RECENT NEWS

With over 400,000 occupational injuries reported each year, the EU Council Directive 2010/32/EU aims to achieve the safest possible environment for healthcare workers through the prevention from sharps related injuries.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has undertaken a major project to upgrade existing bed and dynamic pressure area care stock to state-of-the-art electric profiling beds.

A share of a £25 million fund to improve the birthing environments in more than 100 hospitals has been announced by the Department of Health.

The Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) approach to deciding which treatments are available on health services - used by the UK and generating much interest across Europe - is dangerously flawed and should be abandoned, according a European Commission funded research project.

Twelve years ago, controversial clinical trial results caused an international medical society to warn against the use of stents in leg arteries. But recent years have brought significant improvements in stent technology. One-year follow-up results of a worldwide, multicenter trial with 744 patients show that 90% participants had successful procedures that did not require a repeat treatment.

Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, has announced that £120 million will be invested in health research to benefit millions of patients and tackle some of the country’s biggest health problems over the next five years.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued new guidance recommending that a potentially sight-saving drug should be made available on the NHS to people with diabetic macular oedema (DMO). The draft guidance recommends Lucentis (Ranibizumab), Novartis, is used as a treatment for the eye condition and, if the final guidance goes ahead, the treatment will become available on the NHS.

A pilot scheme is being trialled at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital (RBH) by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), in partnership with three hospitals in the country.

Concerns about the inconsistent availability of certain medicines has resulted in a review of the decision-making process at NHS Scotland’s drugs approval body.

The Chief Medical Officer (CMO), professor Dame Sally Davies has warned of the threat of antibiotic resistance and highlighted the need to use antibiotics responsibly.

NICE has issued new final draft guidance recommending two new treatments for advanced malignant melanoma.

A drug commonly prescribed to help patients sleep in hospitals has been associated with an increased risk of falls, according to a study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

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.