RECENT NEWS

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has appointed Martin Fletcher as its new chief executive. Martin Fletcher joins from the World Health Organization (WHO), where he had been based in Geneva.

The 37th annual conference of the Infection Control Nurses Association will be held at the Brighton Centre in Brighton from 24 to 26 September 2007.

Study results presented at the 17th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) show that the antibiotic telavancin, and the antifungal micafungin, both have the potential to meet a significant unmet need in the fight against serious hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).

Lodestone Patient Care has installed a range of high performance imaging systems from Siemens Medical Solutions at the BMI Sloane Hospital in Beckenham, Kent, part of the BMI Healthcare group.

The University of Durham has chosen eight SonoSite MicroMaxx hand-carried ultrasound systems to provide an anatomy curriculum that more effectively meets the future needs of undergraduate medical students.

BOC Medical has developed a new demand valve to administer Entonox.

Afurther advance in the treatment of kidney stones has been announced by Cook Urology.

As no appeals against its draft recommendations were received, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published its guidance on the use of fludarabine monotherapy for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).

Many Alzheimer’s patients are dying earlier because of sedatives they are being prescribed, according to new groundbreaking research.

Anew partnership between NHS Direct and the Clinical Knowledge Summaries Service (CKS) will allow GPs and other healthcare professionals to access to patient information from their computers.

PENTAX and Australia’s Optiscan Imaging have developed new diagnostic equipment, the Confocal Endomicroscope, which is able to significantly assist in the early diagnosis of important gastrointestinal cancers.

TiGenix and Fidia Advanced Biopolymers (FAB), both active in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, have announced that they will join forces for the development and commercialisation of novel biological implants for the repair of damaged and osteoarthritic joints.

Baxter Healthcare has launched an educational programme to support hospitals in the implementation of the recently released NPSA Safety Alert 20: Promoting safer use of injectable medicines.

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust (RNOH) at Stanmore has taken a step towards improving patient care by appointing MediHome to provide Care-at-Home type services.

The UK’s first three-dimensional “virtual” radiotherapy training facility has been developed by the University of Hull and Hull’s Princess Royal Hospital.

Cook Urology has drawn attention to the wide global use of its Resonance Metallic Ureteral Stent – over 1,000 stents have been placed in patients around the world.

Siemens Medical Solutions has introduced its new MammoTest biopsy table for biopsies in the prone position during breast cancer screening.

Deltex Medical Group plc, the haemodynamic monitoring company, has announced the first case study of the non-invasive SupraQ monitor being used to guide successful intervention in a critically ill patient.

Anew surgical procedure for effective thermofusion and dissection of vessels has been defined.

Private sector provider Harmoni is building a new corporate model that merges the best practices from GP co-ops, employee partnerships and limited companies while encompassing NHS values, and is being rewarded with rapid growth, delivering healthcare to more than 5% of the population – making it one of the largest primary care providers in the UK.