Another 15 Minutes...Health News from Fade
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Loss of IT chief is only the latest setback in ambitious scheme to computerise records. The government's ambitious vision for a single, standardised IT programme that would drag NHS creaking paper records systems into the 21st century was always going to be a challenge. The largest non-military IT project ever attempted - forecast to cost £12.4bn, or enough to pay 650,000 nurses for a year - it has been under strain almost since its inception four years ago.
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Parents who smoke near their newborn babies are turning their children into heavy passive smokers and putting them in danger of breathing problems and cot death, a new study shows. Tiny babies with at least one parent who smokes have more than five times the usual level of cotinine - a chemical metabolite of nicotine - tests showed. The study, published online today by the journal Archives of Diseases in Childhood, found that having a mother who smoked was the biggest risk factor for a big build-up of cotinine in a baby's body.
At the time, it was considered a high-risk strategy. A college in the north-eastern town with the highest incidence of smoking in England decided it would be the first in the country to go completely smoke-free.
I joined the army when I was 17. I had hoped to pursue a career in nursing, but without GCSEs in maths and science I knew I wouldn't be able to get on a course. My sister was in the army and suggested I join up as a combat medical technician. When I was 19, my unit was posted to Iraq, which took me by surprise. It sounds funny, but when I joined the army, I hadn't really considered I might be sent to work in a war-torn country.
It used to be associated with older heavy drinkers but serious liver disease is rising fast in young people. All it takes is a few pints of lager and glasses of wine a week.
Dr Trudie Roussouw, associate medical director for Camhs and specialist services. I am a clinician, a child psychiatrist, but I also manage a team of eight consultants, represent Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) as clinical lead, and give clinical vision and direction to the Camhs service over four boroughs in north-east London.
There's no solid evidence that wireless networks are hazardous to health, say experts, even though a recent BBC report suggested otherwise. Are Wi-Fi wireless networks safe to use? Could we be harming children by exposing them to Wi-Fi networks at home and schools? Such questions were raised in a recent BBC Panorama programme, which aimed to examine the possible long-term health effects of Wi-Fi.
Getting a nursery class to salute the sun, or do a downward dog, may seem a bit ambitious, but as Sabine Durrant discovers, yoga can help children's development
In Britain, too, corporate muscle and government weakness means mothers are gulled into swapping the breast for the tin. Like most of the world, I was mistaken. I thought that the aggressive promotion of baby formula was a problem confined to the poorer nations, where weak or complicit governments are pushed around by corporations, and mothers are gulled into swapping the breast for the tin. But after I wrote about the bullying of the government of the Philippines by baby formula companies a fortnight ago, the National Childbirth Trust and Baby Milk Action got in touch to tell me a story much closer to home.
There surely has to be something unnatural about paying 75p for a titchy jar of pureed carrot ("and nothing else added", according to the label, though you'd want a spoonful of caviar mixed in at that price). But there is now another objection to the £120m-a-year baby-food market: babies don't actually need it at all.
Faith-based organisations have an important role to play in promoting community cohesion, write Amanda Inverarity and At a time when communities are the focus of a myriad of polices and initiatives to tackle everything from community mental health issues to community cohesion, the opportunity to consider the role and contribution of faith-based communities is particularly important.
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More than 1.3 million children are living in poverty, report claims - The Independent 19th June 2007
More than 1.3 million children in Britain risk "slipping beneath the radar" of Gordon Brown's anti-poverty targets by being forced to live on less than £19 per day, a new report by Save the Children says today. Research found that families of about one in 10 children are on such meagre incomes that basic needs such as heating and a proper diet are being compromised.
THE reason for narrow corridors in PFI hospitals was because builders were not made aware of or ignored long-established published standards for these things (Irritant of the week, June 5). There is a series of health building notes for architects to make sure that they do not make the sort of mistakes you highlight. There is a total of 58, covering every aspect of health buildings.
CHOICE, we’re told, is good for us. And doing things for ourselves is good, too, apparently. But it all starts to fall apart when we’re asked to make our own outpatient appointments, according to Pulse (June 14). Figures from Connecting for Health, the NHS IT support service, show that when given the choice, one patient in ten chooses not to bother to make a booking using the Choose and Book system. This is in addition to those patients who book appointments, but then don’t bother to turn up.
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Private equity is becoming a significant force in provision of public sector services. Cinven’s purchase of 26 hospitals from BUPA underlines the interest in healthcare among the buyout firms. Indeed, BUPA has been able to structure the auction of its hospitals in such a way that it realised a handsome price, even while barring certain bidders with existing hospital portfolios. And, no wonder – the healthcare sector seems set for long-term inexorable growth. The number of people over 85 will quadruple in the next 40 years. The size of the private healthcare market has doubled in less than ten. And hospitals combine steady, inflation-proof revenues together with unrealised value in property assets.
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Private equity firm Cinven wins £1.44bn bidding for Bupa hospitals in Britain - The Guardian 19th June 2007
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Private equity firm Cinven wins £1.44bn bidding for Bupa hospitals in Britain - The Guardian 19th June 2007
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Private equity faces healthcare check - The Times 19th June 2007
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This prognosis carries worrying complications - The Times 19th June 2007
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This prognosis carries worrying complications - The Times 19th June 2007
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THE Department of Health (DH) has lost its way on patient involvement. So says Health Service Journal (June 14), having seen a draft policy document which recommends that new patient representative bodies be denied access to some care areas.
AN INDEPENDENT board to loosen the apron strings between politicians and the NHS is being proposed by politicians of all persuasions as a solution to NHS ills, from rationing to reconfiguration. While an independent board could be part of the solution, the problems of the NHS are not just about political interference. And it would be strange for politicians not to take an interest in an organisation spending £100 billion of taxpayers’ money a year.
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Public wants NHS 'de-politicised' - BBC Health News 19th June 2007
The NHS is expected to pay out about half a billion pounds to hospitals owned by private equity firms this year as part of an outsourcing drive designed to trim waiting lists. The figure represents a 62 per cent increase from the estimated £322 million that was paid out last year.
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Doctors will be given more say in how the NHS is run if the Conservatives are returned to power, according to a policy document published today. GPs delivered a vote of no confidence last week in the Government. They accused ministers of wasting a golden opportunity to transform the NHS by squandering millions of pounds. David Cameron is promising that instead of focusing on targets such as waiting times, he would look to improve the results of treatment.
Isoft shares rose more than 6pc after the beleaguered supplier of software to the NHS announced that its merger with Australian group IBA Health has been approved by its largest customer, American IT giant Computer Sciences Corporation. Earlier this month, iSoft began legal proceedings against CSC for blocking the potentially life-saving £140m takeover bid.
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Girls aged 12 should be vaccinated against the sexually-transmitted human papilloma virus, which causes most cervical cancer cases, experts are expected to recommend to ministers. Around 3,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year in Britain. Routine vaccination could save some two-thirds of the 1,000 killed by the disease.
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This is not about sex - The Guardian 19th June 2007
Patricia Hewitt's legacy as Health Secretary, it seems, will be an extra twist of barbed wire on top of the high wall excluding smokers from civilisation. The reported plan is for cigarettes no longer to be available in packets of 10, only in 20s.
Low-carbohydrate diets such as the controversial Atkins regime may increase the risk of bowel cancer, scientists said yesterday. New research has discovered a link between eating less carbohydrate and lower levels of a cancer-fighting chemical in the gut.
Three 15-year-old boys from the same school have killed themselves in what is feared to be a suicide pact that could eventually involve a dozen teenagers. The boys were in the same year at the same school in Northern Ireland, and all three are understood to have hanged themselves. There are fears this could be part of a much bigger suicide pact involving youngsters in the close-knit community.
A war veteran aged 93 stabbed himself to death because he feared being a burden on anyone when he fell ill, his family have said. The body of Albert Taylor, who was decorated for his service as a Paratrooper in the Second World War, was found by neighbours outside his home with a six-inch kitchen knife by his side.
It may not be as fashionable as its more exotic cousins but the humble blackcurrant is the healthiest fruit of all. Research shows that the common or garden blackcurrant is more nutritious than other fruits, from home-grown apples and strawberries to tropical mangoes and bananas.
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Study claims blackcurrant is No 1 'superfruit' - The Telegraph 19th June 2007
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Blackcurrant ‘is top superfruit’ - The Times 19th June 2007
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The desperation of the infertile would-be mother knows no bounds. Lee Cowden, aching to conceive, was pumped full of hormones to make her produce more eggs. The result? A trip to hospital — but not to a maternity suite. "I was 25 and felt this excruciating pain in my chest," recalls Lee, a music therapist from Surrey. "I was rushed into intensive care in an ambulance, and it became pretty clear that, despite my age, I had suffered a heart attack.
A new website is being launched in an attempt to strengthen patient choice. The £3.6m NHS Choices website will include information on issues as varied as waiting times, hospital ratings and general cleanliness.
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The number of people in Scotland diagnosed with alcoholic liver disease has doubled in a decade. Information released to the Scots Tories in response to a parliamentary question, showed figures in some areas had trebled and even quadrupled.
MPs are debating controversial moves to allow mentally ill people in England and Wales to be detained even if they have not committed crimes. Ministers say the changes, being debated in the Commons over the next two days, balance the need for treatment with public safety.
Scientists in Dundee carrying out research into asthma believe they have made a breakthrough which could alter the treatment of the condition. The University of Dundee team announced last year that they had identified the gene producing the protein filaggrin which causes asthma and eczema.
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Smokers in Liverpool could be asked not to light up in their own homes during visits from council staff. Health and safety officers have drawn up the plan as part of Liverpool City Council's no smoking policy to stop officers being exposed to smoke.
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Do not light up at home, council tells smokers - The Telegraph 19th June 2007
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Tenants who can't light up at home - Daily Mail 18th June 2007
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Low-carbohydrate diets may increase the risk of people suffering bowel cancer, scientists have claimed. Researchers from Aberdeen's Rowett Research Institute believe there is a link between eating less carbohydrate and reducing cancer-fighting bacteria.
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Girl hopes for more cell therapy - BBC Health News 17th June 2007
The family of an eight-year-old Dorset girl with cerebral palsy who is undergoing radical new treatment in China want to extend her therapy. Vaishnavi Tahiliani, known as Shonia, flew to China with her parents - Kishor and Priti - at the beginning of the month for the stem cell treatment.
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International News
A herbal medicine made from rose hips could ease the agony of rheumatoid arthritis sufferers - as well as saving the Health Service millions of pounds. After taking capsules of rose-hip powder for six months, patients who had been treated with conventional drugs reported 'significant improvement' in their condition, better quality of life and less pain , a pilot study shows.
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Rose-hip 'remedy' for arthritis - BBC Health News 18th June 2007
Drinking coffee protects against an eyelid spasm that can lead to blindness, a study suggests. Italian researchers looked at the coffee drinking and smoking habits of 166 people with blepharospasm.
A gene responsible for the single most common cause of hearing loss among white adults has been identified. Belgian researchers hope their discovery will lead to new treatments for otosclerosis, which affects approximately one in 250 people.
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Pureed baby food is 'unnatural' - BBC Health News 17th June 2007
Spoon-feeding babies pureed food is unnatural and unnecessary, a Unicef childcare expert has warned. Gill Rapley, deputy director of Unicef's Baby Friendly Initiative said feeding babies in this way could cause health problems later in life.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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A LIVERPOOL professor today warns teenage sex, drugs and alcohol are fuelling a health crisis. Professor Mark Bellis said more teenagers are catching sexually transmitted infections and getting pregnant because of drink and drug abuse. In a report, the head of John Moores University’s Centre for Public Health warns that celebrity culture is sending out mixed messages to young people.
They fled torture and imprisonment to make Merseyside their home. During Refugee Week MARY MURTAGH meets some of Liverpool’s asylum seekers SUICIDE bombers and benefit cheats – that was the damning definition of an asylum seeker from one group of city teenagers.
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A MERSEYSIDE councillor today hit out at the “arrogance of big business” after backed up sewage caused 3ft deep floods. It meant pupils were forced to trudge through muck to reach their school bus. Melling Lib Dem Cllr Jack Colbert attacked United Utilities and Morris Homes.
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A CHESHIRE charity group has set up a new forum to encourage public participation in different aspects of local health care. Cheshire Community Voice is looking for the public to get involved in the design, commissioning and delivery of local health and social care services.
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Home smoke ban for council visits - BBC Health News 18th June 2007
Smokers in Liverpool could be asked not to light up in their own homes during visits from council staff. Health and safety officers have drawn up the plan as part of Liverpool City Council's no smoking policy to stop officers being exposed to smoke.
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Do not light up at home, council tells smokers - The Telegraph 19th June 2007
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Tenants who can't light up at home - Daily Mail 18th June 2007
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
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CUMBRIA’S public health chief has challenged the county’s young people not to give in to what he has called “drug-dealer” tobacco companies by starting smoking. Professor John Ashton, public health director for Cumbria Primary Care Trust, made the plea as the country prepares to go smoke-free on July 1.
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CUMBRIA’S self-confessed “condom king” says authorities must do more to help vulnerable young men in the county who feel pressured to stick to macho stereotypes. Traditional views of masculinity are having a detrimental impact on the health of both men and women, Ian Twiselton told Carlisle’s first men’s conference.
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NEARLY 250 businesses in the Carlisle area have been visited by special smoke-free educators as part of the countdown to next month’s ban. The city council officers have also held five drop-in sessions in the district, offering information and advice about the change in law.
A CHARITY director who raised the profile of disabled people in west Cumbria is stepping down after 21 years. Keith Fitton works with West House, which helps people with learning disabilities lead a normal life. He was the first person to work for the group when it had no office, no money and operated from Whitehaven’s Daniel Hay Library.
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SPIRALLING costs have left the Eden Valley Hospice facing a potential cash crisis, with less than six months reserves now in the bank. Bosses say daily running costs will soon total £6,500, when the new children’s unit opens this summer. This means they will need to find at least £4,500 per day from voluntary donations and fundraising initiatives.
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HEALTH chiefs have come under fire for proposing to axe the only official bereavement counsellor for two hospitals as part of £15.6million of cuts. The move by the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust - which is expected to save around £30,000 - has been criticised by a support group for parents who have lost children, a health scrutiny boss and the county's chairman of bereavement charity Cruse.
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Hospitals meet hygiene standards - Lancashire Telegraph 18th June 2007
HOSPITALS in East Lancashire are complying with hygiene standards, a new report has revealed. A Healthcare Commission report in to hygiene standards in UK hospitals found that one in four were failing to hit targets aimed at tackling bugs like MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C diff).
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Greater Manchester News
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I WOULD like to thank all those people who have recently completed the Bolton Health and Lifestyle survey. I am grateful that people have taken the time to provide us with the information which will be so important in helping Bolton Primary Care Trust plan appropriate health services to improve the health of people in Bolton.
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Smokers who work at a Bolton supermarket will be swapping a cigarette break for some quiet time. Bosses at Sainsbury's in Trinity Street consulted with smokers as to what to transform the current smoking room into when the ban is introduced in 12 days.
Hospital bosses in Bolton are in talks with the firm that provides TV, telephone and Internet access to patients, amid claims sick people are being targeted by high-pressure salesmen. Managers at the Royal Bolton Hospital want assurances patients are not being strong-armed into buying costly services, amid reports salesmen are trained not to take "no" for an answer.
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Hospital makes a clean sweep - Altrincham Messenger 18th June 2007
TRADITIONAL dusters, cleaning cloths and mop buckets could be on their way out if a new cleaning system being tested at Trafford General proves to be successful. Microfibre cleaning technology' has been introduced in the hospital's Accident and Emergency department and a newly-refurbished ward. Cleaning staff are now using new mops and cloths made up of microfibres, which are about one hundredth the width of a human hair. They create a far greater surface area to trap dirt and bacteria than the cleaning aids previously in use.
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