February - 2012

Rise in child-abuse cases amid hardship

Economic hardship during the global economic downturn appears to be linked to rising incidence of child abuse, according to the latest figures from the United States.According to one study, the beginning of the recession and widespread job losses in 2009 also coincided with a rise in the number of children hospitalised with abusive head trauma.The figure of 15 per 100,000 children compares with nine per 10...

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£23m a year spent on translators

New figures have shown that the health service spends £23 million a year - £64,000 a day - on interpreters and translations.The data, which was compiled by 2020Health, revealed an increase in the amount spent by the NHS on translation services of 17% since 2007.The think tank's Julia Manning said: "The costs involved are truly staggering in an age of austerity, and incredible when taken in the conte...

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Campaigners warn about drinking

The government has launched a television advertising campaign which warns people against drinking "a little too much" alcohol.The campaign highlights the risk of illness such as heart disease and cancer, which are increased by drinking.The government says drinking two glasses of wine or pints of beer a day can triple the danger of mouth cancer.The Change4Life campaign says drinkers should not &...

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Nappy sack warning

The NHS has launched a campaign to highlight the risk of nappy sacks suffocating babies. It comes after the deaths of two babies in Cornwall and the worries voiced by coroner Dr Emma Carlyon.It is understood that 11 babies have died over the last decade because they suffocated after pulling a nappy sack over their faces.The new campaign will issue a tool kit - made up of posters, leaflets and a DVD ...

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Daniel Radcliffe talks about his drinking

Actor Daniel Radcliffe, star of the Harry Potter films, has admitted his drinking was so bad that he "blacked out" every time he drank alcohol.He stopped drinking in 2010 and told Shortlist magazine: "The drinking was unhealthy and damaging to my body and my social life. That’s beyond question. I was living in constant fear of who I’d meet, what I might have said to them, what I might ...

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Sex infections in over-45s doubles

New figures have revealed that sexually transmitted infections are soaring amongst people in the over-45 age-group.
With divorce rates rising, more and more older people are having unprotected sex and that has seen cases of chlamydia and herpes more than double within the last decade.
Cases of syphilis, which was almost eradicated ten years ago, have risen fourfold and around 20% of adults receiving HIV...

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Rise in depression blamed on credit crunch

The number of patients suffering from stress and depression since the financial crisis began in 2009 has risen significantly, according to health workers.
An online poll of nearly 250 health professionals by patient.co.uk found 84% said they had seen a significant increase in patients with stress-related symptoms and 73% said they had seen a significant increase in patients with depression. And 85% of those who r...

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RCN hits out at plans to cut nursing student members

The Royal College of Nursing Scotland has said the Scottish Government's plans to reduce the number of nursing students by 10% in 2012-13 will affect the standard of patient care.Theresa Fyffe, Director of RCN Scotland, said: "Year-on-year cuts like this are not sustainable. Last year we agreed, reluctantly, to a 12% cut in numbers for 2011-12, but all the evidence we’ve gathered shows that this further cut ...

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Suicide reduction schemes effective

Researchers from the University of Manchester have said suicide reduction schemes work in decreasing the number of people who try to kill themselves.The team assessed a number of interventions recommended by the schemes, such as 24-hour crisis teams, seven-day follow up plans for discharged patients and removing ligature points from wards. The study's authors wrote: "Our findings suggest that aspects of provision o...

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NHS Trust Development Authority to be lead by Flory

The head of the new NHS Trust Development Authority is to be NHS deputy chief executive David Flory.
He will take up the post asthe first head of the body charged with creating an all-foundation-trust provider sector when the NTDA becomes fully operational in April 2013. Mr Flory, who is also NHS director-general of finance, performance and operations, will continue as NHS deputy chief executive until March 2013....

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World's oldest person has surgery

A Yorkshireman has undergone a hip replacement operation at the age of 102, making him the oldest person in the world to have surgery, reports the Daily Mail.John Lawrence said he wanted to have the surgery so he could continue working in his garden. His granddaughter Gillian Coates, said: "Even at 101 he was still digging up his garden and he decided on the hip replacement so he could continue with...

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Malaria deaths 'underestimated'

A study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has found that the number of people dying of malaria around the world may be nearly twice as high as current figures estimate.The study suggests that as many as 1.24 million people could have died from the disease in 2010, compared with a World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate of 655,000.Writing in the medical journal The Lancet, a research...

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Watermelon source of salmonella outbreak

The Health Protection Agency has revealed that a salmonella outbreak linked to watermelons has affected 35 people in the UK.
There has also been one death, though that person had serious underlying health problems. The HPA said that three times the usual number of cases of Salmonella Newport infection had been seen for this time of year and cases of illness caused by the same strain have been seen in Ireland and ...

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Chairman quits troubled hospital

Ed Anderson, the chairman of Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust – which closed an emergency department and considered bringing in army medics - is to stand down in March.
The trust was criticised for shutting Pontefract hospital’s A&E overnight from the start of November, prompting its chief executive to resign. The new acting chairman is David Stone, who had recently retired after 10 years in the same pos...

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Design of the NHS Commissioning Board

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Monitor's failure regime criticised by private providers

Private mental health firms are lobbying for significant changes to regulator Monitor’s proposed failure regime.
They are concerned that rules putting “patients ahead of creditors” will prevent them from borrowing. Under the government’s NHS reforms, insolvent providers of essential NHS services would be subject to a special form of administration which is intended to ensure uninterrupted access to patien...

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AstraZenca annouce job losses

Drugs manufacturer AstraZeneca has announced that it is to axe 7,300 jobs over the next two years.
It is understood that there will be up to 300 cuts in research and development at the Anglo-Swedish firms Alderley Park site in Cheshire, with further cuts at other sites in this country as part of a major restructuring programme by the company.
It follows the announcement by AstraZeneca of a fall in pre-t...

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GPs slam health reforms

More than 300 doctors have written to the Daily Telegraph to refute claims that the majority of GPs support the Health and Social Care Bill.
The letter signed by 365 GPs, specialists and health academics, states: “SIR – The Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) leaders who support the Health and Social Care Bill (Letters, January 28) do not represent the majority of GPs, who believe that the Bill will seriously ...

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Deadly MRSA spread by coughs and sneezes

A warning has been issued over a new strain of MRSA that has been identified in the UK.
The strain, called USA300, has been described as a flesh-eating form of pneumonia and can be easily passed between healthy people on public transport, passing through skin-to-skin contact.
The form of MRSA was first seen in America but is now being seen in hospitals and in the community in Britain.
Dr Ruth ...

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Prostate cancer drug too expensive

The health watchdog for England and Wales has provisionally rejected a prostate cancer drug for NHS use.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) say the benefits of abiraterone are not enough to justify the price the NHS has been asked to pay.
The drug that can extend the life of men with advanced prostate cancer by more than three months and is one of the few drugs available to...

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November - 2010

Drug companies 'exploiting rules to make exorbitant profits from NHS'

Consultants and patients' group publish open letter calling for inquiry into firms' alleged repackaging of drugs for rare diseases.

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Transplant patients given lungs of smokers due to shortage of organ donors

Desperate transplant patients are being given the lungs of chain smokers because the NHS is so short of organ donations.

Surgeons are also being forced to use diseased body parts from cancer sufferers, drug addicts and the very elderly.

Experts say that the waiting l

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NHS PAYS FOR PC JOBS AS NURSES ARE AXED

NHS bosses are spending millions of pounds to meet strict European equality laws while more than 1,500 frontline nurses are to be axed to save money.

More than 50 staff are employed at taxpayers’ expense to promote political correctness across the Health Service, documents h

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NHS website gets 100m hits a year

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Organ transplants reach record high

Record numbers of Britons underwent an organ transplant last year to save, extend or improve their lives, figures from the NHS show today.

Hospitals carried out a total of 3,706 transplants of organs including livers, kidneys, hearts and lungs in 2009-10, up 5% on the year before,

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A&E TIME-WASTERS COST NHS £27M

PATIENTS who turn up at accident and emergency departments with trifling ailments are costing cash-strapped hospital trusts in just one region £27million a year.

In the past six months an estimated 200,000 people have sought treatment at the 13 A&E units in Greater Manche

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October - 2010

Cancer drugs fund to be £200m a year

The cancer drugs fund to pay for medicines turned down for use on the NHS will be worth £200m a year, ministers have confirmed.

It had been feared the fund would be cut in the austerity drive as Lord Howe, health minister, appeared to back-track on the Tory election pledge b

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Spending Review: NHS gets 'bare minimum' funding rise

The NHS budget in England will get the above inflation rises it was promised this parliament, but by only the "bare minimum" margin.

Funding will rise by £10bn to £114bn over the next four years - the equivalent of a 0.1% a year hike in real terms.

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