http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/health_direct_RSS.xml Health Direct.co.uk- blog for the latest NHS news and advice on how the Labour government is saving the NHS. en-gb health NHS Bliar New-Labour UK-blogs health direct Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:05:00 GMT mrsa@healthdirect.co.uk (Simon Dye) Copyright: (C) 1998-2007 HealthDirect.co.uk Ltd Patricia Hewitt, the former health secretary who left the government six months ago, has been offered jobs with at least five companies with links to the health sector http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/patricia-hewitt-cashes-in-on-health.html Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/patricia-hewitt-cashes-in-on-health.html Family doctors face working unorthodox hours in so called super surgeries under a radical pilot scheme that could turn into a nationwide blueprint for medical care. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/ministers-back-gp-plan-that-sidesteps.html Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/ministers-back-gp-plan-that-sidesteps.html A woman will be denied free National Health Service treatment for breast cancer if she seeks to improve her chances by paying privately for an additional drug. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nhs-threat-to-halt-care-for-cancer.html Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nhs-threat-to-halt-care-for-cancer.html As 2007 draws to a close it is sad to contemplate that during the year another 10,000 men in the UK will have lost their lives to prostate cancer, and that 10,000 families this Christmas will be grieving the loss of a loved one as a result http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/prostate-cancer-health-disservice.html Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/prostate-cancer-health-disservice.html A life saving treatment will be denied to tens of thousands of victims of Britain's most common male cancer after a U-turn by the NHS rationing body NICE. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nhs-u-turn-on-prostate-cancer-treatment.html Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nhs-u-turn-on-prostate-cancer-treatment.html Patients' confidential medical records are regularly being accessed by people who have no right to them, research by the BBC has revealed. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that in the last year there have been several data security breaches in the West of England. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nhs-patients-records-frequently-leaks.html Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nhs-patients-records-frequently-leaks.html Both private sector and NHS-run organisations are failing to meet core minimum standards for patient care, with neither outperforming the other, says the UK health sectors inspectorate. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/core-health-standards-being-missed.html Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:52:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/core-health-standards-being-missed.html The advice of a high powered board of business people set up to counsel the labour government on working with the private sector was systematically ignored by ministers and civil servants, according to a resignation letter seen by the Financial Times. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/quango-advisers-hit-out-on-nhs-wasted.html Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:12:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/quango-advisers-hit-out-on-nhs-wasted.html Thousands of health workers from across Britain have held silent protests against the sacking of a Manchester nurse. Members if Unison took to the streets wearing gags a month after psychiatric nurse Karen Reissmann, who criticised NHS cuts, was fired for speaking to the media. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nurses-hold-silent-protest-at-sacking.html Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:27:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nurses-hold-silent-protest-at-sacking.html The charity Diabetes UK is calling for more access to insulin pumps for people with diabetes as new research shows they are more effective in improving blood glucose control and reducing hypoglycaemic episodes than traditional insulin injections. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/50000-people-denied-insulin-pumps-in-uk.html Fri, 7 Dec 2007 09:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/50000-people-denied-insulin-pumps-in-uk.html Hospitals are still failing to treat people with dignity and respect as complaints reveal patients left unwashed, in soiled bedding and in humiliating open-backed gowns, the Healthcare Commission has said. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nhs-patients-face-humiliating-treatment.html Thu, 6 Dec 2007 19:26:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nhs-patients-face-humiliating-treatment.html Thousands of stroke victims die unnecessarily every year because access to the best care is subject to a postcode lottery, campaigners have said. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/strokes-postcode-lottery-for-stroke.html Wed, 5 Dec 2007 19:26:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/strokes-postcode-lottery-for-stroke.html The UK is lagging behind "nearly every other" European country when it comes to investment in cancer services and has some of the poorest survival rates for the disease. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/uk-among-europes-worst-for-cancer.html Tue, 4 Dec 2007 08:46:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/uk-among-europes-worst-for-cancer.html The NHS is holding thousands of people with learning disabilities in bleak accommodation with scant regard to their human rights, inspectors warn today. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nhs-ignoring-human-rights-of-people.html Mon, 3 Dec 2007 10:21:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/12/nhs-ignoring-human-rights-of-people.html The 50m Pounds a year that the labour government is to spend on routinely deep cleaning hospital wards is being spent to reassure the public rather than as a provenly effective way to tackle hospital acquired infections like MRSA admitted Alan Johnson the Health Secretary. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/ward-cleaning-is-reassurance-spin.html Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:21:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/ward-cleaning-is-reassurance-spin.html Accidents, errors and mishaps in hospital affect as many as one in 10 in-patients, claim researchers. The report in the journal Quality and Safety in Health Care said up to half of these were preventable. Checks on 1,000 cases in just one hospital found examples of fatal surgical errors, infections and drug complications. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/one-in-10-suffers-hospital-harm-as.html Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:21:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/one-in-10-suffers-hospital-harm-as.html Ambulances may be spreading infections because they are not being cleaned properly, union leaders warn. An investigation by Unison found large variations in cleaning practices at ambulance trusts in the UK. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/dirty-ambulances-spread-mrsa-superbugs.html Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:21:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/dirty-ambulances-spread-mrsa-superbugs.html NHS hospitals and primary care trusts are paying private hospitals excessive prices because they treat patients at the last minute, the industry says. This is despite the availability of more than 120 independent hospitals and surgical centres that will treat patients at NHS prices or just above. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/last-minute-private-operations-cost-nhs.html Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:21:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/last-minute-private-operations-cost-nhs.html The NHS is heading for a record 1.8bn Pounds underspend this financial year, Health Direct can reveal. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/nhs-underspends-by-18bn.html Mon, 26 Nov 2007 10:21:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/nhs-underspends-by-18bn.html Paramedics are treating patients in ambulances outside the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and ambulances are queuing outside the hospital because of a major alert which has left it with no beds available to new admissions. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/ambulances-queue-at-full-hospital-at.html Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:21:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/ambulances-queue-at-full-hospital-at.html The man in charge of setting up the NHS medical records database has admitted that you cannot stop the wicked doing wicked things with information. Richard Jeavons, director of IT implementation at the Department of Health, said there were instances where staff abuse their privileges. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/nhs-database-will-weaken-patient.html Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:21:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/nhs-database-will-weaken-patient.html Health Direct asks if you remember all those labour MPs who supported the national ID card scheme, the DNA database and the NHS IT system? They said we had nothing to fear.....labour said that your data will be safe with them. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/shocking-labour-incompetent-data-misuse.html Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:48:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/shocking-labour-incompetent-data-misuse.html One of Britains most eminent consultants has claimed white male doctors are being denied bonuses because of politically correct reverse discrimination by the National Health Service. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/doctors-revolt-at-anti-white-bias.html Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:17:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/doctors-revolt-at-anti-white-bias.html The Financial Times last week criticised labour's health services incompetent U Turn. Health Direct reproduces the Editorial below. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/nhs-must-keep-taking-tablets-financial.html Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:17:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/nhs-must-keep-taking-tablets-financial.html Alan Johnson, the health secretary, yesterday slashed a long planned expansion of the private sectors role in the National Health Service, in effect confirming that contracts originally meant to be worth about 6bn Pounds for surgical treatments and diagnostic services are likely to amount to well under half that sum. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/private-sector-sees-nhs-role-slashed.html Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:17:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/private-sector-sees-nhs-role-slashed.html Junior doctors beginning their training in hospitals will no longer have their accommodation found or paid for, it emerged today. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/housing-blow-for-junior-doctors-in-new.html Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:26:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/housing-blow-for-junior-doctors-in-new.html A deepening divide is emerging between NHS organisations that are managing their finances well and the nearly one third that remain in poor financial health, the Audit Commission has warned. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/nhs-deficits-leading-to-quality-divide.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:55:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/nhs-deficits-leading-to-quality-divide.html A pioneering 700m Pound a year labour government scheme to buy surgical treatment centres and diagnostic services from the private sector is set to be more than halved by ministers. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/private-sector-role-in-pioneering.html Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:30:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/private-sector-role-in-pioneering.html A new inquiry into lifestyle and cancer has issued several stark recommendations. They include not gaining weight as an adult, avoiding sugary drinks and alcohol, and not eating bacon or ham. Everyone must also aim to be as thin as possible without becoming underweight. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/labours-nanny-state-wants-us-to-stop.html Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:30:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/labours-nanny-state-wants-us-to-stop.html Ben Bradshaw is trying to break the labour promise that no patient should wait more than 18 weeks from seeing their GP to completing their hospital treatment as new figures confirm that they will fail to keep their word. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/labour-tries-to-move-18-week-hospital.html Fri, 9 Nov 2007 10:13:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/labour-tries-to-move-18-week-hospital.html Following Health Direct's post last month that Record numbers go abroad for health treatments, we profile a number of case studies where UK patients have given up on the NHS and experienced foreign health services. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/case-studies-in-foreign-health-services.html Thu, 8 Nov 2007 14:29:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/case-studies-in-foreign-health-services.html The health service would have a clear divide between purchasers and providers with ministers and the Department of Health having much less day to day involvement in its running under a bill published by the Conservatives. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/tory-health-bill-challenges-labour-on.html Wed, 7 Nov 2007 14:29:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/tory-health-bill-challenges-labour-on.html Growing concern among the public about falling standards in the NHS is revealed in another new health survey notes Health Direct. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/patients-losing-faith-in-nhs-claims.html Tue, 6 Nov 2007 14:29:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/patients-losing-faith-in-nhs-claims.html The fourth estate has always had a bad name, but it seems to be getting worse. Journalism should be an honest and useful trade, and often still is. But now that journalism has more power than ever before, it seems to have become ever more disreputable. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/sicko-michael-moore-film-has-mad-view.html Mon, 5 Nov 2007 14:29:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/sicko-michael-moore-film-has-mad-view.html Hospital superbugs are endemic in Britains wards and the Government is failing to meet its targets to reduce them, new watchdog figures have disclosed. Cases of Clostridium difficile increased by seven per cent in hospital patients over the age of 65 from 51,829 in 2005 to 55,620 last year, an extra 3,791 cases. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/hospitals-failing-superbug-targets-as.html Fri, 2 Nov 2007 10:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/hospitals-failing-superbug-targets-as.html Targeted cleaning to tackle MRSA hotspots is the key to reducing hospital infections, an expert says. Microbiologist Dr Stephanie Dancer said cleaning should focus on objects which people frequently touch rather than on catch-all blitzes. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/targeted-cleaning-is-key-to.html Thu, 1 Nov 2007 10:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/11/targeted-cleaning-is-key-to.html Further evidence that the Labours choice policy is struggling as a means of driving reform in the National Health Service has come from the latest survey of how far it is being offered to patients. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/only-44pc-recall-hospital-choice.html Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:12:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/only-44pc-recall-hospital-choice.html Record numbers of Britons are flying abroad for medical treatment to escape NHS waiting lists and the rising threat of hospital superbugs. More than 70,000 Britons will have treatment abroad this year, a figure that is forecast to rise. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/record-numbers-go-abroad-for-health.html Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:12:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/record-numbers-go-abroad-for-health.html Labour's drugs advisory body NICE is issuing poor quality guidance because it excludes experts from the drafting process, doctors told MPs on Friday. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/experts-criticise-nice-drugs-advisory.html Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:12:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/experts-criticise-nice-drugs-advisory.html Labour ministers knew about the findings of a report into 90 patient deaths from Clostridium difficile at Kent hospitals months ago, the Conservative party claimed this week. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/tories-on-attack-over-mrsa-c-diff.html Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/tories-on-attack-over-mrsa-c-diff.html Heroin and cocaine addicts on the labour government's treatment programme are being given drugs as a reward for clean urine samples, Health Direct has learned. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/labour-rewards-drug-addicts-as-only-6pc.html Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/labour-rewards-drug-addicts-as-only-6pc.html Once again Health Direct learns that labour's ridiculous health targets are resulting in many NHS patients having an early death and or unnecessarily pain. The Financial Times discovered that there is a direct correlation between be occupancy rates and incidents of patients contracting MRSA, C Difficile and other superbugs. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/ministers-bury-report-on-mrsa-c.html Wed, 24 Oct 2007 09:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/ministers-bury-report-on-mrsa-c.html Problems with getting an NHS dentist are leading some people to pull their own teeth out. If that's not enough to make you wince, then the potential pitfalls will be. There are people out there pulling their own teeth out with pliers. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/diy-dentistry-lack-of-access-to-nhs.html Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/diy-dentistry-lack-of-access-to-nhs.html The National Health Service has spent almost 500m Pounds on services to stop people smoking but with no discernible impact on either the proportion of the adult population that smokes or the numbers smoking http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/nanny-state-burns-500m-on-failed-anti.html Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/nanny-state-burns-500m-on-failed-anti.html A quarter of hospital trusts in England are failing to meet new standards on infection control, a survey by the Healthcare Commission has found. Forty four trusts were not complying with one or all aspects of the hygiene code, standards seen as key after the recent deaths from hospital infections. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/quarter-of-nhs-trusts-are-failing-on-c.html Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/quarter-of-nhs-trusts-are-failing-on-c.html Up to three quarters of the 13.3bn Pounds efficiency gains the labour government claims to have made may be based on unreliable and inaccurate estimates, a committee of MPs has found. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/health-efficiency-gains-data-uncertain.html Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/health-efficiency-gains-data-uncertain.html A big revamp of the National Health Services 12bn Pound IT programme is under way that will see NHS trusts given more choice of how systems are installed and which software they get. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/nhs-shakes-up-12bn-it-programme.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/nhs-shakes-up-12bn-it-programme.html The outbreak of Clostridium difficile at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, in which at least 1,100 were infected and between 90 and 340 died, carries one clear lesson for policymakers and patients alike. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/hospitals-overlook-infection-guidelines.html Tue, 16 Oct 2007 10:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/hospitals-overlook-infection-guidelines.html Asked what she intended to do about the filthy wards at her hospital, Rose Gibb insisted she had introduced an "action plan" that would "address the issues" of inadequate cleaning. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/superbug-boss-rose-gibb-has-record-of.html Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/superbug-boss-rose-gibb-has-record-of.html Hospital managers could face criminal prosecution for the worst ever recorded outbreaks of the superbug Clostridium difficile which killed at least 90 patients. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/superbug-hospital-may-face-criminal.html Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/superbug-hospital-may-face-criminal.html The Department of Health yesterday reverted to more standard recruitment practices for junior doctors seeking training posts for next year after the chaos that surrounded applications this year. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/junior-doctors-training-stil-under-fire.html Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/junior-doctors-training-stil-under-fire.html Almost a third of complaints about NHS standards are not being handled properly, according to the official health watchdog. The Healthcare Commission claims in a report released today that many hospital managers, doctors and nurses do not listen to complaints or learn from their mistakes. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/nhs-trusts-are-failing-to-handle.html Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:02:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/nhs-trusts-are-failing-to-handle.html Childbirth is claimed to be safer than ever. Yet the price paid by the NHS for deliveries going catastrophically wrong has risen 59 per cent to 259m Pounds enough to fund the consultants and midwives needed to save thousands of babies and mothers from harm. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/labour-in-crisis-as-staff-shortage.html Tue, 9 Oct 2007 15:59:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/labour-in-crisis-as-staff-shortage.html Fundraiser Jane Tomlinson's husband and the NHS trust that treated her have called for a review of the availability of advanced trial drugs. Mrs Tomlinson's husband Mike said she found it distressing that she could not get access to Lapatinib, when it was available elsewhere in the UK. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/jane-tomlinson-widow-asks-for-cancer.html Mon, 8 Oct 2007 11:33:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/jane-tomlinson-widow-asks-for-cancer.html A 100m Pound innovation quango is to be created, with half the money, to be spent over five years, coming from the Wellcome Trust. It marks the first adoption of a recommendation from junior health minister Lord Darzis review of the NHS. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/new-100m-innovation-health-quango-setup.html Fri, 5 Oct 2007 11:33:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/new-100m-innovation-health-quango-setup.html Lord Ara Darzi, Health Minister and author of the interim report on the NHS says that every patient who stays in hospital will be screened for the superbug infection MRSA and at least half of GP practices will open on Saturday mornings or one or more evenings per week. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/tonys-crony-lord-darzis-health-review.html Thu, 4 Oct 2007 11:53:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/tonys-crony-lord-darzis-health-review.html The Financial Times recently reviewed the labour government's actions towards the NHS and questioned their muddled directions. Health Direct reproduces their Editorial below. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/unhealthy-signs-financial-times.html Wed, 3 Oct 2007 11:53:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/unhealthy-signs-financial-times.html The UK and other centralised health systems with a single funder perform worse than those financed by multiple insurers, according to a consumer focused survey of European healthcare. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/nhs-rated-as-mediocre-only-17-compared.html Tue, 2 Oct 2007 10:13:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/nhs-rated-as-mediocre-only-17-compared.html James Purnell, the Culture Secretary, came under increasing pressure over a fake photo last night, after two Labour MPs revealed they planned in advance for it be altered. The MPs, who featured alongside Mr Purnell in the doctored photograph, revealed that they had discussed how he would be merged into the shot after failing to turn up for a photocall on time. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/james-purnell-fake-photo-new-labour.html Mon, 1 Oct 2007 16:07:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/10/james-purnell-fake-photo-new-labour.html Labour government plans for tackling superbugs, such as MRSA, have been condemned by a leading medical journal for not being based on scientific fact. The Lancet said there was little evidence to support hospital "deep cleans" or short sleeves for medical staff as recently proposed. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/brwons-superbug-plans-ignore-evidence.html Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/brwons-superbug-plans-ignore-evidence.html Poor care and confusing advice is being used to deal with an allergy epidemic in the UK, experts have said. The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee warned there were not enough specialist services and that food labelling was inadequate. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/allergy-epidemic-gets-poor-care-in-uk.html Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/allergy-epidemic-gets-poor-care-in-uk.html Hospitals are to use new deep clean techniques in which wards are stripped and subjected to steam cleaning and high-strength disinfectant in an attempt to reduce outbreaks of MRSA and C difficle superbugs. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/gordon-stalinist-brown-pledge-on-nhs.html Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:56:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/gordon-stalinist-brown-pledge-on-nhs.html Foundation trusts, a flagship of the labour governments National Health Service reforms, are building a growing cash mountain that they appear unable or unwilling to invest in improved services. The sums involved are up by more than 300m Pounds from about 1bn Pounds at the end of the last financial year to 1.32bn Pounds in the first three months of this year. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/foundation-trusts-increase-cash-as.html Tue, 25 Sep 2007 10:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/foundation-trusts-increase-cash-as.html The NHS is facing 4.5bn Pounds in compensation claims over alleged blunders by midwives and doctors that have left babies suffering severe brain damage, The Observer and Health Direct reveals. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/nhs-is-facing-45bn-compensation-bill.html Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/nhs-is-facing-45bn-compensation-bill.html Labours Brown bounce in the polls has receded as far as public services are concerned, according to polling by Ipsos Mori. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/brown-bounce-wanes-on-public-services.html Fri, 21 Sep 2007 08:51:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/brown-bounce-wanes-on-public-services.html One in 10 girls under 16, the age of consent, has a sexually transmitted disease that could lead to cervical cancer, a government agency has found. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/sex-virus-carried-by-1-in-10-girls.html Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:59:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/sex-virus-carried-by-1-in-10-girls.html The Labour government is overpaying private hospital operators by more than 200 million Pounds to carry out surgery for NHS patients. In an effort to cut waiting lists, labour launched a programme in 2005 to outsource some routine surgery to the private sector. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/labour-govt-overpays-private-groups.html Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:16:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/labour-govt-overpays-private-groups.html Gordon Stalinist Browns opinion poll lead has halved in the space of a month, making an early election much less likely, according to the latest Sunday Times-YouGov poll of more than 1,800 people. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/labour-lead-halved-as-voters-feel-pinch.html Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:16:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/labour-lead-halved-as-voters-feel-pinch.html Doctors will be banned from wearing their traditional white coats as part of a drive to protect patients from contracting MRSA and C Difficle superbugs in hospital, Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary announces. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/mrsa-to-force-ban-on-doctors-white.html Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:16:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/mrsa-to-force-ban-on-doctors-white.html Ben Bradshaw was forced to defend the incompetence of his Department of Health this week after a detailed analysis by the Financial Times found that fully a quarter of the population would have to wait longer than the basic 18 weeks between referral by a GP and treatment which labour promised. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/ben-bradshaw-is-confident-of-achieving.html Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:17:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/ben-bradshaw-is-confident-of-achieving.html Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) is a suitably Orwellian name for a Stalinist new system for training doctors in the National Health Service. The phrase is a perfect example of newspeak. To oppose a "modern" system is to be a conservative, if not a reactionary. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/terrible-way-to-treat-our-doctors.html Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:17:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/terrible-way-to-treat-our-doctors.html The amount of taxpayers money spent on the National Health Service has more than doubled in the last five years. The annual cost of our system of universal public healthcare is now approaching 100bn Pounds- more than 1,500 Pounds a year for every man, woman and child. But is our money being spent wisely? http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/gordon-stalinist-browns-careless-health.htm Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/gordon-stalinist-browns-careless-health.htm Sir Derek Wanless says billions of pounds poured into the NHS has not made it more efficient. The money poured into the NHS has failed to produce a more efficient service, or to reduce unhealthy lifestyles. As a result even more cash will be needed in the future. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/man-who-helped-nhs-to-46bn-says-it.html Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/man-who-helped-nhs-to-46bn-says-it.html The National Health Service is set to fall well short of its target of ensuring that no one waits more than 18 weeks from seeing a family doctor to completion of treatment, latest official figures suggest. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/nhs-to-miss-treatment-wait-targets.html Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/nhs-to-miss-treatment-wait-targets.html From the letters section of the Financial Times- Sir, Margaret McCartney's view would be endorsed by the majority of the medical profession, and shows the hollowness of the labour government's stated policy of a patient-led NHS. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/nhs-is-service-not-business.html Fri, 7 Sep 2007 08:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/nhs-is-service-not-business.html The European Commission has been asked to investigate whether a local health authority can refuse to pay for drugs when funding is available elsewhere. Tory MEP Chris Heaton-Harris claims the so called NHS postcode lottery breaks European anti-discrimination laws. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/nhs-postcode-lottery-to-be-challenged.html Thu, 6 Sep 2007 08:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/nhs-postcode-lottery-to-be-challenged.html Almost one in five dental students plans to shun NHS work completely, a study has suggested. The results suggest that the new contract which was designed to make NHS work more attractive has had limited success. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/dental-students-will-shun-nhs-when.html Wed, 5 Sep 2007 08:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/dental-students-will-shun-nhs-when.html A new NHS complaints service is being launched by the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and will be rolled out across Scotland ahead of a national roll-out of the service. The confidential scheme helps patients take forward grievances about the NHS. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/new-nhs-complaints-service-launched-by.html Tue, 4 Sep 2007 08:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/new-nhs-complaints-service-launched-by.html Nearly 5,000 more midwives will be needed by 2012 if the Government is to meet its target for maternity services, the Royal College of Midwives said. The college has increased its target from 3,000 because of a rising birthrate, which has exceeded government estimates, and a reassessment of present shortages. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/5000-midwives-are-needed-to-cope-with.html Mon, 3 Sep 2007 08:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/09/5000-midwives-are-needed-to-cope-with.html Parents are being urged to give their children the measles, mumps and rubella jab before the start of the new school year after an unprecedented surge of measles cases was recorded over the summer holidays. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/measles-cases-triple-with-no-backup.html Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:47:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/measles-cases-triple-with-no-backup.html The long term health of mothers and babies is being put at risk by UK hospitals that have failed to introduce pro-breastfeeding policies, the United Nations says. UNICEF, the UN children's fund, today releases a report showing that four out of 10 maternity hospitals have not implemented guidance from the National Institute for Curbing Expenditure (NICE) that was published a year ago. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/unicef-blasts-labours-breastfeeding.html Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/unicef-blasts-labours-breastfeeding.html More than half of nurses would not report the abuse of an elderly person in their care, according to a survey published today. The poll of NHS and private sector nurses, conducted for Help the Aged, found that a lack of training, heavy workloads and fear of confrontation or of upsetting the victim all prevent nurses taking action. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nurses-dont-report-abuse-of-elderly.html Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:07:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nurses-dont-report-abuse-of-elderly.html More than 10000 people are dying needlessly each year after being denied intensive care treatment, according to senior doctors. They have written to the Health Secretary Alan Johnson, warning that many patients are dying after routine surgery because of a failure to identify them as high risk cases. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-deaths-could-be-halved-say-doctors.html Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:25:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-deaths-could-be-halved-say-doctors.html The UK has the worst outcome for strokes in western Europe despite spending the same amount or more on care as other countries, a leading article in the British Medical Journal warned. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/uk-stroke-treatment-is-worst-in-europe.html Mon, 27 Aug 2007 09:25:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/uk-stroke-treatment-is-worst-in-europe.html The reorganisation of strategic health authorities (SHAs) in England has seen the NHS pay out more than 80m Pounds in redundancy costs, Health Direct and the BBC has learned. More than 700 staff lost their jobs in last years shake up, which saw the number of SHAs reduced from 28 to 10. The cost of the average redundancy package for senior managers was more than 350,000 Pounds. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/labour-red-tape-shake-up-costs-nhs-140.html Fri, 24 Aug 2007 09:33:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/labour-red-tape-shake-up-costs-nhs-140.html Thousands of newly qualified nurses are facing unemployment because of labours NHS hospital cutbacks, with vacancies at their lowest for 10 years. New National Health Service figures have revealed how difficult it is for nurses, physiotherapists, scientists and doctors to find jobs. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/new-nurses-left-jobless-by-labours-nhs.html Thu, 23 Aug 2007 10:08:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/new-nurses-left-jobless-by-labours-nhs.html Cancer survival in the UK is still below the European average, despite recent improvements, a report says. Survival rates in lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancer were lower in the UK compared with everywhere except eastern Europe. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/cancer-survival-rates-uk-patients-are.html Wed, 22 Aug 2007 09:28:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/cancer-survival-rates-uk-patients-are.html Having disastrously fouled up the GPs service contract last year the Dept of Heath is now aggressively bullying GPs to work weekends again. Family doctors have been warned that unless they agree to open at evenings and on Saturdays, private companies will be contracted to take over their practices. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/gps-given-ultimatum-to-open-at-night.html Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:56:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/gps-given-ultimatum-to-open-at-night.html David Cameron the Conservative leader, attempted to regain the political initiative today by promising a bare knuckle fight with the Government to save local NHS hospitals from closure. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/cameron-promises-bare-knuckle-fight-to.html Mon, 20 Aug 2007 10:46:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/cameron-promises-bare-knuckle-fight-to.html The crisis facing Britain's mental health wards is laid bare. Speaking exclusively, a senior consultant psychiatrist, who cannot be named, painted a picture of a service at breaking point. The wards are overcrowded, staff are overstretched and seriously ill psychotic patients are often forced to sleep on a sofa because beds have been cut to balance the books elsewhere in the NHS. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/psychiatric-wards-at-crisis-point-says.html Fri, 17 Aug 2007 10:46:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/psychiatric-wards-at-crisis-point-says.html Patients are paying less for some private dental treatment than they do on the NHS because of controversial untested changes introduced by the labour Government last year. The price for a filling on the NHS is now 43.60 Pounds but some private surgeries charge just 35 Pounds, Health Direct and the Daily Telegraph can reveal. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-dentists-can-cost-more-than-private.html Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:46:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-dentists-can-cost-more-than-private.html Health Direct has been vindicated by official NHS staffing data which shows that the number of National Health Service workers fell last year for the first time since comparable records began in 1996 a year before Labour came to power. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/health-direct-official-nhs-staffing.html Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:46:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/health-direct-official-nhs-staffing.html A searing indictment of the cleanliness of UK hospital kitchens is revealed in research showing that almost half are plagued by vermin, risk infections by storing food incorrectly or employ staff with poor personal hygiene. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/scandal-of-filthy-hospital-kitchens.html Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:46:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/scandal-of-filthy-hospital-kitchens.html NHS Choices the Department of Health's flagship website is to ask primary care trusts and GP practices to correct widespread mistakes on the Department of Health's flagship NHS Choices website. Half of the NHS Choices website's information on GP opening hours and a third of practitioners' names are thought to be incorrect, Health Direct and HSJ can reveal. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-choices-massive-inaccuracies-mar-gp.html Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:07:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-choices-massive-inaccuracies-mar-gp.html NICE has thwarted campaigners who have failed in their High Court bid to force the NHS to fund Alzheimer's drugs in people with early stage disease. However, the National Institute for Curbing Expenditure (NICE) has been told to rewrite guidance on how the disease is assessed. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nices-alzheimers-court-win-condems.html Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:07:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nices-alzheimers-court-win-condems.html A shake up in NHS dentistry in England has failed to increase access to services, labour government figures show. A Department of Health report showed 28.1m people had been to an NHS dentist in the previous 24 months. This was 50,000 down on the figures on the eve of the changes in April 2006. The number of dentists in the system has also fallen. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-dentistry-access-is-not-improving.html Thu, 9 Aug 2007 13:07:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-dentistry-access-is-not-improving.html A London hospital is to become the first in Britain to privatise all surgery, prompting charges of rank Government hypocrisy from supporters of the NHS. Kingston Hospital, in south west London, is to hand over control of its operating theatres to a private firm under a 10 year contract which has alarmed staff. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/private-surgery-deal-shows-labour.html Wed, 8 Aug 2007 10:07:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/private-surgery-deal-shows-labour.html Specialist wards full to breaking point. Patients with serious injuries denied care. A health service paralysed by arguments about funding. Martin Bircher, one of Britain's most senior consultants, speaks out. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/whistleblower-surgeon-breaks-cover-over.html Tue, 7 Aug 2007 10:07:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/whistleblower-surgeon-breaks-cover-over.html Three quarters of GPs who referred patients to hospital have had their decisions blocked, a poll for The Sunday Telegraph reveals. Family doctors say that new referral management systems, set up to allow primary care trusts (PCTs) to overrule decisions taken in the surgery, are being used to delay and cancel hospital care, and to divert patients referred to a hospital consultant to cheaper clinics in the community. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-managers-blocked-75pc-of-gp.html Mon, 6 Aug 2007 10:27:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-managers-blocked-75pc-of-gp.html Hundreds of operations in hospitals across England will be cancelled in the chaos as 30,000 junior doctors start new jobs this week. The British Medical Association said that because of the scramble to fill posts ahead of Wednesday's deadline after the collapse of the recruitment system, consultants have been left unable to plan theatre time. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/junior-doctors-still-jobless-in-mtas.html Fri, 3 Aug 2007 08:55:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/junior-doctors-still-jobless-in-mtas.html The introduction of the most ambitious pay reform in the National Health Services history cost far more than expected and failed to deliver the intended increases in productivity, a study by the King's Fund health think-tank has found. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-pay-deal-cost-more-and-brought-less.html Thu, 2 Aug 2007 12:55:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/nhs-pay-deal-cost-more-and-brought-less.html The flagship labour government scheme for treating drug addicts faces swingeing budget cuts of 50 million Pounds. Plans to slash total funding by more than 12 per cent, outlined in an email leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, come less than a fortnight after Stalinist Brown tried to show off his anti-drug credentials by signalling his desire to reclassify Cannabis from Class C to the more serious Class B. The Conservatives accused the Prime Minister of hypocrisy. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/hypocrite-stalinist-brown-cuts-50m-from.html Wed, 1 Aug 2007 10:55:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/08/hypocrite-stalinist-brown-cuts-50m-from.html A quarter of patients still cannot book advance appointments with their GP - more than two years after Tony Bliar promised to solve the problem. The results from an unfair and biased 12m Pound survey of more than two million people about services at their GP surgery found doctors are still manipulating their appointments system to hit targets. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/gps-quarter-of-patients-cant-book-in.html Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:54:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/gps-quarter-of-patients-cant-book-in.html Off balance sheet accounting has a long and often dishonourable history. Just think of Enron. The Treasury now has a chance to fix one of the most inconsistent and problematic examples of its use, in the way the private finance initiative is accounted for, by using the introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards as a chance to bring all PFI projects on to the public balance sheet. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/pfi-time-to-set-record-straight-claims.html Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:54:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/pfi-time-to-set-record-straight-claims.html The Medical Training Application System (MTAS) junior doctors appointment fiasco still produces fury in the profession. But why? And how did the labour's defective system get passed in the first place? http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/mtas-disaster-labours-botched-nhs-plan.html Fri, 27 Jul 2007 16:54:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/mtas-disaster-labours-botched-nhs-plan.html The health secretary, Alan Johnson, yesterday vetoed plans for a third wave of independent sector treatment centres to compete with NHS hospitals. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/johnson-blocks-new-wave-of-private.html Thu, 26 Jul 2007 09:40:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/johnson-blocks-new-wave-of-private.html The number of cases of the potentially dangerous Clostridium difficile (C Difficile) is thriving, figures show. A review by the Health Protection Agency showed hospital MRSA cases had fallen by 10 per cent in the first three months of 2007 compared with a year ago. But rates for C. difficile, which mainly strikes the elderly, rose by 22 per cent this quarter. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/c-difficile-and-hospital-bugs-remain.html Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:40:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/c-difficile-and-hospital-bugs-remain.html Drug addicts are to be offered gift vouchers and prizes on the National Health Service under plans by the labour governments medicine watchdog NICE to encourage them to stay clean. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/anger-over-nhs-plan-to-give-addicts.html Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:52:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/anger-over-nhs-plan-to-give-addicts.html The Department of Healths new 14 million Pound flagship website NHS Choices contains GP practice information which in some cases is at much as six years out-of-date, Health Direct and EHI Primary Care has learnt. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/nhs-choices-criticised-over-out-of-date.html Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:52:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/nhs-choices-criticised-over-out-of-date.html Gordon Stalinist Brown quietly slashed by a third this years hospital building and equipment budget in one of his last acts as chancellor. Prompted by the tightness of the public finances, the new prime minister, who has placed the NHS as his immediate priority, cut the capital budget of the English NHS for 2007-08 from 6.2bn Pounds to 4.2bn Pounds. The move could delay the labour governments hospital building and reconfiguration programme in England. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/cynical-stalinist-brown-cut-budget-for.html Mon, 2 Jul 2007 14:53:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/07/cynical-stalinist-brown-cut-budget-for.html Stalin Browns appointment of Alan Johnson as the new Health Secretary appears to signal a more union friendly approach to the management of public services and possible disappointment for companies looking to offer healthcare services. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/stalin-browns-alan-johnson-signals.html Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:23:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/stalin-browns-alan-johnson-signals.html A hospital manager jumped 100 feet to her death, driven to suicide by the stress of NHS reforms. Morag Shedden Wilson, 32, stabbed herself with a kitchen knife and then jumped from a motorway bridge on the M60 into the Manchester Ship Canal. An inquest heard that Miss Wilson, who was head of dietetics at Wythenshawe Hospital, was under pressure because of reforms introduced by the Agenda for Change, a labour Government review. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/labours-nhs-reforms-pushed-hospital.html Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:33:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/labours-nhs-reforms-pushed-hospital.html Doctors' leaders this week said the public was as disenchanted with NHS reforms as the medical profession, releasing a survey showing that only a third of patients were happy with the changes of the last 10 years. On the eve of its annual meeting in Torquay, Devon, the British Medical Association (BMA) released a study suggesting that only 34 per cent of the public thought a decade of reform had made the NHS any better, while 42 per cent thought there had been no improvement. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/bma-doctors-survey-finds-public-unhappy.html Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:33:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/bma-doctors-survey-finds-public-unhappy.html The health watchdog NICE's decision to deprive 100,000 mild Alzheimer's victims of a 2.50 Pound a day drug that can delay the onset of the disease was condemned as "abhorrent and disgusting" in the High Court yesterday. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/cameron-kills-health-passport-idea.html Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:33:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/cameron-kills-health-passport-idea.html Patients are being asked to rate and comment on another NHS services website launched which they launched last week. The Department of Health is ludicrosly comparing the NHS Choices site to tripadvisor.com, which publishes travellers' holiday reviews. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/labour-wastes-14-million-on-another.html Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:33:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/labour-wastes-14-million-on-another.html The increased use of external consultants by the labour government is costing the taxpayer nearly 2bn Pounds a year and is failing to ensure value for money, according to the public accounts committee. In a report published on Tuesday, the PAC estimates that in the past three years, spending on consultants in the public sector has risen by a third from 2.1bn Pounds in 2003-04 to 2.8bn Pounds in 2005-06, with central government accounting for 1.8bn Pounds, largely to increases in the NHS. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/labours-whitehall-advisers-now-cost-2bn.html Thu, 21 Jun 2007 21:13:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/labours-whitehall-advisers-now-cost-2bn.html The NHS could face pressure from its big three IT suppliers- BT, CSC and Fujitsu- to change the 6bn Pound contracts they have signed, following Richard Granger's departure from the helm of the world's biggest civil IT project. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/software-suppliers-may-seek.html Wed, 20 Jun 2007 21:13:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/software-suppliers-may-seek.html One in four NHS trusts is failing the latest labour government targets on cleanliness and tackling superbug infections. Figures released by the Healthcare Commission show that six out of ten trusts in England have reported failing one or more of the twenty four core standards on all aspects of care, on which they are assessed by the NHS watchdog. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/hospitals-losing-fight-to-defeat-mrsa-c.html Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:13:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/hospitals-losing-fight-to-defeat-mrsa-c.html Primary care trusts wanting to reconfigure services were given a stark message in an economic analysis prepared for the NHS in London- financially, it will make sense to cut beds and services at non private finance initiative (PFI) hospitals. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/nhs-service-cuts-urged-at-non-pfi.html Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:13:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/nhs-service-cuts-urged-at-non-pfi.html Family doctors delivered an overwhelming vote of no confidence in the labour Government's handling of the NHS yesterday. GPs accused ministers of "wasting a golden opportunity" to transform the health service by "squandering millions of pounds of taxpayers' money". http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/gps-have-no-confidence-in-hewitt.html Fri, 15 Jun 2007 08:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/gps-have-no-confidence-in-hewitt.html Twenty thousand people will be condemned to blindness each year following a cruel and appalling decision by the health watchdog NICE, campaigners said today. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (aka National Institute for Curbing Expenditure) has come under intense pressure to approve the drugs Lucentis (ranibizumab) and Macugen (pegaptanib) for use on the NHS. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/cruel-watchdog-nice-condems-20000-to.html Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:34:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/cruel-watchdog-nice-condems-20000-to.html Midwives are delivering almost 25 per cent more babies than experts believe is appropriate, figures released by the Conservative Party suggest. The Tories say the government's failure to anticipate a big rise in the birth rate in England has left midwives under intense pressure. They argue this could derail labour ministers' commitment to offering all women a choice of where to give birth by 2009. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/baby-boom-stretches-midwives-as-labour.html Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/baby-boom-stretches-midwives-as-labour.html Doubts have been raised over the accuracy of the latest quarterly hospital episode statistics following reports of problems with data collection. There are concerns that primary care trust benchmarking decisions and information on patient numbers, which informs payment by results, may be out of date as third quarter results (October-December 2006) were not published until mid May. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/concerns-raised-over-accuracy-of-pct.html Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/concerns-raised-over-accuracy-of-pct.html Many people with lung diseases believe there are not enough NHS lung specialists to help them cope with their condition, a survey suggests. The British Lung Foundation questioned 3,200 patients and found many are disillusioned with what they see as the low priority given to their care. Death rates from respiratory illness in the UK are almost double the European average, says the charity. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/lung-patients-let-down-by-nhs-blf-claim.html Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/lung-patients-let-down-by-nhs-blf-claim.html Less than half of NHS patients are receiving hospital treatment within the government's flagship waiting time target of 18 weeks, new figures revealed. Only 48 per cent of patients in England are treated within 18 weeks and 12.4 per cent have to wait more than a year for treatment, according to figures published by the Department of Health. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/nhs-trusts-fail-on-waiting-times-as.html Fri, 8 Jun 2007 15:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/nhs-trusts-fail-on-waiting-times-as.html he NHS apparently made a small surplus in 2006/07, figures unveiled by Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt showed. The NHS recorded a surplus of 510 million Pounds, the data showed. However, 22 per cent of NHS organisations are still in debt and unable to balance their books. The gross deficit of the NHS stood at 911 million Pounds, down from 1.3 billion Pounds in 2005/06 http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/nhs-figures-show-510m-pound-annual.html Thu, 7 Jun 2007 15:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/nhs-figures-show-510m-pound-annual.html The NHS is on the brink of collapse and cannot be saved unless Gordon Stalin Brown intervenes when he becomes prime minister to give doctors the authority to organise a recovery, the leader of Britain's 33,000 hospital consultants claimed today. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/nhs-is-on-brink-of-collapse-say.html Wed, 6 Jun 2007 15:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/nhs-is-on-brink-of-collapse-say.html The NHS in England is facing a blitz on MRSA and superbug hygiene standards as a watchdog uses new powers to crackdown on infections. The Healthcare Commission is to go into 120 NHS trusts unannounced in the next year to check cleanliness standards and infection control procedures. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/inspection-blitz-on-mrsa-hygiene.html Tue, 5 Jun 2007 14:54:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/inspection-blitz-on-mrsa-hygiene.html A British based drugmaker has made a groundbreaking offer to the National Health Service to cover the cost of a 25,000 Pound cancer drug if a patient using it failed to show adequate progress. The NHS would only pay for the new drug, Velcade, when patients responded well to it, under a joint proposal from Janssen-Cilag the drugmak http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/drugmakers-proposal-to-nhss-nice-well.html Mon, 4 Jun 2007 14:54:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/drugmakers-proposal-to-nhss-nice-well.html Britain's leading fertility expert condemned the IVF industry yesterday, saying that it had been corrupted by money and that doctors were exploiting women who were desperate to get pregnant who were failed by the NHS. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/ivf-clinics-corrupt-and-greedy-winston.html Fri, 1 Jun 2007 14:54:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/06/ivf-clinics-corrupt-and-greedy-winston.html The National Audit Office has been asked to investigate whether a half billion pound underspend by the NHS in England was caused by political chicanery at the Department of Health. Norman Lamb, the Liberal democrat health spokesman , called in parliament's spending watchdog yesterday after the record surplus was disclosed by the Guardian in an analysis of strategic health authority board papers. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/audit-office-asked-to-investigate.html Thu, 31 May 2007 14:54:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/audit-office-asked-to-investigate.html Extra workers drafted in to help hard pressed midwives could actually be putting mothers and babies at more risk, a report has claimed. Maternity support staff are supposed to free up midwives' time by helping with paperwork and non clinical duties. However, Kings College London found some trusts in England try to use them to care for pregnant women, even though they are not sufficiently trained. Experts stressed support staff should never replace midwives or doctors. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/support-staff-do-midwife-tasks-as.html Wed, 30 May 2007 14:54:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/support-staff-do-midwife-tasks-as.html Less emphasis on the use of the private sector and a slow down in market based reforms could be the hallmark of Gordon "Stalin" Brown's premiership for the NHS, according to a review of health experts by Health Direct. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/private-slow-down-expected-as-nhs.html Tue, 29 May 2007 14:54:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/private-slow-down-expected-as-nhs.html The partner of a woman who died from septicaemia following flaws in out-of-hours GP care has said he is convinced it could happen again. Penny Campbell, 41, from Islington, north London, died in 2005 after consulting eight doctors in four days. A report said a major system failure in the service was a direct factor leading to Miss Campbell's death. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/gps-out-of-hours-cover-death-row-shows.html Fri, 25 May 2007 14:54:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/gps-out-of-hours-cover-death-row-shows.html The health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, battled for her political reputation, if not her survival, yesterday in a packed Commons debate on a Tory motion of no confidence. It came at the end of a day which featured severe criticism from a high court judge over the junior doctors debacle, and angry scenes at the annual conference of NHS midwives. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/hewitt-battles-for-survival-in-commons.html Thu, 24 May 2007 10:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/hewitt-battles-for-survival-in-commons.html Tens of thousands of people working with children and vulnerable adults in the NHS are still not being put through criminal record checks promised by the government in the wake of the Soham murders, it has emerged. A survey found that 68 per cent of health trusts in the UK are failing to vet staff who began working before the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) was set up in 2002. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/thousands-of-nhs-staff-avoid-crime.html Wed, 23 May 2007 10:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/thousands-of-nhs-staff-avoid-crime.html The labour government's medicines advisory body will from this autumn open to public scrutiny the work of the committees that decide whether the health service should pay for new drugs. In a ground breaking move to boost transparency, Sir Michael Rawlins, the chairman of the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), told MPs that the action marked the latest in its efforts to boost transparency and that it had been a matter of "regret" that its committees had previously met in private. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/move-to-boost-openness-on-nhs-drugs-by.html Tue, 22 May 2007 15:27:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/move-to-boost-openness-on-nhs-drugs-by.html The market for sales of equity in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deals should be closely watched by the Treasury, parliament's public spending watchdog said, as it raised fears that they might not be in the public interest. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/call-for-scrutiny-of-pfi-equity-sales.html Mon, 21 May 2007 15:27:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/call-for-scrutiny-of-pfi-equity-sales.html Up to half of all hospital accident and emergency (AandE) departments face cuts or closure under plans to improve patient care, presenting Gordon "Stalin" Brown with a massive dilemma as he takes over as Prime Minister. Ninety-two out of 204 A and E departments are under threat if guidance attributed to the Department of Health by NHS trusts is followed, the Conservatives claimed. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/half-of-all-units-marked-for-closure.html Fri, 18 May 2007 15:27:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/half-of-all-units-marked-for-closure.html Patients are being put at risk because of delays in implementing the new NHS computer system, according to a study of senior managers. Parts of the 12.4 billion Pound National Programme for IT (NPfIT) are years behind schedule. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/nhs-hospital-bought-computer-parts-off.html Thu, 17 May 2007 09:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/nhs-hospital-bought-computer-parts-off.html Channel 4 interviewed the Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt over the crisis surrounding the appointment of thousands of junior doctors. The new Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) was heralded by the government as an 'agent of change', designed to establish a fairer, more transparent system for recruiting the next generation of specialist medics. But for months now it's been ridiculed within medical circles for effectively deselecting some of the brightest junior doctors. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/doctors-mtas-online-system-may-be.html Wed, 16 May 2007 14:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/doctors-mtas-online-system-may-be.html Cancer doctors have told the BBC they fear the NHS will not be able to afford the new generation of cancer drugs. Specialists are already arguing that patients may have to pay for more drugs themselves, with the issue becoming pressing as new drugs are developed. But some patients offering to pay for a cancer drug are being told they would have to meet all their care costs. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/fears-over-nhs-cancer-drug-costs.html Tue, 15 May 2007 14:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/fears-over-nhs-cancer-drug-costs.html A former nurse who tackled Tony Blair over NHS failures in her daughter's treatment has lost her father to the MRSA superbug. During the 2001 election campaign Carol Maddocks confronted the Prime Minister during an appearance on the BBC's Question Time programme and told him that the health service was letting down her daughter Alice, who had a rare blood condition. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/nhs-critics-father-dies-from-mrsa-after.html Mon, 14 May 2007 14:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/nhs-critics-father-dies-from-mrsa-after.html With the long overdue announcement that tony bliar is finally to stand down as our Great Leader, Health Direct asks did he save the NHS in 24 hours? Our taxes went up to pay for extra funding for the NHS indeed total NHS spending went up 124 per cent. The questions is then- has the service doubled in value/ productivity or service availability and the answer is clearly no. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/health-direct-asks-did-tony-purer-than.html Fri, 11 May 2007 09:17:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/health-direct-asks-did-tony-purer-than.html Hospital patients are suffering the indignity and embarrassment of being cared for on mixed sex wards- a decade after the labour government pledged to abolish the practice. Almost one in five NHS trusts is continuing to treat patients admitted for routine treatment alongside members of the opposite sex in breach of government rules. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/thousands-of-nhs-patients-still-facing.html Thu, 10 May 2007 10:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/thousands-of-nhs-patients-still-facing.html A software upgrade under the NHS's National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has led to hundreds of incorrect duplicate patient records being created every day at NHS sites in Greater Manchester. A team has been formed to prevent patient data being lost. The emergency action raises questions about how well NPfIT systems are being tested before going live. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/nhs-it-upgrade-creates-false-patient.html Wed, 9 May 2007 10:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/nhs-it-upgrade-creates-false-patient.html Private companies that fail to win hospital building contracts are set to pocket millions of pounds in "compensation" from the NHS. Hospitals negotiating private finance initiative (PFI) schemes could be forced to pay almost 2 per cent of the total contract costs to short-listed private companies which fail to secure deals, under proposals being discussed by the Department of Health (DoH). http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/labour-rewards-failure-as-nhs-pays.html Tue, 8 May 2007 10:57:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/labour-rewards-failure-as-nhs-pays.html British doctors will take the historic step of admitting for the first time that many health treatments will be rationed in the future because the NHS cannot cope with spiralling demand from patients. In a major report that will embarrass the government, the British Medical Association (MBA) will say fertility treatment, plastic surgery and operations for varicose veins and minor childhood ailments, such as glue ear, are among a long list of procedures in jeopardy. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/doctors-admit-nhs-treatments-must-be.html Mon, 7 May 2007 10:37:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/doctors-admit-nhs-treatments-must-be.html In the week that Tony Bliar celebrates his 10 years in charge of the NHS, Health Direct along with the political parties looks at what damage he has done to our national treasure. The three main political parties have come out fighting over what 10 years under a Labour government has meant for the NHS. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/tony-bliars-nhs-legacy-health-direct.html Fri, 4 May 2007 10:37:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/tony-bliars-nhs-legacy-health-direct.html The crisis at the heart of Britain's maternity services is revealed tonight in a BBC Panorama programme that shows a catalogue of shortages and cutbacks. When a reporter posing as a volunteer tells a midwife at Barnet Hospital, Herts, that a woman who has been left in a corridor is crying, she is told to "tell her to get a life". http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/nhs-maternity-services-are-at-crisis.html Thu, 3 May 2007 14:07:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/nhs-maternity-services-are-at-crisis.html More hospital patients in England are getting the deadly Clostridium difficile bug, figures show. Health Protection Agency (HPA) data showed 55,681 cases were reported among over 65s in 2006 - up 8 per cent in a year. MRSA cases continued their downward trend, but they are not falling quickly enough to meet Labour's target next year. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/deadly-nhs-superbugs-continue-rising.html Wed, 2 May 2007 14:07:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/05/deadly-nhs-superbugs-continue-rising.html The number of National Health Service workers fell last year for the first time since comparable records began in 1996 - a year before Labour came to power. Health unions and opposition politicians blamed the drop on government mishandling of NHS finances, but there was disagreement over the extent of the fall for front line services as labour's dodgy accounting was again called into question. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/nhs-hit-by-first-staffing-fall-in.html Tue, 1 May 2007 14:07:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/nhs-hit-by-first-staffing-fall-in.html The crisis that is leading highly qualified junior doctors to head abroad is the result of one of the National Health Service's all-time great administrative cock-ups. It is has left 30,000 junior doctors bitterly disillusioned and angry. But it also has big potential implications for patient care. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/contender-for-greatest-of-all-nhs.html Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/contender-for-greatest-of-all-nhs.html Adding insult to injury? The intimate details of thousands of junior doctors are left wide open on the internet. The Medical Training Application Service or MTAS is a computer system where student and junior doctors apply for jobs an IT system which they were repeatedly assured by Labour ministers was secure. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/junior-doctors-details-exposed-online.html Fri, 27 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/junior-doctors-details-exposed-online.html Nuffield Hospitals, the not-for-profit private hospital operator, has pulled out of negotiations to provide operations for NHS patients using mobile operating theatres in the West Midlands. The news comes at the same time that new research shows that almost one in five private finance initiative projects are still not making their owners money, a survey of almost 100 of them has shown. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/setback-for-nhs-on-treatment-centres-as.html Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/setback-for-nhs-on-treatment-centres-as.html The large disparity in mortality rates in NHS hospitals is exposed today in research carried out for The Daily Telegraph. Patients are twice as likely to die in hospitals with the highest mortality rates than in those with the lowest, according to a report from Dr Foster Research, the independent health information company. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/lottery-of-death-rates-in-nhs-hospitals.html Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/lottery-of-death-rates-in-nhs-hospitals.html A National Health Service largely free at the point of use is becoming a mirage, according to Doctors for Reform, a pressure group that would like the NHS to move from a tax-funded model to a system of social insurance with top up payments. The report shatters the NHS's founding principle that health care should be free for all at the point of delivery. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/nhs-free-at-point-of-use-is-political.html Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/nhs-free-at-point-of-use-is-political.html The NHS University (NHSU) the internal training and education body which cost 72m Pounds and was scrapped after less than two years, delivered too little too late, according to a scathing report that the labour government tried to suppress. A review carried out during the organisation's short existence warns that the Department of Health would suffer significant embarrassment if anyone probed the value for money provided by the NHSU. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/nhs-university-embarrassing-failure-to.html Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/nhs-university-embarrassing-failure-to.html Patients have not seen any improvement in the care they get under the new consultant contract, a watchdog says. The National Audit Office said despite pay rising by 27 per cent to 110,000 Pounds, doctors were not providing more flexible care or spending more time with patients. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/nhs-consultant-contract-attacked-by-nao.html Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/nhs-consultant-contract-attacked-by-nao.html A political row has broken out over the state of Britain's hospitals after a retired consultant complained that his wife received far better treatment in India. Opposition parties accused Labour of running down the NHS and failing to put patients first. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/indian-hospitals-are-better-than-nhs.html Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/indian-hospitals-are-better-than-nhs.html A survey of more than 1,400 doctors found that 69 per cent would not recommend a career in medicine. The same number said morale fell in the last year. The study for Hospital Doctor magazine found that many doctors blamed Labour government targets and reforms for their ill-feeling. Some 54 per cent of those surveyed by Hospital Doctor said morale was "poor" or "terrible" with only 2 per cent of doctors described their level of morale at work as "excellent". http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/doctors-morale-record-low-new-poll.html Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/doctors-morale-record-low-new-poll.html Questions have been raised about hospital building projects as it emerged 85p out of every 1 Pound spent has been invested in Labour areas. Many hospital build projects have been funded through PFI. Official figures showed that of the 47 hospitals built since 1997, 33 served areas represented by a Labour MP. That compares to 10 in Tory and two in Liberal Democrat territories. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/labour-cuts-are-squeezing-life-out-of.html Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/labour-cuts-are-squeezing-life-out-of.html NHS Patients are dying directly because low skilled helpers are being sent out to handle life threatening 999 calls, ambulance whistleblowers have warned. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that in some areas of the country only 35 per cent of ambulance service staff are fully trained paramedics. Ambulance staff say pressure to meet the governments eight-minute target for responding to life-threatening calls has resulted in technicians being sent instead. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/patients-die-in-ambulances-with-no.html Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/patients-die-in-ambulances-with-no.html Questions have been raised about hospital building projects as it emerged 85p out of every 1 Pound spent has been invested in Labour areas. Many hospital build projects have been funded through PFI. Official figures showed that of the 47 hospitals built since 1997, 33 served areas represented by a Labour MP. That compares to 10 in Tory and two in Liberal Democrat territories. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/labour-voting-areas-get-most-pfi-nhs.html Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:44:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/labour-voting-areas-get-most-pfi-nhs.html An NHS foundation trust is planning to close an award-winning midwife-led maternity unit despite the government last week promising every woman the option of such a delivery. Heavily pregnant women in north Derbyshire will have to travel up to 21 miles on country roads because of plans to close the Darley Dale unit and cut community midwife numbers from 50 to 33 http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/trust-to-shut-award-winning-maternity.html Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/trust-to-shut-award-winning-maternity.html Fewer than half of NHS patients are being granted new rights to more choice over where they have operations, more than a year after the policy was introduced. A Government survey found that four out of 10 people referred to hospitals by GPs recalled being offered a choice of where to have their treatment. Since Jan 1 last year, all NHS patients referred for most non-emergency treatments should be offered a choice of at least four hospitals. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/patients-not-getting-choice-of-hospital.html Wed, 11 Apr 2007 10:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/patients-not-getting-choice-of-hospital.html A spell in a hospital in England is likely to mean being placed on a ward with people of the opposite sex. But in Europe and the US this would be unthinkable. Joanna Lyall reports on a pledge the government has yet to keep http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/mixed-wards-another-broken-labour.html Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/mixed-wards-another-broken-labour.html Patientline, provider of hospital bedside telephone and television units, said it is to increase by 160 per cent charges to NHS patients for outgoing calls. The company was criticised by medical providers for the emergency measure, taken to compensate it for deepening losses incurred since it signed a 2002 private finance initiative deal with the Department of Health. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/patients-feel-pain-as-pfi-patientline.html Mon, 9 Apr 2007 10:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/patients-feel-pain-as-pfi-patientline.html Ambulance control room staff changed response time figures, improving the trust's performance against government targets, an Audit Commission investigation has revealed. Managers and the board at the former Wiltshire Ambulance Service trust, now part of Great Western Ambulance Service trust, put pressure on the control room to meet targets 'at all costs' but failed to manage staff effectively or properly follow up concerns about the number of figures being manually altered on the computerised control system, says the report, published last week. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/ambulance-staff-falsified-response.html Fri, 6 Apr 2007 10:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/ambulance-staff-falsified-response.html Labour's promise that healthy women who choose to can have their babies at home was undermined yesterday by fears of a shortage of midwives and lack of funds. Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, announced that from 2009 all women would be able to choose where they had their baby - in hospital, in a midwife-led unit or at home. But the Conservatives said there was "no substance" behind the plans and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said that the plan would need an extra 3,000 midwives. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/hewitts-home-births-promise-is.html Thu, 5 Apr 2007 10:05:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/hewitts-home-births-promise-is.html The first takeover of an insolvent NHS hospital by one of Labour's flagship foundation trusts will formally take effect next Sunday, the health service announced at the weekend - paving the way for similar solutions for a number of other, effectively bankrupt, NHS institutions. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/takeover-of-first-nhs-hospital-good.html Wed, 4 Apr 2007 14:15:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/takeover-of-first-nhs-hospital-good.html Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has apologised to junior doctors over the continuing recruitment crisis. A new online system for selecting doctors for training posts has been heavily criticised for failing to select the best candidates. Ms Hewitt said the scheme had caused "terrible anxiety" for junior doctors which shouldn't have happened. The government has now offered doctors one interview but the British Medical Association said it was "unacceptable". http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/hewitt-u-turn-and-apology-for-doctors.html Tue, 3 Apr 2007 14:15:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/hewitt-u-turn-and-apology-for-doctors.html Radical Labour Government reforms to improve patient access to NHS dentists have failed, it was claimed today. The charity Citizens Advice said there is huge inequality in access to dentists in England and Wales, and urged action to deal with dentistry deserts in many areas including some parts of Hampshire and Lancashire. It claimed two million people are forced to put off treatment or go private because they can't find an NHS dentist. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/labours-dentistry-health-reforms-have.html Mon, 2 Apr 2007 19:35:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/04/labours-dentistry-health-reforms-have.html Fewer than half of NHS staff members would be happy to be a patient at their own hospital, according to an official survey by the health service regulator. More than a quarter, 27 per cent, said they disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement: "I would be happy with the standards of care provided if I was a patient in my trust". http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/03/nhs-staff-wouldnt-be-treated-at-their.html Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:35:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/03/nhs-staff-wouldnt-be-treated-at-their.html An accounting rule that has plunged more than two dozen hospital trusts into an irrecoverable financial position is to be ditched, Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, announced yesterday. Now "absolutely confident" that the National Health Service would record a small surplus at the end of this financial year, Ms Hewitt said it could now use part of the 450m Pounds contingency reserve that strategic health authorities had built up to find the 179m Pounds needed to end a rule that the health department had long accepted was "unsustainable". http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/03/hewitt-u-turn-as-hospital-trusts-to-be.html Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:35:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/03/hewitt-u-turn-as-hospital-trusts-to-be.html NHS planning has been a disastrous failure, leading to an uncontrolled boom in the workforce followed by a bust in budgets, a report by MPs says. The health service set out in 1999 to recruit 20,000 more nurses by 2004 but hired 67,878 up 340 per cent over target. It also recruited twice as many GPs as planned and 69 per cent more health professionals, such as physiotherapists. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/03/reckless-nhs-recruitment-blamed-for.html Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:35:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/03/reckless-nhs-recruitment-blamed-for.html Support for pregnant women is being cut because of the NHS's financial troubles, a healthcare charity has warned. The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) says it is receiving "increasing reports" that NHS antenatal classes, breastfeeding services and postnatal visits are being cancelled. http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/03/nhs-crisis-is-forcing-cuts-to-maternity.html Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:35:00 GMT http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2007/03/nhs-crisis-is-forcing-cuts-to-maternity.html