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| 09/02/2010 |
| By: Presswatch |
| NHS and Health Sector Summary |
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According to the Evening Standard, Londoners face the heaviest health cuts in the country of £673 per head, campaigners warned today. The Health Emergency findings show a third of these cutbacks - just over £5bn - will be in London. This compares with £800m in the East Midlands and £1.3bn by the South Central strategic health authority. The National Health Service could potentially save more than £1bn a year and improve the quality of care by treating more people outside hospital and in their own homes, according to a study by Dr Foster Intelligence, the healthcare data analyst part-owned by the NHS, reported by the Financial Times. Charities say terminally ill patients are being "penalised" for having rare conditions, after a kidney cancer medication was ruled too expensive for the NHS. The drug can prolong the life of patients for whom other treatments no longer work. According to the Daily Telegraph, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the drugs rationing body, insists that the £31,000-a-year medication, called everolimus, or afinitor, is not cost effective. Dominic Lawson, in the Independent, claims it is a scandal that the NHS still supports homeopathy. The Government spends £10m a year on such "medicines," via four NHS homeopathic hospitals. Yet no double-blind test has ever validated homeopathy, and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has not investigated the claims of homeopathy. |
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| 09/02/2010 |
| Daily Telegraph |
| By: Presswatch |
| Lack of pharmacists "risks patient safety" |
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The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, has warned that a critical shortage of hospital pharmacists is putting patient safety at risk. A quarter of junior pharmacy posts in hospitals are unfilled despite recent evidence showing they spot nearly all prescription errors before any harm can come to patients. The Society has written to Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, to warn of the dangers. |
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| 09/02/2010 |
| Daily Telegraph |
| By: Presswatch |
| Lack of pharmacists "risks patient safety" |
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The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, has warned that a critical shortage of hospital pharmacists is putting patient safety at risk. A quarter of junior pharmacy posts in hospitals are unfilled despite recent evidence showing they spot nearly all prescription errors before any harm can come to patients. The Society has written to Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, to warn of the dangers. |
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| 09/02/2010 |
| Daily Mail |
| By: Presswatch |
| Anti-depressant linked to breast cancer deaths |
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Women taking a popular anti-depressant at the same time as a drug used to stop breast cancer recurring are more likely to die from the disease, doctors warn. Researchers have found that the anti-depressant Seroxat can interfere with tamoxifen, which is prescribed to thousands of breast cancer survivors for five years at a time. The findings have major implications because many of these women also suffer from depression, with up to one in four affected. |
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| 09/02/2010 |
| Daily Mail |
| By: Presswatch |
| British patients left in lurch as lifesaving medicines are sold abroad |
| The Daily Mail contains a feature on drugs shortages which are being blamed on "profiteering". There are 48 well known medicines in short supply, says the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. These include treatments for high blood pressure, lung disease, depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy, Parkinson's and asthma. A spokesman for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said: "The situation cannot be allowed to continue." |
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| 09/02/2010 |
| Daily Mail |
| By: Presswatch |
| Eugenics fears over £700 online gene kit |
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Couples are to be offered a simple test to stop them passing on any of more than 100 genetic diseases to their children. But experts warned the simple test was unnecessary and could lead to "back door eugenics". The test's inventors, who plan to sell it online and through a fertility clinic, say it can protect children from the pain and indignity of serious and incurable diseases. Those with a family history of conditions such as cystic fibrosis are already entitled to screening on the Health Service. Couples planning to have children would give saliva samples which are then screened for the genetic mutations behind 109 diseases. |
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| 09/02/2010 |
| Daily Mail |
| By: Presswatch |
| New psoriasis drug offers greater relief |
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Stelara, a psoriasis drug, is proving more effective than the most commonly used treatment Enbrel, according to researchers at the University of Manchester. Over three months, 57 per cent of those on Enbrel improved compared with 67 per cent of those on Stelara (when the dose was doubled, 73 per cent improved). Professor Chris Griffiths, who led the international study said: "Patients who failed to respond to Enbrel often improved when switched to Stelara." |
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