Another 15 Minutes...Health News from Fade
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Four of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies are proposing to launch a television station to tell the public about their drugs, amid strenuous lobbying across Europe by the industry for an end to restrictions aimed at protecting patients. Pharma TV would be a dedicated interactive digital channel funded by the industry with health news and features but, at its heart, would be detailed information from drug companies about their medicines.
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The 4 million Labour activists who have a vote in the deputy leadership election were offered their first real choice by candidates yesterday when Jon Cruddas, the former Downing Street aide financially backed by the union Unite, called for a halt to privatisation in the NHS.
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'I don't understand what's happening,' a senior doctor confided to me after hearing Gordon Brown pledge to make the NHS his priority. 'Why does everyone think things are so terrible? Seven years ago, we had patients waiting two years for a heart operation; now it's two weeks. Things are incomparably better than they were. Not just a bit better, an awful lot better.' This doctor is a moderniser, an optimist. He isn't deluded and he isn't a member of the Labour party. But his view of things from the inside is not one that will be represented by the British Medical Association, the doctors' union which likes to warn the public about cash shortages and rationing of medicines, but doesn't like to admit that hospitals may, indeed, be safer and more efficient than they were.
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The NHS needs an injection of common sense - The Sunday Times 20th May 2007
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Inquiry finds the truth on shredding was withheld after infected transfusions killed 1,700 patients
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It's now clear privatisation and marketisation will only be challenged effectively from outside parliament
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A working life The histopathologist Dr Mary Sheppard may spend her days examining human tissue but, as Melissa Viney finds out, that doesn't stop her from being terrified of death
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Brief therapy claims to produce results to rival conventional career counselling, but without the time or expense. Alex Benady takes a crash course
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Soaring obesity rates have lumbered Britain with a "cancer time bomb" which, combined with an ageing population, will cause a massive increase in cases unless urgent action is taken, an expert has warned. Research has shown up to 40 per cent of cancers, particularly hormone-sensitive types such as breast and endometrial cancer (affecting the womb lining), can be prevented by adopting a healthy diet and taking regular exercise, said Dr Greg Martin, science and research manager at the World Cancer Research Fund. Obesity was also associated with cancer of the oesophagus and bowel, said Dr Martin.
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Eat less to cut risk of cancer - Daily Mail 21st May 2007
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Nurses, those caring people who have pulled many a patient back from the brink with their expertise, brow-wiping and tender words, are likely to be replaced soon by yards of wiring, transistors, hydraulics, a motherboard and light-emitting diodes. Enter the Robo-nurse. Scientists have been developing robots to treat patients and ease staff shortages. This week ministers will announce plans to develop robotic "medical assistants". In trials, robots that check patients' ID tags and give them their drugs have cut down dispensing errors. Experts believe they could soon be taking patients' temperatures, helping to clean and even carrying out consultations with doctors via video-link. But no mutton-chop sleeves or upside-down fob watches. Or smiles.
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Baby monitors, bought by parents to keep their children safe, may instead be harming them, some scientists fear. They warn that the devices are bathing the infants in radiation at an age when they are most vulnerable to it. The radiation, similar to that given off by modern cordless phones, is part of the increasing electronic smog to which mobile phones, their masts and Wi-Fi systems also contribute. The monitors use the same digitally enhanced cordless telecommunication (Dect) technology as cordless phones.
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The health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, is almost certain to be sacked by Gordon Brown when he forms his first cabinet in July. The prime minister-in-waiting has respect for Hewitt and may still offer her another job in the cabinet but health is such an important issue for Brown that he wants to start with a fresh face in charge.
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Doctors are requesting a police investigation into an abortion of a pregnant woman’s healthy baby at 28 weeks, four weeks after the British legal limit. A GP raised the alarm after a 22-year-old woman demanded a termination when more than six months’ pregnant. He refused and a colleague referred her for counselling to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), a charity which runs a chain of private abortion clinics.
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Doctors urged to call police over 'illegal abortion' - The Telegraph 21st May 2007
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I am worried about my A-level exams, which start soon. I feel immense tension, coupled with exhaustion from studying for long periods. Are there any natural alternatives that might give me a quick boost?
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The symptoms of Jayne Harrison’s endometriosis crept up on her slowly. They started in her late thirties with a small niggling ache in her lower abdomen. By the time she was 40, the pain had almost crippled her. “I thought at one point that I might have to get a wheelchair,” says Harrison, a health visitor from Framfield, in East Sussex. “There were times when I could barely move and couldn’t even bend over to do the gardening. I was taking paracetamol every two hours throughout the day, but that did not get rid of the pain.”
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In 1971 a British person who had cancer diagnosed had a 23.6 per cent chance of being alive a decade later. That has now almost doubled to 46.2 per cent, according to new figures released this week. Better diagnosis and treatment have transformed the prospects of surviving. Medicine’s long-term goal of turning cancer into a chronic but manageable condition is on the way to being realised.
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Home, career, status, fitness, health, holidays, great food, clever kids, spiritual enlightenment and perfect friends . . . the ideal of modern middle-class life is exhausting. And sometimes, amid this frantic world of achievement-chasing, the temptation is simply to turn around and say “f*** it” to the whole thing. In fact, “f***it f***itf***itf***itf***itf***it”. Tee-hee, what naughty fun, but it’s hardly proper therapy, is it? John Parkin, 39, is convinced that it is. He believes that saying FI (let’s try to be polite from here on) both cured the debilitating allergies that had plagued his adult life and finally set him on a path to happiness. Now based on an idyllic hill in Italy, he runs retreats that have so far taught FI therapy to more than 150 people. He will run his first workshop in London on Friday.
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I’m a widower and over 90, but I still masturbate regularly. Could this be harmful to me in any way? Does it have any health benefits?
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Men should see the doctor more often WHO SAYS? Everyone. It’s a men’s health mantra. HOW WRONG IS IT? Related Links * Men’s health myths - No 4 * Men's health myths - No 3 Very; it’s based on the idea that men use the health service less than women. But a previous MHM revealed that much of this apparent difference between the sexes is an illusion.
Healthcare giant AstraZeneca is to axe 300 full-time positions in a shake-up of its UK marketing division to realign itself with structural changes in the NHS. AstraZeneca UK marketing company president Chris Brinsmead said: "We have realigned our primary care sales organisations and our medical and regulatory affairs teams to match the Strategic Health Authority structure of the NHS.
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As the glamorous earth mother exhorts women to breastfeed their babies for at least six months, Christina Hopkinson talks to some mothers who, despite their most valiant efforts, just haven't managed it Last week, the vision that is Jemima Khan, speaking on behalf of the Breastfeeding Coalition pressure group, urged first-time mothers to breastfeed. "Sadly no babies in the UK are exclusively breastfed for six months," she lamented.
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James Le Fanu on the dangers of financing the NHS with 'smoke and mirrors' policies The Prime Minister-in-waiting has, by all accounts, a formidable intellect. But, as they used to say at the manse, "by their fruits shall ye know them", and the dizzying profligacy of his stewardship of the National Health Service augurs ill for the future.
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A consultant cardiologist has been sacked after saving the life of patient with an emergency procedure that had not been approved by his local primary care trust. The operation - understood to be a keyhole procedure to unblock arteries - is common in the NHS. Managers took disciplinary action against Robin Roberts, 48, when they discovered that the operation was not on a list of approved procedures.
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Food experts say it's all too easy to lose the medical benefits of vegetables by boiling or freezing their nutrients away. Bryony Gordon offers some tips on retaining their goodness If you thought that a bowl of boiled broccoli would count towards your hallowed five a day, think again. A study published last week by Warwick University found that boiling the vegetable can sap it of up to 80 per cent of its glucosinolates - the compounds believed to break down cancer-causing substances and stimulate the immune system. In short, boiling takes out a great deal of what is good about broccoli, with all the goodness ending up in the surrounding water.
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Parents are being demoralised by the growing number of child-rearing gurus interfering in family life, it was claimed yesterday. Mounting concern at the policing of parenthood has drawn together academics from around the world who will debate the phenomenon at a conference starting today at Kent University.
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I don't think I shall be availing myself of the cure for baldness which it was claimed last week is being developed by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania. I am always suspicious of miracle treatments that restore laboratory mice to perfect health, yet seem to work rather less well when humans start volunteering. But I do draw some comfort from last week's news. If baldness has a "cure", then presumably it must be a disease (indeed, in one report I even saw it described as "follicular disorder"). And if it is a disease, that means it is only a matter of time before it becomes recognised as such under the Disability Discrimination Act.
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The infrastructure scheme is proving astonishingly profitable for equity owners who sell on their stakes - and pressure is growing for the state to claw back a share. Liam Halligan and Jonathan Russell report Soon after New Labour took office in 1997, Alan Milburn, the then health secretary, declared that when it came to new hospitals, "it's PFI or bust".
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Hospitals across Britain have been ordered to review how drugs are given to patients after figures revealed that almost 10,000 injections are bungled each year. Mistakes led to the deaths of 25 patients and harmed more than 3,000 between January 2005 and June 2006, a study found.
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Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, was accused last night of misleading Parliament by concealing the true scale of the problems that have crippled the online recruitment system for junior doctors. Patricia Hewitt has been accused of misleading Parliament on the junior doctor fiasco In an emergency statement to the Commons this week, Miss Hewitt said she had jettisoned the system in response to the concerns of junior doctors and recent security breaches.
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Where did it all go wrong, the spin doctors and civil servants were asking each other wearily, as the midnight oil burnt late at the Department of Health yet again. Billions of extra pounds invested in the NHS; more doctors, nurses, physios; local hospitals closed down, spanking new walk-in medical centres, help lines and even lessons in salsa dancing to get the nation fit. Why isn't the country singing our praises and demanding Hewitt for PM?
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Pride is one of those words that is used as a term of praise as much as one of condemnation. No one likes pride as it appears in 19th-century novels filled with arrogant dandies who are too swept up in their own world to care what others think. But many people could do with a bit more pride in themselves, expressed not in disdain for others but in a sense of their own worth.
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There is a serious, and little-known, consequence of adding folic acid to bread or flour ("Folic acid in bread 'will benefit health of babies' ", report, May 18). Taking extra folic acid can often mask the symptoms of pernicious anaemia, which, if left undiagnosed and untreated, can result in serious neurological damage to the central nervous condition - Sub-Acute Combined Degeneration of the Cord Secondary to Pernicious Anaemia.
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Three months ago Paul and Georgina Potter could not have been happier. Their first child Ellie had just been born and they were looking forward to one day giving her a brother or sister. But a hospital blunder has left them facing the likelihood that that will never happen. Mrs Potter discovered that staff had left a large swab inside her, which triggered a 'raging infection'.
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The conditions in which females are brought up could affect their fertility later in life, research suggests. Researchers at University College London monitored hormone levels in women who migrated to the UK from Bangladesh at different stages in life.
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The NHS is probably using too many expensive treatments, according to health economists and managers. New drugs are generally only used if they cost under £30,000 for each year of good health they provide.
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GPs and pharmacists do not know enough about allergies, putting patients lives at risk, campaigners say. Allergy UK said training on the subject was extremely limited and many people were going undiagnosed.
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Like many couples, Debby and Simon Cooper turned to fertility treatment in a bid to have their longed-for baby. But while many couples who opt for IVF want to have two, or even three, embryos implanted to increase their chances of expanding their family, the Coopers only wanted to have one embryo implanted.
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A study is being launched to investigate possible links between diet and Alzheimer's disease. Researchers at the Alzheimer's Society will look at the effects of fruit juice, red wine and oily fish on the incidence of mental illness.
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We hosted a dinner party recently at which we had fish for a starter. I assumed my husband had already checked with our guests that they liked fish - he had not.
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BBC News Online asked readers to send in any questions they had about cancer. Professor Mike Richards, National Cancer Director has answered a selection of them.
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Up to 25,000 people a year may have died needlessly as hospitals waited for advice on blood clots, says an expert. The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence published guidance last month - two years after a critical report by MPs.
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Incinerator raises fertility fear - BBC Health News 18th May 2007
A retired GP has raised objections to a proposed incinerator in Cornwall saying it could increase infertility, infant deaths, miscarriages and birth defects. Dr Dick Van Steenis has been investigating the health effects of incineration plants for 12 years.
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International News
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A simple blood test for aggressive forms of prostate cancer has moved a step closer with the discovery that a genetic marker is linked to the most serious forms of the disease. The marker, called 8q24, lies on chromosome 8 and was originally discovered by deCODE, a genetics company that made a deal with the Government of Iceland to use health data from the closely knit Icelandic population to search for genes that cause common diseases.
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Michael Moore's Sicko, which received its first-ever screening in front of a packed, early-morning audience in Cannes yesterday, is a far more thoughtful and measured piece of film making than his Palme d'Or winning rant, Farenheit 9/11 It is, however, unlikely to repeat the commercial success and global notoriety of its predecessor simply because its concerns are more parochial, focusing on the American health service and the system's iniquities compared with those of Cuba, Canada, France and the UK.
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Coming soon, a pill that stops periods forever - The Telegraph 21st May 2007
A contraceptive pill that aims to halt indefinitely a woman's period is expected to receive full approval from US health officials this week, a move that could end discomfort and pain for many women. The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to give the green light to Lybrel tomorrow. Wyeth, the drug's manufacturer, has requested approval from British officials for the drug, which will be marketed here as Anya, but it is unlikely the pill will be available until next year.
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A gene thought to be crucial for chemotherapy to work may instead help cancer survive, US scientists fear. The p53 gene's job is to tell faulty cells to self destruct, and so experts assumed it helped in killing cancer cells that chemotherapy had injured.
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Telemedicine: the gift of time - BBC Health News 18th May 2007
Many of us take it for granted that we can up sticks and change the scenery. But not all of us are in a position to spontaneously snatch that weekend away. Most of those suffering from long-term illnesses view foreign travel as a distant dream.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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Steroid use may be more than twice as common as official figures suggest, a leading expert has told the BBC. According to the British Crime Survey there are 42,000 regular anabolic steroid users in the UK.
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WHEN Peter Cass was born he was so small he had to be wrapped in a sandwich bag to keep warm. Three months early, weighing just 1lb 1oz, and 9½ inches long, he was only given a 50-50 chance of survival.
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A “PETRIFIED” 55-year-old woman was discharged from Southport Hospital, days after severe fits and hours before being diagnosed with colonised MRSA. Maureen Meehan suffers from two conditions, Sclerderma and Reynauds, the latter of which affects circulation to the extremities.
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A NURSE who dishonestly received more than £6,000 in benefits reported herself to the authorities “because she couldn’t deal with the shame any longer”. Beauty Koworera had been forced from her job at Southport Hospital through illness, and under interview said she was motivated by financial problems, including the “threat of losing her home”, North Sefton Magistrates’ Court heard.
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SOUTHPORT and Formby Hospital Trust chairman Sir Ron Watson is the guest speaker at the Patient and Public Involvement Forum’s AGM next week. He will be giving an overview of acute care carried out on the Southport and Ormskirk hospital sites and is also expected to talk about the current financial position and latest developments.
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COUNTDOWN clocks have sprung up at both Southport and Bootle One Stop Shops informing residents when Sefton becomes smoke-free. From July 1, virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces in the borough and across England will have to comply with the new legislation.
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PCT needs to speak to GPs and nurses says MP - Warrington Guardian 18th May 2007
THE department of health was not consulted about the super surgeries' plan, MP Helen Jones confimed in a written parliamentary answer. She asked the secretary of state for health what communications there had been over the plan for five centres to eventually replace the 29 GPs surgeries. Answering for the Government, health minister, Rosie Winterton, said: "There has been no communication with the NHS North West or the Warrington Primary Care Trust (PCT) on the proposals to establish polyclinics."
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
CUMBRIA County Council was yesterday accused to going for a “easy target” over its plan to save cash by charging pensioners for day care. The claim came as MP Eric Martlew met elderly users of the service at the Elizabeth Welsh care home in Harraby, Carlisle, where pensioners were outraged by the proposal to charge £10 for the service from October this year.
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WEST Cumbrians still waiting for NHS dental places will get seen quicker if they are willing to travel, say health bosses. Although the dental crisis has eased in the west of the county thanks to the appointment of new dentists, 7,000 people remain on the database.
NO SMOKING signs outside churches in Cumbria will be tacky and unnecessary, a leading churchman said this week. When legislation banning smoking in public places comes into force on July 1 even cathedrals must have signs at the door warning people smoking is forbidden inside.
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MP slams doctor training 'fiasco' - Lancashire Telegraph 19th May 2007
MP Nigel Evans has attacked the government for its handling of the online application system for junior doctors. The Ribble Valley Tory has welcomed the decision by the Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt, to shelve the Medical Training Application Service scheme.
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Greater Manchester News
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MORE than £25m was wasted by doctors prescribing too many expensive drugs in Greater Manchester last year, according to a government watchdog. GPs could make more use of cheaper, non-branded versions of the most common prescription drugs without harming care, the National Audit Office said.
NEW mums in Bolton can get extra help learning to breast-feed, thanks to a new support group. The Breast Buddies group has been founded at the Royal Bolton Hospital and is run by local mums who have all breast-fed their babies.
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A BABY who weighed less than a bag of sugar when she was born has finally been allowed home - more than three months after being delivered at the Royal Bolton Hospital. Tiny Charlie Glover weighed only 1lb 4oz when she was born four months early in the special care baby unit in Bolton on February 6, and her parents, Janice Snalam and Mike Glover, believe the staff saved their daughter's life.
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Remploy jobs: Latest moves - The Bolton News 18th May 2007
UNIONS representing workers at manufacturer Remploy's under-threat plants have hit out after bosses announced consultation on the closure plans. More than 120 people work at the firm's Bolton and Radcliffe factories, which employ a large proportion of disabled people.
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