RECENT NEWS

The Healthcare Commission published its recommendations following an incident at the Newham University Hospital NHS Trust, East London, where nearly 800 mothers-to-be referred for antenatal care were not booked for appointments and did not receive antenatal care.

The NHS needs to do more to act on and learn from complaints by patients, the Healthcare Commission has warned. Publishing the first audit of how well the NHS handles complaints, the watchdog says it has found considerable variations in performance. The report said that Trusts should do more to make it easier for people to raise a complaint; they should ensure that the care of those raising complaints is not adversely affected as a result; and they should strengthen procedures for investigating problems and improving services in the light of the lessons learned.

Independent hospitals should publish clinical performance indicators, including success rates, and collect the same activity and performance data as NHS hospitals to help enable real choice for patients and commissioners, BUPA’s group medical director Dr Andrew Vallance-Owen commented at the recent Independent Healthcare Convention.

The number of people suffering with allergic reactions has trebled in the last 20 years, affecting a third of the population at some time in their lives. Each year over 6,000 people are admitted to hospital, with a quarter of these suffering from a severe anaphylaxis response.

The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust has purchased the C-cam (Cardiac Gamma Camera) for its eight different sites across north London and Hertfordshire to help reduce waiting lists by doubling the number of patients studied in a single day.

New research shows that a Caesarean section increases the risk by fifty fold that a woman’s uterus will rupture during subsequent vaginal delivery. The findings are based on a study of more than 300,000 Swedish women by Emory University, Atlanta, and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

Aurine test for prostate cancer has been launched in the UK that could reduce the need for biopsies in some men.

The British Society of Endovascular Therapy (BSET) has announced the society’s first Endovascular fellowships for vascular surgeons and radiologists.

According to researchers in Scotland, more than six thousand people in the UK could have been prevented from having heart attacks three years ago. A study from the Greater Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre at Glasgow University, published in the British Medical Journal, claims not enough is being done to screen family members of heart attack victims – or those who live with them – despite the fact that relatives and partners of people with heart disease are known to have a significantly higher risk for heart attack.

Although there is a case for changing how some NHS services are provided in London, Government proposals do not build on the best aspects of the NHS, could result in damaging fragmentation and may not produce the predicted cost savings, or improvements in patient care, that the Government envisages, the BMA has warned in its response to Lord Ara Darzi’s review of healthcare in London.

The Government has announced that it is increasing the NHS budget by 4% per year, taking total NHS funding from £35 billion in 1997-98 to £110 billion in 2010-11.

The Government has outlined a package of measures to help reduce healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in hospitals including new responsibilities for matrons, new guidance on clothing and the isolation of patients who are infected. The package follows the announcement in July of an extra £50 million to tackle healthcare associated infections.

The Healthcare Commission has published a damning report on infection control at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, which is believed to have led to an estimated 90 deaths due to C. difficile. The chief executive of the Trust, Rose Gibb, has stepped down and Health Secretary Alan Johnson has intervened to ensure her severance payment worth £250,000 is frozen. The police and the Health and Safety Executive are reported to be investigating further to see if criminal charges are appropriate against the Trust.

The Government has announced that it is increasing the NHS budget by 4% per year, taking total NHS funding from £35 billion in 1997-98 to £110 billion in 2010-11. This extra investment is intended to fund measures set out in Lord Darzi's Our NHS, Our Future interim report.

The new Agfa HealthCare building was officially opened by Professor W R Lees, Professor of Medical Imaging at University College London.

A new screening service is now being provided at Broomfield hospital. Male cardiac patients are regarded as being at high risk of developing aortic aneurysms, so when they come into hospital to receive an angiogram, they now also receive an ultra sound scan that can detect an aneurysm.

Cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at King’s College Hospital in London have started a new programme to treat patients with aortic valve stenosis (narrowings of the aortic valve).

Nephrologists at the Manchester Children's Hospital in Manchester, have been able to speed up diagnosis of a diverse range of kidney and bladder problems, using a hand-held ultrasound system from SonoSite.

A urine test for prostate cancer has been launched in the UK that could reduce the need for biopsies in some men.

Although there is a case for changing how some NHS services are provided in London, Government proposals do not build on the best aspects of the NHS, could result in damaging fragmentation and may not produce the predicted cost savings, or improvements in patient care, that the Government envisages, the BMA has warned in its response to Lord Ara Darzi’s review of healthcare in London.