RECENT NEWS

NHS consultant ophthalmic surgeon, Mr Bobby Qureshi, one of the UK’s leading eye surgeons and medical director of the London Eye Hospital, recently carried out the first ever Light Adjustable Lens (LAL) implant surgery in the UK.

“Nil by mouth” should be the last resort, rather than the first option, is the central message of a report published by the Royal College of Physicians and the British Society of Gastroenterology. Oral feeding difficulties and dilemmas: A guide to practical care, particularly towards the end of life has been prepared in response to continuing unease about the lack of consensus on when artificial nutrition and hydration is appropriate.

The All-Party Parliamentary Thrombosis Group (APPTG) has welcomed the Department of Health’s (DH) decision to mandate venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention in the Operating Framework for the NHS in 2010/11. The All Party Group has been campaigning for its inclusion as a key step in reducing up to 25,000 annual avoidable deaths and saving the NHS over half a billion pounds a year.

An annual conference, “Healthcare-associated Infections” is taking place on 11 March at Church House, Westminster – providing an update on the next steps to further reduce infection, including those related to the use of devices such as catheters, central lines, surgical site infections and pneumonias.

The West Midlands is the beating heart of the country’s vibrant medical technology industry, according to Strength and Opportunity, a recent report funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, UK Trade and Investment, and the Department of Health.

Full Support Healthcare has partnered with Breast Cancer Care to launch a new range of surgical gowns and warm-up jackets branded “Think Pink”. Proceeds from the sale of the products will be donated to Breast Cancer Care and it is hoped that the initiative will raise thousands of pounds for the charity.

As part of its campaign to help Trusts eliminate avoidable death and harm to patients, Patient Safety First is launching a “Human factors” focus week on the 1 February 2010. “Human factors” can include environmental, organisational or job factors, or the individual characteristics that influence behaviour at work.

The British Medical Association’s Junior Doctor Committee has called on the Department of Health to halt its review of training funding, as it threatens to cut millions of pounds from junior doctor training.

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) has announced the publication of a detailed plan to assist Strategic Health Authorities in developing regional trauma systems across the country. The guidance maps out what is required in terms of equipment, staff, space and experience for centres designated as major trauma centres and trauma units (which will look after patients with less severe injuries), tracking the patient from the first pre-hospital clinical contact following injury right through to rehabilitation.

Deaths from liver disease are increasing at an alarming rate and, by 2030, will exceed those from cardiac deaths, warned Kevin Moore, professor of hepatology at University College London, and Nick Sheron, consultant hepatologist at Southampton General Hospital.

Over a quarter of people with heart disease may also be living with chronic lung disease without knowing it, according to new research presented at The British Thoracic Society (BTS) Annual Winter Meeting. The researchers believe that if heart patients were screened, and lung disease was spotted earlier and treated, it could help to improve health outcomes.

“Cancer can be prevented too”’ is the theme of a new campaign being launched in the lead up to World Cancer Day on 4 February, by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC). The campaign is backed by a new scientific report: “Protection against cancer causing infections” which focuses on the nine infections that can lead to cancer.

Doctors are being warned not to respond to amorous approaches from patients on social networking sites like Facebook, by the Medical Defence Union (MDU). Whatever the implicit social rules of such sites, the MDU said it would be wholly inappropriate to respond to a patient making advances in this way.

Following the publication of the GMC’s study into prescribing errors in hospital, which revealed that mistakes could be made by doctors at all levels, the Medical Defence Union (MDU) has published tips to help doctors avoid the most common problems.

There is no “clinical” difference when comparing dressings for treating chronic diabetic foot ulcers, according to new research published by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR, HTA) programme.

Bird flu viruses would have to make at least two simultaneous genetic mutations before they could be transmitted readily from human to human, according to research published in PLoS ONE.

Lung cancer specialist nurses across the UK are calling on the Government to standby its commitment to specialist nurses, in order to ensure that every lung cancer patient has access to a lung cancer nurse. “

The proportion of lung cancer patients getting active treatment varies widely from place to place, according to the latest National Lung Cancer Audit.

NICE has published final guidance recommending the use of prasugrel in combination with aspirin as an option for preventing blood clots in the arteries of people with acute coronary syndromes.

The London Chest Hospital, part of Barts and The London NHS Trust, has installed the first Siemens Somatom Definition Flash CT system in the UK for fast CT speed combined with low radiation dose.