RECENT NEWS

The new Queen’s Hospital in Romford, north-east London, has commenced advanced radiotherapy treatments for cancer patients using equipment and software from Varian Medical Systems.

Viroklenz Infection Protection is offering a system to prevent airborne infection spread in the hospital environment.

Physiotherapists at Physio Ed Medical in London are using a SonoSite MicroMaxx ultrasound system to help retrain patients’ core muscle strength after sports and dance-related injuries.

The Sunrise Training and Education Programmes (STEPS), an initiative delivered by Sunrise Medical LTC that keeps healthcare professionals up-to-date with the clinical, legal and practical issues of moving and handling people, has been officially accredited by CPD, the nationally-respected quality benchmark.

The UK’s largest independent specialist in pressure area prevention and therapy is expanding further into wipe-clean bedding.

Cook Incorporated, one of Cook Medical’s medical device manufacturing companies, has received CE approval for its new 36 mm Zenith Flex AAA Endovascular Graft for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA).

Oakapple Medical Services has acquired the premises and equipment of Euromedicare at Towers Avenue, Jesmond.

There is a new alternative for sufferers of the later stages of Parkinson’s disease with the European approval of Neupro (rotigotine transdermal patch) as an adjuvant to levodopa therapy.

A total of £1 million is set to be invested in plastic surgery services to help improve waiting times and the growing demand for access to emergency treatments for patients in Northern Ireland.

The co-chairs for patients, science and industry of the EPPOSI (European Platform for Patients’ Organisations, Science and Industry) conference held in Dublin recently have called for much greater collaboration between patient organisations, science, industry and regulatory bodies in the development of new treatments that represent valuable innovation.

Fewer than one in 10 of the general public have the skills to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), new research from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) reveals, and the charity is calling on people to make 2007 the year they learn how to save a life.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance for the NHS in England and Wales recommending methadone and buprenorphine as options for maintenance therapy in the management of opioid dependence, and naltrexone as a treatment option in detoxified formerly opioid-dependent people who are highly motivated to remain free of opioids.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has appointed cScape to undertake a thorough website review and devise a strategy for using the Internet to raise RCP’s profile and engage with its audience, including medical professionals, the Government and the general public.

The way maternity and children’s services are delivered is going to have to change, if we want to provide the best possible care for mothers, babies and children, argued Dr Sheila Shribman, the UK’s National Childrens’ Tsar.

The evidence base of medicine may be fundamentally flawed because of an ongoing failure of research to include gender differences in study design and analysis, according to an article published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Responding to the latest figures on incidents of healthcare-associated infection in NHS Trusts, the Healthcare Commission chief executive, AnnaWalker, said: “It’s good to see that MRSA infections rates appear to be levelling out.

Homerton Hospital in London has gone live with its first digital radiography system, the AXIOM Multix MT digital X-ray system from Siemens Medical Solutions.

Scientists have discovered another piece of the genetic puzzle that may predispose humans to Crohn’s disease, a complex disorder characterised by chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. The findings may also suggest new strategies for treating this chronic, debilitating disease.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has welcomed the announcement of additional topics for its forward work programme.

Sickness absence has been a long-standing problem throughout work sectors and with the costs at over £13 billion, it is unsurprising that the Commercial Occupational Health Providers Association (COHPA) has called for the Med 3 sick note to be overhauled.