NHS hospitals had to be bailed out to the tune of almost £415 million last year after running out of cash according to Department of Health figures.In total 31 hospitals had to be given extra emergency funding to keep them going in 2011-12, up from 21 the previous year.

The payments have risen dramatically since 2009-10, when the department started collating full figures.

That year, they were £187.1 million, while in 2010-11 they rose slightly to £223.0 million, before jumping to £414.2 million.

The big rise coincided with a tighter budget settlement for the NHS as a whole,which has resulted in drops in referrals to hospitals and tighter restrictions on surgery for operations like hip and knee replacements.

Andrew Lansley said: “Labour left us a dismal legacy of challenged hospitals, burdening some of them with PFI deals they could not afford, huge debts, and poor financial governance.

“Even with the Government’s decision to protect NHS spending, the challenges of an ageing population and rising costs mean that these problems cannot be swept under the carpet any longer.

“For some hospital trusts, the challenges they face may be too great for them to take on alone.  That is why we are helping them overcome their problems, with short-term support if necessary, so that they become sustainable in the long-term.”

The largest single bailout was for South London Healthcare Trust, which received £79.2 million last year. Over three years it has been handed £168.7 million. Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust was the second biggest recipient in 2011-12, taking £57.7 million in total.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Hospital-bailouts-top-400m

Medicine shortages are having an “adverse” impact on patients, including vulnerable groups such as those with mental health problems, the House of Commons All Party Pharmacy Group said.In a report detailing its inquiry into medicine shortages, the group said the shortages had been mainly caused by the export of medicines intended for the UK market to other EU countries.

This exporting is conducted by speculators and is legal under EU and UK law, the report noted.

Highly qualified pharmacists are having to spend time locating medicines in short supply, the MPs noted.

But in spite of the best efforts of pharmacists, the group said it had been told of cases involving vulnerable patients not receiving the medicine they need because of shortages.

These included patients with mental health problems, epilepsy sufferers, diabetics, and even pregnant women in need of medicine to stabilise their pregnancy.

“Evidence we received highlights the stress, anxiety and sometimes harm that patients suffer,” the MPs said in their report.

The group warned that the UK has been experiencing shortages of NHS prescription medicines for four years.

“We have no objection to the export of medicines in principle, so long as this practice does not harm patients,” they said.

“However, throughout this inquiry, we have seen evidence that patients are suffering and that pharmacists’ time and resources are being diverted away from patient care as a result of medicines being in short supply.”

In its report, the group calls for a “renewed sense of urgency” to deal with the problem by those organisations involved in the supply of medicine.

The Government must “unequivocally” state that the interests of UK patients must come first and not provisions concerning the free movement of goods, it said.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “The very least patients should be able to expect is for prescribed medicines to be available to them when required.

“However, all too often this simple expectation is not being met and as a result patients, some of whom have serious medical conditions that require medicine to remain stable, are being put at risk.

“The Government needs to investigate this problem as a matter of urgency, using the findings of this report as a starting point.”

Savage cuts to nursing are stretching resources “to breaking point”, the largest nursing union says today at it’s conference.Government plans to shift care out of hospital and closer to patients’ homes are being used as a cover for the cuts, the Royal College of Nursing warns. It is also leading to patients being discharged too early, the RCN reports.

Over 26,000 nursing posts have been cut in the last two years and a further 61,000 are at risk, according to the RCN.

The college says that, despite government rhetoric claiming more care is being provided outside hospital, there has been less than a 1 per cent increase in the community nursing workforce in the last decade and community nursing is “stretched to breaking point”.

The figures come as Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, prepares to address the RCN congress today. In an interview with The Independent ahead of the speech, Mr Lansley denied there were mass reductions in nurse numbers.

He also said staffing numbers were not the only factor in providing good patient care. “In some hospitals the staffing ratios are exactly what we would expect, but some wards are really excellent and some are really bad. This is about leadership,” he said.

Mr Lansley added that a recent staff survey shows that, across the NHS, only 65 per cent of staff would recommend their hospital to friends or family.

A poll conducted for the college on the eve of its annual congress in Harrogate found 90 per cent of respondents agreed patients were being discharged sooner from hospital and with more complex needs than a year ago.

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the RCN, said: “Nurses are stretched too thin and many are approaching breaking point. Inevitably patients are going to suffer.” The RCN supported a shift from hospital to community care but nurses reported patients being discharged from hospital before social-care support was in place.

The Health minister Simon Burns said he did not recognise the RCN’s figures: “There are only 450 fewer qualified nursing staff in England than in 2009 and in 2011-12 we expect to train 2,300 community nurses and health visitors.”

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/government-is-cutting-nursing-numbers-by-stealth

The campaign to improve hand hygiene in hospitals in England and Wales is contributing to a significant fall in the rates of superbug infections, according to a report.The study published on the BMJ website showed the amount of soap and hand gel being used tripled during the campaign.

At the same time, levels of MRSA and C. difficile infections in hospitals fell.

The government has since dropped the campaign, but said its ambition was to “wipe out” such infections.

Hospital superbugs were once a real fear for many patients. In response the Clean Your Hands campaign, funded by the Department of Health, was introduced in all hospitals by June 2005.

Alcohol gels were put by bedsides, posters reminded staff to wash their hands and there were regular checks to ensure hands were kept clean.

By 2008, the total amount of soap and alcohol gel being purchased by hospitals trebled, going from 22ml per patient per day to 60ml per patient per day.

Rates of MRSA more than halved in the same time period and C. diff infections fell by more than 40%.

One of the report’s authors, Dr Sheldon Stone from the Royal Free University College London Medical School, estimated that around 10,000 lives were saved because of the campaign.

He told the BBC: “It’s been a real British success story, we’ve gone from being the dirty man of Europe to being world leaders.

“What we need to do is keep up the momentum and stay at the forefront of world hand hygiene.”

A spokesman from the Department of Health said: “The Clean Your Hands campaign was successful in its aim to highlight the importance of good hand hygiene practice across the NHS. We know this has been successful.

“The challenge now is to ensure the NHS embeds the good practice highlighted in the campaign to achieve our ambition to wipe out avoidable healthcare-associated infection.

“We know real progress has been made in this area as MRSA bloodstream infections have dropped by 41% and C. difficile by 30% across the NHS in England since 2009/10.”

From:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17942182

Sleeping for more than nine hours a night may help those with a genetic predisposition to being overweight stay healthy, a study suggests. A study of twins has found that sleeping for less than seven hours a night was linked to higher bodyweights and a greater susceptibility to genetic factors that influence weight.

However the opposite was true in people who slept for nine hours or more.

Several genes have been found to be associated with obesity and this is thought to be the first study to examine how sleep interacts with them.

The genes affect how the body uses energy, how fat is stored, the feeling of being full after a meal and how quickly sugar is used up.

A team at the University of Washington studied 1,088 pairs of twins and found that the genetic influence on their body mass index was twice as great in those who slept for less than seven hours compared to those who slept for nine hours a night.

The findings were published in the journal, Sleep.  Lead author Dr Nathaniel Watson, said: “The results suggest that shorter sleep provides a more permissive environment for the expression of obesity related genes. Or it may be that extended sleep is protective by suppressing expression of obesity genes.”

Dr Watson said the results were preliminary but may suggest that weight loss measures would be most effective when the genetic influences on obesity were mitigated through sleep extension.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Sleeping-for-more-than-nine-hours-may-help-weight-loss-research

The perfect age is 70 years old according to research showing the extent to which pensioners benefited from the post war boom.Previous generations have handed over an ever more prosperous legacy to their children. But those born after the Second World War appear to have snatched the lot.

Typically, they had a state education and their university fees were paid by the state. Even those from middle class homes got a student grant.

They also took the first step on the property ladder in their twenties — years before the current first time buyers.

Their mortgages were comfortably less than three times their salary.

The analysis to find the perfect age was commissioned for the British Airways Business Life magazine, which asked the leading financial advisers Hargreaves Lansdown to examine the numbers and trends.

It found that 70 — or approaching it — was the best age to be. And 45 was the worst.

While someone in their sixties might be suffering thanks to a flat market and low savings growth, they also have the legacy of years of low taxation, good equity in their homes and a pension driven by a 20 year bull run in stock markets.

Those in their forties face high school and university fees for their children, and have few savings and low pensions.

At their time of maximum expenditure they may be in negative equity in their home and there’s little sign of good news on the horizon.

Figures show that life can also be tough for anyone in their twenties. Saddled with student debt, they are finding it difficult to get a job, can’t afford a house, have no savings, high costs and, if they are in work, a low salary.

Stroke patients are ‘abandoned’ when they leave hospital leaving carers to shoulder burden due to lack of joined up care, a charity has warned.Stroke patients need support and care at home in order to make a full recovery however many do not even have their needs assessed, the Stroke Association has warned.

When they do receive care at home, one in five have had some or all of it withdrawn despite no change in their condition, it was found.

A survey for the charity also found that health and social care services often do not communicate properly with each other leaving family and carers to coordinate between them.

Fewer than four in ten of those who received an assessment had been given a care plan outlining the services and treatments that would be put in place.

The National Stroke Strategy states that people should receive an assessment at six weeks of leaving hospital, again at six months and then annually.

Reports from the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee have also recently criticised the care of stroke patients once they leave hospital.

The Stoke Association report entitled Struggling to recover, it based on a survey of 2,200 stroke survivors.

Around 150,000 people a year suffer a stroke and 53,000 die annually. It is one of the most common causes of disability with 450,000 stroke survivors left severely disabled in England.

Jon Barrick, chief executive at the Stroke Association said: “More people than ever are surviving a stroke and that’s a welcome improvement.

“But many stroke survivors tell us that after all the effort to save their lives they then feel abandoned when they return home.

“The NHS and local authorities are failing in their responsibilities to provide appropriate and timely support to stroke survivors and their families; and the growing evidence of cuts for people currently getting services is very worrying.”

Helping stroke survivors to make a full recovery makes economic sense Mr Barrick said because they are then less likely to be admitted to hospital as an emergency or end up in a care home.

Mr Barrick added: “Common sense aside, the evidence is clear. Appropriate assessment and provision of services at the right time improves quality of life for stroke survivors and their families.

“It also saves the tax payer money, as people are less likely to require acute or crisis interventions.

“Stroke survivors and their families must be properly supported immediately after leaving hospital and in the long term, so they can make better recoveries and get on with their lives.”

A blood test that can detect breast cancer decades before the disease develops could be available in five years, scientists have announced.The test could help doctors to identify women at high risk of the disease allowing them to take preventive medicines and switch to healthier lifestyles.

Researchers have identified a ‘genetic switch’, carried by one in five women, that doubles their risk of developing breast cancer.

Experts described the breakthrough by scientists at Imperial College London as “exciting” and said signs of the disease could be detected “many decades in advance”.

Dr James Flanagan, who led the new research, said the test could be available in five to ten years.

The ‘genetic switch’ is influenced by lifestyle factors such as alcohol, smoking, pollution, and hormones including HRT.

Carrying the genetic alterations increase a woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer from one in eight in the general population to one in four.

These tiny genetic changes could be detected in blood samples years before symptoms of breast cancer developed.

Scientists analysed blood samples from 1,380 women of various ages, 640 of whom went on to develop breast cancer.

On average, the blood tests were carried out three years before diagnosis. In some cases they pre-dated the discovery of breast cancer by up to 11 years.

The results were especially clear in blood samples from women under the age of 60.

Around 49,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and almost 12,000 die annually in Britain.

The changes are also associated with lymphoma and leukaemia meaning the test could have implications in other cancers.

A strong association was found between molecular changes in a white blood cell gene called ATM and breast cancer risk.

Dr Flanagan said: ‘We are working towards prevention. If we can identify women at high risk of cancer we can work towards preventing it and could reduce the incidence of breast cancer quite dramatically.  We have found one marker, we need to work towards finding them all and then we will have a more useful test.”

The findings are published in the journal Cancer Research.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Campaign, said: “Dr Flanagan’s research into epigenetics is so exciting because it suggests that there is every possibility the risk of developing breast cancer could be decided many decades in advance.

“By piecing together how this happens, we can look at ways of preventing the disease and detecting it earlier to give people the best possible chance of survival.”

Last month researchers announced that they had discovered that breast cancer was not a single disease but there were fact ten distinct genetic types.

This means that treatment can be tailored to the genetic profile of the specific type meaning drugs will work better, with fewer side effects.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Blood-test-could-detect-breast-cancer-years-in-advance

The NHS risks becoming the “World Health Service” because even visitors to the country can claim free treatment, immigration campaigners warn.Ministers have confirmed that GPs do not need to ask prospective patients for ID or proof of address when registering them, raising fresh fears over “health tourism”.

It allows foreign nationals who arrive in England on a six month visitors visa to begin receiving health care immediately.

But the pressure group Migration Watch UK says that it could also mean illegal immigrants getting NHS treatment.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the organisation, said: “What this means is that someone getting off a plane with a valid visitors visa, is, in effect, able to access the GP services of the NHS without ever having paid a penny into the system. Over one and a half million such visas were issued last year.”

“And once registered with a GP it is, in practice, an easy step to potentially highly expensive and long term treatment – all at the expense of the UK taxpayer with little or no prospect of the beneficiaries ever being charged for it.”

He went on: “‘It is clearly not the job of doctors to act as an arm of the immigration service but there are clear and substantial risks of abuse in such a lax system and controls must be put in place.”

“The present situation is outrageous. Everyone knows the pressure the NHS is under and its ever increasing cost to the taxpayer. To allow such easy and potentially hugely expensive access without any entitlement must be stopped at once, otherwise the NHS risks becoming the ‘World Health Service’.”

The “lax” rules were confirmed in response to a parliamentary written question asked by Frank Field, the veteran Labour MP.

From: http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/

The number of patients forced to remain in hospital despite being fit enough to leave has increased by a quarter in under two years as councils struggle to find places for elderly people.New figures from the Department of Health show that the total number of days patients have been delayed in hospital has increased by 10 per cent in the last month.

The problem – often referred to as “bed blocking” – has increased 29 per cent when compared with figures from August 2010.

Patients are frequently delayed in hospital and cannot be discharged until suitable care has been arranged, either in a nursing home or in their own home, to aid their recovery.

Councils have faced significant cuts to their budgets and experts have previously warned there would be a knock-on effect on the NHS.

However, patients can also be delayed because they need to be transferred to other hospitals.

The figures show there were 71,450 delayed days in hospitals in March, up from 64,590 in February 2012 and 55,330 in August 2010. However, officials said it was not fair to compare summer figures with statistics from the winter period, when hospitals and councils are busier.

The cost of the delays to the taxpayer has now reached more than £18.5 million a month – around £600,000 every day. The total bill for delayed discharges since August 2010 is £324 million.

The Health Minister Simon Burns said: “No one should stay in hospital longer than they need to.  We know that there is always room for improvement when the NHS faces challenges from an ageing population and rising costs of new treatments.”

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/25pc-more-patients-forced-to-remain-in-hospital-beds