RECENT NEWS

A survey of healthcare assistants (HCAs) shows that 85% support regulation of their profession and 89% are prepared to pay towards it. The survey was conducted by Ipsos MORI, on behalf of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

Survival for childhood bone cancer is slightly lower in the UK than in any other Western European country, according to research published in the British Journal of Cancer.

England should follow the example of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, and abolish all prescription charges, the BMA has commented.

More overseas junior doctors will be able to take up a two-year training placement in the NHS, Health Minister Ann Keen has announced.

NHS staff are more likely than ever to raise a patient safety concern as new data, released by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), demonstrates an upward trend in safety reporting.

A call to double the number of people on the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR) to 16 million has been achieved – 12 months before the planned date.

A package of measures designed to speed up access to new drugs and treatments for NHS patients, was announced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and Health Minister Lord Darzi.

Although the Infection Prevention Society Annual Conference and Exhibition, Infection Prevention 2009, commences 21 September, well over 75% of the exhibition space has already been sold. The exhibition is about 50% larger than in 2008 and already more stands have been sold than were taken last year.

Responding to news from the Department of Health, predicting a surplus of £1.735 billion in the NHS, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has issued a statement that this must be directed straight into frontline services.

People with Type 2 diabetes are being prescribed medication too readily after diagnosis without giving healthy lifestyle changes a chance. A Diabetes UK-funded study of 652 people newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes showed that 36% were prescribed diabetes tablets within a month of diagnosis.

Screening might help to detect ovarian cancer before symptoms develop. The first analysis of screening for ovarian cancer currently being investigated in the UKCTOCS (UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening) trial has been published in Lancet Oncology.

Every hour and a half a baby is stillborn or dies shortly after birth in the UK – totalling 17 babies each day. This is four times the number of people who die every year of MRSA.

The Government has announced a new commission of experts to advise on the future role of nurses and midwives. The Prime Minister’s Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery will build on the existing work identified in Lord Darzi’s report High Quality Care for All and consider how nurses can further improve safety and champion high quality patient care.

Thousands of children and young people with diabetes are at risk of sight loss, kidney failure and heart problems because their condition is dangerously out of control, according to a report by The NHS Information Centre.

A team of medical scientists from the University of Leicester has published research which looks into the harmful substances in liquid medicines that premature babies are being exposed to.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said the Government must work with health professionals and patients to ensure that the introduction of top-up payments does not result in a two tier NHS.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has found that there has only been a modest growth rate of consultant paediatricians working in the UK between 2005 and 2007 meaning that the specialty of paediatrics remains hard-pressed.

A study conducted at the University of Leicester, investigating levels of medicinal use by people with bowel diseases, has shown that the risk of conditions like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis has significantly increased for the children of people who have moved into the area.

Hospitals that treat patients in mixed sex accommodation will not be paid for their care, Health Secretary Alan Johnson has announced. These tough new penalties are part of a package of measures being introduced in a new drive to put an end to mixed sex accommodation and ensure it does not reappear.

Following close collaboration with NHS South West Essex which is responsible for the healthcare of over 420,000 people across Basildon, Brentwood and Thurrock, InHealth has been contracted to provide urgent MRI and ultrasound services at Basildon University Hospital.