All News articles – Page 1952

  • News

    GDC increases lay members to counter public fears

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    The General Dental Council has voted to allow greater lay representation on its ruling body to counter public concern about complaints relating to NHS and private dentistry. At its meeting earlier this month, the council agreed to set up a 'smaller, more strategic' body which will comprise 11 lay members ...

  • News

    When coughing up is essential

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    GPs are under constant pressure from health authorities to reduce prescribing costs, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the treatment of asthma.

  • News

    Cost index sparks familiar rows on data

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    The NHS index of reference costs has come under attack for its use of faulty data and a 'continued lack of sophistication' in the way costs are measured.

  • News

    Trusts no longer clueless

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Lothian and Borders Police in Scotland has contracted its forensic medical services out to Lothian primary care trust.

  • News

    Seeing double: what is cloning?

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Cloning is making genetically identical copies of living things. Scientists have been doing it since the early 1970s with antibodies, cells and genes but, until Dolly's birth, whole-animal cloning proved elusive.

  • News

    It's a dog's life as CHCs refuse to lie down and die

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Thumbing through my copy of the NHS plan I notice I did not even tick, asterisk or otherwise (*! ! ? *) mark paragraph 10.27, where it should have boasted a signpost: 'Here be dragons.' Instead, under the bland heading 'Scrutiny of the NHS', it notes: 'The power to refer ...

  • News

    Law change paves way for probe into retired GPs

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    The Consumers' Association is celebrating a victory after a change in the law allowing the health ombudsman to investigate GPs who have retired from the NHS. The move follows a complaint from a reader of the association's Which? magazine, which highlighted a loophole in the law. An investigation into the ...

  • News

    H pylori drug cash claim

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Drug treatment to eradicate Helicobacter pylori in infected patients with non-ulcer dyspepsia may be cost-effective, according to a new meta-analysis by the dyspepsia review group (BMJ, 16 September 2000, p659).

  • News

    Cancer treatment remains a lottery as HAs fail to follow NICE guidelines

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    More than 20 per cent of health authorities are still not following national guidelines for the drug treatment of breast and ovarian cancer, according to a survey.

  • News

    The taxing business of keeping public patience

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Hypothecation could raise public expectations to a dangerous level

  • News

    It's a bug's life

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics is a growing problem. But while more research is needed, new data suggests that hospitals might need to change their strategies for dealing with the problem. Rhonda Siddall reports

  • News

    Far and wide: the broader picture

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Leeds Teaching Hospitals trust has recruited an extra 150 nurses over the last two years, with a further 40 due to join between now and January. The trust has also attracted 42 extra consultants since 1998.Overall its staff turnover rate has dropped from 17 per cent to around 10 per ...

  • News

    Bring on the clones

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Once thought of as beyond the pale, the cloning of human embryos is now being encouraged by the government. Jenny Bryan looks at what's in store

  • News

    In Brief

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    A 75-year-old nurse, Aileen Gamble, is to go back to work at Leicester Royal Hospital - 45 years after she trained there.Ms Gamble, who will be working as a nursing auxiliary, responded to a recruitment campaign launched by the hospital to fill nursing vacancies over the winter.

  • News

    In Brief

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    An agent that improves survival in metastatic breast cancer patients has been launched. Herceptin (trastuzumab), a humanised monoclonal antibody, suppresses tumour growth in the 20-30 per cent of metastatic breast cancer patients who overproduce a growth factor called HER2. It binds HER2 receptors on the cancer cell surface so that ...

  • News

    Breathlessness a key sign of COPD

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    The biggest-ever survey among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients has revealed the enormous detrimental impact COPD has on patients' quality of life and the significant burden the disease places on healthcare services.

  • News

    Book token

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Airline-style hospital appointments were one of New Labour's favourite visions for a patient-friendly NHS.But progress has been mixed, says Ann McGauran

  • News

    Channel blockers 'inferior'

    2000-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Calcium channel blockers are inferior to less expensive antihypertensives in preventing cardiovascular complications of high blood pressure, according to a review by US researchers.