RECENT NEWS

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 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.

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.

The NHS chief executive, David Nicholson, has announced that Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has been appointed as the new NHS medical director.

Dr Maria Barrell, of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), has expressed her dismay at Health Secretary Alan Johnson’s decision to endorse the closure of four maternity units in Greater Manchester. Commenting, Dr Barrell said: “I am very concerned that the reduced capacity of Greater Manchester’s maternity units will not be able to cope with the demand of an increasing birth rate.”

The charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), in a joint initiative with Philips, recently launched its ‘Save Our Athletes Research Project’. This fiveyear athlete cardiac research study involves data from the USA and Germany. By concentrating on all elite athletes, CRY will be able to gain a broader understanding of the effects of heavy and light exercise on the heart.

The Medical Defence Union, which assists hundreds of doctors each year with GMC fitness to practice investigations, says the GMC’s proposed guidance on the use of the civil standard of proof would turn part of the decisionmaking process on its head.

All members of AfPP currently working in perioperative care at any level are being encouraged to apply for a place on an exclusive personal development programme sponsored by 3M Health Care and the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP).

An article in the magazine Pulse has come under fire by the Royal College of Nursing for its criticism of the increases in nurse prescribing. Jo Haynes, editor of Pulse, said “It seems incredible that it has been left to individual nurses to assess and police their own competence.”

Welch Allyn is partnering with Vantage Diagnostics, a new telehealth company, to run a pilot scheme across several primary care practices.

A new research partnership which aims to improve patient safety has been launched.

A new guideline to improve the diagnosis and care for children suffering with urinary tract infections (UTI) has been launched by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

A new Europe-wide report in the Lancet Oncology revealed improvements in cancer survival and predicted that large variations in survival between different nations may soon be reduced. However, the report also reveals that cancer survival in the UK is still below the European average and is similar to some eastern European countries that spend less than a third of the UK’s healthcare budget per person.

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) announced a one million pound grant awarded by the Department of Health to research new ways of training the emergency services to recognise the early signs of stroke. The project, known as Emergency Stroke Calls: Obtaining Rapid Telephone Triage (ESCORTT) will result in enhanced recognition of the condition by ambulance dispatchers in the emergency services.

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 new study has shown that magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRIs) were more effective at detecting early stages of breast cancer than traditional mammograms. The research, carried out in Germany and published in the Lancet medical journal, found that 92% of cases of early breast cancer were detected by the MRI scan, whereas only 56% of cases were detected by the mammogram.

A new study investigating the potential benefits of the PSA blood test – used to help detect prostate cancer – has suggested that screening men every two years may not be any more effective than screening every four years.

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). King’s staff carried out the first two successful transapical aortic valve replacements in the UK and two percutaneous aortic valve replacements.

Huntleigh Healthcare has announced that the eclipse Maternity Information System has now gone “live” at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. Eclipse will improve data collection, assist in audit to enable consistent evaluation of care and improve communication between agencies, which will assist midwives in their role in providing optimal standards of care for the women and babies in their care.

Alliance Medical, a provider of MRI, PET and CT diagnostic scanning, has announced the purchase of Sequence Medical Group, an MRI service provider. Sequence Medical currently has nine contracts in hospitals in Ireland and one in Northern Ireland.