Guidance: Health matters: making cervical screening more accessible

Guidance: Health matters: making cervical screening more accessible Attendance for cervical screening has been falling year on year. This professional resource aims to address this decline in attendance by presenting recommendations that can help increase access to screening and awareness of cervical cancer. Public Health England

P.F.I. - Profiting From Infirmaries

P.F.I. - Profiting From Infirmaries This report looks at the significant profits made by PFI companies from NHS contracts over the last 6 years. Centre for Health and the Public Interest

See also:

• NHS 'leaking millions' in PFI contracts BBC News
• Private firms poised to make another £1bn from building NHS hospitals The Guardian
• PFI is bankrupting Britain. But there are ways to set ourselves free | Stella Creasy The Guardian

Divided by choice? Private providers, patient choice and hospital sorting in the English National Health service

Divided by choice? Private providers, patient choice and hospital sorting in the English National Health service This study examines the impact of the NHS reforms of the 2000s which enabled privately-owned hospitals to enter the NHS market. It finds that post-reform, poor and ethnic minority patients were much less likely to choose private hospitals; and that the key factors in choice related to the geographic distribution of hospitals and health-based criteria for treatment from private providers. Institute for Fiscal Studies

Two thirds of GPs say revalidation has not benefited their clinical practice

Two thirds of GPs say revalidation has not benefited their clinical practice Two in three GPs do not believe that revalidation has had a positive impact on their clinical practice, a GPonline poll has found.

Mental health patients should have more rights to refuse treatment, senior judge suggests

Mental health patients should have more rights to refuse treatment, senior judge suggests Mentally ill people should have more power to decide whether or not they want to receive treatment, one of Britain's most senior judges has said.

Judge Mark Hinchliffe, who oversees England's mental health tribunals, said patients should have the "right to self-determination, even if their decisions seem unwise".

He suggested that those who had the capacity should be able to refuse treatment, even if they have been diagnosed with mental health problems which currently mean they can be treated without their agreement. The Daily Telegraph

Metal sterilisation implant leaves women in 'suicidal' pain and some requiring hysterectomies

Metal sterilisation implant leaves women in 'suicidal' pain and some requiring hysterectomies Hospitals have been warned to stop using a metal implant to sterilise women after patients were left in agony and required hysterectomies to remove the devices.

Recipients of the Essure implant have reported “suicidal” desperation and significant hair loss, as it emerged the product’s manufacturer has asked doctors to suspend its use.

UK regulators have also faced criticism for failing to ban the device and refusing to reveal how many women have reported problems. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Some women need a hysterectomy after sterilisation device Essure BBC News