RECENT NEWS

Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, announced that, from next year, hospitals will be required to monitor reported infections of Methicillin Sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus (MSSA) and E. coli which have been rising in recent years.

Both male and female relatives of women diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 35 are at an increased risk of other cancers even if they do not carry faulty BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, scientists have discovered.

For the first time, heart attack patients in England are more likely to have their damaged artery opened with a balloon catheter (primary angioplasty) than receive clot-busting drugs (thrombolysis). Figures from the ninth annual MINAP audit show that 63% of eligible patients had the balloon catheter procedure, compared to 44% in 2008/9. In Wales the increase was from 11% to 22%.

To help prevent isolated failures such as those investigated at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has launched a consultation to make changes to the NHS Constitution and its Handbook.

A major improvement programme around the production of lifesaving blood delivered savings for the NHS of £20 million last year, the NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) reported in its annual review.

Companies from across the UK are to receive Government help to develop diagnostic devices that will assist in reducing the impact of infectious agents such as hospital-acquired infections and sexually transmitted diseases.

Patients suffering with heart failure are more likely to die if they have high levels of a bone hormone called osteoprotegerin (OPG), according to researchers at the Akershus University Hospital, the University of Oslo in Norway, and colleagues in Italy and Denmark.

A new three-digit number, 111, has been launched to make it easier for patients to access non-emergency NHS healthcare wherever they are, 24 hours a day.

A small amount of aspirin a day could help certain groups of pregnant women keep a potentially serious and sometimes fatal condition at bay. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) says this is just one of a number of ways to help prevent and treat hypertension (high blood pressure) before, during and after pregnancy.

In the largest study of its type, the University of Oxford (UK) and the University of Sydney (Australia) have demonstrated that statin therapy is not a cause of increased cancer rates and deaths.

Tens of thousands of patients are still being placed in mixed sex accommodation every year without clinical justification, the Department of Health reported. The DH issued a reminder that mixed-sex accommodation must be eliminated – except where it is clearly in the overall best interests of the patient or where this reflects their personal choice.

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has issued a Rapid Response Report (RRR) alerting NHS organisations in England and Wales to the risk of the accidental over infusion of intravenous fluids and medicines to neonates.

The latest national hip fracture audit has revealed that NHS hip fracture patients are now getting far greater access to specialist care by geriatricians, as well as osteoporosis screening, assessment for the likelihood of future falls, and bone protection drugs.

Failure by the NHS to provide cost-effective surgical treatment for morbid obesity is costing the wider economy hundreds of millions of pounds a year, according to a report by the Office of Health Economics for the Royal College of Surgeons of England, National Obesity Forum, Allergan and Covidien.

The number of people in Scotland who died in 2009 from C. difficile has fallen by 44%, according to the latest figures from the General Register Office for Scotland.

There will be a UK-wide review into bonus payments given to NHS consultants, the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley has announced. Clinical Excellence and Distinction Awards recognise and reward the exceptional contribution of NHS consultants, over and above that normally expected, to the values and goals of the NHS and to patient care.

Sugar given to newborn babies as a routine form of pain relief does not work, according to a new study led by UCL researchers and published in The Lancet. Instead, sucrose changes the facial expressions of some babies giving the impression that pain is being relieved.

Oesophageal cancer rates in men have risen by 50% over the last 25 years, according to new figures published by Cancer Research UK. The most dramatic rise was among men in their 50s, as rates increased by 67% over the same period.

New snapshot figures show that 99.8% of patients in Scotland are waiting less than nine weeks for inpatient and day case treatment. The numbers for June 30, 2010 which were published by ISD Scotland represent the best ever performance by NHS Scotland and show that the health service continues to exceed the national waiting times standard of 12 weeks for inpatient and day case treatment.

Written complaints about NHS hospital and community health services in England have seen the biggest year-on-year rise since annual data was first published 12 years ago, according to new figures from the NHS Information Centre.