Children being failed by health system, says head of watchdog – The Guardian 21st March 2009
From knife crime to hospital care, young people still put at risk, according to outgoing head of Healthcare Commission
Additional Stories
- Making the NHS better, without alienating staff – The Guardian 21st March 2009
- Case studies: Is the health system failing children? – The Guardian 21st March 2009
IVF watchdog to warn of birth defect risks – The Guardian 21st March 2009
Couples seeking IVF treatment are to be warned for the first time that their children have a higher risk of suffering birth defects, disability and life-threatening conditions.
The alert by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the government’s watchdog on fertility issues, follows a US study indicating test-tube babies are at a 30% greater risk of suffering from conditions such as cleft palates and defects with heart valves and the digestive system than children conceived naturally.
- Parents warned of IVF birth defect risks – The Independent 21st March 2009
- IVF babies in health alert: Test-tube children 30 per cent more likely to have defects, warns watchdog – Daily Mail 20th March 2009
- New guidance on IVF defects risk – BBC Health News 21st March 2009
Ben Goldacre: Bad Science Science journalists? Don’t make me laugh – The Guardian 21st March 2009
Science is not difficult to explain. Today we will see how British journalists go out of their way to cherry-pick which evidence they cover, and then explain the risks and benefits in what has been shown to be the single most unhelpful way possible.
“Screening all older men for prostate cancer ‘could reduce deaths by a fifth’,” said the Mail. “Prostate cancer hope” said the Mirror. “Calls for new policies on NHS cancer tests” said the Independent. “Prostate cancer screening could cut deaths by 20%” said the Guardian. “Better cancer screening is every man’s right” was the editorial in the Scotsman, where they wound themselves into a froth of indignation.
Little change in survival rates despite cancer spending plan – The Guardian 20th March 2009
The government’s national cancer plan, backed by a massive injection of cash for cancer services in England, has failed to boost survival rates substantially, a major study shows today.
The findings will dismay government ministers, who have secured a tripling of spending on cancer over the last decade with the ambition of bringing the UK from among the worst countries up to the standard of the best in Europe.
Additional Stories
- Commentary: After years of underfunding, cancer funding won’t be fixed overnight – TheTimes 21st March 2009
- No big boost to cancer survival rates despite billions in extra government funding – The Times 21st March 2009
- Cancer plan ‘failing to close survival gap with Europe’ – The Telegraph 20th March 2009
- Our cancer shame: Survival rates still lag behind EU despite spending billions – Daily Mail 20th March 2009
- Row over impact of cancer policy – BBC Health News 20th March 2009
Birmingham Children’s Hospital put lives at risk, commission says – The Guardian 20th March 2009
Healthcare Commission criticises specialist unit in second damning report of an NHS hospital this week
Parents lose fight to keep terminally ill baby alive – The Independent 21st March 2009
A terminally ill baby is to be allowed to die after judges last night ended his parents’ bid to force doctors to continue treating the child.
The nine-month-old boy, identified only by the letters OT, has a rare metabolic disorder, brain damage and is unable to breathe without a ventilator. Doctors decided that the child had no chance of recovery and treatment should be stopped as he was in unbearable pain. One said keeping him alive amounted to “torture”.
Additional Stories
- Parents lose court fight to keep baby OT alive – The Times 21st March 2009
- Parents given hours to appeal for Baby OT’s right to life – The Times 20th March 2009
- Right to die baby’s ventilator must be switched off, court rules – The Telegraph 20th March 2009
- Baby’s right to life appeal fails – BBC Health News 21st March 2009
Hewitt leads calls to protect suicide helpers – The Independent 20th March 2009
Former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt will lead demands for a law change to protect those who help terminally-ill relatives and friends travel abroad for an assisted suicide.
Additional Stories
- Law on the right-to-die is likely to change, but not yet – The Times 21st March 2009
- Debbie Purdy case shows legislation only way to protect right-to-die families – The Times 21st March 2009
- Patricia Hewitt leads fight to help euthanasia relatives – The Times 20th March 2009
- Euthanasia UK: Outcry as Hewitt leads campaign to protect those who help the sick end their lives – Daily Mail 21st March 2009
- MAIL COMMENT: Drip by drip in this country, we are losing the respect for life – Daily Mail 21st March 2009
- JOHN HUMPHRYS: It was right to let dad die – Daily Mail 20th March 2009
Staff at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck were infected with norovirus – The Times 20th March 2009
Staff at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant worked when they were infected with the common winter sickness bug known as novovirus, it emerged today.
Six staff were identified with the bug and it was clear that a number failed to take the recommended 48-hours off work after symptoms had stopped, the Health Protection Agency said.
Additional Story
Find out your brainsex – The Times 20th March 2009
A neuropsychologist who writes about male and female-oriented brains is at the front line of the struggle to try and make the boys in Britain’s schools enthusiastic about learning.
Dr Ann Moir has applied her knowledge of gender differences to the classroom and devised a series of radical – some say controversial – tactics that have resulted in schools encouraging and teaching boys to “play-fight”.
Government campaign says condoms make women sexier – The Telegraph 20th March 2009
Ministers have been accused of promoting promiscuity after launching a new campaign to encourage young women to carry condoms.
Children don’t make you happy, says expert who doesn’t have any – The Telegraph 20th March 2009
Having children doesn’t make people happy, according to an expert who doesn’t actually have any himself.
Celebrities like Cheryl Cole and David Beckham ‘should not endorse junk food’ – The Telegraph 20th March 2009
Celebrities including Cheryl Cole, David Beckham and Chris Hoy, the triple gold medal winning Olympic cyclist, have been criticised for advertising junk food in a new report.
Obesity ‘causing rise in kidney stone operations’ – The Telegraph 20th March 2009
The number of patients requiring operations for painful kidney stones has risen by one third in five years, driven in part by the growing obesity crisis, experts have warned.
I nearly rejected my baby: Laurence Fox on the pressures of being a new dad – Daily Mail 20th March 2009
Today he’s the devoted dad, but when his wife Billie Piper gave birth, Laurence Fox struggled to love his son.
A word of advice for new visitors to the Fox residence: don’t, whatever you do, interfere with the bedtime routine of baby Winston, new offspring of actor Laurence Fox and his actress wife, Billie Piper.
The two ordinary women who exposed the blunder hospital where hundreds died in squalor – Daily Mail 20th March 2009
Until Bella Bailey was admitted to hospital at the age of 86, her daughter, Julie, had never seen her cry.
But on Ward 10 of Stafford Hospital tears became a daily occurrence.
‘She would clutch hold of my hand, her nails digging into my skin, terrified that I would leave her,’ says Julie, a softly- spoken 47-year-old mother-of-two.
‘If I tried to get up to go to the loo, she would hold on to me and beg me to stay. She couldn’t even bear for me to go from her side for a minute.’
We had our baby taken away for a year over a doctor’s blunder – Daily Mail 20th March 2009
A soldier and his wife had their baby taken away for almost a year after a doctor misread an X-ray.
Lance Corporal Matthew Dean and his wife Katie were accused of abusing Louie and were suddenly faced with the threat of losing all their three children.
Sugary breakfast cereals may be advertised to children if ‘protein cap’ is scrapped, warns food watchdog – Daily Mail 20th March 2009
Measures designed to prevent foods such as sugary breakfast cereals being advertised to children should remain in place, the Food Standards Agency has urged.
The agency is recommending its board should advise Government ministers to retain a rule preventing foods with high levels of salt, sugar or fat being classed as healthy enough to be advertised to children by virtue of their protein count.
How one nurse helped stop killer bedsores – BBC Health News 21st March 2009
Moving a patient relieves bedsores.
It sounds obvious today, but it took the work of an innovative nurse in the 1950s working with a group of elderly patients to realise it.
Cause celeb: Broadbent tackles Alzheimer’s – BBC Health News 20th March 2009
High profile names can help raise awareness of a disease or condition, and bring it under the spotlight.
This video series talks to those in the public eye about their personal reasons for speaking out.
Oscar-winning actor Jim Broadbent has challenged the government to take urgent action on dementia research.
Doctor’s Diary: Hayfever confusion – BBC Health News 20th March 2009
Health is constantly in the news, but what do doctors on the frontline actually think?
This video diary is a weekly insight into the local and national issues affecting a busy GP practice.
This week, Dr Nicola Jones has seen a number of patients who think they have a cold, but are in fact suffering from summer allergies. The hayfever season has arrived early.
Camera monitors babies’ breathing – BBC Health News 20th March 2009
Researchers in Bristol are developing a non-invasive way to monitor the breathing of babies and young children with respiratory problems.
The new system being developed will use a camera with specially positioned lighting. The method is called dynamic photometric stereo.
Hospital leadership is ‘failing’ – BBC Health News 20th March 2009
The leadership of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals’ Trust (RCHT) is heading “towards corporate failure”, an independent review has concluded.
The report was commissioned by the South West Strategic Health Authority and the RCHT.
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