Doctors prescribing antibiotics for gonorrhea that no longer work

Doctors prescribing antibiotics for gonorrhea that no longer work GPs give patients ciprofloxacin, which has not been recommended since 2005, raising fears that drug-resistant forms of sexually transmitted disease will spread

GPs are prescribing antibiotics that no longer work for people with gonorrhoea, raising the chances that drug-resistant forms of the sexually transmitted disease will spread.

Antibiotics are losing their potency against many infectious diseases because of inappropriate use or overuse. Gonorrhoea, a serious sexually transmitted infection that is easily passed on and can cause infertility, has for some time been a cause for concern. The bacterium that causes it, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, has developed resistance to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, traditionally used to treat it, so that in a third of cases, it no longer works. Continue reading... The Guardian

Health services should have identified risk of double murderer reoffending

Health services should have identified risk of double murderer reoffending Report says there were many deficiencies and missed opportunities in the treatment of James Allen, who went on to murder two people in 2012

Health services that dealt with a man later convicted of murdering two people should have identified the “significant probability that he would reoffend”, a report has found.

James Allen attacked 81-year-old Colin Dunford in his Middlesbrough terrace home, then three days later stabbed to death Julie Davison, 50, at her flat in Whitby, North Yorkshire. The double killing sparked a huge manhunt which ended in Leeds when an off-duty police officer spotted him. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• An independent investigation into the care and treatment of Mr F by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS FoundationTrust Niche Patient Safety / NHS England
• Murderer James Allen had 'known risk factors' BBC News
• Health care criticised over double murders ITV News

Tory plan for seven-day access to GPs branded 'cloud cuckoo land'

Tory plan for seven-day access to GPs branded 'cloud cuckoo land' Dr Maureen Baker of the Royal College of GPs hits out at David Cameron’s NHS pledge and warns that many GP surgeries are already ‘teetering on the brink’

Plans for seven-day GP surgeries have been described as coming from “cloud cuckoo land” by one of the UK’s most senior doctors.

Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), labelled the government’s pledge a “political imperative” and warned that many GP surgeries were already “teetering on the brink”. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• GP contract faces radical reform as opposition to seven-day NHS grows GP Online

Elderly face NHS discrimination under new UN death targets

Elderly face NHS discrimination under new UN death targets Elderly people will be treated like second-class citizens and denied medical care under new targets which give priority to saving the lives of young people. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• The UN's suggestion that Britain ration health care is a wake-up call The Daily Telegraph
• 'Unethical' UN health plan to reduce deaths discriminates against old people, claim medical experts The Independent

Study showing that chocolate can help with weight loss was a trick to show how easily shoddy science can make headlines

Study showing that chocolate can help with weight loss was a trick to show how easily shoddy science can make headlines A journalist seeking to lay bare how the research behind fad diets can be “meaningless” and based on “terrible science”, has revealed how he tricked international media into believing that chocolate can aid weight loss. The Independent

Relatives of dementia sufferers who die in care homes having to wait months to bury loved ones thanks to new Government rules

Relatives of dementia sufferers who die in care homes having to wait months to bury loved ones thanks to new Government rules Relatives of dementia sufferers who pass away in care homes are being forced to wait months to bury loved ones because of new rules. The Independent

Midwife at Northampton General Hospital suspended after risking baby’s life with feeding tube

Midwife at Northampton General Hospital suspended after risking baby’s life with feeding tube A midwife who worked at Northampton General Hospital has been suspended over fitting a feeding tube to a premature baby on Christmas Day in such a way he was in danger of death. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Northampton General Hospital to go £21 million into the red to fund improvements

Northampton General Hospital to go £21 million into the red to fund improvements Northampton General Hospital says it will go £21m into the red this year to meet its quality and efficiency aims. Northants Herald and Post

Go gentle into that good night: the past, present, and future of end-of-life care

Go gentle into that good night: the past, present, and future of end-of-life care End-of-life care has received increasing attention in recent years as the baby boomers age and health care costs continue to rise. This attention has brought with it remarkable growth in the field and improvement in care, but there remains work to be done in order to more consistently deliver high quality, compassionate, and patient- and family-centred end-of-life care. This dissertation examines the past, present, and future of end-of-life care in order to shed light on the most effective ways to organise and deliver it. Rand Corporation

Modified herpes virus 'could combat skin cancer'

Modified herpes virus 'could combat skin cancer' "Patients with aggressive skin cancer have been treated successfully using a drug based on the herpes virus," The Guardian reports. A new study suggests a novel form of immunotherapy could be effective for treating some cases of advanced skin cancer.

This was a large trial examining the use of a new immune treatment called talimgogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) for advanced melanoma (the most serious type of skin cancer) that could not be removed surgically.

T-VEC is a modified derivative of the herpes virus that causes cold sores. It is injected directly into the tumour and causes the production of a chemical called granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which stimulates an immune response to fight the cancer.

T-VEC injections were compared with injections of GM-CSF only, which is sometimes used to treat people who have poor immunity caused by cancer treatment.

The trial found, overall, significantly more people responded to treatment for more than six months with T-VEC (16.3%) than with GM-CSF injections (2.1%).

Combined contraceptive pills 'increase risk of blood clots'

Combined contraceptive pills 'increase risk of blood clots' "Women who take the latest generations of contraceptive pills are at a greater risk of potentially lethal blood clots," The Times reports. While the increase in risk is statistically significant, it is very small in terms of individual risk

The combined oral contraceptive pill, commonly referred to as "the pill", is already well known to be linked to increased risk of blood clots in the veins, such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), as wediscussed back in 2014.

A new study, using two large GP databases, set out to refine the assessment of the risk. It identified women who had had a venous blood clot, matched them by age to unaffected women, and examined use of the pill in the previous year.

Overall it found that use of any contraceptive pill almost tripled risk of blood clot; though the baseline risk is small. And risk was generally higher with the newer third generation pills, compared with older pills. Encouragingly, risk was lowest for pills containing levonorgestrel, which is by far the most common prescribed. This pill carried risk of around six extra cases of blood clot for every 10,000 women prescribed.

GPs set for government showdown as Queen's speech confirms seven-day access plans

GPs set for government showdown as Queen's speech confirms seven-day access plans The government has confirmed it will introduce measures to increase GP access in the next year setting it on a collision course with the profession. GP Online

What do hospital bosses and football managers have in common?

What do hospital bosses and football managers have in common? From finance to managing staff, football clubs and hospitals have more similarities than you might think Continue reading... The Guardian

UK's cancer death rates blamed on delays in sending patients for tests

UK's cancer death rates blamed on delays in sending patients for tests Researchers say GPs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland less likely than other countries to refer possible cancer patients immediately

Delays in testing for cancer at GPs’ surgeries may be the reason why patients in the UK are more likely to die of the disease than those in comparable countries, according to authoritative new research.

Cancer patients in the UK have a lower chance of survival than in Australia, Canada, Norway and Sweden – four of the five countries that have been compared with the UK in a series of investigations over the past six years. Only in Denmark, the fifth country, are the survival rates as low as in the UK. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Explaining variation in cancer survival between 11 jurisdictions in the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership: a primary care vignette survey BMJ Open
• Doctors may be 'too slow' on cancer BBC News
• Deadly delays in cancer testing in Britain The Daily Mail
• Ten-minute consultations not long enough to spot cancer, GPC warns GP Online

Cholesterol U-turn as research shows fatty foods might not be bad for us after all

Cholesterol U-turn as research shows fatty foods might not be bad for us after all The US government has dropped fatty foods containing cholesterol - long thought to cause heart disease and strokes - from its list of 'nutrients of concern', following the publication of a new report. The Independent

See also:

• Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US Government)

Bird flu could be as deadly as 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, leading academic warns

Bird flu could be as deadly as 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, leading academic warns Bird flu could prove as deadly as the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic which killed 50 million people, a leading academic has warned, as he called for research to continue into ways to stop the virus. The Independent

Hospital £21m improvement shortfall

Hospital £21m improvement shortfall Northampton General Hospital, a trust judged in need of improvement will go more than £21m in the red this year to meet its quality and efficiency aims. BBC Northampton

Education, sharing best practice and support: five ideas for building capability in the NHS

Education, sharing best practice and support: five ideas for building capability in the NHS Andrew Constable, a leadership consultant, gives his ideas for building capability in systems, processes and methodologies in the NHS. The Health Foundation

Latest NHS staff sickness absence figures published

Latest NHS staff sickness absence figures published The sickness absence statistics for the NHS up to January 2015 have been published. Read a summary here. NHS Employers

Health, wellbeing and productivity in the workplace: a Britain's healthiest company summary report

Health, wellbeing and productivity in the workplace: a Britain's healthiest company summary report This report aims to draw upon data collected during the 2014 Britain's Healthiest Company (BHC) competition in order to understand what drives productivity at work in the participating organisations and, in particular, to examine the relation between the health and wellbeing of staff and their resultant productivity. To understand this relationship, the report look at the links between lost productivity in terms of presenteeism (being in suboptimal health at work) and absenteeism in association with a range of factors. Rand Corporation