RECENT NEWS

£2 billion has been spent on 12 hospital mergers over the past five years despite growing evidence that NHS mergers do not resolve the difficulties they are intended to address, according to a new report from The King’s Fund.

With an estimated 494,000 new cases per year, breast cancer is by far the most common cancer among women across Europe.

Infrared thermography (IRT) can detect joint inflammation, according to a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland.

Thousands more people would take part in bowel cancer screening if the kit included extras, according to a Cancer Research UK study published in Biomed Research International.

A new capsule form of faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has raised hopes that this effective treatment for Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection and other bowel conditions might soon become mainstream.

The proportion of cancers diagnosed as a result of emergency presentation at hospital has decreased. At the same time, the proportion of cancers diagnosed through urgent GP referral with a suspicion of cancer (known as the two week wait) has increased.

Thousands of cancer patients are missing out on personalised treatments each year in England because they are not being given a test to see if they might benefit from them, according to a new report from Cancer Research UK.

The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID) – an organisation that explores the risks and best practices in infectious disease – is calling for the need for greater education, guidance and research on the build-up, treatment and prevention of biofilms, which contribute to antimicrobial resistance.

Highly diluted acetic acid has been shown to be an effective alternative agent to prevent infection and kill bacteria found in burn wounds. Researchers investigated the antibacterial activity of acetic acid against key burn wound colonising organisms growing both planktonically and as biofilms.

A study from the University of Southampton and Sheffield Medical School projects a dramatic increase in the burden of fragility fractures within the next three decades.

Knowlex will be hosting a national Infection Prevention and Control conference at the Brewery conference centre, London on 23 February 2016.

The sixth National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD) report reveals that over 64,000 hip fracture injuries take place each year. This leads to the occupation of over 4,000 inpatient beds at any one time across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which equates to 1 in 40 of all NHS beds.

Half of people in Great Britain did not know about any of the advanced types of life-saving radiotherapy treatments now available, which were listed in a Cancer Research UK poll.

Analysis of blood samples from more than 5,000 people suggests that a more sensitive version of a blood test long used to verify heart muscle damage from heart attacks could also identify people on their way to developing hypertension, before it shows up on a blood pressure machine.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a new draft guideline to help change people’s behaviour to reduce antimicrobial resistance and stop the spread of resistant microbes. This new draft guideline complements existing NICE guidelines on antimicrobial stewardship, published in August.

Working 12+ hour shifts is linked to a heightened risk of burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intention to leave among hospital nurses in 12 European countries, according to research published in the online journal BMJ Open. The findings run counter to the perceived value among both nurses and employers of working longer shifts, which are increasingly common practice in England, Ireland, and Poland, say the researchers.

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) has published a new policy paper on seven-day care in the NHS. The RCS believes the risk of death is higher for some groups of patients admitted to hospital at the weekend. In many hospitals the levels of staffing and access to diagnostics are worse for all patients including those requiring emergency treatment over the weekend periods.

NHS services for diagnosing cancer are underfunded, understaffed, and key waiting time targets are being missed, according to two new reports from Cancer Research UK. The reports, which highlight the growing pressures on services for imaging and endoscopy, concluded:

NHS England Chief Executive, Simon Stevens has announced a major drive to improve and support the health and wellbeing of 1.3 million health service staff. Speaking at the Health and Innovation Expo 2015 conference in Manchester, he set out how NHS organisations will be supported to help their staff stay well.

The number of people living with diabetes in the UK has soared by nearly 60% in a decade, according to a new analysis by Diabetes UK.