cannabinoids play an unexpectedly important role in fetal brain development, and this may be disrupted by the presence of cannabis in the bloodstream.
This return to my hairy old theme of The Boring Party was sparked off by news that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is drawing up plans to measure whether primary schools are improving children’s psychological “wellbeing”. They want the poor brats to fill out questionnaires and tick boxes (“I’ve been feeling good about myself all the time/often/some of the time/rarely/never” etc).
GlaxoSmithKline is considering new “money back” pricing arrangements for its next generation of cancer drugs, under which it would help to cover their cost if NHS patients using them failed to show progress. Glaxo, Britain’s biggest pharmaceutical company, has already introduced similar risk-sharing schemes in two European countries.
ENDING up behind bars is a bit of a bummer, so it’s no wonder some inmates may not be feeling top notch. But look no further, a confidence boost is on the way. Nursing Standard (May 30) reports that prisoners at Wandsworth prison in South London will be given the opportunity to become health mentors to fellow inmates, something that should improve their self-esteem.
CHECK your pockets, there are thieves about. Turn your back for a second and someone will steal that money you set aside for a rainy day or, perhaps, for your training budget. Health Service Journal (May 31) says that strategic health authorities (SHAs) are raiding nearly £120 million from the cash set aside for “multi-professional education and training allocations” and sticking it into strategic reserves instead.
Sisters, or rather nurses, are also doing it for themselves when it comes to sexual health nursing, reports Nursing Times (May 29). The area is now seen as a career opportunity, says Kathy French, the Royal College of Nursing’s sexual health adviser. Angela Rogers has worked in sexual health for five years and often gets an adverse reaction from people. “They pull a face,” she says. “I don’t understand that reaction because it’s one area in which you can make people well. People come in with a condition and you can cure them. You are not just putting out fires.”
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Country life in the mid-19th century wasn’t usually as picturesque as is portrayed in Victorian paintings. It was hard, primitive and blighted by poverty. Even so, it compared well with that in the industrial towns and big cities. There, crowded houses, lack of sanitation, dinginess and overcrowding resulted in TB, rickets, widespread alcoholism and recurrent outbreaks of various fevers, including typhoid.
THE aviation industry – a paragon of safety from which the NHS has plenty to learn. Right? Wrong. Graham Barker, a doctor writing in BMA News (June 2), takes issue with the idea that he should learn from pilots, saying passengers are “packed in like sardines, with no doctors or nurses on board and minimal medical facilities”.
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The Government's chronic inability to manage costly IT schemes effectively is well documented - indeed, it has become one of New Labour's trademarks. This morning's report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee helps to explain why Whitehall gets it so wrong, so often. At the heart of the problem is a slapdash approach to the management of high-value projects that would not be tolerated in the private sector. The fact that the Government spends rather more than £500 billion of taxpayers' cash each year seems to have inculcated a cavalier approach to value for money that is costing the country dear.
A police investigation into the deaths of seven elderly care home residents will take an extraordinary turn today when officers begin exhuming the first of three bodies. The remains of Nellie Pickford will be removed from a graveyard so that a post mortem examination can be carried out to try to establish whether she was poisoned.
Senior doctors will tomorrow call for the resignation of Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), over the "shambolic" introduction of changes to junior doctor training. Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, has already apologised over security breaches and other flaws in the online recruitment system called Medical Training Application Service (MTAS). However, many doctors blame Sir Liam for wider concerns they have over Modernising Medical Careers - the new scheme for postgraduate medical training up to consultant level.
Multi-tasking is what most working mothers would say they do most of the time - but apparently it is bad for your health. Experts say that emailing on your Blackberry and talking on the mobile, while wondering what to cook for dinner and whether you have run out of dishwasher tablets, is mentally damaging.
More than half of dentists' income comes from private work, with the average dentist earning £86,000 a year, new figures reveal. It has prompted calls from health campaigners for NHS dentists to be issued quotas forcing them to treat more NHS patients.
When Justin Greenbank's wife Jacinth was in hospital, he visited her every day. Jacinth, 26, seriously ill with cystic fibrosis, was transferred to intensive care where she died after three weeks. Throughout this harrowing time, when he was not at his wife's bedside, Justin spoke to her on the phone.
Police, teachers and doctors struggling to cope with the influx of immigrants have been promised a say over the number of future arrivals. Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said decisions on migration could not be taken in secret and admitted public confidence in the system had been shattered and must be rebuilt. He went on to make a key concession to the groups feeling the brunt of Labour's open-door policy - teachers, police, magistrates, council workers and Health Service staff.
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Bishop's remedy for stress: Take this egg timer and do ... nothing - Daily Mail 4th May 2007
The Church of England tried to make Sunday stretch a little bit further this week. A leading bishop began the working week by urging commuters to slow down and find time to dawdle. The Right Reverend Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Reading, declared that taking long lie-ins, resting, and easing off from work can lead to "an adventure of self-discovery and creativity".
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Mothers-to-be who have one glass of wine a day need help, says doctors - Daily Mail 4th May 2007
Pregnant women who drink as little as a small glass of wine a day should be counselled over their consumption and urged to stop, senior doctors said yesterday. The British Medical Association says all women with a "confirmed or suspected" history of "low-to-moderate" alcohol consumption should be helped to cut down on their drinking once they try to start a family.
Parents are so afraid their children will be hurt or abducted that they are refusing to let them play out on their own until they are at least 14, research has revealed. Denied opportunities to play with friends, a generation of cosseted youngsters is becoming lonely and isolated, according to the study by the Children's Society.
Abortion can be a serious risk to women's long-term mental health and those who have a termination can be six times more likely to commit suicide than those who have given birth in the past year, doctors have told MPs. Trevor Stammers, a tutor in general practice at St George's University of London, was speaking in support of a bill to be tabled in the House of Commons, which would ensure women are counselled about the possible consequences of abortion before terminating an unborn child.
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MP calls for abortion counselling - BBC Health News 4th May 2007
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Doctors said all I needed was rest - in fact cancer was slowly killing me, says Delta Goodrem - Daily Mail 4th May 2007
A year after spotting the first symptoms of the cancer which left her fighting for her life, chart-topping singer and Neighbours actress Delta Goodrem, then 18, stole hearts with an emotional appearance at Australia's equivalent of the Brits. Her glowing appearance belied her failing health as she collected a record-breaking seven awards at the ceremony in October 2003, showing off a glamorous off-the-shoulder pink dress and short, choppy hairstyle.
Paralysed England rugby player Matt Hampson is being kept alive by a breathing machine the size of a kitchen toaster. The device weighs no more than two bags of sugar and means Matt is no longer hooked up to a bulky machine that was noisy and obtrusive.
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Exercising after meals can help promote weight loss by boosting hormones that suppress appetite, say UK scientists. Thanks to these hormones, active people feel less hungry immediately after exercise, and this carries through to their next meal, experiments suggest.
Alcohol product logos will no longer appear on children's replica sports shirts under a new voluntary code. The move, announced by the Portman Group, will apply to sponsorship deals from 1 January 2008. Currently Liverpool FC is sponsored by Carlsberg, Everton by Chang beer and both Rangers and Celtic by Carling.
Patients in part of Leicestershire will be asked to give up smoking before they go in for an operation. Leicestershire City NHS Primary Care Trust said quitting a month before surgery will mean improved recovery times and a fewer complications.
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Patients who want to see a GP in the evening or weekend should face a charge, some family doctors say. The charge would apply only to routine appointments and not emergencies, says the motion to be proposed at a British Medical Association GPs' conference.
Pubs should put up posters and restaurants include warnings in menus giving information about the number of units in alcoholic drinks, doctors say. The government announced last month that alcohol labelling will come into force by the end of next year.
Scientists have shown how having a stroke - or even snoring heavily - can increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. A Leeds team found a lack of oxygen in the brain, which occurs during strokes or even in heavy snorers, can affect brain cells called astrocytes.
All of her adult life Lucy Wingate has hated her breasts. She feels the 32AA cups are too small and unformed. She hates anyone to see them, she even hates looking at them herself.
Using the cancer drug Herceptin before surgery could reduce the number of mastectomies needed in women with breast cancer, scientists say. A study showed using the drug with chemotherapy before surgery completely eradicated tumours in 43% of patients with HER-2 positive breast cancer.
The government has been accused of ignoring a condition that kills hundreds of young people each year. Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS) is responsible for the deaths of approximately 500 people under the age of 35 each year in the UK.
A review of neonatal services in Scotland by premature baby charity Bliss has uncovered mounting pressures in the system. The report, titled Handle with Care, found the rate of closure to new admissions for neonatal care was higher in Scotland than in the rest of the UK.
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International News
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People who spray houseplants with pesticide sprays may be at a greater risk of developing brain tumours, scientists claim today. The researchers were unable to identify which products and ingredients were specifically to blame, but raised the alarm because the sprays are so common and recommended for use indoors and every week. The link emerged during a survey of brain cancer patients designed to examine the role of pesticides in the development of the tumours.
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Researchers link brain tumours to pesticides - The Telegraph 5th May 2007
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Brain tumour link to pesticides - BBC Health News 5th May 2007
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Brain tumour link to pesticides - BBC Health News 5th May 2007
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The detention in quarantine of an air passenger in the US (Killer TB patient sorry for flying home, June 2) has drawn the world's attention to the global tuberculosis problem. Nine million people become newly infected with TB each year and 1.6 million lose their lives to it. TB is curable, but insufficient international commitment to its control has enabled it to continue to devastate families, communities and economies, and deadly new drug-resistant strains to develop.
Scientists are a step closer to curing erectile dysfunction with gene therapy following prostate or bladder surgery. The technique, which involves stimulating the growth of a crucial nerve during surgery, has been successfully tested in rats. The next stage will be safety trials in human patients. Men undergoing bladder surgery or removal of a prostate tumour frequently suffer damage to a nerve crucial in controlling erection. This can take months or weeks to heal, if at all, and drug treatments for erectile dysfunction such as Viagra are not effective. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men.
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'Gender-bending' chemicals could be to blame for a worrying drop in the proportion of boys born in the U.S. over the past 30 years, scientists said yesterday. A massive study found that, in America as a whole, the number of boys born for every 100 girls has dropped steadily from 105.5 to 104.5 over the three decades.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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WHEN debating this issue, one has to look at why individuals are having IVF, and understand the pressures on couples to have children. I can see the two sides to the argument in relation to the expense of IVF treatment – for couples who are not eligible to go down the NHS route, the financial costs can be very high.
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Now an MP has accused the Department Of Health (DoH) of “dramatically under-estimating” the real scale of Clostridium difficile, an infection more dangerous than MRSA. Until a few weeks ago, hospitals were required to reveal only the number of C. difficile infections in over-65s, the age group most likely to contract it.
AFTER three years of hard work, Marina Dalglish’s dream of building a specialist cancer centre became a reality yesterday. But Mrs Dalglish, wife of Liverpool football legend Kenny, says she isn’t stopping there.
A MAJOR £5m redevelop- ment of a city mental health unit that had been described as “Dickensian” has been completed. The Rathbone Rehabilitation Centre, in Wavertree, has been rebuilt to cater for the needs of long-term patients.
LIVERPOOL is to lead the way in tackling the region-wide shortage of dentists. A multi-million pound investment will enable more students to be taken on at Liverpool’s dental hospital, in a £5m move aimed at easing the crisis in the num-ber of NW dentists.
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Liverpool hospitals reveal £60m improvements plan - Liverpool Daily Post 4th May 2007
LIVERPOOL along with the rest of the country is to go smoke-free on July 1 with the banning of smoking in enclosed public spaces. But a Liverpool youth group has gone one stage further by demanding that smoking is removed from all cinema films which have been rated as suitable for family viewing.
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A MIDWIFE said bye bye baby to patients and colleagues at Warrington Hospital as she retired after helping at countless births. Ida Boarman, who has served as a midwife for more than 31 years, finally called it a day last week at the hospital where she has spent much of her working life.
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Supercentre fully open - Winsford Guardian 4th May 2007
THE health supercentre in Dene Drive is now fully open after High Street Medical Centre and Weaver Vale Surgery moved in on Monday. The Swanlow practice moved into the new £5million building last week with the other two being moved in a week later to reduce disruption for patients.
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
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OVERWEIGHT Cumbrians could be referred directly to slimming clubs by their GPs if a new campaign for funding is successful. Representatives of Slimming World in the county are in talks with health bosses following a similar initiative in Lancashire.
TWO Cumbrian women whose lives were being destroyed by chronic back pain say have been completely cured thanks to a Carlisle therapist. At just, 29, administrator Kellie Fricker developed such a bad back that she could barely put her own tights on.
SICK patients had to be transferred by ambulance to Burnley General Hospital when the Royal Blackburn Hospital's medical assessment unit was temporarily closed. A sick senior house officer and senior registrar at the centre prompted officials at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust to move patients to Burnley.
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Greater Manchester News
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A WONDER drug, which can double people's chances of giving up smoking, has been given draft approval on the NHS. Champix has been given the thumbs up by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) after trials show almost half of those who took is managed to stub it out.
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PATIENTS in Bolton are calling for the NHS to remain free after a group of family doctors proposed charges for people want to see their GP outside of normal working hours. The motion to force patients to pay £20 for a routine appointment will be debated at the British Medical Association's local medical committee conference next week after it was put forward by a group of family doctors.
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Hospital bosses say they can beat the bug - The Bolton News 4th May 2007
HOSPITAL bosses claim they are ready to prove they can beat superbugs. Despite failing to meet national targets last year, health chiefs at the Royal Bolton Hospital say they are not worried about the announcement there will be spot checks for superbugs.
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