Latest news – Page 2730
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News
in brief
Health secretary Frank Dobson said he had 'sympathy' with people who use accident and emergency departments as 'drop-in centres' when they are 'feeling off-colour'. He said: 'Although that use poses burdens, I believe that the NHS should provide what local people clearly want of their hospitals.' In some areas GPs ...
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Short cuts NHS told it 'must do more to prevent child abuse'
The NHS should do more to reduce child abuse, according to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which has launched a campaign to raise £250m and eliminate child abuse within a generation. Mike Taylor, director of children's services, said: 'The health service should be looking at ...
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Short cuts Clinical governance plans are 'apple pie', claim GPs
GP leaders have attacked government proposals for introducing clinical governance as 'motherhood and apple pie'. British Medical Association GP negotiator Dr Laurence Buckman said it was 'ludicrous' that guidance published last week contained 'no budget for clinical governance'. Higher standards of clinical care could not be achieved without funding for ...
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Short cuts Smokers are being 'duped' by 'light' cigarette brands
The Health Education Authority has called for a ban on the use of terms such as 'light', 'ultra' and 'mild' in relation to cigarettes, following a survey that found one in five smokers thought they reduced their risk of lung cancer and heart disease. HEA smoking campaign manager Steve Woodward ...
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Short cuts Epidemic threat prompts launch of TB Alert charity
A charity called TB Alert has been launched by trade and industry minister Ian McCartney, who said that governments needed to recognise the challenge presented by tuberculosis. The charity says TB is killing 3 million people a year, and western countries such as the UK could face epidemics which they ...
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Short cuts Targets set for cutting public sector absenteeism
The Cabinet Office has issued a resource pack to help public sector organisations improve staff attendance at work. The pack, developed in consultation with trade unions, sets out best practice techniques to 'maximise' attendance. The government aims to reduce sickness in the civil service by 20 per cent by 2001 ...
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Information Authority chair appointed
The first chair of the NHS Information Authority is to be Professor Alistair Bellingham, NHS chief executive Sir Alan Langlands told the Healthcare Computing conference in Harrogate this week. The newly formed special health authority begins operations in April. Its role is to co-ordinate implementation of the new Information for ...
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Dangers of making the shop window too much of a draw £100m boost must not be allowed to reinforce A&E's primary care role
Accident and emergency departments are the front line of acute care, and are effectively the NHS's shop window. But in too many places they still resemble the service as it was in a bygone era. Physically, they have failed to keep pace with the changes taking place around them - ...
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monitor
Like all good media barons, Lord Monitor was present in the Upper House for the committee stage of the Health Bill. It was not a good day for the fragrant Baroness Hayman, who got into difficulties defending the Commission for Health Improvement's absolute right to say anything it likes about ...
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WEB WATCH MARK CRAIL
Down in the Everglades, the lawyers are not so much reptiles as hungry alligators - and they are snapping hard at the heels of any doctor who makes a mistake. If the medical establishment in this country is worried by the rising cost of negligence claims, it should look west, ...
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Non-medical members of the team have much to offer
GPs have dominated discussion of the NHS reforms, with less attention paid to the views of non-medical members of the primary health team. In our shadow primary care group - which covers 87,000 patients and 15 practices - anecdotal evidence suggested that staff felt uninformed about PCGs and were anxious ...
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Still in poor health in Bevan's constituency
Would it be possible for you to request the health secretary to explain precisely what he means by the term 'primary care'? The World Health Organisation defined 'primary healthcare', but the meaning of 'primary care' is uncertain - to me, at least.
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Health Bill fails on patients' rights
'A new statutory duty for quality' was promised in A First Class Service, but the Health Bill going through Parliament seems to sidestep this issue feebly, concentrating on process without enforcing the purpose. Section 13(1) of the draft bill says: 'It is the duty of each primary care trust, and ...
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Rationing and privatisation are not solutions
Dorothy White has highlighted the often covert discrimination in the NHS exercised against older people ('Rational thinking', 25, page 11 February).