RECENT NEWS

Researchers in Denmark identified 470 victims of sudden cardiac death and followed their relatives for up to 11 years.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has called for practical guidance to help doctors with new regulations on preventing sharps injuries in the NHS.

A new research centre at Imperial College London aims to help doctors diagnose illness more efficiently and choose the best treatments based on a patient’s individual metabolic and physiological characteristics

Doctors’ leaders have called for any proposed roll out of personal health budgets (PHBs) to be delayed until there is a clear understanding of the benefits, following BMA evidence which points to a lack of knowledge among doctors about the proposals.

A new free training programme, funded by the Department of Health, aims to support NHS staff to ethically procure goods and services.

The Patients Association has published its fourth annual Patient Stories report – a series of case studies highlighting experiences of poor care within the NHS.

A report from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has found that half of people who inject drugs are infected with hepatitis C, one in 100 have HIV and a third have a bacterial infection as a result of their injecting.

Medications used to treat hypertension, diabetes and skin conditions could double as treatments for Alzheimer’s within 10 years according to a new study funded by Alzheimer’s Society and led by King’s College London.

A recent study by Oxford University researchers has revealed that the heath and economic cost of bowel cancer in the UK is more than prostate cancer and breast cancer.

A new vaccination programme has been announced by the Department of Health which will see children under four months vaccinated against rotavirus, which currently causes around 140,000 diarrhoea cases a year in under fives and can lead to hospital stays for nearly one-in-ten of those affected in the UK.

The Royal College of Nursing has issued a warning that it believes the NHS in England is ‘sleepwalking into a crisis’ and has called on the Government to take immediate action to stop Trusts cutting vital posts and services.

The first annual report from the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, highlights the need for comprehensive action to stop the rising tide of liver disease.

The rates of women dying from ovarian cancer in England have fallen from 11.2 women in every 100,000 in 2001 to 8.8 per 100,000 in 2010 – a drop of around 20%, according to a new report by the National Cancer Intelligence Network.

The number of hospital procedures paid for by the NHS, but carried out by the private sector has increased by nearly 11% in one year, according to figures in the Hospital Episodes Statistics Admitted Patient Care, England 2011/12.

Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary, has delivered the first mandate from the Government to the NHS which sets out what patients in England can expect from GPs, hospitals and the wider NHS over the next two years.

MEDICA 2012 has seen a continued increase in top decision-makers attending the event. The event organisers reported that 93% of the 130,600 trade visitors had decision-making responsibility.

A new tool in the armoury for infection prevention and control professionals was launched at IPS 2012 – the BIOQUELL ICEpod. The temporary enclosure has been developed to help healthcare workers control outbreaks and manage patients who are known/suspected to be infected or colonised with nosocomial pathogens.

Emergency admissions for patients with cancer remain problematic, despite the development of acute oncology. According to a new report by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), more could be done to improve their care and subsequent experiences and outcomes.

Blackpool Teaching Hospital has introduced rapid screening for the superbug MRSA of all emergency admissions patients, and both MRSA and MSSA for surgical patients admitted through A&E, which is delivering clinical and economic benefits.

The Department of Health (DH) has announced that pregnant women will be offered the whooping cough vaccination to protect their newborn babies, who are not usually vaccinated until between two and four months.