All News articles – Page 2016
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News
GPs at the sharp end
Meningococcal meningitis deserves its sinister reputation. At the dawn of the 21st century , here we still are at the mercy of a bacterium able to invade the bloodstream and damage vital organs with devastating speed. Even with prompt diagnosis and expert treatment, the mortality rate is around 10 per ...
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Study doubts MS drug
Money would be better spent on alternative ways of improving quality of life in people with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis than on the drug beta interferon, according to research conducted in Scotland.
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Dissenting voices
Over the millennium celebration period the NHS Direct service in west London had a team of up to 30 nurses answering more than 1,800 calls a day.
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Heart disease on the increase
Smoking, drinking and poor diet are driving up levels of cardiovascular disease after recent falls in episodes of stroke and ischaemic heart disease.
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Watching the detectives
When clinical audit was first introduced, it ruffled a few feathers among clinicians. But auditing the audit process itself can highlight the real benefits to clinical practice and quality of care, as well as identifying any weaknesses - and show that many clinicians are quite satisfied with audit staff and ...
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Dentistry plans not enough
Government efforts to improve access to NHS dentists through phone and go centres are inadequate and underfunded, according to the British Dental Association.
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Unison highlights deaths from needlestick injuries
Unison in Scotland has highlighted the deaths of two healthcare workers from needlestick injuries as part of the unions campaign to see safety syringes introduced across the NHS.
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Days like this
A political party funded to fight the NHS reforms has launched itself in prime minister Margaret Thatcher s constituency . Three GP's, from England, Scotland and Wales, have set up the NHS Supporters Party with the aim of forcing the government to rethink its health policy. It plans to fight ...
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What the country expects now
Health Care UK has become established reading for health policy buffs. It starts with three short editorials. Among these, one by Rudolf Klein, asking whether the NHS has a future, ranges over a broad canvas. On one level it covers familiar ground, raising the spectre of a growth in expectations ...
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Experts warn of collapse as clinical governance stalls
Lack of leadership from regional offices and the Department of Health, coupled with inadequate funding, has stalled clinical governance and could lead to its collapse, key advocates have warned.
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New test for colon cancer in sight
Scientists have identified a potential new screening technique, using skin cells, to identify people with an inherited predisposition to colorectal and other types of cancer .
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The real millennium bug
In the first quarter of this century, recognition of the different blood groups, combined with improved venepuncture techniques, allowed blood transfusions to be performed with relative safety. The same technologies led to the spread of a variety of different infectious agents capable of causing a post transfusion hepatitis.
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In brief
The Commons health select committee has called for evidence for its inquiry into NHS mental health services to be submitted by 1 March. The inquiry will examine services for people with mental illness and personality disorder. It will also examine the relationship between secure units, hospitals and prisons.
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In brief
Beta-carotene, promoted as protection against cancer and heart disease, has no significant role in preventing the diseases, according to US research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Results of a study of 40,000 women - half taking a placebo, half beta-carotene - found 378 cancers in the ...
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future possibilities Born free?
In vitrofertilisation is often held up as the prime example of healthcare rationing. Its availability has depended on the willingness of individual health authorities to fund treatment - often hedged with restrictions and eligibility criteria - or a couples ability to pay for treatment privately.
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Troubled trusts merger brings new body for Essex
The name of the new trust created by the merger of two troubled Essex trusts has been announced. The organisation resulting from the merger of Southend Community Care Services trust and Thameside Community Healthcare trust will be South Essex Mental Health and Community Care trust. It also has a chair-designate, ...