RECENT NEWS

Under health reform plans announced in December, a national body is being set up to oversee medical education and training in England. However, the BMA has voiced concern that measures intended to bring about necessary change could threaten national standards and the quality of training, especially if pushed through too quickly.

The first national conference aimed at community midwives will take place on 14 April in Doncaster, supported by the RCM.

The Royal College of Nursing says that members’ angry reaction to a proposal from NHS Employers to freeze incremental pay for NHS staff means the RCN is likely to reject the plans.

BCS has set up a working group to review and make recommendations on the future of coronary care units in the UK. The group aims to release a full report by June 2011.

Significant health inequalities still exist between the country’s richest and poorest, according to the latest findings for The Health Survey for England, conducted by UCL and the National Centre for Social Research and funded by the NHS Information Centre.

The results of Phase 1 of a nanomedicine clinical trial that uses nanoparticles of gold as the core of a delivery system for tumour targeted drug delivery, showed promising results, according to research published in the current edition of Clinical Cancer Research

Key NHS leaders, from many UK Trusts, have expressed their support for the proposal to freeze pay increments for all NHS staff, both clinical and non-clinical, for two years, in return for a commitment to avoid compulsory redundancies for over 80% of NHS staff.

An interim report published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists has identified that 95% of hospitals do not have mandatory training in dementia for all staff.

Circle, the employee-owned social enterprise, has been chosen as the preferred partner to run Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust in Huntingdonshire. In a historic move, the East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) has selected a non-state owned provider to take over the delivery of NHS services at Hinchingbrooke Hospital.

Anti-inflammatory drugs currently used to treat diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis may also help prevent cognitive problems after surgery, according to a new study by researchers at Imperial College London and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Almost 27,000 NHS posts in the UK are already earmarked for cuts, with almost 18,000 in England alone, the Royal College of Nursing has revealed. This is more than three times the number of posts identified by the RCN in England in April, and could leave patients vulnerable and services at risk.

Scotland’s acute hospitals are “generally clean and improving”, according to the first annual report of the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI). However, more work needs to be done in key areas, most notably in the cleaning of hospital equipment (including commodes and mattresses) and infection control policies being up to date on wards.

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has issued advice aimed at minimising risk associated with anti-cancer medicines. A themed review of patient safety incidents involving anti-cancer medicines recommends that all clinical protocols, prescriptions and all other documents are written in a clear manner to minimise error.

An 89-year-old man died after hospital staff left him with only one rail on his bed to prevent him from falling out. Pensioner Francis Steele, of Lower Netchwood, Dilton Priors, near Bridgnorth, died two weeks after falling from his bed at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital on 21 November 2007.

Perioperative practitioners are now being invited to submit their applications for this year’s Hilda Winifred Mears Award to be in with a chance of winning £1,000 towards a trip overseas as a medical volunteer.

Figures from the NHS Security Management Service show there were almost 57,000 violent assaults on NHS staff in the past year (a 3% rise), with the acute sector particularly badly affected.

The rate of children dying from cancer has fallen by almost 60% over the last 40 years, according to Cancer Research UK. In the late 1960s, around 940 children died from the disease every year, but this has fallen to around 290.

Thrombolysis is effective in patients aged 40 to 90 years and should not be restricted in elderly patients, according to a study published on bmj.com. A team of researchers across Europe assessed the effect of age on response to thrombolysis in over 29,000 patients.

The first audit of UK laparoscopic operating theatres has revealed that only one in ten hospitals are operating with the highest standard of equipment and resource considered adequate to carry out safe, advanced laparoscopic surgery.

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has issued guidance for all NHS organisations across England and Wales, aimed at reducing the risk of harm or death through the incorrect use of loading doses.