RECENT NEWS

The National Audit Office (NAO) has highlighted the increasing challenge to the NHS of sustaining the 18-week waiting time standard for elective care and the importance for Trusts of having reliable performance information and shared good practice.

Researchers are creating a ‘designer’ protein that could be effective at treating prostate cancer when other therapies fail.

The first clinical trial of a gene therapy for an inherited cause of progressive blindness called choroideremia has shown promising initial results which have surpassed expectations of the Oxford University researchers leading the study.

The BMA has published new guidelines for medical professionals to help patients and employers address alcohol and illicit drugs in the workplace. There were 8748 alcohol-related deaths in 2011, as well as 1785 linked to illegal drug use.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published updated 2014 head injury guidance which supersedes the clinical guideline 56 published in 2007.

A new alerting system launched by NHS England will ensure warnings of potential risks to the safety of patients can be developed much more quickly and be rapidly disseminated right across the NHS.

Work has begun on a new £6 million state-ofthe- art hybrid endovascular theatre suite set to transform the treatment of patients undergoing minimally invasive cardiovascular procedures at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The chance of surviving a heart attack is far lower in the UK than Sweden, according to a new study.

With the right treatment, over 65s can survive for many years after cancer – yet UK survival rates in older people are among the worst in Europe.

The BMA has supported calls for better oversight of the use of compromise agreements and severance payments for NHS doctors. The Commons PAC (public accounts committee) recently released a report criticising the use of these agreements to terminate employment contracts, especially where confidentiality clauses might prevent doctors or other staff raising patient safety concerns.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has launched an open competition for funding for research to inform the work of NHS Blood and Transplant.

Researchers in Sweden have found an association between a person’s fitness as a teenager and their risk of heart attack in later life.

Research from the Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre at Keele University has shown that foot osteoarthritis is more common than previously thought, impacting one in six UK adults over the age of 50 – over 3.5 million people.

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) has announced that, following the approval of the BD Saf-T-Intima Safety Integrated IV Catheter System for use in subcutaneous infusion therapies.

Statistics released by Health Protection Scotland show a 17% drop in MRSA cases between July to September 2013 compared to the previous quarter.

A survey conducted by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) found that contract difficulties, bullying and undermining behaviour were commonly faced by doctors working flexibly or less than full time.

Results for a pilot registry on the management and treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) in Europe show that compliance with treatment guidelines for patients with the lowest and higher stroke risk scores remains suboptimal, says the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) and the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) has warned that patients are being denied access to bariatric surgery because intensive weight loss programmes, which are a prerequisite to surgery, are not being commissioned in some areas.

Breast cancer incidence rates in England are lower in black and South Asian women, compared with white women. Research published in the British Journal of Cancer says that the main reason for this is due to differences in lifestyle and reproductive factors.

Patients with are being given renewed hope of future treatments thanks to the work of a London research team and a grant from national charity Heart Research UK.