RECENT NEWS

The MDU has grave concerns about how new policy on whether or not to prosecute the offence of assisted suicide, will be applied to doctors. MDU solicitor, Ian Barker said: “We are profoundly concerned to see the final form of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ policy in relation to assisted suicide.

Cancer Research UK scientists have developed a system to identify faulty or missing genes that could prevent specific chemotherapy regimes from working. This opens the doors for targeted breast cancer treatment, according to research published in the Lancet Oncology.

Inappropriate use of abbreviations and illegible writing on hospital prescription charts are leading to prescription errors, according to findings presented at Diabetes UK’s Annual Professional Conference in Liverpool.

New research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme will assess the clinical and cost-effectiveness of home oxygen therapy for patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

NHS patients are to get new legal rights on waiting times from this month. As from 1 April 2010, they will have the legal right to start treatment with a consultant within 18 weeks of GP referral and to be seen by a specialist within two weeks of an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer.

Patients do not have enough information about electronic patient records and it is too hard for them to opt-out if they want to, the BMA has claimed. Following limited local piloting, patients’ summary care records are going to be uploaded to a central database across England.

The British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) has announced the appointment of Professor Ian Gilmore as President Elect for the next two years before becoming President from 2012 to 2014.

If GPs and hospital doctors directed some elderly patients to a care support service that allowed them to continue living in their own homes, “lost years” in old age could be avoided, according to Fiona Lowry, chief executive of The Good Care Group.

In final draft guidance, NICE has recommended infliximab and adalimumab as treatment options for people with severe, active Crohn’s disease whose condition has not responded to conventional therapy, or who are intolerant of or have contraindications to conventional therapy.

Patients with irritable bowel syndrome are at no greater risk of having polyps, colon cancer or inflammatory bowel diseases than healthy people undergoing colonoscopies, according to new research published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has joined forces with almost 40 of the UK’s leading health organisations to warn that cutting specialist nurse services for people with long-term conditions would be a “false economy”, as they began a campaign for guaranteed access to specialist nursing care for all patients with long-term conditions.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued final draft guidance recommending the drug rituximab (MabThera) as a treatment for certain patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. Final guidance will be published later this year.

The Royal College of Surgeons has claimed that NHS operating lists and outpatient clinics for children are still being cancelled across the country due to the “chaotic” introduction of new Government safeguarding regulations, despite repeated warnings from surgeons.

People at risk of having the Hepatitis C virus are being encouraged to come forward for testing as part of a new Scottish Government campaign. The communications campaign is designed to tackle the current Hepatitis C epidemic by increasing awareness of the virus among at-risk groups, and encouraging them to come forward for testing.

People at high risk of having a stroke are half as likely to have a stroke or die following surgery to repair damage to an artery in the neck, rather than “stenting” treatment, according to UCL research published in the Lancet.

A fifth of stroke survivors questioned in England for a recent survey did not receive any posthospital physiotherapy on the NHS, meaning they either had to pay for private treatment or go without any.

The 2010 Clinical Engineering Team of the Year Award is open for entry, sponsored by Welch Allyn.

Doctors are vulnerable to aggressive, demanding, abusive or even violent patients and feel ill-equipped to manage such consultations, according to an MDU survey. Of 172 GPs and hospital doctors who responded to the survey, over half (99) said they had been physically or verbally assaulted in the last five years.

Action Against Medical Accidents (a charity dedicated to patient safety) has published a damning report highlighting failures to implement patient safety recommendations issued by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA).

Organised by 3M, the 9th European Infection Prevention Expert Conference, is taking place in Neuss, Germany, on the 21-22d April 2010.