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Women and girls in hospital who need sanitary protection will be offered free tampons and other products, NHS England has said. From summer, patients in England will be able to ask for pads and tampons when they need them, free of charge. The move comes after the British Medical Association argued it was inconsistent for […]
A radical Parkinson’s treatment that delivers a drug directly to the brain has been tested in people. Patients in the trial were either given the drug, which is administered via a “port” in the side of the head, or a dummy treatment (placebo). Both groups showed improved symptoms, meaning it was not clear if the […]
GPs in England must start routinely using email instead of sending letters to communicate with patients, the health secretary says. Matt Hancock wants email to become the default option by 2021. He said there was no reason why doctors could not email a test result or prescription – although people who did not use email […]
People will be able to pay the NHS to sequence their genes on condition they share their data with scientists. Those taking part in the planned scheme will be given a health report which can predict the risk of developing conditions like cancer or Alzheimer’s. Health Secretary Matt Hancock says it will help develop treatments […]
Fifteen-year-old Mason Kettley, who has a rare brain cancer, is about to become one of the first UK patients to have proton-beam therapy, at a new dedicated treatment centre. He is starting treatment at the £125m centre at Manchester’s Christie hospital. Previously, most patients needing the treatment had to travel abroad. The specialist radiotherapy targets […]
Mental health patients who miss two or more GP appointments within the space of a year are eight times more likely to die in the subsequent 18 months than those who miss none, a study suggests. The University of Glasgow study looked at 274,547 patients with long-term mental health conditions, at surgeries across Scotland between […]
Smokers and problem drinkers who are admitted to hospital in England will be given help to quit or cut down, to reduce demands on the health service. The measures are part of a long-term plan to be announced over the next few days by NHS England. It said addiction to alcohol and tobacco were two […]
More than 3,000 patients of an outpatient New Jersey hospital have been warned that they may have been exposed to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. The patients received care at HealthPlus Surgery Center in Saddle Brook between January and Sept. 7, the New Jersey Department of Health said in a statement. The alert follows […]
NHS Fife has become the first health board in Scotland to perform hip replacements in day surgery. The procedure is only suitable for about 15% of patients but can speed up recovery and free up hospital beds. Following a method developed in Denmark, staff can have patients back on their feet just hours after the […]
The family of a man who died after receiving a liver transplant from a donor with undetected cancer has called for more thorough tests. Tom Tyreman, 63, from Stockton, initially recovered after the operation at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital a year ago, but died of cancer in February. There was later found to be a small […]
New rights should be given to severely ill mental health patients detained in hospital to stop abuse and neglect of this vulnerable group, a review says. The 1983 Mental Health Act is outdated and needs an overhaul, sectioning is being misused and does not properly protect patients’ the rights, it says. The independent review – […]
I’ve worked as a dietitian in a gastroenterology practice long enough to have seen many food trends come and go. When I first started practicing, an austere, sugar-free regimen called the “candida diet” was popular among patients of mine who had gone the alternative health route before consulting with me, so I practically got whiplash […]
Urgent and drastic changes to the rules around medical devices, such as pacemakers, are needed to protect patients, according to the Royal College of Surgeons. It wants a register of every device in every patient set up so doctors know if new innovations are causing harm. An investigation by 58 media organisations has uncovered patients […]
Medical devices that are unsafe and have not been adequately tested are ending up inside patients’ bodies, an investigation has revealed. The devices include heart pacemakers, rods to correct spines, and artificial knees and hips. The investigation found implants that had failed in baboons, or were tested only on pigs and dead bodies, were coming […]
Diana was 57 when she took her own life, fewer than 24 hours after she was seen at her busy local accident and emergency department following an overdose. She had been struggling with anxiety and suicidal thoughts for some time, but at A&E, although she was cared for physically, no-one called the mental health team. […]