RECENT NEWS

In a speech to the BMA’s annual conference of junior doctors, Dr Shree Datta, chair of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee called on the new Government to stop the erosion of training for doctors and safeguard the quality of the NHS medical workforce.

The Royal College of Midwives is calling for urgent action to deal with the growing problem of obesity in pregnancy, following the publication of a study by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford, into the scale of the problem in the UK.

Premature babies who undergo painful treatments while in intensive care become more sensitive to pain compared to healthy newborns, according to new research by scientists at UCL.

A five-minute screening test could cut the risk of developing bowel cancer by a third and save thousands of lives from what is the UK’s second biggest cancer killer, according to new research led by Imperial College London and published in the Lancet.

The Royal College of Nursing is calling on the new Government and NHS organisations for a “cast iron” commitment to ensure safe staffing levels, in the face of fears that nursing posts and expertise may be sacrificed under cost cutting measures.

An increase in paperwork is preventing nurses from spending enough time caring for patients, according to a new survey for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

The Scottish arm of the BMA has called on the Government to ensure that doctors who raise concerns about patient safety are not victimised by their NHS employers.

Hospital doctors who are frequently interrupted while working in a clinical environment spend less time on tasks and fail to return to almost a fifth of their jobs in hand, according to research published in the journal Quality and Safety in Health Care.

Research carried out by the Royal College of Physicians has identified large variations in the provision of medical cover at night, with some doctors being responsible for up to 400 patients.

A pioneering operation involving robotic technology is to be conducted for the first time at Glenfield Hospital Leicester. Dr André Ng, senior lecturer in cardiovascular sciences at the University of Leicester and consultant cardiologist and electrophysiologist, Glenfield Hospital, University Hospitals of Leicester, is the first person in the world to carry out the operation remotely on patients using this system.

More than two out of three patients say they will have more confidence in their doctor once a new system of regular checks on doctors is introduced, according to a survey commissioned by the General Medical Council. The new system of revalidation will provide further assurance that patients trust their doctors by showing their doctor is up to date and fit to practise.

Bukumbi Care Centre in Tanzania was built in the 1970s to care for people suffering from leprosy and other disabilities who had been ostracised from their communities and were living on the streets of Mwanza. In April, six employees of Schülke UK travelled to Mwanza to renovate the community hall at the Care Centre.

Monitoring systems supplier, Isatec, is warning NHS organisations that some may have only a few weeks to improve their strategies for monitoring vaccine storage temperatures, in order to comply with National Patient Safety Agency advice. It is offering support to those that may be daunted by the recommended switch to electronic monitoring.

NICE has announced that it has recommended two treatments (infliximab and adalimumab) for people with severe Crohn’s disease.

The 2010 Completing the Picture educational symposium will be held at the Heritage Motor Centre, Warwickshire, which holds the world's largest collection of historic British cars. This free event takes place on Thursday 1 July 2010 and is especially for clinical and biomedical engineers, promising to deliver more insightful and innovative presentations than ever before.

Changes must be made immediately to improve the vetting system for overseas doctors providing out-of-hours GP care in the UK, the Health Committee has concluded in a report.

New data presented at the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting, shows that treatment with ticagrelor can significantly reduce the risk of death in acute coronary syndrome patients undergoing heart bypass surgery.

Many families are being forced to find an average £3,123 a year – or an estimated £15,000 over a five year medical course – to get their children through medical school owing to spiralling levels of debt and the impact of tuition fees, a new BMA report has claimed.

Researchers have found a genetic link between low birth weight and the risk of going on to develop Type 2 diabetes in later life. The team analysed over 38,000 Europeans from 19 studies of pregnancy and birth and found that two genetic variants showed strong associations with birth weight.

Proposals for improving safeguards for people using herbal medicines, traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture have been announced by Health Secretary Andy Burnham.