RECENT NEWS

Policy, medical training and clinical practice have failed to adapt to a significant increase in the number of patients taking multiple prescription drugs, according to a new report on polypharmacy and medicines optimisation, published by The King’s Fund.

NHS England has published the most comprehensive data, so far, on 'never events', which include incidents such as wrong-site surgery, swabs and other medical equipment being left inside patients, and drugs being administered incorrectly.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is to carry out focused inspections of some 150 care homes and acute hospitals to review how people with dementia are cared for in England.

HIV causes structural heart disease, according to research presented at EuroEcho-Imaging 2013 by Dr Nieves Montoro from Madrid, Spain. The findings support the introduction of cardiovascular screening in all HIV patients, particularly those with a positive blood viral load.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is calling on doctors and nurses across England and Wales to become better educated in how to safely care for patients who are given fluids through a drip (intravenous fluid therapy). Although thousands of people are likely to need a drip in hospital, NICE says there is a lack of formal training, which is putting patients' lives at risk.

At the annual conference of the Institute of Decontamination Sciences in Blackpool, MMM UK introduced its new state of the art training facility together with a suite of AVM training courses.

Two in three healthcare professionals believe that there is still a war against infection in UK hospitals, with catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSI) considered a major issue by three quarters (74%) of professionals, according to a survey of UK nurses and anaesthetists.

Medical device and heating specialists Inditherm plc recently welcomed His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO to their headquarters and factory near Rotherham.

A report released by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) claims that patient care in the UK is being put at risk by staff cuts and excessive workloads, leading to unprecedented nurse stress and ill health.

Frequent maternity unit closures, restricted services such as home births and falling budgets are among the issues highlighted by a survey of senior midwives by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM).

Royal Preston Hospital, part of the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has invested in Esaote’s O-Scan – a compact MRI unit for extremities scanning.

One in ten of the world's population will have diabetes by 2035 according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

New data from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board (JRCPTB) shows that just 56% of newly qualified physicians are securing substantive consultant posts.

Infection prevention products manufacturer Vernacare has won a prestigious healthcare award for innovation. The Bolton-based company has received the Innovation Clinical Award in the Excellence in Supply Awards 2013 for its work in developing a breakthrough product to improve female continence.

New figures reveal that, for the first time, more than half of NHS patients who need vital stroke prevention surgery are accessing it within two weeks of experiencing symptoms of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA or mini stroke). However, more must be done to raise public and professional awareness about the need for quick treatment, and improve referral patterns from GPs and other clinicians. Hospital services should be organised to ensure there is rapid access to specialist imaging and care.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued standards to help prevent and treat surgical site infection in adults, children and young people undergoing surgical incisions through the skin. The NICE quality standard is based on the NICE guidance on both surgical site infection and healthcare- associated infections.

New methods for improving care for patients with a damaged aorta, the body’s largest blood vessel, are being researched by a team at King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. Funded by a grant from Heart Research UK, the team will look at new methods for managing aortic dissection, a tear in the aortic wall, which creates an abnormal secondary passage for the blood to flow through and can be life-threatening if left untreated.

Simon Stevens has been appointed as the new chief executive of NHS England. Simon, who has 26 years’ experience in healthcare management at frontline and national level both in England and internationally, will take over from Sir David Nicholson on 1 April 2014.

A new study will examine the best methods for cleaning surgical instruments to reduce the risk of variant CJD infection. The £90,000 study, funded by the Scottish Infection Research Network, will focus on instruments used in neurosurgery and test different methods for cleansing surgical instruments.

Giving radiotherapy in fewer, larger treatments is at least as safe and effective at treating early breast cancer as the international standard dose, according to the 10-year follow-up results of a major Cancer Research UK trial, published in The Lancet Oncology.