RECENT NEWS

The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, has accepted recommendations from UK immunisation experts to extend the flu vaccination programme to all children. Children in at-risk groups – such as those with asthma, heart conditions or cerebral palsy – are already eligible to receive the flu vaccine on the NHS.

A team of scientists from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in the US, has developed methods to increase the production of red blood cells from stem cells, a discovery that could dramatically boost the blood supply available for transfusions.

Kidney disease is already costing the NHS more than breast, lung, colon and skin cancer combined, yet many cases still remain undiagnosed and untreated, according to a report published by NHS Kidney Care.

Managing director of Surgical Holdings, Daniel Coole, recently spoke at the launch of the Anglia Ruskin MedTech Campus in the House of Commons.

The South East Weight Loss Surgical Centre, located at BMI Chelsfield Park Hospital, has announced that it has been accredited as a ‘Bariatric (weight loss) Surgery Centre of Excellence’ by the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO).

The European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA) has awarded the 2012 ‘ESA Dräger Prize in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine’ to the research group headed by associate professor Dr Alexander Zarbock, department of anaesthesiology, intensive care and pain management, at the University Hospital of Münster, and Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Münster, Germany.

NHS Medical Director, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, has announced that junior doctors will now be required to spend a minimum of four working days shadowing the job that they will be taking up, in a bid to improve patient safety.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published the first issue of its quarterly Market Report, highlighting key trends in England’s health and social care services.

The Information Standards Board for Health and Social Care has approved the NHS dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d) as a fundamental standard which must be used by all staff.

The development of a web-based tool to accelerate and increase knowledge transfer interactions between the NHS and industry has resulted in an award for Health Enterprise East (HEE) worth £50,000.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a review which praises the exceptional services run by the Defence Medical Services (DMS), the British military’s trauma and rehabilitation unit for personnel injured in battle, as well as military primary care services for service personnel and their families.

A greater proportion of patients who have curative treatment for oesophageal or stomach cancer are living longer after diagnosis, according to new findings released by the National Oesophago-Gastric Cancer Audit.

Head and neck cancer patients are receiving variable levels of support and treatment choice across England and Wales, according to a new national audit.

A report published by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that, although there was a surplus of £2.1 billion across the NHS, as a whole, in 2011-12, Trusts are also experiencing financial distress.

A survey by Cancer Research UK has revealed there is widespread ignorance about smoking-related cancers among the UK public.

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company, has launched a new Europe-wide safety website, designed to help healthcare organisations improve healthcare worker safety and comply with impending legislation on sharps injury prevention.

David Behan CBE, director general of social care, local government and care partnerships at the Department of Health, has announced his departure to take up the role of chief executive at the Care Quality Commission.

CareFusion has announced the acquisition of UK Medical Limited, a leading distributor of medical products to the NHS and private healthcare sector in the UK.

A diabetes education charity has hit out at claims that structured diabetes education programmes fail to show results in patients. X-Pert Health, which offers six-week education programmes to people living with diabetes, responded to claims in a major study based on the outcomes for people who attended a one-day DESMOND course.

A survey published by the Office for National Statistics has reported significant differences in the quality of care experienced according to the age of patient at death, cause of death and place of death – with hospital care lagging behind hospice care.