RECENT NEWS

Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council (MRC) have jointly launched a Stratified Medicine Consortium to help personalise bowel cancer treatment by matching patients to the most effective therapies.

A new programme to get doctors into General Practice has been launched with the backing of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), NHS England, Health Education England and the BMA. The Induction and Refresher scheme is designed to support GPs who have previously been in practice to introduce them back into the workforce.

A new report by The King’s Fund argues that shortages and other critical pressures within the NHS workforce could jeopardise plans outlined in the NHS Five Year Forward View to deliver new models of care.

The Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP) has appointed Ros Moore RGN RNT BSc (Hons) Nursing, MA (Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland 2010-2014) to the AfPP board as a non-elected Trustee from the 1 June 2015. With a nursing career that commenced in 1981, Ros has held posts in clinical practice and nurse education before becoming professional development manager and then assistant director in an acute Trust.

A new report, “The NHS: How does it compare?”, from The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU) has found that the UK has fewer doctors, nurses, hospital beds and crucial medical equipment than most other wealthy nations.

Two cutting-edge cancer treatments using targeted radioactive therapy injections to destroy cancer cells are now being offered to patients with rare neuroendocrine tumours and patients with prostate cancer at Weston Park Hospital.

Researchers from Imperial College London claim that government reforms of GP working practices in 2004 were associated with a rise in potentially avoidable emergency admissions for children.

Whether or not patients see the same GP could affect how quickly bowel and lung cancers are diagnosed, according to a Cancer Research UK study published in the British Journal of General Practice. Symptoms of lung and bowel cancer tended to be picked up more quickly if patients consulted an unknown doctor than if they saw their usual GP, the University of Bristol researchers found.

New research by the University of Westminster suggests that single-use towels are the most hygienic way to dry hands after visiting the washroom. The peer-reviewed study entitled ‘Comparison of different hand-drying methods: the potential for airborne microbe dispersal and contamination’ was published in the March 2015 edition of The Journal of Hospital Infection.

GPs need to be freed from the constraints of the ten minute consultation to help meet their patients’ needs according to a major new British Medical Association (BMA) survey.

ConvaTec has announced results from a study that found Moldable Technology skin barriers highly effective in preventing peristomal skin lesions in new ostomy patients. Peer-reviewed study results were published in the journal Ostomy Wound Management.

A Patient Safety Alert has been issued by NHS England to raise awareness of the introduction of new medical device connectors. The connectors are being introduced to prevent the danger of connecting the wrong types of medical devices together.

A new statutory duty of candour, which was introduced last year for NHS bodies in England following the Mid Staffordshire public inquiry, will now apply from April to all other healthcare providers registered with the Care Quality Commission. This new statutory obligation requires organisations to disclose information where they believe poor care has resulted in death or harm to a patient.

A large pilot study of a new bowel cancer screening test has demonstrated a major increase in participation rates across population groups. The new data was presented by Bowel Cancer Screening Hubs and Queen Mary University of London at Cancer Research UK’s early diagnosis conference, which took place in London, in March 2015.

As countries marked World Tuberculosis Day, WHO called for “global solidarity and action” to support a new 20-year strategy aimed at ending the global tuberculosis epidemic.

Drive Medical Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Drive Medical and a global manufacturer and distributor of durable medical equipment, has announced the acquisition of Park House Healthcare, a leading supplier of specialist pressure area care equipment, hospital and community beds, and service and maintenance provisions.

According to research carried out by University Medical Center Utrecht, patients with pneumonia can initially be treated with most common antibiotics, as they are just as effective as the more expensive alternatives. The fact that bacteria are less likely to become resistant to these beta-lactam antibiotics is an additional benefit.

The Health Foundation has published a report which underlines the challenges facing NHS finances. The report Hospital finances and productivity: in a critical condition?concludes that financial performance of NHS providers in England has deteriorated sharply since 2013, from a net surplus of £582m in 2012/13 to a net deficit of £108m in 2013/14. At the end of the third quarter of 2014/15 the deficit had grown to £789m. Other key findings included:

Details have been announced of the ‘Completing the Picture’ 2015 symposium, an educational event for biomedical engineering and clinical procurement specialists.

A leading dementia expert has called for greater attention to be paid to vascular health. At the Alzheimer’s Research UK Conference 2015, Professor James Nicoll, professor of neuropathology at the University of Southampton, highlighted evidence linking vascular disease and dementia, outlining a number of common risk factors including high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, inflammation and obesity.