RECENT NEWS

Health Secretary Alan Johnson has issued a statement supporting new immigration rules that will restrict international medical graduates’ (IMGs) access to UK post-graduate medical training.

Only one in ten of women with breast cancer have access to reconstruction surgery at the time of their mastectomy, despite recommendations from NICE. These are the early findings of the National Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction Audit, published by the Royal College of Surgeons and the NHS Information Centre.

A request by the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP) to its members for information on outsourced decontamination of instruments has highlighted concerns. More than threequarters of those who responded are said to have reported negative experiences.

This year sees the launch of the new “Clinical Engineering Team of the Year” award from Welch Allyn. The award seeks to reward teams of Clinical and Biomedical Engineers by recognising their contribution to healthcare in the UK.

A vascular surgeon at Lanarkshire Hospital has carried out the first endovascular iliac branch aneurysm repair operation in Scotland.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson has announced a package of measures to recruit an extra 4,000 midwives to the NHS over the next three years.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson has issued a statement supporting new immigration rules that will restrict international medical graduates' (IMGs) access to UK post-graduate medical training.

Royal Philips Electronics has announced that it will lead a new European Union (EU) funded research project aimed at improving care of heart patients through the development of telemonitoring solutions. The HeartCycle consortium will work to improve the quality of care for coronary heart disease and heart failure patients by developing systems for monitoring their condition at home and involving them in the daily management of their disease.

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth have won nearly half a million pounds to develop a way of allowing drugs to be delivered straight to the brain. The grant allows a team to spend the next three years trying to unlock the blood brain barrier to allow drugs to be targeted at diseases including cancer. The £451,000 grant was given by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

The National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has announced its interim Appraisal Committee Decision on the use of Tarceva (erlotinib) as a treatment for non small cell lung cancer.

Doctors in Manchester have begun a drug trial that could stop hundreds of thousands of people in the UK from going blind.

Dawmed will be exhibiting and promoting part of its extensive range of decontamination equipment for use in endoscopy and ENT departments, including the Wassenburg WD440 pass-through machine and the Model 300 Dry Storage Cabinet, at the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) exhibition.

The Department of Health has awarded a contract to provide PET/CT NHS diagnostic imaging services to InHealth Molecular Imaging Solutions.

Calcium supplements prescribed to postmenopausal women to improve bone density may boost the risk of heart problems and stroke, according to a report in the British Medical Journal.

Vernacare has invested £1.5 million in automating its Bolton-based factory to improve efficiency, boost quality and increase capacity for major export growth.

Research from the US concludes that digital mammography is much better than traditional film mammography at spotting breast cancers in younger women or those with dense breasts.

Bioquell has announced that Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has employed its services on a long-term contract to combat hospital acquired infection.

A new working party report from the Royal Colleges of Physicians, Radiologists, and Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, including specialists in cancer and fertility, recommends that the NHS should fully fund fertility services for patients with cancer.

Great Ormond Street Hospital has opened a state-of-the-art MR and CT imaging centre to assist the investigation, diagnosis and research carried out by the hospital. A range of technologies have been supplied by Siemens – including a bespoke solution which combines an MRI scanner and a cardiac angiography suite in the same room, connected by a “Myabi” patient transfer table.

The cost to the NHS of providing maternity services for foreign-born mothers has risen to more than £350 m a year. According to figures reported by the BBC, record levels of immigration have pushed the cost up by £200 m in the past ten years. The rising birth rate is said to have caught the Department of Health by surprise and some maternity wards have been forced to close their doors to expectant mothers.