in brief

Tobacco advertising and sponsorship look set to be banned from this summer after the government agreed to support a bill taken through the House of Lords by Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Lord Clement-Jones.He told HSJ: 'This is going to make a massive difference to cancer deaths in the UK.'

Kings College Hospital trust has appointed Malcolm Lowe-Lauri, from Peterborough Hospitals trust, as its chief executive.Mr Lowe-Lauri will start in June, replacing Ron de Witt, who has been appointed chief executive of North West London strategic health authority.The move takes Mr Lowe-Lauri back to the trust where he was divisional general manager before he became chief executive at Peterborough in 1995.

The revelation of 10-year waits for plastic surgery at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, has sparked an inquiry into services across Wales by the specialised health services commission.Plastic surgery patients are having to wait up to 200 weeks for an outpatient appointment and eight years for inpatient surgery at the hospital.

A Scottish hospital trust has changed its systems for storing sperm after a freezer problem last July 'compromised' samples banked by more than 300 cancer patients. Lothian University Hospitals trust has fitted 24-hour alarms and clarified the chain of command at the laboratory at Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, following a Health and Safety Executive investigation.

The trust was criticised this week for failing to inform the patients affected for eight months after the fault was detected.

The Commons health select committee is to launch a 'major inquiry' into sexual health, its chair David Hinchliffe has told HSJ .The move was prompted by concerns over statistics showing a 'huge increase' in sexually transmitted infections.

Mr Hinchliffe believes that the issue has never been examined by the committee before.