RECENT NEWS

Two in three healthcare professionals believe that there is still a war against infection in UK hospitals, with catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSI) considered a major issue by three quarters (74%) of professionals, according to a survey of UK nurses and anaesthetists.

A review by the Whistleblowing Commission has made a series of recommendations, including calls for a fresh code of practice on whistleblowing to be adopted in UK workplaces.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its fourth annual State of Care report, which considers how care is delivered in hospitals, care homes, dental surgeries and in the community.

A team of researchers from London are looking into new ways of predicting who might be at risk of heart disease or a stroke, which could help save more lives.

Women’s experiences of maternity care have improved over the last three years, but progress is needed in some critical areas, the findings of a survey published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) show.

The CQC has published its fourth annual 'State of Care' report, which considers how care is delivered in hospitals, care homes, dental surgeries and in the community.

The orthopaedics department at UMC Utrecht has developed the world’s first one-step repair operation for damaged knee cartilage. This new procedure involves removing cartilage cells surgically from the damaged knee and mixing them with specially selected donor stem cells.

The Royal College of Physicians(RCP) has launched new guidelines on the diagnosis and management of people with prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDOC). They should help healthcare staff, families, carers, friends and others understand the clinical, ethical and legal issues surrounding the care of these patients.

Treating early stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with advanced radiotherapy appears to be a viable alternative to surgery, according to researchers who carried out a retrospective comparative study sponsored by the London-based South East Cancer Oncology Group.

Policy, medical training and clinical practice have failed to adapt to a significant increase in the number of patients taking multiple prescription drugs, according to a new report on polypharmacy and medicines optimisation, published by The King’s Fund.

NHS England has published the most comprehensive data, so far, on 'never events', which include incidents such as wrong-site surgery, swabs and other medical equipment being left inside patients, and drugs being administered incorrectly.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is to carry out focused inspections of some 150 care homes and acute hospitals to review how people with dementia are cared for in England.

HIV causes structural heart disease, according to research presented at EuroEcho-Imaging 2013 by Dr Nieves Montoro from Madrid, Spain. The findings support the introduction of cardiovascular screening in all HIV patients, particularly those with a positive blood viral load.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is calling on doctors and nurses across England and Wales to become better educated in how to safely care for patients who are given fluids through a drip (intravenous fluid therapy). Although thousands of people are likely to need a drip in hospital, NICE says there is a lack of formal training, which is putting patients' lives at risk.

At the annual conference of the Institute of Decontamination Sciences in Blackpool, MMM UK introduced its new state of the art training facility together with a suite of AVM training courses.

Two in three healthcare professionals believe that there is still a war against infection in UK hospitals, with catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSI) considered a major issue by three quarters (74%) of professionals, according to a survey of UK nurses and anaesthetists.

Medical device and heating specialists Inditherm plc recently welcomed His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO to their headquarters and factory near Rotherham.

A report released by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) claims that patient care in the UK is being put at risk by staff cuts and excessive workloads, leading to unprecedented nurse stress and ill health.

Frequent maternity unit closures, restricted services such as home births and falling budgets are among the issues highlighted by a survey of senior midwives by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM).

Royal Preston Hospital, part of the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has invested in Esaote’s O-Scan – a compact MRI unit for extremities scanning.