HEALTH DIRECT

The NHS is worse than communist China in allowing bureaucrats to over-rule doctors and take decisions which harm patients, medics have said.Doctors at the British Medical Association’s annual conference in Edinburgh called for a system of regulation in response to the Mid Staffordshire Foundation trust scandal, so that managers could be “struck off” for bullying […]

Former NHS trust executive Gary Walker claimed he was put under pressure to meet non emergency targets.The former boss of a hospital which is being investigated over high death rates has told MPs there was a culture of “sheer bullying” in the NHS. Gary Walker, former United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust chief, said he was sacked […]

The Scottish waiting list scandal shows Nicola Sturgeon failure as Health Minister.Nicola Sturgeon must be judged a failure as Health Minister after the discovery of the shambles surrounding NHS waiting lists, Labour’s Scottish leader has said. Johann Lamont told MSPs that Ms Sturgeon failed to “get out” of politics before her legacy in the health […]

Improvements in childhood cancer survival rates will stall because red tape is hindering clinical trials and the development of new drugs, British experts have warned.New regulations in medical research mean that is now more costly and difficult than ever before to conduct trials into new medicines and children’s cancer survival rates may be hit as […]

The main health regulator quango  “cannot guarantee” it will spot another scandal on the scale of Mid Staffs- its new chairman has admitted.David Prior said the Care Quality Commission was “going to have to change” to provide the level of inspection demanded by the Francis report. He also said it was a “no brainer” that […]

In the aftermath of NHS Stafford Hospital report by Robert Francis QC- there seems a huge contradiction- it blames everyone and yet at the same time no one is singled out for the hundreds of needless deaths.Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, said it felt “wrong” that no one had been brought to book, while David […]

More than 3,000 people may have died unnecessarily at five NHS trusts in a crisis that could dwarf the horrors at Mid Staffordshire, which were detailed in a devastating report published yesterday.An investigation began on Wednesday night into excessive mortality rates at the five trusts – the same warning sign that exposed the needless deaths […]

NHS staff should face prosecution if they are not open and honest about mistakes, according to a public inquiry into failings at Stafford Hospital.Years of abuse and neglect at the hospital led to the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of patients. The “appalling” levels of care that led to needless deaths have already been well documented […]

A meningitis B vaccine that could save thousands of lives has been licensed for the first time, in a move hailed as the most important breakthrough in 30 years.The vaccine could soon be available privately and Government advisers are deciding if it should be introduced into the free NHS childhood vaccination programme. The jab, called […]

Doctors are too scared to deviate from evidence based medicine and innovation is being stifled claims Lord Saatchi.Lord Saatchi was spurred into launching a medical Bill after his wife Josephine Hart died of ovarian cancer The mantra that young, fledgling doctors repeat to themselves endlessly is “evidence based practice”. On the face of it, this […]