RECENT NEWS

Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, claims that nurses could double the amount of time they spend on direct patient care and slash unnecessary paperwork, as a result of a £50 m project aimed at improving efficiency on wards.

More patients are rating the care provided by NHS hospitals as “excellent”, according to data published by the Healthcare Commission. The survey of patients found that 42% of respondents gave their care the top possible rating, up from 38% in 2002, and an increase from 41% in the last survey.

Throat cancer patients could soon need fewer operations, saving the NHS millions of pounds a year, due to a new speech valve developed by the University of Hull and Medway School of Pharmacy.

Results published by the charity “Action for ME” show that one third of people surveyed, who said that they had undertaken graded exercise therapy (GET), reported that it made them worse. When properly administered by a specialist who understands ME, GET can help some individuals. Nearly 45% of respondents said that they had found the treatment beneficial.

A research team led by University of Sunderland scientists has made a breakthrough in the fight against a deadly hospital infection, which kills tens of thousands of people every year. They claim to have discovered a technique for the early detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which particularly infects patients with cystic fibrosis.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Supportive Care (NCC NSC) have issued guidance to the NHS in England and Wales on preventing hypothermia in patients before, during and up to 24 hours after surgery.

The Institute for Decontamination Sciences (IDSc) has endorsed the programme of City & Guilds Accredited training courses run by Lancer Academy for decontamination of endoscopes and instruments.

Around 1,300 extra consultant radiologists are needed in England over the coming years if the NHS is to meet the increasing demand for emergency interventional treatments, diagnostic imaging and screening, the BMA has warned.

Vacancy freezes and fears of redundancy continue in the NHS, despite a £1.8 billion surplus, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned. A survey of almost 330 of the UK’s specialist and experienced nurses found a third said their organisation had a vacancy freeze in place and one in four have been at risk of redundancy in their current role, with 20% still at risk.

More than 90% of final year midwifery students are struggling to find a job, a new survey published by the Royal College of Midwives reveals. The survey comes as the midwifery profession is moving into a new era as an all-graduate profession. The survey also revealed that 81% said the move to degree-only training would have a negative financial impact on them. Ten per cent of the students surveyed already had debts of £7,000 to £9,000.

Diabetes UK has warned that the Government will fail to deliver on standards it set itself five years ago if it doesn't refocus NHS efforts. In 2003, the National Service Framework (NSF) for Diabetes set out a vision for diabetes services in England to be delivered by 2013.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, led by Professor Nazneen Rahman, have been taking part in an international study into the causes of neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer.

Royal Philips Electronics has announced it will acquire Tomcat Systems, based in Northern Ireland.

The Institute for Decontamination Sciences (IDSc) has recently endorsed the programme of City & Guilds Accredited training courses run by Lancer Academy for decontamination of endoscopes and instruments.

Medipex, the NHS Innovation Hub for the Yorkshire and Humber region, has being crowned “Innovation Champion 2008” in an awards ceremony at Leeds.

Mölnlycke Health Care and the European Operating Room Nurses Association (EORNA) are raising the research level within perioperative nursing by offering a grant of €30,000.

Nearly £9.5 million has been invested by the European Commission into a new pan- European partnership which will design an advanced diagnostic tool for the detection and control of a potentially life-threatening auto-immune condition, coeliac disease, which is claimed to be the most underdiagnosed common chronic condition in the UK. It is estimated that at least 1 in 100 people in the UK suffer from the condition, leading to serious health problems such as osteoporosis, gastro-intestinal cancer and increased risk of other autoimmune diseases.

Plans are being made for highly skilled NHS specialists to be able to deploy on short operational assignments to places such as Iraq and Afghanistan to provide specialist care to the armed forces.

Doctors at Barts and The London NHS Trust are continuing to pioneer ways of combating MRSA by testing a new wound change mat that could cut infection rates if successful.

Waiting times for key diagnostic tests have been significantly reduced at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. The maximum wait for plain film X-rays, CT scans, Dexa scans and MRI scans is now no more than three weeks, with many patients being seen sooner.