Another 15 Minutes...Health News from Fade
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National News
A blueprint for giving the NHS independence from government control was published yesterday in an attempt to influence Gordon Brown's health policies when he takes over as prime minister next month. The Nuffield Trust, a health thinktank, said operational control of hospitals and primary care should be passed to an independent corporation, similar to the BBC, operating under a charter that guaranteed a free service to patients.
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‘NHS must be run by professionals, not the politicians’ - The Times 1st June 2007
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NHS should be independent, says adviser - The Telegraph 1st June 2007
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NHS should be independent, says adviser - The Telegraph 1st June 2007
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The leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics yesterday questioned whether politicians who backed abortion should remain full members of the church, and also compared Scotland's abortion rate to "two Dunblane massacres a day". In a sermon marking the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act, Cardinal Keith O'Brien attacked both the practice of abortion and pro-choice members of the Scottish parliament.
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Reject those politicians who defend the social evil of abortion, urges Cardinal - The Times 1st June 2007
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Cardinals issue abortion warning to MPs - The Telegraph 1st June 2007
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Church's pressure grows on Catholic MPs over abortion - Daily Mail 31st May 2007
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Cardinal sounds abortion warning - BBC Health News 31st May 2007
Consultants are routinely arranging caesarean sections for women without adequately discussing the alternatives, according to research which suggests there are at least 4,000 unnecessary caesarean sections a year in England and Wales. Women are less likely to opt for a caesarean section if they use a simple computer program to help them decide rather than relying solely on the advice of their obstetrician and midwife, the study found.
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Advice tool 'could reduce caesareans' - The Telegraph 1st June 2007
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'Advice' could cut Caesarean rate - BBC Health News 31st May 2007
If you were to ask someone to picture a hospital volunteer, most would come up with an image of an altruistic female retiree, working tirelessly to serve patients. But a recent study, carried out by the Institute for Volunteering Research, suggests that while this image of volunteering is still recognisable, things are rapidly changing.
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One month before a nationwide ban on smoking comes in to force in England, the most effective treatment yet found to help people stop smoking has been approved for use on the NHS. The twice-daily pill, Champix, blocks cravings and withdrawal symptoms by acting on the same brain receptors as nicotine. It also reduces the satisfaction a smoker will get from further cigarettes if they have a relapse.
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Why nicotine stimulates the brain and is hard to give up - The Independent 31st May 2007
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Government statistics have ignored thousands of cases of Clostridium difficile in Britain and misrepresent the threat posed by the potentially fatal bug, a report by a Tory MP claims. More than 25,000, or almost one-in-six, of all cases of the bug have gone unreported because the Government only logged cases in the over-65s, according to the report by Grant Shapps, MP for Welwyn Hatfield.
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Deadly NHS bug 'underestimated' - BBC Health News 31st May 2007
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The Information Centre, an independent NHS special health authority, has published online the survival rates for specialist heart hospitals that treat children. The move follows an inquiry into child heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary, published in 2001, which found that parents should have the right to more information. The Congenital Heart Disease Website, funded by the Healthcare Commission, is a world first and lists consultants, contact details and hospital website links. www.ccad.org.uk/002/congenital
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Heart ops data available online - BBC Health News 31st May 2007
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How right Chris Dillow is (“Whitehall can learn from Tesco and John Lewis”, May 30), but it is more than just the layers of management (which are six at Tesco from CEO to checkout and legion from Patricia Hewitt to a nurse). The issue at the NHS is a lack of customer centricity or a blurred view of just what patients need and want.
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It has taken 42 years for smoking in this country to evolve from a pleasant addiction to a stigmatised social evil. The advertising of cigarettes on television was banned in 1965, three years after the Royal College of Physicians concluded that smoking can cause lung cancer and bronchitis, and probably contributes to coronary heart disease.
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What surprises people most about the No Diet Diet is that it continues to work long after they've completed the initial 28-step programme. In fact, this is when it really comes into its own. The weight loss you have achieved so far is only the beginning. This is because you've succeeded in breaking a critical mass of habits. This gives your willpower the breathing space it needs to help you achieve the weight loss you crave. Your mind is once again in control, not your habits.
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It's a safe bet that many of you will be heading for the beach this summer, so looking good in your swimming trunks should be a top priority.
Two thirds of British men are overweight - if you're one of them, now is definitely the time to take the bull by the horns. Man drinking water Weight problems never solve themselves and, if you're half a stone overweight now and don't do something about it, the odds are that this time next year you're going be more than half a stone too heavy. In five years' time this might mean that you'll be at least a stone overweight.
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The booming fertility industry in Britain was described as "corrupt" by the leading figure in the field. Lord Winston claimed the vast profits being made have led doctors to exploit women desperate for a baby, offering them unnecessary or overpriced treatments.
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Expert says IVF couples exploited - BBC Health News 31st May 2007
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Expert says IVF couples exploited - BBC Health News 31st May 2007
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A contact lens solution is being recalled in the UK today amid fears it can cause painful eye infections. Complete Moisture Plus was pulled in the US six days ago following a warning from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
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International News
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Taking folic acid supplements reduces the risk of stroke by 18%, according to a large study published in today's Lancet. The findings also suggest that mandatory fortification of flour, currently being considered by health officials in England, could reduce death rates from strokes.
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How folic acid could save thousands from a stroke - The Times 1st June 2007
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Folic acid 'reduces stroke risks' - BBC Health News 31st May 2007
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Cervical cancer vaccine for all women could cut cases by half - study - The Guardian 1st June 2007
Vaccinating all women against cervical cancer could save hundreds of lives a year in the UK alone, according to the largest study of the vaccine. Government health advisers are considering whether to vaccinate pre-pubescent girls but the research published in the Lancet suggests rates would be nearly halved if women in their 20s were offered a catch-up boost.
A major advance in the treatment of people infected with HIV is on the horizon, scientists claim today. A decade after the discovery of a triple drug cocktail that transformed Aids from a fatal illness to a chronic disease, experts say they are on the verge of a second breakthrough that will bring hope to patients who pose the greatest challenge to treatment.
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The consequences of BSE were devastating to those people who later contracted the disease variant CJD. There was justifiable outrage when it became clear that farmers had turned cattle into cannibals by feeding them cow remains. There will be similar alarm at the proposal by the European Union, seven years after the BSE crisis, to reintroduce animal carcasses into the animal food chain. For one legacy of the BSE, scrapie and foot-and-mouth debacles is that consumers have become much more concerned about the provenance of food, and much more conscious of what they are eating.
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The first gene known to be linked to one of the most common forms of leukaemia has been identified by scientists. Research shows that people who inherit a defective form of the gene DAPK1 are more likely to develop the disease.
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TB patient faces months in care - BBC Health News 31st May 2007
A US man put under quarantine after being found to have a rare strain of tuberculosis has been moved from Atlanta to a specialist Denver clinic. Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old lawyer, could be treated for months, restricted to a room with special ventilation.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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AN ANTI-SMOKING youth group celebrated its first anniversary by holding a showcase event in Liverpool’s Wil- liamson Square to raise awareness of smoking among young people. Members of ATYC (Anti-Tobacco Youth Campaign) hit the streets armed with mobile phone charms and pocket mirrors which ask young people to think about the dangers of smoking.
A COUPLE struck down by bird flu said today they thought they were going to die. Lauren Gedman and her partner Mark Kinder, from Sutton Heath, St Helens, caught the same disease which hit north Wales earlier this month.
CLAIMS by paramedics that Widnes is to lose its only rapid response vehicle and volunteers are being used to plug gaps in the service have been rejected by Mersey Regional Ambulance Service. The service was responding to allegations the rapid response vehicle (RRV) which covers Widnes is being transferred to the Frodsham and Helsby area, with a volunteer group called Halton First Responders being used to augment what they say is a depleted service.
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MP's dismay over hospital stand-off - Runcorn & Widnes Weekly News 31st May 2007
MP DEREK Twigg has voiced disappointment that the Government will not intervene in the controversy over a proposed medium security mental hospital in Widnes. Although the Healthcare Commission announced last week that it would not register the hospital until planning issues between the council and applicant Priory Group are resolved, Baroness Andrews, communities and local government minister, said the Government is not in a position to get involved.
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
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NEARLY 650 operations were cancelled at north and west Cumbria’s main hospitals because of bed shortages. The 647 operations at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven were cancelled over the past year – more than one in 10 of all elective operations and 10 per cent more than the hospitals’ own targets.
DETAILS of a major shake-up of health services across Cumbria will not be revealed for another three months, health bosses have confirmed. The so-called “Grand Plan” was to go out to public consultation in June, but has now been delayed until September.
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Probe into lack of NHS dentists - Lancashire Telegraph 31st May 2007
AN investigation is being launched into the shortage of NHS dentists in Burnley. Members of the Adult Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee are asking people to come forward with their experiences of getting a place with a dentist in Burnley, which suffers some of the most chronic teeth problems in the country. Less than two years ago health chiefs received a shock when it was revealed children in East Lancashire had some of the highest levels of tooth decay in the country - and that many primary schoolchildren did not even own a toothbrush.
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Greater Manchester News
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A NURSERY at the centre of an E.coli outbreak has reopened. A total of 11 people were diagnosed with the bug and one young child needed a 'high level' of care at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital in Pendlebury as a result of the outbreak.
DOCTORS and nurses have been working round the clock in a bid to slash waiting times at the Royal Bolton Hospital. Evenings, weekends and lunch breaks are all being used for surgery and clinic times as bosses aim to reach Government waiting time targets a year early. Waits have already dramatically dropped and 35 per cent more operations are being carried out at the hospital.
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As many as 70 per cent of people think smoking at the wheel should be banned in all vehicles. And 60 per cent wrongly believe the July 1 smoking ban - which affects company and workplace vehicles - applies to private cars, a survey from eBayMotors.co.uk found. Also, 48 per cent of drivers would refuse to travel in a car with a smoker and 54 per cent believe smoking at the wheel is as dangerous as using a mobile phone while driving. The survey, of 1,277 adults, also showed that 30 per cent admitted to having driven carelessly when lighting and stubbing out cigarettes.
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Health bid launched in places of worship - Asian Image 31st May 2007
Sikh Gurdwaras and Hindu Mandirs across the UK have joined the fight against heart disease. It follows the British Heart Foundation (BHF) launch of its Healthier Social Cooking project urging places of worship to prepare meals low in salt and fat.
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