RECENT NEWS

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance for the NHS in England and Wales recommending methadone and buprenorphine as options for maintenance therapy in the management of opioid dependence, and naltrexone as a treatment option in detoxified formerly opioid-dependent people who are highly motivated to remain free of opioids.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has appointed cScape to undertake a thorough website review and devise a strategy for using the Internet to raise RCP’s profile and engage with its audience, including medical professionals, the Government and the general public.

The way maternity and children’s services are delivered is going to have to change, if we want to provide the best possible care for mothers, babies and children, argued Dr Sheila Shribman, the UK’s National Childrens’ Tsar.

The evidence base of medicine may be fundamentally flawed because of an ongoing failure of research to include gender differences in study design and analysis, according to an article published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Responding to the latest figures on incidents of healthcare-associated infection in NHS Trusts, the Healthcare Commission chief executive, AnnaWalker, said: “It’s good to see that MRSA infections rates appear to be levelling out.

Homerton Hospital in London has gone live with its first digital radiography system, the AXIOM Multix MT digital X-ray system from Siemens Medical Solutions.

Scientists have discovered another piece of the genetic puzzle that may predispose humans to Crohn’s disease, a complex disorder characterised by chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. The findings may also suggest new strategies for treating this chronic, debilitating disease.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has welcomed the announcement of additional topics for its forward work programme.

Sickness absence has been a long-standing problem throughout work sectors and with the costs at over £13 billion, it is unsurprising that the Commercial Occupational Health Providers Association (COHPA) has called for the Med 3 sick note to be overhauled.

Medical publisher M&K has released a book, Nurse Facilitated Hospital Discharge, that will appeal to health professionals working in general, mental health, primary and social care.

Healthcare in the UK is being undermined by the lowering of nursing education and standards, according to two leading professors of nursing.

Latest scanning facilities on a new ACUSON Antares ultrasound system are benefiting patients attending the Breast Screening Unit of North Middlesex University Hospital in London.

An innovative new service has been funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) which will give heart failure patients individually-tailored care. The first BHF Heart Failure Pharmacist was appointed in Northampton recently to give bespoke prescriptions and advice to heart patients with complex medical needs.

Commenting on the Department of Health’s progress report on the National Service Framework (NSF) for coronary heart disease (CHD), which showed big reductions in the premature death rate for CHD, Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: “If this were a mid-term report, I think our summary would be: some terrific achievements so far, but let’s keep going until the job is done.

Health Minister,Rosie Winterton has congratulated the NHS on meeting the Long Term Conditions Public Service Agreement target early:

“I am very pleased that there has been a reduction in emergency bed days in 2005/06 of 5.4% – some 1.7 million bed days – compared to the 2003/04 baseline year. This means that the national target of 5% by 2008 has been met early.

ParAid Medical Systems has launched neocapsul and neo-restraint for the safe transport of newborn babies by vehicle and air.

Scientists performing a project spanning 60 years and 1,000 participants have received the prestigious Tenovus (Scotland) Margaret MacLellan Award.

The NHS Fife Operating Division is aiming to streamline its surveillance and case management of hospital-acquired infections by developing an interface between its Oasis EPR and ICNet.

The one-day course for operators of Lancer automated endoscope reprocessors was so successful in its first year that for 2007 Lancer’s training division has tripled the number of course dates available.

In January, the Department of Health issued its latest monthly information on the numbers of known cases of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease.