RECENT NEWS

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended a new test for surgeons to use during operations to discover if breast cancer has spread.

Survival for testicular cancer has risen by almost 30% in the last 40 years, with nearly all men now beating the disease, according to Cancer Research UK.

Three new indicators to improve dementia care could be added to the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) incentive scheme for UK practices, as NICE unveils potential indicators for 2014/15.

Monitor has reported that NHS Foundation Trusts (FTs) intend to recruit 10,000 more clinical staff to raise the quality of care.

In a drive to improve patient care, the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) and the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI) have set out their views on the challenges and a way forward for emergency general surgery in the NHS.

Worcestershire County Council recently became the first county council in the UK to join forces with NHS Blood and Transplant in a bid to encourage more people to donate blood, sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register and discuss their wishes with their loved ones.

In Depth Managed Services, a cleaning and facilities management company, has launched a dedicated healthcare cleaning division.

Laboratory confirmed new diagnoses of hepatitis C infection (HCV) reported in England rose by more than one-third to 10,873 cases in 2012.

A new NHS procurement strategy has been announced by health minister Dr Dan Poulter, with the aim of cutting wasteful spending and allowing finances to be put back into the front line for patient care.

More than 70% of surgical patients experience post-operative hypothermia every year, which can cause adverse effects including wound infections, cardiac disturbances, coagulopathy, delayed emergence from anaesthesia and increased mortality.

University of Reading researchers have been awarded funding by Heart Research UK to discover new ways of treating heart failure.

Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies has announced that outdated rules designed to combat the threat of AIDS in the 1980s, when attitudes were very different and risks were less understood, will be modernised in line with the most recent science.

Imotech has supplied Cardiff University’s Welsh Institute for Minimal Access Therapy (WIMAT) Endoscopy skills lab, based at University Hospital Llandough, with two new fully digital flexible endoscopy stacks which will be available for training endoscopists using highquality simulation models.

A new imaging department has opened at Highgate Private Hospital. The diagnostic suite will now give patients access to state-of-the art equipment and specialist services, including computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), 3/4D ultrasound, digital fluoroscopy and digital X-ray services.

A new study by Public Health England (PHE) aims to establish the most significant reservoirs of a strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as ESBL-positive E. coli that cause human illness in the UK.

Patients undergoing planned surgery appear more likely to die if they have their operation at the end of the week, a study published in the British Medical Journal has found.

With Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups aged 65 and over set to treble in the next 25 years, there is a growing need to rethink how accessible and appropriate end-of-life care is to people from diverse communities and their families, say palliative care experts.

The Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), the association for the UK medical device industry, has welcomed the announcement that NHS England has completed the designation of 15 new Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs).

Following initial discussion with the Royal College of Surgeons, NHS Employers and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges have developed and launched the Certificate of Fitness for Honorary Practice, in response to problems with NHS consultant doctors being able to work temporarily or for short periods elsewhere in the NHS or at universities.

Wales has become the first UK nation to introduce a soft opt-out system of organ donation. Unless a person states a wish not to be a donor (opts out), their consent to donation will now be deemed to have been given.