RECENT NEWS

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is in the process of developing a clinical guideline on the acute management of myocardial infarction (heart attack) with ST-segment-elevation (STEMI) and has recently issued a draft version of the guideline for public consultation.

New figures suggest that English A&E departments see the most attendances on a Monday morning, when they deal with double the hourly average.

A King’s Fund report, Spending on health and social care over the next 50 years, states that health and social care could account for half of all Government spending within 50 years.

Five NHS Trusts in England have been categorised as having a ‘higher than expected’ mortality ratio over two years, new analysis shows. During the same period – between July 2010 to June 2012 – 11 Trusts were categorised as having a ‘lower than expected’ ratio, based on Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI) data.

A Europe-wide initiative to explain blood tests to children has been sponsored by BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). With medical education publisher, Medikidz, BD has developed a cartoon-style booklet and poster with the aim of helping children to understand what blood tests are for and how they help doctors make them better.

NHS Blood and Transplant has appointed three new clinical leads who will work towards developing and improving organ transplantation standards across the UK.

A study from Finland, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, has shown that being unmarried increases the risk of fatal and non-fatal heart attack in both men and women.

A study of 45,000 British adults found that not eating meat or fish was associated with better heart health, while vegetarians also displayed lower levels of harmful cholesterol in their blood and reduced systolic, or maximum, blood pressure.

The Royal College of Nursing’s online induction programme for new healthcare assistants, First Steps for Health Care Assistants, has a new look and a number of new features.

A recent vote in European Parliament has recommended improvements to the regulation of nurses working throughout the EU through the introduction of language checks and more rigorous competency requirements.

South London Healthcare NHS Trust, the most financially challenged NHS Trust in England, will be dissolved by October 2013 to address the risk it carries for ongoing patient care and the pressure it is placing on other parts of the NHS, according to Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt.

Robert Francis QC’s long-awaited final report into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust scandal has now been published, highlighting the appalling suffering of many patients.

A review of bureaucracy in the NHS by the NHS Confederation has assessed the progress made in reducing the bureaucratic burden on organisations in the past three years, and looks at where new burdens may lie as a result of changes to the NHS architecture.

WARDRAY PREMISE has a wide range of images in their Relax & View image collection. The company offers quality backlit wall and ceiling units designed to improve the aesthetics of a room.

Electrical safety specialist, BENDER UK, is celebrating achieving industry’s flagship standard for occupational health and safety best practice at its headquarters in Ulverston, which houses product testing facilities and delivers, sales, service, project management and technical support.

Infections such as norovirus increase healthcare costs and time, so improving hand hygiene compliance is one way to both lower costs and improve patient safety.

At the recent Institute of Decontamination Sciences (IDSc) annual conference, held in Blackpool, the problematic issue of protein detection and removal was high on the agenda. LOUISE FRAMPTON reports.

The Guardian has recently reported on a warning from the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) that many hospitals lack enough staff in some areas to ‘keep people safe’.

New guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) supports the use of an ultrasound bone healing device that can replace surgery for patients with ‘problem’ fractures, potentially.

A non-invasive ultrasound test is set to reduce the need for liver biopsy across the NHS following a guide published by the NHS Technology Adoption Centre (NTAC).