RECENT NEWS

Delays in spotting the early signs and symptoms of cancer could be costing the lives of thousands of people in England and Wales every year, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). To tackle this issue it is updating its guidance to better support GPs and other primary healthcare professionals, and ultimately improve early diagnosis rates.

With more soldiers returning from combat suffering devastating injuries, doctors are turning to a reconstructive surgery that uses tissue transplantation along with immunosuppression therapy. This approach has had encouraging results; however, rejection of transplanted tissue from an unmatched donor remains a critical complication. A study has found a way around this.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has announced awards, which total £12.1 million, to fund Blood and Transplant Research Units (BTRUs). Each BTRU is a partnership between a university and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).

Even mild depressive symptoms can weaken the outcome of lumbar spinal stenosis surgery, according to a study completed at the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital.

Micreos, a Dutch biotech company, has developed Staphefekt, a bacteria-killing enzyme specific to Staphylococcus aureus, which is equally effective in killing methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) as methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus(MSSA).

Royal Philips has launched a Europeanwide research initiative designed to better understand some of the key issues affecting the many millions of people currently living with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a condition that kills 25,000 people in the UK every year.

The ‘Clinical Research Impact’ award, sponsored by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network, was recently presented to Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust at a ceremony in London, after demonstrating how it has taken a multi-faceted approach and introduced numerous new initiatives throughout the organisation to maximise the impact of research.

Medical technology designers are to pitch a new contoured support snood helping to improve the quality of lives of motor neurone disease sufferers whose neck muscles have weakened to a panel of ‘Dragons’ Den’ style judges as part of a £10,000 innovation challenge.

The death rate for people under 75 from cancer has fallen steadily over the past decade, according to figures published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Statistics show that, across England, cancer has remained the top cause of death among under-75s but that the cancer death rate in this age group fell by 14.7% between 2003 and 2013.

A partnership led by the Medical Research Council (MRC) will invest over £230 million in a range of revolutionary technologies aimed at identifying the causes of diseases such as cancer and dementia, and dramatically speeding up diagnosis and treatment. The technologies will be used to find out how differences in the cellular and molecular make-up of people affect how they respond to disease and treatment.

New figures from Public Health England’s NHS Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Screening Programme show that 487 men received potentially lifesaving surgery during 2013/14.

The individual results of around 5,000 consultant surgeons have been published on the MyNHS website (NHS Choices). This latest publication, which covers 10 specialty areas of surgery, gives patients another route to find out more about an individual surgeon’s practice and the outcomes for their patients after an operation.

University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) has become the first Trust in the country to carry out a new procedure aimed at restoring feeling and movement to the arms of tetraplegic patients.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers have found a specific network of brain regions that is not only more vulnerable to unhealthy ageing – for example, Alzheimer’s disease – but also to disorders that emerge in young people, such as schizophrenia.

New analysis from a real-world study demonstrates that first-line use of fidaxomicin is clinically effective in reducing recurrence rates and lowering mortality, and provides cost savings for the treatment of potentially fatal Clostridium difficileinfection (CDI).

Staff morale has topped the list of concerns raised by NHS finance directors in The King’s Fund’s latest quarterly monitoring report. Nearly half (47%) of Trust finance directors surveyed for the report identified staff morale as one of their top three concern –twice as many as in the previous quarter. The report suggests this should be a significant cause for concern given the close link between staff engagement and quality of care.

A national Accident and Emergency survey shows some encouraging results with almost eight out of 10 respondents saying their overall experience was good rating it seven or more out of ten and only 3% of patients saying the doctor or nurse did not listen to what they had to say.

Gilead Sciences has announced that the European Commission has granted a marketing authorisation for Harvoni (ledipasvir 90 mg/sofosbuvir 400 mg), the first once-daily single tablet regimen to treat the majority of chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 and 4 infection in adults.

Figures published by Public Health England (PHE) show that more than 340,000 frontline healthcare workers in England had a flu vaccination in September and October this year. The figures reveal that 36.8% of the frontline healthcare workforce have been vaccinated against flu already this winter, compared to 35% of workers who were vaccinated in the same period in 2013 to 2014.

Two new laws come into force, which are designed to help improve patient safety, transparency and leadership in the NHS.