Diabetes rise ‘threat to NHS’

The number of people affected by diabetes is growing at such an alarming rate, a report states, that it threatens to overwhelm the health service.

An estimated three million Britons now suffer from diabetes and the equivalent of 2,000 cases a week were identified last year.

Diabetes-related illness already accounts for £1 in every £10 spent by the health service and current goals for diabetes care will not be met without more government investment, a group of healthcare experts says.

Their report, published yesterday at the Houses of Parliament, states that Type 2 diabetes, which is related to obesity, now accounts for 85 per cent of sufferers. It is preventable, and effective treatment can reduce the risk of health complications by half. However, it said, a climate of central targets and financial cost-cutting in the NHS had threatened services to care for people with the chronic disease.

Diabetes rise ‘threat to NHS’-News-UK-Health-TimesOnline

Blood clots kill 25,000 a year

Simple procedures that could save the lives of thousands of hospital patients every year are still not routine in Britain.

More than 12,500 patients a year die in hospitals from venous thromboembolism (VTE), blood clots that form in the veins of the legs or pelvis and travel to the heart or lungs.

David Fitzmaurice, of the University of Birmingham, says that the condition kills at least ten times as many hospital patients as MRSA but gets far less publicity.

Nationally – counting cases both in and out of hospital – at least 25,000 people die in Britain every year from VTE.

“The number of deaths from VTE in the UK each year is five times greater than the combined total number of deaths from breast cancer, Aids and road traffic accidents,” Professor Fitzmaurice says in today’s British Medical Journal.

In hospitals, about 10 per cent of all deaths are caused by VTE, and many of these could be prevented. Drugs can reduce the rate by about 65 per cent, but an investigation by the Commons Health Select Committee found that as few as 20 per cent of patients were being treated appropriately.

Hospitals fall short in battle against blood clots that kill 25,000 a year-News-UK-Health-TimesOnline

Nurses to vote on strike action

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) today announced it would ballot its members over industrial action in protest at the government’s decision to postpone part of this year’s pay award.

This is the first time the college has held a ballot for nationwide industrial action since it was founded in 1916. Although the college’s 300,000 members are only allowed to take industrial action that is not detrimental to patient care, a yes vote could still have major consequences for the NHS.

The RCN estimates that around 173,000 NHS nurses work an average of more than six hours unpaid overtime – equivalent to more than 1m hours of unpaid overtime – every week.

The college said the cost of covering this work with agency nurses would be a minimum of £13m per week.

Nurses to vote on strike action | Health | SocietyGuardian.co.uk

Wasted drugs ‘costing NHS £100m’

Unused and wasted drugs are costing the NHS at least £100 million a year, a report has said.

Some doctors over-prescribe, leading patients to stockpile medicines at home, while patients also fail to take drugs dispensed to them, it found.

Other causes of wastage include medicines being dispensed but then going uncollected, and drugs prescribed in hospital being continued unnecessarily at home.

The research, from the National Audit Office (NAO), examined prescribing costs in primary care.

Money could also be saved if GPs prescribed lower-cost medicines, it said, which would have no detrimental effect on patient care.

Wasted drugs ‘costing NHS £100m’ | UK Latest | Guardian Unlimited

Police strike threat

Police will demand the right to strike if the Government goes ahead with plans for a radical overhaul of officers’ pay, John Reid, the Home Secretary, was told yesterday.

The warning came as Mr Reid, in his last weeks of the job, found himself facing 1,000 angry leaders of rank and file officers at a Police Federation meeting in Blackpool. The Home Secretary was told that if the Government’s plans were implemented officers would feel they were no different from other public sector workers and wanted the same protection.

News in Brief-News-UK-TimesOnline

Britain becomes a Prozac nation

The number of Britons prescribed antidepressants is at a record high, despite official warnings that many patients may not need them.

More than 31 million prescriptions were written by doctors for antidepressant drugs last year, figures published today reveal, with the use of drugs such as Seroxat and Prozac increasing by 10 per cent. The findings, which show a big increase on previous years, come despite growing concerns over the country’s excessive reliance on chemical treatments and over their possible side-effects.

The exact number of people taking pills for depression is not known but is thought to be several million, with many taking the medications over long periods on repeat prescriptions.

The most common drugs, known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) – which include Seroxat and Prozac – are the easiest treatment to prescribe and are often effective. However, guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in 2004 recommended that they should not be used as a first-stop remedy for depression. They have also been found occasionally to trigger suicidal thoughts and self-harm in children and adults, and are not recommended for use by under18s.

Britain becomes a Prozac nation-Life & Style-Health-TimesOnline

Police are making ludicrous arrests to meet targets

Police officers are being driven to make “ludicrous” arrests for trivial incidents to bolster government targets, the new Justice Secretary will be told.

The leaders of 130,000 police officers have drawn up a dossier of “lunacy” on Britain’s streets. They say that children are being arrested for throwing cream buns and bits of cucumber while adults are getting criminal records for offences that merit nothing more than a ticking-off.

The pressure to get results is so bad, they say, that officers are criminalising and alienating their traditional supporters in Middle England and many are so disillusioned that they are considering quitting.

We are making ludicrous arrests just to meet our targets, say police-News-UK-Crime-TimesOnline

Superbug deaths up 30-fold in decade

A huge rise in deaths linked to the superbug MRSA in just over a decade has been revealed in official figures.

The number of death certificates that name the infection as a “contributory factor” has soared from 51 cases in 1993 – the first year in which records were kept – to 1,629 in 2005, a 30-fold increase.

Experts and campaigners believe that even this figure is only the tip of the iceberg because many hospitals try to avoid listing MRSA as a cause of death if they can find alternative explanations.

Ministers admitted the scale of the rise after being questioned in the Commons last week. Officials sought to explain the figures by saying that many deaths involving MRSA were those of “patients who were admitted to hospital because they were already seriously ill with another condition”.

Three years ago when John Reid was the health secretary, he pledged to halve the MRSA rate by 2008. In January, however, a leaked memo revealed not only that the deadline would not be met but that the target might never be achieved. The memo admitted that a certain level of MRSA was unavoidable, but could not specify what that level was.

Britain has one of the worst MRSA rates in Europe, ranking only above Malta, Romania, Cyprus and Portugal.

Superbug deaths up 30-fold in decade | Uk News | News | Telegraph

Cutbacks ‘rationing services for elderly’

Hundreds of thousands of elderly people have had their “social care” cut in the past decade.

Seven in 10 councils in England have been forced to “ration” services since Labour came to power, according to the Local Government -Association.

Most town halls now provide services – including meals-on-wheels, trips to day centres and home visits from social workers – only to pensioners with “substantial” or “critical” needs.

Lack of funding means many councils now help only those who are seriously ill or incapacitated. In some cases, pensioners have had to sell their homes to help pay for private care, or ask their families to pick up the bill.

The revelations follow last week’s admission by Ivan Lewis, the minister responsible for care services, that provision for the elderly is “one of the great challenges facing our society”. He called for “a new settlement that is fair and -sustainable”.

A spokesman for Age Concern said: “The withdrawal of social care services is having a devastating impact on the elderly. Cutting down or restricting by tightening criteria will mean people will often have to do without.”

Cutbacks ‘rationing services for elderly’ | Uk News | News | Telegraph

UK interest rates raised to 5.5%

The Bank of England has voted to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 5.5%.

The increase, the first since February, takes the cost of borrowing to its highest level since 2001.

Analysts had widely expected the rise as the Bank battles to rein in inflation and cool consumer spending.

Business and employers groups accepted that the latest rise was “necessary”, but added caution was needed in future so as not to slow UK growth too much.

“The MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) has to be firm. But it is important not to overreact to transitory developments,” the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said.

BBC NEWS | Business | UK interest rates raised to 5.5%