RECENT NEWS

A new Europe-wide report in the Lancet Oncology revealed improvements in cancer survival and predicted that large variations in survival between different nations may soon be reduced. However, the report also reveals that cancer survival in the UK is still below the European average and is similar to some eastern European countries that spend less than a third of the UK's healthcare budget per person.

P3 Medical has recently entered into an arrangement to offer a comprehensive range of Anios products to Infection Control and Decontamination professionals. Laboratoires Anios has been developing disinfectants and detergents in France since the 1890s but the company’s full range of products were not previously available in the UK.

Alliance Medical, a provider of MRI, PET and CT diagnostic scanning, has announced the purchase of Sequence Medical Group, an MRI service provider. Sequence Medical currently has nine contracts in hospitals in Ireland and one in Northern Ireland.

A new study investigating the potential benefits of the PSA blood test - used to help detect prostate cancer - has suggested that screening men every two years may not be any more effective than screening every four years. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing has been available since the late 1980s, but a national prostate cancer screening programme has not been introduced in the UK because the benefits are as yet unproven.

A new set of reports have been published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) which assess the national implementation of its guidance across the NHS.

Research by the Soil Association reveals that a serious health threat already present in the Netherlands and other European countries, could spread to the UK. A new strain of MRSA has developed amongst intensively farmed animal on the continent, which has already transferred to farmers and their families in the Netherlands.

Beacon Hospital has installed an audio-visual system that will allow two-way interaction between the operating team and spectators in a separate seminar room, enabling teaching and training to take place.

Latest figures for MRSA show there was a 6.4% fall in the number of cases reported to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in the last quarter, from January to March 2007, while the figure has fallen by 10%, over the course of the year.

Pavillion Medical has purchased the assets of T-Med Medical from Turkington Industries.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued a new guideline on the care of adult patients who are, or who become, acutely ill while in hospital.

The Healthcare Commission has published a review of the care provided by Independent Sector Treatment Centres (ISTCs). Although the review offered reassurance about the quality of services provided, with patients rating services highly, the watchdog said that there are still too many gaps in the data to be able to compare the quality of care with that provided by the NHS.

Sky Medical has secured investment from Lacomp British Enterprise EIS Funds to conduct trials for a patented technology to prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT).

Orthopaedic implant and instrument manufacturing specialist, JRI, is set to launch a new £6 million facility. JRI will unveil a major re-investment in the UK and Sheffield, when the facility is officially opened by the international cricket star Darren Gough on 14 September 2007.

The Medical Defence Union paid out nearly £9 million in damages and legal costs to compensate patients harmed as a result of spinal surgery in the independent sector over a recent ten-year period.

The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has published his annual report on the state of public health, which calls for action in five key areas. This includes: improving levels of hand hygiene, tackling organ shortages for transplantation, reducing the risk of radiation overdoses during cancer treatment, research into “intrapartum-related deaths”, and increasing the number of women in the most senior positions in medicine.

The Medical Defence Union (MDU), which advises members on criminal matters which might arise from their clinical duties, warned that hospital doctors may face more investigations into their conduct when the Corporate Manslaughter Act comes into effect on 6 April 2008.

GPs are still prescribing antibiotics for up to 80% of cases of sore throat, otitis media, upper respiratory tract infections, and sinusitis, despite the fact that official guidance warns against this practice, according to an analysis of the world’s largest primary care database of consultations and prescriptions, published in a supplement to the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. This practice is hindering efforts to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance.

Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust has found that it requires three additional theatres and more UCV (Ultra-Clean Ventilation) facilities, and has therefore commissioned a new £5.5 million theatre complex, due for completion early next year.

The Government has come under fire for the declining number of maternity beds, which have decreased by 40% in some regions. Conservative leader, David Cameron, publicised new figures that show there has been an 18% reduction in the number of maternity beds for every 100,000 people – equivalent to almost 2,000 beds in the last 10 years.

SterilPlus has won the contract to provide a complete decontamination service for medical instruments used in BMI Healthcare’s three hospitals in Scotland.