RECENT NEWS

Five years on from his report for the Treasury, which paved the way for a 50% increase in NHS spending. Sir Derek Wanless has outlined deep concerns as well as successes in his latest review of the NHS.

Australian researchers have said that avoiding the use of nitrous oxide may cut the risk of surgery complications, such as wound infections, and have highlighted a possible link with an increased risk of heart attack. The study included 2,000 people and looked at the outcomes of operations in 19 hospitals around the world, including in the UK.

Preventable cancers linked to excessive sun exposure, alcohol, smoking and obesity are rising, according to new figures from Cancer Research UK. The rates of melanoma skin cancer have risen by 40% in the last 10 years, making it the fastest rising cancer in the UK. Rates have doubled for women and tripled in men since the eighties, according to the charity.

Patients now cite fear of hospital-acquired infection as a major cause of concern and staff morale is at its lowest in wards with poor cleaning standards, an audience of infection control professionals were told at the 4th Oxoid Infection Control Seminar Day.

The Royal Institute of Public Health is launching a new Level 2 qualification in 'Decontamination', aimed at those working in care settings - such as care homes, day centres, nurseries and GP surgeries.

Between 5% and 10% of men aged 65 to 79 are unaware they have abdominal aortic aneurysms, yet stand a very high risk of dying if their weakened arteries burst. Cochrane researchers reviewed trials, involving a total of 127,891 men and 9,342 women, which showed that men in this age group could benefit from ultrasound screening.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is funding legal action against Oxfordshire PCT, for denying sight saving treatment to an 84 year old patient, Dennis Devier. The pensioner suffers from wet AMD (age-related macular degeneration), which affects 26,000 people each year. If left untreated, the condition can lead to blindness in as little as three months.

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.

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.

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

Pierre Guyot, president of the wound care division within Mölnlycke, has been appointed new president and CEO of Mölnlycke Health Care Group.

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.

Prostate cancer continues to be the “neglected disease” according to leading healthcare professionals, who recently formed the Brachytherapy Advisory Group. They claim it is being treated as a lower priority than other major cancers –despite being one of the most common. They are particularly concerned that patients continue to encounter a “postcode lottery” system when seeking treatment that could minimise the risks of impotence and incontinence after surgery.

The Medical Defence Union paid out nearly £9million 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.

Harmoni, one of the largest primary care providers in the UK has secured the provision of additional services for Buckinghamshire Primary Care Trust, with a Single Point of Access (SPA) service.

Treatment of Alzheimer’s patients, in the UK, has been criticised in a damning report by the National Audit Office (NAO) and also by the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. The NAO said the UK lags behind other EU countries in terms of early diagnosis and access to drugs, and added that the disease is being given “too low a priority by health and social services”. It found that UK performance is in the bottom third of Europe, below almost all northern and western European nations.

NICE has overturned its initial decision on the prescription of Pemetrexed for malignant pleural mesothelioma – the asbestos-related cancer.

Researchers have found a gene variant that can more than double the risk of developing the degenerative eye disease “age-related macular degeneration” (AMD), which is the most common cause of blindness in the US and Europe.

Last year hospital staff gave the wrong treatment to the wrong patient on almost 25,000 occasions – 3,000 of these incidents occurred as a result of wristbands used to identify the patients.

The recent development of several new-class anticoagulants and changes to current prophylactic practices may help to revolutionise the management of venous thromboembolism (VTE), according to Professor Ajay Kakkar, Professor ofSurgical Sciences, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Thrombosis Research Institute.