RECENT NEWS

Dawmed will be exhibiting and promoting part of its extensive range of decontamination equipment for use in endoscopy and ENT departments, including the Wassenburg WD440 pass-through machine and the Model 300 Dry Storage Cabinet, at the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) exhibition.

The Department of Health has awarded a contract to provide PET/CT NHS diagnostic imaging services to InHealth Molecular Imaging Solutions.

Calcium supplements prescribed to postmenopausal women to improve bone density may boost the risk of heart problems and stroke, according to a report in the British Medical Journal.

Vernacare has invested £1.5 million in automating its Bolton-based factory to improve efficiency, boost quality and increase capacity for major export growth.

Research from the US concludes that digital mammography is much better than traditional film mammography at spotting breast cancers in younger women or those with dense breasts.

Bioquell has announced that Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has employed its services on a long-term contract to combat hospital acquired infection.

A new working party report from the Royal Colleges of Physicians, Radiologists, and Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, including specialists in cancer and fertility, recommends that the NHS should fully fund fertility services for patients with cancer.

Great Ormond Street Hospital has opened a state-of-the-art MR and CT imaging centre to assist the investigation, diagnosis and research carried out by the hospital. A range of technologies have been supplied by Siemens – including a bespoke solution which combines an MRI scanner and a cardiac angiography suite in the same room, connected by a “Myabi” patient transfer table.

The cost to the NHS of providing maternity services for foreign-born mothers has risen to more than £350 m a year. According to figures reported by the BBC, record levels of immigration have pushed the cost up by £200 m in the past ten years. The rising birth rate is said to have caught the Department of Health by surprise and some maternity wards have been forced to close their doors to expectant mothers.

Foundation Trusts seeking to take advantage of a loophole that could allow them to increase the income they generate from private patient care are walking a legal tightrope according to health law experts at Browne Jacobson. Unison is seeking a judicial review unless Monitor, the Foundation Trust regulator, steps in to stop the growing numbers of Foundation Trusts setting up joint ventures, special purpose vehicles and charities to get around a legislative cap.

Council trading standards chiefs are launching a nationwide project to identify inaccurate hospital weighing scales that could be putting patients’ lives at risk. The new scheme follows a series of pilot studies which found hospital staff using inaccurate scales to calculate dosages of medication for patients, including small children.

A trial of wipe clean duvets and pillows at Worthing and Southlands Hospital NHS Trust has shown that the products can reduce laundry bills and linen replacement costs, while reducing nurses’ bed making time. Following the trial, the Trust purchased 560 duvets and 1,120 pillows from the Sylvan range manufactured by the Talley Group.

Switzerland’s state commission on AIDS claims that patients with the disease that take effective retroviral drugs do not pass on the virus through unprotected sex. The Federal AIDS Commission said in a report that couples, where one partner is HIV positive, do not need to use a condom to prevent transmission as long as retroviral therapy is followed regularly and has suppressed the virus in the blood for at least six months.

Rare or complex diseases can be treated more successfully in dedicated centres specialising in the treatment of these conditions, according to the latest research. Taking pituitary surgery as an example, a large peer-reviewed study published in Clinical Endocrinology indicates that the move in the late 1990s to concentrate treatment in specialist centres has resulted in a significant increase in success rates, better outcomes for patients and potential savings for the NHS.

Many doctors have no confidence in the Government’s ability to safeguard patient data online, according to a poll conducted by the British Medical Association (BMA). More than 90% of respondents to the survey said they were not confident patient data on the proposed NHS centralised database would be secure.

US research shows that a drug used to treat kidney cancer could successfully be used to treat patients with acute myeloid leukaemia.

The Christie Hospital in Manchester has announced a £35 m expansion which includes the development of an “early trials unit” for cancer treatments and new chemotherapy services.

A vaccine to combat C. diff has shown promising results in initial trials and researchers hope to test the product in NHS hospitals later this year.

A new deadly strain of MRSA has emerged which is acquired through casual contact in the community. Currently it is believed to be more prevalent within the gay population in San Francisco, but two cases of the USA300 strain have been recorded in the UK.

A study of medicines to treat the pain of arthritis has been launched in Scotland. The SCOT Trial, (Standard Care versus Celecoxib Outcome Trial), will compare different types of treatment for arthritis – a series of conditions which affect around nine million people in the UK.